Author's Note:

Hey everyone! I'll be honest, this is my favorite chapter. If you're interested in its song, it is called Alone in a Room - Acoustic Version by Asking Alexandria.

Thank you for checking out this story so far!

Gone. Scott was gone.

How…

Adam stumbled out of the room. He needed to leave. The room felt like death. It felt like his dead friend was still screaming his lungs out. The blood-curdling wails bounced off all the walls. The nails dug into Scott, and it all crushed—

He slammed the door.

Encasing his friend in there.

Adam thud his head against the wood. The barrier that would forever separate him from Scott.

He had side stepped.

He banged against the door. Put all his weight behind it like Scott had always taught him. His mother hated when he took it out like this, but Scott would know what to do.

The sounds echoed around him. He swore the wood would give way at any moment, his hands splintering through.

His knuckles bled.

Scott shouldn't have fallen in.

Adam should have taken the hit. The wind would have been knocked out of him, and they would have had to argue some more.

But they could have figured it out and Scott would still be here.

He wanted more than anything for Scott to grab his wrists and say something. Anything. He would flash one of his stupid Tibbs Grins and say something dumb that roughly translated to "everything will be fine."

That's what he always did.

And it always worked.

But he couldn't say a fucking thing anymore.

Adam's face rested against the door. He screamed at it.

Screamed at the mistakes that he had made over and over and over again.

And he thought of everything he wanted to say to Scott. All the things he would never be able to tell him ever again. He slid down, resting his head.

He needed to talk to Scott.

One last time.

"Hey, Scott."

He drew a blank. There was so much he wanted to say. Where could he possibly start?

But Scott was listening, Adam could feel it. And he needed to know.

"You know I uh, I wanted siblings. So bad. Every day, I would ask for them."

Even if it got annoying, he would keep trying. Maybe one day, he would say the right thing.

They would have been worth it. Something to fight for.

"When I was little, just learning how to write, I decided to make a book for my parents. A little pamphlet thing to tell them why I especially wanted a brother."

Because that way, he would have someone to talk to. Maybe he wouldn't be alone so often. He would have someone to hang out with, who just got him. Stuck with him through the good and the bad, no matter what happened.

"Folded up a few sheets of paper and stapled them together. I accidentally stapled my finger." Adam's lip twitched. "Pissed my dad off."

He sighed. He needed to stop getting off topic.

"But yeah, I uh, I wrote about the brother stuff and gave it to my parents. I called the 'book' the Stanheight Clan." He bit his lip. "Shouldn't have given you so much shit about 'Wrath of the Gods.'"

It would have been so much fun to have little sleepovers with a sibling. They could have grown up, made it through everything life threw at them.

Together.

Could've been his rock.

"But they just couldn't support another kid, and… And I was so hurt, man. So pissed."

That was the first night he decided to lie down on that green carpet in his family's home, sinking into it. He had alternated between staring at the night sky through the window and the patterns on the ceiling.

He had pictured having someone next to him.

"But fast forward a bit and…"

New tears swelled into Adam's eyes, hot bits of acid streaming down his face.

Somehow, he hadn't realized until it was too late.

"And then one day, my brother sat next to me in class."

All he could do was hope that Scott somehow, someway knew this.

Even if Adam didn't.

"Then suddenly, I had someone to play vet with, and have sleepovers, and talk about how fucked up the world can be. You helped me, and…"

He had it all. Someone to help him grow and figure everything out. And he never thanked Scott. He had sulked his entire life. Meanwhile, his brother was just next door.

Until he lost him.

"And…"

He threw his back against the wall.

It still didn't feel real.

"Now my brother is in a pit."

He was so bad at this.

But it was his last fucking chance.

"I'm sorry."

For every single mistake he had made.

And everything that he had forgotten to say when Scott was still here.

"Thank you, man. For all of it." He couldn't make his voice go above a whisper. "Even the bad. Rough patches and all, you did so much, and you were the only constant for so long…"

He should have said it earlier. Scott should have been told all of this a long, long time ago. Back when the world wasn't collapsing all around them.

Adam took him for granted.

A mistake that he would never even have the chance to make again.

"I miss you."

And he would every day for the rest of his life.

But he needed to do whatever he could to make this right. If the roles were reversed and Adam was in that pit, Scott would raise all hell to get back at the fucks that put them there to begin with.

That is what Scott would want.

"I'm gonna take those bastards down, Scott. Every single one of them. I promise you."

A final promise.

One that Adam could not let himself break.

He needed to go. No matter how much it hurt, he had to.

For Scott, for Lawrence, for himself.

For all of them.

Adam pushed himself off the ground, eyes trained on the spot where his friend would remain.

And he gave the door a playful little punch.

One last time.

"Bye, Scott."

He stared at it a moment, tears swelling in his eyes.

Then he forced himself to face the empty hall they had just gone down.

At the end of it, he saw another sign that pointed back towards the stairwell. He made his way to it, wobbly legs barely holding him up.

The railing was cold. His grip on it was tight, and his sweaty palms squeaked as he descended. The floorboards creaked away.

But it was eerily silent.

Scott wasn't angrily banging down the steps behind him, muttering something incoherent.

That was all gone.

When Adam reached the bottom of the stairwell, he groaned at the new sign that pointed to his left.

And the new note that was taped up next to it.

Its writing was bigger and bolder than normal. Like Lawrence was there, saying it to him. Trying to make him feel better.

You're Not Alone.

And he remembered lying down on that damn bed. The one where his shoulder had burned and Lawrence had stood beside him time and time again.

"I needed him to know that he's not alone."

Lawrence said it from another room. He had been yelling. Adam had faded in and out as the screaming continued, but the voices were getting louder.

"That's not your decision to make," the angry voice responded.

From the other room, there were murmurs. The angry muttering was harsh. The words were indecipherable, and they were drowned out by Lawrence's grumbles. "If you would just listen to me—"

"No. No, your chance is long gone."

Adam heard Lawrence groan. There was a loud crash and a yelp, the sounds accompanied by chuckling from the other man.

"Was that worth it?" the angry voice questioned.

There was a long pause. Whatever Lawrence had done — done for Adam's sake — he had already been paying the price for it. Adam did everything he could to stop filling his head with what could have happened. He wondered why the doctor possibly would have risked it in the first place and—

"He is worth it."

And Adam fell asleep again.

He grit his teeth and slammed his hand against the wall.

"Damn it!"

Why couldn't he remember? Why were these people so set on taking out everyone Adam cared for? Picking them off one by one?

Where the fuck did Lawrence go?

Adam looked up at the camera. "What the hell do you guys want from me?"

The blinking red light mocked him. The cameras around this house had watched his every move. The people behind it were probably laughing away at him, taking bets on what death trap would finally finish him off.

And he'd be damned if he gave them what they wanted.

He walked closer to the camera.

"You took me from my home. You took me from my family." Adam shouted, "You fucking took my best friend away from me!"

He looked at the note.

Him and Lawrence.

It had started that way, what felt like years ago in that decrepit, disgusting bathroom. Just the two of them, fighting for their lives against some fucked up death clock while being watched by their captors.

"You are not gonna take Lawrence from me, too."

He looked at the new sign that told him where to go. He felt like a dog, mindlessly following all the commands these pricks gave him.

These pricks always knew exactly what to do.

But what Lawrence had said back then, that was right.

"In order to overcome something, you have to first understand what a perfect engine it is."

He needed to go. There was no choice if they wanted a chance of finally finishing this nightmare off.

So he followed it.

He entered a new hallway, and he narrowed his eyes.

He knew this place.

The clues and tests had led him in a circle.

There were two doors to the right of the hall. The furthest one was where it had all started. Where he had woken up in a coffin of nails without a damn clue where he was or what had happened to him.

Not much better off now.

He thought he was getting somewhere. After the weird "Puppet Master" thing and the stuff with the cigarettes, when Adam had managed to help both himself and Scott, for just a bit he felt like he had helped. He had saved Scott.

Of course that was ruined, too.

Adam looked to his right, at the door that wouldn't budge at the beginning of all of this. He pushed at it, aching muscles straining against the weight. It gave way, and he tripped inside.

The door slammed behind him.

Faint lighting allowed him to make out the room. And in the middle, the silhouette of a safe.

He felt around at the wall, trying to find a source of light.

Adam's hand grazed a switch, and he flicked it up.

The blinding light was red, and it made his skin sizzle. It felt like he was boiling underneath its rays.

Felt like he was on fire.

He screamed and slammed the switch back down, collapsing to the ground.

So completely alone. Alone in a dark, miserable room with only himself and all of his mistakes to keep him company.

He rolled onto his back and looked up, tears pooling out of his eyes. With how empty this room was, Adam's mind drifted to the life he left behind. Where he raised all kinds of havoc with Scott and drew himself further from the life he wanted.

Thought about who he was to the world before all of this.

But somehow, that prick was the person Lawrence had risked everything for. The doctor found worth in him.

Scott's parents would never see their son again, Adam knew that much. His mother would never be the same, his father wouldn't have his hunting buddy anymore.

But that's not how Adam's story needed to go.

This could not be it.

He needed to get up. Push himself up off the ground, get the hell out of here.

And finally go home. Find his parents and figure everything out. He would get a hold of Scott's family. Make sure that they knew that he had fought to the very end.

Like he always did.

Adam turned and forced himself up, resting on all fours. His muscles screamed at him, protesting each movement.

But he screamed right back and stood.

The darkness in here reminded him of the bathroom. Where random whispers were the only things that kept him company.

But here, there was only one. A constant.

"You were never useless, man."

He could hear Scott say it again. His friend knew he could get out of this mess. Even from the beginning, Adam could tell.

His brother, his rock.

A damn good guy, despite it all. Adam would make sure that that is what Scott would be remembered for.

Scott took care of him. And now, he needed to finish what he started. There was a way, and he would find it.

"I promise."