Black Dawn

Chapters 1-5
Chapters 6-10
Chapter 11
Chapter 12
Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Adam is frozen in pain in the ground, as his weapon drops out of his reach. It's not the first time Adam has been shot, but it's not the bullet that pierced his skin that worries him; he knows he can't protect Maria now.

The remaining guards stop shooting.

"He's down! Stop shooting! Jesus, you could have killed him! We were supposed to bring him to Derek alive."

This offers some comfort to Maria, who is scrambling and wanting to help, but knows she'd never stand a chance against the armed guards. She's in tears, as it kills her to be so helpless and unable to do anything. But she made a promise to Adam that she'd stay safe.

One of the guards hasn't forgotten about Maria.

"We need the girl, too. Where is she?"

Maria slowly crawls back through the air duct, and the blackout offers her an opportunity to stay invisible.

"She's in here somewhere, I heard her scream. Stay alert."

The guards slowly approach Adam, as it's impossible to see clearly in the pitch black darkness.

Adam is slipping in and out of consciousness, while trying to survey the damage. The bullet hit him in the upperleft corner of his chest, right next to his shoulder. Apparently the guards were told not to kill him, but he's defenseless against them, and if the wound isn't taken care of soon, he'll be dead anyway - and surely will be once Derek gets a hold of him. But all Adam can really think about is that he hopes Maria won't do anything stupid.

Adam tries to crawl to his weapon, but as soon as he does, he's been reached by the guards, one of whom kicks the weapon away from his reach.

"Don't you do anything stupid now. You have a family reunion to get to."

The guard contacts Derek on his communicator.

"Boss, we got him. No sign of the girl, but we know she's close."

"Adam's your main priority. Keep a look out for Maria. Make sure she doesn't get away - but I know her, and I know she won't even try."

"Over and out."

It sickens Adam to hear his brother to talk about Maria in that tone, as if she's a nuisance to be taken care of. He musters up enough strength to utter a few words just before the communicator goes offline.

"Derek, you son of a bitch, I swear to God.."

Adam is interrupted by a stiff kick to the gut by the guard.

"You'll meet your brother real soon. Okay! Let's take him to Derek!"

Two guards lift Adam up, and as they are doing this, Adam gives one last bit of resistance by punching one of them in the gut and attempting to grab the gun from the other one, but is quickly met with the back of a rifle to his head, which knocks him out.

The guard who gut punched is irate and points his weapon at Adam, but his tantrum is interrupted.

"No! We're not supposed to kill him! Understood?"

Maria is being tormented by her mental conflicts; is she just going to watch as Adam is being helplessly taken to slaughter, is she going to break her promise to Adam by risking herself? She just got Adam back, after five years of thinking he was dead. The idea of losing her again, and this time for real, is too much for her to wrap her mind around.

So, she makes a decision and does something stupid, while mouthing "I'm sorry, Adam" to herself.

Maria climbs out of the air duct and lands on the floor, and she does so making too much noise, attracting the attention from the guards. Suddenly the guards are pointing their weapons at her direction, though not being able to exactly pinpoint her due to the darkness.

Maria is not a soldier, like Adam. She's never had a battalion of troops pointing weapons at her until today. She's scared. Simply too scared to even think straight. The only complete thought she's able to formulate is that she let Adam down.

"Do we need her alive?"

"No. Derek said to shoot on sight."