Deception

Chapter 28 - part 2

Tara took this chance to get a better look at the room. She used the bracelets built-in camera to quickly scan the room. She saw that only one person was in the room. They were tied to a chair and although it was an infrared she knew it was Adam.

Once she saw the room was clear she wasted no time in shoving the grate out of the way. It seemed like only a couple of seconds before she was on the ground of the room.

Her eyes stopped as she saw him. There was blood on and around the frayed rope which was digging into his skin. His dark chestnut hair which was always somehow perfect was now hanging limply in his face in mats. There were bruises covering every part of his skin and it was hard to find a part of his face that wasn't swollen, bleeding or bruised.

She looked up at his eyes expecting to see the beautiful sky blue iris's staring back at him but instead they were swollen shut and she only aware they were open because of the way his head was tilted towards her.

"Adam," she croaked running up next to him. The tears yet again threatened to spill but she forced herself to focus on unbinding the ropes.

"Tara?" Adam whispered quietly but even though she was looking down she saw him wince with the effort of it.

"Shh," she cooed, "We're going to get out of this, ok."

"Tara," he said again but he managed to make his voice more firm than before. Even though he tried to hie the pain Tara knew him too well and saw how much he was struggling.

"Yeah, I'm here," She replied. She looked up at him and her eyes yet again pricked with tears.

This side of his lips curled upward in what she assumed was him trying to smile. She smiled back but inside her heart was breaking into a million pieces. He opened his mouth to speak again but Tara placed her hand against it.

"Don't," she said, " Please, just wait ok. We'll be out soon and then we can talk."

He nodded and again she noticed him wince, this time though she also heard him grunt slightly.

The ropes were so frayed from him trying to fight against the binds before that it didn't take Tara long to cut them away. Her eyes became blurry with tears as she supported him as he stood.

She heard him quietly grunt with each step they took and although she tried to ignore it she could tell how much Adam was relying on her. They slowly walked closer towards where the grate now lay on the floor. But the closer they got the more pain it seemed to cause Adam and the more she was worrying about how he would get up there in the first place.

"I'll be fine," Adam mumbled still struggling as he walked.

"I know, yeah I know," Tara said though she could feel a tear running down her cheek as she spoke, trying to be strong for him. That's when he stopped walking and looked at her.

"Come on, we can't stop now," Tara said another tear falling.

"Tara," he said his voice trembling slightly, "look I know this must be hard, god if it was up to me you would never be seeing me in a state like this, but together we can get through this. I'm fine, alright."

Tara continued to take Adam's weight. She forced him to keep walking, but every step made it harder to fight the tears. They walked toward the vents in perfect harmony, until the problem of getting Adam into the vent was presented... again.

"Are you ok with standing by yourself for a bit," Tara said but she thought she already knew the answer.

"Yeah," he said. He took a step back and stood by himself. That wasn't how Tara had expected it to go. She didn't take the chance for this to go wrong so she ran over to the chair and placed it directly below the vents opening.