A/N: Many apologies for not updating the story sooner. I've had a lot of things come up lately and sort of just lost interest in writing. However, the interest has been regained and I'm back to writing :D This is the last update for Chapter 1. Chapter 2 will be uploaded as soon as I make some final revisions. Also, thanks to Ghrelt (author of Mad Max: Fury and Hope, go give it a read, you won't be disappointed) for helping me with character development and allowing me to borrow some concepts. Stay tuned!
Chapter 1
With the barren wasteland laid out before him, Max studies his surroundings. Not a single inconsistency in sight, not even a pebble, only the flat, unending landscape known as the Salt. He remembers it as a vast blue ocean teaming with life. That was before the whole world went to absolute shit, before he lost his family, his friends, his mind.
Max lost count of how many days it has been since he traveled into the Salt, he guesses somewhere between ten to twenty. His hair hasn't grown that long. The only reason he's been able to survive this long is because of the food and guzzolene he's been stock-piling and unfortunately, his supply is running low. Perhaps it is time for a restock from an old friend.
Before heading back to his vehicle, Max takes one last survey of the area. Expecting to see nothing but hard, cracked earth, he is surprised to spot a small hazy object. He judges that it isn't too far away, about two-hundred meters. He begins a slow walk toward it, walking off the residual pain in his left leg.
A small ship, forty foot long vessel. He figures that it must have sunk right before the dust covered everything and the oceans dried up. Max scales the side, finding a hatch to the inner part of the ship.
There isn't much to be seen; a couple of cots with the occupants still there, lying in the eternal slumber, a desk with a smashed oil lamp, and some random boating supplies. He steps to the desk and rummages through the drawers, finding nothing but old paper. Some of them are just old sea charts, some are letters addressed to an Anne Parkmoth. In the bottom drawer, he finds what he assumes is the captains logbook. He flips to the back page, it is dated for June 26, 1979. He quickly shoves the logbook in his coat pocket.
The only thing left in the cabin is residing in the far corner, it appears to be an old trunk of some kind. Max walks over to it, wondering what it could possibly contain. Food, fuel, ammunition, more junk? Only one way to find out.
There is a small lock keeping the trunk closed. Max quickly smashes it with minimal effort. He grasps the small handles attached to the lid and lifts, breaking the rust from the hinges. He isn't quite sure what to make of the contents; in fact, he's baffled. Why would something like this be on a ship all the way out here? Max digresses, closes the trunk, and lifts it from its resting place.
He wanders his way back to his car and places the trunk in passenger seat. He then takes a couple minutes to refuel, both his car and his stomach.
After eating, Max pulls out a pocket watch, a small device from the world before. It's six hours after noon, not much daylight left. He hops into the drivers seat and ignites the engine.
The Driver kicks the Magnum Opus into second gear, revving the engine up to a decent speed. He wheels the car around until he's driving east, towards the Citadel. When he was there last, he ended up liberating the whole place from the psychotic overload known as Immortan Joe. Max is familiar with psychos, considering he is one, the lengthy tattoo on his back says so.
Shifting his eyes to the passenger seat, he notices Glory has appeared sitting atop the trunk. Ever since his travels on Fury Road, he's seen her more often and for longer amounts of time. He is no longer afraid of his visions, he merely sees them as bothersome acquaintances.
"What?" Max asks with an aggravated tone in his voice before shifting his gaze back to the open desert.
"Where are you going?" She inquires.
Max responds in the low grumble and short sentences he prefers. "Citadel. Need supplies."
"Are you sure that's all?" Glory smirks and giggles.
Max darts her a menacing look, she responds by sticking her tongue out at him. Annoyingly enough, he's been asking himself the same question. "What do you know anyway?"
Glory twirls her hair around with her fingers, "Enough, I suppose."
Max lets out an annoyed grunt and before he can utter another word, she is gone.
—
Max isn't sure what to expect in regards to what the Citadel has become. However, he is sure that it has been vastly improved thanks to the new leadership of Furiosa. He could tell from their brief time together on the Fury Road that she is a natural born leader. Realizing that these kinds of thoughts are probably the origin of his anxiety, he washes them away from his consciousness.
Two days have passed since Max started the journey back to the Citadel. He figures he still has three days left until he reaches the three towers. Max now finds himself in the midst of a ruined city, falling apart from the erosive powers of dust and wind. He remembers visiting this city once in a time before the fallout. He can recognize the faint outline of some buildings. The funny thing is that there isn't an old abandoned car in sight, all probably taken and Frankenstein'ed into the metal beasts that Max is now used to seeing.
Among the ruble, Max spots a building that is still standing by some miracle. He turns the wheel of the Magnum Opus towards the dust ravished building and slowly pulls up to it, making his own parking spot. He strains his eyes to read the sign above the front door. Max can make out a couple of letters: H_R_WA_E. He pieces together the puzzle, determining that is in fact a hardware store. Max has hit the jackpot.
Max approaches the door. All the glass is shattered, the door handle is busted, and every inch of metal is covered in rust. He reaches out his hand and pushes against the door, then pulls. Upon further inspection, he finds that the door has been rusted shut. He should have known. Max backs up and places a forceful kick upon the door. No budge. He takes a couple more steps back to get a running start, but still no budge.
Max heads back to his car and opens the trunk to find a rope. He attaches one end of the rope to the front of his vehicle and secures the other end to the door. Max then hops in his car, throw it in reverse and hits the gas. The door is a lot more sturdy than Max had expected. After giving the gas one last final push, the door lets out a loud creak, breaks away from its rusted hinges, and slams onto the ground.
Max slowly and cautiously enters the building. Most of the supplies seem to have already been scavenged. Max spots a couple nuts and bolts and the like and slips them into his pocket. Max quickly scans through the rest of the front area but finds nothing of interest.
The shop is laid out like any other. A couple cash registers up front, several rows of tools and gadgets, and a back door to what is most likely a storage room. That's the room that Max wants to be in so he proceeds towards the door. Not to Max's surprise, the door is locked; there's an electronic keypad connected to the deadbolt, leaving no way to pick the lock. Max pulls out his weapon, and makes quick work of the lock with a well placed twelve gauge shell.
Once again the room is mostly empty, spare a couple of loose nuts and bolts. The shelves are bare and some are knocked over. There is, however, a small desk and filing cabinet in the far corner of the room. Max goes over to investigate. He rummages through the drawers of the desk and finds several pens and pencils as well as many pieces of paper, a rare commodity in the Wasteland. Max then moves his attention to the filing cabinet. Within, Max finds mostly business documents, employee portfolio's, and shipping orders. The last drawer holds a different story. Max is confused and astonished to find schematics, but not just any schematics, schematics for a V10 engine.
The Magnum Opus currently holds a V8 engine, one of the fastest and most rare engines roaming the Wasteland. With a V10 engine, Max would be unstoppable, this schematic could be worth a fortune to the right people; he folds the paper up and slides it into his inner jacket pocket, for safe keeping.
Max peers to the outside; its getting late. He collects whatever other scrap he can on the way out and makes sure to cover his tracks. He climbs into the Magnum Opus and revs the engine into life. Taking one last look around, he continues his journey back to the Citadel, back to something that feels normal.
—
The vehicle crests a dune with the Citadel now in sight. Max notices a large wall surrounding the three towers. Must be Furiosa's doing. Max thinks to himself. He's having trouble keeping his eyes open, he knows he'll pass out at any moment.
Max slowly pushes on the accelerator, trying to squeeze out what little movement he can still get from the machine. Both he and the Magnum Opus are running on fumes, for Max had run out of supplies a couple of days ago. Almost there, repeats in his head. Pulling up to the Wall, he slams on the brakes, slowly slipping from consciousness. He looks to the passenger seat to see Glory once again.
"Good luck, Max." She whispers before disappearing. While he slowly drifts into the unconscious, he sees a couple of War Boys approach the car. He fears for the worst.
••••••
Furiosa can still remember His face, but that's it. He hadn't told her his name before he left and that upsets her. According to the Sisters, He had saved her life that day, siphoning off his own blood into hers, giving a part of himself to her. Perhaps that is why she knows that He is still out there, alive, somewhere. The Imperator looks down upon her people, trying to sieve through the faces in hopes that she will find His, but she knows it's useless.
A lot has changed since the Citadel was liberated. Fresh water has been made accessible to all by way of fountains. Tower One has been opened to everyone and living conditions in Towers Two and Three have been greatly improved. A great wall has been erected around the Citadel, giving more protection to its inhabitants. Almost all traces of Immortan Joe have been burned to ashes; the only things saved were the upper parts of Tower One, including the Vault and the Bio-Dome, which now belong to Furiosa.
Furiosa knows that things have changed for the better. She's knows that the Sisters have found hope and that she has found redemption, but she still feels that something is missing.
She hears a door creak open behind her and turns to face whoever has entered. It's a War Boy.
"Yes?" She asks with a benevolent tone.
The War Boy begins to answer, face down as if he cannot looks upon Furiosa. "Miss Toast asked for you to see her in the garages, my lordship."
My lordship. Furiosa despises that label. It makes her feel like she's connected to Immortan Joe, like some part of him still resides in the Citadel. She takes care to remove such things at any possible juncture.
"I will be there shortly," she looks at the War Boy, remembering his name to be Splint, "and please, just call me Furiosa." She places a hand on his shoulder as she walks by, toward the elevator.
Upon arriving at the garages, she comes to find that a large crowd of War Boys and Black-Fingers has gathered. She hurries over to investigate, pushing her way through the group. In the middle, a car, and in the car, a man.
She looks towards Toast, "What is this?"
"I'm not quite sure," Toast replies, prying upon the drivers door. "He rolled up to the Wall and when the sentries investigated, he was unconscious. Shit…" With a grunt, Toast manages to get the door open, revealing the person within.
The mans face is covered in a sash, with long facial hair popping out from the seems. His whole figure is caked brown with dust and blood, much like his car.
Furiosa studies the man for a few seconds, "Get this man to the infirmary, and leave the car as is, I shall deal with it later."
The Black-Fingers sigh, knowing they will not get to dismantle the car. A couple older War Boys grab the unconscious man and haul him off to Tower Two, where the infirmary is located.
Furiosa trails behind with the feeling of anxiety mixed with something else that she can't quite give a name to, she notices it kind of feels like hope.
When they arrive to the infirmary, the man is placed on a table.
"Need a doctor over here," Furiosa says quietly.
Almost instantly, an older man is attending to the man, checking his vitals. "He's alive but his pulse is slow, I believe he is severely dehydrated." The doctor motions to one of his assistants who retrieves a canteen of water.
"Lock him in a cell when he regains his mind," Furiosa orders as she walks towards the exit, "I'll be back to question him."
Furiosa exits Tower Two and heads back towards the garages. She finds toast tinkering with the mans car while the Black-Fingers watch in jealousy. "What's he got in there?"
Toast raises her head for a second, "V8 Engine, heavy duty suspension, bulletproof armor…"
"I mean in the car, what was he carrying?"
"Oh… Nothing but some old trunk. I haven't opened it yet."
Furiosa walks over to the car and spots the trunk sitting in the passengers seat. She examines the oblong box for a moment before lifting the lid. The contents confuse her. Why would someone keep something like this in a trunk? She determines the objects within are useless but finds them quite interesting. She orders a familiar War Boy to bring the trunk up to her room and he happily obeys.
She goes back to inspecting the car, finding nothing more than empty guns, dull knives, and a whole lot of dust. She notices that there are many words scratched into the metal parts of the interior. Random words that seem to have no meaning. The only one that stands out is a large three letter word carved into the dash, it reads "MAX." She stares at the word for a couple more seconds before thinking to herself, Well that's a funny name.
••••••
Max awakes to find himself sitting in his old living room. He is with Jess and Sprog. He knows this must be a dream of his unconscious state. Nonetheless, he will enjoy the moment while he has it.
He sits peacefully with his family, wishing it could still be like this, wishing he could find something to fill the void.
Jess looks towards him and gives him a warm smile. Max is instantly overcome with sadness, a feeling he thought he had left behind.
Max tries to repay her with a smile when all of a sudden she starts repeating the same two words, "Wake up."
"What?" Max replies with confusion, but she just keeps repeating the two words.
Max awakes to the real world. His vision is hazy and there is someone standing before him. He continues to hear the same two words. Max blinks hard trying to clear his eyesight.
"Wake up." The voice repeats one last time. He recognizes the voice, but how could he not? After all, it was one of the reasons he come back to the Citadel.
Wondering if his eyes are playing tricks on him again, he replies with merely four syllables, "Furiosa?"