Salutations. There are spoilers for episode 4 in this, so beware! This is based off the fact that Warren was acting super drugged up at the end of episode 4 as well, just saying!
Warnings: Non-consensual drug use, rape, abuse, language, Mr. Jeffuckson
Important note: This fanfic was published previous to the release of episode 5.
Max came to consciousness slowly. Like swimming from the bottom of the ocean to the surface, she fought every second, her mind desperately clawing its way back towards awareness.
Finally, with one final swift kick, she managed to propel herself forward enough to open her eyes a crack.
Everything was bright, unnaturally so. The light was pulsing, drilling its way into her mind, causing a horrible blooming pain to fill her thoughts.
'What happened?' she asked herself. She shifted her body, trying to bring up her hands to rub her eyes, only to realize that they (along with her feet) were tightly bound.
Panic began to fill her chest as glimpses of memories darted before her closed eyes: The Vortex Party, warning Victoria, going to the junkyard with Chloe- CHLOE!
Max's eyes were immediately opened wide and darting around. However, the pain in her head was too much and her eyes would not focus properly. She groaned, letting her eyes fall closed once more.
But the horrifying scene of a bullet ripping through Chloe's skull was playing on repeat in her head. And yet, Max couldn't bring herself to shed a tear, in that moment.
'Chloe can't be dead!' Max thought to herself, curling up. 'We've came so far! We've done so much! I've saved her so many times...she can't be dead, she just CAN'T! She's CHLOE fucking PRICE!'
In spite of her mental encouragement, Max knew the truth. And that truth caused Max to whimper, curling into a ball as she fought back her emotions.
After all, she did not feel like she was in a very good position to suddenly begin sobbing loudly.
Max forced her jumbled mind to focus once more, to try and remember anything that happened after Chloe...
However, no matter how hard she tried, all she could remember was a sharp pain in her neck, followed by a familiar, shadowed figure standing over her.
Who that shadowed figure was, Max did not know. But she had a guess.
A sudden groan erupted from somewhere off to her right, causing her to whip her head to the side, opening her eyes.
Her vision seemed to be returning to her, as she immediately recognized the figure (who was tied up in a similar fashion to her) as her best guy friend, Warren Graham.
"W...War...ren...?" Max questioned, her voice barely above a whisper. Her throat felt unreasonably dry and scratchy.
Warren's eyes immediately opened, though the expression on his face was a pained one. "M...Max? What's happening?"
Max shook her head, trying to maneuver herself into a sitting position. "I...don't know..."
Warren tried following her lead, but was apparently too weak to be doing any of that, yet, as he immediately crashed sideways, letting out a loud curse. "FUCK!"
Both of them jumped at the quick pounding of feet against metal. Max whirled around to eye the entrance to the little area they were in with a mixture of fear and anger in her eyes.
A body popped around the corner, and in that moment, Max felt like she could very easily spit fire.
Nathan Prescott walked over to where both her and Warren were, kneeling down beside them.
There was something off about Nathan, something that Max couldn't quite place her finger on. He looked jumpy, even more so than usual, and his body was shaking so much it looked like it was vibrating.
But Max wasn't worried about that. She was worried about herself and Warren and the current situation they were in.
"You...motherfucker!" Warren exclaimed, once again trying to lunge to his knees (only to fail once again).
Nathan took a deep breath, his eyes seeking out Max's. There was some sort of desperation in them, as he spoke for the first time. "You need to be quiet," he whispered.
Max felt that fury rising up within her. "Be quiet? Be quiet?! I should have turned you into the principal when I had the chance, you creep!"
Nathan appeared to grow more and more panicked with every word she spoke. Suddenly, his hand settled over her mouth, causing her to yelp.
He leaned in close, so close that she could see the sweat breaking out on his forehead. "P...please...you need to b quiet..." he practically begged, in a soft voice.
However, he forgot about one thing.
Warren, whilst Nathan was trying to convince Max to remain silent, had managed to climb to his knees, and, for the second time in twenty-four hours, head-butted Nathan in the face.
Nathan let out a pained yelp, collapsing backwards onto the floor. His face had still looked pretty messed up from his and Warren's fight, and the brutal hit had caused a few of his wounds to reopen and begin bleeding slightly.
"That's what you get!" Warren snapped, as Nathan curled up slightly, whimpering.
The sudden screeching of a chair against the metal floor of the bunker had all three kids jumping. Max stared down at Nathan, as he began desperately mouthing apologies at her. So there was someone else involved with this thing?
"Nathan," a horribly familiar voice intoned, as they rounded the corner. "Nathan, I do believe I told you to make them be quiet."
Both Max and Warren gasped, the words seeming to leave them as Mr. Jefferson came to stand in the room, right above Nathan.
'It wasn't Nathan I saw in the junkyard then!' Max thought wildly, her eyes finally managing to dart away from the dark eyes of her used-to-be-favorite teacher, focusing on Nathan.
As soon as Jefferson had entered the room, Nathan's shakes had only gotten worse, his expression becoming one of pure terror.
"I...I'm sorry..." Nathan whispered finally, bowing his head in submission.
Both Max and Warren flinched back, as Jefferson suddenly reached down, grabbing Nathan's hair, jerking his head back.
"You know it's bad manners to speak to your superiors without looking them in the eye," Jefferson said, raising an eyebrow.
Nathan seemed to swallow convulsively, as though he was having hard time remembering how to breath, let alone talk. "It...it w-won't happen again, s-sir..."
"See to it that it does not," Jefferson said, the scary expression melting away to the familiar smile he wore during his classes. The hand gripping Nathan's hair loosened its grip, instead beginning to gently run through the light brown strands. Nathan's eyes closed slightly, as he leaned into the touch, in spite of the still-terrified expression on his face. The whole thing made Max feel like throwing up.
Apparently Warren felt similarly, as he suddenly exclaimed, "What the fuck?!"
Jefferson's hand left Nathan's head, as he once again stood to his full height. Nathan seemed to curl up slightly, at the loss of contact.
However, Max's focus was drawn to Jefferson, as he looked at both Warren and her in this unnerving way.
He was looking at them - not like they were people, his students - but like props.
"I see you two have finally decided to grace us with your presence," Jefferson said, with a creepy little smirk on his face. "We were worried there for a bit, weren't we Nathan?"
Nathan didn't say a word. He merely laid his head against Jefferson's leg, his eyes looking unfocused.
"Go to hell!" Warren growled, shifting in his duct-tape prison. Max had no doubts that should Warren have been left free instead of tied up, he probably would have beaten Jefferson into oblivion by that point.
And Max totally would have let him.
As it were, both of them were tied up and helpless, as Jefferson's eyes combed over the both of them.
"I did not expect such fire out of you, Mr. Graham," Jefferson said with a smirk. His hand once again came down to comb through Nathan's hair. "Nathan told me, of course, that you get rather worked up when your Max is threatened, so I suppose I should have expected that."
Warren ground his teeth, his eyes practically glowing in rage. "Max isn't MINE. Max isn't ANYBODY'S!"
"But you want her to be yours, do you not?" Jefferson asked. Warren opened his mouth to reply, but no words seemed to come to him. Jefferson smirked. "You like her, do you not?"
Warren's eyes became steely in an instant. "Yes, okay? Yes, I like Max. But would I stop defending her, stop being her friend if she liked someone else? Would I try and force myself upon her if she wasn't interested? Hell to the fucking no!"
Jefferson raised an eyebrow, turning his eyes on Max. "Really? That's quite interesting..." Jefferson's hand tightened in Nathan's hair, as he dragged the boy to his feet. Nathan whimpered, but besides that, made no sound, as he turned tortured eyes to his two classmates. "In my experience, if you want something...you take it."
"That's because you're a fucked up psychopath that nobody would want!" Warren exclaimed. In spite of the situation, Max felt like giggling at that.
However, that giggle caught in her throat, as she noticed the way Jefferson's hands were gently caressing Nathan, rubbing slightly at his shoulders, running through his hair, grazing across his lips. The sick feeling returned to her stomach at seeing his eyes, the light blue seeming to drown in hopelessness.
Jefferson suddenly released Nathan, pushing him away from Max and Warren. "Go wait in the corner."
Nathan looked unsure, his eyes darting in between Jefferson and Max and Warren. Jefferson gave him a soft smile. "You wish to impress me, to make me proud, do you not?"
Nathan still hesitated, his teeth sinking into his lip. Then, suddenly, Jefferson was stalking over to him, backhanding him across the face hard enough to send Nathan crashing to the floor.
"Go take your pills and wait in the corner. I don't get what's so hard to understand about that!" Jefferson growled. Nathan flinched violently, his mouth forming silent apologies. But whether those apologies were meant for Jefferson, or her and Warren, Max could not tell.
Jefferson stalked back over to them, as Nathan shakily followed his orders. He rolled his eyes. "He's more trouble than he's worth, sometimes, but his father insisted he take this job. And...well, what Sean Prescott wants, Sean Prescott gets."
"You...you realize how fucked up this is," Max whispered, speaking for what felt like the first time in forever.
Jefferson merely shrugged. "It's a business. It can't be helped."
"Th...this is so..." Max whispered, but words to describe the absolute horror of that place escaped her.
Jefferson looked between Warren and Max, a thought seeming to form. "You know...the only reason I brought you here," he murmured, toeing Warren with his shoe, "was because you were foolish enough to try and follow Nathan back to his dorm."
"I was trying to-" Warren cut himself off, but Max figured the last word was going to be "apologize", judging by the uncomfortable look on his face. Warren did, after all, beat Nathan up pretty bad.
"Regardless," Jefferson continued, his eyes swinging over to focus on Max, "it is an ever so rare occasion that I am given the opportunity to photograph a couple."
Max felt her stomach began to churn, and judging by the way Warren's face paled, she figured the same gruesome thoughts were flickering through his head.
"No!" Warren yelled. "No, I refuse! I like Max, but I respect her even more! I would never EVER do anything with her without her complete and total consent!"
Max felt her heart warm slightly, but that warmth was suddenly dashed out by ice shooting through her veins, as a needle sunk into her neck once again. She opened her mouth, croaking out, "War...ren..." before he was stabbed as well.
They both stared up at Jefferson, who was looking down at them with an impassive expression on his visage. "I wouldn't say that if I were you. I mean, from where I'm standing, neither of you have much of a choice."
A/N I am actually making this like a three-shot...so...yeah.
I hope you enjoyed this chapter! Please leave a review!