Life Has Changed
Episode 2
Chapter 1
Author's Note: This is the second episode of Life has Changed. Sorry this took so long. Again, if you haven't read It all has to End and Episode 1 (in that order) you'll need to go and do that first or else this will make no sense at all. The general desert setting is inspired by Beyond Two Souls as well as things like the way the ranch is set up since after looking carefully at the layout of the place, I can't see a better way of living to the fullest if you're in a place like that. The rest of it is going to be completely different since while the two games themselves are similar in some ways, they're also different in many others.
She'd been travelling through the void for hours. That is if it hadn't been days or weeks yet. Time seemed to blend together in the void. The only thing she knew was that she wasn't quite as dead as she thought. After what felt like an eternity, the light finally subsided around her. Suddenly, she realised she was five feet off the ground. She hit with a dull thud, only to have to spring up quickly at the sound of a passing truck cutting dangerously close to her. As it passed, it kicked up a shower of bright red sand which choked her half to death.
The first thing she registered was the heat. It was absolutely scorching. The second thing she noticed was that she was thankfully fully clothed and everything was in her pockets. She pulled out her phone. The temperature was well over sixty degrees in the shade. Looking off into the distance, she saw an old house by the side of the road. It didn't look too inviting, but the people there could tell her where she was and she could maybe ask them for water.
Walking there took the girl about half an hour. She'd been on a slight hill when she spotted the house, but even though it was barely any distance, she could do little more than crawl along under the desert heat. When she finally made it, she didn't even get chance to knock on the door before it opened. A young looking woman stood there looking slightly angry.
"Please tell me it wasn't you opening the gate and letting one of our horses out!" she growled. Then she looked at the girl properly. Red sand was stuck in her hair and clothes. Her jeans had been ripped in multiple places and patched with black duct tape. She looked like she'd been without food or water for weeks.
"What's going on, Ellie?" a woman's voice asked. She appeared behind her before seeing the girl on the doorstep and gasping. "Come inside, dear." The girl was pulled inside and sat down at a table while the woman ordered her daughter to get her some water. She drank greedily from the cup placed in front of her before turning to the woman once she could speak again.
"Where am I?" she asked. "Who are you?"
"You'll be okay. You're on our land now." The younger girl sat down at the table with her. "I'm Ellie, and this is my mother Chen."
"What's your name, sweetie?" Chen asked. The girl hesitated before replying.
"My name is Max Caulfield."
"How long have you been hitchhiking, Max?" Chen asked.
"I don't actually know." Max answered somewhat truthfully. She hadn't been hitchhiking, but she also had no clue what time she was in or where she was. "I don't even know what the date is."
"It's the twelfth of October 2015." Chen told her.
'Good, that means the date hasn't jumped at all. I'm not fifty years back from where I started.' Max thought to herself.
"It's been about a year now." Max lied. Ellie looked at her in admiration.
"Where are you from?" she asked.
"I was born in Arcadia Bay." Max told her. "When my best friend's dad died, my parents moved me to Seattle to get away from it all. I went back there last year to see her, but something happened that means I should be dead. Now I'm just trying to find myself again." If nothing else, the last part was true. Just then, Max heard a door at the back opening. An older boy and a girl the same age as him walked in and did a double-take.
"Who the hell is this?" the boy asked, glaring at Max.
"Domasi, don't be so bad mannered!" Chan snapped. "Dom, Rae, this is Max. Max, these are my other two horrors, Dom and Rae. I'm afraid you'll have to excuse Dom. He's a bit slow in warming to new people." Looking closely at all of them, Max noticed the style of their clothes and hair. It was only subtle, but there were hints of tribal history about them.
"Are you all descendants of one of the tribes?" Max asked.
"Wow, look at this genius!" Dom clapped sarcastically.
"Dom, I swear to god if you don't get your act together, I'll put you outside overnight." Chen growled. Dom went an odd teal shade and quickly shut up. "Yes Max, we are remnants of a tribe. We can't tell you which one specifically, because we don't truly know. The last to know was my mother, and that secret died with her."
"Why did she not tell you?" Max asked.
"She probably did." Ellie said. "The trouble is, Mum cracked her head when we were really young and forgot everything. It was literally our birth certificates that reminded her who we were. Nowadays, we just live by whatever principles from any tribe suit us best. We just picked out a few we liked and live by them now."
"Dinner's ready, everyone." Chen said, moving over to the oven. She opened the door to reveal a smell that rivalled only Joyce's cooking. Max realised she was about to start drooling.
"I'll get plates." Dom muttered, getting four plates out and laying them in front of Chen, Ellie, Rae and his spaces.
"What about Max, Domasi?" Chen asked, using his full name to show she knew exactly what he was trying to do. Rolling his eyes, Dom got another plate out and threw it like a Frisbee. Whether he was aiming at Max or for her, she would never know; but she fumbled the catch and it smashed on the floor. Without thinking, Max extended her hand. Instantly, the pieces all merged back together and flew back into Dom's hands. He'd returned to his original position and threw the plate again. This time, Max easily caught it out the air and placed it in front of herself.
"What the hell was that, Dom?" Ellie snapped. "Why would you even do that?" Dom just shrugged and sat back at the table.
"Domasi, this is your final warning!" Chen raised her voice and Dom flinched involuntarily. "You know what's out there since you went out when you were four. Don't make me throw you out there now!"
"What's out there?" Max asked. "I didn't see anything." An ominous hush fell over the table.
"It's a pack of wolves." Rae muttered. "They're largely nocturnal, but there's a lot of them. They're red wolves, so their coats blend in with the sand. It's hard enough to see them coming by day, but you've got no chance at night." As she spoke, Chen was laying the food on the table. Max noticed it was largely lamb based dishes.
"I take it you breed sheep here then?" she asked.
"Yeah, we have some sheep, some horses and a few donkeys." Ellie told her. "There's another place just up the road that's a full-on ranch. They give us some cow meat in exchange for wool and meat from our own sheep." As everyone started eating, it was mostly silent except for the occasional question from Max.
"So are there other tribal families around here?" Max asked.
"There used to be about twenty all over the place." Rae said. "The trouble was they all got scared off…"
"They went to live in the city." Dom cut in sharply. "I can sort of understand it. Not many people want to live in this kind of weather along with the wolves and the isolation. I've been tempted to go there myself to find someone."
"Who are you looking for?" Max asked.
"He's looking for a girlfriend." Ellie giggled. "It's only natural, I suppose. He's a twenty-four year old who hasn't even had his first kiss yet."
"Ellie, hat's none of her business!" Dom snapped. Just then, the house seemed to shake.
"What is that?" Max asked, putting the chunk of lamb meat she was eating down.
"We've got a sandstorm coming." Chen said calmly as Dom, Rae and Ellie got up, grabbed wooden pallets from hooks on the wall and started putting them over the windows.
"They're nothing to worry about." Ellie explained. "They're a common occurrence at night."
"The best thing we can do now is eat our fill and go to bed." Chen said. "Ellie, in the morning how about showing Max where we keep out spare clothes? She can pick out something to wear while I try and repair what she has. Not to mention, they'll help you move around better." As she said the last sentence, she spoke to Max directly.
"I can't stay too long." Max said. "I have to get back on the road."
"Maybe so, but I was wondering if you'd mind helping out here for a couple of days." Chen offered. "You could help us look after the animals, and in return you'd have food on the table and a bed for the night. Who knows? Maybe you'll find something you're after while you're here. This place holds answers to a great many secrets. Some of which weren't even born on this land in the first place."
"Okay then, it's a deal." Max said.