"To the center of the city where all roads meet, waiting for you, to the depths of the ocean where all hopes sank, waiting for you", the radio was blaring in Chloe's truck. Max seriously wondered about Chloe's choice of music, considering where they were going, "In the Shadowplay acting out your own death knowing no more", was this intentional? Max didn't know. She knew it wasn't something she'd listen to. But it was Chloe. And, Chloe was...Chloe. Who seemed to be back to herself, which was strange to Max considering last night she had held a blade to her own wrist and contemplated doing more than just holding it there. But then...Chloe was Chloe.
"Chloe are you…alright?", Max asked, genuinely.
"WHAT", Chloe yelled back, across the cab.
Max reached over and turned the morbid music down.
"Chloe, are you…feeling alright, I mean, all things considered?"
"I'm fine, Max. For now anyway. You witnessed a rare Chloe Price human moment last night, they happen, hella surprising I know", Chloe grinned, very subtly.
Max couldn't help smiling, despite the seriousness of the situation, "And what are you usually then, if not human?"
"A scary punk ghost, obvs", she shot back.
"Well, you are pretty scary sometimes."
"And pretty punk all the time. And pretty all the time. Pretty In Blue was about me, you know."
"...it's Pretty In Pink...and has nothing to do with you or...anything."
"Shhh, Max."
Max sighed. It was actually good to see Chloe acting like herself again. She didn't know how long that would last, they didn't have much farther to go until they were home. Or, whatever was left of home.
"You haven't eaten in like a day dude, here", Chloe said, shoving the backpack full of random junk food across the bench seat. There wasn't much left, aside from mini-cherry pies. Chloe refused to touch anything with cherries in a way that was actually hilarious to Max, going so far as to dump the contents of the bag out and pick through them to avoid them.
"And you're a thief. But at least you're a cute thief", Max said, through a mouthful of some sugary, processed cherry thing.
"...cute? I'm offended, Caulfield", Chloe put on her best faux-offended tone.
"Shuddup, Chloe", Max laughed. It was good to laugh.
"I think you mean badass."
"Badass, cute, pretty punk thief."
"That's better, Max."
They laughed.
This won't last, she'll leave you again, or worse, Maxine, you know it. I know it. God knows it...if he's even still paying attention to us after what you did.
Was that….doubt I heard?
Don't say I didn't warn you.
If you say so.
I do, Maxine. I do.
You know, you are starting to get less intimidating. Losing your edge.
Just wait and see what happens, Maxine.
If you say so.
"MAX", Chloe yelled, "ARE YOU WITH ME HERE?", sometimes Max seemed to get lost in her head, Chloe hadn't asked what that was about, yet. She didn't think it was a good topic to bring up. She would eventually, I mean it couldn't be crazier than Rachel coming to her in a blackout dream, could it?
"Yeah, sorry, I was just thinking."
"Nothing good ever came of thinking, Max, I never think and I turned out great."
Max laughed again, "You turned out perfect, Chloe."
Chloe had no response, other than turning her head to hide the blushing.
"Okay so, seriously, like, what's the plan here, Max, I know where we're going, but beyond that i'm kinda lost."
"I think we just need to go back. I feel it. Like…."
"Destiny? I was afraid you were gonna say that."
"Your word", Max replied gently, "but yeah, something like that. I think we should see what...actually happened. And try to find out if anyone made it."
"Well, someone had to, right, I mean….", Chloe almost regretted throwing the radio away. Almost.
"Someone had to, I just hope it wasn't…", Max trailed off again.
Chloe knew that look.
"Max, he's dead, he has to be", Chloe knew Mark Jefferson had done something horrible to Max, but not specifics. She didn't really want to know, she already wanted to gut him from the balls to the chin, based on what she did know. Plus what he'd forced Nathan to do to Rachel, and what he'd done to Kate Marsh.
Chloe didn't know Kate very well, she had actually caught Chloe stealing out of the church's collection box, last Christmas Eve. Chloe had no reason to be there other than to steal from the collection box. Kate could have called the police, or yelled, but she just said a prayer and asked Chloe to put it back politely, which she had. Chloe had talked to Kate a few times since then, she didn't agree with her religion...especially now, but she liked Kate as a person. A friend, maybe, in another life. And now she's gone.
"I know, I just keep thinking, what if he was down in his lair when the storm hit?"
"And he's been down there, what, eating his film? For days? The fucker is gone, Max."
"Maybe. I still don't know though, i'm...scared."
"Max, even if he somehow were still alive, he's going to have to go through me to get to you."
Max winced. She saw Chloe getting shot in the head by Jefferson again, in her mind.
"Chloe, just swear to me you'll be careful and stick with me."
"I swear, Max. Oh….aaaaaand one….other thing."
"What?", Max wasn't sure she liked where Chloe's tone was going.
"You aren't going to like it. We have to go to the lighthouse, if we can. I have this feeling."
"I'm never going back up there, Chloe, not after-"
"Max. Please. Listen to me. In my dream or whatever it was, that was where I talked to Rachel. She started to say something she couldn't finish, and it's been eating away at what's left of my sanity ever since. Maybe it was just a dream. I don't know. It didn't feel like a dream."
"So you want to see Rachel again", it was a statement, not a question, Chloe was sure she perceived Max edging slightly more to her own side of the truck cab. Is Max jealous of a dead girl?
"Not like that, Max. At all. I want an answer to something", Chloe stated flatly, "that is all."
Max decided to change the subject. She was deeply confused by her own feelings, the kiss last night, and the way they'd been sleeping the last couple nights. And an awkward shower at some beach along 101. At least there's no more blood in my hair, i'm not sure why Chloe felt the need to take one at the same time, though.
"So if Arcadia is like, quarantined or something, no one in or out, how are we going to get in, I mean, we've passed what, a couple humvees, a few ambulances, which is more traffic than we have seen in the last three days, but it's still not much."
They were still far enough away that they were in kind of a dead zone, with the evacuation and no large cities nearby. Chloe had already been considering this, she knew it was going to look like a warzone, and not just from the damage of the storm, when they got closer.
"My dear Max, we improvise, like every good pirate", Chloe's devilish grin was back, for the first time in a while. Max didn't realize how much she'd missed it, "The name is Chloe Price, Captain Chloe Price."
"Dork."
"Hipster."
They were about 3 miles out of Arcadia, the damage to the surroundings was much worse, the closer they got. Max had fallen silent again. Chloe was smoking again. The road was mostly clear, but now they were starting to pass through emergency stations, police cars, fire vehicles and FEMA trucks, though. So far they hadn't been stopped, though Chloe had slowed the pickup to a crawl, and they were getting a lot of strange looks, no one stopped them though, they were busy with their own disasters.
They know what you did, Maxine. That's why they are staring. They all know you did this. They all blame you. You and your precious junkie.
No. They are staring because they are wondering what the fuck two young girls in a ratty pickup are doing going into a disaster area.
They know. Everyone knows. They probably have wanted posters up all over, plastered over Rachel's "missing persons" posters.
That doesn't even make sense, you're reaching now.
What about any of this has made sense, Maxine?
"MAAAAAX", Chloe cut Max's internal argument short again.
"Huh...what?"
"Trouble", Chloe said, she seemed more concerned than she probably should have been.
Max realized they had stopped, one corner from being able to see the town, she could see the broken lighthouse on the cliff in the distance, towering over the town, though. Beautiful even in death.
There was a state trooper car behind them. And an Arcadia Bay Police car in front of them, "nowhere to run, nowhere to run, nowhere to run", Chloe was repeating under her breath.
Max knew Chloe had run ins with the police before, and a whole shitload of outstanding traffic violations, but she didn't know exactly how acquainted she was with the Bay's Finest, pretty well, based on her reaction now.
"Chloe calm down, they're just going to ask why we're here, we just say we're from here, and we have friends and family here."
"And that we've been cruising around an evac zone for days because we caused this and didn't know where to go or how to come back or when to come back or if it was over or-"
"CHLOE, CALM DOWN. Just...please, for once, stay calm", Max pleaded.
Chloe took a deep breath, "Alright, alright."
The Arcadia cop knocked on the truck's driver side window, breaking Chloe's trance. Well if the pigs made it out, maybe some people actually made it. She rolled the window down painfully slowly.
"May I ask what you two girls are doing here, this is a disaster area, no civilian traffic", the cop stated, robotically.
Chloe had pulled her beanie down as far as she could and still hadn't looked up to face the officer. Max started to speak, when, to her surprise, Chloe looked up and faced him.
"Jesus fucking Christ, Price? Madsen's kid? Is that you?", his tone less robotic now. Chloe recoiled at David's name.
"...hey….Jimmy….I", Chloe stuttered.
"Officer Leone, Price. But Christ, how did you...why are you out here...nobody has seen you in days, everyone thought the worst."
"Well, i'm still alive, thanks to Max here."
Max stuttered, don't bring me into this Chloe, "Uh...hi, Officer...Leone, was it?"
"Aren't you one of the missing Blackwell Students? God, i'll escort you two in, i'm warning you now though, it's not pretty. At all. I don't know how long you've been gone, but I figured you had skipped town again, Price, I mean, we may have some things to talk about in the future."
"Is petty fucking vandalism really so important right now?", Chloe asked, her attitude back.
"...I guess not, but you know, laws and whatnot, honestly, i'm really just glad to see you both alive. Madsen is going to be ecstatic."
"...David...David is...ALIVE?", Chloe asked, her attitude gone again, "alive...David is...alive…"
"Hell, David has taken charge of a lot of recovery efforts, after...well, i'll let him tell you. Come on, follow me" he waved the trooper ahead, who gave him a blank look and shrugged, then pulled out and drove up the highway. The cop returned to his car, and started to drive forward, slowly. Chloe followed. Still dazed.
"Chloe, David is alive, he's alive, not everyone…"
"I know, I know", she said, oddly dismissively.
Joyce, she's thinking about Joyce, fuck.
"Chloe don't panic yet", she instinctively grabbed Chloe's hand, to her surprise, Chloe grabbed back, digging her blue nails into Max's skin. It hurt, but it was proof Chloe was here, with her.
They passed through several checkpoints, military, Red Cross, something, Chloe wasn't really paying attention, Jimmy doing all the talking. Chloe was thankful for that. The closer they got, the faster her heart was beating, and she was aware on some level she was probably breaking Max's hand, but she needed something to keep her grounded.
They rounded the final bend.
They'd seen the damage on some level before, but now, in the early afternoon light, coming back into the...it wasn't really a town anymore, but whatever it was, was worse than either of them had imagined.
"...Jesus…..Christ", Chloe muttered.
"I don't think he is going to help us, Chloe", Max said, tears in her eyes.