Chapter 07
Blackwell security is as lacking as ever.
It felt strange to Chloe to think that. Knowing her stepfather – one of the most zealous security guards she can think of – works here, Blackwell should be ridiculously secured. However, Chloe and Rachel always had little problems flouting the rules, and the Vortex Club is notorious for illicit substances.
Today? They had little to no issue getting into the boys' dorm. Max, being who she is, snuck cautiously around and always looked everywhere several times before moving forward, but it was completely unneeded.
As it turns out, the students that haven't gone out are locked inside their rooms playing games or whatever. Even the walk up to the dorms was surprisingly clear once they dodged around Samuel who was tending to the landscape.
Max peeks around the corner making sure the coast is clear. Behind her, Chloe twitches nervously waiting for something to happen. Turning back, Max nods to indicate everything is good.
Once they had decided on a plan of action, the next course was to decide who to go along with Max and Chloe was an easy choice. Out of all of them, she was the only one that can't get expelled. One can't get kicked out of school twice, after all. Victoria and Kate were to remain outside on watch.
As soon as they stepped into the boys' dorm, Chloe looks badly at the surroundings. The room map had been so vandalized as to be near useless. The graffiti and vandalism seem to have expanded throughout the entire boys' dorm. Nearly every wall has its share of dick jokes, name calling, and slurs. It's not as if the girls' dorm is completely clean, but the people here are really living up to the gender stereotype.
"What the fuck kind of useless map is this?" Chloe mutters looking at the room map. "The only thing I learned from this is which room belongs to two guys named Daniel and Hayden."
Max glances at the whiteboards besides two of the rooms. "No worries, Chloe. I think we can learn some of it from the whiteboards. The rest is just simple deduction, I think."
Chloe looks at Max hesitantly biting her lips. She moves ahead making a left turn at the corner. "I think it might be here, Max."
"Hm? How do you know?"
"Ah, here it is." Chloe points to a door. "'Prescotts rule this town'. There's our boy."
Chloe tests turning the handle, but it is hopeless. "Damn, the door is locked. We'll have to-"
Max suddenly grabs her arm and turns her around. Her face is pale.
"Chloe. How did you find the door so quickly?"
Chloe averts her eyes. "It's a bit of a long story. We'll talk-"
"That attempted rape you told me about. Did it happen here?"
A silence ensues. Eventually, swallowing, Chloe says, "Yeah, it did. I woke up groggy and quickly made my escape, but I still remembered enough to find the room again."
"Why didn't you say anything, Chloe?" Max wails. "Go back outside. I'll handle this by myself."
This is what she was afraid of when she pointed out the room. She knew Max would try to send her back if she realizes that her attempt assault took place here, but damn it, she wanted to come along. Besides, she's Chloe fucking Price. She's been in much worse situations.
"No, Max. I'm not letting you do this alone."
"Send Victoria. I'm sure she'll-"
"Are you really going to ask me to do that, Max? After what just happened? Look, Max…" Chloe sighs, "I'm not as self-conscious about it as Kate is."
"You can't be-"
"I am serious. Look, lets talk more inside, alright? I don't want someone walking in on us."
"You said the door is locked, though, right?"
The unspoken question was quickly answered when Chloe takes out a pocket knife, jams it into the door, and jimmies it open almost instantly. Impressed, Max follows Chloe inside and they shut the door behind them.
The first thing that catches both their attention is the projector on the ceiling, but that attention is short lived in favor of the numerous other things around Nathan's room that seems to scream. His bed, couch, floor, and desks were all littered with photos of various people in bound posses.
Chloe walks off to the other side all while fingering various things. "What the fuck is all this shit? Does he have some sort of BDSM fetish?" She walks over to a bookcase of DVDs and photos. "Looks at the movies this creeper watches. It's all gore porn."
Max squints but couldn't make out any of the titles Chloe was referring to. "Ugh, it's too dark in here. Let me get the lamp."
"Don't bother. I busted it during my escape."
Chloe flinches when Max's lips tighten realizing she just gave her another reminder of what had happened in this room. However, the brunette doesn't react badly instead choosing to walk to Nathan's drawers to search.
She breathes a sigh of relief only to freeze a moment later when she sees Max pulls a familiar note out of the drawer. She tiptoes a bit nearer to glance over to see if the note is what she thinks it is.
HEY ASSHOLE
we need to talk or
I'm going to tell everybody
what you did and you're going to
pay motherfucker
Chloe mentally cusses Nathan out. What kind of fucking idiot keeps this kind of incriminating evidence around? And right in his fucking drawer?
"What the fuck…"
Max's whisper catches her attention and she looks over her shoulder again to see what she's holding. It's some kind of photo. It looks like-
Chloe's heart nearly stops.
A sickening feeling lurches up her stomach and she mentally cusses out Nathan again. That sick asshole kept a photo he took of her after he drugged her and he also kept it in the same stupid place he kept that blackmail note. What she wouldn't give to stab that asshole once or twice.
Max turns around and stares steadily at her. "Chloe, leave. Leave and just stay with Victoria and Kate."
She knew this would happen. "I said no, Max. Look, I'm alright. Just look at me." Chloe gestures to herself. "I'm pissed, yeah, but I'm lucky enough that nothing happened."
"That's ridiculous. You shouldn't have to see this kind of thing. I wouldn't want to see this kind of thing if it happened to me."
"But I want to, Max." Chloe sighs looking a little tired. "Look, don't send me away. I was really happy you picked me to come with you. Don't make me leave because of something like this."
"Chloe?"
"I just mean…look, we've met again for the first time only, like three days ago and, ever since then, I've been wanting to catch up with you badly. I wanted us to go see the lighthouse again, to hang out at American Rust, to eat at Two Whales. So far, you only visited American Rust for a little bit and then stayed at my house, which sucked too."
"Then this fucking bullshit day happened and I'm feeling only slightly better than trash right now. Don't…please don't make me go. I want to stay by you."
Max's eyes widen a bit and she stares at Chloe who shifts uncomfortably feeling exposed. Understanding flit through Max's eyes and they slowly soften as some sort of acceptance seem to go through her. Chloe only catches part of this being too nervous to look Max directly in the eyes, but she catches enough to be confused as to where she stands and what her friend is thinking.
"Alright, Chloe. Stay by me."
Then Max turns away and begins searching under Nathan's bed. Chloe remains still unsure of exactly what happened other than that she got what she wanted. She runs Max's words through her head a few times, but she isn't sure how to take it.
Hesitantly, she turns away to continue her own search. On a whim, she decided to search around the couch. Well, actually, it's more than a whim as this is one of the places she herself would think to hide something she doesn't want others to see.
Nathan already made it abundantly clear that they don't think alike considering the things he keeps in a fucking drawer, but she hopes he has enough sense to hide worse things elsewhere.
At last, something catches her eyes. "Max, over here. I think I found our boy's hiding spot. There are scratch marks on the floor. I'm thinking he moves this couch a lot and he moves it a lot because he's hiding something behind it."
Together, they simultaneously pull the couch away from the wall. Then Chloe ducks behind the couch and her eyes land on a journal. She peeks inside and notices Nathan writing notes down on various days.
"Looks like little Nate keeps a diary behind here."
"A diary?" Max repeats breathlessly. "Awesome! This could be it, Chloe!"
She wasn't nearly as sure. As she flips through more of the book, she was seeing plenty of blank pages. The few pages that weren't blank look nearly incoherent.
"Slow your roll, Maximus. He didn't keep up with his writing. There are only a few pages of writing, some drawings, and then it abruptly stops."
"Oh." Max says unable to stop the disappointment. "Are you sure it doesn't say anything useful?"
She restarts from the beginning and flips through the book hoping to see anything that might catch her eye. Almost by chance, one of the pages that flew by had some large drawing that gets her attention and she immediately goes back.
"Oh, found something." She says excitedly. "One of the pages here has Kate's and Rachel's name together and circled."
"We already knew they were linked, though." Max frowns. "Anything else?"
"Looking now."
She turns to the page right after. Nothing. It was literally blank. She checks the next few pages. A few had more nonsensical writing before more blank pages. Why the hell did Nathan skip so many pages before writing again? Why didn't he write sequentially like any normal person?
After several more of this, she comes upon something interesting.
"Well, well, looks like step-ass has been busy. There's a page and it's full of Nathan bitching about David fucking with him. Says he's been spying on our boy and questioning him."
Hesitating, Max asks, "Do you think David found out anything about him?"
"I know what you're thinking already." Chloe says blandly while continuing to look through the rest of the diary. "I don't know if he found out anything, but if he did, I guarantee you he won't tell us." She sighs. "The rest of this is garbage."
Chloe throws the diary onto the ground and walks away to examine some things on Nathan's desk. Behind her, she hears Max picking up the diary but she is convinced there is nothing useful in there.
Meanwhile, though, Nathan's desk is full of photography junk. Lens, old fashion film, mini tripods, and more. She rifles through this junk lazily not really expecting to find anything of use.
However, her eyes did land on something interesting.
"Huh, nice, rich boy. I wonder how much this baby will go for?"
Chloe grins to herself as she picks up hefty camera labeled 'Canon'. She doesn't know much about cameras, but she does recognize the brand and she also knows the fit and finish of the thing means that it is likely expensive.
Seems like a small price for rich boy to pay considering the shit he put her through.
"Chloe, no."
She stumbles a bit quickly putting the camera back, then turns around to face Max.
"What? I wasn't doing anything?" She says hoping her face doesn't look as sullen as she feels. "Though it would be nice to be able to pay off Frank…"
That was another foot in mouth moment. She looks at Max's face and she can almost tell the thoughts going through her head. She knows what's coming next.
"Chloe, how much…do you…?"
There it is. She smiles grimly. "Three grand. Not to mention interest."
"Jesus, Chloe."
"Yeah, yeah, I know. Don't nag me too. I get enough of that from my mom." Chloe sighs falling onto the couch. "I made a mistake, Max. I know it. God, I know it. But I was desperate. Rachel said she wanted to leave Arcadia Bay with me, but the only method we had of doing it – my truck – was on the fritz. To get it fixed cost three grand, which I didn't have, so I borrowed it from Frank. I figured I could pay it back once I found a job in Cali."
"I had just gotten it fixed when everything started going wrong. Rachel started getting distant and disappearing on me. It fucked me. I started having panic attacks thinking I was about to lose someone again. She would appear again, but refuse to tell me where she was. When I pressed her about LA, she insists we were still going but she kept putting it off for reasons she wouldn't say."
"Then one day, she disappeared. I stayed in Arcadia and I'm left with a three grand debt."
God, she feels so pitiful right then. How can one person fuck up so often and so badly?
'It's okay, Chloe. We all make mistakes." Max says though her voice is wavering. "I won't let anything happen to you, though. Not as long as I'm alive."
Somehow, Chloe gets the feeling that the kind of mistakes most girls her age makes doesn't involve getting into serious debt with the local drug dealer. She is happy to hear Max won't run in the opposite direction, though.
Trying to work up some humor, she quips, "Considering you're supposedly unable to die, that is very assuring."
The sound of vibration alerts them. Max reaches into her pocket to get her phone. She looks at it a moment, then turns to her.
"Victoria is worried about us."
Rolling her eyes, Chloe gets off the couch and pushes it back against the wall. "I think we got what we need so we're done anyway. Uh, you sure you won't let me nick that camera?"
"Don't, Chloe. We don't need to antagonize Nathan any further. Plus, Victoria and Kate might not like it too much either."
"Damn." She sighs again. "Alright, you win, Mad Max. I'll leave the camera."
She hesitantly puts the camera back feeling as if she got fucked by life again. For a moment, she wishes Max was more like Rachel…who most definitely would be alright with this type of payback. Then she quickly reminds herself of why she doesn't want that to be the case.
"Right. Lets go." Max says. "By the way, that camera is a Canon EOS 5D. You see that nifty, elongated lens at the bottom right of the drawer? That's a Sigma lens. It's probably worth twice as much as the camera."
Chloe glance back at the drawer in surprise, but quickly shakes it off. "If I ever decide to steal stuff from Victoria, I'm taking you with me, Max."
She gets up behind Max as the latter peeks outside the room. After a moment, she gives a hand signal and they both quickly head for the exit. Outside, they're hardly ten feet from the door when Victoria and Kate rush up to meet them.
"Did you guys find anything?" Victoria asks.
"We might have a few leads." Max says nodding. She looks up at the now dark sky contemplatively. "It's pretty dark now, so I don't know if we should continue or wait until the next day."
"I want to keep going." Chloe says quickly. "Lets follow one more lead before turning in."
Max agrees. "Yeah, I'm willing too. Victoria? Kate? If you guys don't want to, we can find out what we can and pass on the info."
"Don't be ridiculous." Victoria says. "Of course I'm going. I want to find out what's happening as quickly as possible."
"I want to too." Kate says. "I feel like we're on the precipice of finding out something important. With God watching over us, I think we'll make good progress tonight."
Smiling at all of them, Max says, "Thank you all." She clears her throat. "Anyway, like I said, me and Chloe found a few leads. We found Nathan's diary. In it, he has a page where he circles Kate's and Rachel's names."
Kate purses her lips in distaste but says nothing.
"We also found a page where Nathan rants about David Madsen spying on him. It may be possible that David has some kind of information on him."
Victoria touches her lips. "The security guard, right? Huh. I remember that. Nathan came to a Vortex party once, got drunk, and began yelling about him. Later on, though, he went to Wells to get the guard off his back. What did this guy do exactly?"
"The diary didn't say." Chloe shakes her head. "All it had was whining and cussing about spying, questioning, and harassing. It didn't go into any real detail so we have no idea what happened."
"There's also one more thing. The rest of the diary is mostly just random ranting and stuff, but on one of the pages, Nathan complained about 'a barn'. Here, I took a photo with my phone. I'll send it to you all."
Chloe looks at Max in surprise. There was really something else useful in there? But what the hell is useful about Nathan bitching about a stupid barn? When Max pulls up the photo and text it to them all, she quickly pulls out her phone to check it.
It was a photo of only a few lines.
Stpd fucing barn
Road will destroy my car
Gotta finish math hmwk
Hate fucking deer
What the hell does this even mean? It's like a random, stream-of-consciousness bit that makes no sense whatsoever. For all Chloe knew, he could be complaining about something from a video game or a movie.
The only hope she has at all that this might have any use is that she's positive Nathan isn't into farming.
Once she gave them time to look at it, Max ask, "Victoria, do you know anything about this?"
"A barn." Victoria repeats blandly. "I have no clue. He never mentioned anything about that. What about it?"
"Well, it's just really a hunch on my part. It stands out because he randomly mentions a barn in the middle of other basic stuff and I just thought it was a weird. Plus, barns are pretty good for hiding things, right? I figure it's possible we might find something if we do a search there."
"That seems like a long shot." Victoria says sighing. "But I suppose it wouldn't hurt to cover our bases."
"Where is this barn?" Kate asks.
Max coughs a bit. "That's where the problem comes in. It was literally only those words with no information whatsoever."
Chloe groans. "Maximus, this is Arcadia Bay. There are probably a million farms all with their own barns around. We could probably go into a random direction and stumble upon on in a half hour."
"I don't think it's that bad…" Victoria begins. "…but this is definitely too vague. It would probably take us days just looking through all the barns in the area and we'll probably still find nothing."
"You're both right." Max shakes her head sadly. "I don't know why I thought following such a lead was a good idea. I don't even know if there's any real substance to it or if Nathan was really just complaining about a barn for no particular reason."
"Can we use GPS maps?" Max, Victoria, and Chloe turns to Kate. "If Nathan is hiding something in a barn, then it would probably be a secluded one, right? We can use GPS maps' satellite images to just find the most secluded barns in the area and try there."
"That's…a great idea!" Max hugs Kate. "Yes, lets do that!"
"That's still a pretty long shot, you know." Victoria mutters, though she also seems more satisfied. She begins leading the way towards the parking lot. "Do you know how to do this, Kate?"
Kate takes out her smartphone and begins searching. "Yes, I travel to a few out of the way places regularly so I learned how to do this. Just give me a few minutes."
"Gotcha." Chloe nods. "So guys, my truck?"
Victoria grimaces. "Fuck no. I don't need grease all over my clothes on top of everything else. We're going in my car. Try not to get yourself all over the leather seats."
Almost as soon as she begins to feel heated and ready to lash back, a hand touches her own. Max's, of course. "Chill, Chloe, she doesn't mean it. Beside, Victoria's car does have space for more people."
Chloe mutters something under her breath but acquiesces. Once they reach the parking lot, Victoria electronically unlocks the car and gets into the driver seat. Chloe calls shotgun before jumping in. Kate and Max go inside the back.
"Did you find anything yet, Kate?" Max asks.
"I looked around and there seems to be only three that might be it. One of them is so deep in the woods that it's surrounded by trees and there doesn't even seem to be a road. It looks like you have to hike there."
"What about the others?"
"Another one is on a farm. A very large one with a huge field. There is what looks like a red barn near the backend of it. There's a paved road leading to it but we'll have to drive for 30-40 minutes to get there."
Kate continues after hearing no comments, "The last one is also deep in the woods but it's clearer. There are a lot of hills around and there's a dirt road leading up. It's kind of weird, but it also has a powerline up there."
"A single barn in the middle of nowhere with powerlines? Is that normal?" Chloe asks.
"Well, the first one I talked about didn't have any, but the second did."
Victoria hums to herself. "The second sounds pretty normal, though, just far away from town. That last one, though, is also deep in the woods with only a dirt path but still has power. Are there any other buildings around it?"
"One right next to it, but nothing else for miles around. No houses, stores, or anything."
"Can you see if the building is abandoned?"
"GPS maps isn't that accurate, Victoria. The only thing I make out is some sort of rusty looking car there and nothing else. No fields or anything."
"This one." Max says. "I say we try this one. The fact that it caught all of our attention the most should say something, right?"
"It could just be a coincidence." Victoria says. "We're using our feelings too much instead of doing things based on real knowledge."
"Well, we're doing this based on a hunch to begin with. What's a few more? We got nothing to lose." Chloe says.
Victoria sighs in annoyance. "I guess you're right, Price. Alright, lets go."
Kate set the coordinates into her phone and spent the entire ride giving Victoria directions. She only stopped when they came upon a narrow dirt path large enough for only a single vehicle at a time. The ride through was bumpy to say the least and, more than a few times, the underside of Victoria's car grinded against the uneven path causing her to clench her teeth. Sufficed to say, a sporty luxury car is not the type of car designed for such roads.
Chloe looks outside scowling. It had already been dark by the time they left Blackwell to go on this search, but Blackwell had street lights. Combined with the light from houses and stores, Arcadia Bay is generally well lit even during night time.
This area…isn't.
Not only are there no lights whatsoever, but even the light from the stars and moon is dimmed by the numerous trees. Not that she is afraid of the dark, but all the same, she is glad for the presence of her friends.
After what seems like an eternity due to the slow speed Victoria was forced to drive at, they come to a worn down building adjacent to a windmill and another worn down building. Both appear to be abandoned.
They all stare at this scene in silence until Chloe takes the initiative to get out. Victoria follows after then Max and Kate.
She wanders up to the building and didn't hesitate to begin pulling at the doors. "Holy shit, there's a padlock here. Why the hell does this need to be locked? What the hell is even out here?"
"Can you even really store anything in here?" Victoria says examining the building in distaste. "Even in the dark, I see there are fucking holes everywhere. If it rains, every inch of this place will probably get covered."
Chloe wonders over to a rusted car off to the side looking at it blankly. She also looks at the silhouette of a building a bit away. Completely dark and noticeably decrepit. What kind of place is this? Why are there two buildings like this in the middle of nowhere?
"Hey." Victoria calls. "There are tire tracks beside the door."
Chloe walks over with Max and all three bend down to look as Victoria shines a light from her phone on it. Not being a detective or anything of the sort, she couldn't make much from it other than that it is, indeed, tire tracks and that means a car must have been here.
"They look like tires from a larger car." Victoria says uncertain. "They also look aged, so it's been a while since it's been here?"
"You don't sound too sure, Victor."
Victoria shoots a glare which she isn't sure can even be seen. "Because I am unsure. I'm not fucking Sherlock Holmes."
"Everyone! I found an opening!"
They all jump at Kate's loud voice. Heading into the direction it came from, they find Kate holding a large rusted metal sheet covering an opening into the barn.
"Seriously?" Victoria mutters. "A large padlock on the front door but an easy opening on the side?"
Chloe grins. "Who cares? Their fuck up is our win."
She, of course, runs in first. As soon as Chloe steps in, she spots a wooden chest and jumps on it to see its content. She shines the light from her phone around the chest trying to see what's inside.
"What the fuck? It's all worthless news clippings. All about the Prescotts. Prescotts does this, Prescotts does that. Why the hell is this here? What shit."
"No, Price." Victoria says. "This is a good thing. Apparently, Max's hunch turns out to be right and this proves it. Who else but the Prescotts would keep such a thing?"
"Huh, I guess you have a point." Chloe pauses a moment to say then resume her search. "Still, I hope there's more than just this bullshit here."
A loud creeking sound stops all of them. Their attention turns above to see where the noise came from. There appear to be some kind of small second level platform followed by a third level larger platform. On the third level platform is the silhouette of some kind of small vehicle that is very close to the edge.
A few minutes later, the creek comes again and, this time, it is clear the creeking is coming from the boards right under the vehicle indicating that it may be decaying.
Max lets out a relieved sigh. "Whew, that made my heart pause."
"I'm going to search the rest of this place." Victoria says after getting ahold of herself. She turns on her smartphone light.
Max and Kate both take the cue and turn on the light on their phone too. Each person wonders off to a spot to do their own searching. Kate moves over to a table near the entry and rummages around.
"There's a photo here of Henry Prescott." Kate calls out.
"I also found something else." Victoria's voice flits out from behind a tractor. "There's a box here full of letters from various Prescotts. One is a letter threatening someone to pay their debts, another is a letter about buying real estate on the cheap because of some kind of bad storm, and there's a lot more."
Sighing in relief, Max remarks, "If there's any doubt that we found the right place, I guess we can put it to rest now."
"I'll give it to you, Super Max. Your sixth sense beats mine." Chloe laughs. "Still, why the hell is all of this here? You seriously expect me to believe Nathan is keeping nostalgic scraps and hiding it in an old barn in the middle of nowhere?"
"You did find the info from his diary, didn't you?" Victoria asks. "Still, maybe it's a family thing. Maybe he complained because his family forced him to help move stuff here?"
"You might be right." Max says. "Still, I don't want to think we came all the way out here just for that. Lets keep searching."
Chloe sighs. "We should have come out here during the day. It's dark as shit and my phone light isn't helping much. Plus it's going to run out of battery at this rate."
"We'll just do a little more, Chloe. I'm positive we'll find some-"
Max's word is abruptly cut off by the sound of a car arriving. They all look at each other in horror. On reflex born from many similar experiences, Chloe immediately starts hiding in the closest area she knows, which meant she decided to jump right into the wooden chest she was examining and close the lid.
As she was surrounded in darkness trying to calm her heart, she immediately thought of jumping back out, grabbing Max, and pulling her inside the chest too, but the sound of shuffling outside the chest clues her in that everyone else must be finding their own spot. She prays wherever Max is ends up being the place they never think to look.
An unbearable silence falls inside the barn. Slowly, voices begin to filter in – voices of two men. Then the sound of the padlock on the door being unlocked and the barn door opening.
Through a sliver of opening in the chest, light comes in. Chloe leans up slightly and tries to look through. The light were coming form what looks like car headlights and she can also see two men holding flashlight looking around.
"Alright, come out now." A voice calls out. "We know you're there, so stop fucking hiding."
Of course, his command is ignored. The sound of footsteps is loud in the fearful silence.
Another, hoarser voice appears. "See? Lets check that place. That car might be Nathan's."
"I told you, dumbass, Nathan doesn't drive that car. No, he didn't buy a new one either; I just saw him a few days ago."
"What about Jefferson?"
"Not him either. Would you stop it already? Beside, you can see the trap door ain't even open."
It took a minute before it hit her. She knows that name – Jefferson. This is the name of Max's teacher and also Rachel's teacher when she was in Blackwell. It doesn't make any sense at all, though. What would Max's and Rachel's teacher have to do with a Prescott-owned barn in the middle of nowhere? What would he have to do with the Prescotts at all? Or Nathan?
Whatever it is, it can't be good. Chloe doesn't like it in the slightest and, once she gets out of here, she wants some fucking answers.
"It's the only thing that makes sense. What kind of person that drives a nice car like that would come to a shitty place like this? And in the middle of the goddamn night?"
"I don't know and I don't care, but we're-" A creeking sound echoes out. "What the hell was that? It sounds like it came from over there."
She can damn near hear her heart thumping and she sends many prayers hoping that isn't one of girls. Not even Victoria. These two jackasses look like people straight from comic book villains and they sound like it too. There is nothing good that's going to happen if they find one (or all) of them.
"What the fuck is this? Why is there a hole in the side of this place?"
"I told you somebody was here! If it was Nathan or Jefferson, you think they'd go through this way? No, it has to be somebody who doesn't have a key."
"Son of a bitch. If we don't find out who it is, Mr. Prescott will have our hides."
Another creeking sound, but this one came from above.
"Where the hell is that sound coming from?" There is a pause. "Fucking hell. Look up there. The sound is coming from that old motor. I think the floorboard is bad or something."
The other man sighs. "Well, the sound is nothing, but still, we know someone is here now. Billy, go get the gun and slice the tires on that car too. We don't want them going anywhere. I'll do a search."
"Gotcha." After a set of footsteps fades off, the man talks audibly as a beam from a flashlight swings around. "Now where is my little friend here? Come out and we promise we won't even call the police."
"Come on. Come out!"
A loud kick is heard nearby the chest she is hiding in.
"Come on, come on…found you!"
Chloe's heart skips a beat at that, but the man lets out a muffled curse later indicating he looked in the wrong place. His footsteps begin reverberating again. Almost unconsciously, Chloe fingers the back of her jeans and feels the familiar shape of the revolver she's carrying.
This does a lot to calm her. She's been carrying it for a while now ever since she stole it from David – initially for fun and because she hated David's guts, but it later became a means of protecting herself against some very real people who seriously wants to hurt her for various reasons.
She had enough sense to ensure no one, especially Max, ever noticed it, and it's now paying off. If something were to happen, she can jump out and get those guys to back off. Peacefully or violently. She can finally do something right for once.
Another set of footsteps. "Alright, I got the gun. Did you find anyone?'
"Does it look like I did? Still, there's not too many places to hide here. We'll split up. You cover the other side and I take this side. If you find-" Another creek. "-anyone, do not shoot them right away. I want to question them."
Oh shit. They have a gun too. Chloe was really hoping they didn't.
And 'right away'? These guys sound like they plan to kill whoever they find. Why? There's nothing fucking valuable in here! It's just a bunch of letters and news clippings!
Footsteps sound out again as they continue searching. One of them steps nearer to her chest, but doesn't look directly at it. Another one walks off to the side looking around.
"Christ, this place creep me the hell out." The platform creeks again. "And that creeking sound is making things worse. Why do we have to come here so late at night?"
"Because we were told to. Now shut the hell up and keep searching."
One of the light is now gone and Chloe silently wonders to herself where everyone is hiding. She didn't even bother to listen to where they may have run off to more concerned with hiding herself.
The only bright side to this is that she knows they won't immediately kill anyone they find, so she-
Her chest suddenly flies open and she finds herself staring wide eyes up at the face of one of the men. She scrambles trying to reach around her back to grab the revolver but he grabs her before she could do so causing her to let out an involuntary scream.
She struggles but he lifts her out of the chest effortlessly holding her by her neck, then slams her against the wall causing her head to bounce against it making her sight blur for a moment. When she gathers herself and look into his smirking face, she attempts to spit at it only to have him dodge.
"Let go of me, asshole!"
His smirk only widens. "Lookit here. We have a rebel on our hands." She struggles some more futilely. "What the fuck are you doing here, bitch?"
"None of your goddamn business. Get your hands off me!"
He lets go of her. As she tries to straighten herself, a fist slams into her stomach knocking the wind out of her. Pain blooms from inside her and she feels as if she's about to vomit up her guts. Chloe doubles over sucking in breaths coughing and wheezing.
When she is able to catch her breath, she looks up at them feeling fear inside of her growing bigger and bigger.
"I'll scream." She says shakily. "I swear I'll scream."
"Go ahead. You know where we are. You think anyone will hear you?" Chloe doesn't respond. "What the hell are you doing here?"
She thinks about the revolver again. Can she grab it and aim it in time?
"I…I was waiting for some friends. We were going to use this place to smoke out. I swear I didn't know anyone was still using this place."
One of the men cursed. "Does that mean a bunch of kids know about this place already? And they're coming here too? What the hell do we do?"
"I'm going to make a call. For now, though, keep an eye on this girl. If she does anything, kick the shit out of her. If she tries to fight back, shoot her. You got that?"
"Yeah, I got it. Just hurry back, alright? I can't stand-" The platform creeks again. "Goddamn that creeking! Anyway, just come back quickly with some rope so we can tie her up. It'll be too risky without it. I don't even know if this gun works."
"The hell you mean you don't know?"
"It's a shitty gun I got at a pawn shop, okay? I never tested it."
"Goddamn it, Billy. Shoot somewhere and try it then."
Another creek. "Alright, I think I know where to shoot."
A deafening shot rings out causing flinch and duck her head. Once the echoes died down and her ears stopped ringing, she notices the creeking from before is worse and louder. She slowly lifts her head again.
"Smart. You made it worse." More heavy groaning from the platform. "You even hit the damn wheel. Next time, just shoot at the wall or floor, dumbass."
The man begins walking away, but the creeking followed by the sound of something breaking stops him.
"What in the hell now?"
There is suddenly a loud crashing sound from the top. Before Chloe could even react, the platform above breaks apart and the machine the guy shot at comes crashing down. It breaks down the lower platform and lands with a loud crash. Simultaneously, a deafening shriek rings out.
Chloe pales recognizing who the shriek belongs to. She was hiding underneath the platform?
The two men runs over and one of them tries to cover her mouth to shout the screaming.
"Shut up! Shut up!"
Chloe scrambles over. "Get your fucking hands off her!" She kicks his hands away causing him to shout in pain, but she ignores him and bends down holding onto Max's face. "Max? Max? Answer me!"
Holy fuck, there was so much blood spilling out of her mouth. The machine landed right on her legs and lower back. She has stopped screaming, but her eyes are shut tight with tears flowing freely indicating how extreme the pain she is in. Her skin is also losing color quickly and she's struggling to breathe.
From behind her, the man shouts, "Christ, you lying bitch. Your friends are already here, aren't they? Where the hell are the rest of them?"
Chloe ignores his question. Facing him in panic, she shouts, "Hospital! She needs a hospital, man! Fucking call an ambulance!"
"Shut up!" The man shouts slapping Chloe so hard her head snaps to the side. "You want to help her? Tell me where the rest of your friends are and I'll get her to a hospital." Chloe ignored him turning back to Max trying to give her whatever comfort she could. "Give me the gun."
The man takes the gun from his friend, then walks up and points the barrel at Max. Chloe pales. "Tell me or she dies."
"Fuck, no, please, don't shoot her. I…I was lying before. I swear I-"
"No, you're lying now. One last chance – tells me or she dies."
Chloe opens and shuts her mouth uncertain on what to do. Before she could say anything, though, a deafening shot rings out and the man screams clutching his stomach as he collapses. The other jumps back in shock turning around.
"Don't move. Unless you want to be next." Victoria says stepping out of the shadows aiming a handgun. "Now toss me the keys to your car. Chloe, grab Max."
She stares at Victoria in shock. "What the hell? You had a gun?"
"Now's not the time, Price!" Victoria yells exasperatedly. "Grab Max now!"
Chloe jumps over the still screaming man and takes a deep breath before lifting the machine off causing Max to moan softly in pain. "Max? It's okay. I'm here. I'm going to pick you up then we're going to a hospital, alright?"
Leaning down and slowly maneuvering her arms under Max's body, she lifts her up causing short gasps of pain. Chloe tries to be as careful as possible despite the panic flowing through her. Once she has Max up, she calls out.
"I got her, Victoria!"
"Good. We're leaving." Victoria says backing up as she stares the still standing man down. "You fucking stay there or I'll put a bullet in you too. Kate, come out. We're leaving now."
The other girl meekly peeks out from her hiding place and slowly gets out. Her wide eyes flit shortly to the bloody man gasping heavily on the floor as she runs over to Victoria's side.
"I'm going ahead."
Chloe heads out the now opened barn doors holding on tightly to Max. Victoria glares one last time at the still standing man then turns to run as Kate follows behind her.
"F-fuck you!" The fallen man curses them reaching for the gun he dropped after getting shot.
The curse went unheard, but seconds later, a shot is fired. It hits Kate in her shoulders. She collapses screaming as Victoria turns around in shock.
"Fuck!" Victoria shouts.
The blonde blindly aims her gun towards the barn and return fire. Her attention is broken, though, when another shot rings out but from a different direction. Victoria snaps her head towards the side of the barn where the other man is standing having escaped through the side entry. He is holding up a handgun he had hidden on his body.
He fires two more shots towards Victoria who ducks and blindly fires back. After hearing the first shot that brought Kate down, Chloe had already ran behind Victoria's car to take cover. Gently placing Max down, she pulls out her own revolver and fires a single shot towards the standing man before ducking back.
A moment later, Victoria scrambles around the side of the car falling into cover beside her.
"Fuck, fuck, I can't believe this shit!" Victoria shouts hysterically. "Shit, how many bullets do I have left? And you! You had a fucking gun all this time? Why didn't you get it out before?"
"I didn't have a chance to!" Chloe's eyes widen a little. "Wait a minute. Where's Kate?"
Victoria becomes silent as her wide, frightened eyes glaze over. A response is unneeded, though, as Kate's pained cries can be heard now that the shooting has died down.
"You left her there, Victoria?!"
"I didn't have a choice! Fuck! I tried to go get her, but he kept shooting at me! I lost it when two bullets grazed my hair!"
Chloe slumps against the car in fear and disbelief. She lays a hand on Max's head and shivers seeing that the girl has now become quiet and her breathing is getting slower. There is blood all over Max's body and her own too. Max's face is getting increasingly clammy.
"Victoria, I think Max is losing too much blood. She feels cold and she's trembling. She needs medical help fast."
"I know, damn it, I know. Kate needs help too. But what the hell do we do? I think I wasted half the magazine already. The other guy might have more bullets."
"Who cares? Just fire what you have at him!"
Victoria snarls at Chloe, "And what if I run out? What the fuck do we do then?"
"We fucking throw bricks if we have to, Victoria. Look, if you don't use it, we're all fucked, especially Kate. Do you hear her crying for help right now?" Victoria grows quiet at this hearing it very clearly. "You fucking owe her, Victoria. For all the shit you've pulled. Get the fuck out there and grab her."
Victoria snarls. "Fuck, fine! Just back off me! I'll run out and try to grab her. You're going to cover me, right?"
"Yeah, I will, but hurry the hell up. This is a six shooter and I already shot one bullet."
"If you run out, then start throwing bricks!" The blonde shouts. "If I fucking die or get shot out there, I fucking swear I'll save the last bullet for you!"
"Enough, already! Just get out there!"
Victoria hesitates a moment, then peeks her head out to make sure the coast is clear. Taking a deep breath, she then scrambles out rushing towards Kate. She makes it over and Kate is crying and moaning in pain, though she is still conscious and aware. She wraps her arms around Victoria's neck as the latter scoop her up. Before they could get off the ground, though, a shot is heard and a bullet hits the ground a little ahead of them.
"Chloe, fucking shoot him already!" Victoria shrieks nearly losing grip of Kate. "Shoot him!"
At the car, Chloe already spotted the guy and was taking aim, but Victoria's yell actually caused him to be aware of it. She cussed and started firing hitting the side of the barn causing him to duck back and return fire. Victoria finally made it back just as she fired off three bullets.
She snaps back into cover and stares at her revolver worriedly. That's four bullets total. She has only two bullets left. If Victoria wasted half her magazine, then that means they have maybe eight or so bullets between the two of them. Fuck.
Victoria drops beside her and turns around bearing her teeth. "Fuck you, Price!"
"What?"
"You call that shit covering? We were nearly shot out there!"
"Hey, I almost got him if your shouting hadn't given him a warning!"
"When would you have? After he finished shooting me and Kate?"
"Look, lets not get into this now, alright? Max and Kate are badly hurt. We need to find some way to get them out of here and to a hospital."
"I'm listening for ideas, but I'm all out of them. These cocksuckers slashed the tires on my car."
"Can't we just drive with it? You can afford new fucking tires and rims later!"
"Are you out of your fucking mind? The rims would tear to pieces before we drive a mile and we wouldn't even move anymore!"
"Fuck!" Chloe falls against the car. She breathes heavily. "Those guys have a car. Lets take theirs."
"I'm waiting for an idea on how."
Silence. "I'll be bait."
"…bait?"
"I'll approach the barn and draw him out. I'll open fire, but if I don't get him, you do. Okay?"
"You'll seriously do this?" Victoria says her eyes almost showing some level of respect. "Really?"
"Max fucking needs help, damn it. I wouldn't be able to forgive myself if I let her die here."
"Alright, I got you. Once you leave, I'll keep hidden behind the front of the car. "As soon as I see him, I'll start shooting."
"Alright. Good. That's good."
Chloe says this though she feels nauseous. It's a lot easier sounding brave than doing it. She leans down beside Max who is now completely silent and very pale. She stares a moment at her face and strokes her cheek.
"Don't worry, Max." She whispers. "You'll be alright. We'll both be alright. I'll get you to a hospital."
Somehow, the words meant for Max helped her nerves instead. Feeling stronger, she moves over to the tail end of the car passing Kate on the way who nods at her and whispers 'be careful' through a pained hiss. Without looking back – afraid that she might lose her nerve – Chloe shoots out from the car rushing over to the abandoned one.
She falls on her stomach there and peeks underneath the car towards the side of the barn. The other guy is standing there with his eyes closed as if offering up a prayer to the sky. Seeing an opportunity, she takes aim and fires a bullet.
Chloe cusses when it misses and alerts him instead. He looks around confused, then peeks his head around the barn. Chloe fires again missing yet again and he turns to stare directly at her. He then returns fire as she ducks behind the car tire. She blindly fires her last bullet over the hood of the car and, of course, it misses too.
Cussing repeatedly, she wonders why the hell hasn't Victoria open fire yet. The guy came to the realization she's out of bullets and is now freely returning fire rapidly. Suddenly, he stops too. Chloe peeks around the car and sees him removing the gun magazine. He's out of bullets too.
Then he fumbles around in his back pocket and, a moment later, he takes out another magazine.
Chloe quickly looks around. Spotting a large rock, she grabs it and makes a dash for the guy who's still fumbling with his gun. He looks up in surprise and she leaps at him making an overheard swing with the rock. She hits him right on the head and she hears a crack as the two of them fall over.
He collapses over unconscious as blood pours down his head. She pauses a moment in surprise that her speedy plan worked.
Gathering her wits, she searches his pockets and finds a set of keys in one of his shirt pockets. Clutching it tightly, she runs back to Victoria's car slowly growing angrier and angrier.
"Goddamn it, Victoria, why the fuck didn't you shoot!"
When she rushes to where they were, though, she freezes in horror. Victoria was leaning over Max's body giving her CPR, but Max wasn't responding. A feeling of dread quickly rises inside of her.
"No…no, no, no no." Chloe mutters repeatedly.
Victoria hears her and looks up. "A-after you left, I noticed she wasn't breathing. I checked and she doesn't have a pulse or a heartbeat either. I think she-"
"No, no, no, no! Shut up!" Chloe shouts. "Shut up, shut up, shut up!"
She rushes over pushing Victoria off Max. Maneuvering her arms underneath, she lifts her up and moves towards a dirty Civic parked behind Victoria's car. She opens the back door using the tips of her fingers and gently places Max's body in, then rushes into the driver's seat.
Victoria rushes over and was just barely able to get Kate in the back with Max then get in herself before Chloe gets the car turned on and stomps out of the area.
"Slow the fuck down! You'll get us killed!"
Chloe ignores her and continues a mad rush down the path. She drifts onto the main road and speeds up to make it to town quicker. It had taken them three quarters of an hour to reach the barn, but she is sure she can get back to Arcadia and the hospital in thirty minutes flat. She just needs Max to hold on until then.
"Chloe, she's dead."
"Shut up, Victoria!"
It took her a moment to realize it was Kate that said that, not Victoria.
"I'm sorry, Chloe." Kate continues her voice strained with pain and sorrow. "I'm so sorry, but she's dead. She's not breathing or responding."
"I don't want to hear this. She's not dead. That is a lie."
The rest of the frantic ride is quiet. Eventually, they make it back into the main area of Arcadia Bay, but Chloe didn't feel any less tense. She rushes into the hospital parking lot and slams the brakes in front of the entrance doors.
Both she and Victoria get out right away. She grabs Max while Victoria grabs Kate, then they rush inside. The hospital lobby was quiet and almost entirely empty save for a nurse getting water sitting at the desk. She looks up in surprise when they burst in.
"Help! We need help!" Chloe shouted at the top of her lungs. "My friend had a large machine fell on top of her!"
"And another one here has been shot in the shoulder." Victoria cuts in.
The nurse quickly gets on the phone and says something quickly. Several agonizing minutes later, other nurses begin appearing carrying stretchers. They help assist placing Kate onto one stretcher then wheeling her away.
As one nurse helps Chloe places Max on the stretcher, her eyes widen slightly and she glances up at Chloe before turning her eyes away. She whispers something to another nurse who then begins checking her. A moment later, she sighs and turns to Chloe and Victoria.
"I'm sorry, but your friend is dead."
"No, she isn't." Chloe cries. "I want to wait until a doctor gets here."
"One has been called and is one his way here. We will wait for his confirmation…but your friend…she has no pulse and her blood pressure is nonexistent. If nothing else, she isn't breathing."
There is something wet on her face. "She can be resuscitated. We got her here quickly. There's still time!"
The nurse nods in sympathy and whispers something to the other nurse before they began wheeling Max away. Feeling lost and confused, Chloe slumps into one of the chairs putting her face into her hands. She becomes so lost in despair that the rest of the hospital disappears from her mind.
She feels a hand on her shoulder and someone sits beside her. "Chloe, do you have the phone number of Max's parents? I'll call them. Give me the phone number for Kate's parents also. Yours too, for that matter."
"Max isn't dead." Chloe repeats though her voice has lost all emotion. "She isn't."
"Neither is Kate or you. I'm just calling all our parents to let them know we're in the hospital."
"I'll call Vanessa and Ryan myself. I'll also call my mom later." Chloe mutters. "I'll call them to say we're all alright."
"Of course. I…" Victoria takes a deep breath. "Look, we're still not friends or anything. I still hate your guys, but, uh, I know how you feel. This whole detective shit we were playing is fucked now. I didn't sign up to get shot at and see my friends killed over a fucking barn. I wouldn't feel right if it ends here, though. Not like this."
"Get to the point."
"I'm trying to say that, if you want to get together after all this for, like, a comfort outing or some shit like that. I wouldn't mind it. Like I said, I know how bad this can be."
"…how can you know?" Chloe says wiping away at her face. "I lost my fucking best friend a few months ago and now I'm losing another one. This whole fucking town is going to swallow me up after. My mom doesn't give a shit and no one else does either. How could you understand?"
"I do understand." Victoria insists. "I did lose someone else I cared about. In fact, I lost two also."
Confusion comes over Chloe. "Who?"
"A girl named Megan and Rachel." Victoria sighs heavily. "The difference between us is that I caused their deaths. I'm responsible for it. God, I'm such a fuck up."
Chloe wipes at her face again and stares at Victoria. "You…you do care about Rachel? You do care that she's missing."
"I hate her fucking guts too, but God, I also fucking miss her. At the time, I was wishing death on her everyday…and she fucking goes and actually disappear completely." Victoria smiles blandly. "That's my problem, Chloe. People who gets too close to me tend to die off. Become my friend and it'll happen to you too."
Snorting, Chloe turns away. "I don't exactly have a great record of people close to me staying alive either. Aside from Rachel, my dad fucking died in a car accident. Now I might lose Max and add to that list." She sighs. "The only good thing is that my asshole stepdad might catch the curse too." She pauses. "Wait, I take that back. If he really ends up dying out of nowhere, I'll fucking feel guilty."
Victoria chuckles. "Well, would you look at that? Looks like we do have something in common besides being Rachel's bitch. Ain't that right, Chlo?"
Chloe scowls. "We're not friends, so don't act so familiar."
"I know." Victoria gets up off the seat. "Again, though. If you want to get together after this, I wouldn't mind it so much." She turns away and heads down the hall towards where they wheeled Kate. "One thing, though. If you ever bring Megan up in my presence again, I'll fucking cut your throat."
"Likewise with Rachel!" Chloe shouts as Victoria walks off. "God, I just bonded with Victoria. I've hit a new low."
She puts her face back in her hands feeling overwhelming exhaustion, though she didn't want to rest for a minute. Some unaccountable time later, a man hurriedly comes through the door. He glances at Chloe briefly before rushing past down the hair towards where Kate went.
Chloe feels her heart clench. Is he a doctor? Is he the only one coming one? And he's not going to look at Max at all?
She was still staring down the hallway when the intercom comes on alerting all available nurses to come to the ER. A few minutes later, two nurses come from one of the hallways. Chloe recognizes one of them as the one that talked to her about Max.
They were muttering to each other as they rapidly walk away. She didn't catch most of it, but she did catch something about a room number.
Without thinking, she gets up and walks down the hallway they come to looking for the number she heard. When she got there, she walks right into the room not caring about anything.
Inside, she sees a body being covered by a blanket.
Trembling, she walks over and lifts the blanket off the face. Max. Her beautiful visage is so still. In the silence of the room, Chloe stares down at her friend and tears come to her eyes. She pulls a chair from the side up to the bed and sits down.
"H-hey, Max. What's going on?" No response. "I decided something. When this is all over and you're out of the hospital, lets forget all of this. Forget Nathan, forget that fucking barn, and this whole stupid investigation. Yeah, lets forget Rachel too."
"Instead, I think we should leave Arcadia Bay. Together. You and me." Chloe coughs haggardly wiping at her eyes. "We'll go to Los Angeles." She pauses. "No, not Los Angeles. I don't think I like it there. Instead, we'll go to San Francisco. That's your type of place, right? All artsy and stuff."
"I can see it already. You'll be opening an art gallery or something. Is that what photographers do? Or do you guys, like, publish magazines or what? Well, it doesn't matter to me. Whatever you want to do, I want to be there with you."
"I…I think I love you, Max. Please. Please don't leave me."
She pulls the chair up closer waiting for the moment when Max wakes up again and she can say everything she just said to her.
