Chapter 7 Too Far Gone
Chloe
June 10th, 2006
10:45 AM
Tillamook State Forest
Tillamook Camping Grounds
It was feeling like the longest hike ever just to get to our campsite. Carrying my load behind my back was heavier than carrying all the textbooks in the school library. Max was wearing Alex's Indiana Jones hat on her head since she let her wear it. Dad, Mr. Caulfield, and Max's Uncle were ahead of us on the hike since we started walking. It was also hot as hot-balls hiking out here. Guess that's why we come prepared with water bottles. I took a sip of mine as my clothes were drenched with my sweat.
"Dad, are we there yet?!" I whined. "We've walked for a thousand miles now. My feet are murdering me."
"We're there when we're there, Chloe," said Dad. "Ask again and you'll spend another week grounded."
"But Dad-"
"No 'but Dads'. You wanted to go camping. This is where we are."
"Perhaps, Mr. Price," said Alex. "Chloe here needs a little inspiration for her taste. I've been hiking with my dad since I was four-years-old. I've been traveling the world with my dad since I was seven-years-old. With all those years of experience I've had in doing so, Chloe could use an expert in getting her feet dirty."
"Oh, please," I said. "The Indy-Jones wannabe is only exaggerating."
"Trust me, Chloe," said Max. "She's not."
"Not listening to you. La, la, la, la."
"Will you three pipe it down!" Mr. Caulfield muttered. "One more bicker and you'll find yourselves going home!"
"Here we are," said Max's uncle. "The campsite is in our site."
We had all stopped right in front of a cliffside. Where we had gotten the view of the Wilson River at last. Finally, someplace where we can rest. My feet felt like they were about to fall apart into a pile of bones. Question is, how do we get down from here to the river?
"Interesting view, isn't it?" Alex asked. "The Wilson River. I love it."
"Ugh, finally," I said. "A place where my feet can relax."
"Don't get your feet too comfortable just yet, Chloe," said Bryan. "We still need to get down there, unpack our gear, and set up the tents for us to sleep in."
"And how exactly are we getting down there, Uncle B?" Max asked.
"You're all not gonna like it," said Bryan. "But we're gonna rope across."
"We're gonna what?" I thought.
"Bryan, are you serious?" Mr. Caulfield asked.
"I wish I weren't, Ryan," said Bryan. "But it's the only."
"Come on, Bryan! We have the kids with us. You know it's too dangerous for them."
"Not for Alex it isn't. I've taught her well how to climb up and down with ropes."
"Well, you've never taught Max nor Chloe well how to do that. There's got to be another way."
"There is no other way, Ryan. I've already mapped these camping grounds properly enough to know there isn't. Perhaps Max and Chloe will need all the education about rope climbing the can get from me. Maybe some from Alex too."
"You've got to admit, Bryan," said Dad. "Your brother does have a point. We came here to go camping. Not mountain climbing. We also promised Joyce and Vanessa we would make this trip safe for them too and I doubt neither of them would approve of what you're proposing."
"Trust me, Bill," said Bryan. "We're not climbing mountains. Only a ten-foot slope. The wait we're also carrying shouldn't affect our balance either. I'll help the kids get hooked up and I'll tell them how to use the climbing gear. They'll be climbing down the bottom scratchless before you know it."
"Perhaps I can teach my cousin and friend a few tricks of mine on the rope?" Alex asked.
"Absolutely not, Alex. If we want to keep our promises to your Aunt and Joyce, that would be ill-advised. Now, who wants to get hooked on first?"
"Just when my feet were about to wear out," I said.
Chloe
July 22nd, 2017
10:29 AM
Mediterranean Airspace
Mediterranean Sea
I wake up on Bryan's plane. Passed out from a few hours of sleep since I couldn't get any last night. Not after the harmful truth, I unearthed yesterday evening in Max's hotel room in Rome. Max's uncle named Bryan was flying me to the Chrysalis vessel called the Oregon. The place where there was a sanctuary for war refugees and where Mom was staying with Max's and Rachel's parents. I had texted Mom earlier I'd be going there instead of Uncle Aaron's and Aunt Linda's.
On the plane, I was flying with Rachel, Frank, and Max's Seattle friends Fernando and Kristen who I haven't met until now. Fernando was wearing a cast around his leg since was broken during Max's secret mission after just leaving the hospital.
I was still torn about Max's lie. Three years at peace from the travesty Max and I had gone through and only just now does she bring it all back to us. For all I know, I could lose another person I care about in the blink of an eye in a war like this. It must've felt so great having a normal life with Max at last. It feels like a trillion years since Mom walked through the front door of my old home and told me Dad was killed. A trillion plus years since Max and I dug Rachel's body double and watched that storm turn Arcadia Bay into a wasteland. And a trillion quadruple years since Max, Rachel, and I survived a battleground in Portland. What is next for me to suffer after everything Max and I have worked so hard for us to establish a normal relationship?
"Hey," said Rachel. Sitting next to me on the plane. "You okay?"
I refused to answer and turned away. Knowing that she was in on Max's secret, I couldn't bear to look at Rachel either.
"You know," she said. "I didn't do this, Chloe. Max did. In fact, I've been reasoning with her about it since. And she chose to ignore me. It's her should be pissed at. Not me."
I still didn't speak back to her. Instead, Rachel decided to drop it and change the subject. By announcing a special day of hers that not everyone on this plane knew about.
"Guess what, everybody," she began. "Today's my birthday. I'm now twenty-three years old."
"Is that so?" Fernando thought. "Well, Feliz cumpleanos, Rachel."
"Happy birthday, Rachel," said Kristen.
"Then I should say happy birthday to you as well, Rachel," said Bryan while flying the plane in the cockpit.
"I'll never forget my lioness's special day," said Frank. "Sorry I couldn't get you present since Max dragged us along."
"No worries, dear," said Rachel. "I got myself a little present I thought we could share."
Rachel pulls the present out of her bag and it's a bottle of Italian red wine.
"Behold," she said. "Lambrusco Grape Variety. All from Rome, Italy."
"Where did you get that wine, Rachel?" Frank asked. "How did you even pay for that without the right money?"
"Got it from a store across the street from our hotel before we left. Used some of Bryan's euros he lent us for the trip to buy it."
Rachel opened the cork and proposed a grand toast to the passengers.
"To all of us," she began. "And our bravery for Max's journey."
Rachel got the first sip of wine as the birthday girl and swigged it down. Frank got the second swig. I got a third. Fernando got the forth. Kristen got the fifth.
"Want any Bryan?" Kristen asked.
"Your offer is appreciated," said Bryan. "But I'd appreciate it more if I flew sober."
"Fair enough."
Kristen gave back the whine to Rachel. I'll never forget the first time her and I took a swig of stolen wine at the overlook park.
"How's your leg, Fernan?" Rachel asked.
"It's gonna be a long time before I won't be needing this cast anymore," replied Fernando. "Six months to a minimum is what the doctor said."
"If it hadn't been for Max," said Kristen. "Fernan would've been more than injured."
"It's cute you all can enjoy a sip of wine for birthday girl today," I said. "Too bad I'm still broken up about Max shutting me out for the second time in a lifetime to even care. God, it feels like I don't even know her anymore."
"Your ass wouldn't even be alive if it weren't for her," said Rachel. "My ass wouldn't even be alive if not for her. Do you really think after all this time, you have the audacity to not only kill the mood of my birthday but say you don't even know her anymore?"
"You think I don't realize any of that? Max didn't just lie to me about the job, she lied to me about a family secret of hers that she's kept from me since she first left me. When I got to that hotel room to find all that junk about the Ark of Genesis and blah, blah, blah, I didn't know why or how it would interest Max, but it sure didn't look like a Vancouver job when I got there."
"You clearly weren't with us when we were fucking around with Max and her big cousin," said Frank. "We met some ghost witch in King Arthur's palace who says Max is the chosen one. Got shot at and captured by ConDicks. Max and Alex almost got their asses blown up on an airborne cargo plane. All that just to learn about her ancient prophecy."
"Max believes she's a descendant to some ancient secret cult named the Herd of Whales," said Rachel. "Previously known as the Order of Saint Loomis. Something that began centuries ago during the Arthurian era. She believes it's all connected to her time power and why it was given to her. Frank's right. Perhaps if Max had the bravery to let you in on this, you might understand this better."
"And what exactly is the driving force that made Max break her promise she was getting good at keeping?" I asked.
"It was Alex who came to Max. Her cousin. It was Alkaline and his ConDef army with ties to the herd that started this war. Persuading Max to help Chrysalis win it against ConDef. But that's not all. A Prescott is leading the herd. Joanna Prescott. Sean Prescott's sister and Nathan Prescott's aunt. The Prescotts are part of the herd family trees. As well as the Crosbys, Jeffersons, Ranikovs, and now the Caulfields. And most of all, like Chronos the god of time orchestrating the Triple 4 attack, we now have Ares the god of war becoming the catalyst of this conflict now."
"Rachel, that's enough. I'm not sure how much more of this nonsense I can take. First, a snowfall turned bird and whale masochism turned tornado storm. Then, a portal in the sky ending the world. And now…ugh – I don't even know how to live with this anymore after everything! Everything!"
"Chloe, why don't you grow a fucking pair learn to live with this! Don't you think I'd rather be out there with Frank living my dream?! Not in the middle of this war I can't! I told you and Max before. Whenever you'd need me, I'd be there. And here I am being there as promised. So, for once make Joanna, Alkaline, and Ares the guilty party and stop blaming everyone else for your feelings!"
"You're really gonna dictate how I feel about this by pointing fingers at Joanna, Alkaline, Ares, or whatever motherfucker you bring up?! After Triple 4, I wanted to believe it was over for us then and there. And now that Max is at it again, my dad, the storm, the trial, Triple 4, its all for nothing!"
"You've certainly have changed drastically since I first met you in the Tillamook, Chloe," said Bryan. "Here me out miss, I can't imagine having to lose a father the way you did all those years ago. Only now, I'd like to offer you my condolences for that."
"You don't have to, sir," I said. "That was a lifetime ago and that's the last thing I'd like to bring up right now."
"I know, but just listen. Though I never knew your father well enough after the camping trip, I respected him in a way I did. There was a time when I suffered a great tragedy as well. Back when Alex was presumed dead when she and Max snuck out behind my back for something they should've never done. There's so much more after that being the reason, I brought my niece into this that you cannot understand. Not without Max's understanding. Perhaps when you two see each other again, she could tell you more. Sigh…and there's so much I'm keeping from her that if she ever knew, I can't even contemplate how she'll react."
"'If' I see her again," I said. "I sure hope to understand better than I want to. And to think I could've lost her for good on that tower."
"I would die for Max, Chloe," said Rachel. "I was prepared to on that tower. I'd do it again if I had to. We're not too far gone, you know. We're still the same people we were in Arcadia Bay no matter how much or little we've changed since. The more things change, the more they stay the same."
I was beginning to remember more of Max's cousin now. Especially the time I went camping with her and Max. Somehow it was all coming back to me now since Bryan had brought it up. A little more so then when I saw my girlfriend's cousin and uncle back in that hotel room.
"Alex," I whispered to myself.
Note: Blame binging through Star Wars: The Clone Wars, mid-terms I had troubles with, and a lot of games that have come out in the recent weeks I've been wanting to play. Still may have troubles with college, but that may all be over soon. The sooner it is, the better time I can make up writing these chapters.
So just stay cool, everyone. And of course, stay tuned and golden!
