"You've got to be fucking kidding me."
Max wondered what had upset Chloe as she crawled out from the bed of the truck with her box of belongings. Placing it back down at the very back of the truck's bed, she made her way across the parking lot to the edge of the vacant lot of land where the relief housing had been setup. Just beyond she could see dozens of small housing units in near little rows, surrounded by a chain link fence. Next to the entrance was a small guard house with a dozing security guard and a simple sign that read:
Prescott Parks
Temporary housing for Arcadia Bay
Her own box on the ground, Chloe got right up to the sign and looked around it as if looking for more text somewhere else on the thick and dark stained wood sign. "Are you for real with this shit? What will it take to get rid of these assholes?"
Max felt her own throat tighten at seeing the name Prescott on the sign. With the discovery of the dark room, she had hoped that Sean Prescott would be brought down by association, but it seemed like she had been too hopeful there. She wanted nothing to do with the man if she could help it. Knowing he must have had some idea of his son's dark twisted fetishes left her terrified of what the man must be like in person. Nathan had done terrible things, but he had also been extremely troubled and without the help he needed.
Sean Prescott was the one who could have held the reigns on his son and decided not to for his own gains. He had known how sick Nathan was and that hadn't bothered him enough to act. In her mind, he was every bit as culpable for what had happened in the dark room. She had really hoped it would have seemed that way to the authorities as well.
Swallowing heavily, she shook her head and looked around at the murmuring crowds the blue haired girl was attracting with her truly impressive string of curses. Stepping up behind her, Max placed a hand on her friends shoulder, "Come on, Chloe. Let's just get our stuff inside, okay?"
The girl whirled around, her eyes bright with emotion at the head of steam she had built up. Her mouth opened as if to respond to argue with her, but she seemed to notice the pleading look Max was giving her and the attention of the crowd around them. She let out something between a groan and a growl, her hand coming up to drag her beanie down off her head as she let go of some of her anger. "You going to be cool with this? I mean, after everything that happened, you know?"
Max could see her friend was floundering a bit, trying to avoid bringing up the dark room around her and around others. She wasn't sure how she felt to be honest. Part of her wanted to scream her anger at the world for letting Sean Prescott get away from what Jefferson had done down in that room, whereas the other part just wanted to run and hide. An image of Jefferson's camera in her face, his hand reaching out to shift her clothing to just the right angle for a shot...
"Yeah, I'll be fine." She lied, trying to ignore the images in her head. "Besides, even if he got his name on it, its our place now. That is the important part."
Chloe sighed, "Damn it. Fine. But if I tag this sign later, you better not turn into a snitch on me or anything. I'm not above petty revenge."
"Wouldn't dream of it," she said, smiling at her friend's attempt to try and lighten the situation.
'Hopefully this is just the man's last ditch effort to save face in town.'
Going back to grab her box from the trick, Max followed Chloe through the throng of people into the rows of buildings. For such a short notice, the entire place was surprisingly well designed. The homes were assembled out of what appeared to be fairly light weight wood paneling, stained to give an aesthetic that each unit was more like an actual little home. And while they were built quite close together, building materials and supplies were being stored between each building. It made the space feel a bit crowded, but she supposed it was a good way to help insulate each unit to keep in sound and heat.
Off at the edge of the lot she could see a few water trucks parked on the other side of the fence, a few hoses running underneath some of the chained links, bringing water into the various units. Not too far from them a crew was working to connect water pipes from beneath the city to the lot in hopes of providing a more consistent source of water for everyone. They had been warned that while the houses did have individual tanks for water, they would be rationed during their stay and there was a high likelihood of temporary water shortages and lack of hot water as it was being divided among so many homes.
'Sharing showers in the dorms was bad enough. At least having my own cold shower beats out having to dodge Victoria in the bathroom.'
As the thought passed through her head, she realized she would have to ask after the other girl. She hadn't seen her since the storm, and she was to thank her for her help in the dorms. She was also curious how she was coping with her temporary capture by Jefferson, though she doubted the girl would feel comfortable sharing that with her.
"Max! Over here! Number 48, Chateau Pricefield."
Rolling her eyes at her friend, she hurried her pace to catch up with the other girl, coming to stand in front of a very series of steps leading up to an egg shell white door set into a tanned wood wall. Placing her box down, she took a moment to take in the sight of their new home.
It wasn't a large building by any means. It was only about fifteen feet on a side and maybe nine feet tall, with a small electrical box attached to one side, about three feet off the ground. It also had a single hard plastic window in the front that seemed well positioned to let in a bit of light throughout the day. All in all, it looked quite similar to the entire row of homes, aiming more for function over style. But as they had lucked out with a unit on the end of the row, nearest to the fence, they did have a large oak tree not too far away. Its high branches few remaining brown and gold leaves casting a nice mottled shade that gave their home more life than she had anticipated.
Despite the initial drama at the entrance, she could feel herself getting excited by the moment. She could see that Chloe seemed similarly excited at the prospect of having their very own place and was dangling her set of keys from her fingers as she grinned like the cat who caught the canary. "Ready to check it out?"
"Hells yeah."
"This is so kickass," Chloe said, putting her key in the lock and wiggling it about until the lock turned. She pushed open the door with one arm and stayed standing outside, motioning for Max to go in first. "After you."
Max stepped inside, spinning around as she moved forward to try and look at everything at once. She felt giddy as she took it all in. Everything still looked brand new, and she could even smell that new fabric and pine wood smell lying heavy in the air. The room itself seemed to be divided into two spaces, with a slight pinching near the middle that broke up the little space they were standing in from the bedroom in the back of the unit. To her left there was a tiny little kitchenette, with a small counter top sticking out from the wall that contained a single gas range burner and a sink. Just below it she could see a mini-fridge, as well as a place to insert a small gas tank to power the stove top. Attached to the wall and ceiling above the sink were a few small cupboards they could use to store their food. Just inside the cupboard she saw that whoever had been nice enough to setup their unit had also included a single gas tank, a bag of rice, and a few other cans in the cupboard.
To her immediate right was the door to the bathroom, which only went back about six feet into the room. While it was slightly cramped, it definitely had all the necessities, and the shower even had a tiny tub at the bottom to keep the water from spilling out. 'That is also a really cute curtain' she thought, eyeing the curtain with cartoon designs of armadillos rolling down a hillside. 'No idea where you find something like that around here either.'
The back half of the room was taken up primarily by their beds, which were pushed up against the opposite walls. A single thin rug was placed on the wood panel floor between them to give it a slightly more comfortable feeling. Between the two and pressed up against the back wall was a simple desk, on which she could see papers left there by whoever had put together the unit. In them she saw a few instructions about how to use the small generator outback for electricity and who to contact if they had any issues.
It was cramped. It was a bit flimsy in places. And it only barely had access to the basic necessities. But Max loved it. 'This is Chloe and mine's space now.'
Max had enjoyed the freedom of living in the dorm, but that had still felt controlled and not quite adult. But this was her first real place to her own. Even if it was rented and even if she had a room mate, it felt like hers and that made her feel just a bit more adult than she had a few moments ago.
"I call dibs on this one," Chloe said, throwing her bag on one of the twin beds. She immediately flopped down on the bed, lying on her bag and grinning like a loon.
"Hey! No fair!"
"You snooze, you lose Max. You'll just have to enjoy the crappy bed over there."
"You suck," Max said, grinning back at her friend as she put a hand on her hip. She offered a hand to help pull Chloe off the bed. "Come on, lets get the last of our stuff from your truck and get everything setup."
Chloe reached up and grabbed Max's hand, and she pulled the girl to her feet, only to use her weight against her to spin around and land on the bed she just got out of. "Looks like its mine now."
"All right, bring it bitch."
Max might have felt bad for their neighbors with all the laughing going on, but she was too preoccupied with defending herself from a tickle happy Chloe to care. If there was one moment she wouldn't need a photograph to relive, it would be this one.
A bit of a shorter chapter this time around. I actually had written quite a bit more, but the rest of the original chapter needs a bit more TLC to get to a place I am happy to upload it, and this is the next best logical stopping point.
Next chapter should be done soon. Some darker topics are on the horizon, as well as some of that promised action. So stay tuned.
Clear Skies,
Rylkan
