"I'm not sure there's any other solution besides hiding out and outlasting the tornado."

Max considered Kate's conclusion. Truthfully, Max had no idea how devastating the storm would be. She had seen only a glimpse of its destructive powers, but even that glimpse scared the crap out of her.

Warren spoke up. "I suppose that's our best option. If the storm really is accelerating like I hypothesize, then we have almost no time to get people to evacuate. The best thing we can hope for is to convince people to hide out."

"Yeah," Chloe spoke up. "But where the hell are we going to find shelter from a massive tornado?"

The obvious answer was, of course, the Dark Room. It was heavily solidified and could possibly withstand the storm, but there were too many awful memories for Max to go there. She could tell with one look that her friends were considering it, but none of them wanted to say it out loud.

"I know!" Kate exclaimed. "One of the churches I used to go to was built in the 1950s! There is a bunker underneath that was meant to outlast nuclear blasts. I'm sure it will survive the storm."

The four friends considered the solution. As if on que, all four nodded. Chloe spoke up, "I never thought religion would save my ass, but I'll hand you this point, God."

Kate wasn't sure how to take this sentiment, so she took it as a joke. Chloe shot her a playful smile, which Kate returned.

"How many can the bunker fit, Kate?" Warren, always asking the obvious questions. Useful, but obvious.

"Max? About 12-15 people."

"Interesting, I'm sure we can have others hunker down with us while the storm passes."

"There's one thing we're forgetting," Max couldn't help but outburst. The other three stared at her in confusion. Max almost wanted to scoff at their forgetfulness. "What are we going to do anout Jefferson?"

"Good thinking, Bat-Max," Chloe nodded. "We need to teach that fucker a lesson."

"I'm not sure that's a great idea, guys," Warren spoke up sheepishly.

"Why the fuck not?" Chloe angrily retorted.

"We're at a Catch-22. I suspect that the tornado is coming tomorrow. If we go after Jefferson, that will leave us no time to prepare for the storm. If we spend all our time preparing for the storm, well, who knows with him."

"You're saying that we shouldn't go after that ass-clown because you guess the tornado is coming tomorrow?" Chloe's fury could easily be heard across the junkyard.

Kate tried her best to break the tension. "As much as I want revenge, Warren's right. It took you two at least two days to get Jefferson. And even then, you died a good 2 or 3 times. Max was captured multiple times too. And the tornado still almost killed all of us."

"Max?" she turned to Max. Hopefully if she had Max backing her up, Chloe could convince Warren and Kate to see her way.

"As much as I hate this, Warren's right, Chloe. Our first responsibility is to save our loved ones. Jefferson will pay, but he is secondary. And don't even think about doing anything on your own, Chloe. Last time you did that, you were almost captured and killed by Nathan Prescott."

Just like that, Chloe's rage was all but snuffed out. "I hate it when your boyfriend is right."

"Hey! I'm right here you know."

Max gently patted his hand. "Relax, baby. She is right though, you do get a little hard to deal with when you're right."

As Warren tried to object, Chloe fake gagged and wretched. She addressed Kate with a sigh, "Disgusting, they're in the 'affectionate nickname' phase."

Kate smiled angelically. "I think it's cute."

The couple felt mutually embarrassed but they shrugged it off. Max stood up and let go of Warren's hand. She stretched and felt several of her joints pop. Jeez that felt good. "Alright, first stop is Frank's. I still have to fulfill a promise."

"No," Chloe objected. "If you go, I'm not going."

"Why not?"

"How am I going to look at that bastard, knowing that Rachel cheated on me with him?"

"Chloe, Frank didn't know you two were together. Just like you didn't know she was with him. He deserves to know just as much as you that she's gone. Rachel wasn't perfect, but she fell for two people at once. I'm sorry, Chloe, but I made a promise."

Chloe considered her argument for a minute. Finally, she changed her mind. In a quiet voice she spoke out. "Fine. But I want to tell him."

"No, Chloe. I-"

"I'm not going to start a fight, Max," she said. An undisguised somber tone surprised the group. "I know what it's like to fall for two different people. Let me do this."

Warren awkwardly shuffled his feet while Kate and Max looked at the girl confused. "Uh, sure. Yeah, you can do it."

"Thanks, Max."

The others stood and stretched just like Max. Night had just begun to fall, and the gang was ready to leave.

"What are we going to do about classes?" Max thought out loud.

"Don't you remember? Because of the Vortex Party has to set up for Thursday, classes are cancelled tomorrow." Warren answered.

"Be quiet, guys," Chloe muttered. She had a sudden seriousness to her voice. "Do you hear something?"

Suddenly, their ears were raped with the booming sound of a gun. A flash of blood departed from Chloe's cheek. As they all tried to recover, a man stepped out from the shadows. Mark Jefferson had made his appearence known. He was wearing a casual white shirt under a grey coat. Blue jeans covered his legs and boots on his feet.

"Strange the things you find in the junkyard."

The others were so shocked by his appearence they couldn't say anything. Well, except Chloe. "What the hell are you doing here?"

"The simple answer, Ms. Price, is our friend, Max. I knew Nathan was here earlier. After his fucking mistake with Rachel, I put a tracker on his phone. I know where he is at all times. Now, I heard you four. I don't know how you found out about my art, but knowledge comes at a Price."

"You're not killing Chloe!" Max shouted.

Jefferson turned to her with cold eyes. "You're correct Max, I'm not going to kill her."

The four couldn't help but give the teacher confused looks.

"When Chloe dies, no one will care. Just another depressed dilenquent with far too much to handle. You three, on the other hand, will be missed. Sorry sweet Kate, but I already had a photo op with you. Max, you have the gift." He points the gun at Max and roughly grabs her by the wrist.

At this point, Max truly understood how it felt to be powerless. She could do nothing but watch the events unfold. She wished more than anything she could still rewind. But the events moved on, like a horror movie slowly unraveling before her eyes. Eyes that were filled with moisture. Tears slowly fell down her cheeks. She turned her eyes to look away from her friends, especially Warren. She hated seeing them in danger like this. Hated herself for not being able to stop this.

"This is what is going to happen. Chloe, enraged that her lover Rachel is dead, turned on her new friends." He dragged Max over to stand behind Chloe. "Then, turns the gun on herself. Max, in her despair, goes off and kills herself. Ironically, right next to the body that started it all. Of course, you'll die after the storm, but we'll be safe and sound during, won't we Max?"

The sweet tone in his voice made Max want to projectile vomit all over his perfect clothes. She didn't know he was capable of such joy. "I think we'll start with your new boyfriend, huh, Max? I can't wait to photograph you in your pure state. I can imagine it: the grief, the despair, the hopelessness, all drawn like a van Gough portrait across your face. I can see just a glimpse of it now." He licked his lips in anticipation. The act sent a shudder down Max's spine.

"Are you ready, Price?"

He let go of Max and roughly grabbed Chloe's hand. "I brought some insurance." He pulled a second pistol out of his jacket pocket and directed the barrel at Chloe's blue haired head. He opened her palm and gave her the first gun. "If you try anything, I will put the bullet in you myself. Then, of course, I would have no other choice but to hurt Max. Nothing awful, just enough to remind her that you caused the pain. It doesn't have to be like that. Point the gun at his head, and shoot him.

Chloe looked at Warren with wide eyes. He returned the glance. He was practically shaking with fear. His eyes moved over to look at Max, presumebly for the last time. Max forced herself to look at him. The image breaking her heart in two.

"Max… I-"

"Run Warren!" she shouted.

Oof. The swift knee to the gut drove the breath right out of her lungs. She collapsed, stomach first, to the ground in pain as she heard the distant shouts of her loved ones. Her ears rang with the pain.

"That's just a warning." Jefferson's calm voiced creeped out. "Next time, it won't be a knee.

I'm tired of waiting, kill him!"

Jefferson drove the barrel further into the back of Chloe's skull. A tear rolled down Chloe's cheek after she bit down hard on her tongue. The last thing she needed to do was make a cutting remark. She tasted blood. "I'm sorry," she whispered to Warren. She aimed, closed her eyes, and prepared to pull the trigger.

Max's tears flowed freely. She couldn't watch. What was possibly the love of her life was going to die right in front of her, and she was powerless to stop it.

Bang!

Max let out a cry. Through the ringing of her ears, she felt rather than heard a thump right next to her. Which didn't make sense. Warren wasn't that close to her.

She looked up, and was stunned to find that Jefferson was lying belly first on the ground. A pool of blood was slowly spreading from his lower back. "How?"

She rolled over to her back, still grimacing in pain, and saw Nathan Prescott slowly walk towards them.

Chloe heard a bang, but it wasn't from her gun. She wasn't dead either. What the fuck just happened?

She never wanted to shoot Warren. He was kind of a dork, but he had become a great friend in the short time she really knew him. He also really made Max happy. She knew his death would destroy her, perhaps more than her own. Yeah, maybe Max didn't get specific about her mourning period. But Chloe was perceptive enough to sense how devastating her death was. It was a sobering thought.

She knew what Jefferson was forcing her to do would break Max. Though what could she do? The fucker was still going to kill all three of them anyway. And he was still going to take Max. She knew that he was telling the absolute truth when he said he was going to hurt her if Chloe didn't comply to his wishes. With one look in Warren's eyes, she could see he understood. He was afraid, she was too. He was also brave, Chloe was not. When she whispered an apology, she truly meant it. He had saved Max, in a way, now she had to kill him.

Then, when she heard the gunshot, she flinched. Thank god her finger wasn't actually on the trigger, or else she knew she would've pulled it. Somehow she maintained the hold on the gun, but silently thanked whatever God out there that she was alive.

She opened her eyes to find Warren was also still alive. She was thankful for that, but she also noticed that he was staring behind her, a strange look on his face.

She turned and spotted the shocking sight of Nathan Prescott. At first she was filled with rage, but when she saw his gun she stopped. She looked at the gun, then to the blood pooling from Jefferson's back, back to the gun. Then the pieces of the puzzle fit into place perfectly. "You saved us?!"

Nathan was broken out of his thoughts by Chloe's voice. "Yeah, uh, you're welcome."

He seemed shocked that he actually shot Jefferson. It was as if a man just defeated his demon, but he doesn't know what the next step will be. Chloe's interruption brought him back to reality.

"How did you do it?" Kate asked.

"When I dropped my phone earlier, I saw something grey pop out of my phone. I shoved it in my pocket and left as quick as I could cause you fuckers creep me the fuck out. I went back to my dorm and messed around with it. Found out Jeffershit put a fucking tracker on me. I knew he was coming here, and I knew he wanted you Max and he was going to kill the rest of you. I don't want your blood on my hands. Plus, I wanted to shoot this this fucker."

"You're not going to kill us then?"

"No, why the fuck would I do that?"

"Good." Before she could second guess herself, she took the gun already in her hands and shot Jefferson in the head. The pathetic little moaning noises Jefferson was making ceased. His breathing stopped. He was dead.

Chloe's breathing hitched and a sob escaped her throat. The gun slipped from her hands and she leaned against the nearest wall. She slumped to the ground in shock.

The other four just stared at Chloe in shock. No one would've thought that Chloe would go so far. She watched Max stand up and go over to Warren. They hugged each other tightly, tears flowing freely from their eyes.

Chloe just watched them. She felt completely devoid of emotion watching them. Deep down, she was happy to see the two of them still alive, but she just took a human life. How disgusting was she?

"Chloe, are you okay?"

Kate of all people touched her shoulder. Her soothing voice brought Chloe back to reality. "Kate? No, I just- I just…"

"I know, Chloe. You're alright." She knelt down and looked Chloe in the eyes. "You didn't do anything wrong. Warren is still alive. We all are. You actually did the humane thing. He didn't deserve it, but we could have just left him for the storm to kill him. Left him to die, but you did the right thing."

"Isn't it against your religion to kill people though?"

Kate smiled then grimaced. "I'm not even sure if he is human. You really killed a monster."

The words made Chloe feel better. She thanked the girl and stood up slowly. She found Max staring at her. The brunette quickly closed the gap and wrapped her arms around Chloe. Chloe was shocked by the intensity of Max's hug but returned it nonetheless.

"I thought I was going to lose you, Chloe."

She could feel tears prick the corners of her eyes. "I thought was going to lose you too."

After several more minutes of hugging each other, they finally found they had to deal with Nathan, who looked very unsure of himself. There was an awkward silence before Max approached Nathan. "Thank you for coming back, Nathan."

"Don't mention it."

"I have to. You saved all of our lives single-handedly. Who knows what Jefferson would've done to me. You didn't have to come back, but you did."

"Yeah, I guess I did."

Nathan looked at each of them in turn before nodding to himself. "Okay." He started to walk away.

"Wait," Max called. Nathan stopped and turned. His eyebrow raised curiously. "What?"

"There's a storm brewing. Promise me you will get away or find somewhere safe. Victoria too."

"You're so fucking weird, Max Caulfield. But with this shit going down, and the weather, I'm willing to believe anything. Yeah, I promise to leave this loser town. I'll take her too."

Max sighed with relief as they watched their unlikely savior walk away. "What now?" Warren asked. He slowly wrapped his arms around Max's waist. It seemed like he was trying to comfort himself as well as her.

"As much as I want this day to end, Chloe still has a promise to fulfill."

With those words, the foursome decided it was probably best to leave the junkyard behind. Even if she complained slightly, Chloe still climbed in Warren's car and they rode to Frank's.

Frank was slouched on his couch, a blunt on his mouth and smoke wafting throughout the RV. Just because he produced and marketed doesn't mean he can't enjoy his product. It had been a stressful couple of days. With the weird weather and all the people acting bat-shit crazy, Frank really needed the downtime. He had gotten used to wearing Rachel's bracelet. He would never let it show, but he missed her. Her sudden disappearence had rocked him to the core.

He was bitter now. He was quicker to anger. He was unable to see how it had gone so well to so awful so fast. One point in time he was with the most gorgoeus woman he had known, now she was gone. It hardly made sense.

Then, a knock intruded on his high. He got up and grumbled darkly. Who the hell would knock so late?

He took one last puff and opened the door to find the most ragtag group of teenagers he had ever seen. They all looked tired. Their eyes were all red and puffy as if they too had gotten high, or were crying. Frank hoped from a business perspective that it was the latter. The only one he could imagine actually being high was Chloe, even if he didn't know the other two girls.

He pointed his next words specifically at Chloe. "I don't have any more. You'll have to wait until tomorrow."

"That isn't what I'm here for."

Frank raised his eyebrow skeptically. "It's what you're always here for."

"Not this time. We need to talk."

Frank's demenor became a little more paranoid. "You didn't get busted, did you?"

"Nothing like that. This is about Rachel."

That drew Frank's attention. He closed the door behind him. He adressed Chloe but fought to keep his voice even. "What about her?"

"We found her."

Frank's eyes desperately scanned over the brunette girl next to her, then to the blonde behind her. The brunette might bear slight resemblance to Rachel but there was no way they were the same person. "If you found her, where is she?"

Chloe sighed in defeat. She didn't like doing this, but it needed to be done. "She's gone, Frank. She's dead."

Frank heard the news, but it didn't sink in until she looked at the others. She didn't know some of the others, she barely knew the kid she had with her yesterday, but to him the tear streaks on their faces made sense. The red tinged eyes. They weren't high, they were crying. It hit him then, the truth in her words. "No." He shook his head vigorously and ripped the bracelet off his wrist. "No, no, no, no, NO!"

"My Rachel! My beautiful Rachel."

Distantly, Frank heard Chloe mutter something to her friends. With one last look at him, her friends walked off to God knows where.

Frank raised his hands to his eyes and weeped into them. He pressed his back against the wall of his RV and slumped to a sitting position. Chloe awkwardly walked over to him and rubbed his back with her hand. She was at a loss for words to comfort him. In fact, she had never been in this position.

"Tell me how," Frank demanded in between sobs.

"Overdose. Took something she shouldn't have."

"What did she take?"

"I'm not sure. Some friend in her modeling gig gave her something and she didn't know how much to take. Accidental. They found her phone. The last person she called was me, so they told me first. They're calling the cops soon."

"Fuck!" he shouted. "How could this have happened?"

"I don't know, Frank." She took a risk by putting her arm over his shoulders. It was something she learned watching Warren comfort Max. Fortunately, Frank seemed to have welcomed the gesture. "I fucking loved her, Price."

"I did too."

"And now, she's just gone. What the fuck do I do now?"

Not fall in love with my girlfriends, hopefully, she thought.

"I was thinking the same thing, Frank. Something someone taught me is that life goes on. And sometimes, in the darkest moments, someone walks into your life and changes it for the better. That's what Rachel did for me. Now some other people are doing it for me again. I'm not saying you should forget her, I don't think we ever will, but she lived a full life, didn't she?"

"Maybe." He had stopped crying. He still sat there, morose. He dug into his pocket and drug out a cigarette and a lighter. He offered Chloe one but she waved a hand. "She died much too young. I never had the chance to say goodbye."

"Goodbyes are overrated. But, the last time I saw her, she told me something."

"What did she say?"

"She said she loved you."

Frank took this well, she assumed. He smiled and gazed into the sky. She was glad he calmed down. All his crying gave her anxiety. She removed her arm from around his shoulders and looked at the double moon in the sky.

"How long did you know we were together?"

"Not long. Sometimes I feel like I learned the truth just hours ago."

"How did you find out? We tried keeping it a secret."

"She told me."

"Yeah, you two were always close."

"We were."

"What happened to your cheek?"

She shrugged, "Some asshole hit on one of my friends. Taught him a lesson."

"Good girl."

Listen, that scary shit in the sky? That's the forewarning to a coming storm. It's going to be massive. It'll blow this RV to Kingdom Come."

"What do you want me to do about it?" he said in between puffs. And coughs.

"I want you to hide out with us. That blonde girl, Kate, knows about an old bomb shelter. We're taking cover while the storm blows over."

"Why would I want to spend hours trapped in a dark room with a bunch of 18 year olds?"

"To be fair, I'm pretty sure Warren is only 16."

"That's even worse!"

The two chuckled and gazed at the sky for a few moments. "How many does this bunker fit?"

"12-15. I asked the others to go get supplies while I talked to you."

"Hmpf," was all the reply she got.

"So?"

"I'll think about it," Frank threw his cigarette on the ground and snuffed it out with his boot. "Right now, Price, I just want to be left alone."

"Understood."

Frank got up slowly. He shook his head at the strangeness of the day. He bent and picked up the thrown bracelet and pocket it. He opened the door to walk in but was stopped by the sound of Chloe's voice. "Yo, Frank" he turned to a full view of Chloe's shit eating grin. "You sure you don't have any?"

After they left Chloe at Frank's, they dropped Kate off at the church. She assured them that no one uses the church on weekdays before they sped off. They had gotten supplies at each of their dorms, as well as Warren's mini fridge. After they dropped off that stuff, Chloe had still not called Max. So, Warren went off on his own to talk to his parents while Kate and Max set up the bunker. It took some doing, but Warren convinced his father and his step-mother to skip town with the oncoming storm approaching. He also managed to convince them to let him stay in Arcadia Bay with his friends. (They still teased him about Max, but Warren felt it wasn't the time to tell them.)

Kate had not talked to her parents about the storm, but she did call them and her sisters. She told them she loved them and asked how they were doing. They thankfully did not live in Arcadia Bay, so they had no knowledge of the events.

After the trio had just started to get worried, Chloe had finally called, asking to be picked up. The trio had picked her up soon after. They asked her multiple times how it went, but she didn't give any other answer than "fine". The only other words that escaped her mouth was to get the others to promise her that they would go with her to talk to Joyce and David. They promised.

Sooner or later, they learned to drop it. They rode the rest of the way in silence before stopping at the bunker. Max, Kate and Chloe went down to the bunker while Warren "payed respect to his car". The thought was that the foursome would stay the night at the bunker. They had all gone through so much together tonight, they didn't want to part ways.

When Warren finally came down after saying goodbye to his car, they had all tried settling in. There were two mattresses ("They probably didn't guess multiple people would sleep in this room" -Chloe), so Max and Warren shared one while Chloe and Kate shared the other. The only problem is, they had all forgotten the all important blankets. Kate apologized over and over. She gave them all windbreakers that were stored in a space in the corner of the bunker, but it wasn't enough for them all to sleep.

Chloe, of course, complained quite loudly about the cold. Kate promised she could get more blankets. Warren eventually gave up the keys to his ride to allow Kate to grab some thermal blankets. As Kate left, Warren and Chloe stayed up to wait for her.

Max decided she couldn't wait any longer, with her and Warren's hands intertwined, her eyelids closed and she drifted off into sleep.

This is part 1 of 2 of the epilogue of this story. It's been a long ride, and I hope you enjoyed and will love the upcoming final chapter.