As soon as Thomas left, the room fell into a complete silence, with only Max, bound on a chair and left to her thoughts. There is nothing better to do, but there is also nothing worse than feeling helpless and on the mercy of some heartless degenerates. So, all she can do is contemplate and absorb the torrent of revelation that was force fed to her. Thinking, cursing, lamenting her loss, the things she had to endure. Victim of circumstances, that's what Thomas called her. But right now, she feels not like a victim, but more like a sacrificial lamb, stripped of pride, skinned and gnawed by rabid and rotten hyenas. Each with their own taste and agenda, playing, prodding, poking, making fun of her sorrows. Reminding her of the losses. Loss of her parents, loss of innocence, loss of her pride, and on the verge of losing her life now. She looks around her surrounding, in a literal way, this place looks thousand times better than the dark room she was exposed to, her other literal and figurative hell. Her thoughts switch to her parents, Her cheerful, always smiling and lively father, her kind, and doting mother. All she could do is grieve in sorrow and look into the wishful thinking of her. Somewhere deep inside her, she wishes there was something she could do, something to just turn time back, go back to the beginning, a chance to change everything. Negate all that she had to endure, what her parents had to endure. No organization, no Thomas, no Bill, wishing her parents to be alive and well, living an oblivious life, without all the suffering and the calamity that befall her family. A way to fix everything.

Max scoffs at all the thoughts that keep popping in her head, 'Yeah, right. As if something like that can happen. Nobody can turn back time. I can do nothing. I cannot go back and change anything. This is not a movie, a fiction, there are no cheat codes to fix my broken, piece of shit life.'

'Do you blame Dad for everything, Max?' Maxine asked the red head.

Max shakes her head, 'Don't be stupid if it's anyone to blame, it's him. You know it too.'

'I hate him, I hate him so much that I want to kill him right now!' Maxine's voice carries a dark and malicious hatred for their tormentor.

'Trust me, Maxine. I might be weak, a crybaby, but nothing will appease this…. this hatred I have for him unless I see him dead.' Max fumes as she imagines Bill mocking face and wishing a thousand curses upon him.

'It has to happen,' Maxine says determinedly, something with Max agrees wholeheartedly.

'It will happen. She will make it happen. Chloe will,' The redhead replies to her counter page.

They both fall silent, no more words needed to be exchanged, their different minds having the same thoughts, their feelings aligned, like a single person, merged, and the hatred and the darkening bile doubled for the hyena. But fate is a funny thing, fate can be a sadist or can be pacified ally. But Max does not remember when is the last time fate really had anything good for her. Like right now, she feels Fate would be standing at the corner of this room, grinning at her with her bloodied teeth, laughing and mocking at her. Telling her, look, you cannot win from me. You never had a chance to win from me. Because, Fate opened the door to the room and entered fate's monster, Bill Ernest. The same scene from six months, playing again. The sweaty pig looks agitated, and dismayed, almost panicked. Max has a giddy feeling inside her, six months ago, this look on his face brought fear in her. But today, the hatred for this man, no, this rotten to the core, swine of a person, runs so deep inside her, that she is reveling in his frantic behavior, not even wanting to think of the reason why he is like that, that is not her concern. Her concern, her delight, is just to see him suffer, as much as he made her suffer. But also, she has to be wary, she knows he's a coward, and cowards can be dangerous when they stop thinking rationally. She holds her breath as the hyena looks at her direction.

"You are a curse upon me, Maxine," He says fumingly. His agitation is shown by the froth forming at the edge of his mouth.

Max clearly doesn't understand what he is on about, but again, another giddy feeling inside her makes her smirk at him, which works as a fuel for the rotten monster's agitation and he stomps towards her. Defiant, this time, unlike six months ago, where Max would cower in a corner, tremble in his presence. This time, as much of a debauched Thomas was, he did leave something for her, a mean to fight back her own uncertainty, something to channel her hate into whatever semblance of courage she could hold and somehow, she succeeds in grasping it. She glares back at him with such ferocity, that for a moment, Bill Ernest, the monster, her tormentor, stops in his tracks even if it momentarily, but it was enough for Max to hold fast of her resolve.

Bill continues his march towards her, hand clenched, other hand holding a gun, "What did he tell you?"

"That you are nothing b-but a c-coward," She says while holding the glaring eye contact with him.

*Slap* The sharp pain hits on her face, and he grabs her hair, "Don't act smart with me, you little bitch. I don't know what ideas he put in your head. But that changes nothing," Even through his hold, Max could feel his hands tremble, either with agitation or because of his frantic state.

Max hisses and clenches her bound hand into a fist, but never breaks the glare, "Everything has changed, Bill. You of all p-people have changed, you l-lost, you are nothing. Nothing to me, nothing to Thomas, or to your o-organization. You are j-just a discarded baggage."

Bill's eyes flicker, an emotion, Max had never seen directly in his eyes, disbelief, "How do you know about the organization. What did he tell you? Answer me, you whore!" He pulls her hair harder and places the barrel of the gun right under her jaw.

"Everything. What you did to my p-parents, and all of the suffering and t-torments you put m-me through. For what? Some piece of papers?"

Bill leaves Max's hair and mutters, "Thomas, you sniveling fox! I swear I will kill you." He gets up and paces in the room, thinking, cursing. Max's eyes follow his every step and basking on his desperation with each passing minute. He stops and again looks at Max's direction. Much to his irritation, Max keeps having the same smirk on her face as she leans back on the sofa.

"I see, so you know everything now, then you must know what I want and you do know I will do anything to get it." He says menacingly, but Max has already seen through his bluff and disregards him.

Something snaps inside Max and she leans in abruptly, "Like you killed my p-parents in cold blood?" She grinds her teeth and pulls the binds in a futile attempt. This impulse gave the opening to Bill and a sadistic and vile grins forms on his face.

"Yes, I did, and I enjoyed doing it. And I wouldn't mind doing it again, if I get the chance and the things I will do to you, I should have kept him alive. Just to show him how I destroyed his precious daughter," His grin widens.

Max's face contorts with disgust, her disdain for the man in front of him grows and on the verge of spilling out. But somehow, she manages to calm herself down. She doesn't want to give this man any more pleasure of tormenting her. "You cannot do anything anymore, what you could not do in all those months, you c-cannot do in t-two weeks. Thomas, your organization, they will g-get to you before you are even a-able to do anything. It's over, Bill."

Bill smirks at her, something that Max hates to see on his face, "Don't worry, I will get that backstabbing mutt and I will get the documents and you will give them me willingly, one way or another. I know you, and I know your weaknesses, Max."

Max doesn't say anything this time and looks on at how disillusioned of a man, Bill Ernest has become. The Hyena continues, "I thought your father was a sensible man, but he was just a ridiculously honest, too good to the fault, pathetic man. He should have listened to me, but instead, he died like a sad and pitiable dog."

"DON'T TALK ABOUT MY FATHER LIKE THAT, YOU BASTARD!" Max rages as Bill hurls insults at her deceased father, "He was more of a m-man than you can ever b-become in your whole l-life. You are the p-pathetic and sorry excuse for a human being." She digs her nails on the edge of her binds, wanting to tear through them to get free and tear the vile hyena's face off.

Bill laughs mockingly at her as if he has won in getting under her skin, "Yes, yes. He was a real man, after all, he didn't give in to me. No matter how much I tried to convince him, with money, with position, by threats, but he would not budge at all," His mirth dies and his own face turns into a scowl, "I hated him, I hated his guts. I spend most of my life with the organization, I sacrificed everything for them, risked my life for their endeavors. Do you have any idea, how it feels, when you cannot look in your son's eyes because of the things you had to do? A wife who would never look at you, never respect you. But I did it anyways, for the organization. And how did they repay me? They disregarded everything I had done for them and put their trust in your father. They trusted him with something so crucial without a single thought. I could not stand it, I could not stand your father being above me. Nobody, not Ryan, not Thomas, no one should have been above me. I am Bill Ernest, I deserve to be on top. I want to be on the top. And I need those documents to achieve that goal."

Max scoffs at his above everyone prattling, "Don't even p-pretend you cared about Ava and Alvin. I have s-seen everything with my eyes, how you t-treated her. Respect, you say? You don't deserve to b-be respected. You don't deserve to be with anyone because all you c-cared for your whole life was yo-yourself. You twisted and corrupted two of your s-sons to your delusions and how did they end up? Dead. All on you. My parents, all those g-girls whose life you destroyed, your sons, your so-called position in the organization. Everything is on you, Bill Ernest, you destroyed yourself and you deserve it. Do yourself a f-favor, just kill yourself already."

Bill gets infuriated, he's appalled. The girl who used to be like a shivering lamb in front of him, cowering in a corner, pleading, begging, while he trampled her, tormented her, gnawed on her pride like a vulture, and he relished in her screams, but this girl here, sitting in front of him, helplessly bound, under his mercy. Yet she defies him, unfazed, in fact, she has managed to get under his skin, so he does what a despicable coward does, he again slaps her on the face, "Shut up, you whore!"

Max hisses at the hit but doesn't give him the pleasure to have a one up on her. She scoffs at him again, "See, this is the type of a m-man you are and you compare yourself t-to my dad? Ryan Caulfield was million times b-better than you, you c-coward."

Bill smirks, "Right, I didn't saw him strong or better than me when I killed him off."

2010

"*Gahah! *" Ryan feels the blunt hit on his face and the chair rattles as his body jerks back, another hit on his stomach takes the air out of his lungs. He coughs and wheezes for breath. Vanessa, tied in front of him pleads to his assailants, "Please! Stop! Don't hurt him anymore,"

Bill shakes his head and clicks his tongue, "Ryan… Ryan, why do you have to be so stubborn? We are all good friends here. Why do you intend to be so defiant? Just give up already and tell me where are the ledgers."

Ryan spits the blood and tries to smirk, but his swollen face and disheveled breathes shows he is hurting, "You… you will never get those documents. Neither you nor… nor your organization."

Bill's face contorts to a frown, and instructs his underling, "Do it."

The goon punches on Ryan's stomach, he coughs and struggles to breathe, "Urgh! *cough* *cough* *wheeze*" Vanessa screams and pleads but to no avail, the merciless barrage keeps continuing, not giving Ryan even a single moment to rest. Even the goon gets tired of hitting him continuously, but the stubborn Caulfield holds on, even though his head is dangling down with no energy left in him to withstand the relentless pounding.

"Ryan, please, j-just give them what they want," Vanessa tries to convince Ryan who looks in her direction. Out of breath, he is unable to speak but only is able to shake his head.

Bill sighs again, "We used to be such good friends, Caulfield. Must you have to ruin everything? Just imagine the things we can achieve together. I am just asking for the documents that you have hidden away. Give me the documents, and I will forget everything, I will let you and Vanessa go. Think about your daughter, Ryan. Think about Maxine," he says with a malicious grin on his face which makes Vanessa gasp and she tilts her head towards her husband, with eyes full of fear and pleading for mercy.

If looks could kill, Bill Ernest would be dead right at this moment. All of the sapped energy in Ryan's body comes back in jolts, and he growls towards Bill, trying to get up. The chair rattles loudly and shifts along with him. The goons hold him off and the coward that is Bill Ernest takes a few steps back, behind another of his underling. He knows, he knows very well, if he didn't play underhanded method to overpower Ryan, no way he would have gotten his hands on him. Vanessa just happened to be there at the wrong time. It was his luck that Ryan's weakness was his family. So, it was easy to for them to subdue Ryan by threatening to hurt Vanessa. All pieces were in place for Bill, all he need was the documents, the ledgers. With them, he could finally take a stand against the organization. He could be on top of everything. Above them, untouchable. But Ryan Caulfield is not a person who would easily give up something that can assure his and his family's survival.

But seeing his reaction when he mentioned his daughter, Bill snide grin widens, "If I am right, she alone at the home right now, maybe I should instruct my boys, waiting outside your house to… well, you know very well what I am trying to say."

"I WILL KILL YOU!" Ryan growls in an uncaged rage, "if you dare touch my daughter, I swear I will rip you apart, Bill."

Bill laughs at him mockingly, "Tut Tut Tut, you don't understand your position. You wi-" Bill's phone rings, and he answer it, "Speak… I see… hmm… good... you know what to do…" disconnecting the phone, he again looks towards Ryan, his demeanor completely changed, he looks calm, but mirthful, almost ecstatic, "Too bad, Ryan. Your attorney was more of a loose lip than you. Just one finger and he told my men everything."

Ryan's eyes grow wide in shock, somehow, he understood what Bill meant. Appalled, all he could do was trying to rattle and power through the binds holding him, unfortunately, it's not enough. The hyena continues, "Your expression shows what I meant, Ryan. I don't need you anymore. I know where to get the documents now," He tilts his head towards his goon, "Kill them,"

"You bastard, you will not get away with this, they will find out about it. You will never get those documents. You will be dead before you even get near my daughter or those documents," Ryan rages on, but to no avail.

Vanessa pleads again, "Please don't hurt my daughter. She has nothing to with it, please. She's just fifteen!"

Bill stops in his tracks, "Oh? Why didn't you tell me that before, Vanessa?" He sighs mockingly, shaking his head, "It's such a delicate age, she really shouldn't be left alone at home. You know what, how about we play a little game." His grin widens and he instructs something to one of his goons, who walks towards the back and returns with a small case, "You know, I like cars and I love to race. How about this, we both race." He takes out a syringe from the case, "Let's see who reaches Maxine, first. You or me?" He walks menacingly towards Vanessa, who shakes her head and tries to get away.

Ryan screams and yells at him, "You son of a bitch! Stop it! Don't touch her! Vanessa! Vanessa!" Ignoring Ryan's desperate cries, Bill plunges the syringe in Vanessa's arms, much to Ryan's dismay, "you bastard! I will kill you! Untie me right now, and I will rip your throat, you son of a bitch!"

He could clearly see Vanessa's head dangling, and losing all of her strength, almost falling on her seat. One of the goon unbinds her and she drops on the floor and tries to move, but her movements are sluggish, as if in a groggy haze. Ryan watches helplessly as his wife tries to open her eyes and tries to move but is not able to hold herself in her groggy state.

Bill gives the syringe to his underling, who plunges the remaining content in the veil in Ryan's arm. Ryan tries to endure it, fight it, but again to no avail. Just a few seconds later, he feels his whole world is moving, everything starts getting hazy and muffled. His disposition shows he is unable to fight the drugs injected into him. The goons untie his binds. Ryan does his best to get up and grab Bill, he wishes to at least take Bill out before he further hurts his wife or his daughter, but the drugs in his system make him weak, he is not able to muster enough strength and falls on the ground. Within the haze, he crawls towards his wife, calling for her, shaking her despite being under the influence of the drugs himself.

Bill leans down in front of him, "So, Ryan, ready for the race. But here's the rule, you have to drive yourself, if you cheat, by taking a taxi, or call the cops. My men will walk right into your house, tear your daughter's clothes, and fuck her to death, and I know you do not want that, do you?" Bill turns towards his goon, "Take their phones, and take them to their car," He again faces Ryan, "If only you would have listened to me, Ryan. Leave Maxine to me, I will take good care of her. She is my golden ticket after all,"

Ryan helplessly watches as Bill leaves the room with a menacing laugh. The goons mercilessly pick them up and take them away.

Max's face is smeared in tears, she has bit her lip so hard that it has started bleeding. Her eyes are red, not from the tears, but the uncaged rage she has inside her. Bill gloats as he looks at her, and as a perverted sadist he is, he revels in this, revels in hurting Max, "It was easy, Max, it was so easy to get rid of your parents. The look on their face when I told them about you. They looked so helpless, so heart broken. Even your strong father, Ryan Caulfield, had tears in his eyes, oh the ecstasy. All I had to do was stage an accident. Drunk husband and wife collided with a truck and got killed. It was that easy to remove an obstacle. Do you get it, Max? It is this easy for me to get rid of anyone who gets in my way."

Max has given up on saying anything to the monster in front of her, she doesn't even consider him human anymore to even speak to him. All she could do was scream at him, growl at him. Wanting to bite off his face, gouge his eyes, ripping out his throat, making him suffer as he made her parents suffer, as he made her suffer. Seeing her defiant and contorted enraged expression, Bill's face also warps into a sneer, "Those eyes, I hate them, it's same as his. Until the end, he kept defying me, glaring at me, not giving up!" feeling unease, he grabs her cheeks in his fingers, squeezing hard, "Stop looking at me with those eyes, you cannot do anything anymore. You will give in to me, you bitch. You will give into me, and I will win, against you, against Ryan, against the organization, and that bitch mother of mine. All of you. You will never look at me with those eyes again."

Max sees a chance, and tilts her head and bites on his hand, right between his thumb and his index finger and with all her might she squeezes her jaw so tight, that Bill squeals like the pig he is, "LET GO OF ME! I SAID LET GO YOU BITCH!" He hits her on her already bruised cheek with the butt of his gun, sapping all the energy from her, loosening the grip of her jaw, he quickly snatches away his hand, but the damage is somewhat done, Max's teeth has dug deep into his skin, opening a small gash and he bleeds, "You bitch! You fucking whore!" He again lifts his gun to hit her, and that's when he hears the door burst open, prompting Bill to quickly get around Max and holding the gun against her head.

"GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, ASSHOLE!" Chloe yells at him, as Nick enters with her pointing the gun towards him.

Arcadia Bay Outskirts

"Chloe, the coordinates show this is the place, just a few meters away," Nick looks at his phone display, "Park the truck farther away, the engine sound will give away our location," Chloe nods and slows down the truck and parks it near the edge of the dirt road. They have driven for twenty minutes from her house, on the far end outskirts of Arcadia Bay. It was in the middle of nowhere, only a few couple of abandoned shacks. Just an off-road dirt path and dry bushes. Even Chloe, who has lived for almost nineteen years in this town, never had a chance to visit this place before. But none of that matters, she is close, Chloe could feel it. Max is just within her reach. She felt giddy, hasty, almost ready to run towards the shack, burst in and kill whoever is inside. All in her head is the thought of finding and rescuing Max. But before she could materialize her plans. Nick pats on her arm, and look in her eyes.

"Chloe, things could get ugly inside. I want you to have a cool head, analyze the situation first. One mistake and it could cost us ours and Max's life. Do you understand?" Chloe looks towards him absentmindedly, she isn't even there, her hands twitch and her expression grimaced, and eyes turn to pure steel, "Chloe! Focus!" Nick calls for her again.

"Yes, Yes, I got it. I'll be careful." Chloe climbs out of the truck, not even closing the door behind her. Nick follows her, readying his gun.

"I mean it, Chloe. Focus, and stay behind me,"

"Yeah," Chloe only says this, she feels even talking is wasting time, 'Max right there, just behind these doors.'

Nick readies his gun and walks cautiously in front of Chloe, who follows him. Dawn is near, but it's still early for the twilights of the horizon to show, the darkness feels like an enormous Abyss with its mouth open to engulf and swallow everything. With slow and deliberate steps, they move forward towards the shack, while Chloe acts as a lookout, checking each and every direction, cautious enough to prevent anyone from jumping them. Like Nick said, they cannot make any more mistakes.

Reaching the door, Nick slowly lifts his hand and twists the door knob, to find it open. Pushing the door slowly, he readies his gun, fortunately, the inside of the shack has power and the dim lights dissipates the darkness which mercilessly clings to the last of its hour before dawn arrives. Dawn is yet to come. Nick surveys the room, more like an open space with nothing but a few piles of old boxes sprayed around, and junk. It looks no less than a homeless person's dump. Chloe looks around and her eyes stop at one of the doors, with light seeping out of the seams, she pats on Nicks, back, and points towards the door. Nick ponders only for a few seconds before nodding and gesturing Chloe to get behind her, which the punk does. Gripping his pistol tightly, Nick crouches down some, to make his movements as compact and noiseless as he can. Chloe also takes deliberately soft steps, trying to avoid her boots to clang. Sound can be an enemy to them. But the other occupant in the shack doesn't know the meaning of discreet as inaudible and muffled voices are heard from behind the door, which gradually grows louder and clearer. Chloe feels an unease as she gets closer, almost at the door. That's when she hears the voice which she always knew she will hate from the core of her existence, the voice of an animal she so longed to hunt. The ugly squealing of a rotten swine. As soon as she hears the voice, the rage, the hatred, the sorrow, the boiling molten pit of lava erupts inside her. As much as she tries to hold herself, a shiver runs from her spine, like a centipede crawling from her back up to her neck and right below her ear, and something snaps inside her. Before she even realizes, her leg has already lifted up. Before she could hold herself, she has gritted her teeth, and finally, no holds are barred and she kicks the door with all her might, and it bursts open

"You bitch! You fucking whore!" and she sees him

There…

Finally, after six months of torments, six months of boiling rage that she had to keep hold of, six months of unwavering determination, six months of bloody tears, six months of her consciousness gnawing her from the inside, six months of sadness that burned her every time she saw Max breaking down, six months of wait to finally put her hand on the animal that is Bill Ernest.

Like deep within her diaphragm, her rage erupts into words, "GET THE FUCK AWAY FROM HER, ASSHOLE!" her voice is more like a growl of a tigress, ready to pounce on her prey. Nick grits his teeth and also enters the room. He was too late to hold back Chloe. She was already inside before he could even stop her. But he sees him, the person he only saw in photos and profiles, there he was, holding a gun against Max's temple with this other hand, visibly injured, around her neck. He sees Max Caulfield, tears streaked, but her face, instead of fear, instead of helplessness, which he has seen in many hostage situations. He only sees a bundle of agonizing, unadulterated hatred.

"Kill him!" These are Max's first words, no, not just words, a wish, a prayer, a command, much to the astonishment of the veteran, sends a jolt of energy into the hold man, and he readies his gun, pointing towards the older hyena, who, like a coward, has hidden most of his self behind Max.

"Don't move, you don't want her brains to be sprayed all over the floor, do you?" Bill, the monster, the vulture, the vile and degenerate hyena, speaks, with his voice still having an air of authority. Despite cornered like a hunted swine, he still tries to stand tall. The frog who has jumped inside the empty well, still thinks he is the master of the ocean.

"Give up, Bill. There is no way out of here. You cannot get away anymore," Nick tightens his grip on the gun. Bill Ernest is directly at his sight, he could shoot him, but his eyes are focused on his trigger finger, the hyena is ready too. One wrong move and he could end Max's life then and there. Like a desperate animal, he has made his resolve too. He will fight.

"Chloe…" Max calls for the blunette, she has no idea how long she has been confined to this place since she saw her last, but it felt like ages to her. Just looking at her face again has given her the relief she thought she had lost, the darkness that was inside her, scratching, trying to get out, has dispersed as soon as her eyes fall on the blue wonder, her shield, her sword, her cocoon, her life, her wrath, her retribution. She found Max, as she promised, to keep her safe, if she falls into the abyss, she will be there to lift her out of it. Yet, yet, she is so near, yet she feels so far. Just a little more, just one obstacle, and it will be over. She thought, and this thought brought a smile on her face, which somehow the blunette mirrors, despite the gravity of the situation, they couldn't help but find relief in each other's eyes.

"Max…" The blunette calls for her. When the red head disappeared, she thought she lost everything. For a moment, she broke. The abyss that she wanted to drag Max out of, she was engulfed in that same abyss. But she didn't give up, she couldn't afford to give up. She refused to give up. So, she clawed, and clawed and clawed out of that deep chasm that held her hostage, making her feel despair in every turn. But she had made the promise to the most important person in her life, made the promise to keep her safe, to drag her out. Despite the calamity, despite the destruction and the havoc that has caused inside her, momentarily weakening her. The doubts that shackled her, chained her. That moment died, as soon as her eyes fell on Max, those shackles broke, doubts dispersed, and there she was, her life, just within her reach. Just one more push, one more wall to break, and she will be together with her light.

But the hyena was there, right in the middle, the obstacle, with a glee on his face, despite him being cornered, ready to be hunted, maimed, and skinned. Yet, he doesn't give up, in his last desperate cry, he plays one more card, probably his last.

"You, drop your weapon," Bill orders the veteran who stands firm, still holding him in his sights, all he need is just a moment, "I said drop your weapon. If you care for her life, do it now," He corks the hammer of his gun. This makes the veteran faze a bit, though unhinged, "If I am to die here, I will take this bitch with me. It will be your loss, I am losing my patience already." He presses the barrel on Max's temple and grinds it, making the red head hiss.

Chloe growls at him, "You bastard, if you touch her anymore, I will make sure to rip every finger with your hands and shove them deep in your ass. Get away from her right now, and I will kill you fast," Her glare sends a chill down Bill's spine, but the hyena is cunning. Once he knows someone's weakness, he exploits it to his heart's content.

"Seems like you don't understand your roles here. You are in no position to threaten me. So, this must be it. What do you say, Max?" He sniffs on Max's hair, much to Chloe's loathing, "Say goodbye to your beloved dyke." His trigger finger twitches almost squeezing the trigger, that's when Nick yells.

"Stop!" he raises his hands in surrender, tilting the gun up, much to the blunette's dismay, "Don't shoot, I'll drop the gun," Nick slowly crouches, and places the gun on the floor and gets up again. Chloe grinds her teeth and clenches her fists together. She's on the verge of bursting, and every inch of her body is twitching to unleash the rage and tear into the rotten hyena.

"Good, now kick the gun towards me, don't try anything else. Or it will be her brains you will be taking home," Bill orders Nick, which the veteran does, albeit contemptibly.

Bill, still holding the gun on Max's temple, shuffles and pick up the other weapon, and ejects the magazine, dropping both parts the opposite directions. For a hyena, he sure is cunning and not leaving anything to chances, "Now, step back and get away from the door." With no choice, the veteran and the punk does as Bill tells them, slowly shuffling away from the door, they both take a few steps back.

"Futile, utterly futile. I don't know how you found this place, but all your efforts are futile. You two just came here to die a miserable death, I could just kill you two right here, right now. But Chloe Price, how about giving you a taste of something that Amber surely have enjoyed,"

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Chloe glares at him.

Bill face grows a malevolent grin, "Something like this!" Pointing his gun towards them, he tears open Max's coat, tearing the buttons and exposing her bare chest. Nick averts his eyes, and Chloe bites her lips, her rage erupts.

"I WILL FUCKING MURDER YOU!" Chloe's instinctively pounces forward, much to Nick's disconcert. He knew Bill was baiting them, but he was not able to convey this to Chloe earlier. As if time slowed down, Bill's grin grows wider, like a hyena having the last laugh and he holds the gun towards Chloe and pulls the trigger. The punk feels like a jolt of lighting has hit her, and she stops in her tracks. Max's eyes grow wide in shock, and she screams.

"CHLOE!"

Next: Finale: Out of the Abyss