Life is Strange
Futures and Fun Times
The battered and tired old pickup truck pulled up under the blazing Oregon sun as its engine gave a series of worrying noises. This wasn't an unusual thing nowadays. It had been doing it at regular and random intervals all journey. But with the amount of money in the driver's account, she just used the fact the radio still worked to maximum potential and turned it up to pretend nothing was happening. Still though, she felt it breathe a sigh of relief as she turned the key and cut the ignition. It was like the whole frame seemed to relax. She knew it would be time for repairs soon and that meant a hefty bill. What she didn't know was where the hell she was going to get the money.
"I know what you're thinking." She looked over at the woman in the passenger seat and saw the knowing stare she was giving her.
"We've had this conversation before, haven't we?" she muttered as she grabbed the door handle and got ready to jump out.
"No." The woman shook her head and grabbed her backpack from by her feet as she got ready to get out too. "It's just that we're married and you're that easy to figure out. Chloe, you honestly need a new truck. This one's done its time plus a bit extra since it came off a scrap heap! All things live out their time eventually." Chloe sighed and got out, shutting the door behind her and looking up at the place they'd parked in front of. It was a far cry from what they'd seen about six years ago; just a twisted and smashed hulk of metal and glass on the ground, the carnage hiding the bodies of those inside. Now it was reborn. It had been rebuilt out of brick and mortar and, while in Chloe's opinion retaining none of what originally made it special, now seemed a lot more weather-proof. The new Two Whales Diner was its own site to behold, but knowing that Joyce wouldn't be behind the counter was its own unique pain.
Chloe let out a breath, steeling herself for what was coming. She knew exactly what was waiting for her on the other side of that door, yet at the same time she had no idea. She went to take a step forward and jumped a mile as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She spun to see Max looking at her with such openness that it made her heart melt.
"You know, we don't have to do this if you don't want to. We've come this far. I wouldn't think any less of you if you want to turn back."
"Don't be an idiot, Max." Chloe said, wrapping one hand around the back of her wife's head and kissing her quickly. "Since when have I ever backed out of doing something stupid?" With that, she raced up the stairs to the new diner and pushed the door open. She could hear Max behind her, but only half-registered her coming in as she took in the people inside. There was an entirely new staff compliment- as expected- but it was the customers that caught her eye. The place was empty apart from one booth that was overcrowded. They were all huddled around the table as it was a hive of activity and she made her way over as the faces she could see started to become recognisable.
"Can anybody Dynamax yet?" It was a Man's voice she recognised well and from the way Max's arm snaked around her back, so did she. As if on cue, he looked up and did a double-take. "Max? Chloe?" That got everyone else's attention. They all looked up as one and the room instantly devolved into a sea of screaming as the girls in the group jumped up and ran over.
"Oh my gosh, it is them!" Kate was clearly fighting back tears as she hugged Max.
"Liking the hair, Chloe." Brooke said as she nodded approvingly. Chloe had never been one for crowds, so offered a nod and a smile in response as she tried to focus on everyone at once and decided she'd revisit the topic later if there was time.
"Well it's good to see you again after so long." Victoria offered a half-smile, but even that was better than they'd ever had from her before. "How have you been doing?"
"Things are going good so far." Chloe replied, slightly on guard. Yes, they'd been gone for a long time and it was entirely possible that the carnage of 2013 had caused Victoria to re-think things a bit, but beforehand if she'd acted nice it usually meant she wanted something. Chloe wasn't ready to drop all her shields yet. "Came back here for the anniversary. You guys?"
"Same." Chloe looked up as the man who'd first alerted everyone to their presence made his way over. He had a slight limp now and the beginnings of a beard, patches of his hair beginning to grey from what had obviously been a hellish few years for him, but he was still the same old Warren underneath. "After everything that happened, I've been back here with Brooke every single year." As he spoke, Brooke looped an arm around him and Chloe and Max both grinned in unison.
"Glad you guys finally got together." Max said as Kate finally released her from the death-grip hug she had her in.
"Yeah, it's been a roller coaster." Brook nodded. "I can't say too much but while Warren tries writing his novel, I've been practising more with my drones and even started designing and building my own ones. DARPA even took an interest in an idea I pitched for a system that can recognise surrender gestures. And Warren proposed to me two weeks ago."
"Brooke, that's great!" Max threw her arms around the other girl. Chloe remembered that Brooke was never very touchy-feely and was surprised when she returned the gesture. Max pulled back before delivering her own news. "Chloe and I spent a few years touring around the US and trying to build a stable life for ourselves. We've settled down in Seattle near where Mom and Dad live and we got married about a year and a half ago."
"Yep." Chloe nodded. "Nothing too fancy. Did it in a registry office. Once we'd finished, we came out of the back room and asked the woman behind the counter very nicely if she'd marry us." Chloe saw the realisation click in everyone's heads like a Mexican wave before they all erupted into laughter. Max, on the other hand, looked utterly scandalised.
"True as that may be, I'm going to pretend you didn't just say it." Chloe just flashed her a double thumbs-up as she slipped past the group and approached the booth they'd all been sitting at. Two more people were sat there, their skateboards propped against the edge of the table. Chloe made her way over and fist-bumped each of them in turn before sitting opposite, being careful to avoid touching the Nintendo Switches that were scattered all over it. Clearly everyone had been bonding over some games while they were there.
"How's it going, guys?" she asked. From the size of their pupils Chloe could guess that Justin was baked like a brownie and that most of the intelligent conversation would be coming from Trevor.
"Great, man." Justin said, his voice coming out with a weird, uneven edge to it. "Hey, I hooked up with Victoria, like, a year ago or somethin'!" Chloe let out a sigh, pinching the bridge of her nose.
"Okay Trevor, I can see Justin is beyond all help right now. What's really been happening?"
"Oh no, he actually did hook up with Victoria." Trevor told her as she did a double-take in disbelief. "Apparently he helps her relax. I think that's either her code for 'gives great chemical hits' or he's now just so permanently high all the time that she goes mellow just from being near him. I hooked up with Kate, actually. We just sort of stuck together and one thing led to another..."
"Give me one sec." Chloe had heard enough. She pulled out her phone and fired off a text to Max, hoping she'd be able to be discreet about checking it.
'Have you been fucking with time again?' The response was immediate.
'No.' As the reply arrived, she looked up to see everyone else making their way back to the booth.
She got up to let the other girls in and then took a look at what everyone was playing as they all picked up their consoles again. Most of them were doing Poke'mon but their teamwork was leaving a lot to be desired and so they were in a pretty bad spot. Victoria on the other hand was playing something quite different.
"Oh my god, are you playing Fortnite?" Max asked, looking over at Victoria with concern. "I just... How could you do that?"
"What?" Victoria shrugged defensively. "It came with the console and it's decent!" That set off a round of disagreeing mutters from everybody else.
"Yeah, I gotta say that's actually worse than Max complaining that she found the Switch 'too clumsy' in its handheld form and getting a Switch Lite." Chloe chipped in
"Well we'd offer you to join us but we don't have any more room on the battle roster." Brooke shrugged. "Unless you know a game we can all play. But what game would accommodate eight people?" Chloe took a pause to think and could see Max doing the same. It was definitely a high number to be playing one game at once. She knew there definitely weren't many games that could field eight players. In fact, she could only think of one that might be up to the challenge.
"How about Among Us?"
Game 1...
Victoria, having never played the game before, was slightly nervous. When it had been told to her that at least one of the others would be an impostor trying to kill off everyone else, she'd had an involuntary flashback. Now she was in the Cafeteria trying to work out how to clear the leaves from the garbage, tapping her screen in various places trying to figure it out. That was when she spotted the lever. Feeling like an idiot, she pulled it down and watched with satisfaction as the leaves dropped off the screen. As she returned to the normal display, she saw someone else standing behind her. A second later, a giant mouth below the other player's visor opened up and a spike shot out impaling her through the face. Now she knew who the Impostor was, but she also wasn't allowed to say anything.
As she watched, the Impostor bolted from the room and went back to looking innocent. At that moment, Trevor came in and discovered her body just as Max arrived from the other corridor. Max was first to hit the report button and the meeting began.
"Trevor, do you want to tell us why you were standing over Victoria's body without reporting it?" Max asked, glaring at him suspiciously. Victoria felt her frustration rising. Not only was she the first to die on her first ever game, but now the wrong person was about to be accused of it.
"Dude, I only just found her!" Trevor protested to murmurs of collective disbelief. "No, seriously! I- why the fuck are you all voting?!" Chloe was biting her lip and trying not to laugh as icons started appearing next to Trevor's name. "See, look at Chloe laughing! How do we know it's not her? Better watch out, Max; she could be coming for you next!"
"Bitch, Max would be the last person I kill." Chloe said calmly, sitting back.
"One person hasn't voted yet." Warren pointed out as everyone looked at their screens again and realised it was Trevor.
"Trevor, vote!" Kate snapped, clearly getting jittery and wanting to get back to it.
"Well it doesn't matter who I'm voting for 'cause I'm getting fucking spaced in about eighty seconds anyway!" By this point, Justin had totally lost it. He was cracking up laughing and it was infectious enough to drag Chloe over the edge and make her burst out laughing too. They kept laughing until the time ran out. In the end, Trevor never voted.
'H8r_da_Sk8r was not The Impostor. 1 Impostor remains.'
"Wait, what?" Collective astonishment rose up from the group and even as they returned to the game the atmosphere of shock remained. It continued to hang over them right up until the Impostor snapped Max's neck and Chloe burst out laughing, all pretence completely abandoned while Warren hit the Emergency Meeting button.
"It's totally her."
"I know, right?" Chloe cackled evilly. "I just- she trusted me so much and then I just executed her DDT-style!" Justin had also burst out laughing and they stayed that way as everyone else voted and Chloe was escorted to the airlock.
'High Price was The Impostor. 0 Impostors remain.'
"My own honey committed the ultimate betrayal." Max said as she fake-sniffled which got some laughs from the group.
"Bitch, you're dead! Shut up!" Victoria snapped as everyone else erupted into laughter. It had been a fast round, but a good one. It had left everyone in high spirits.
Game 2...
Brooke was trying to do her task in Electrical so she could go and clear the leaves from the filter in O2 and be finally done when disaster struck. Two other players sidled over to her and, when they were all clustered together, one of them literally stabbed her in the back. Repeatedly. With a serrated Rambo-style knife. She was careful to keep her expression neutral as one of them made a beeline for the door while the other dashed over to the vent. But they hadn't taken into account Brooke's knight in shining armour. Warren dashed over to her, too late to save her but right on time to make her death count for something as he hit the Report button. Once again, the meeting began. This time, there was no chance of a mistake.
"Max and Justin." Warren said, glaring at each of them in turn. "Max I know for a fact because I saw her fucking Naruto teleport over to Brooke and kill her before making a beeline for the vent and Justin was just high-tailing it out of the room. Max and Justin, one hundred percent! I mean, Justin could just have gotten lucky that it was Brooke and not him-" He noticed the glare from Brooke but pressed on. "-but while he could have just panicked I'm also pretty sure he's the second Impostor." Unfortunately for Justin, he was apparently terrible at stealth and poker faces. "Yeah, it's totally him. Max first. Let's go."
'PolaroidBear was An Impostor. 1 Impostor remains.' The game loaded back up but didn't last for long as Trevor, who'd been in the Cafeteria before anyway, hit the Emergency Meeting button. They were instantly taken back to the voting screen and it wasn't even a second before icons were popping up next to Justin's name.
"Yep. Justin." Warren said unnecessarily. "Get him out."
'SmokeSk8r was An Impostor. 0 Impostors remain.'
"Damn, that was a fast round." Brooke muttered as the Victory screen came up. As everyone looked around at each other, they all saw the same thing: they were all smiling. Granted: Justin was probably just smiling because he was high as a kite, but that didn't make it mean any less. Here they were, a bunch of people who took turns sniping at each others' backs and going for each others' throats, separated for years after a cataclysm that tore their respective worlds apart and now sitting here in the rebuilt diner bonding over a video game. To know that such a thing was possible reignited their spirits and filled them with hope. One look at each other confirmed that they all felt it.
Game 3...
Kate was creeping through the Medbay looking for other crew members. So far, Victoria, Warren, Trevor and Chloe were all down. But she couldn't understand why the game hadn't ended. All the tasks were done, weren't they?
"Okay, who hasn't done their fucking tasks?" Max asked, echoing her thoughts in that moment. There were negative murmurs rising up as they all checked their task lists At that moment, Justin seemed to come out of nowhere right in front of her.
"Not it." Chloe shook her head.
"Not it." Trevor echoed.
"Wait, aren't you two dead?" Victoria asked.
"So?" Chloe shrugged. "You can still do tasks." That was when the realisation dawned on everyone that since this was Victoria's first time playing, she might not have known that. "Oh crap! What have you got left to do?"
"Card swipe in Admin." Victoria replied, leaving the room she was in and heading down the corridor.
"What are you doing using the doors?" Trevor asked, seeming to panic. "You're a ghost! Walls mean nothing to you!"
"Dude, it doesn't even matter because Kate's just fucking wrecking everybody!" Justin said as his body hit the floor and Kate threw herself into the vent. She emerged in Security and raced to the door, blocking Max off. She didn't mind that Justin had just outed her. She'd dropped all pretence long ago but been quite artful about stopping anyone from getting to the bodies to report. Now they were starting to panic and get predictable. She'd known that Max was going to go for the room where she'd killed Chloe.
"Are you sure you want to try that?" she asked. As she'd predicted, Max forgot about the twenty seconds' cooldown time between kills and turned to run. Her futile escape attempt allowed Kate the final twelve seconds she'd needed before managing to get into face-stabbing range.
"I can't get it to work!" Victoria screamed, frantically swiping the card through the reader.
'TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.'
'BAD READ. TRY AGAIN.'
'TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.'
'TOO FAST. TRY AGAIN.' At that moment, time ran out. Kate managed to corner Brooke and a mouth under her visor opened up, the spike shooting out of it impaling her and the little version she travelled with. The Defeat screen came up and everyone let out a collective sigh as they wound down slowly.
"We all got totally fucked in the ass there, dude." Chloe sighed as she sat back and took a drink of the soda that had been brought over to their table. Everyone had got one in the end. Justin had wanted beer, but Chloe had overruled him stating that weed and beer was not a good combo. Everyone nodded and sat back, feeling themselves winding down after such a stressful game.
"I like this game." Kate said, an almost demonic grin on her face. It was kind of a disturbing thing to see on someone who was so devout. "I like this game a lot." Everyone looked at each other and a full second passed before they dissolved into laughter.
Game 4...
For this round, everyone decided to pair up to make spotting the Impostor easier. Since there was eight of them, they could all divide into even pairs. Chloe went with Max as they headed towards O2. After doing what they needed to in there, they headed to Electrical and spotted Warren and Kate in there. Max and Chloe went closer. Kate's body hit the floor seconds later as Max put a round in the back of her head. The second it happened, Chloe's finger slammed the Report button.
"Max, what the fuck?" Chloe demanded. "In front of two people?"
"How do they know it wasn't you?" Max protested.
"I'm the one who reported it!" Chloe countered.
"Yeah, don't try to fucking deny it, Max." Warren folded his arms and shook his head disparagingly. "We both saw you." Inevitably, the voting icons appeared next to Max's name. She knew as well as everyone else that her fate was sealed.
'PolaroidBear was An Impostor. 1 Impostor remains.'
The game restarted with Chloe now automatically partnered up with Warren since Max had been the closest this game would ever get to John Carpenter's story of The Thing and Kate had died under suspicious circumstances. From where they were, they headed towards the Lower Engine since Warren had a task in there. Chloe promised to stand guard on the walkway right in view of the camera that covered that area so whoever was in Security would see her and know who killed her if she was attacked. Warren completed his task and Chloe had a wiring task just outside of Security so they headed there next. As they did, Warren ventured inside. A second later, a dead body was reported.
"Who was it?" Chloe asked as the meeting began.
"Justin." Warren told her. "Someone murdered him in Security."
"I think it was Miss Scarlet in the Living Room with the lead pipe." Victoria said, rolling her eyes. "Seriously though, it's obviously Chloe or Warren."
"No, Warren was in the Lower Engine and I was watching his back on the walkway in full view of the camera." Chloe countered.
"Yeah, I think Chloe's innocent." Trevor nodded. "She wouldn't have reported Max if they were a tag team. You were pretty quick to blame her though, Victoria."
"Yeah, that was pretty quick." Warren agreed. "I think I'll keep an eye on you."
"I'll do one better." Brooke said as the I Voted icon appeared next to her. As they watched, everyone voted and the tally was very much against Victoria.
'Chase_XOXO was not An Impostor. 1 Impostor remains.'
"Ah, crap." Warren muttered as the game started again. This time, it was Chloe's turn to do her wiring task. Once that was done, they headed into the Upper Engine so that Warren could fix something there too. While he did that, Chloe went to the other entrance of the corridor leading to the Medbay and Cafeteria since they'd already come up that way. As she did, she spotted Trevor and Brooke heading into the Medbay. Since they were the only other people left, she followed them. Less than a second after she entered, Brooke's body hit the floor and she was hitting the Report button.
"I just saw Trevor murder Brooke right in front of me!"
"You what?" Warren glared at Trevor as the I Voted icon appeared next to his name.
"No!" Trevor protested as Chloe registered her vote too. "Chloe must have done it! She followed us in!"
"But we know Chloe's innocent because she reported Max." Warren said as the vote tally came in.
'H8r_da_Sk8r was not The Impostor. 1 Impostor remains.'
"Impostors can report bodies too, asshole!" Chloe laughed maniacally as the Defeat screen came up showing both her and Max to be Impostors.
"Oh come the fuck on!" Warren buried his head in his hands and groaned. "Did I literally just fall for the oldest trick in the book?" Everyone burst out laughing as Max hugged Chloe close and Chloe tilted her head down to peck her quickly on the lips.
"Chloe Caulfield-Price, you're just as sly as ever." Max said, looking up at her wife adoringly.
"And you, Maxine Caulfield-Price, are just as shit at stealth as you were during our Blackwell heist." Chloe replied as everyone watched Warren's mind visibly spinning.
"So you reported Max on purpose to gain our trust? How did you plan something like that?"
"Oh, we didn't." Chloe shrugged. "We just know each other that well."
"That was really impressive." Kate noted as the game started to reload. "I wonder what we'll be doing next."
"Well I don't know about you, but we're closing for the night. It's five PM and that means closing time." Hurriedly, everyone glanced at their screens and saw that the time did indeed read '17:00' and that they'd been playing for three and a half hours. They all realised in that moment how little they'd truly appreciated the meaning of the phrase 'Time flies when you're having fun' until now.
"Oh shit! We need to check in at the hotel!" Brooke said, jumping up as she powered off her Switch and started packing her things away while trying to gulp the last of her soda at the same time.
"Well we need to get to ours, too." Chloe also began packing away as she saw Max zip her Switch Lite into the case. That was when she noticed the looks everyone was giving her. Everyone except Warren, that was. He was just looking at the ground, not saying anything. "What?" Chloe said to the rest of them. "Mom's dead, David left here and so have Max and I now. We have to get a hotel like all the other tourists." That was when it dawned on everyone else. With everything going on, they'd completely forgotten.
"Ah, shit." Kate muttered. "You know, it seems a shame to end a great time on such a negative."
"Who says it has to end?" Max asked, clearly inventing as she went along. "Once we all get checked in, we can all link up in someone else's hotel room. Some of us might even be staying in the same hotel! We can play a few more rounds, get pizza if there's a pizza place open..."
"I think the pizza place was actually the first thing to open so the construction people had something to eat." Justin chipped in.
"Exactly." Chloe continued. "And we can always get back together after the memorial tomorrow. Try to lift our spirits after the inevitably shitty and depressing service." As she spoke, she saw grins spreading over a few faces.
"Now that sounds like a plan." Kate nodded.
"Yeah." Victoria agreed, surprising everyone. "It wasn't exactly Fortnite, but I'd give this a solid six out of ten. Would do again."
"And you know what? It actually wasn't terrible having you along." Warren added as Brooke slapped him sharply on the arm.
"Actually, I'll take that." Victoria smiled. In that moment, Chloe flashed back to something William had once said to her: 'Remember, sweetie, never trust someone whose smile doesn't look natural on them. Every time those people smile, a fairy dies.' In that moment, Chloe figured the fairies must have had a Chernobyl-level nuclear cataclysm. But then she realised something: the smile itself wasn't what was unnatural. It was just seeing it on Victoria that didn't look right. The smile was completely genuine.
"Well, I guess it's a date then." Trevor said as he also finished packing up. With everyone packed away, the group stood and headed towards the door. Chloe fist-bumped Justin and Trevor as everyone headed to their respective cars. Chloe and Max jumped into the truck and were the first to set off. To Chloe's utter dismay the truck hadn't magically fixed whatever was wrong with the engine over the last few hours. But what surprised her was the convoy that seemed to have formed behind them and seemed to be dead-sticking.
"What the fuck?" she muttered as she checked her mirror again. "Everyone's following us!"
"No." Max realised as she turned to look for herself. "They're heading to their hotel." And, as it turned out, they were.
Unbeknownst to them, there was actually only one hotel operational on account of Sean Prescott's fall from grace over what had happened with Nathan and the resultant absence of funding to rebuild Arcadia Bay with. When Jefferson and Nathan went down in flames, they'd taken the Prescotts' entire Pan Estates business venture down with them. As a result, the choke hold on the Arcadia Bay economy had been broken. The hotel was a quaint place that felt much more fitting to the town that was slowly rising from the rubble and ash of the old one that the girls had grown up in. And the town wasn't the only thing that was rising from the ashes. Once Max and Chloe had checked in, everyone else met up in their room. The games were fun and the pizza was delicious. But more than that, the friendships they all rekindled in that room burned with a passion that Blackwell could only have wished it was able to inspire.
End!
Author's Note: This story was in the planning for a long time, but then someone shared a Life is Strange/Among Us meme and I decided it just had to happen. This was a lot of fun to write and I hope you all enjoyed it. Now to take a moment to address some fan reviews from the end of my previous story that I didn't get to before since there were no more chapters to upload.
MaxandChloe4ever: I was very interested by the idea you have and I loved your vision. Unfortunately, the OC story I've written is a little bit different to that. It follows a character named Abby Denver and is set in 2011, two years before Max gets into Blackwell. Hope you enjoy it.
To everyone else: Thanks for reading. Your support means the world to me and inspires me to keep writing. Stay safe out there and I'll see you in the next story.