A/N: Well hey everyone! I hope everyone's ready for the newest update of "Life is Abominable"! Because here it is! Once again, I will remind everyone that this story contains spoilers for Abominable and Life is Strange. So, anyone who wants to play the game, or see the movie, or both before reading any further, I respect your choice. Those of you who want to read regardless, thanks for continuing to read! Now let's keep on going with the story, shall we? Enjoy!
Previously on Life is Abominable...
After the destruction of Arcadia Bay, Max Caulfield and Chloe Price have moved to Los Angeles, the city where Rachel Amber always dreamed of going to start a new life, in order start a new life together. Max has started her own professional photographer for hire business and has sworn of using her gift to rewind time permanently. Chloe has been successful as well, becoming an artist and selling her artworks to whoever paid the most like museums and art galleries. Just as Max begins having bizarre new visions of the silhouette of a monster on a bridge in the middle of a snowy mountain range, the duo have enough money saved up for a trip to China. But, little did Max and Chloe know that this was the beginning of something much bigger for both of them...
Los Angeles, California. 9:23 PM
Max had just finished packing her duffel bag after inserting the last outfit in her closet she wanted to pack. It was the outfit that belonged to Rachel Amber that she had left with Chloe back in her old bedroom in Arcadia Bay before she disappeared. Max then zipped the bag up before walking into the living room and set it next to the coffee table, where Chloe's bags were resting.
"You finish packing everything you want?" Chloe asked as she took a plate of leftover pizza from a nearby pizza place out of the microwave and set it on the kitchen island next to a tall glass of Coca-Cola.
"Not yet. I wanna save packing my toothbrush, toothpaste, all that hygienic crap for before we leave. I don't wanna have to repack it after I need to reuse it for getting ready" Max told her.
"Smart idea. And you got your camera and film too?" asked Chloe.
"Yup. More than enough for the entire trip" Max answered as she sat next to Chloe at the kitchen island and began eating the pizza Chloe had just warmed up for her. Chloe then walked over to the fridge and put the last slice of pizza in the box on a plate for herself and began warming it up.
"So Max, anymore visions of that monster thing?" Chloe asked her friend while waiting for her food to heat.
"Nope, thankfully. But I still can't get that image out of my head. It's almost like a scene from a really bad movie playing on repeat in my brain" Max replied.
"You sure you don't remember what that thing looked like?" the blue haired girl asked.
"It was just a silhouette, all black. I couldn't even make out one detail of the thing" Max said just as the microwave finished reheating Chloe's pizza.
"Gotta say, Max. This has to be hella more ominous than your tornado vision" Chloe told her as she took out the pizza as well as a glass to fill with ice and a Dr. Pepper.
"You're not kidding. I don't even want to think about using my powers again. A lot of people got killed because of me, and it's troubling to think about this happening regardless of if I start rewinding again" Max replied. Chloe then let out a rather quiet sigh and placed her hand on Max's shoulder before she gently get somewhat firmly gripped it for reassurance.
"Don't worry. Like I said before, I'll be with you to figure it out if and when it comes true" Chloe told her. Max's iPhone then began to ring. She pulled it out of her pocket and looked on the screen to see it was Kate Marsh, her classmate and friend from Arcadia Bay who had evacuated the town with her family the day the storm wiped the town out.
"It's Kate. Mind if I take this?" Max asked as she stood up.
"No, not at all. Don't take too long though or your pizza's gonna get cold" Chloe answered.
"Reheat it for me if it does though?" the brown haired girl asked.
"Always" Chloe replied simply. Max then dragged her thumb across the bottom of the screen and placed the device up to her ear.
"Hey, Kate" answered Max.
"Hey, yourself, Max. It's been a while and I just wanted to catch up" Kate replied from the other end of the phone.
"Yeah, sorry about that. I've had a lot of clients lately" Max said as she went into the master bedroom she and Chloe shared and shut the door behind her.
"I bet. The business must be doing pretty good huh?" asked Kate.
"Yeah. I've been using a digital camera for work and began using my little instant camera for fun nowadays" Max told her.
"Regardless, the photos I saw on your website look amazing. I actually recommended you to my parents to take our picture for this year's Christmas card" Kate told her. Max smiled at this, even after all that happened, Kate was still a loyal friend to the end.
"Wow, that's so sweet of you, Kate. Since we're friends I may give you a special discount, slash the price right in half" Max offered.
"That would be great, Max. I know my family will be appreciative too" Kate replied.
"No problem. How's Warren?" asked Max. Warren was another one of Max's classmates from Blackwell Academy who survived the storm, but was injured with a broken leg and several glass shards lodged in his side and his arm.
"His leg's doing okay but the doctors said those glass shards in his arms damaged his nerves more badly than they thought. He'll be going into surgery next week to hopefully resolve the problem and he can start using his fingers again" Kate explained. This made Max feel so bad for Warren. Warren was nothing but a sweet person and a good friend, he even defended her against Nathan Prescott twice.
"Ouch, I hope the operation goes well though" Max replied.
"Yeah me too. I feel so bad for him" Kate told her.
"I may have to come visit him soon after Chloe and I get back" said Max as she looked out the window and leaning against the wall, staring out into the darkness illuminated only the the city's many colorful lights.
"Get back? You and Chloe going somewhere?" Kate asked.
"Yeah, actually. We're gonna be flying out to China for about a week and a half" Max told her.
"China? Wow, Max that's so exciting" Kate exclaimed happily, excited for her friend.
"I know. We've been talking about it for a while and we've saved up a lot of money. After we got paid by both of our clients today we decided it was time for us to leave LA for a while and explore all the wonders of China" Max explained.
"Sounds like you two have a fun trip planned out" Kate replied.
"I'm going to be bringing my instant camera too and take lots of Polaroid pictures. If you ever decide to come out to see us in LA I could show them to you" Max offered.
"That does sound nice. I actually just got my license and my dad just got me a car for my birthday. So I'm definitely going to drive down to see you guys" said Kate.
"Yeah, it'll be nice to have you around. Chloe and I can show you around too. Maybe even take you to Huntington Beach or the Santa Monica Boardwalk" offered Max.
"Sounds like a lot of fun. I know you're gonna be in China for a while, so when do you think I should come out?" asked Kate. Max then looked at her calendar and saw that there wasn't anything booked for a while, so she got an idea.
"How about you start heading out on the first of August? It'll give us plenty of time to prepare and make the guest room up nice for you" Max suggested.
"August first sounds nice. And it does sound like a nice way to end the Summer too" Kate agreed.
"Alright, sounds like a plan. Well, it was nice talking to you Kate, but I gotta get going. We're having dinner right now and we're going to have to get up super early for our flight" Max told her friend.
"Okay. I hope you make it to China safely. Tell Chloe I said "Hello" and enjoy your flight, alright?" Kate said.
"No problem. Have a good night, Kate. Goodbye" said Max before she hung up and then walked back out to the dinner table.
"There you are. Don't worry, your pizza didn't get cold" Chloe said as she was now eating the garlic bread crust of the pizza.
"Sorry about that. Kate wanted to catch up a bit, and she'll probably be visiting us this August" Max explained as she sat back down in front of Chloe.
"No problem. Oh, I wanted to tell you I just bought the tickets for our flight" Chloe said as she placed two pieces of folded printer paper with the tickets printed onto them on the table. Max picked them up and analyzed them but then noticed an extra little detail on each ticket.
"Chloe, these tickets are for a Red Eye flight. I thought we were gonna head to the airport in the early morning" Max pointed out.
"I know, but I'm not a huge fan of flying. And I figure it would be perfect since we'd be asleep the entire flight there" Chloe explained. Max couldn't really argue with that, and since Red Eyes were meant for people who aren't very fond of flying, it would make sense to take a flight where they'd be asleep the majority of the trip. She sighed and smiled before giving a response to Chloe's explanation.
"Can't argue with that. So what time does the flight leave?" asked Max.
"Fifteen minutes before midnight. We should probably brush our teeth and sleep in our clothes so that we don't miss our flight" Chloe replied as she finished her food and licked the garlic off the tips of her fingers.
"Yeah, that's probably a good idea" Max agreed before she got back to eating her slice of pizza. The two then showered and picked out some clothes to wear during the plane ride, brushed their teeth and went straight to bed. Each one had an alarm on their phone set to wake them up, set to different ringtones they had on their smartphones.
Max opened her eyes to find herself back on the snowy bridge from before. This time though, there was a fire on the edge of the right side of the bridge, and resting in the raging inferno was the wreckage of the helicopter that crashed. She stood up and saw that the armored vehicles were splayed out and a few of them were turned over on their topsides, it could only have been the work of that creature from before.
"Why am I back here again?" Max asked worriedly as she looked around, her skin getting goosebumps once again from the cold environment and the strong chilly winds. She then looked up at the archway where the creature was before, but it wasn't there.
"Wait, what? where is that thing. I could have sworn it was standing up there last time" Max said to herself. The sound of groaning caught her ear next and saw the redheaded woman from before trying to pick herself back up off the ground, holding the elderly man that carried the pick-ax cane in her arms, he appeared to be unconscious.
"He's not well! Get him into one of the vehicles!" the woman who held him cried out. Max ran forward to try and help but she stopped when she felt a large rumble come from behind her. Growling followed the rumbling, and she turned around slowly to see the monster again, but this time she could fully see what it looked like instead of a silhouette.
"W-W-What the Hell?" Max said in an audible whisper as she stared into the eyes of the beast. The creature was tall and had some bulk to it's body, as well as it's arms and legs. It's face was gray, but it's body was covered head to toe in white fur, and it's eyes were a beautiful ocean blue. Max then backed away in fear, but the creature kept walking towards her like a gorilla on it's knuckles.
"Please... don't come closer" Max quietly begged but the monster's only reply was a roar to the face, which Max shut her eyes for and held her arms up in front of her in defense.
"Woah!" Max shouted as he woke up. She was no longer on the bridge, but sitting on the Red Eye flight to China. She was also back in the outfit she picked out for the flight instead of the clothes she had on before in the dream, which was a simple black t-shirt with a Death's Head Moth on the front, as well as dark blue skinny jeans with her favorite pair of converse with tiger faces on the sides, and a light gray hoodie tied around her waist. Max then began calming down and saw that Chloe was still next to her, asleep in the seat closest to the window wearing a pair of wireless bluetooth headphones. Chloe's outfit was a white tee-shirt with a black raven over a red sun, as well as black skinny jeans that were torn at the knees, and her usual combat boots. Max could hear the sound of Muse's "Supermassive Black Hole" blaring out from the edges of Chloe's headphones as she slept peacefully in her seat.
"Of course she'd be listening to that kind of music. Even when she's sleeping" Max thought to herself before taking her phone out of her pocket to check the time. The digital letters read that it was now 2:44 AM, meaning Chloe and her had been asleep on the plane for a few hours, and they wouldn't reach China until closer to morning. Max then began remembering her dream and it was all she could think about.
"What was that? That dream was just like my last one, only it picked up where the last one left off. Seriously, what is going on?" Max asked herself before getting up and walking to use the lavatory in the back of the plane. Once inside, she locked the door and turned the sink knobs before taking some water from the running faucet into her hands and splashed it all over her face.
"Alright, Max. These are just dreams, and a giant white fuzzy monster's not going to kill you" she whispered to herself. She then exited the bathroom and shut the door behind her only to see Chloe awake and standing in front of her, which managed to startle her.
"Jeebus, Chloe you scared the ever-living crap outta me" said Max.
"Sorry. I saw you get up from your seat. Something the matter?" asked Chloe, concerned about her closest friend.
"I had another vision while I was sleeping Chloe. And this time I actually saw the monster" Max told her. Chloe's eyes widened and began to give Max her undivided attention.
"Max, start from the beginning" Chloe instructed, which got a lone nod from the brown-haired girl.
"It picked up where my last vision left off. The helicopter had crashed on the bridge, and then there was woman with really curly red hair. She kind of looked like Princess Merida from that one Disney movie, Brave, only she had glasses and had a British accent" Max began. Chloe's face looked a bit disturbed when she was told what the woman in the dream looked like, it sounded almost like Deja Vu to her.
"Keep going" said Chloe.
"She had this unconscious old man in his arms. I then ran over to try and help but I stopped when I saw the monster was right behind me. It was big, white, furry, and it had a gray face with blue eyes. It was walking up to me, supporting it's weight on the knuckles, almost like an ape" Max explained.
"That is seriously trippy, Max. Although I am glad this isn't another tornado vision, I'm not sure if this is good or bad" Chloe admitted.
"Me neither. I also get this feeling that... all of this is going to start happening when we arrive in China. Or even a short while after we get there" Max told her.
"I'm starting to think so too. Max, it's almost like these visions are trying to tell you something. What if the future is trying to send you a message?" Chloe asked.
"That is a possibility, Chloe. Regardless of what it is, I'm still concerned if my power has something to do with it" Max said.
"Like I said, I'm going to help you figure it out. But in the meantime, let's just play it by ear, okay?" Chloe suggested as she had one hand on Max's shoulder. Max could only nod before she and Chloe walked back to their seats and closed their eyes to try and fall asleep again. Max took out her wireless bluetooth walkman style headphones and activated them before playing a relaxing song to help her get back to sleep for the remainder of their flight. The song she chose was "Someone To Stay" by Vancouver Sleep Clinic, and it helped her get back to sleep for the remainder of their flight.
A/N: Chapter two has just concluded my friends! Don't worry, we'll get to meet some of the characters from 'Abominable' in the next update, I promise. And we'll get to see how Max and Chloe meet them, and the friendships they begin to develop with them before they set to complete their main goal of this story! Please review, thanks!