A/N: Well hey there everybody! Looks like we've finally reached the end of Episode Three: Departure! And Episode Four will be upon all of us very soon. I just want to take a moment to say how much I appreciate all of you that stuck with this story and continued to experience Max and Chloe's journey with them. After this update, this story will have two episodes left before it's conclusion and what I got planned for Episode Four will be sure to get all of you hyped up for more. Now, let's conclude Episode Three: Departure, Enjoy!
Previously on Life is Abominable...
The group continue their journey as they start to scale the Yellow Mountains to get to their next destination, a small village along the shore of the Yangtze River, where Jin would hopefully find a boat to take him and Peng back to Shanghai, and Max and Chloe would find a boat to help take themselves, Yi, and Everest up the river to get closer to the Himalayas. While taking a short break from their long hike, Burnish and Zara ambush them with a squadron of drones. Everest helps them escape by using his powers to make a dandelion grow to a much more gigantic size to fly past the mountains, leaving Jin behind to be captured and tortured by Dr. Zara whom has taken a great interest in Max's power to rewind and alter time. During a brief battle in the sky with Burnish's drones, Max's hand is injured by two propellers of one of the enemy drones just as she was about to use her powers to help take another one out of the sky. Chloe has also discovered she can communicate with Everest in her thoughts as well, realizing she had earned a telepathic bond similar to the one he had with Max. Now, the two continue to fly to an unknown destination where they hope to change their route on the map to the Himalayas...
The Gobi Desert. 12:23 PM
The large dandelion carrying the Yeti and four humans began to get much closer to the ground. It was starting to come down at much faster pace than everybody was anticipating, almost like a meteor entering Earth's atmosphere. Yi spotted a family of four tortoises who were about to eat on a much smaller dandelion that was growing out from the sand in the middle of the desert, making her eyes go wide before she called out to the others.
"Brace yourselves!" said Yi out loud. Max, Chloe, Everest, and Peng clung to the gigantic shoot as tightly as they could before crashing down into the sand. Everest let go at the last minute, causing him to make the ground shake and cover the tortoises in sand, as well as destroy the smaller dandelion. Chloe groaned in pain as she stood up from the sandy ground. The sound of Max hissing caused her to turn her head behind her to see Max gripping the hand that got sliced by the drone from earlier tightly.
"Oh my God. Max, your hand! I forgot about that!" said Chloe as she ran over to help her girlfriend. Everest was now lying on his back and let out a gruff-sounding "Whew" in relief.
"Everest!" the young Yeti heard. It was Peng's voice, he looked up to see where Peng was, but he couldn't see him. He then lifted his left leg in the air, thinking the human boy was hiding underneath it. Everest then sat up and began sitting on his butt before he heard Peng's voice call out to him again.
"No, over here!" he said. Everest then lifted his right leg up into the air, picking it up by the middle toe and standing up while balancing on his left foot. He then grunted and turned around, allowing his right foot to be set down on the ground before he felt something clinging to his fuzzy white backside.
"OOF!" said Peng's voice before Everest turned around to see Peng lying down in the sand. The display of childish shenanigans between the two of them was enough to make Yi laugh. Max's groaning in pain caught all of their attention though, making them turn to see Chloe try to treat the brunette girl's cut hand.
"Max!" Yi shouted as she ran over to check out her hand, Everest and Peng followed behind her. All of them had worried looks on their faces, but Everest was the most worried.
"Mama?" asked Everest in Max's thoughts.
"I'm okay, honey. Mama's just got a small scratch" said Max in her mind before she hissed at another surge of pain flowing throughout her hand, which made Everest know that Max was NOT okay, despite what his surrogate mother had told him.
"Peng! Look inside Max's bag there should be a water bottle or two in there. Bring one to me, we gotta clean this wound before it gets Hella infected" Chloe instructed. Peng looked over by where the large dandelion that had previously been carrying them was crashed, and saw Max's camera bag lying next to it. He grabbed the bag, ran back over to where the others were, and took a bottle of water out, handing it to Chloe.
"Alright, this is gonna sting, Max" said the blue-haired girl as she unscrewed the lid from the top of the bottle and poured it onto injured hand. The feeling of the cold water pouring down onto her wound felt good, but at the same time made her feel more pain, making her scream. Everest could feel tears getting ready to come down, he didn't like seeing his "Mama" hurt or sad. But after staring down at the wounded Max, he got an idea.
"Let me help her" Everest said inside Chloe's head. Chloe looked behind her to see Everest, acknowledging that she had indeed heard what he said.
"What are you gonna do?" asked Chloe, not with her voice, but inside her thoughts. Max looked confused, she wondered why Chloe and Everest were just staring at each other not saying a word, unaware that Chloe had been granted a bond too.
"Please, Mama's in pain. Just let me help her, Auntie Chloe! Please!" Everest begged with his thoughts. Chloe looked back down at Max before she faced her temporary nephew again.
"Alright, do it" Chloe said out loud before moving to the side. Max then spoke up.
"Wait, what's going on? Why were you...?" Max said but was interrupted by Chloe.
"Everest formed the same kind of telepathic bond you guys have with me. I can hear his thoughts and he can hear mine, Max... it's incredible" Chloe explained to her. Max then watched as Everest took her injured hand into his gigantic left paw, placing his right paw right above it. Everest began to hum again, and the blue aura began surrounding his paws this time instead of his entire body. Chloe, Yi, and Peng watched in awe while Max just looked surprised. Her hand began to feel cold, and she felt a shiver flow throughout her entire body, something she had never felt before in the Yeti's presence.
"Woah" Max whispered out loud at what she was feeling at this very moment. What she was feeling right now was completely alien to her, she had no idea what Everest was doing to her. After a short while, Everest's humming stopped and the aura disappeared before he took his right paw off the top of her hand and saw that the cut was completely gone, there was no scabs, no scar, not a single trace of the cuts remained on the back of her hand. Max, Chloe, Yi, and Peng gasped in shock at what they just witnessed, to discover Everest also had healing abilities.
"Holy... it's gone" Yi said.
"It's like nothing ever even happened" Chloe said as she got down on one knee and got a closer look at Max's healed hand.
"That's so awesome! I just can't get over the fact that superpowers are actually real! Rewinding time, controlling nature, and now healing powers? Everest could be a member of the Avengers if he wanted to!" said Peng, jumping up and down in excitement like a toddler in a candy store. Max, Chloe, and Everest chuckled and rolled their eyes in unison at Peng's childishness. Max then looked up to face her semi-adopted son with a look of gratitude on her face.
"Thank you, Everest" she gently said out loud before giving him an affectionate scratch behind the ears, which made the Yeti hum happily as well as stomp his foot on the ground. After Max gave him a kiss in between his eyes and above his nose, he stopped the stomping and nuzzled Max with his right cheek. Yi then looked back down at the dandelion stalk before she looked to face Everest herself.
"What you did back there was amazing, Everest. You saved us! And now we're... wait, where are we?" asked Yi. Her sentence had begun with a smile but it faded away at the end of it. Chloe then got an idea, she took out her phone and took a picture of the landscape before she went to the "photos" app to access the picture she had just taken. Since location services were turned on, the picture could tell them where they were based on the location the picture was taken.
"It says we're in the Gobi Desert. That's pretty Hella far from the Yellow Mountains" said Chloe, making Everest nod in agreement.
"So that means we're gonna have to re-plan our route" Max said before she took the map out of her camera bag and then placed it on the ground. Everest, Chloe, Yi, and Peng gathered around to take a look at the map.
"Alright, so this is where we are" said Chloe as she pointed her index finger on the area of the map where the words "Gobi Desert" were in big bold black letters. Yi then pointed to a blue line on the map that looked a great amount of distance away from where they were now.
"And this is the Yangtze River. That's at least one thousand, five hundred and thirty four kilometers away from where we're at right now" said Yi. Max then reached into her bag and this time pulled out a blue sharpie pen and handed it to Yi, who took the cap off and began to draw on the map's surface.
"Alright, since we're probably around this area, we're going to have to start walking South if we're going to get to the River and meet up with Jin" Yi said as she stopped drawing once she connected the blue line with the red line from earlier she had drawn while they were still on the boat.
"Good idea. The route to our previous route has been declared" Max said before she took off her gray hoodie and tied it around her waist by the sleeves.
"Jeebus it is so effing hot out here" Max said out loud before Chloe took off her beanie and jacket before tying it across her waist just like Max did. Everyone then saw how sad Peng was looking as he was staring out to the sky.
"Peng? You okay little buddy?" Chloe asked as she placed a hand on his shoulder for comfort.
"Not really. We're just so far away from Jin right now and I'm worried" Peng admitted to his older blue-haired friend.
"Yeah well, that's pretty boy's fault, not ours" Chloe said. Max gave her a scolding glare at what she just told him.
"Chloe's right, Max. Jin's the one at fault for not being here right now. He should have jumped, I mean, why doesn't he ever just jump?" Yi said in defense of what Chloe had said earlier.
"He did, he jumped on that boat back in the city. Which is what got him on this trip in the first place" Peng pointed out.
"Yeah, that's because he was worried about you. You're his family" Yi said in response to the younger boy. Max nodded in agreement before she looked over to Everest who had picked up three of the four tortoises from before into his large paws and held them out to Max. The little reptiles popped their heads out their shells and made adorable squeak-like noises at Max, which surprised Everest so much he tossed them up into the air and caught them before they hit the ground.
"Hey, Everest? Hold those little tortoises up to me again, please?" Max politely asked out loud. Everest nodded in compliance and did as asked. She then took out her Polaroid and backed up slightly before looking through the viewfinder and took the picture. After Max took the freshly printed picture out the camera, she shook it up and placed it in her bag alongside her camera. Peng then spoke up again after Max's little photo shoot with Everest ended.
"Yi, he thinks of you as family too" he said. This statement only confused Yi.
"Wait, wh-what?" Yi asked out loud. Peng then looked down at the one turtle that wasn't resting in Everest's paws and picked it up before facing Max, Chloe, and Everest.
"Hey guys, Jin said Yi was like his little sister when they were kids" Peng said.
"Really? That's so sweet" Max replied.
"Yeah. She was always doing something crazy that would get her into trouble. So, he had to... watch out for her" Peng said before placing the turtle in his hands onto Everest's paw, where it nuzzled cheeks with it's sibling.
"And, he still does" Peng concluded before looking over to face Yi. Max, Chloe, and Everest looked at her the exact same time Peng did. Yi was about to say something but she struggled to put the words together. After a short while, she stopped trying to put together her words and said something else in it's place.
"I uh... I think we should get going" she said.
"Good idea. If we're going to see Jin at that village, we need to keep on moving" Chloe said in agreement before looking over to Max.
"Lead the way?" the blue-haired girl asked. Max nodded with a small smile on her face.
"Gladly" said Max before she began walking ahead of all the others, but instructed Everest to stay close to her, like a real mother would instruct to her child whenever they were walking out in a store or in public so that they wouldn't get lost. Peng hopped onto Everest's back to ride on, Chloe walked on Everest's left, and Yi waked right behind the young Yeti.
The Yellow Mountains, Ground Level. 8:53 PM
Jin was now sobbing and coughing in agonizing pain. The bruise surrounding his eye grew darker and underneath his clothes were more bruises from the severe beatings he had just taken from both Dr. Zara and the Goon Leader. Jin could barely even do anything to fight back, as his hands were tied in front of him with zip-ties.
"N-No more" Jin whimpered as he gazed at Zara standing right above him with a police baton in her hand.
"You brought this on yourself, you little brat. You decide not to say anything for hours about where your friends are taking the Yeti, as well as one of your friends' powers" said Zara in an American voice, dropping the British accent while the head goon smiled down at Jin with his arms crossed and back against the wall.
"You can go to Hell (cough) for what you did to Everest... and to Rachel" said Jin while groaning in pain. Zara then swung her arm that carried the police baton and whacked it across Jin's face, forcing him back onto the ground as he tried to sit up.
"He's a tough cookie, doctor. I'm impressed, all these continuous hours of torture and he still hasn't cracked" the head goon said to her.
"I couldn't agree more. But perhaps maybe we should try our most reliable torture tool?" Zara said in a suggestive tone, making the leading crony chuckle and nod in agreement before he opened up a metal locker close to the exit-door and handed it to her. She opened it up and took out what looked like a cattle-prod, but the tool glowed orange and had a large battery at the very bottom of it's hilt with a yellow lightning bolt painted on the side.
"You know, I've never used this on a human before. You, my dear boy... have the honor of being the very first I use it on" Zara said before she flipped a red switch on the handle and activated the weapon. Yellow and orange bolts of electricity came from the tip and Zara chuckled as she stared into the flowing current coming from the weapon itself. Jin then got scared and then shouted at the top of his lungs.
"ALRIGHT, ALRIGHT! I'LL TELL! THEY'RE GOING TO A SMALL VILLAGE BY THE YANGTZE RIVER!" Jin screamed, now starting to let tears fall from his eyes from how scared he was of the pain he would have received had he not decided to talk. Zara smiled in satisfaction before turning the tool off and placed it back inside the case. The redheaded woman looked down to face Jin at his eye-level.
"And, the girl?" Zara asked with one eyebrow raised.
"Her name is Max Caulfield. She and her girlfriend, Chloe Price came to China on Vacation. Max was receiving visions from the Yeti inside her head, he chose her to take him back home to Mt. Everest in the Himalayas! She can rewind time, I've seen it! She has the power to control time itself, she can pause and rewind people and non-living objects in time!" Jin said as he winced his eyes shut. Zara then stood back up and turned to the head goon.
"Looks like we're going to be netting TWO big prizes. The Yeti, and Caulfield" said Zara. The lead guard looked confused and spoke up.
"Wait, why do we want her?" he asked. Zara groaned in annoyance before she slapped him across the face.
"Did you not see what she can do? Imagine it, we cut her open, find out where her power comes from, and then there's a possibility we may be able to weaponize it! We can distribute it as injections to the highest bidder who's willing to pay the highest. They'll be the first nation or nations in the world to have soldiers who can rewind and pause time" Zara said before she put her glasses back on and walked out of the trailer with the head goon following closely behind her.
"W-What have I done?" Jin sobbed to himself while still lying on the floor. He began to regret how he behaved towards Yi, Chloe, Max, Peng, and Everest. He was also wishing he didn't say anything, but he didn't have any choice, he only wanted the pain to stop. Jin then flinched when he heard the door open up again, he was worried Zara was going to hurt him again for more information, but he was wrong. It was an armed guard without his mask, and he came in with a pair of pliers.
"Are you alright?" He asked. Jin didn't reply, he only shook his head to tell him he was not okay. The guard then took the pliers and then cut the zip-ties that held Jin's hands together. Once his hands were free, Jin was helped back up to his feet by the guard.
"Listen to me, my name is Dave. I eavesdropped on the whole interrogation, I wanna help you" Dave said out loud before handing Jin his phone, which Zara had taken from him five minutes into the torturous interrogation that lasted for hours.
"B-But why?" asked Jin, wondering why one of Burnish and Zara's own employees would turn on his employers like this.
"Because Rachel Amber and Chloe Price were my friends. We attended Blackwell together before that storm destroyed Arcadia Bay, Rachel and I were in theater together. Besides, I didn't join Burnish's private army to hurt innocent people" said Dave before he lead Jin outside the trailer and handed him a large black duffel bag.
"That's got all the guns, and ammunition you'll need to help fight Zara and help get the Yeti back home" said Dave.
"I don't understand. Why are you giving me these weapons?" asked Jin, still confused as to why Dave was doing all of this.
"Because I've listened in Zara's conversations with my boss, the head of security. She's planning on betraying him and killing the Yeti for medical research, or so she says. I know for a fact she just wants another subject for her torture. She's never going to stop chasing you, none of you are safe as long as she's still secretly pulling Burnish's strings" Dave explained. Jin knew Dave was right, he experienced how dangerous Emily Zara truly was and the threat she posed to Max and Everest. Before Jin could say anything else, Dave snatched his phone and typed something into it before giving it back.
"I just instructed the Map-Quest app to take you to a smaller river that's pretty close to here. Get there, and you'll have to convince someone to lend you a boat. Once you get a boat, go up that stream and you should find yourself at the Yangtze river" Dave instructed. Jin nodded reply, letting him know he understood and gave him a Military-style salute.
"Good luck" Dave said as he gave a salute back at the younger man.
"Thank you. You too" Jin said before running off with the bag of weapons being carried over his shoulder.
Fifty Miles Outside the Gobi Desert. 9:12 PM
Max, Chloe, Everest, Yi, and Peng collapsed down on the ground. Everybody was exhausted, their legs felt as heavy as lead and not a single one of them had the strength to keep on walking another mile.
"I can't feel my feet" Peng said exhausted. Everest let out a loud groan as he transmitted a message into Max and Chloe's heads.
"Mama? Auntie Chloe? My legs hurt" Everest said using both telepathic links. Max turned her head to face the Yeti with a sympathetic smile on her face.
"I know, sweetie. My legs hurt too" said Max in her thoughts.
"I feel like my legs have been encased in concrete" Chloe said out loud while staring up at the night sky.
"You can say that again" Yi said before groaning in annoyance, placing her hands over her face.
"At least we're actually out of the Gobi Desert, right? Now we just have to keep on walking until we actually find the river" Max piped in, too exhausted to not turn her head to face anyone while she was talking and kept her eyes on the night sky. Yi then let out a loud groan before she sat up, everybody sat up as well, eyes focused on her. Yi looked down, like she was about to give up all hope.
"Ugh, what was I thinking? We are completely lost! We're probably like a bagillion miles away from the Gobi Desert, Everest is nowhere near his mountain, and... given everything you've told me about that psychopath, Zara... Jin could be in serious trouble right now. And, it's all my fault" Yi said before she pulled her knees up to her chest and buried her face into her arms. Everest gave a sad hum before placing his large paw on Yi's head, giving it a comforting pat.
"Jin said this trip was a crazy idea. And I don't know, maybe..." Yi continued but Max grabbed her wrist gently and stopped her from finishing her sentence.
"Maybe what? He was right? No, he wasn't" Max told her. Yi looked confused a bit, but Max continued.
"You chose to be here with us, not Jin. Everest chose me to help him to get home, not Jin. Destiny and fate have bigger plans in store for each and every one of us, Yi. Jin's not the one who's in control, we are. And I'm glad you're here with us, you're loyal and always willing to help out in any way you can. If Jin failed to see that about you... he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's the real crazy one, not you" Max told her. Yi smiled at Max's words before she launched herself forward to give the brunette a hug, which took Max by surprise, but she happily returned the hug. Everest was smiling at the sight of the two girls hugging but he felt something launch itself right into his face, causing him to yelp and fall backwards onto the ground.
"Hehehehehe" Chloe and Peng chuckled together when they saw it happen. Everest then stood up and saw that the mysterious object that hit him was a Koi Fish. Max and Yi stopped hugging and looked to see the fish hopping on the ground back into a small stream that was close to where they sat. Everest backed away slightly in fear, having no idea if the fish was going to hurt him. Yi then stood up and patted Everest on his shoulder to reassure him he had nothing to be afraid of.
"It's okay, Everest. It's just a Koi fish, that's all" she said. Max and Chloe stood up to see many more Koi fish were hopping up the stream over tiny little waterfalls in the middle of the stream that came up every few inches they swam up it. Peng spoke up, confused about why he was seeing the fish swim the opposite direction of where the water was flowing.
"Why are they swimming against the current?" the young boy asked.
"Because they're trying to get back home. Just like how we're trying to get Everest back home" Max told him. Everybody's eyes were now on Everest as they saw him pick a Koi fish out of the stream and hold it up to his face. The Yeti let out a "oooh" as he looked down at it into it's tiny black bead-like eyes. Everest also began mimicking the fish's mouth movements before it slipped out of his paws and slap him across the face with it's tail before it went back down into the water.
"Yeah, maybe you shouldn't mess with them, buddy" Chloe said after the fish fell back into the stream.
"Do you think he'll make it?" Peng asked, noticing it was behind all the other Koi fish who were swimming alongside it.
"I'm sure he will. Or at least, he's gonna try" Chloe answered.
"You know, these fish are actually the symbol of perseverance?" asked Yi.
"What?" asked Peng, confused once more. Max this time chuckled before she was about to speak up to answer his question. Before she could though, she noticed Everest picking up another Koi as it flew out the water. She placed his hand on his paw and lowered it down just as he was about to put it in his mouth. Max then took the fish gently out of Everest's paw before placing it back in the water.
"It means that, no matter how rough things get... you just, keep trying. Regardless of what difficulties you might face" Max explained. Yi then stood up with a large smile on her face, she looked like she wasn't even tired or exhausted anymore.
"We have to keep going. We have to stay ahead of those psychos right?" asked Yi, determination filled her voice as she talked. Max nodded in reply, and so did Chloe as small smiles formed on their faces as well.
(Start Playing 'Red' by Mt. Wolf as you read this next part of the chapter until it says to stop)
"You're right. We still have a long way to go. And as long as those guys are still following us, we can't stop" Max said before she looked up the stream. Everybody then began to walk up alongside the water before they heard the sound of splashing water and turned their heads to see Everest with a Koi fish halfway inside his large mouth.
"Everest, please put the fish back" Max politely said using her thoughts.
"Yes, mama" Everest said before he spit it back out into the stream and then began running ahead of the others. Yi and Peng playfully chased after the young Yeti, leaving Chloe to walk alongside her. As the two girlfriends began to walk together, Chloe spoke up.
"You really do love him, don't you?" asked Chloe. Max just looked to the blue-haired girl, her small smile still present on her face.
"Is it that obvious?" asked Max.
"I don't really blame you, Mad-Max. I am too, I'm starting to think he's ACTUALLY my nephew" Chloe told her. Max's smile faded away before she spoke.
"I know we're supposed to be taking him home, Chloe, but..." Max paused.
"But what?" Chloe asked.
"But... I dunno. I just can't bare to let him go, not after everything we've been though. I find myself about to cry about every time I think about letting him go" Max said, tears threatened to lead down the edges of her eyes at the thought of letting her little Everest go.
"That's the hardest hard about being a parent, Caulfield. Letting your kids go" Chloe replied.
"I love him so much, Chloe. It scares me to think about just... letting him go back when I've grown so attached" said Max. She then felt Chloe place her left arm on her shoulder and pulled her close.
"Don't worry, Max. When the time comes... I'll help you get though it. You're a good mom, and I know even after we get to the Himalayas, that little Yeti's NEVER gonna forget you, and everything you've ever done for him" she told her. Max then rested her head on Chloe's shoulder as they walked and continued to try and catch up with the others.
"Thanks, Chloe" she whispered. The two remained silent as they walked, not needing to say anything else, just enjoying the silence, as well as one another's company.
(You can stop playing the song now)
-This Action Will Have Consequences-
End of Episode Three: Departure
A/N: At long last, Episode Three is finally finished! Looks like Max is growing so attached she doesn't wanna let Everest go. It's going to be hard for her when the time comes. Next month, Episode Four: Hostilities will be posted. But for now, I'm happy you enjoyed Episode Three. Please review, thanks!