It'd been so long since he'd experienced anxiety that, initially, he mistook it for a heart attack. When he did finally realize what it was, he became irritated. He was above such things. Being investigated for months on end hadn't caused him to bat an eye. Not even being followed around by those things brought out the slightest tremor. But now, his palms were sweating and his throat was dry. The man looking back in the mirror was white as a sheet.
It was the lack of control that made him so uneasy. Usually, he knew exactly what was going on. When Nathan had been arrested, he was immensely displeased, but not very surprised. He'd been prepared for it to happen and so he had a plan to deal with it. But this was different. It didn't matter that he was always five moves ahead if someone was going to flip the board into his lap.
He stared at the paper in his hand. It was just one of many he'd found plastered on his front door. They each said something different, but they all had the same bold, black font on them that seemed to shout the words as loudly as possible. He swallowed as he read it again.
'WE KNOW ABOUT THE BUNKER'
Grinding his teeth, he crumpled the paper in his fist and dropped it onto the table. He looked over the others and felt a storm of rage sing through his blood.
'DOLSON FIRE 2001'
'JANE CARRAWAY 2014'
'LUMBER MILL 2009'
'DARK ROOM 2013'
'ERIC DANIELS 2005'
'ASTORIA SHIPWRECK 1997'
There were more, too. At least a dozen, but even that was a generously low guess. They all referenced the demise of someone or something that he played a part in. All of the dirty secrets he'd stashed away so no one could ever find them were there staring right back at him. How was it that someone learned about his bunker, managed to get inside, and found the secret room within? It just...wasn't possible.
Sifting through the papers, he came across one that actually managed to pry a dusty, out of practice gasp from his throat.
'ARCADIA IS WATCHING YOU'
It was one thing to present evidence of his illegal misdeeds, but how could they possibly know about the curse? Even if someone were to happen across that information, there would be no cause for them to take any of it seriously. It would seem like nothing but superstitious nonsense. The only reason someone would have to taunt him with it is if they somehow knew the truth.
But...who? Try as he might, he couldn't begin to figure out who could be behind the messages. The only other people who even knew about the bunker's existence were those that built it and he knew for certain that none of them could be the culprit. In fact, the proof was right there on one of the papers.
Regaining some of his wits, he gathered up the papers and stormed to his office. It was rather simple, really. All he had to do was look back through the footage of his security cameras and he'd learn who broke in. After that, dealing with them would be easy enough. It always had been the easiest part.
But when he reached the office, his stomach dropped. It was in shambles. Everything had been tossed around or otherwise damaged. He knelt beside the upended computer and swore under his breath. The side panel had come loose and the case had been completely disemboweled. He searched through the debris around it and growled in frustration when the hard drive was nowhere to be found.
He swore again and slammed his fist against the empty computer. Suddenly, a tingle ran along his neck, causing the hairs to stand up straight. He looked around the room again, trying to ignore the quickening of his heartbeat. How hadn't he noticed it before? There were no signs of forced entry into the room, and even if there were, surely he would have caught someone breaking into his own home. The truth was, no other people had been in the office except for him. No other people. The teeth and claw marks that scarred the furniture made that very clear. The realization forced him to do something else he hadn't done in many, many years...
He shuddered.
Whatever composure he'd managed to keep hold of crumbled. Rattled, he decided to do the only thing he could think of – go to the bunker and dispose of any evidence left behind. He'd burn it all down if he had to. He'd burn the whole damn town.
He stashed the ominous messages in a drawer and vowed to the destroy them later. Then he went to one of his many safes and, with shaky fingers, put in the combination. He withdrew the handgun and looked over it with a scowl before stowing it in his waistline. A quiet rustling startled him and he spun on his feet, searching the room with wild eyes. When he found nothing, he cleared his throat and wiped the sweat from his brow. He was suddenly very aware of how disorganized the secret room of the bunker was and, for the first time, questioned just how sane he truly was.
He hurried to the door, not bothering to call up to his wife. She was still sleeping and, if all went according to plan, she still would be by the time he returned home. He did pause, though. His eyes trailed up the staircase as he thought of her. She'd endured so much because of him. Overcome with anger, he turned away and left the house. Now was not the time to feel guilt.
Sean kept his head down as he fumbled for his keys, but did look up when a light 'clack' came from ahead. A large crow was perched on the top of his SUV and he instinctively reached for the gun at his waist, then hesitated when it merely cocked its head. He had no idea if a gun would have any effect and he wasn't eager to test it and find out. Swallowing his nerves, he averted his gaze as he slipped around to the driver's side and climbed in. A sharp noise rang out above him as the crow drove its beak into the roof, then there was the whip of wings as it took flight.
A low static crackled from his stereo as he drove, but he was far too flustered to even realize it was adding to his discomfort. He checked the side-mirror over and over, watching as the crow kept a short distance behind him. At one point, he thought he saw something...big sitting in the backseat, and the shock caused him to swerve in and out of each lane before correcting himself. Of course, when he looked again, there was nothing there.
When he finally arrived at Pan Estates, he slumped back against the seat and took off his glasses. He drove his fingers into his eyes, hoping the pressure might stop him from seeing things that weren't really there. Startled, he jerked his hand away and stared at the wet spot on his thumb. More curious than anything else, he touched his cheek and felt a damp streak running from his eye. He cut the engine with such fury that the key nearly snapped off in the ignition.
He tried his best to ignore them, but he couldn't stop himself from stealing glances. With every step toward the building, more shapes appeared from the treeline. A loud, deep roar exploded from the forest and he froze in his tracks. That was not at all the sort of sound any of the indigenous animals should be making. He put his head down and trudged forward, wincing at each new noise that rose around him. Once he reached the door, he finally looked up and let out something close to a whimper. Above him, the crow had settled on the roof and was now surrounded by others of its kind. His stomach twisted into a knot as he remembered the name used to describe a group of crows.
He made a mad dash straight to the kitchen and clenched his jaw. The refrigerator blocking the entrance to the bunker was moved just enough to allow access inside. It was true, then. Someone really had broken in and found his secrets. He'd been clinging to one last morsel of hope, but now there was no denying it. He pulled the fridge back to give a wider opening, then threw open the hatch. When he reached the bottom of the steps, he sighed. The door was closed. The thought occurred to him that he could just change the password before anyone came back. They wouldn't be able to guess it twice, right?
Sean typed in the passcode, but the unsteadiness of his fingers caused him to hit one of the buttons too many times. With a quiet 'fuck,' he corrected his mistake and yanked the door open. He was immediately met with destruction. Everything in the room had been smashed or torn or cut. All of the bottled water was emptied onto the floor, creating a surprisingly deep puddle. There was food everywhere, as well. Anything that hadn't come in a can was left in the water, but even the cans themselves had taken a beating and were dented.
In a stupor, he took a single step further and looked down when his foot splashed in the puddle. Not only had his office been ransacked, but his bunker as well. But this wasn't the same. Animals hadn't done this. People did.
He'd never felt so violated.
Something caught the corner of his eye, once again prickling the hairs on his arms and neck. His hand was instantly on his gun and, very cautiously, he turned to see what it was.
But it wasn't at all what he'd expected.
It was just some...girl. She was petite and young, with pale skin and messy brown hair that draped over her shoulders. She was sitting in a ripped up chair, her posture straight and proper with her hands folded in her lap. She was badly bruised and sporting two black eyes, but that only made their blue color pop in an otherworldly way. They were focused on him, but they didn't convey much. All he could glean was that she wasn't the least bit surprised to see him. She was simply calm. So calm that it was unsettling.
She looked familiar, but he couldn't place her. Where had he seen her before? It was on the tip of his tongue...
He crept closer to her, neither of them saying a word. Her stillness didn't do much to soothe his nerves and he felt the gun become slick against the sweat of his palm. He could just shoot her. He should just shoot her. But he had to know who she was. He had to know who dared to threaten him.
Just as he crossed the threshold into the bigger room, something blurred in his periphery and he was struck against the face. The impact caused his glasses to fly off, but he also lost his grip on the gun. It bounced in the carpet and settled too far away for him to reclaim it.
He reeled from the hit and, in his dizziness, he saw two of the girl sitting before him. As the blurred doubles came back together, he finally recognized her. He'd seen her with...
A click sounded at his left ear and he slowly tilted his head to the side. First, he saw the gun. Its hammer was pulled back, ready to fire at any moment. But then he saw her. The girl who ruined his life. She came closer, pressing the barrel to his head.
"Ahem," the small brunette cleared her throat, drawing his attention back to her. She was still calm. She almost looked bored. Her words were so even and weightless that they sent chills through him. "Hello, Sean. We need to have a talk."
Several hours earlier...
Max hissed as Chloe bit down hard on her arm. She was grateful she'd had the forethought to put the hoodie on or else she'd surely have a mouth-shaped chunk of skin missing. Chloe thrashed backward, slamming the back of her head into Max's nose. Max wrapped her legs around the girl's waist and strained her muscles, trying to keep her as still as possible. She sniffled and realized the blow had caused her nose to bleed.
Though, it wasn't like she was the only one. Max could feel something warm seep through the sleeve of her sweatshirt and she clamped her eyes shut tight. She hated seeing Chloe in so much pain. Chloe jerked forward and almost escaped Max's hold, but she managed to reel her back in. Muffled screaming burrowed into Max's arm as Chloe continued to flail.
"It's okay, I'm right here," she whispered, sucking air through her teeth as Chloe chomped down again. "I'm here. Just a little longer, okay?" Something dripped onto the hand she had against Chloe's stomach, and even from behind her she could see the scarlet flow from her face. "Hang on, baby. It'll be over soon."
And then, after the two longest minutes of Max's life, Chloe finally went limp. Max didn't move right away. She didn't want to risk letting go in case there was another attack. There had already been three. The pressure on her arm subsided, but it was replaced by a rhythmic throbbing. Finally, she felt a weak tap on her hand and released Chloe.
"Fuck," Chloe panted, releasing a mouthful of blood as she spoke. She took a moment to steady her breathing. "How...long?"
"We got two and a half hours," Max responded after glancing at the clock. "Longer than I expected."
I wish it were longer. I'm still so tired...
"I don't...feel very rested," Chloe admitted, wiping her face with the towel they'd set nearby. She angled her head back and gasped. "Fuck, are you okay? What happened?"
"Your big, beautiful head bonked me in the nose," Max chuckled as she used the other sleeve of her hoodie to clean the blood. "It's okay, don't worry. I'm alright."
"Sorry..." Chloe shook her head and slumped forward. "I don't even know what I saw this time. It was too messy. Like a hundred images on top of each other. I couldn't make out any of it."
"Well, I'll count that as a positive." Max pulled her legs away from Chloe so that she could sit next to her. "Here, let me," she said, taking the towel from her and dabbing at a spot Chloe had missed.
"It's only now occurring to me that my dreams have been getting worse at the same time as everything else," she mumbled, tilting her head back so Max could clean under her chin. "I guess that's obvious, it's just...I don't know why."
It'd be nice to know. Maybe that would give us some answers.
"Me either," Max replied. She sat back and looked Chloe over. "Okay, I think you're good. Aside from the clothes, anyway."
"If we get out of this, I'm burning all of these," Chloe snickered, peeling her wet shirt off and tossing it onto the floor. "I'm going to need a whole new wardrobe. Maybe I should've just stayed naked."
"Well, I'm glad I put this thing on..." Max pulled the hoodie over her head and grimaced at the dark mark on her arm. "Christ, Chloe, you've got crocodile jaws."
"Holy shit, I'm so sorry!" Chloe took Max's arm and gently kissed the bruise. "I didn't know you were going to get so beat up from this."
"Really?" Max snorted. "You thrash around like a fish out of water. I had a pretty good idea I'd be coming out of it with some battle scars."
Honestly, I'm surprised you can even tell when I get a new injury. I'm just...one big bruise at this point.
"Still...sorry." Chloe slipped her pants off and added them to the pile. "So, how are...things?"
"Nothing since we've been awake," Max said. She pointed to what used to be the couch. "I got a new chair, though."
"Nice, congrats," Chloe said dryly. She hopped to her feet and swayed to the side, clutching onto the mattress to keep her balance.
"Wait, are you sure you should be moving around yet?" Max asked. "Give it another minute, Chlo."
"We don't have another minute," Chloe argued as she headed to the other side of the room. She picked up her backpack and turned it upside down, letting all of the Prescott journal entries flutter to the floor. "Are you okay, Mayweather?"
"Do I look that bad?" Max laughed. She touched the bridge of her nose and flinched. She didn't want to admit how badly Chloe's headbutt had hurt, but she knew she'd probably have at least one black eye within the next half hour. Before Chloe could lovingly lie to her, she decided to move on. "Okay, we still can't get through all of these. Just skim them as fast as you can. Focus on Sean's."
"On it." Chloe sat on the ground and giggled as she looked back up at Max. "Do you...like my undies?"
"Yes," Max rolled her eyes, "of course I do. I picked them out."
If we get out of this... don't burn those. They're my favorite.
Keeping a watchful eye on the clock, the two searched through page after page of the Prescott's exploits. It was amazing how much they had yet to uncover. Names popped up over and over, often leading to grim conclusions. Events in Arcadia Bay's history that they'd learned about in school were mentioned, though the truth was much different than what they'd been taught. Local tragedies and disasters were explained in full detail, written by the hand that had orchestrated them.
"Max," Chloe's voice was an angry whisper, "I don't understand how this shit happened. There's...there's being a shitty person, but this is like..."
"Like he's really a monster," Max agreed. "The way they managed to do all of this... It's completely insane. I really am starting to wonder if there isn't more to them."
"I know we've made jokes about it, but fuck," Chloe picked up a piece of paper, "seriously? Martin really got six kids killed on a camping trip out of town?"
Those bastards. They've deserved this since the beginning.
"I don't know why we've never heard of so much of this," Max said. She massaged her temples as she thought. "Like, there's definitely stuff in here that I remember studying or at least hearing my parents talk about. But some of it is just... How could so many people go missing without it being a bigger deal?"
"What if..." Chloe leaned back and laid her wrist across her knee, "what if this shit with Arcadia Bay just somehow opened the door for them to be this way? I just don't get why they're still here. Couldn't they have moved on to a bigger town? Or a city? There'd be more...slimy opportunities."
"Nathan wasn't born here," Max offered with a shrug, "he was born in Florida. But one of the pages said Sean wasn't even there for his birth so..." She furrowed her brow. "What the fuck is this?"
"I wish we could get in contact with his sister," Chloe said, pointing at another entry. "Sean doesn't have the best opinion of her. I can't believe he was really doing that 'first born son' shit. What year is it, again?"
"I know," Max responded, "if we had more time, I would love to talk to Nathan again or get in touch with Kristine."
She seems nice. I wonder if any of the Prescotts are actually nice or if everyone with their blood is evil.
"I can't believe that after all this," Chloe sighed, irritated with herself, "Nathan is one of our allies. Man, I... Fuck! I do not want to feel bad for that psycho."
"You can't help it," Max assured, "I get it, Chloe. I do. It's just more complicated than we ever thought it could be. We can feel bad for him and still hold him accountable." She nodded to the pen and paper beside Chloe. "Have you been taking notes?"
"Yeah," she waved the notepad at Max, "I've got a bunch. We're going to make that bastard know what it's like to be scared. I want to see him on his knees and crying. I want him to beg."
"Are you...sure this is a good idea?" Max asked.
"What's he going to do? Go to the cops?" Chloe scoffed, dropping the pad back on the ground. "No, trust me. He's going to play right into our hands."
"And if he doesn't?" Max readjusted and propped herself up on her elbow.
"Then..." Chloe flailed her hands at her side, "I mean, then we do something else. Nothing's stopping us from kicking his door down. We don't...have time to worry about anything else. We get him at whatever cost."
"You're right, I know," Max said, rolling onto her back, "I feel like I'm still rewiring my brain a little. I have to tell the angel on my shoulder to take a hike." A cruel smirk came to her lips. "Maybe she already has. I'm...kind of looking forward to this."
You pushed us this far, Sean. We weren't like this before you.
"That's my girl," Chloe replied, blowing her a kiss. She looked over at the desk and made a pondering sound. "We still have some energy drinks and pills left, right?" Max nodded. "Okay, cool." She gave a self-reassuring nod and returned to the papers around her. "Come on, let's keep looking..."
"Fuck, you know, I really hope none of these details change," Chloe said, waving the freshly printed papers around as they walked to her truck.
"God, like it's not a fucking headache already," Max grumbled. She checked around them, her eyes catching on each and every firefly they passed. "I still haven't noticed any changes, but keep your guard up."
It was so hectic... Why did they stop again?
"My guard couldn't be higher," Chloe replied, patting the gun at her side.
"How many shots do you have?" Max asked, slowing just enough to fall behind. She watched the way it moved with Chloe's hips and hated how used to the sight of it she'd become.
"Full up," she said, following it with a sigh as she turned around. "You with me? You okay?"
Eh.
"Enough," Max shrugged, "more than yesterday. Now it's just..." She cocked her head thoughtfully. "What did you call it? The Godzilla threshold?"
"Uh, probably?" Chloe chuckled. "That sounds like some nerdy shit I'd say, for sure."
"Well, I think we're past the point of pretending you're not a bigger nerd than me, so it m-" Max went quiet. Eyes wide, she searched around her, moving as little as possible. A chill passed across the back of her neck and she brought her fingers to her nose when she felt that all too familiar tickle. "Wait, something isn't..." She took in a sharp breath at the sight of the small stream of blood flowing from Chloe's nostril. "Chloe, your..."
"Yours too," she responded, dragging her thumb across her lip. She analyzed it and scowled. "What's this shit about? At the same time now?"
"It's crazy how much blood you keep losing all in one pop," Max laughed. "That doesn't make sense at all. Pretty sure you should be dead. You're basically bleeding out on a daily basis!" She laughed even harder.
"Uh, no, I...haven't, really," Chloe said, clearly missing what made it so humorous. "I don't think that's very funny."
"Chloe," Max shook her head. She seemed rather scared for someone who'd just been laughing. "I didn't say that."
"What?" Chloe furrowed her brow. "I heard you. What are you..." She stopped and looked more closely at Max, noticing that her attention wasn't on her, but something behind her. Suddenly, she felt an arm around her shoulder.
"I'm just saying," Nightmare Max giggled, rocking side to side with Chloe, "it's not realistic. Methinks someone's taking artistic liberties." Chloe shrieked and tore herself out of the other Max's embrace, eliciting just the briefest look of rejection before it warped back into a smirk. "That's interesting, though. I didn't know this was going to happen. The nosebleed thing, I mean. I guess even you guys have your limits."
"Back the fuck up," Chloe commanded, tearing the gun from her waist and pointing it at her. "I swear to god, back up."
"Oh?" Nightmare Max raised an eyebrow, amused with the threat. "I guess that might actually work, huh? I am...here, after all. Flesh and bone. Well, sorta." Disregarding Chloe's orders, she took a step closer. "But then, of course you won't do it. You're too scared that shooting me might have...consequences." She shot a playful look at Max. "Save the bullet. I promise it won't matter."
"What do you want?" Max asked, the fire building in her voice. Chloe had retreated and was now at her side. "We're busy."
"I see that," Nightmare Max responded, nodding at the papers. "I'm just stopping by. Just checking in. Just...bein' friendly." She smiled wide at that last part and it almost seemed genuine. "So, what's your plan? Lure him out and, what, talk about the apocalypse over some tea?" She turned back to Chloe and made a thoughtful sound. "You're so quiet. Still not used to me yet?"
"Don't talk to her," Max said, taking hold of Chloe by the arm, "you don't have to say anything."
"Don't be a stick in the mud," the other Max replied, crossing her arms with an irritated look. "But it really must be something else to have two of your girlfriend right in front of you, right?" She giggled and pantomimed typing on a keyboard. "Dear Penthouse, you will not even fuckin' believe the threesome I just had."
"You're not Max," Chloe's voice was quiet and seething, "you're just a fucking fake. You're crazy if you think I wouldn't be able to tell you apart." She scoffed and wiped the fresh blood from her lip. "We're dealing with you after Sean, so enjoy it while you can."
"Oh, I intend to," she said, once again smiling with too many teeth. "The bravado's cute, but you shouldn't get too ahead of yourself. The real party hasn't even begun yet." She glanced to the side knowingly and covered her mouth as she laughed. "Yeah, don't worry. I promise we're really gonna bring down the house."
"That's enough," Max spat, taking a firmer grasp around Chloe's wrist, "we don't have t-"
"Yes, yes, you don't have time," Nightmare Max made a shooing motion, "we get it. I think that horse has long since died." She 'tsk'd' as Max and Chloe began walking away, though she made no effort to follow them. "I'll catch up with you guys in a bit! Have fun storming the bunker!"
Max studied herself in the mirror, gently pressing her fingers against the bruise forming under her eyes. Once again, there was no music playing. There was only the constant rumble of the truck's engine and the occasional whipping noise of something passing by. She realized how much she missed music. Not that she hadn't heard any in the past few days, but it wasn't the same as putting on her record player and giving herself over to the tune of her choice. Finally, she decided to break the silence.
"How's your head?" she asked.
"In what way?" Chloe kept her eyes on the road, but her head did tilt toward Max to show she was paying attention.
"I mean," Max sighed, "seeing her. Seeing two of me. I'm sure that's...strange."
"Yeah, it's pretty fucking weird," Chloe responded, then she shook her head. "If nothing else, I can confidently say I've experienced a lot of things no one else ever has. But...I definitely get Samuel's whole thing."
Poor Samuel...
"Do you feel, uh..." Max scrunched her lips when she couldn't figure out how to word the question.
"Crazy?" Chloe gave a gentle laugh. "A little, yeah. It just doesn't really stop. Like even when I'm not thinking about it, my brain's still firing on all cylinders to try and understand. Feels like I'm subconsciously taking a thousand exams at once."
"You're...doing well, though," Max said, knowing that it was a half-truth at best.
I need to stop this from happening to you. All of this.
"Oh yeah, I'm killin' it," Chloe glanced at her, showing off a slight smile. Then her expression changed into something more severe. "We'll talk about it later. For now, we have to focus. We'll be at Sean's soon to get our vandalism on."
"Right," Max nodded and, with a long, tired exhale, rested her head against the window. After a moment, there was a slight tug on her heart, and she voiced a barely audible 'hm' as she watched a street sign vanish into thin air.
"Ahem," Max cleared her throat. She didn't flinch when Sean turned his attention back to her and gazed deep into her eyes. "Hello, Sean. We have to talk."
"You?" He didn't break eye contact with Max, but the question was clearly aimed at Chloe. "It was you?"
"It was me," she responded, tapping the barrel of the gun to his temple. "Man, this feels even better than I thought it would." Her lip tugged up into a snarl. "How does it feel to be on the other side of a gun?" She took a step closer, the twisted smile on her face making her canine teeth seem sharper than usual. "Are you scared?"
"How?" he asked, the question followed by an audible swallow. "How did you...do this? What is the meaning of this?"
"We had some help," Max said as she leaned forward in her seat, "from some...friends." For a moment, Sean seemed confused, but then his eyes widened. "You know exactly what I'm talking about, don't you?"
I still don't know what's going on with the animals, but they've helped us get this far.
"How could you know about that?" He glanced at Chloe, but didn't dare move his head. "Who are you?"
"I keep forgetting you don't know who I am," Max snickered as she shook her head, "that's so weird." She straightened her posture and offered him a cordial smile. "I'm Max. I'm Chloe's girlfriend," she said, gesturing at the girl. "I'm also Kate Marsh's friend..." she laughed again, but it was darker. "I'm friends with Victoria Chase. I'm the only one who's shown Nathan compassion in months. I'm a victim of Mark Jefferson's." She narrowed her eyes and took a small breath she hoped wasn't too noticeable. It was time for her to truly own it. "I control the storm."
That means I control you, Sean.
It was too much at once for him to fully grasp each individual statement, but the last one succeeded in striking him harder than Chloe just had a moment ago.
"Just level with me," Chloe said before he could question Max further, "are you a demon? Some kind of supernatural, evil...thing? We've been trying to figure it out but it's a real head-scratcher." She tilted her head as she analyzed him. "Or are you just a pathetic piece of shit that causes death and destruction for kicks?"
"How..." he began, but was cut off when Chloe made a disgusted sound and rolled her eyes.
"How, how, how," she mocked, "is that all you can say?"
"I'm sure you've gathered," Max gestured around her, "but we know everything, Sean. We know what you and your family have done."
"That's impossible," he muttered, a tint of anger slipping in with his fear.
"Really?" Max perked an eyebrow. "Half of the evidence was just laying on the floor in there. It couldn't have been easier." She thought for a moment. "You don't know how crazy you are, do you? One look at that room back there," she pointed her thumb over her shoulder, "shows just how much you're falling apart. But you can't see it, can you?" She studied his expression and smiled again. "Oh, you're talking about the other stuff, huh?"
All these different layers of fucked up, it's hard to keep track sometimes.
"The song..." Sean started to shake his head but tensed when he saw the black metal of the gun sway near his eye. He took a deep breath. "What do you want from me? Money?"
"Wow, seriously?" Chloe scoffed, though there was also amusement in her tone. "You think we give a fuck about your money? You're joking, right?" She shot a disbelieving look at Max, but then something dark toppled over in her irises as she turned back to him. "Sean, you... You killed my dad. You killed Rachel. You..." she looked back at Max again, her eyes glassy with the beginning of tears, "you took Max away from me. All of that was you. All of it."
He's poison.
"What are you talking about?" he asked incredulously. "Nathan killed that little whore, not m-" He let out several strangled coughs as he bent over and clutched his stomach.
"Do not even go there," Chloe said through her teeth, already priming herself to knee him again.
"Maybe you should..." Max ran a hand through her hair before aiming her smile at Sean once again, "maybe you should choose your words more carefully?" Watching him there, pathetic and cowering, she couldn't help herself from pouring salt in the wound. "You should apologize." Briefly, his pride resurfaced, but she cut him off before he could protest. "No. Say you're sorry."
You need to fucking behave, Sean. You're ours.
"I'm...I'm sorry," he spoke the words as if they burned his throat. He bowed his head and squeezed his eyes shut tight. "You didn't answer me. If not money, then what do you want?"
"Well," Max stood up and strolled toward him, "we sort of have a problem and we were hoping you might be able to give us some answers..." She stopped and watched as broken glass on the floor reconstituted into a coffee table. "Hm... Did you notice that?"
"Notice what?" he asked, the confusion on his face proving his sincerity.
Dammit.
"So you don't know..." Max sighed and looked away, disappointed in his lack of awareness. She noticed the frustration in Chloe's reaction as well. It would have been so much easier if he already had some sort of inkling. Just one small bit they could start from. "Sean," she said, giving him a look of concern rather than spite, "everything is falling apart. The universe is dying. Do you know anything about that?"
"Dying? I don't know what you're talking about," he responded. Boldly, he turned his head to look Chloe in the eye. Whereas everything else had visibly disturbed him, this fact didn't seem to mean much of anything.
"Okay, let's start with something else," Max said, examining her hand as she tensed her fingers. Though she'd just changed the bandage a few hours before, the clean white color of it had already been compromised by a splotch of red. She found it particularly interesting, as she was fairly sure it hadn't bled since the night she'd gotten it. Pushing it from her mind, she focused on him once again. "Do you know anything about time travel?"
"What is it that you're trying to do?" His jaw tightened as his patience began to slip. "You've gone through all the trouble of trapping me just to talk nonsense?"
She tried to hide just how deflated his response made her. That familiar, suffocating feeling of dread began to work its way around her throat. All she could do was picture the other her wearing a smug smile as she declared the futility of it all. But she refused to believe that Sean didn't have the answers. He had to know something.
"I can time travel," she said numbly, looking back over her hand. It was the first time saying it out loud didn't make her want to cry. Slowly, she met his eye. "You don't believe me. Nobody does at first. And honestly, it's a bit harder to prove to you. I never did meet you in that other timeline." She held her hand up to stop him from speaking. "No, don't. I've had this conversation too many times. Just let me do it." She thought for a moment, then shrugged. "Okay, uh, in another timeline, you learned that Kate Marsh killed herself."
Sean winced as a jolt of agony shot through his skull. He pinched the bridge of his nose for a few seconds until the feeling passed.
Bingo!
"I wasn't sure if that was going to work," Max said. She smiled at Chloe with more excitement than was appropriate.
"What was that?" Sean asked, and Max was pleased to see the worry return to his eyes.
"The mind doesn't like it when it has to understand multiple realities," she explained, tapping her finger to her temple, "it's not meant to do that. It overheats. It breaks."
"I've got one," Chloe stuck her tongue through her teeth giddily. Despite how childish it looked, there was still something sinister about it. "You hired my mom, Joyce Madsen, to work at this fucking place." She was quick to readjust her aim with the gun when Sean took a clumsy step away from her. "I guess you got a little further along in that timeline. But just knowing how you treat your other employees..." She waited for him to shake off the discomfort and then closed the distance between them. "You're lucky I didn't see what that would be like for her."
"And now for the big reveal," Max said, waving her hand to draw his attention back to her. "The storm is real. Arcadia's revenge. It came and, well, you saw it." She followed him with her eyes as his knees buckled and dropped him to the floor. Something pulsed in the air behind him and she casually pointed over his head. "And while we're on the subject, you should take a look behind you. Your nice, big sink is gone."
He writhed a moment longer, then when the crackling in his brain dissipated, he looked over his shoulder.
"M-my...sink?" He spoke slowly, though it was unclear if it was because of his bewilderment or the residual aching in his head. "Sink? What sink?"
"He probably still can't tell," Chloe said, peering around the corner so she could see the change that had occurred, "lemme try..." She crouched down, resting her wrists on her knees, and whispered. "Yeah, your sink. You know, the thing you've probably used plenty of times. Maybe after making some food in your fancy microwave. Or maybe after getting some dirt on your hands..." She narrowed her eyes. "Maybe after you killed Jane."
"W-wait..." he swayed forward and planted his palms on the ground to keep himself from falling. Then he heaved three times, with the distinctive sound of something coming up on the third. He swallowed it back down and sniffled as he shook his head. "No, that...doesn't make sense. There's no sink. There never was. There's..."
"Hey," Chloe looked up at Max and chuckled, "isn't that kind of funny? For Warren, it was a huge deal because it was Jefferson. And for this piece of shit, it's just..." Instead of finishing her sentence, she just laughed a little bit harder. "God, I know everything sucks right now, but this is kinda fuckin' fun."
Have to be careful to keep her a little reigned in.
A cloud of static appeared to Max's left and she watched as an ivory pedestal sprouted from the ground, sporting a marble statuette of an elephant on top. She nodded at Chloe, and the girl gripped Sean by the hair.
"How about that?" she asked, forcing him to look at the new addition to the room. His eyes went wide and his body tried to slump to the floor, but Chloe's grasp kept him for doing so. "You notice that now, right? You all caught up to speed?"
"What...is...this?" he mumbled weakly.
The end.
"Well, now that you know what's going on, you can see it," Max replied nonchalantly. She pressed hard against her neck, causing just enough ache to banish the attempted return of her exhaustion. "Okay so, let's recap. You now know there's such a thing as time travel and you also know that reality is tearing itself into pieces. Now..." she leaned forward, placing her hands on her knees, and stared daggers into him, "what we need from you is to tell us everything you know about Arcadia. Everything's connected and we're trying to stop it."
He didn't respond. Instead, he only marveled as the wood paneling on the wall was stripped away to concrete. Now, he was well and truly afraid.
"Come on, Sean," Max continued, snapping her fingers, "whether you want to believe it or not, this is your fault. You set this in motion. You have to know something."
You have to...
"It's not my fault," he whimpered, "I was only doing as my father asked... As his father asked..."
"Oh no," Chloe shook her head, "you do not get to play that card. No, you have to own it." She ran her tongue across her top row of teeth with a loathsome gleam in her eye. "I mean, you already own everything else, right? What's one more thing?"
"But they made me," he argued, "I didn't have a choice."
"Oh, bullshit! You really have the nerve to say that after you did the same thing to Nathan? You had every chance to break the cycle." Max looked him over in disgust. "Do you even really feel that way or are you just trying to squirm out of this?"
"No!" Sean held his hands up in defense. "I didn't start this! I'm not the one who picked a fight with that...that thing!" He shielded his eyes, not wanting to acknowledge the convulsing furniture at the other end of the room, but just the sudden movement of his arm upended his balance. His mind was still adjusting to the onslaught of forbidden information. With no time for a breather, every change he witnessed only made him more unstable.
"Look," Chloe said, "we don't have a lot of time left. If you don't have anything useful to say, th-"
"Nathan got suspended and you sent an email bitching about it to Principal Wells," Max said with zero trace of emotion in her voice. Without Chloe to hold him up, Sean finally spilled onto the floor. He gnashed his teeth as one fist pounded against the tiles. "It only gets worse, you know."
Still keeping aim at his head, Chloe made a slow circle around him. She stepped on the gun that he'd dropped earlier and kicked backwards, sliding it far away from them. It was surely unintentional, but he'd been progressively thrashing closer to it.
"Please, just stop!" he begged, though he had to take several breaths just to get it out. "Please, stop this. I...I know I've done wrong. I know..." He looked up at Max. "Tell me... The storm is real?"
"We've seen it," Max replied.
We've lived it.
"I never knew if it was true," he said, sitting back upright. His arms hung at his sides, as if just holding them appropriately took too much energy. He flinched again as a portrait of an unknown woman appeared on the wall, though it didn't affect him as badly. "None of us did. We were never sure."
"I find that a little hard to believe considering the code to get in here is the date of the storm," Max responded as she crossed her arms.
"Really?" he gasped, and once again Max was disappointed at how genuine his surprise was.
Don't act like you don't know. Please, you have to know.
"If you didn't know, then why pick it?" Chloe asked.
"It was just..." he furrowed his brow as he thought, "I've been having dreams for some time. They're just nonsense, but that number was always stuck in my head after I woke up."
"Dreams?" Max cocked her head curiously. "What happens in these dreams?"
"I told you, it's nonsense," he said, finally sitting in a more relaxed position. "It's just...darkness. But there's something moving. There are noises, but I can never remember what they sound like."
"You don't think that sounds familiar?" Max turned and pointed in the direction of the secret room. "Isn't that exactly like the kind of dreams Benjamin had?"
Something moving in the darkness...
"They were just dreams," he replied, offering a poor excuse for a shrug. "I assume that's why the date from his entry crops up. It's all subconscious details."
"You really go all in on the denial, don't you?" Chloe chuckled in disbelief. "You've seen enough weird shit to know there's no reason to doubt it. With all the..." She smiled as, right on cue, a loud 'ribbit' came from the entrance to the bunker. "Well shit, speak of the devil."
"What do they want with me?" he asked, refusing to turn around.
"You tell us," Max shot back, but her tone was beginning to sound just as pleading as his.
"I thought it got what it wanted," he hung his head and sniffled again, "I thought it was done. I'm ruined. What else is there?" To the girls' surprise, he choked out a quiet sob. "There's nothing left to take."
"You're breathing," Chloe said, slightly adjusting the aim of the gun as she spoke. It wasn't a conscious decision. Rather, it was a natural impulse that highlighted her desire to change how true the statement was.
Easy, Chlo.
"Do you know why it waited until it got to you?" Max took a step back and sat on the arm of a sofa that hadn't been there a minute before. "Why now?"
"I don't know!" He flailed his arms in a tantrum. "I don't know anything about this! I didn't even realize it was referencing people until it was too late. I-" He yelped and swiped at his own shoulder, flinging a disturbingly large spider against the wall. "Leave me alone! All of you!" In response, a roar echoed through the room, dismantling any courage he'd been building.
They're coming.
"Why haven't you left?" Max asked. She was growing increasingly frustrated with the lack of answers. "Why didn't you move to a new town away from all of this?"
"Because it's mine!" he shouted, "this is my land!" In spite of everything, it was clear he still believed it with all his heart. Though his composure had completely unraveled, leaving nothing but a lunatic behind, he still clung tight to that belief. Suddenly, a look of realization struck him, and he stared up at Max. "You saw the storm. How bad was it? Not bad enough, I'm sure. I could still rebuild. You say you can time travel, why not go back and let it happen? I'll give you anything you want."
What the fuck...
"You're...a monster..." Max said quietly. Even she hadn't expected him to reach that far into madness. She didn't show it, but it unnerved her greatly.
"I built these bunkers for a reason, dammit," he responded. "As long as I survive, I can rebuild. I don't need anyone else. I can do it."
Yeah, well, you didn't survive. ...nobody did.
"I've had enough of this," Chloe snarled, "I'm going to blow a fucking hole right through your god complex." She set her arm out straight and locked her elbow to assure she wouldn't miss. "Max, I'm sorry, but if he doesn't have anything helpful to tell us then I'd at least like to kill him before everything goes to shit."
Wait, not yet!
"Chloe, you ca-"
Max's plea was cut off as the corner of the room imploded. The floor bubbled, then sunk several feet. It was as if the ground was made of clay and a giant had pressed its thumb into it, creating a concave pit. The sudden change knocked Chloe off her balance and she fell backwards, disappearing into the hole with a shriek.
Max shot up and started to rush over to her, but stopped when she saw an odd movement from the corner of her eye. Just far enough away to be unaffected, Sean had managed to reach his feet and catch the gun as it flew from Chloe's hand. He already had it pointed at Max. It looked like he was already pulling the trigger.
She could hear Chloe panicking and calling to her, but it was smeared and played second to something else. It was a faint voice in the back of her mind that sounded a lot like her own. In fact, it was so clear, it might as well have been whispered directly into her ear. Her voice, but not her voice.
All it said was 'do it.'
"Sean!" she screamed as she faced him, "in another timeline, the storm killed you! Your fucking head was crushed under a statue!"
There was a sound unlike anything Max had ever heard. Something like a grizzly, wet tearing one would hear in a slasher film. But there was also a crack, like concrete being split with a pick. And there was a ringing, too. Not abrasive, not like the bell she heard in school. It was more like a sweet melody played by wind chimes on a gentle, breezy day. All of these combined into something truly horrific, culminating in a wretched 'pop!'
And before she knew it, Sean was back on his knees.
Even after everything, Max had never seen so much blood. It came from everywhere. Mouth, nose, eyes, ears... It dripped from under his fingernails and ran from the crown of his head. Soon, his shirt and pants were soaked in red as it seeped straight through his skin.
In true Prescott fashion, he never fully collapsed. He stayed there on his knees, holding onto one last strand of pride. But though he may have stayed upright, it was clear he was no longer breathing.
Oh no, what did I...what did I do...
"Oh, f-fuck," Max stammered, hurrying over to the dip in the floor. She lowered herself to the ground and peered into it. Thankfully, it wasn't terribly deep. "Chloe! Grab my hand!"
"Are you okay!? What happened!?" Chloe reached up for her as she shouted. Max didn't answer, instead choosing to put all of her focus into getting the girl out of the hole. Because of the way it sloped, Chloe was able to plant her feet as Max pulled her and climb out with relative ease. Chloe embraced her tightly, then let go when she saw Sean. "Holy shit, Max."
"I...I..." Max looked down at her hands and imagined them wrapped around Sean's throat, "I killed him..."
"Are you okay?" Chloe grabbed Max by the cheeks and stared into her eyes. "Are you okay? Did anything happen to you?"
"N-no, I just..." Max glanced at Sean's body and just as quickly looked away. "Oh my god, he's dead. Oh fuck."
No, no, no!
"You didn't have a choice," Chloe whispered, "you had to do it. I...I was going to do it so you didn't have to." Max sucked in a giant gasp of air and released it as a sob. "Shh, it's okay. It'll be okay."
"How?" she replied, running her hands through her hair, "he was all we had left! We still don't know! We don't know how to stop this! What do we do!?"
"Uh..." Chloe looked around them, the truth of Max's words settling in, "okay, I think the first thing we need to do is get out of here. You need some air. We'll...we'll come back later if we need to."
"Jesus, I fucked it up," Max clutched at her elbow as she stifled a whine, "I ruined it! I ruined our last chance!"
That's it. It's over. Oh god.
"Max, come on," Chloe stood up and grabbed hold of Max's hands, trying to get her to do the same, "we can figure it out, but I want to get out of here. I hate this place."
After refusing to cooperate for a moment, Max finally let Chloe pull her to her feet. She kept her eyes down as Chloe escorted her, though she could see things blinking and twisting in her periphery. Shadows moved along the floor, accompanied by various sounds of wildlife. As they neared the entrance, she took a quick peek behind her. The bunker was suddenly full of animals. Bugs covered every square inch of the walls while bigger beasts like wolves and deer stood throughout the room. They all seemed to be observing Sean's corpse with great interest.
They climbed the steps, careful to avoid the rats and squirrels that bounded past them. Chloe repeatedly 'shhh'd' in an attempt at comfort while Max tried to muffle her cries. When they reached the top, Chloe spun Max around to face her.
"Listen to me," she said, "it's not over yet. We'll think of something. There has to be something." She was doing a surprisingly good job at projecting confidence despite the underlying terror in her eyes. "I love you, okay? We'll figure this out." She pulled Max into a deep kiss, successfully causing the girl's tears to cease.
Why can't I just stay here like this?
"I love you too," Max replied once they'd broken the kiss. She rested her forehead against Chloe's chest for a moment, then took a deep breath and headed for the door.
But the moment she stepped outside, her blood ran cold.
"Oh my god..." Max stared above her, mouth agape.
It was still dark when they entered the bunker, but the sun had since risen high into the air. But it was all wrong. It seemed larger than usual, and it was white. Not white in the way the sun often appears, but as if it lacked any color at all. The sky around it was an odd hue of purple and, though there were no clouds, lightning constantly streaked across it like cracks in glass.
"What the fuck?" Chloe took a tight hold of Max's hand as she watched the colors break and cry above them. "What is this?"
"Chloe, this is..." Max couldn't bring herself to finish the thought.
"We have to go," Chloe took off in the general direction of the truck, pointedly ignoring the implications of Max's fractured sentence.
"Go...where?" Max asked, both panic and desperation driving the sound of her voice.
"I don't know," Chloe snapped, "we're going to get into the truck and fucking drive and we're going to come up with a plan."
There was a fierce rumbling that seemed to come from the sun, and then something tore open in the air. High in the sky, a car was spat into existence. It immediately plummeted to the ground and smashed into an unrecognizable pile of metal.
"Shit! Chloe, we have to be careful!" Max yelled, forcing her voice to carry over the escalating groan in the center of the sky.
An enormous black mass rose from the surrounding forest as the birds twisted together as one cohesive unit, doing their best to flee the destruction. Another car careened to the earth, followed by a confetti-like burst of objects ranging from streetlights to rocks to concentrated downpours of water. Sinkholes opened up across the plot of Pan Estates. Trees continued to grow and die, popping up and disappearing like a giant game of whack-a-mole.
They ran faster, darting through the trees and shielding themselves from any flying shrapnel. Suddenly, Max made eye contact with something, and it caused her to briefly stumble. After regaining her footing, she looked a bit harder and realized people were appearing between the trees. Thankfully, she didn't recognize any of them, but they were jittery and out of focus, caused by the continuous shuffle through appearance changes.
Finally, they broke through the fluctuating treeline and could see the road once again. An unidentifiable something, alight with blue flames, raced down the street before hitting something, upending into the air, and vanishing. The sun continued to creak and grate against reality, as if it might give in at any moment.
Too fast to understand what happened, Max suddenly found herself whirling through the air away from Chloe. She landed hard on her back and wheezed as the air was knocked from her lungs. With the aid of adrenaline, she was able to hop back up almost immediately, but she still had to fight the urge to puke. It took a second for her to find Chloe, as she'd been flung much further than she thought.
"Max!" Chloe screamed and began running to her, passing by a downed telephone pole on the way. Max realized it was what had hit her, essentially acting as a giant baseball bat while she was unfortunate enough to be the ball. Connecting the dots made the pain more real and she had to stop herself from collapsing. "Max!" Chloe called again.
A fierce wind picked up and the power behind it shaved off the tops of the surrounding trees, sending thousands upon thousands of leaves into a vortex. Then, a massive shadow fell over Chloe, and they both looked up just in time to see an entire house falling from the sky. She opened her mouth to call to Chloe, but could instead only cough due to her still spasming stomach.
Chloe's eyes went wide and she threw her arms over her head, unleashing a terrified scream.
But then Max couldn't see her anymore. She could only see a destroyed building surrounded by wood, concrete, and glass.
Without thinking, Max raised her hand.
She felt the sensation of sand passing through her fingers and she took hold of the world. Then, she pulled, digging her nails into the fabric of reality. The cuts on her hand began to ache and a small drop of blood fell from her palm.
It stopped just before it hit the dirt.
Then, it began to rise into the air. Higher, higher, until it was drawn back through the bandage.
Piece by piece, the house was rebuilt. Windows came back together, beams were replaced, and bricks reset. Max clawed at the throat of time, dragging it back further and further. Finally, the house lifted off the ground and ascended into the sky.
She could see Chloe again, but the fear in her expression only made her pull harder. The shadow cast by the house grew smaller and smaller, until it was no longer there. The building had returned through the tear it was birthed from.
Max let go, returning the world to normal. Or at least, she tried to.
Even though she'd released her hold, things continued to move backwards. Chloe moved in reverse, retreating back to the spot where she and Max had been separated. The telephone pole whipped back off the ground and swung the opposite way, erupting into dust when it reached its point of origin. One of the many cars that had fallen was sucked back into the sky, plunging back through the hole it came from.
She couldn't stop. She tried over and over. It just wouldn't stop.
She'd scream if she could. There was so much tension pulling at every fiber of her being that it would draw a tortured wail from anyone. But she couldn't even open her mouth.
More and more, the distortions were reverted. The new trees were torn back through the dirt. Objects raced into the air like meteorites in reverse, each and every one disappearing into another universe far from her own. Helplessly, she watched as Chloe was drawn back toward the bunker.
The rewind's speed increased and it became harder to tell what was happening. She could only see vague shapes rocket in all directions. Only, now when they disappeared, it sounded as though they were smashing through something. The violent noises continued with each tick of Max's power, until finally...it was dark.
And then she saw the beam of a flashlight, wielded by a dark figure that was coming toward her at blinding speed. It was Chloe. Her heart broke in her chest as the girl, no more than three feet away, went right past her. It was as if she wasn't even there. If only she could call her name. If only she could reach out and grab her.
She funneled all of her strength into her grip on reality and tried to yank it to a stop, but it was no use. She felt something crack and then snap, but she wasn't sure if it came from within her own body or somewhere else.
But then it was light again.
And then dark.
Light.
Dark.
The sun shot across the sky, leaving gaps for the moon to shiver and glow through the rewind.
Day.
Night.
Day.
Night.
She was weak now, and she'd have fallen long ago were it not for the fact that she was literally unable to move. It was draining every ounce of her energy. Somewhere, in a distant part of her mind, she wondered if she was dying.
Suddenly, the sun went still above her. Everything else continued to reverse, but the sun remained directly overhead. It stuttered, fighting the pull of her powers. And then...it fell.
Everything went white as sunlight flooded through the world. She thought it might be burning her, but it was too hard to tell anymore. There was just too much feeling that it was impossible to process. She only heard the sound of things breaking. There was nothing to see anymore. Only light. Only fire.
Thunder crashed and she took a desperate gasp of air as she was finally released. Instantly, she felt the stinging cold of the rain on her skin. A blistering, violent wind bore through her ears.
Her heart leapt with joy as, right in front of her, was Chloe. She was as beautiful as always, though her hair was a bit shorter than it should be. Max wanted nothing more than to kiss her, but she hesitated. Chloe was crying. The girl glanced down at something that made her lip quiver. Max was suddenly aware she was holding something.
She was also now aware that they were by the lighthouse and that the storm was raging over the water, barreling toward Arcadia Bay. She looked at the photograph in her hand and her heart beat faster. Or maybe it stopped beating. She couldn't tell anymore. She just couldn't tell.
"Max..." Chloe said, staring deep into Max's eyes, "it's time..."