Note: Hey folks! So this chapter is a little shorter than my first one, but I finished it much earlier than I thought I would. I'm leaving canon a little in this one, as they're exploring the wreckage of the town. Without further ado, let's continue!
Max leaned heavily on Chloe as they stumbled through the ruins of the town. The car had miraculously survived with only minor scratches. They had found it lying under branches and leaves, and other junk blown by the storm. After clearing it off, the two of them drove off into Arcadia Bay until they reached a road that was too cluttered to drive over. After that, they continued on foot, stepping over rubble, light posts and skirting around the occasional body.
While Max didn't recognize most of them, every time she did she felt bile rise in the back of her throat. As they drew closer to the diner, she felt her chest tighten more and more. Warren, Joyce, Frank... They had to be okay. They had to.
Finally, Max began to recognize the destruction around her. The massive red semi that had tipped over, where she had saved the trucker. The road where she had stopped the metal sheet from hitting Evan. She glanced at the spot, then recoiled when she saw a broken form lying there.
"No..." Max muttered under her breath, "No that's- I saved him, it can't be him." Max broke away from Chloe and half ran half fell next to the body. Black pants, grey sweatshirt, scarf... It was Evan, no doubt about it. Max's eyes welled with tears, and she sat back, uncomprehending, "I saved you, I stopped this, this shouldn't-" Her words finally broke down, and Max was sobbing all over again, unable to take it all in.
She felt Chloe's arm wrap around her shoulders and Max buried her face in Chloe's shoulder, "Hey, it's alright. You can't save everyone, okay?"
Max shook her head, and managed to hold back her tears long enough to say, "No Chloe, I saved him, I remember! I saved him, and Alyssa and-" Her breath caught in her throat as she suddenly remembered the flash of heat and fire, the explosion, "Oh no." Max breathed, and pushed herself to her feet.
"What's up?" Chloe asked, standing up too.
Max didn't answer, and instead took off, avoiding all too familiar obstacles, ducking into the flame wrecked building, through the door, back onto the street. She saw the massive whale, but ignored it, instead staring at the diner. Or rather, what was left of the diner.
Whether it was the storm or the explosion, the diner had been completely wrecked. The Two Whales sign lay in pieces, scattered across the entryway. Frank's RV had crashed through one wall, and what looked like a fishing boat had caved in part of the roof. All around the building lay shards of glass, remnants of the windows before the explosion had rocked the diner.
"Oh shit," Chloe's voice barely registered in Max's brain as she sunk to her knees, "Goddammit, no!" Chloe hurried past her, and ducked out of sight under the broken Two Whales sign.
Max sat paralyzed, trying to wrap her mind around everything, "I stopped the explosion, I remember it so clearly... Except I never did, I never came for Warren's photo. I went back and made Chloe go home, and then I never went into town." Max's body began shaking violently, and she buried her head in her hands.
Finally, Chloe emerged from the diner, her face wet, but hard. She knelt down in front of Max, and pulled her chin up, "Come on, we've gotta go Max."
"What- What did you-" Max stammered, but Chloe cut her off by hauling her to her feet.
"You don't want to know. Let's go." Chloe began forcefully pulling Max away, but she couldn't help looking back.
"Chloe, what-" Chloe stopped, and clenched her fists.
"A bunch of fucking bodies okay? I can't even recognize who they are, they're so badly burnt." Max's bile rose again, stronger than ever, and she nearly collapsed, but Chloe caught her, "You can't break down, not yet. We have to jet, okay?"
"Why? Where are we going?" Max said, trying to hold in her emotions.
"Hell if I know. Somewhere. Anywhere. We just can't stay here."
Max bit her lip, but nodded, and let Chloe lead her back towards the car. They dodged back in and out the way they came, everything blurring together. When they finally made it, they both just stared at the truck, hand in hand.
"So," Chloe said slowly, "Where to?"
Max thought for a minute, "My parents... They must be worried sick, I should-"
Chloe clapped her on the shoulder, "Seattle it is then. I'll get the car started." She climbed in the driver's seat, avoiding Max's eyes.
Ignoring the lump in her throat, Max pulled out her phone, and swore to herself. It was dead. She banged on the window, and waited for Chloe to open the door, "My phone's dead, can I borrow yours?" Chloe reached into her pocket, and tossed her phone to Max, "Thanks."
"Yep," Chloe muttered, fiddling with the radio. Max turned away, and dialed her parents' number. They picked up after two rings.
"Hello?" It was her mom, her voice tight and nervous.
"Mom? It's Max."
"Max? Oh thank god, are you okay?" Max's head spun as she heard the relief in her mother's voice.
"Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry I didn't answer my phone, it's dead. I'm using Chloe's."
"Let me go get your father, he'll be so relieved to hear you're okay."
Max nodded, then remembered that she was on the phone, "Okay, I'll be here."
Chloe rolled down the window, and her punk music blasted out, forcing her to shout over it, "Move your ass hippie, I wanna get on the road!"
"Turn down the music a little and I will, I'm still on the phone." Chloe sighed, and the music decreased drastically. Max hurried around to the passenger side, and hopped in. As she plugged in her seat belt, Max's parents came back.
"Max, you still there?" Her father's voice was just as tense as her mother's, and Max swallowed, wishing she had thought of this earlier.
"Yeah. Yeah, I'm here."
Chloe forced herself not to think, and instead focused on the road ahead. She also tuned out Max's call with her parents, as it would bring up too much shit she didn't need right then.
"You don't know she was in there," Chloe thought, despite her efforts to stop herself, "Things changed, Max doesn't know for sure anymore," Still, her mind went back to the horror scene back at the diner. 3 bodies, burned beyond recognition. The dog was there too, no better than the others. She couldn't get the smell out of her head...
Chloe shook herself, and finally realized she had no clue where she was going. Eventually they were going to hit a crossroads. She nudged Max pointedly, "Hey, I need my phone for GPS. Finish up." Max gave her a thumbs up, and began saying her goodbyes.
"Here you go," Max offered her the phone, and Chloe grabbed it.
"What's your address?"
After that, they drove in silence for awhile, listening to the music. Chloe shifted in her seat uncomfortably, trying to think of something to say, "I want to help her, but... How am I supposed to do that?"
It was Max that finally broke the silence, "Chloe... I- I'm so so sorry, I didn't want-" Her voice broke, but then she continued, "I loved Joyce, and I thought I saved her, and instead-"
Chloe pushed past the nagging voice in her head that had been saying the same thing, and said, "Fuck that. You didn't do this, okay?" Max looked down at her lap, and they both fell into silence.
"Come on Price, think! You've dealt with this before, she hella needs your help now. You can deal with your own stupid feelings later."
Finally, she blurted out, "Look I know you're doing all that self blame shit. Just... It's not your fault, okay?" When Max didn't answer, Chloe glanced at her, and saw she was biting her lip, hard, "What?"
"I just- I don't want to argue."
Chloe took a deep breath, resisting her first impulse to immediately start arguing, and instead pulled Max's head to her shoulder, "Okay Maximus. Let's- Let's try it your way."
"A lot of good my way did us..." Max muttered, and Chloe sighed.
"Shut up, and trust me, okay?" Chloe said sharply, and Max nodded quietly, and relaxed into her. Before long, Chloe could feel Max's breathing slow, and glanced over at her, "Sleep well, Super Max." Chloe turned back to the road, and kept driving.
"All I've gotta do is make it to Seattle. Then- Then we can finally deal with all of this."
Note: Thanks for still reading! Finally got a hella in, haha :) After this, they hit Seattle, and all of Chloe's bottled up feelings come to a head. I'm not sure when I'll get to Chapter 3, but it'll be soon I'd guess. Probably sometime this week. Also it will probably be longer, but no promises. I break where it feels natural. Anyway. Please review, please keep reading. Thanks all!