Chapter 5

"Hey! Chill out! You two, put your weapons down NOW!" Max shouts in alarm while trying desperately to block their line of sight with her arms and standing in between them. She would never forgive herself if either Chloe or Victoria gets hurt. This is her mess to fix.

"Max, I can take the shot. Just give me the word…" Victoria says, although she is still pacing around the front door to get a clearer view.

"The fuck you can! I'll cap your ass first!" Chloe retorts but unlike Victoria, she is on the defensive and instead, takes a couple of steps back. With her throbbing head and emotional state at seeing Max again, Chloe is in no position to start a gunfight. Not to mention that she has never actually shot another person before. She has always been relatively safe staying at the military base and only practiced shooting empty beer bottles. What a mistake.

"GUYS!" yells Max furiously. The ferocity of her shout shuts them up instantly, which is quite a surprise to everyone in the room, including Max herself.

"Vic, do me a favour. Just quietly step out of the room and shut the door," continues Max, calmly this time.

"What?" says Victoria incredulously. "And leave you alone with this lunatic waving her gun around?"

"Don't call her that! You know her name. I need to talk to her alone. Just stay outside and wait for me, okay? Please?"

Victoria bites her lower lip as she weighs her choices and plots her next course of action. She does not feel comfortable leaving Max alone with someone who is armed, dangerous and clearly upset. If Max would just duck for a second, she could have a clear shot at Chloe. She is just a liability anyway. There is no reason to keep her if she's going to be like this, like trouble.

But she sees Max's pleading eyes and she knows the decision has already been made for her. Groaning inwardly, she cautiously puts her shotgun away, stares at Chloe dead in the eyes and warns, "I swear to God, if you hurt her in any way, any way at all, I will make sure that no one will ever find your body."

With that threat, Victoria walks out the door and closes it behind her. Max immediately releases the breath she didn't realise she was holding and sets her arms back on her sides.

Well, THAT went well. Okay, she deserves to know the truth.

Slowly, she turns her head towards Chloe. She knows her situation has not gotten any less precarious. Still, she cannot help but feel surprised looking down the barrel of a handgun pointed squarely at her. Chloe is breathing hard, out of both anger and disbelief. She is now circling away from Max, her eyes never once leaving the girl she thought she knew as well as she knows herself. Her stomach feels sick, her heart squeezed.

"Chloe," Max starts and takes a tentative step towards Chloe.

"Stop," Chloe says in a shaky voice and Max complies. "Tell me now it's not true. Tell me that wasn't Victoria Chase. Tell me you are not helping the rebels. Tell me this isn't some sick joke and my best friend is not fucking helping the very people who killed my father!"

Wow, did she just called me her best friend? Max's heart skips a beat at the thought.

Wait, we killed her father? No…

"Chloe, I'll tell you everything. I promise, just put your gun away, please."

"Why?" asks Chloe, mostly out of habit. Giving everyone a hard time comes second nature to her. "So that I can listen to more of your lies? So that you can stab me in the back again? Why, Max? Why exactly should I put my gun away?"

Max remembers the photo in Chloe's backpack, the worn photograph of their last Halloween celebration as pirates. They spent the whole day working on their outfits, together with matching plastic swords and a fake parrot perched on Chloe's shoulder. There has to be a reason she is carrying that photo around. She reminds herself of Kate's words.

Have faith that she's still the same Chloe Price. "Because you're not going to shoot me," she says boldly.

Seconds passed and Max is surprised she is still staring at Chloe's gun. She used to be able to call on Chloe's bluff. Kate's soothing reassurance in her mind has now been replaced by Victoria's stark warning.

Whoever you thought she is, she is no longer that person.

"…Right? Are you really going to shoot me, Chloe?" asks Max, her tone less confident this time.

"...Depends," says Chloe, though her softened eyes tell a different story. Her stance relaxes slightly and she stops backing away from Max. Chloe stares into Max's eyes, searching for the truth. "Are we in a rebels camp? Am I in danger? And don't try to fuckin' lie to me."

"No, we are not in camp, and you are not in danger. The rebels are just seeking shelter before heading to the peace treaty tomorrow. There is no threat on your life, I swear I'll protect you. Just put down your gun. I will tell you everything," reassures Max.

Chloe scoffs at Max's performance, but slowly put her gun down anyway. She is not exactly worried about her life. Far from it, her life means nothing to her really, not after her father's death and Max's disappearance. She just wants the truth from Max, and if that's going to get her killed, so be it.

"Talk," Chloe orders, trying to sound as hostile as possible, but it came out as a weak attempt at best. Yes, she is disgusted at the possibility of Max being a part of a group that ruined her life. But she couldn't actually be nasty to Max. For years, she tried desperately to hate Max. When that didn't work, she resorted to trying to forget Max's existence. She dumped everything that reminded her of Max into a trunk and sealed it. All of her presents to Chloe, the drawings and writings they did together, their favourite movie DVDs, photographs, everything. She vowed to set it ablaze at the junkyard but never gotten around to doing it. She tells herself that she just can't be bothered, and the junkyard is too dangerous to travel to. It doesn't matter that she couldn't help but bring one photo of Max with her everywhere she goes. Or that when she is having a bad day, she'll talk to Max in the photo before she goes to sleep and feels better afterwards. She tells herself that doesn't mean anything. She is so over Max Caulfield.

"Let's sit, okay?" Max says carefully before returning to her chair. Chloe seems to contemplate Max's suggestion for a second before complying and sitting on the edge of the bed. The mood in the room is still tense despite the unspoken truce. Chloe is still holding on to her gun and Max wonders if she is able to take on Chloe herself. Max is at an obvious disadvantage without a weapon or any defensive gear.

"Okay, erm, here goes nothing," Max says with a weak chuckle, trying to gain some pity from Chloe. She gets nothing though; Chloe's expression is now passive and unreadable. Max is not fooled though. Chloe's rage is just bubbling beneath the surface. One wrong word and Max could be in serious trouble. Taking a deep breath, she continues, "My parents have been rebel sympathisers since before the war hit Arcadia Bay. They have been secretly sharing confidential military information with the rebels, but it wasn't to kill soldiers. They just believe in the cause and wanted to make a difference. The top one per cent was taking over the world and controlling the governments and the military. It was time to stop that..."

"I am not here to listen to your propaganda bullshit, Max," Chloe says curtly. In her eyes, both parties are at fault for turning the world to shit. Everyone is greedy for power and nobody cares whose lives they have to destroy to get what they want. People are shitty like that.

"Okay, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to get side-tracked," says Max apologetically. She stares absently at the palms of her hands, trying to pluck some courage to continue. Her hands have gotten rough over the years. She wonders why. "On the day before we left Arcadia Bay, someone from the military found out about my father and we had to escape immediately. The plan was to convince William to our side and bring you and your mother along as well. But..."

"...but?"

"But your father was killed. It wasn't the rebels who did it, I swear. But without your father, we felt that we had no right to drag you into this mess. Besides, you and Joyce are much safer in the military base..."

"Wait, stop," Chloe stands and starts pacing the room away from Max to calm herself down. She feels her insides engulfed in fury. She cannot stand to look at Max and listen anymore to her lies. Her hand grips her gun tight on reflex. "Do you think I was born yesterday? First, you tell me that the military has been infiltrated by rebels supporters but no, they didn't kill my father, who was shot in his own office. Then you tell me the reason you left my mum and I was because my father wasn't around to approve of it. What the fuck?"

"Chloe, I swear..."

"You know what I think though?" Chloe turns around and faces Max. Her fingers itches for the trigger, even though she knows she couldn't shoot Max. "I think Ryan couldn't persuade my father to his bullshit cause. In fact, it was my dad who found out he's a traitor and was about to tell on him, so Ryan shot him dead and ran off. Meanwhile, without my father around, my life and my mum's life meant shit to the Caulfields. So understandably, you just left us for dead. That's what really happened, wasn't it?"

"Chloe Elizabeth Price!" Max jumps off the chair in disbelief and anger. She fights to keep her feelings under control but she could barely stop shaking from rage. "How DARE you think we were using you and your family? How dare you think like that after all the trips, Christmas celebrations and Thanksgiving dinners we had even before we even heard of the war? It tore us apart to leave you and Joyce behind. My mum blames my dad for it to this day, and I could barely stand being in the same room with my own parents. Don't tell me your life meant shit to me."

There is a short pause as both girls try to control their anger. Both are visibly panting from the effort. "William is like a second father to me," Max finally continues calmly. "Neither my dad nor the rebels had anything to do with his death. You have to believe me."

"Assuming that I do," Chloe answers, keeping her own emotions in check. "What happened then after you left? Why didn't you ever try to contact me? It has been eight years, Max. The phone went down a year later, sure, but don't tell me there wasn't any way to send a message. What, none of your rebel friends ever thought of passing through Arcadia Bay?"

"I wanted to, Chloe. You have no idea how many unsent letters I wrote to you. But I don't actually know if you even wanted to hear from me," Max says before taking a seat again to cool down. "Look, for everything that I did, I'm so sorry. You can continue blaming me or hating me. Just don't think for a second that you mean nothing to me. I mean, don't think for a second your family means nothing to mine. That's what I meant."

Chloe raises her eyebrow at Max's rambling. She is clearly looking away from Chloe, perhaps due to guilt or embarrassment. "Smooth save, Caulfield," Chloe says before plopping down on the floor with her back against the wall, feeling emotionally drained. All the fight is gone from her. As unbelievable as Max's story is, she knows Max is telling her the truth. Her inability to lie has always been the reason they couldn't fool their parents when they were young. "So who killed my father, Max?"

"We really don't know. My father tried to look into it but it was near impossible. We don't have anyone inside the compound anymore," says Max in a defeated tone. She turns in her seat to face Chloe and drops to her knees in front of her.

"I want us to find out though. After the peace treaty is signed tomorrow and there is a ceasefire, we can work on this. Together. We can investigate what really happened," Max suggests in an almost shy tone.

Before Chloe could answer, the door barges open. Victoria looks at the two of them; she looks distressed and ready to flee. "Guys, we have company," she says, before tossing a baseball bat at Max.