Chapter 8

Two… three…. no, four times Chloe searches through each pocket and compartment of her backpack for the photo. Frustrated, she flings the half-empty backpack against the nearby wall of her room and belatedly prays that step-douche is not home. All the din she is making would surely earn her another earful and she has had enough of that. Last night's shouting match was bad enough. While most parents would have been happy to see their children safe and sound, step-douche ripped into her for being an inconsiderate brat for worrying her mother and an overall fuck-up in life.

People say you'll get over losing the ones you love over time. Chloe would sure love to meet those people and shove their bullshit into their mouths. Because time only makes her miss her father even more, especially with step-douche's insufferable existence.

She lies down on her bed and tries to calm herself down. There is no time for her usual morning medication. She has to get ready soon if she wants to make it in time for the peace treaty. Perhaps she doesn't need the photo anymore if she has Max in her life again. The thought perks her up a bit. She gets off the bed and goes through her usual morning routine – she brushes her teeth, has a quick rationed shower, puts on her dog tag, and wears acceptable civilian clothes (or in other words, the least tatty, moths-ridden clothes). She skips combing her hair and instead shoves her beanie hat over her head. She quickly packs her bag and considers wearing her father's ballistic vest, but decides against it.

Wearing a bullet-proof vest to a peace treaty convention wouldn't exactly convey a feeling of trust or inspire the illusion of peace. Besides, she wants to dissociate herself from the military.

Technically, I'm not military anyway. Just a bum living off my mother.

Being in civilian clothes also means if she manages to get close to Max, she wouldn't automatically be shot on sight.

She leaves her room and closes the door behind her. The small, rundown apartment is quiet, which means the coast is clear for Chloe to make her escape. She tiptoes past the half-opened master bedroom and peeks inside. Joyce is fast asleep on the bed, still exhausted from her earlier shift. Chloe feels bad for putting her mother through her shit, she really does. If she could control her actions, she would have tried to act like a more mature and civil human being. But Joyce married an epic asshole, so that was that.

Chloe walks out of the apartment complex undetected and coolly walks towards a hidden exit. It is an oddly chilly morning, despite the clear sunlight. There are a few people in the parade square, minding their own business and talking among themselves. All of them are wearing their uniforms and seem to be heading towards the main gate, presumably on the way to witness the peace treaty themselves. Chloe even sees some bringing their children out, but she catches sight of Trevor and Justin some distance away and quickens her pace to avoid them. They are friends, but she does not want to handle questions about Rachel's whereabouts. Not right now anyway. She finally reaches the outskirts of the camp and crawls underneath a loose mesh wire fence. Throwing a cautious glance over her shoulder, she heads towards the town plaza some 30 minutes away by foot.

Thoughts of Max accompany her throughout the journey as she contemplates the possibility of the end of the civil war. Not that she is getting her hopes up, but she gets sucked in anyway over the idea of living a normal life with Max by her side, just like old times. Screw the military soldiers and rebel warriors. People should work together as a nation without shooting, bombing and killing one another on a daily basis.

Yeah, move over, Chase. Senator Price is out to win over the country, Chloe chuckles to herself.

Lost in her own musings, she suddenly realises she has already reached the perimeter of the town plaza. There is a crowd surrounding the outskirts, mostly regular citizens. It is easy to identify them. Their clothes tend to be shabbier, their faces dirtier, and they smell funkier, for lack of a nicer word. It is easy to see why when they have to scavenge for every morsel of food and live on the streets. It is how they survive. It is also one of the reasons people are forced to choose sides in order to live humanely. Chloe hopes no one notices that she looks… too clean.

After stepping on a few toes and muttering half-hearted apologies, she squeezes to the front of the crowd and takes in the view in front of her. The town plaza is gorgeous as always, especially in fall. It is big enough to fit a whole football field and right now, it is littered with fallen golden brown leaves. Even the half decimated statue of the founder of Arcadia Bay in the centre of the plaza looks less depressing than usual.

A few miles ahead of her stood an old stage where the peace announcement will be made. There is nothing amazing to be said of the stage; it is probably a last-minute set-up by the logistics team. It has a rostrum, speakers on both sides, a table and two chairs.

There are a few hundred people already at the plaza, but they have been divided into two distinctive sides with two long rusty chain poles in the middle to segregate them: the military group on her left, and the rebels on her right. It is like being in a high school cafeteria where the jocks and nerds have their own tables away from each other. If so, Chloe is currently sitting at the outcasts table. She heads to the left and joins the military side. She figures it will be easier for her to spot Max on the opposite side.

She hears someone making an introduction on the stage, but Chloe ignores him and keeps her eyes on the opposite side of the plaza. She mentally checks out each face in the crowd.

Not that one, not that one, nope, nope. Dammit, maybe I'll stay put and make her find me…

Chloe starts to walk down the military aisle towards the stage. Soon, there are polite claps on her side and loud cheers from the rebels as Senator Chase walks to the podium. Chloe ignores the circus surrounding her and focuses on finding her friend's cute freckled face.

Wait, not cute. Just…freckled. Very freckled. Ugh, why am I so absorbed with her freckles?

There was a short mic feedback before Senator Chase begins his speech. "Thank you everyone for being here. It is with great honour that I stand here humbly in front of you…"

Chloe tunes out his words and continues searching as she moves down the crowd towards the stage. The crowds have mostly quietened down and many are simply listening to the boring speech. She was almost halfway down the aisle when someone grabs her from behind.

"Chloe? Dude, where the hell have you been?" says someone a little too loudly. "We haven't seen you at the half-pipe in ages!" Chloe whirls around and sees James smirking at her. His eyes have their usual glazed look, and there is a fresh cut over his right eyebrow, no doubt due to one of his recent crazy stunts on the pipe.

"Heyyy. Yeah, I've been busy, man. Listen, I have somewhere to go. I'll see you tomorrow, okay? I promise," she replies quickly and pulls herself out of his grasp.

She hurries off before he could say another word. She continues to fervently look for Max but is quickly losing hope. If she sees another dirty, brown haired, pimple-faced snot in the crowd…

And that is when Chloe sees Max, who is, at the same time, scanning the military crowd. Relieved, Chloe stands exactly opposite Max and waits until finally, Max's gaze falls on Chloe. Her face visibly brightened, which simultaneously breaks and makes Chloe's heart skip. Max looks safe and well. She gives a discrete wave and Chloe briefly considers running and jumping into her arms like an overzealous lover, but that is probably a little too much. And inappropriate. But mostly a little too much.

"…With that being said, I would like to invite my old friend, Colonel Sean Prescott, to the stage with me to sign the Declaration of Peace."

Chloe remembers vaguely clapping with the crowd following the announcement. Her attention strayed to the stage for a second as she watches Senator Chase walking towards Colonel Prescott in the middle of the stage.

This is finally happening. The war has ended, she thinks before finally letting herself believe again.

She turns her gaze back to Max and grins at her. She remembers feeling hopeful again before an explosion knocks her off her feet.

Chloe blinks her eyes open as she feels someone using his body as a shield and dragging her towards one of the buildings surrounding the plaza. She feels light-headed and her ears are ringing again from a second blow in as many days. It is chaos all around her as people are scurrying for covers amidst gunshots and another loud explosion erupting in the distance. There are indiscriminate shouts and screams. Everything feels dreamlike and surreal, yet the sharp smell of smoke and burn tells her it is all very real.

"Chloe? Chloe, are you awake?" says the person who puts her down and leans her up against a nearby pillar away from the plaza. Chloe tries to focus on the stocky person in front of her.

"David?" she says half-groggily, not quite believing who she is seeing.

"Oh, thank god," he says before giving her an unfamiliar but tight hug. Being pushed into her step-father's embrace jolts her fully awake. It does not feel anything like her own father's hug; but for a fleeting moment, she feels a weird feeling she has almost forgotten. She feels… safe.

Until she becomes fully aware the person hugging her is David fucking Madsen. Abort, abort, abort. She pulls back instantly and looks at him questioningly. Half of his face is covered with dirt and soot. He looks uncharacteristically worried and…

Oh my god, is he tearing up? Stop that, this is so awkward...

"Chloe, listen to me," David says urgently while grabbing her face with his hands. His eyes boring down into hers, not unkindly but determined. "Follow Henderson back to base camp. Do not look back, do not stray from him and do not slow down. We are under attack, but everything will be fine. Go." Just as suddenly as he appeared before her, he is gone again.

Immediately, Chloe feels someone grabbing her arm and dragging her away from the pillar. She continues to instead watch David for a few moments as he joins the shootout. Her eyes travel back to the plaza and to the very spot Max was standing at across the divider. She is gone. Instead, Chloe sees plumes of smoke and raging fire in her place. She sees military fighters bringing reinforcements into the plaza. Rebels are taking cover and preparing to attack.

No, no, no, no, no…

Chloe yanks her arm out of Henderson's grip and runs towards the plaza. She ignores his desperate calls and even hears David's voice in the distance ordering his men to stop shooting when she jumps into the combat zone and races to the other side. It is only when she is in the middle of the plaza that she slows down and notices the dead bodies lying around. Some of them bloodied or full of soot; others missing their limbs. She prays she wouldn't see a familiar face among them. The smoke stings her eyes and she covers her nose with the sleeve of her jacket.

"Chloe?! Chloe!"

She looks towards the voice and breathes a sigh of relief. Max is alive.