Life is Strange: My Unusual Journey

Chapter 23 of my Life is Strange novelization, enjoy.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: I don't own Life is Strange or its characters.

Dark Room – Dark Tragedy

The two of us stood, dumbfounded by what we had found, this was certainly adding up; creepy as hell, underground bunker. I swear, the more I saw, the more I felt Nathan was messed up, but this, this was taking things to a whole new level, something just didn't fit.

Sharing a nervous glance with Chloe, we descended the stairs down into a stark white corridor, at the end was a large door. We approached it and Chloe reached out, she grasped the handle and pulled, but nothing happened, the door was locked.

"Ugh, shit, you gotta be kidding." She snarled.

I sighed then saw, next to the door, a keypad. 'A padlock and a number code lock, whoever had this place built it more paranoid than David...Well, let's see, need to think, it's gotta be a number relating to Nathan again.'

I pondered carefully, picking out numbers that would be relevant, with three digits, some I recalled were marked in red, finally I began inputting the ones I remembered, sadly, twice I got the answer wrong three times, resulting in the code locking out, forcing me to rewind.

But in the end I got it, inputting the code 542 and finally the door unlocked.

"No way, I thought that only worked in the movies." I gasped.

Chloe just smiled. "Let's go, we're close, I can feel it."

Nodding we entered the area behind the door.

What we found was even more disturbing than the exterior area. It was a large room, everything in it was almost sterile, white roof, white walls, white floor, the only bits of colour were the furniture, chairs, tables, cabinets and such, all in either black or grey.

The only other things in the room that stood out were a computer attached to a large expensive printer on a desk in one corner, also, one large area seemed to be set up for a photo shoot. It suddenly dawned on me that this was some sort of photography Dark Room.

Immediately I remembered 'Rachel in the Dark Room'.

'Seems, pretty relevant now, we need to look through this place carefully.' I thought.

I looked over at Chloe who was clearly in a state of shock.

She was looking around, eyes wide. "What the, what the fuck is this, it's like, Armageddon shelter 2.0"

I shook my head. "I don't know Chloe, but this is clearly the right place. We need to look around, find anything that tells us what happened to Rachel."
She nodded and we began looking around; most of the things we found would have been normal, had it not been in this creepy place.

Although I noticed there was a printed e-mail, from Sean Prescott, I was certain more and more things were pointing towards Nathan.

'But, this isn't right, this is way above Nathan's head; he couldn't have done this alone.' I couldn't help but note.

Other stuff we found were food supplies, duct tape, syringes and drugs, I was reminded of Kate's story of how she ended up drugged and I cringed. Kate had been brought here and I was sure Rachel had been brought here too.

But why and what was going on, what was the purpose of this room. But I soon found out, when I opened one of the closets; it opened to show a huge collection of red binders, all with names on them.

"Chloe; you better see this..." I said in disbelief.

She hurried over and stopped, clearly just as shocked as me. "No way, what is...That's Rachel's name."

I nodded. "Yeah and there's, two others here, look."

I pulled three of the binders out, setting them on the table behind us. I opened the first one, having already read the name on it.

"A binder with Victoria's name on it...empty." I noted, seeing nothing inside.

I set it aside as Chloe shook her head. "Max, all those cameras, everything else we're seeing, you don't think..."

I shuddered. "I, I think I do, but..."

I picked up the next binder, opening it. "This has Kate's name on it, it...Oh God, Kate..."

I was horrified by what I saw. Within the binder was several photos, all arranged on pages and they showed Kate, clearly drugged and unaware of her surroundings, she was bound with tape and so many of them showed her in a strange, dark light.

"This is, this is sick." I whispered."

Chloe shook her head. "No shit, this isn't...Oh God, you don't think…?"

I bit my lip and had to force myself, I put Kate's binder aside and picked up Rachel's opening it.

Instantly we both gasped in horror, just like Kate's binder, it was full of pictures, some just bordering on illicit, and I made such a horrific realization.

"God Chloe, this place is, is being used to set up these sick photo shoots. It's not just Kate and Rachel either. All those binders are filled with other victims, other girls who have gone through this." I whispered.

Chloe shook her head, turning the pages, a sickened expression on her face. "God, Rachel."

I looked at the empty binder again. "This empty binder, Victoria's name, she's next, Nathan must be planning to drug and kidnap her at tonight's party."

Chloe nodded before turning the page again. "Wait, what the fuck, why is he putting her in the ground like that."

"God she's, she's not, they are so out of it, this isn't..." I stammered.

"No, no way, she can't be, she posed for these pictures right, she can't be..." Chloe stammered desperately; but then her eyes widened. "Wait, I know that place, c'mon, we have to check it out Max, let's go!"

She immediately began rushing out, I called out after her, but she was already gone. I silently cursed, this was messed up. I was already freaked out by this, but I had a nasty feeling things were going to go from bad to worse. I hurried out after her.

By the time I got right outside, Chloe was already in her truck and revving the engine.

"C'mon Max!" She yelled.

I leapt into the truck and just barely had time to close the door before Chloe sped off. We drove at almost breakneck speed, I couldn't purge those horrific images from my mind.

We practically broke through the gate of the junkyard and Chloe nearly skidded to a stop. We leapt out of the truck and Chloe took off running.

"Chloe!" I cried out, trying to get her to slow down, especially with my growing feeling of horror, that we were walking into something terrible.

Chloe just cried out for me to follow her, saying she knew where she was going. I followed her until we reached a specific point in the junkyard.

I realized that it was the same place, that picture was practically burned into my mind, Nathan and Rachel, lying drugged in a dug out pit, followed by one with just Rachel, her expression suggesting she was drugged more heavily, or worse.

Chloe had thrown herself onto the ground and already started, frantically, digging with her hands.

"Max, c'mon, help me!"

I started but quickly recovered and got on the ground across from her, helping her dig until suddenly we started to unearth something.

"Wait, what's that?" Chloe gasped.

We dug some more, and I was struck by an overpowering odour. "Ugh, that smell..."

I had a nasty feeling I knew what it was, Chloe dug a bit more before gasping and my fears were confirmed. What we found was a corpse, the corpse of Rachel Amber.

Chloe cried out, her voice never sounded so heartbroken, not even when we heard about William's death.

"Rachel, oh God no, Rachel!" She cried out, she staggered away from the shallow grave and started dry heaving.

I recovered from my own horror and hurried to her side, trying to comfort her. "I'm sorry Chloe, I'm so sorry."

Chloe continued to sob. "I loved her so much; oh God...What kind of world does this, who even does that!"

We remained that way for some time, I was so dismayed, even with my rewind power, I couldn't do anything about this. Rachel was dead and it was far too late to do anything to save her; everything we uncovered showed us we were far too late.

Not only that, but I was now certain, given all of this, that Nathan certainly didn't work alone, but who could have helped him. None of that seemed to mean anything to Chloe however, for when she finally recovered, she stood up, her eyes burning with rage.

"Let's go Max, we've got a party to get to, and elitist prick to see and deal with." She snarled.

She turned and began stopping off towards her truck. I followed worried; I knew Chloe was justified in her anger, but I had a nasty feeling things would be a lot more difficult than just that.

We were seated in Chloe's truck, in the parking lot of Blackwall. It was late at night and even from here we could hear the music from inside the pool, where the party was. Chloe was shaking with rage, clutching Nathan's gun.

I hope Nathan enjoys his last party." She growled.

I bit my lip; this was getting seriously scary; I couldn't believe Chloe was actually going through this; she intended to murder Nathan, and she did not care about the consequences.

I did believe that Nathan needed to be brought to justice, but not like this, certainly not worth Chloe's freedom. But she wouldn't listen to reason, not even my possible thoughts that Nathan wasn't working alone would calm her.

I had to find some way to stall her long enough to force Nathan to reveal who his co-conspirator was.

"Chloe..."

She shook her head. "C'mon Max, let's go, we need to stop Nathan, I need you to back me up."

I sighed but nodded and together we left the truck and began making our way onwards. I couldn't help but note the things people around us were saying. Curious I followed their gaze and was shocked, yet another oddity occurring, another reminder of the impending tornado. There were two moons in the sky.

I could scarcely believe it, with all the hype in searching for Rachel, I had almost forgotten about the tornado.

"Chloe, are you seeing this?" I gasped.

Chloe response was cold. "Yeah, big whoop, the world's ending, like I care, let's go get Nathan."

I hurried after her, shocked at how far gone she was, it was actually quite scary. I actually felt like my head was going to burst, trying to process everything that was going on.

I wanted to focus on one thing at a time, but how could I prioritize, given how fucked up everything now was and also, how everything seemed to be connected.

As we walked along the pathway, towards the entrance I saw Warren approaching and instantly I realized something strange, he seemed to be staggering and when he spoke, his voice was slurred.

"Oh, what up ladies, come to escort me to the end of the world?"

I couldn't deny, I was worried, I hadn't seen him like this ever. "Warren, are you alright?"

He grinned. "I'm great, never better..."

The way he was swaying around did not convince me and only made me more scared for him. Chloe was still in rage mode with only one thing on her mind.

"Where's Nathan?"

Warren shrugged. "I don't know, I stayed hidden in my dorm until now, and then I...just came here..."

I shook my head. "Warren, have you been drinking?"

"If you can call half a beer drinking."

That immediately set alarm bells off in my head, something wasn't right there.

Chloe however clearly continued to follow her one single track path.

"We don't have time for this shit, let's go Max!"

"Hey, hang on..." Warren slurred, moving closer. "Listen I, can't I just have one picture…I'm starting to feel like this really might be the end of the world..."

I bit my lip, awkwardly letting him take hold of my camera, he stood next to me, arm around my shoulders. He held the camera out as he continued to speak.

"I just want, one last picture, for...prosperity."

I smiled and, after he had some trouble finding the button I helped out. "Action."

He pressed the button and took the picture, smiling, while I stowed the camera in my bag again.

"C'mon Max." Chloe growled before storming off towards the party. I was about to follow when Warren replied.

"I know, I know, I'm sorry...I'm just a pain in the booty...I just, wanted to be like a normal person, after this week's ultra-violence."

I smiled reassuringly. "I get it Warren, hey, we still need your expert help."

He looked at me, actually smiling, I found myself again admiring how it pulled more to the right than the left.

'Focus Max, focus, plenty of time later. For now, make sure Warren is somewhere where he can't get hurt, I don't like what's happening to him here, but if I don't stop Chloe, things will get worse.' I told myself before speaking again.

"We need to keep an eye out, in case Nathan shows up, let us know the minute you see him, and don't let him see you, don't go searching, just find somewhere to keep an eye out okay?"

He nodded before commenting sadly. "Don't worry, I know how to be invisible here."

"Not to me Warren." I replied, trying to give him some hope.

The look he gave me made me hopeful I had succeeded. Quickly composing myself I took off after Chloe, heading straight for the doors, heading inside, to the party and, I felt, to hell.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.