Chapter VI: An Open Challenge - Sunday Morning
AN:
Hey there, Fan-fic-folks!
Double update today. This is the first of the two.
Thanks for reading and, as always, please review.
Fuckin' Sunday. We made it. The Last Day. And yeah, I really mean those capitals. I wake up at around the same time as Max and the two of us roll out of bed and head downstairs. It's a little later than yesterday - we were up late.
Both of us potter quietly into the kitchen and start collecting shit together.
It takes a few minutes of quiet for us to really notice what's wrong.
"It's quiet." I say.
"Yes..?"
"Too quiet."
Max blinks at me. Then her face creases up in concern. It's all adorable and furrowed. "Oh, right. Yes. They should be- oh no."
She rushes out the door and up the stairs before I can even think, leaving me to put down all my shit and chase up after her. She pushes open each door of each bedroom and then turns back to me and wails "They're gone!"
"Fuck."
—
Max calls me from downstairs again - "I found something!". She hands me a note.
So sorry, but we really thought we deserved a 'round two'. Try to find us now, Chloe.
Here's the rules:
No Leaving town boundaries.
We have to be in publically accessible (or viewable!) areas.
No running - once you spot us, you've got us.
We all know where we'll be, once you find one of us, they'll give you a clue.
"Fuck."
—
We head out onto the street, look both ways. Then we go for my truck. "Where the fuck do you think they've gone?"
"They could be anywhere, oh my dog what are we going to, it's going to be-, their parents are going to-"
"Max!" I yell. She shuts her mouth with a loud clack. "I get that it's scary, but if we're gonna get them back, we need to focus. Pirate investigators."
"Pirate investigators?"
"Pirate investigators!" I whirl the wheel and set off down the road. "Lets try Blackwell first. Shit's always going down up there."
—
I whirl the wheel again - it's fun, what can I say? - and park up at Blackwell. For such a big fancy school, they have a truly shitty little parking lot. I don't even think they could fit all the teachers in here. We pile out and trot over to the front entrance, right under the statue of Old Man Blackwell himself.
Suddenly, the clocktower bongs. "What kind of clock goes off at 10:27?" Max asks.
It takes me a minute, but I figure something out - "Maybe one of the sisters are up there, ringing it now they've seen us."
Max sighs, then shrugs. "Sure. Lets give that a go." She'll cheer up once we find one of them, I know it.
"Great." I clap my hands together and turn to the main door. "So, we're not supposed to be here. They've got a new security guy. They call him Madsen. We're gonna have to dodge him."
"Is he a very angry person?" Max asks.
"No, that's... that's just his name."
"Oh."
"Anyway, the dude's right in there." I point through the front-window, where we see him and a couple of students standing around in reception. "I'm pretty sure the way up is in there too."
"Really?"
"Uh-huh."
"Damn. How do we get past him?"
"We don't - you see it in there, it's tiny, he'd see us for sure. We get him outside."
"How do we do that?"
"I'm sure I don't know," I say, my best cheesy British accent making Max giggle. I sling my arm over her shoulder. "But I bet we can work it out."
"Great."
I think for a moment, then quickly search around me on the ground. I find what I'm looking for and take another glance around me. Nobody watching. I toss the rock at the window and drag Max inside to hide. I don't hear the telltale shatter - my plan didn't work.
Either way, Madsen rushes out of the reception and over to the stairs. He glances around for barely a few seconds, giving me just enough time to dart into the reception and roll behind the desk. I barely get in in time, disappearing just as he comes back. Then I realise - if he goes back to the door and looks even slightly to his left, he'll see me. Shit!
I make eye contact with Max, still out in the corridor.
In a flash, Max reaches up and pulls the fucking fire alarm! She quickly darts out of view. It takes an alarming (heh) moment to whirr up before the entire school is buried in that weird techno-screeching. Madsen immediately whirls, bursts out of the reception, barking like a drill sergeant, "Fire! Everybody out!"
He's almost louder than the alarms. As he charges past Max's hiding place and deeper into the school, I stand and lead Max into the reception area. There's a door on the other side, which is the Principal's office, and another behind the reception desk.
I head over to it. "This one, in here!" I don't wait for Max to follow, just grab and drag her inside. The door closes behind us with a quiet click, and we find ourselves in the security room. There's a big bank of screens across one wall, each one showing a different place.
"Wowzers."
"Yep. This is awesome. Imagine if we had this in our own secret lair - we could catch all the bad guys before they got to us!"
"Or in your room - we could hide and pretend we're asleep when your mom comes to check on us."
We laugh. Damn we're cute.
"Maybe we can find Sarah on here! There's gotta be a camera up in the clocktower, it's a historical artifact!" Max says.
"Seriously?" I ask. This crappy thing is a historical artifact? It's no Big Ben.
"Yep. The founder of the town made the bell himself, and it's been here the whole time since."
"Huh. Whadda ya know."
"I know, cool righ- Oh. You don't care."
"You caught me, Maxie. Now, lets go hunt our wayward sprogs."
We poke around the cameras, and god it's creepy how many are in this school. It's like Madsen thinks he's at the CIA.
I finally see Sarah on one of the cameras. She's definitely up in the clocktower, unless there's another room full of weird gears ands hit. She's sat on a box, kicking her legs. As I watch, she suddenly looks up at the camera and waves. For a minute, I'm almost scared, and definitely creeped out. Then she does it again a couple minutes later, and I'm kinda relieved she can't actually see me.
"Chloe, this one says Clocktower!" Max calls me over.
We head up the stairs - it's even taller than I thought - and into the main clocktower bit. I think they call it a belfry? One big-ass brass bell hangs up in the rafters, and the rest of the space is filled with cardboard boxes. There's also a metal footlocker in the corner.
Sarah sits in the middle of it all, grinning at us, still kicking her legs. "Hey, you found me! Nice work, we thought it'd take you 'til after Lunch to even get on the trail."
She hops to her feet, and edges slightly towards one of the windows, eying it with too much thought for us to now immediately get very, very concerned. "Are you gonna-"
She stops. "Nah. Just funny to see your faces."
"How were we supposed to know you were here, anyway? It's a big town - relatively speaking - you could've been anywhere."
She frowns. "You did find our clue, right?"
"Clue? No, just your 'We've run away, come and find us' thing."
She groans. "Flip the paper. I can't believe you didn't flip the paper."
I pull the note out of my pocket and shit she's right. Blackwell, in big capital letters and everything. As I'm cursing the world, the Marshes, and Arcadia Bay for good measure, I reflect on all that brought us here. I actually curse out loud, then, drawing a laugh out of the Marsh sister. Max just eyes me disapprovingly.
Sarah mouths "Lets go!" and that is an excellent idea. And an excellent distraction. I actually feel mildly grateful. Bleh. We dash down the stairs, through the still-empty security room, and off to the outside, along the school and back to my truck. I can still hear the alarm ringing in my head.
"So, where to next?"
Sarah smirks. "Well, it'd be boring to follow you around like lost sheep, so... Kate said she might be going near the water. Maybe."
I groan. "Fine. You can ride in the truck. Lets get on with this shit."
