Hellions of Arcadia

Chapter 2: bonded

Okay so, I'm not going to publish chapters this fast. But I'm just really excited to get this fic off the ground. Eventually I'm gonna start slowing down and publishing chapters maybe every week, or biweekly (that's every two weeks not twice a week) So now enjoy the chapter!
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Chloe

Chloe Price was many things, but she sure wasn't stupid, she knew what was really bothering Max. And it was bothering her too. Chloe couldn't stop thinking about how she should be dead. But instead Max killed an entire town to save her. She shouldn't have felt proud by that, but something that sure wasn't guilt swelled in her gut.

I'll always be with you.

Chloe knew she had to keep her promise to Max sacred. After all the sacrifices Max made for her, she knew she had a lifetime to repay, Chloe briefly looked over at Max in the passenger seat. The smaller girl lay pressed up against the window, her hair a tangled mess and lips slightly ajar. Each exhale from Max caused the window to fog up. Chloe wasn't sure if Max was actually asleep or just pretending, she decided not to bother the other girl.

With Seattle being under two hours away, Chloe shuffled on the bench with her hands on the wheel. She wasn't sure which of the girls had chosen to go to Seattle. Or maybe it was an unspoken agreement. There was nowhere else to go, Chloe's home is completely destroyed. And neither girls can afford a place of their own, the only place they can go is to Max's parents house. Great.

She could admit, Chloe hated living upstairs in her old house. She felt as if she was draining poor Joyce, her mother who she loved. And would never see again.

Gripping the steering wheel harder, Chloe shook the thought from her mind. Part of her blamed herself for her mother's death. But the other part wanted to blame Max... But she couldn't, Max made a completely life changing choice, for Chloe. To save her life.

Chloe needed food, more than snacks, she needed a meal. She drove through whatever town they had been in until she found a McDonalds. It wasn't great, but it was all they had. She parked the truck and looked over at Max. The younger girl lay asleep on the window, Chloe leaned over and lightly shook her arm.

Max moaned and blinked, lifting her face off of the glass. She pushed her bangs out of her face, her lips were swollen from being pressed to the glass. She looked at Chloe with half opened, dazed eyes. Chloe's guts twisted in a way she wasn't familiar with. "Max, time for food." Max hummed quietly. Chloe opened her car door and got out.

The other girl slowly crawled out of her side, rubbing her eyes with her hoodie sleeve. "Chloe..." Max murmured, Chloe walked to her and linked her arm with Max Caulfield's. And pulled her in the building. "Sit. I'll order us some food."

Chloe walked up to the counter and ordered some burgers and hella fries. Then dropping the tray on the table in front of Max. The girl didn't respond, not even when Chloe sat down. "Earth to Max." She snapped in the air, making Max flinch. "Wuh... What?"

Chloe chuckled, "look at you. I would have thought that sleeping several hours in a car would have helped you." Max stared blankly at Chloe, then sneezed, grabbing a napkin from the table. Chloe's heart sank. She quickly recovered, grabbing a burger. "Greasy food. Hella yes."

Unwrapping her burger wrapper, Chloe dug into her burger. She hadn't eaten anything bigger than a bag of skittles in... Well, she didn't know. Chloe lost concept of time since the storm, since the party, She wasn't sure how long ago it had been. But it felt like centuries. She looked over at Max, who was picking at her fries. Her phone vibrated, and she flinched.

"You getting texts too?" Chloe nodded towards Max's phone. Max nodded back, "I can't bring myself to read them. What... What if..." Max started. Chloe set down her burger, setting her hand on top of Max's. "It'll be okay Max, let's just-"

"Okay?" Max interrupted, fuming. "Okay?!" She slammed her hands down on the flimsy tray. "Chloe nothing is... is... okay anymore. We destroyed a town, I killed people." Chloe shushed her, no one needed to hear what was happening here...

Chloe was surprised, Max hadn't even said that many words since the cliff, she left to herself in the truck. Chloe tried to giver her space, but it hurt to see Max like this. She felt partly responsible. "Nothing is okay Chloe, this is permanent. We can't fix the city, we can't fix our lives. We... We... We..." Chloe rubbed Max's fingers.

"Relax okay?" We can figure things out. It may take time, but it's not too late. We have each other, that's all we need." Chloe said, she didn't even know why she said that. The words just flowed out. Max shook her head. "No. Chloe. I can't relax, not now."

Chloe shook her head, unbelievable. "I'm trying to help, Max. Can't you see? It's just us. It's us against the world now." Max scoffed, she refused to look at Chloe now. The blue haired girl stopped trying. She stood abruptly, causing her chair to scrape against the floor. Max flinched.

Chloe got up to throw away the wrappers. She stomped back to Max. Who had been reverted back to doe-eyed. Her nose began to dribble blood. "Shit..." Chloe mumbled, grabbing some unused napkins, she began to wipe the blood from Max's nose. But the smaller girl barely seemed to notice what was happening. Chloe's abdomen tightened, all traces of the fight were ignored as she carried the brunette out to her truck. Max writhed in her arms. Chloe placed Max in the passenger seat.

Max clogged her nose with the napkin while Chloe climbed in. "I dun't need yur help." Max mumbled, her voice contorted form the napkin clogging her nose. Chloe felt steam pumping from her ears, Max had no reason to be doing this, Chloe hadn't done anything to provoke her. Max was being selfish. "I'm only trying to help you." She restated.

"Well stop. I'm fine Chloe!" Max was fuming, she was on some sort of angst roll, Chloe wasn't sure what caused Max to act like this, she only wanted to help. It made her mad. "Well we wouldn't be in this situation if it weren't for you!"

The smaller girl flinched, then growled. "Only because you sat there and whined. 'You're my partner in time, Max.' 'My life isn't fair, I'm the only one who's ever felt pain, boo hoo. Feel bad for me!' 'Wahh, the girl who I loved who didn't give a shit about me is dead. Wahh.'"

Okay, that was too far. Chloe's eyes began to water, Rachel did care about her, she only slept with Frank for the drug, right? She hit the horn on the truck, causing max to flinch. And she didn't speak again. Chloe started driving.

The two girls sat it silence for a few minutes, before Chloe said, dead quiet. "You will never speak about Rachel that way again." Max nodded, and rested her head against the window, closing her eyes. "I'm sorry."

Chloe nodded, and kept driving. Neither of the girls spoke again.

After a while on the road, Chloe calmed down from her fury. The punk looked over at Max, asleep on the window. Looking at her angelic face. Chloe couldn't keep mad at her, they were both going through a lot, they just needed to get to Seattle. She stepped on the gas harder.

The silence of that truck was deafening. Chloe grabbed a CD from underneath the dash and jammed it into the CD player, the music began to blast from the speakers, she quickly turned the music down, in favor for Max.

The sheepish girl grunted against the window, but remained asleep, or at least pretend asleep. Chloe sighed in relief.

Staring at the road ahead, Chloe couldn't stop thinking about Max. She thought about how weird it was that Max appeared in her life now of all time. And the crazy adventures the two girls went on in only 5 days. It almost felt like a dream, it was just like the many fantasies that Chloe had when Max was in Seattle.

Chloe knew that this storm would change Max forever, she was already acting different. Her skin seemed somehow paler. Her face covered in dried blood and snot.

After several pee breaks and food raids, the girls were on their last stretch to Seattle. Max was asleep most of the ride, slipping between sleeping and awake. Leaving Chloe alone to her own thoughts.  When the truck entered the Seattle city limits, Chloe looked over at the sleeping Max against the window. And she knew, she never would leave Max.