All That I Wanted

Chapter 2:Drive through

Her truck sat right where they had left it.

Or where Chloe had left it? She didn't even remember getting out of it. Just that she was dragged out of the cab, away towards the beach, until she felt sand under her shoes, softly sinking. Then she'd woken up, harsh wind and cold rain tearing at her skin and soaking her entire body. Chloe, her smile seeming out of place but that didn't make her love it any less. Her one life line in everything, smiling while the world was getting torn apart in the distance made her smile to. As bad a timing as it was, relief had flooded her that she'd escaped and found herself again. She'd started to think she would never escape her nightmare.

Waking up to Chloe was the best thing she'd experienced this week.

"C'mon Max. Try not to look at it."

Yet.

She tore her gaze away from Arcadia Bay, standing right where she was last night, the sand now littered with debris and dead fish. It reeked, the air heavy and sticky on her skin, but the sun was out. Like nothing had ever happened. She could've almost believed that, if they didn't have to drive through the town to get out on the highway.

She's have to see all of the destruction she'd caused. All the people, houses, families she had selfishly destroyed.

A hand settled on her shoulder, turning her around. Chloe peered down at her, raising her eyebrows in question. Max nodded, covering her hand with her own. She brushed past her, sliding into the cab of the truck. She watched Chloe freeze, back to her as she took in the destruction. She seemed to shrink in on herself, hands clenched into fists, twisting at her sides. After a moment, she got in as well.

All was silent except the deafening crash of the sea." Look, Max,I can take it..but I want you to shut your eyes ok?"

"Chloe, I can't." She caught the other girls eyes. She was biting her lip, but anger swirled in her eyes."But you need to. I don't want you to see something you-"

Killed.

"-regret."

"No. I need to see what I've done-"

"Godammit Max, why not make this easier for yourself?!" She erupted, knuckles wrapped around the steering wheel."Fuck that! Fuck making yourself suffer more than you already have! You're going to regret this for the rest of your life anyway-"

"Yeah, but not you!" She bit back."I regret all of this, everything I did this whole week because I fucked it all up, but not you!" Chloe wouldn't look at her, and somehow that hurt more than anything."You're the one thing that I wouldn't trade, ever, but I need to see...what I've done. I made the decision. I'm not avoiding living with it."

Silence hung heavy, sickening and wrong with the loaded words she'd let slip."Maybe by some miracle, there are survivors." She could tell Chloe wanted to say something else, but she nodded instead, starting the truck. It stuttered, lurching as soon as it got going. Debris fell off to the sides of the hood as they crept along, making their way slowly into town. It would be a good ten minutes before they got to the heart of it.

Okay Max, you might see an actual dead body. A death you're responsible for. What's done is done, but...

For some sickening reason, she wanted to know who. How. If they struggled or went quietly. If the Diner was still standing.

She fidgeted in her seat, crossing her ankles and playing with her fingers. For now, there was no reason to look up. It was just forest and back roads, a few small cabins and abandoned cars. Tree limbs lay in or by the road. Chloe avoided them with a practiced ease, silent as ever, eyes trained on the road. Max could feel how tense she was, see the way her breath came out in shaky intervals. She was trying to stay calm, for herself, or Max. She didn't know.