"Where did you see her last?" Chloe asked Rachel, her heart hammering in her chest.

"After she won the contest, Mark held her back. I watched them. Max left and I walked her back to the dorm but then Max said she needed to go do something for Ms. Grant and I stupidly thought she'd be fine since Ms. Grant was just outside the dorm gates.." Rachel trailed off, guilt heavy in her voice. "God, I don't know what I'll do if she gets hurt."

Chloe expected jealously but only worry washed over her like a tidal wave. "I don't either, but I promise you we'll find her." She promised, reaching over to grip Rachel's hand.

Rachel's hazel eyes glowed with concern. "Chloe, I'm sorry." She said, "I've done so many shitty things to you and now I've dragged Max into the mess I created. If I hadn't been so desperate I wouldn't have gotten mixed up with Mark." She looked away, "If I had taken a step back I would have seen how terrible he was."

"There's nothing we can do about that now Rach," Chloe said, "but we can save Max from him." She pulled into Victoria's driveway and switched off the ignition. "Come on, we don't have time anymore."

Rachel nodded, "Alright." She said, following the punk.

Victoria opened the door, "Nathan's already on it." She told them before Chloe had time to knock. "Come on, hurry."

Chloe exchanged looks with Rachel before they both bolted into the house.

If it had been any other time, Chloe would have taken time to look over how huge Victoria's house was, with victorian esque architecture coupled with modern techniques and outfitting, but her mind was focused on Max.

Nathan was on the couch, tapping on a laptop.

"What are you doing?" Rachel asked, raising a brow.

Nathan glanced up before he looked back down. "I'm trying to find Max. That tracker she placed on him, it tracked him out somewhere east out of town but it stopped pinging somewhere right here." He tapped his laptop and Rachel leaned down to see what he was pointing out.

"The woods?" She questioned out loud.

"Or at least just before it." The photographer sighed, "something's interfering with the signal, if I could just tap into the same signal...." he bit his lip. "I could reverse engineer it and find where he's at." Nathan tapped a a few keys. "But I've never seen something with this much protection, it's simple enough security, my father nor Jefferson is a genius when it comes to tech, but it's time consuming."

"We don't have time!" Chloe growled, slamming her hands down. "Rachel," she flicked her eyes towards the model, "do you remember where that greenhouse is?"

"Well, yeah, it's not exactly hidden." Rachel said, tilting her head slightly. "Why?"

"We're going back. We need clues and I suspect that greenhouse has all the answers." Chloe rose to her full height, her back straighten and a determined fire in her eyes. "Lead the way." It was said like an order.

"I'll keep working. Send me anything worth interest." Nathan hesitated. "The signal stops right before the woods just out of town, after hitting up the greenhouse if there is anything there that indicates.."

"We'll go straight away." Chloe promised, before nodding to Rachel.

Max

Max opened her eyes slowly, her head was pounding and her body ached, as if she hadn't moved in months.

She shifted her blurry vision around her, Where am I? She flinched, a sound of a cameras click sounded somewhere close to her. Off to the right.

This place was bright, too bright, enough for it to hurt Max's eyes. She laid her head down again, her eyes slipping close. She felt so tired, so... tired.

Click

She opened her eyes, that was a camera. She turned her head and eyed the blurry mass above her, it's hands holding what looked like a camera.

Her throat felt dry, Where am I?

Panic began to set in, this entire situation felt wrong. She fought against the tiredness, she tried to clear her head of the fog that enveloped it and she forced her vision to focus. She looked up again and snarled. She tried to move her hands only to realized that there was rope around them, bounding her wrists together.

"Jefferson."

The teacher looked surprised for her to speak. "Max." He greeted, his tone low. "Why are you awake?" He whispered that, as though asking himself.

"Why am I here." Max shot back, pushing herself into a sitting position. She glanced around, this room, it looked familiar. The way the lighting was, that white table...

"Because you won." Jefferson's tone was sick, filled with glee that only a child should feel in a very different circumstance than whatever the fuck this was. "You won the contest Max, and that means you get to have a kickstart to your career." He smirked smugly, "With a very particular few."

"Sickos who get off to teenagers manipulated by someone meant to protect them?" She hissed, kicking her foot out and toppling the tripod in front of him over. A very satisfying sound of it hitting the ground hard made her smirk.

"You little bitch!" Jefferson rushed forward and tangled his hand in her hair and tugged it, making Max yelp in pain. "Oh you're lucky Max," he leaned in, his blue eyes alit with primal anger. "You're lucky because even though I could break you," he jangled his belt for emphasis, "I have a plan for you."

Max glared at him, despite the dryness in her throat she gathered spit in her mouth and let a ball shoot out of her mouth.

Jefferson flinched back as the saliva hit his face and he growled, bringing his hand back and slamming it hard in her cheek.

"You ought to behave," Jefferson wiped his face off, "after all, you wouldn't want Chloe or Rachel hurt right?" He grinned slightly at the way Max's eyes flared.

"If you lay one hand on them-" Max started, cutting off the teacher when he tried to speak over her, "I will personally flay you."

The creep hesitated, as if he hadn't expect her to fight so much. He backed away before he grabbed something off of the white table. "Maybe this will calm you down." He said calmly, approaching her with a vile and needle.

Max backed up against the wall behind her, shaking her head and lashing her feet out at him.

She slammed her foot into his stomach a few times until he wisened up and grabbed her feet, throwing him down before he straddled her.

Pain from her neck flared before a fog returned to her mind again.

"Fuck... you...won't.. get.. away.." the fog and darkness returned.

Rachel

She shifted through the papers on his desk. Her eyes searched for anything that contained clues.

When Rachel and Chloe arrived to the greenhouse, they found that the security door had been unlocked. The cameras and lights were gone, they had been moved.

Rachel let out a frustrated screech, this was all her fault. She should have been more careful, she should have known that he was bad, her instinct had told her to stay away but of course she didn't listen to it and now Max was-

A clunk on the ground made her look down.

A phone?

She picked it up and inspected it further. It was black and came straight out of the 90's. She pressed the home button and narrowed her eyes when it lit up.

"Chloe!" She called, the blunette appeared in the doorway of his office straight away.

"Find something?" She caught the phone thrown at it in response. "Jackpot!" She began to browse through it and Rachel watched as the girls face dropped.

"This is..." Chloe hesitated, "Jefferson's way of talking to Nathan's dad." She clicked through it. "And random bullshit..." she narrowed her eyes. "Keep looking. I'll try to decipher this."

Rachel nodded and returned to her task of looking.

Chloe

The blue eyes of Chloe darted over the words. The texts between Jeffershit and Prescock were disgusting, money transferences, ways to keep Nathan quiet, ways to kidnap girls, and...

"The dark room." Saying those words out loud made Chloes stomach turn like saying Voldemorts name, if you were a nerd like Max.

"Walk hundred paces north, hit tree with blood, and move the earth." Chloe was convinced this man was insane.

Then something in her intuition buzzed.

Wait...

"Drive to the water tower, if you hit dirt path you've gone too far. Turn right at tower and.."

Her mind reeled. "Rachel!" She rose to fast and dizziness made her sway. "Come on!"

She dialed Nathan's number on her phone.

"Yo?" Nathan's voice answered.

"Chloe?" Rachel began but Chloe waved her arm for silence.

"The woods. Hundred paces north, tree with blood, move earth." She spouted.

"Tree with red moss, I've seen it before. And move the leaves right?" Nathan was on board, "Shit, I think I know what it is. Okay Chloe listen to me carefully, he's in the.."

"Dark room." They said in unison.

"Right, it's a highly secure area and he has a gun. I'm going to send the police there now, don't go alone." He ordered curtly. "Also be careful, I think I'm almost in his cameras but it won't be long before he notices."

"Right." Chloe nodded by instinct, "We have to go." She told Rachel, hanging up the phone.

Rachel nodded and ran outside to Chloes truck when a voice made her freeze.

"Chloe?"

The blunette whirled around to see David.

"Chlo, what's going on?" The man moved forward, "There's word going around that you've been getting caught up in something..." he hesitated, "Where's Max?"

Chloe didn't want to tell him, "Why do you care?"

"Because I've been tracking you." The man admitted, "I know what you've been doing and I want to help. You need to get to the dark right?" Chloe exchanged looks with Rachel. "I can take you there," he continued, "I know where it is, and it's not where you think."

"Where?" Chloe began to text Nathan, listening to what David had to say.

"It's not in the woods, I've gone there, where the moss grows on the tree. All that's there is security cameras so Jefferson can eliminate any who are getting to close." He fumbled in his pocket and handed them a slip of paper. "Trust that I'm telling the truth. I have buddies stationed there that will help, please be careful, I can't handle it if you.." he hesitated. "Hurry, Max might not have time."

Chloe searched his eyes, "Thanks dad." She murmured before hopping into her truck, Rachel on her heels.

Chloe breathed shakily, eyeing him in the front mirror before she sped off. "Tell me where Rach."

Rachel unfolded the paper and choked. "You're not gonna like it."

"Where?"

"Let's go to a concert Chlo."

The punk tensed, the mill.

"Alright, let's go stage diving."

Max

She opened her eyes, panting. She looked around and found that Jefferson was sitting on the couch in front of her, his eyes on a laptop.

"I have to say, your friends are diligent. Who do you know that can hack into an almost perfect security system?" Jefferson's eyes flicked up to hers, a dangerous light in them.

"Like fuck I would tell you." Max's head hurt, her whole body throbbed. "Fuck you."

Jefferson slammed the laptop shut, "Don't get smart with me Max," he spat, rising to his feet. "Whose trying to find you? Is it those girls? Is it that annoying science nerd?" He grabbed her shirt and tugged her into a half standing, half sitting position. "Who?" He snarled, his eyes dark.

Max glared at him unflinchingly, "Eat shit." She shook him off and fell back, drawing herself up as much as possible as strength found its way in her limbs once more.

Jefferson glared at her before he walked to the table. "Well it's whatever, I have enough photos. You're no longer necessary." He turned with a needle that had significantly more clear liquid then it had last time. "If your friends find this place, it'll be too late, you'll already be dead. Just like Rachel should have been."

Rachel

The girl hopped the fence and nodded to the armed police who nodded back in respect. She rushed inside the mill where David's men were, ex-military she was certain. There was a dangerous light in their eyes, a sheen of battle that didn't seem to faze them.

Chloe was staring at a metal door, "It's unlocked, is everyone ready?" She asked, turning towards the men.

Rachel opened her mouth to reply when a shriek relieved and terrified her.

"Get the fuck off me!" Max!

Primal fire made Rachel move lightning quick.

Max

She kicked the pervert again, making him grunt in pain.

"Just. Stay. Still!" He screamed, lunging again.

Max rolled away and kicked his knee, making him curse. The two stared at each other before he lunged, she splayed her legs out and used them to try to push them away but he was strong, the needle point was almost touching her neck.

Screeeeeeeech

"Huh?" Jefferson froze, he looked up confused and Max kicked him hard in the balls and bit down on his hand, so hard that she tasted his blood.

"FUCK!" Jefferson crumbled but he snarled and stabbed her neck with the needle and pushed the plunger down as much as he could before Max scrambled away as shouting overcame her senses.

The lights began to swim in her eyes again. "No, no no.." she breathed, trying hard to fight against the drug. "Chloe.. Rachel!" She cried, seeing their blurring faces merged together and their voices meld into a culmination of syllables that were indecipherable.

And the fog took over once more.

Rachel

Rachel stared at the girl unconscious, so much like her..

Anger flared through her, she turned to Jefferson who was on the ground with guns pointed at his head.

"What did you do?" Rachel asked, her voice shaking with rage. "What did you do to her?"

Jefferson smirked at her, "She got the reward." He said with a shrug, "After all, she did win the contest."

Rachel clenched her fist, "You raped me," she snarled, tears pouring down her face. "You took advantage of me, you raped Victoria, and you raped and abused Nathan." She stepped forward, stiff-legged and angry.

One of the ex-military men held out something.

A gun.

Rachel stared at it in awe.

"End this." The man said gruffly. "I won't say anything. It's what this pig deserves. We'll just say it was suicide." He nodded to his men and they quickly began to dismantle the cameras. No evidence. "And if anyone tries to say anything different," there was a hard look in his eyes as he stared down at Jefferson. A look that only a soldier, trained to kill, could have.

Jefferson looked terrified suddenly, "You can't-" he choked, "You won't!"

"If she doesn't, I will." Chloes voice was low with rage.

Rachel grabbed the gun and pressed the barrel to Jefferson's head. She could feel the two choices. Don't shoot. Shoot. Don't shoot. Shoot.

She stared at him, memories flying through her head, the grooming, the manipulation. The rape.

She curled her lip, "Convince me not to Mark."

The photographer stared at her, his mouth opening and shutting like a fish out of water. His eyes were blown with fear- the fear she once had felt single handily. The fear that made her have night terrors, the fear that made her look over her shoulder all these months, the fear that would stay with her until she felt the cold kiss of death.

The blonde growled, Convince me!" She roared, making Jefferson flinch.

"Y-You'll be no different." He stammered out, "You'll be just like me!" He spat, flinching as she shoved the cold barrel of the gun against his head.

If I'm going to burn for this," She breathed out a laugh that was borderline maniacal, "then I'll see you in Hell Jefferson."

Bang

Chloe

Blue eyes watched the photographer slump over.

It was over. Finally.

The months of torment was over. Jefferson's blood pooled from his wound, his lifeless eyes staring up in horror and desperation, his jaw slack in a wordless scream.

Her body felt numb, her eyes burned with exhaustion. There was a buzz around her, the ex-military speaking with the chief who was under Nathan's heel. The cops gathering evidence and checking Jefferson's body for anything. Everything melded together in her ears as a loud ring before her brain shouted.

Max!

She looked down at Max as one of the paramedics picked her up, "The ambulance is outside. You can ride with her but I think you should help your friend." He told Chloe, giving a look towards Rachel before he disappeared with Max.

Chloes nodded numbly and swung her head to face Rachel.

She had dropped the gun, her hands dangling lifelessly at her side, her hazel eyes fixed on the teachers slumped over body. Chloe took a step towards her, "Rachel-" she began but froze as Rachel turned her haunting gaze to Chloe.

Relief, sorrow, grief, those were the first emotions that Chloe could distinguish in the storm of emotions in her eyes. Whatever the tattoo artist was about to say died in her throat, not that she knew what she was going to say. Stumbling forward on her shaking legs, she simply pulled Rachel into a tight hug, staring forward at the wall barely registering as Rachel began to silently sob and hold onto the bluenette as though she was about to lose her forever.

This moment reminded Chloe of how the bay was after it was struck with a bad storm one winter, the petrichor thick in the air, the seagulls chattering few and far between overhead. The calm after a storm, where all you did was look around to see the puddles and flooding.

The destruction.

For now, Chloe was content with the sounds of sobs and the slickness of blood pooling onto her shoes.

The sounds of it finally being all over.