Impure

9 - Caged - Max

He walked cautiously towards the huge wall. The wall was about twice Max's size and had been constructed out of bricks, rocks, logs and all sorts of things. Coming from behind the wall, Max could hear voices. He couldn't make out the words but he knew they were human.
His first attempt at climbing the wall failed. The wall was greased up and to slippery to climb, so Max decided to climb a nearby tree, which was a huge struggle with his arm broken. It was about ten o'clock, night time, so Max could only see where the lights were shining inside the wall.
He took a guess that it was some sort of base. It had a few buildings, gun ranges and a huge fire pit that looked like it had bodies laying in it.
He heard a stick snap below him. He looked down but saw nothing, "Probably just fell from the tree," he said to himself. Freak had managed to climb the tree to a certain point but was no longer able to climb any higher. Max looked back over the wall, he couldn't see any type of entrance besides the huge gate guarded by at least a dozen guards holding automatic rifles.
A high pitched scream made Max lose his balance and he fell to the ground, twenty feet below, protecting his right arm with his legs.
He must've knocked himself unconscious because when he woke up he wasn't under a tree, he was in some kind of cage. He was laid down on his back, Freak next to him unharmed, so he decided to sit up.
"Umm... Did you kidnap me?" Max asked to the bodily figure that was kneeled in front of him, facing away. "Shut up, you idiot. You always did talk to loud." She whispered furiously. "Chloe?" He asked. "Yeah, shut up," she repeated in a whisper.
She stayed kneeled silently and still for a few more minutes before turning around and talking to him, "I've been scouting the base for about a month, even before this started. I wanted to know what it was for but the walls started getting really high," she said. "Why'd you kidnap me?" Max asked. "I saved your life, dipshit. The guards heard me scream and they all started running over." She said angrily. "So why'd you scream?" Max asked. "I fell, now stop asking questions and let's figure out a way in." She said before turning around and continuing to kneel quietly.
The 'cage' Max was in was constructed of sticks and leaves. The sticks supported the roof while the leaves had hidden the position of it. The door was also constructed well, using the same materials. "You made this?" Max asked quietly. "No Max, I kindly asked for the guards to make it for me." Chloe said sarcastically. "Why are you so angry?" Max asked.
Max realised he had made a huge mistake. "Everything that is going on you fucking idiot. There is no point to life anymore, my parents are dead, my dog is dead, everybody is fucking dead and I'm just angry at myself because I don't even care about it all. I'm not sad about any of it." She was yelling at Max now, "And I just wish I could die too, my life was meaningless before, my life is even more fucked up now, I just wish I had something to live for." She broke down crying, "Live for me." Max said, in an attempt to calm her down so she would stop yelling, incase it attracted any attention from guards or diseased.
Chloe had gone back to her kneeling stance, looking silently through a small gap in the door. "You won't see anything from here," Max said. "You won't live any longer out there." She replied. "I thought you wanted to die?" Max responded. "I want to die, I want to know that I've at least done something worthwhile first." She said. Max thought about it for a while, "You have a goal. To live until you achieve something, until you prove to yourself that you can be more then just a regular girl." Max said. "Pretty much." She responded. Max smiled, "You've survived so far, isn't that good enough?" Chloe shook her head then turned around and looked at Max, "I wish it was."
Chloe continued to look out of the gap in the door, she didn't pay much attention to Max or Freak, but Max and Freak focused as much as they could on Chloe. Max didn't understand her, or any girl, she confused him. "Let's go stupidly risk our lives, let's walk up to the front gates of these bitches and walk in like we don't care," Chloe said. "No, Chloe that's stupid, you can't just.." Chloe cut Max off, "You said we should leave for a better view, let's go." Without hesitation, Chloe opened the door and proceeded to travel through it.
"Chloe come back," Max called out as he chased her through the dark bushes. Once he caught up with her, he had to tackle her and cover her mouth with his hand to keep her down and quiet. When he tackled her, he landed on his arm, squishing it and causing serious pain, but he tried his hardest to avoid screaming. "Let's get some sleep, okay? We need the energy." Max said, removing his hand from her mouth, "You don't need energy if you're dead." Chloe growled.
Max had picked her up and carried her back to the little cage they had been hiding in. "Chloe, sleep. You'll feel better after you rest." Max said. "Okay, whatever." Chloe responded. She lied down facing the wall and closed her eyes. Max moved to the other side of the cage and slept, facing the wall too.
He tried to sleep for a while but he couldn't do it. He needed to go to the toilet so he quietly left the cage and did one against a nearby tree. He looked around for a while, taking in the cold of the night. Eventually, he decided to go back inside.
Chloe was still there, laying silent and still. He lied down back where he had before. Minutes later he felt an arm go over him, he looked over to find Chloe hugging up to him. "Sorry, I'm cold." Max nodded, "It's okay." He said as he put his arm over her body, pulling her closer and instantly feeling warmer.