Highway To Hell (Mad Max Fanfiction)

Chapter 20: She's Gone

"OW FUCK" I yelled, pulling my hand back quickly, the metal was hot and I burned my hand. Max walked over, grabbing my hand and examining it before he wrapped it gently in white gauze, then he returned to what he was doing. I sighed sadly, plopping down on a hammock that I constructed in the garage. "Ariadne's getting bad" I mumble, running my hands anxiously through my hair.

"She'll be ok, Furiosa knows what she's doing" he spoke, not looking up from his work. Max left the room for a bit leaving me alone. I felt a little uneasy in the Citadel alone, the only time I really felt safe was with Max.

Max returned with some food, handing it to me and setting his down, he continued to work on his car, I stared at it, my stomach was turning, at any given moment, gas town could already be at our doors. "Eat" he growled from under the hood of his car, I slowly spooned down what tasted like stew, I learned not to question what was in the food.

"Max?" I asked, feeling more and more tired now that my stomach was full.

"Mm?"

"Thank you for coming back" I mumbled, my eyes closing slowly as I rested back on the hammock. "You make me feel safe..." I whispered, not really meaning to say it aloud, but I guess I was too tired to realize. Max looked over at me for a second, I couldn't read his emotions, maybe I said too much to him, maybe I shouldn't have said any of that. But before I knew it I was drifting off into sleep.

-LATER-

I woke up in a cold sweat, suffering from a horrible nightmare. I searched around desperately for Ariadne but noticed I was still in the Garage, Max was gone, and I was alone. A feeling of panic swept through my body something felt wrong. I decided to go check on Ariadne and I ran upstairs quickly and into the vault. It was dark outside and the window was open. I sighed in relief walking to Ariadne's bed and pulling the blanket away.

She was gone.

I stood there in shock for a moment, searched the entire room for her, surely she wouldn't have left the room. I ran to find Furiosa, who was downstairs serving out food to the other survivors. Max was next to her, talking to her gently probably about some war plans.
"Have you seen Ariadne?" Furiosa looked at me curiously, cocking her head to the side.

"What do you mean, she hasn't left her room all night..." I felt the hot tears come surging from my eyes I broke down right there.

"She's not in her room," I sobbed, screaming. Furiosa dropped the bowl she was holding and sprinted upstairs to our room. Max looked at me, not really knowing how to react as I broke down in front of him. I pulled at my hair my anxiety running through the roof, she was my best friend, the closest thing I had to my family and she was gone, I let her slip right through my fingers. Max grabbed me and dragged me down to the garage where he sat me down. He crouched in front of me, his eyes making direct contact with mine, they were a bit softer than usual.

"Listen-" but I kept sobbing, pulling at my hair he grabbed my wrists. "LISTEN" I went silent "we're going to get her back, but you need to calm down"

I shook my head furiously, hating myself for letting her go. "Max, I shoulda been there, I shoulda stopped it" Max's eyes explored my face, I leaned my head gently into his chest, sobbing. Max held his breath, not knowing how to react. "They kidnapped her Max, they snuck in and they kidnapped her" I felt Max place his hand gently on my back, his attempt at comforting me.

"Shh" he mumbled, soon his other hand was on my head trying as best he could to get me to stop crying. I could tell he wasn't really used to this, and he wasn't really sure what to do.

Furiosa marched in, fury in her eyes, Max didn't let go though, and his steely heartbeat was strong and loud in my ear.

"We're going after her" she commanded, "get ready"