A/N: I can't get over how much I am in love with both Abominable and the first Life is Strange game. I love the characters and the stories of both the movie and the game, so I figured this would be an amazing opportunity to cross the two over. So, I'm going to let everyone know now that this story contains spoilers to both Abominable and Life is Strange, just throwing that out there. Now, let's begin shall we? Enjoy!
Previously on Life is Strange...
Mysteriously gifted with the power to rewind time, young photography student Max Caulfield became entangled of the dark secrets of Arcadia Bay. She used her strange new abilities to reconnect with her oldest friend, Chloe Price, and to bring to justice the men who had murdered Chloe's closest confidante, Rachel Amber. Max's temporal abilities came at a cost, however, creating a once-in-a-generation hurricane that threatened the town with total destruction, if Max didn't allow the original timeline - in which Chloe died of a gunshot wound - to play out. In one sequence of events, Max chose to save Chloe's life, sacrificing Arcadia Bay. And in a multiverse of infinite possibilities, this is one version of what happened next...
-Taken from the prologue to the graphic novel, "Life is Strange: Dust"
Cold, that was the only word Max could describe how she felt right now, absolutely freezing. She had opened her eyes to reveal she was somewhere she totally didn't recognize. A large wooden bridge out in the middle of a snowy mountain range, and icy winds howled as they blew past her. The low temperatures gave her goosebumps on her skin, which wasn't surprising considering her clothing wasn't exactly appropriate for an icy climate.
"What the Hell? What is this place?" Max asked herself as she looked around. The winds grew stronger when she saw behind her was a dark gray-painted military helicopter with a spotlight pointed directly at her. Max then saw large armored trucks block off both ends of the bridge, and several people wearing SWAT armor holding weapons exited said vehicles.
"Don't let them escape!" Max heard one of them yell. She was absolutely terrified and confused at the same time. She put her hands up when she saw that they were all now pointing their weapons at her. A short elderly man using a pick-ax for a cane was standing in front of one of the armed convoys, and right next to him was a red-haired woman wearing a white trench-coat and maroon teardrop shaped eyeglasses.
"We have to take the shot, sir. Right now" Max heard the woman say in a British accent. The ice on the bridge then began to rumble underneath Max's feet, and the convoys started to take notice of this as well. Max then looked up and saw a large silhouette of a creature she didn't recognize. The creature began to emit a large blue-green aura around it's body and started to emit a deep humming sound. The aura then grew larger and larger, until it came out from the creature's body like a massive shock-wave of energy. The energy was enough to sent the Helicopter spiraling out of control, as well as start a massive snow storm around the bridge area, almost as if it was creating a barricade on both ends of the bridge to prevent anyone else from crossing.
"No way. What is that thing? How's it even doing that?" Max whispered to herself as she watched the creature fend off the armed convoys. Her attention then turned to the helicopter on her left, and saw that the snow storm and the energy blast was causing it to lose all power in it's engine, and tilted to the side as it crashed on the bridge's wooden surface. The propeller had sliced through two of the large cables that held the bridge up before crashing on impact and creating a massive explosion. Max then shut her eyes tight and covered her face as the ever-growing explosion made it's way towards her.
Los Angeles, California
"Woah!" Max shouted as she woke up to find she was back where she was before. Inside a small diner in Los Angeles, where she and her longtime best friend, Chloe Price had moved after the destruction of Arcadia Bay, their hometown in Oregon. She was gasping lightly as she just woke up, taking in her surroundings. Max was also still wearing the same clothes she had on in the dream, a gray tee-shirt with a skull and crossbones with the word "Goonies" right above it, and ripped black skinny jeans from Hollister with gray converse all-stars on her feet.
"That... was really trippy" said Max. She then recalled the last time she had a dream that felt so real, it was of the storm that destroyed Arcadia Bay and ripped it to shreds.
"Calm down, Max. It was only a dream" Max told herself as she was starting to calm down. She didn't want to think about having to use her powers again just so another one of her freakish nightmares could become reality again. Ever since the storm, Max swore off using her ability to travel back in time, or as she and Chloe called it, "Rewind", forever. Max feared that if she ever tried using her powers again, another storm could happen and take the lives of millions of innocents, and decided to let fate play itself out from now on whenever it came to regular everyday events.
"Max Caulfield?" she heard a voice ask. She looked up to see a young man with an emo-style haircut that reminded her a lot of Zac Efron's hair back in his "High School Musical" days, and wearing a white tank top, faded dark blue jeans, and a lot of punk-themed jewelry. She figured Chloe would get along with this guy famously.
"Oh, yeah. Chris, right? Chris Turnbull?" Max asked politely as she stood up and held her hand out to shake.
"Yeah, that's me. Good to finally meet you" Chris said as he took his hand into her's and firmly shook it. The two then sat down at the booth close to the window and began to discuss business.
"Thank you so much for coming over by the bar the other night and taking photos of our band. We feel like we could really a lot more venues with pictures like these on our website" Chris told her. A short while after moving to LA, Max started her own Freelance Photographer for hire business after Chloe had suggested the idea to her. After creating a website for the business using a service she heard about on YouTube and put up some fliers all over town, Max had been getting lots of interesting and high-paying customers who wanted her to take their photos.
"It's no problem at all. I'm just hoping you'll like them" Max said as she looked down to her left and picked up a large bulky yellow-orange envelope and handed it to Chris, whom then opened it up and reached inside. Chris then began looking at a grand total of twenty photographs, each one was taken masterfully and a lot of detail was caught in them all.
"Oh wow. These are amazing. I don't think even Taylor Swift has a personal photographer as good as you" Chris complimented as Max watched him look through all the photos.
"It's no problem at all, Chris. And I'd like to think Taylor Swift would practically BEG me to be her personal photographer if I'm really as good as you say I am" Max said with a light chuckle at the end.
"Hey, no need to be so modest, Max. I think these pictures could really impress a lot of people who'd want to book us for a venue or two" Chris complimented. Max then took out her old schoolbag and took out twenty slides of Polaroid Spectra film. The photos were the exact same ones as the pictures she had just handed Chris.
"Instant film? I thought you used a Nikon camera?" Chris asked, a little on the confused side.
"I do, but that's my business camera. This is my "For Fun" camera" Max said as she pulled out the Polaroid Spectra One-Switch camera that Chloe had given her as a belated birthday present the day they reunited back in Arcadia Bay. Chris took one into his hand and analyzed it closely.
"Wow, Polaroid or Nikon you are a master at your craft, Ms. Caulfield" Chris told her.
"Thanks. A lot of people seem to think so too. And don't worry, I'm not charging you for those photos, I just took those for myself and put them on the wall in my bedroom. That's where all the best of the best photos I take go" Max explained.
"That's actually really sweet of you. Thanks, I'm flattered" Chris said.
"Don't mention it" Max replied. Chris then took out a white envelope out of his front right pocket that had been folded in half and placed it right on the table.
"Here you go. The email said all the photos you took would cost about three hundred dollars right?" asked Chris.
"Yeah. I hope it's a reasonable enough price for the photos. If not, I'm more than willing to make a new one with you if you'd like" Max offered.
"What? No no no. The photos are excellent, and the price is fine too. We just added an additional two hundred in there because we really liked the sample photos you sent in the email. Think of it as our way of saying thank you for taking our pictures" Chris told her.
"Wow, that's very generous of you" Max said before placing her hand on top of the envelope and slid over towards her. She then took the money out and began counting it to make sure everything was there.
"Yeah, it's all there. Five hundred, like you said. Pleasure doing business with you. And I hope the band does well" Max said after putting the money in her pocket and stood up to shake Chris' hand once again.
"Same to you. Have a good day" he said before leaving the diner and walked into the busy Los Angeles streets. Max then sat back down at her table and put her Polaroid photos and Polaroid camera back into her bag as she noticed a coffee shop employee came over with a large serving tray.
"Alright, miss. I got your coconut pancakes and apricot plum smoothie with wildflower honey right here" said the waiter as he set the plate out right in front of her and the glass soon followed.
"Thank you. Can I also get a refill on my coffee?" asked Max as she held her empty mug up to him.
"Absolutely, miss. I'll be right back with your coffee. In the meantime, enjoy your meal" he said before walking back behind the counter to fetch the coffee pot. Max then began to cut into the pancakes and began to eat. As the sweet taste of coconut shreds filled her taste-buds, Max couldn't help but wonder if her vision could really come true regardless of whether or not she decided to quit using the Rewind.
"Yo, Mad Max! There you are!" said a familiar voice. Max looked up and smiled to see it was Chloe Price, her best friend from childhood walking up to her booth in the diner. Chloe was wearing her favorite black beanie over her aqua blue colored hair, along with a slightly baggy white tank-top with a black Illuminati pyramid symbol on the front, which allowed her tattoo on her right arm to be fully exposed, and she also wore black jeans and combat boots.
"So, I take it the transaction went smoothly?" Chloe asked as she sat down across from her friend.
"More than smooth, actually. He really loved the photos, and not to mention, they paid me FIVE HUNDRED. The additional two hundred they gave was a tip just for me" Max told her excitedly. Chloe's face lit up brightly like a kid who just got what she wanted for Christmas.
"No freaking way, Max that is just awesome" Chloe told her.
"I know. We almost have enough money for our trip to China" Max replied. The two friends have been planning a trip to China for about a few months now. It was considered to be a trip for some much earned rest and relaxation from their social and work lives in California, not to mention it's one of the places they've been wanting to see together for a while now.
"Actually, we DO have enough money for our trip to China" Chloe corrected her.
"Do? What's that supposed to mean?" Max asked confused. Chloe then reached into her pocket and pulled out a freshly-written check for one thousand five hundred dollars.
"Chloe, are you serious right now? One thousand five hundred? How did you even get that?" Max asked with shock and excitement filling her voice.
"The museum of arts in San Francisco loved the painting. I guess it was love at first sight or something, because the moment they saw it they were like 'We hella want this in our museum', so they asked me how one thousand give hundred sounded and I was all like 'You got yourself a deal broskis' and I watched as the wrote the thing on our coffee table, Max. It was so incredible!" Chloe said. Max was so excited when she heard Chloe told the story. Since she and Max came to LA, Chloe had put her art skills to good use and began creating different types of artwork and selling them to museums and art collectors who were very fold of the type of art style she created.
"So we're really going to China?" Max asked.
"We're SO hella going to China!" Chloe replied. Max's smile then began to fade away and Chloe noticed.
"Come on Max, at least ACT like you're excited" Chloe said, nudging Max's shoulder to try and get her to smile again.
"No, I am excited Chloe. It's just that..." she said but paused in mid-sentence.
"But what? Spit it out, Max. Don't leave me dangling in suspense here" Chloe urged. Max then took a deep breath and then she began to tell her what was bothering her.
"Well, you remember those visions I kept having about the storm that destroyed Arcadia Bay? I had another one" confessed Max. This made Chloe very worried and want to know more.
"What? Is another storm coming? I thought you said you were going to stop rewinding and reality jumping" Chloe pressed Max further.
"I did. And no, it wasn't of any storm" she reassured her blue haired friend.
"No storm? Then what was in the vision?" asked Chloe.
"I was on this bridge. It was really really cold, I'm talking snow and ice everywhere. And the bridge was somewhere in this giant mountain range covered in snow. There were these guys wearing all black SWAT suits holding guns up at me, and there was also a helicopter too. Then I saw something standing on the very top of the bridge's arch" Max explained. Chloe was very invested in this story, and wanted to know even more.
"Keep going. I got a feeling there's more to this vision" said Chloe.
"Yeah. I couldn't really see what it was, but it emitted this aura from it's body and it was making this deep humming noise. It caused the winds to grow stronger, the helicopter started spinning out of control, not to mention it created a snow storm. The helicopter crashed and the explosion came directly towards me. I woke up after that" Max concluded her story.
"And did it feel every bit as real as your tornado vision?" Chloe asked.
"Yeah. And there's something else that's troubling me" Max added.
"What might that be?" the blue haired girl asked.
"I'm not entirely sure if this is going to come true whether I start using my powers again or not" said Max. Chloe then placed her hand on top of Max's and squeezed it tightly to reassure her that everything was going to be fine.
"I will say, that does sound hella scary. But, you need to know that regardless if this happens regardless if you continue to never use your powers or not, I will always be there to help you figure it out" Chloe said in a very comforting and reassuring manner. Max smiled knowing Chloe always had her back regardless of what was happening, this is why they were such amazing friends.
"Thanks, Chloe. So, we going to be packing for China as soon as we get back to the apartment?" Max asked, her smile reappearing on her face.
"There's that dorky smile I missed so much. Yeah, we should start packing as soon as we get home. We're going to pack lots of clothes since we're going to be there for half a month" said Chloe excitedly.
"I also got a notification on my Amazon app saying the six packs of Polaroid film I ordered's being delivered today. So I'll have plenty of film for the trip too" Max added. The two continued to talk about the trip the remainder of their stay at the diner until they went back to pack for the trip and buy their tickets for their flight to China.
A/N: That's chapter one of "Life is Abominable" everybody! I hope everyone had a great time reading this chapter even though we haven't exactly gotten to China yet, or got to meet Everest and the others yet. But now we do know Max has given up using her powers, living her dream of being a professional photographer, and having visions of something she can't explain. But what is the meaning of these new visions? You'll find out very soon. Please review, thanks!