CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
When they made it to the river of death, Violet was surprised at the lack of killing she had to do.
There was nothing.
No one.
Joel pointed his gun up to the sky and shot once, making the birds fly quickly away but still there was no retaliation. Ellie spoke sarcastically,
"The River of Death. Still no people."
Joel huffed and rolled his eyes as he nodded before Ellie started to try to whistle. It was nothing remotely even like a whistle but it made Violet laugh nonetheless, causing Ellie to look at her like the sun just began shining.
Violet's face dropped as she turned around, trying to breathe again.
She would always fail the people she loved, it was inevitable.
Violet worked so hard to keep Lily alive and most of all she lost her humanity.
Lily was the only part left.
The only reason she stayed alive.
How do you live when your person, your purpose is dead?
What do you do?
Violet felt eternally guilty for any happy emotion she felt, it was her fault. She never should've left her sister, she never should've even let her come on the trip.
She sometimes wished that she had died with her parents, then they would all be together, instead of her being the last one alive.
Being alone, her worst fear.
With Lily by her side, she had a motive to stay alive and to fight.
Without her, she was struggling to keep herself from drowning in grief, her sister's letter and words stayed in the back of her head always.
Maybe even fall in love.
Lily was clueless,
love just brought pain.
Joel would leave her, Ellie would leave her and then she'd be alone again.
Numb.
Ellie spoke as they walked,
"I'm learning how to whistle."
Joel rolled his eyes and questioned, turning to face Violet, who's eyes stayed pinned to their surroundings.
Joel hated how much he cared about the women. After Sarah.... After Tess.
All the people he had failed.
Joel knew that he couldn't fail another person, Violet thought the same.
"You don't know how to whistle?"
Ellie deadpanned Joel, making a funny face before replying full of sass.
"Does it sound like I know how to whistle? Seriously, though, how the fսck do you do that?"
Violet spoke turning back to Ellie before walking forward,
"Honestly I don't know how to whistle either."
They continued forward, Violet moving in front of them wanting to be the first to be attacked if anything was happening, it's morbid but she didn't care. She didn't care whether she died or lived. She just wanted to sleep without nightmares plaguing her vision. Joel answered Ellie making Violet hide a laugh.
"Talent."
Ellie shook her head, not believing what she was hearing, but also loving Joel using humour, not often did he smile, laugh or not act like a grumpy robot. Ellie asked,
"Whatever. You should teach me how to hunt. Or you, Violet."
Violet shook her head as she spoke quietly as Joel just said one word,
"You can't handle it."
"Huh."
Ellie got mad straight after this, not knowing what Violet meant. Ellie could handle herself, she shouldn't have to because she is so young, but Violet knew that there were parts of hunting that would make her faint.
Ellie spoke before leading into a deep voice, mocking Joel making Violet silently smile. He does sound all dark and gloomy when he speaks.
With right reason but...
he was grumpy just like her.
"Huh. Like, She's a girl. She can't handle it."
Violet spoke quickly as she tried to erase the confusion, Violet had learnt to hunt when she was twelve but for survival. And Ellie should learn but not yet, Joel and Violet can protect her.
"You can handle the shootin'. Not so sure about the dressin'."
Ellie sighed as she asked,
"What's the dressin'?"
Joel looked at Ellie before casually speaking making Ellie shudder at the thought, but she had fought clickers, nothing was worse than that.
Or bloaters.
Nasty big fucking creatures.
"The part where you take the guts out."
As they continued to walk forward up the hill to the electricity dam, Ellie spoke ranting about how dressing should actually be called undressing, Violet looked ahead and saw the huge dam from the edge of a cliff.
It was actually a sight to behold.
Ellie spoke trying to be punny
(you see what i did there 🫣)
"Dam."
Joel spoke laughing as Violet turned around trying to hide her smile,
"You're no Will Livingston."
Ellie rolled her eyes as she spoke asking about how an electricity dam works. To be honest Violet had no idea, this was probably the first time she had ever seen one.
"Yeah, yeah, but who is?
So that made electricity?"
Joel answered quickly as Violet shrugged, pulling out her pistol and loading it just in case. Ellie sent a weird look to Violet, thinking there was no danger. But Violet had a horrible feeling, and look what happened the last time she felt that way. Her sister died.
"Yeah. Don't ask me. I don't have a clue."
Ellie laughed as they started to turn away to walk the other way around the dam,
"You know, you could've just made something up. I would've believed you."
Violet spoke looking at the half frozen blue lake right next to them.
Violet hated the cold,
when she was younger her favourite thing to do was to go to a pool, to the beach with her parents.
But they were much simpler times.
"Hey, Joel... what if this is the River of Death?"
Suddenly Violet heard a multitude of horses coming towards her as she pointed her gun out in front of her and stepped in front of Ellie.
Violet whispered quickly before they had gotten close,
"Stay close behind me okay.
Everything will be okay."
Ellie nodded and stayed behind Violet as the armed men and women on horses came to be in front of them.
Joel spoke quickly,
"We ain't lookin' for any trouble. We're just passin' through."
The man shook his head and demanded as Violet fought the urge to shoot the lot of them. She has had worse odds, but never people she cared about around with her.
She couldn't do anything stupid with Ellie behind her.
"Drop the guns."
Violet sneered at the man before watching Joel place his gun down, she reluctantly placed down her sniper rifle knowing that she had several others. He spoke again this time to point at Ellie to step back, Violet moved with her and stood still in front of her. Violet spoke quickly,
"How 'bout we just talk this through?"
She's prefer not talking in fact if this was Boston, they'd all have their throats slit by now.
The man spoke again making Violet glare menacingly at the man,
"How 'bout you shut the fսck up?"
Joel spoke looking back at Violet and Ellie, honestly he was terrified.
He hated how much he knew he cared about both Ellie and Violet.
Violet had gotten under his skin,
the way she talked, the way she smiled, it made him sick.
He didn't want to lose anyone else.
"Okay, easy. You'll be okay."
The mysterious man spoke again asking if they had been near infected, Joel responded quickly as they hadn't see any infected around these parts,
"There's no Infected out here."
The man spoke as he whistled for a dog to come and sniff them out,
Violet grabbed Ellie's hand discreetly pulling her closet behind her.
All Violet was thinking was,
whatever it takes.
She would not lose anyone else.
She would not fail anyone else.
"The hell there ain't. Last chance for a bullet. If you've been infected, he will smell it, and he will rip you up."
The dog went to Joel first sniffing him before ultimately jumping up onto Joel showing that he was not infected.
Joel spoke quickly knowing potentially what would happen if that dog went near Ellie,
"Like I said... we'll just move on."
The man shook his head and pointed towards Violet and Ellie and spoke,
"Now them."
Joel could feel his heartache increase as he couldn't see what was happening behind him.
Static noise filled his ears as he tried to control his breathing, he heard loud growling as Violet held tightly onto her blade, until Joel heard Ellie's loud giggles as she pet the cute dog.
The man whistled the dog back as Violet grasped Ellie's hand and pulled her close. The man spoke,
"You just bought yourself 10 more seconds. What are you doin' out here?"
Violet looked at Joel, wanting to know what his answer would be.
Joel spoke the truth wanting to get out of this situation,
"I'm just lookin' for my brother. That's all, nothing' more."
Suddenly a woman sped forward on his horse before speaking clearly,
"What's your name?"
Joe responded as Violet flinched unsure why he gave his actual name away. Violet had made many enemies, the first mistake anyone could ever make is giving away their name to strangers who they don't know their intentions.
"Joel."
The woman obviously registered the same as she stared back at the man who claimed to be Joel.
END OF CHAPTER
A/N
Violet is struggling heaps with the fact that she still has to keep going when her sister is gone.
I have little sisters and i can't imagine losing them.
Writing the death chapter was like writing about my own sister, what i would want to say,
how i would react,
i honestly don't know.
But the next few chapters are probs gonna have smut somewhere hahahah
Thank you for reading my friends 🥹
this book actually means the world to me, honestly.
Please vote, comment and share
Please let me know any mistakes 😅