CHAPTER FOUR
THE WORLD IS EMPTY
Inevitably, everything comes crashing down within the blink of an eye. Everything you knew becomes ashes, leaving your world entirely empty. No one really knows what happens when the world finally becomes silent. Alaska wonders what it must feel like to be the only survivor. She wonders what it must feel like to be the last person to die after having everything taken from you.
Is it a relief? Or does it just feel like you did all of this for nothing?
Junie runs against the wind, blowing an overwhelming breeze that makes Alaska's chest ache. Shimmer runs equally as fast, beside Junie as she passes endless rows of pine trees and other leafless plants. There's a part of Alaska, a part that she won't accept, that knows something isn't right. Perhaps there's something in the air, something thick that holds her down and forbids her from being able to breathe. She feels it in the very pit of her stomach— something is wrong.
She's lost count of how many times she's called out for Tommy. Ellie had done the same for Joel. But neither of them would stop, neither of them would give up. It feels like there's some sort of adrenaline that consumes them, an energy that makes them feel as though everything that surrounds them is moving much quicker than usual.
"Joel!" Ellie calls out again, cupping her mouth with her hand to make her voice sound louder against the strong wind.
Alaska's breath is heavy, "Tommy!" she yells with whatever strength is left in her lungs.
Still, there's no sign of them.
The pit in Alaska's stomach grows more each time that she doesn't receive an answer to her yells. The worry that tickles the back of her neck starts to get overwhelming and she starts to wonder how bad things will be once they do finally find Joel and Tommy.
"Look," Ellie mutters in Alaska's direction, pointing to something in the distance.
Alaska squints her eyes a bit, following Ellie's finger before spotting a cabin. It's covered in snow, made of dark wood and lit dimly by golden lights. She finds it quite ironic, how cozy the cabin looks, seeing as it may wield some unknown danger.
Alaska turns to Ellie, "You think they're in there?" she asks with her eyebrows curled together in worry.
Ellie lets out a sigh, "Only one way to find out."
They quicken their paces on their horses and near the cabin. Tommy and Joel are going to be okay, Alaska wants to say. She wants to assure Ellie. But she's not sure if she even believes that herself. She hates that she doesn't believe it. She wishes she did.
Alaska can hear her own heartbeat as she jumps off her horse. Ellie does the same, following closely behind with her gun glued to her chest. There's an eerie silence that fills the cabin once they enter. It's a foreboding silence— a silence that keeps Alaska's legs moving without her will. Alaska is scared of what'll happen as she travels deeper and deeper into the cabin.
Her breath seems to catch in her throat and all Alaska can hear is her breathing. She feels something inside of her shake with fear, though her gun stays steady in her hands. Her hands never shake. That had been one of the first lessons she had learned from Billy back when she lived with the Fireflies.
"Joel?" Ellie whispers into the cabin, her voice echoing through the quiet atmosphere. "Tommy?"
Nothing but silence follows. The more the silence lingers, the more that unsettling feeling grows in the pit of Alaska's stomach. She feels sick. She feels it in her bones, in her veins, deep in her soul— something bad is about to happen and it could potentially change everything.
Then, as if some higher entity had been mocking her, the sound of someone screaming in agony emerges from the depths of the cabin. Alaska and Ellie jump at the muffled sound, turning their heads to find any voice that matched it, anxiety rushing through their veins.
Still, not a single person in sight.
"Fuck." Ellie mutters to herself.
"Where's that coming from?" Alaska whispers in Ellie's direction, pointing her gun in the air.
As they wander around the cabin, Ellie comes across a short flight of stairs leading down. Alaska stays closely behind as Ellie goes down the stairs, eventually facing a closed door. The screams of pure pain become louder, leaving Alaska and Ellie entirely impatient and equally terrified. Alaska's breath shakes with the irreplaceable and all-consuming fear.
With one short glance into Alaska's eyes, Ellie opens the door and peaks in. Ellie's eyes narrow as she tries to comprehend whatever she's witnessing. Alaska still can't see anything besides Ellie's back.
Ellie instantly launches herself forward, pointing her gun up when she sees the unfamiliar faces torturing Joel. His body is limp on the floor, barely in any condition to get up and defend himself. His face is beaten and bloodied. He doesn't look like himself.
Alaska jumps in when she notices that Ellie had begun to panic. There, she notices Joel's state. And she sees Tommy several feel away, entirely unconscious.
One of the men that was part of that group instantly runs up in Ellie's direction, slapping her gun away from her grasp. Ellie's quick instincts allow her to pull out her pocket-knife, slicing a thick gash into the guy's face.
"Bitch!" the guy backs away, holding his bloody face in his hands.
To Alaska, nothing seems to be more important than getting to Tommy. She runs for him, holding her arms out, trying to grasp onto him. "Tommy!" She calls out, desperate for a response, almost in tears.
But before she can get to him, before she can touch him, another man comes up behind her, holding her arms tightly beside her and making her drop her gun. "Let me go, motherfucker!" Alaska yells through gritted teeth, fighting his hold and feeling the danger cascade through the four walls of the suffocating room.
Some other guys come up behind Ellie and pin her down against the floor, holding her arms to her back so she would be entirely defenseless. And despite her trying her hardest to free herself from their grasp, she simply couldn't. "Get off me!" she yells out angrily, never tearing her eyes away from Joel.
Her retaliation only seems to make thing worse as the men kick Ellie repeatedly in the stomach, and in the face, and anywhere that would hurt. But, somehow, Ellie doesn't react. The physical pain is nothing compared to the emotional pain of witnessing Joel in such a state.
Ellie continues to fight because she needs to, "You're gonna fucking die!"
The larger man holding onto Alaska from behind flips her over, kicking her in the stomach and sending her to the ground somewhere beside Ellie. She can't see Ellie's face and she's somewhat glad. She doesn't know if she could bare the look on Ellie's face as all of this goes down.
Alaska groans loudly, holding onto her torso to help ease the pain. Swiftly, and before anyone could notice, Alaska pulls out her own pocket-knife and stabs one of the many guys in the leg as a distraction. He cries out in pain, distancing from her as though he feared her. Alaska feels proud for a split moment.
She takes the chance to flip herself over, now facing away from the floor and towards the people that had tried to hurt her family. As a few other men race towards her, holding her arms down against the floor and taking her knife away, she notices some familiar faces that she hasn't seen in years.
"What's going on?" Owen barges into the scene, his expression changing once he sees her. "Alaska?"
Alaska's eyebrows curl, "Owen?" she feels her lungs give out. Her breaths grow heavier with disbelief. "What the fuck," she mutters under her breath.
Alaska can't help but glance around the room, coming across the people that she used to know. Abby has a dark look in her eyes— something completely different than the last time she had seen her. Alaska guesses that everyone in this room has changed. So much has happened. So much has gone wrong.
"Who the fuck are they." A woman with short hair speaks up from beside Owen.
"That..." Owen points at Alaska. "That's Sybil's kid." His breath shakes as he turns to her once more. "We thought you were dead."
Alaska scoffs, unable to muster up any words to respond with. The irony, she thinks. It's too much. The whole situation was too much to grasp. People from her childhood, people she grew up with, now returning out of the blue to torture her only family.
"Okay— Where did they come from?!" the woman with a pixie-cut practically yells with impatience.
"They snuck in..." One of the men in the room responds.
"Why aren't you posted up outside?" Owen asks with a hint of anger.
"We didn't think anyone was gonna show up." Another woman speaks up. Alaska remembers her face, but she can't remember her name.
"The hell did you expect? We gotta' get outta' here before the whole towns on top of us." Owen jumps into the conversation, turning to Abby. "You're done." He tells her.
Alaska can only watch as it goes down, turning her face slightly to catch Ellie's gaze. Her eyes are almost closed, red blood and purple bruises cover her face. She desperately wants to break free from the hold against her, but it's all of them against a weaponless Alaska and Ellie. The fight is anything but fair.
Abby lets out a breath, "You want what I want, right?" she says through gritted teeth, twisting the golf club in her grasp with contemplation.
Owen sighs, "End it. Now."
Before Alaska can stop them, before she has a chance to move and fight back, one of the men punches her hard, making her lip bleed and her head pound. She cries out in pain, tears swelling in her eyes. She can't find any words, any reaction. She feels frozen. Stuck. She can't believe that this is real.
"Please stop." Ellie begs, still painfully pinned to the floor.
All Alaska wants to do was stick her arms out and grab for her. But she can't. She can't do anything.
The others that had been holding her arms down flip her over, laying her down on her stomach and pinning her arms, just like Ellie, so she couldn't escape no matter how hard she tried. Her shoulders feel like they could dislocate at any given moment.
With her head on the ground, another unfamiliar face approaches, using his legs to kick Alaska in the stomach. She groans, unable to do anything about the physical and mental damage. Then, the same large boot kicked her in the face, making her vision blur in and out. Her breaths are heavy and shallow. She can hear her own heartbeat at it pounds faster and faster.
Alaska can't give up now. She can't just let go— give into the blur of her sight and fall into an unconscious state. She can't see Ellie's face anymore. Joel still hasn't moved. Tommy is still unresponsive in a near corner out of Alaska's line of sight. The only thing that gives her some sense of grounding is the terrified sound of Ellie's voice.
"Joel, get up." Ellie begs with heavy breaths. "Joel— fucking get up!" she cries.
Alaska notices Abby's shadow get closer to Joel's mutilated body. Tears fall from her eyes, flowing down the bridge of her nose. Her eyes close more, as if her brain is battling between a state of consciousness and unconsciousness. She wants to scream. She wants to beg Abby to stop. But nothing besides heavy and struggled breathing escapes from her lungs.
"Please stop. Please don't do this..." Ellie cries loudly, taking the words right out of Alaska's mouth.
She would've said the same thing if she could. She would've done so much more if she could.
"Joel, please get up."
Then, as if Ellie's words somehow fuel Abby with adrenaline, she lifts the golf club into the air and hits Joel, one more time, with whatever willpower she has left inside of her.
Alaska shuts her eyes tightly, refusing to witness the way Joel's blood coats the golf club. She hears the sound of his bones, and there, she's glad that he had been unconscious. She doesn't know if she would've been able to handle hearing his screams of agony so closely beside her. She feels as though her mind is forcing her to shut off without her permission.
"No!" Ellie screams, crying in the most gut-wrenching tone. "I'll fucking kill you." she speaks through gritted teeth, still trying her hardest to free herself from the hold against her.
Everyone's voices become muffled. Alaska can't hear anything besides Ellie's loud cries. Even then, as her consciousness continues to fade, Ellie's voice becomes more and more distant. Alaska feels entirely defeated, both physically and mentally, as she lets the darkness consume her whole.
2288 words.
this chapter was lowkey hard to write bc i was trying to explain what was happening to ellie and alaska at the same time, i hope its not confusing. and i know this chapter is shorter than usual but it's bc i only wanted to focus on joel's death.
also, while alaska and ellie have made some progress with their pretty complicated relationship, the line is now very thin due to the guilt and grief that's gonna play a huge part in their lives. but, trust me, seattle is gonna make them both realize lots of things
with that said, rest in peace joel, movie night would've been so fire!!