Where You Go, I Go
The next two days were tense, but tranquil in a way.
Joel seemed to be warming up to you, but Ellie just seemed to fall deeper and deeper into the despair that plagued her mind. Apparently, Tommy had talked to the girl and had convinced her to wait in an attempt to get Maria to spare some townspeople to try and keep Ellie as safe as she could be.
Neither you nor Joel liked the compromise.
It was the day after, that you had found out that Tommy had left instead of Ellie. Now that was not part of the plan. It also drove Dina and Ellie to take off in search of both Tommy and Abby’s crew.
You were seething and very much wanted to drag the three of them back and knock some fucking sense into them. Honestly.
Your anger also ended up with you driving your fist right into Jesse’s nose.
“What the fuck!?” The alpha snapped, cradling his nose.
“You. Stay. Here.” You said firmly, pointing to the ground for emphasis.
“I can’t just let them do this on their own,” Jesse said sharply, his eyes hardened with determination.
“And you won’t,” You snapped. “I’ll go, you look after Joel.”
“Joel needs you, not me,” Jesse said, pushing his shoulders back and standing to his full height, seemingly towering over you. Anger and authority was starting to bleed into his scent and it made the hair on the back of your neck rise.
“Joel needs Ellie,” You snarled. “And Ellie doesn’t need to lose anyone else! Going by yourself if foolish, selfish, and reckless!”
Jesse seemed to back down a bit at that, but you could see that his mind hadn’t changed. It was in the way his eyes looked on with an air of sadness.
Sighing, the alpha nodded his head. “Okay,” Jesse said stiffly before turning on his heel stalking off.
You felt your shoulders sag and brought your hand up to rub at your temples. Shaking your head, you made your way to the infirmary to check on Joel – you weren’t sure whether Maria told him that the three had left yet.
Upon arriving into the infirmary there were doctors and nurses scuttling about in a hurry. You assumed that someone had come back from their patrol injured.
But, of course, once you reached Joel’s door you could hear yelling.
“What do you mean he just disappeared!?” a voice boomed down the hallway. “That man can’t walk.”
You paused, took a deep breath, and turned around and walked straight out of the infirmary.
“I don’t have time for this shit,” you griped under your breath as you stomped through the snow-covered paths towards Joel’s place.
Barging through the door, you stopped and listened for any noise before pinpointing scuffling coming from upstairs. Sighing, you very loudly made your way up the stairs. It seemed Joel had attempted to hide.
“I can see your foot, dumbass,” You snarked, watching as Joel’s (only) foot quickly pulled back under the bed. “Fucking idiot,” you mumbled as you walked up to the bed, quickly located Joel’s ankle and pulled. A garbled protest came from Joel as the man was dragged out from under the bed like a fucking child.
“You wanna tell me what you’re doing?” You asked, cocking an eyebrow at the pouting alpha.
“No,” Joel snapped.
“So I should just assume hiding under beds is a common occurrence then?”
“I-get…got-g- Ellie,” Joel muttered begrudgingly.
“Oh yeah,” You started, sarcasm dripping from your voice, “Because that’s a great idea considering you’re an amputee and don’t even have a prosthetic.”
“Carve,” Joel huffed. It took you a moment to catch on, but either way you just levelled Joel with an utterly unimpressed look.
“First off, the wood will either rot or just snap in half. Secondly, you’re gonna need a spare if it gets damaged; and Thirdly, making a prosthetic will take time, which means Ellie will just get further and further away.” You said all of this very slowly, as if you were speaking to a toddler – much to Joel’s chagrin. You’re pretty sure you lost the alpha in the middle of your little rant, but he seemed to understand the majority. Joel just crossed his arms over his chest and glowered at you.
“Need- go to,” Joel grumbled.
Sighing, you stood up before helping Joel stumble to his foot and collapse back on his bed. You took a moment to look at the alpha – to really look.
Joel’s skull had an indent above his left eyebrow, partially concealed by his hairline. The man’s face was littered in healing wounds and had a scar that ran just below his left eye. Greying hair was long and shabby – needing to either be tied up or cut. His skin was pale with exertion, still not fully healed.
“Okay,” You gave in, moving away from the alpha slightly. “I think I have an idea that we can use for a prosthetic – should be quick too. But we have to be fully prepared to leave because I ain’t gonna have your blood on my hands.”
Joel nodded along, before watching you expectantly.
“What?” You asked, maybe a little harsher than you intended.
“Now?” Joel’s inquiry was more of a demand, even if the alpha titled his head a little, as if waiting for an answer.
You huffed before darting out of the room and into Joel’s studio, grabbing a foldable chair and a screwdriver, before dragging yourself back into the bedroom. Settling on the floor, you quickly unscrewed the chair, leaving you with the plastic backrest, seat, the two front legs, and the adjoined back ones. Helping Joel stand up, you compared how tall the metal pole was to the gap of Joel’s amputated thigh to the ground. Turns out you were only missing a few inches.
Your mind was racing with ideas and designs. Joel needed to be able to walk, but the prosthetic also needed to be comfortable and safe so that it doesn’t cause Joel any problems, and therefore ended up needing medical care.
“Okay…” You drawled, needing to fill the silence as you helped Joel sit back onto the bed.
“Feet- can carve I. More height,” Joel commented, frowning as he tried to make sure he made some semblance of sense.
“That could work,” You nodded. “How long will it take you?”
“d-one, tops,” Joel shrugged.
“One day?” You questioned. The alpha nodded in confirmation. “Sounds like we got a plan!” You grinned.
It was almost four days later that you and Joel were trying to sneak your way around Maria to get outside Jackson’s walls. The woman had noticed Joel had gone missing and had barged into Joel’s house demanding an explanation. You, of course, said you couldn’t find the other alpha, to which Maria just leveled you an utterly unimpressed look before giving you a 45-minute lecture and then promptly stormed out of the front door.
Trying to keep Joel away from Maria was annoyingly hard, even if she knew that he was ultimately with you. But you think, deep down, that Maria knew she had no hope of stopping Joel, just like she had with Ellie, Dina, Tommy, and Jesse.
Speaking of Jesse, the young alpha had departed the day before (much to your chagrin). It frustrated you that you hadn’t thought of recruiting Jesse’s help before he left. It would’ve made things much easier.
But, either way, there was nothing you could do any longer.
It was considerably hard to try and get to the horse stables with an amputee with an (admittedly) shitty prosthetic and the recognisable face of Jackson’s only omega resident.
Upon ‘sneaking’ into the stables, the two of you came face to face with Maria.
“Uhh,” Was your intelligent greeting.
The ash-blonde just sighed, turning on her heel and gesturing you to follow her. You spared a confused glace with Joel as the two of you cautiously trailed behind her.
“These two are yours,” Maria said as she jerked her head in the direction of two tacked-up horses. It was Mai and Darius, the two of them standing proudly, swathed with saddlebags and supplied.
“Maria—”
“It’s fine,” Maria interrupted, “It’s the least I can do.”
You studied the alpha for a moment, before nodding and helping Joel scrabble up onto Darius’ back before mounting Mai.
“Thank you,” Joel said quietly, looking down at Maria.
“It’s ok,” Maria said softly. “Now, get moving! It looks like there’s a storm heading this way so you better make some headway before it hits.”
You nodded to Maria before the two of you trotted out of the stables and then galloped into the expanse of the forest in front of you.