Station Eleven: Chapter 48 Summary & Analysis

Three days after Kirsten and August are separated from the Symphony, Kirsten wakes up from a nightmare. The pair decides to wash up and get on with their journey toward the airport. Soon they see road signs for the airport, but as they are getting moderately close, they hear a dog bark.

After hearing the dog, they see a deer fleeing and realize that something followed it; there is someone close by. Then down the road, they see Sayid, along with two men and a boy. The boy carries a machete, one man carries a gun, and the other wields a bow and arrow. August whispers to Kirsten, “I have the gunman, get the archer,” and he throws a rock into the air. The men react to the sound of the stone as August shoots an arrow into the gunman’s back. While the boy runs away, the archer tries to shoot Kirsten, but she has already thrown her knife into his torso.

After the violence, August and Kirsten run to Sayid. He tells them that the prophet is behind them with the dog and two men. They realize that the archer is still alive, and question him, asking why they took Sayid. The archer answers that it was because the Symphony took something of theirs, referring to Eleanor, the intended fifth bride of the prophet. Kirsten learns that the clarinet got away, but Dieter is dead. As the archer continues spewing the prophet’s teachings, Kirsten pulls the knife from his body and he dies.

Sayid says that the night they were taken they heard a whimpering in the forest. When they went to investigate, rags were pressed into their faces and they passed out. Sayid woke up in the woods, but Dieter just never woke up. Sayid isn’t sure exactly how it happened, but no one was able to save Dieter once they realized he was ill. After his death, the prophet had his men kidnap the clarinet.