(pensive theme music plays)
♪ ♪
(ambient nature sounds)
(light music playing)
♪ ♪
You want your jacket back?
I've never been in the woods.
More bugs than I thought.
- Look, I've been thinking about-- - I don't want your sorries.
I wasn't gonna say I'm sorry.
I was gonna say that I've been thinking about what happened.
Nobody made you or Tess take me.
Nobody made you go along with this plan.
You needed a truck battery or whatever,
and you made a choice.
So don't blame me for something that isn't my fault.
How much longer?
Five-hour hike.
We can manage that.
♪ ♪
(frog croaking)
You've gone this way a lot?
- No Infected? - Not often, no.
What are you looking out for?
- Joel: People. - Ellie: Oh.
- Are Bill and Frank nice? - Frank is.
- How'd you get that scar on your head? - (sighs)
What? Is it something lame?
Like you fell down the stairs or something?
- I didn't fall down any stairs. - Okay, so what then?
Someone shot at me and missed.
See, that's cool.
You shoot back?
- Yeah. - You get him?
No, I missed, too.
It happens more often than you think.
'Cause you suck at shooting or, like, in general?
In general.
You know, seeing as it's just the two of us,
- I was thinking I should pro-- - No.
Cumberland Farms.
Hang back a minute.
I gotta grab some stuff I stashed.
Stashed?
Why do you have stuff stashed here?
You ask a lot of goddamn questions.
Yes, I do.
So, are you gonna answer me or what?
Joel: We hide supplies on routes
in case we find ourselves short on gear,
- which I currently am 'cause-- - No way!
You ever play this one?
I had a friend who knew everything about this game.
There's this one character named Mileena
who takes off her mask and she has monster teeth,
and then she swallows you whole
and barfs out your bones!
Ah. Oh, man.
You forgot where you put your stuff.
No. I'm just zeroing in on it.
- It's been a couple of years. - Okay, well, I'm gonna
take a look around, see if there's anything good.
- Trust me, it's all been picked over already. - Maybe, maybe not.
- Is there anything bad in here? - Just you.
Ah. Getting funnier.
****.
- Joel: You all right back there? - Yep!
(debris thuds)
**** yeah.
(Infected snarls)
(tense music playing)
(wheezing breaths)
- (snarls) - (gasps)
♪ ♪
(snarls, gasps)
(heavy breathing)
♪ ♪
(Infected gasps)
Ellie?
(metal clanking)
Ellie!
(gun clicks)
Ellie?
Picked over, my ***.
What are you doing?
There's not much ammo out there for this thing.
- Makes it mostly useless. - Well, if you're just gonna leave it there.
No.
(ambient nature sounds)
Holy shit.
You fly in one of those?
- A few times, sure. - So lucky.
Didn't feel like it at the time.
Get shoved into a middle seat,
pay 12 bucks for a sandwich.
Dude, you got to go up in the sky.
Yeah, well, so did they.
Grim.
Ellie: So, everything came crashing down in one day?
- Pretty much. - How?
I mean... no one was infected with Cordyceps,
everybody's fine, eating in restaurants and flying in planes.
And then, all at once? How did it even start?
If you have to get bit to be infected,
then who bit the first person?
Was it a monkey? I bet it was a monkey.
It wasn't a monkey. I thought you went to school.
FEDRA school. They don't teach us
how their shitty government
failed to prevent a pandemic.
(pensive music playing)
No one knows for sure, but, best guess...
Cordyceps mutated.
And some of it got into the food supply.
Probably a basic ingredient like flour or sugar.
There were certain brands of food that were sold everywhere,
all across the country, across the world.
Bread, cereal... pancake mix.
You eat enough of it, it'll get you infected.
So the tainted food all hits the store shelves
around the same time, Thursday.
People bought it, ate some Thursday night or Friday morning.
Day goes on... they started to get sick.
Afternoon, evening, they got worse.
Then they started bitin'.
Friday night, September 26, 2003.
And by Monday, everything was gone.
♪ ♪
It makes more sense than monkeys.
Thanks.
Sure.
What?
- We'll cut across the woods here. - Isn't the road easier?
Yeah, it's just--
There's stuff up there you shouldn't see.
- Well, now I have to see. - I don't want you to.
Serious. Ellie!
Can it hurt me?
No.
You're too honest, man.
Should've said axe murderer.
Uh...
whatever it was...
think it's gone.
(somber music playing)
About a week after Outbreak Day, soldiers...
went through the countryside, evacuated the small towns.
Told you you were goin' to a QZ, and you were...
if there was room.
If there wasn't...
♪ ♪
These people weren't sick?
No, probably not.
Why kill them?
Why not just leave 'em be?
Dead people can't be infected.
(tense music playing)
(baby crying)
(indistinct chatter)
Mother: Mommy's here. Mommy's here.
♪ ♪
(door opens)
(floor creaking)
(footsteps approach)
(radio static, chatter)
Solider: No, sir. We're in the basement now. There's no one here.
Solider (on radio): Let's check back with the others.
(door closes)
Not today, you New World Order jackboot ****s.
♪ ♪
(radio chatter)
♪ ♪
(heavy breathing through gas mask)
(ambient nature sounds)
("I'm Coming Home to Stay" by Fleetwood Mac playing)
(alarm sounding)
♪ I'll be comin' home soon, baby ♪
- ♪ Please be waitin' outside your door ♪ - (tires screeching)
♪ Yes, when I get back with you, baby ♪
♪ You know I ain't gonna leave no more ♪
♪ Yes, when I get on that train, baby ♪
That was fast.
(accelerates)
♪ When I get on that train, baby ♪
♪ You'll know it won't be long ♪
♪ I'll give you all the love, little darling ♪
♪ I've had in store for you since I've been gone ♪
♪ Mm-hmm ♪
(bottles clinking)
♪ Ahh yes ♪
- ♪ Mmm ♪ - (generator starts)
♪ Well, I ain't gon' leave no more, little girl ♪
♪ This time I'm comin' home to stay ♪
♪ Well, I ain't gon' leave no more, little girl ♪
♪ This time I'm comin' home to stay ♪
♪ I'm gonna give you a no-good mother ♪
♪ Every night and every day ♪
♪ Ohh yes ♪
(clucking)
♪ ♪
(sizzles)
Mm.
(alarm sounds)
(ominous music playing)
Keep comin'.
♪ ♪
- (shrieks) - (laughs) Oh.
Mm.
It doesn't get old.
("White Room" by Cream playing)
(clicks)
♪ In the white room ♪
♪ With black curtains near the station ♪
♪ Black roof country, no gold pavements ♪
♪ Tired starlings ♪
(on radio): ♪ Silver horses ran down moonbeams ♪
♪ In your dark eyes ♪
- ♪ Dawn light smiles on you leaving ♪ - (alarm sounds)
♪ My contentment ♪
♪ I'll wait in th-- ♪
(beeping, clicks)
(bird cawing)
- (Bill sighs) - (gun clicks)
Person in pit: I'm not infected!
Are you armed?
- Person: No. - Why did you take that long to answer?
Person: I don't know. I... I thought about lying for some reason,
but... a reason didn't come.
Look, I-I'm just trying to get to Boston.
Bill: Alone?
We started with 10.
But yeah, I'm-I'm alone.
From where?
Baltimore QZ.
It's gone.
Are ya hurt?
There's just, just a bruise.
(heavy breathing)
Oh ****.
- (clanking) - (sighs)
Stop there.
How'd you get that?
(scanner beeps)
Boston is that way.
- You can make it by nightfall. - I'm really hungry.
I haven't eaten in two days.
It doesn't sound very long out loud, does it? (chuckles)
- It feels long. - I'm letting you go, so go.
All right, look.
- First, my name's Frank-- - Oh, yeah?
Here's the thing, Frank.
If I feed you, then every bum you talk to about it
is gonna show up here lookin' for a free lunch,
and this is not an Arby's.
Well, Arby's didn't have free lunch. It was a restaurant.
I-I won't talk about it to any bums,
or hobos or vagabonds, I promise.
(scoffs) I mean, you already know I'm bad at lying.
(floor creaking)
(shower running)
I left some clothes here for ya.
Frank: What?
Clothes!
Frank: Thank you! Almost done.
Although can I have five more minutes?
Sure.
Sure!
Frank: Thank you! This is amazing!
(light music playing)
(clanking in kitchen)
♪ ♪
Mm.
What the ****?
Everything tastes good when you're starving.
Yeah, but not like this.
(chuckles)
- My God. - (cork pops)
(Bill clears throat)
A man who knows to pair rabbit with a Beaujolais.
I know I don't seem like the type.
No, you do.
Mm.
(Bill pouring wine)
Oh.
(Frank chuckles)
(bell tolling)
- There is more, if-- - No, I can't. (chuckles)
I want to, believe me.
But... whoo! (laughs)
Oh, thank you.
Thank you.
You're welcome.
So, I guess I'll be going then.
But first.
Uh...
I've been staring at this the whole time.
- Is it antique? - 1948.
Wow.
You know how much these are worth?
Currently, nothing.
Ugh, "Fur Elise." "Tales of Hoffmann"? Yuck.
- These aren't yours. Ah, ah. - My mother's. Could you not--
- (bench closes) - This is you.
Ha, ha!
Oh, wow.
Oh, my God. It's my favorite.
(sniffs)
(sighs)
(playing "Long, Long Time" by Linda Ronstadt)
(singing badly): ♪ Love will abide ♪
- ♪ Take... things in stride ♪ - (hits sour notes)
♪ Sounds like-- Sounds like good advice ♪
♪ But there's no one at my side ♪
- ♪ And-- ♪ - No. No. No, no, no, no. So-- No, thank you. Sorry.
- Not this song. Not this song. - (scoffs)
Well, I'm not a professional.
Well, neither am I, but--
And then I'll leave.
(plays piano softly)
Bill (singing softly): ♪ Love will abide ♪
♪ Take things in stride ♪
♪ Sounds like good advice ♪
♪ But there's no one at my side ♪
♪ And time washes clean ♪
♪ Love's wounds unseen ♪
♪ That's what someone told me ♪
♪ But I don't know what it means ♪
♪ 'Cause I've done everything I know ♪
♪ To try and make you mine ♪
♪ And I think I'm gonna love you ♪
♪ For a long, long time ♪
So, who's the girl?
Girl you're singing about?
There is no girl.
I know.
Frank: Oh, **** you!
Come on! Hey! Would you stop?
Do I ask for things? Ever?
Ah, why am I even saying that?
This isn't for me. This is, this is for us.
Who cares what they look like?!
I do!
Our home isn't just our house.
It's everything around us!
- Give me a ****in' break! - Oh, I'm sorry, I forgot.
I live in this world.
You live in a psycho bunker where 9/11 was an inside job,
and, and the government are all Nazis.
- The government are all Nazis! - Well, yeah, now! But not then!
(Frank sighs)
I am asking for some paint
and some gasoline for the lawnmower.
That's all. I'll do everything else myself.
- It is not a mat-- - Bill, if you say "resource management,"
so help me, I will run through one of your trip wires.
(exhales) Okay, okay.
- Just tell me why. - I did.
Paying attention to things...
it's how we show love.
This is my street, too. Just...
just let me love it the way I want to.
And I'm fixing up some of the shops.
- Whoa, whoa, whoa-- - Not the stupid ones.
Just the, the wine shop and the furniture store.
And the clothing boutique.
The boutique?
- Are-are we hosting formal garden parties now? - No.
But we are gonna have friends.
(scoffs) Excuse me?
We're gonna make friends,
and we will invite them to visit.
We don't have friends, Frank.
We will never have friends
because there are no friends to be had.
Well, I've actually been talking to a nice woman on the radio.
You what?!
Tess: Well, this really is just-- it-it's amazing.
- Frank: Right? - Tess: Mm-hmm.
Can you not, please?
- I'm the same way. - Oh, you're a paranoid schizophrenic, too?
I'm not schizophrenic.
(Tess clears throat)
Well, can I just say, uh, gun aside, which I get,
by the way...
how nice this is to have a civilized meal
in such a, a beautiful place?
It's been so long.
I mean, I just, uh, I wanna thank you.
Even if we don't end up working together.
I really needed this.
We are working together.
We are.
You know what? Let's go inside.
Tess, I wanna show you something.
- Actually, I have been... - Bill: No.
- ...wanting to see inside. - Bring your wine.
- Bill: Not inside. - Thank you.
- Frank: Yes. - Bill: Frank.
Frank!
(Frank, Tess laughing)
- (door closes) - I understand.
If my, uh...
if mine...
brought strangers into our situation,
I wouldn't be happy either.
But of all the people he could've found on the radio,
we're actually decent people just tryin' to get by.
Oh... Well, aren't I the lucky one?
There's stuff we have in the QZ that you don't have here.
Books, medicine, machine parts.
We can help each other,
and get that gun outta my face.
So, what, you were a...
prepper or somethin'?
"Survivalist."
Maybe you are decent people, maybe not.
Doesn't matter.
We're self-sufficient here.
I don't need you or your friend complicating our lives.
Is that clear?
That fence has got a year on it, tops.
Galvanized wire already started to corrode.
I can get you 10 spools of high-tensile aluminum.
Last you the rest of your life.
Lives.
- Tess: Are you sure about this? - Yeah. I mean, it's not a gift.
- You'll come back, we'll trade. - All right.
Oh, and I had this idea that we should, uh,
we should use codes for the radio in case anyone's listening.
Oh, that's a good idea. Like, with what?
Frank: Like, I was thinking, like, the decades.
- Like, '80s, trouble, of course. - Tess: Yeah.
'70s, uh, uh--
FEDRA's never gonna come up here.
And you're well protected against stray Infected.
But sooner or later... there'll be raiders.
And they'll beat that fence and your tripwires.
They'll come at night...
quiet and armed.
We'll be fine.
(tense music playing)
(metal creaking)
- Pick it up. - Hey... I c-- I can't.
Just one more loop around.
I got something to show you.
- Huh? - (chuckles) Not that.
(groans)
(panting)
- Nearly there. - (Bill breathing heavily)
(laughs) You can make it.
(laughs) What?
What? It's okay.
- Ready? - Yes.
- Oh. - (both chuckling)
- Oh! - I traded Joel and Tess
one of your guns for a packet of seeds.
Which gun?
(both laughing)
Mm.
(thunder rumbling)
(tense music playing)
(sensor beeping)
- (loud boom) - (distant yelling)
(gunshots)
- (explosion) - Shit.
(shouts): Bill!
Bill!
Bill?
- (booms continue) - Bill!
(bullets whizzing)
(gun clicks)
♪ ♪
(gunshots)
(rain falling)
(bullets whizzing)
(screaming)
Bill! Bill!
Get inside! Oh!
♪ ♪
- No! - We gotta get you inside.
- No! No! No! - Bill, inside, now! Hold on to me.
- (Bill grunts) - I gotcha. I gotcha.
(screaming)
- (Bill groans) - Okay.
There we go.
- (Bill groaning) - Okay, okay. We got this.
We got this.
- (Bill groaning) - You hold your hand there for me?
Hold, hold your hand there.
(panting) Frank.
- Frank! - I'm right here.
- Frank, leave the gas on!
- I'm right here. I'm right here. - Leave the gas on.
The fence, the fence'll kill the rest of 'em.
Okay, yep.
I made a list for you.
Uh-huh. Tell me about the list.
I have copies of all, of all the keys.
Frank: Good.
(groans) Call... Joel.
Frank: Uh-huh.
You can't be here alone.
Well, I'm not alone.
- You're here. - No.
- Mm-hmm. - (struggling) Call Joel.
- Okay, here we go. - No. (groans)
- It's okay. It's okay. It's okay. - Call Joel. Call Joel.
- He'll take care of ya. - (softly): There we go.
(light music playing)
(softly): Okay.
Okay.
(echoes) Bill?
Bill.
Bill: Mm?
It's getting cold.
Bill: Okay.
- Let me bring ya inside. - Yeah.
♪ ♪
Okay. There we go.
- Okay? - Mm-hmm.
- We'll get you warmed up. - Yeah.
(ambient nature sounds)
♪ ♪
(soft, classical music playing)
- Did you take your pills? - Oh, no.
(Frank grunts)
♪ ♪
(clears throat)
One orangey... (clears throat)
a little whitey, and... a big roundy.
(Bill grunts)
♪ ♪
(grunts)
Mm-mm.
(Frank inhales)
(Bill groans)
(crickets chirping)
(groaning)
Took most of the night. (laughs) I'm exhausted.
Goddamnit.
You gotta be kidding me.
I don't want you fallin' asleep in the chair.
- I won't. - You will, and then your feet get blue.
- Bill-- - I'm not fighting about it.
- Back in bed. - I promise you, I'm gonna stay up.
- Why? -'Cause this is my last day.
What...
what if we find a doctor?
What if, what if someone shows up who can help?
Who's coming, Bill? The door-to-door MRI salesman?
(scoffs) There wasn't anything to cure this
before the world fell apart.
I've made up my mind.
Bill.
Oh.
Come here.
(groans)
(chuckles, sniffs)
Well, I'm not gonna give you the
"every day was a wonderful gift from God" speech.
I've had a lotta bad days.
I've had bad days with you, too.
But I've had... more good days with you than with anyone else.
Just give me one more good day.
Starting now. Make me some toast.
(both chuckling)
Then take me to the boutique...
where I'll pick outfits for us.
You'll wear what I ask...
and we'll get married.
And you'll cook a delicious dinner.
Then you will crush all of these up...
put them in my wine.
I will drink it.
Then you will take me by my hand...
bring me to our bed...
and I will fall asleep in your arms.
(sobbing)
(sniffles)
Uh, I ca-- I can't.
Do you love me?
(heavy breathing)
Yes.
Then love me the way I want you to.
(somber music playing)
(wind blowing)
(leaves rustling)
♪ ♪
(chuckles)
♪ ♪
(door opens)
(groans)
Will it be enough?
Yeah.
Were there already pills in the bottle?
Enough to kill a horse.
This isn't the tragic suicide at the end of the play.
I'm old.
I'm satisfied.
And you were my purpose.
(sighs)
I do not support this.
I should be furious.
But from an objective point of view...
it's incredibly romantic.
(both laughing)
(sighs)
Take me to bed.
♪ ♪
(Frank sniffles)
♪ ♪
(metal squeaks)
(gate creaks)
Stay there.
(keypad beeping)
(fence clicks)
(door creaking)
- What the ****? - Bill?
Frank?
You stay there. Ya hear anything, you see anything...
yell.
What if they're gone?
(door opens, creaks)
(flies buzzing)
(playing notes)
(light music playing)
(door closes)
Ellie?
♪ ♪
It's from Bill.
"To whomever... but probably Joel."
I figured I fell under "whomever."
Came with this.
So they're dead?
Mm-hmm.
You, you wanna?
Go ahead. You do it.
"August 29, 2023.
"If you find this... please do not come into the bedroom.
"We left a window open so the house wouldn't smell,
"but it will probably be a sight.
"I'm guessing you found this, Joel,
"because anyone else would've been electrocuted
"or blown up by one of my traps. Hehehehehehehehe.
"Take anything you need.
"The bunker code is the same as the gate code but in reverse.
"Anyway... I never liked you,
"but still, it's like we're friends... almost.
"And I respect you.
"So, I'm gonna tell you something because you're probably
"the only person who will understand.
"I used to hate the world, and I was happy when everyone died.
"But I was wrong because there was
"one person worth saving.
"That's what I did.
"I saved him.
"Then I protected him.
"That's why men like you and me are here.
"We have a job to do.
"And God help any mother****ers who stand in our way.
"I leave you all of my weapons and equipment.
Use them to keep--"
(somber music playing)
Stay here.
♪ ♪
(pensive music playing)
Show me your arm.
I just finished makin' a truck battery.
It's charging right now.
- Okay. - And I have a brother out in Wyoming.
He's in some kinda trouble,
and I'm heading out there to find him.
He used to be a Firefly.
And my guess is he knows where some of them are out there.
Maybe they can get you to wherever this lab is.
All right.
Uh, listen, about Tess, uh--
If I'm takin' you with me,
there's some rules you gotta follow.
Rule one, you don't bring up Tess. Ever.
Matter of fact, we can just keep our histories to ourselves.
Rule two, you don't tell anyone about your...
condition.
They see that bite mark, they won't think it through.
They'll just shoot you.
Rule three, you do what I say when I say it.
- We clear? - Yes.
Repeat it.
What you say goes.
(sighs) Okay.
(inhales, exhales) So, what now?
We grab what we can.
(ladder clanking)
("Chains of Love" by Erasure playing on radio)
Ho-ly shit.
This guy was a genius.
- (turns music off) - Why was the music on?
If he didn't reset the countdown every few weeks,
this playlist would run over the radio.
'80s.
Grab some cans from over there.
Nothin' dented or swollen.
- Dude. - No.
There's a wall of them.
(mellow banjo music playing)
Joel: Needs another hour.
They have hot water!
I'm takin' a shower.
And then you're showering
because seriously.
♪ ♪
- (piece clatters) - (sighs)
(solemn music playing)
(footsteps approach)
(softly): Oh shit.
Well, don't you look pretty.
Shut up.
Nice.
- It's your first time in a car? - It's like a spaceship.
No, it's like a piece of shit Chevy S10,
but it'll get us there... I think.
- Seatbelt. - Hm?
Seatbelt.
So cool.
(seatbelt clicks)
(engine starts)
Would ya leave it?
Put it back... Ellie.
(tape plays)
- (Linda Ronstadt singing) - Oh, no, wait.
No, leave it. Leave it.
Oh, this is good. This is Linda Ronstadt.
Do you know who Linda Ronstadt is?
You know I don't know who Linda Ronstadt is.
♪ ♪
Oh, man.
Eh.
It's better than nothing.
♪ Wait for the day ♪
- ♪ You'll go away ♪ - (remote beeping)
♪ Knowin' that you warned me ♪
♪ Of the price I'd have to pay ♪
♪ And life's full of loss ♪
♪ Who knows the cost ♪
♪ Livin' in the memory ♪
♪ Of a love that never was ♪
♪ 'Cause I've done everything I know ♪
♪ To try and change your mind ♪
♪ And I think I'm gonna love you ♪
♪ For a long, long time ♪
♪ ♪
♪ Love will abide ♪
♪ Take things in stride ♪
♪ Sounds like good advice ♪
♪ But there's no one at my side ♪
♪ And time washes clean ♪
♪ Love's wounds unseen ♪
♪ That's what someone told me ♪
♪ But I don't know what it means ♪
♪ 'Cause I've done everything I know... ♪