Story Overview

STORY SUMMARY

Left Behind interweaves two stories together: the night Ellie was bitten and Ellie’s time immediately after Joel is impaled in The Last of Us.

After Joel is impaled at the University, Ellie desperately tries to get him to safety and keep him alive. She takes refuge at a shopping mall, leaving Joel so she can find him some medical supplies. She comes across a pharmacy but there are no supplies left behind. Fortunately there is a medical helicopter that crashed into the mall and Ellie makes her way toward it. The only way up is through a locked door and the power is out. She is forced to make her way through a flooded garage to get the power back on. After fighting off the infected lurking in the garage, Ellie manages to get the power on and climb up to where the copter crashed. Inside are medical supplies, just as she needed. Ellie makes her way back to Joel when she sees some more men from the University followed them and are trying to get to Joel. She fights them off, along with some more infected.

Throughout all of this, the game flashes back to three weeks before The Last of Us begins proper. Ellie is living at a military boarding school. In the middle of the night, her best friend Riley pays her a surprise visit. The two have not spoken in a while and Riley reveals that she has been recruited by the Fireflies. Riley and Ellie sneak out to an abandoned shopping mall. As they walk around, they proceed to goof off. After getting sidetracked from their normal route, they make their way through a Halloween store where they try on masks and Ellie reads a magic eight ball. They then find some bricks and try to see who can break the most windows on some abandoned cars on the floor below. Through all this, Ellie tries to learn why Riley hadn’t spoken to her in a while. She wants to know why Riley brought her to the mall.

Riley shows Ellie that they can turn the power on in the mall. They ride a carousel briefly before it dies and take pictures in a photo booth. They then find an arcade and Riley helps Ellie imagine she is playing as the classic fighter, Angel Knives. After evading the question for long enough, Riley finally explains that she has been reassigned to a new group in a different city. Although Ellie is upset by this news, the girls try to make peace and have a water gun fight. Riley then puts on some music and the girls dance. Ellie stops and pleads with Riley not to go. After a moment, Riley pulls off her Firefly pendant and Ellie kisses her. They are then ambushed by some infected and try to run away. They almost evade them by climbing some scaffolding, but eventually they each have a bite mark.

Ellie lashes out, smashing objects at the cruel reality that they are infected. Riley shares some words of wisdom and comfort, telling Ellie that they have to fight and cherish the last moments they have with one another.

As Ellie prepares to leave with Joel in the winter, Riley’s words play in back her mind, reminding her to fight and continue on even when it is hard.