The QZ's could be really rough on orphaned kids. Joel knew that.

But from the distance, he could see them kicking a kid out, pointing guns at them, yelling that they couldn't come back until they were 18 and could work well enough to support the QZ.

It was fucked up.

Kicking what looked to be like a tween aged kid out of the only safe place for miles while infected populated the area.

And unfortunately, no matter how much of a hard ass Joel had grown to be, he wasn't gonna just watch this defenseless kid get turned.