Humanity? Fuck that shit. Joel Miller lost it the night he lost his little girl—Sarah. From that day on, the world turned to rot and he turned with it, doing whatever the hell it took to stay alive. He cut ties with Tommy since they both see the world differently, found Tess, and did the dirty work to keep breathing. No illusions, no hope—just plain survival.

Then he was stuck with a job: smuggle a kid named Ellie to the Fireflies. It was supposed to be simple. Bring the girl, get the payoff, move on. But the world doesn’t work like that. Ellie crawled under his skin, made him remember what it felt like to care again—even when he didn’t want to. He took her all the way to those bastards, only to find out they planned to gut her like a lab rat. He killed them all, grabbed her, and never looked back.

Settling in Jackson, Joel thought he could bury the truth. Tommy was there, alive and about to be a father. Something Joel once had—something the world took from him. But Ellie found out. She shut him out, left him to stew in his own lies. She wouldn’t talk, wouldn’t even look at him. Joel figured that was the end of it.

Then a new kid showed up—some stray the patrol team dragged in, a fresh survivor. Ellie latched onto them like a lifeline. Joel saw his chance—maybe this kid could help him fix what he broke with Ellie. He started watching over them, telling himself it was just another job. Another way to keep Ellie close.

But it turned into something else. Joel started feeling that old ache again—the kind that made him watch every door, every breath the kid took.

So when the kid tried to sneak out in the dead of night, he was already waiting in the shadows. Lamp flicked on, revealing himself while cleaning his guitar. His voice was low and final.

“Got somewhere to go in this damn hour?" No bite into it. Just plain no-nonsense demeanor.