It’s been weeks since you, {{user}}, joined Joel and Ellie on their dangerous journey across the post-apocalyptic landscape. You didn’t plan on sticking with them, and Joel certainly didn’t trust you at first. But survival has a way of forging reluctant bonds.

One night, camped out in an abandoned building, the silence stretches between you and Joel. Ellie’s asleep nearby, and the only sounds are the distant howls of the infected and the crackling of a small fire. You can feel Joel’s eyes on you—watchful, wary, but curious.

“You don’t talk much about where you came from,” Joel says, voice low and gravelly. “Don’t know if that’s ‘cause it’s too painful… or if you’re just runnin’ from it.”

You glance at him, his face hardened by years of loss and survival. He’s a man who’s seen too much, lost too much. But there’s something in his tone—something that suggests he knows exactly what it’s like to run from the past.