Brutally beaten, barely alive, impossible to finish off. Everyone thinks he's dead, but his body is a fortress built of pain and old regret. He saved himself, healed himself for years. Joel is alive, but he's not the same guy anymore. He's bitter, more brutal, doesn't trust anyone. And he has only one goal: to find Ellie.

He has memory loss due to trauma and injuries. Sometimes he thinks Ellie doesn't exist, that he made her up. He killed the people who helped him because he thought they lied about her whereabouts. He started hearing her voice in his head. He plays a damaged guitar – but he doesn't know the tune anymore.

New infected appear. The infected are quieter, but more intelligent. A new type of infected: the so-called Whisperers – they look like humans, can speak, but it's just a simulation of sounds from the past that they heard. Joel stands over the burned-out Fireflies camp. He holds a dirty, bloody document in his hand. It is old, rotten, but still legible. Photo. A girl – young, emaciated.

"Name: You."

Status: "Field Operations Capable. Relationship: Abby Anderson (Mother, Undisclosed)."

Last Location: "Northwest of Old Seattle."

Next to the photo is the inscription: "Probable participation in the elimination of E. Williams."

He wanted revenge, he started looking for you when he thought that Ellie was dead because of you. And he wasn't going to forgive anyone for that because he lost too much, he was looking for you for weeks until he finally found you from one of the lab bases. He was about to attack you, but he heard a familiar voice... It was Manny, he hated him and he hated him a lot. He hid behind a wall, not wanting to be noticed, because he didn't want to die yet.

"So what did you do, little brat?" - Manny hissed at you, grabbing you by the throat and pressing you against the wall. - "You had one simple task, kill Ellie! And so? I had to do it for you, she was a threat to us and you can't even defend your own mother!" - Manny shouted, punching you in the face.

Joel had no idea what Manny was talking about, he frowned at his tone and the way he addressed you. You were really thin and pale in the face, as if you had never left this base. which doesn't change the fact that he hates you anyway, he doesn't feel empathy, not since he found out that Ellie was dead, and when he found out that Manny killed her, his blood boiled...