Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationOfficial screenshot from Naughty Dog / PlayStation.
The Quarantine Zone
The Quarantine Zone starts the story proper 20 years after the outbreak, inside Boston's military-run zone in August 2033. As Joel, now a smuggler, you and his partner Tess slip outside the wall to track down Robert, a dealer who owes them guns, and end up taking a new job from the Fireflies.
- Type
- Story
- Region
- Boston
- Province
- Boston quarantine zone
Storylines
Part 2 of 12 in Main story
Good to know
- Chapter 2 of 12; date August 3, 2033.
- Sections: 20 Years Later, Beyond the Wall, The Slums, The Cargo.
- 11 collectibles: 8 artifacts and 3 Firefly pendants (Vigil's, Glueck's and Liu's).
- Vigil's pendant in Beyond the Wall is the first pendant in the game, so it unlocks the Fallen Firefly trophy.
- The Boston Q.Z. map and a military pamphlet are already in Joel's backpack the first time you pick it up.
- Enemies: runners outside the wall, then Robert's smugglers; FEDRA soldiers patrol the zone.
- This chapter introduces Tess, Robert, Marlene and Ellie.
Sections in order
1. 20 Years Later: a walk through the zone with Tess. 2. Beyond the Wall: a detour through ruined buildings outside the wall. 3. The Slums: the black market and the warehouses on the waterfront. 4. The Cargo: the end of the chase for Robert and the meeting with Marlene.
20 Years Later
Tess wakes Joel to say Robert's crew jumped her. On the walk to the checkpoint you see a ration line forming before it opens and soldiers in hazmat suits scanning people pulled from a condemned building, with deadly results for anyone who tests positive. A Firefly bomb then wrecks an army vehicle at the checkpoint, the soldiers clear the streets, and Joel and Tess head for the tunnels instead.
Beyond the Wall
Your first time outside the zone doubles as a tutorial for sneaking and fighting runners. In one building the air is thick with spores, so gas masks go on; a group trying to break into the zone has been overrun there, and a survivor pinned under rubble with a torn mask asks Joel to finish him. That choice is yours. This section holds three artifacts and two pendants.
The Slums
Joel and Tess bribe their way into the slums, passing market stalls and a fistfight where onlookers bet ration cards, and a guard backs down once he recognizes Tess. Another guard says Robert went to the wharf, so you fight his men through a run of warehouses at Mission Hill Pier. Five artifacts sit in this section, including a wanted poster, a drafting notice and a warehouse key.
The Cargo
A short chase corners Robert, who admits he passed their guns to the Fireflies to settle another debt. Marlene, wounded from a clash with soldiers, offers the guns back with interest if they smuggle something to the capitol building. After slipping past more patrols she shows them the package: Ellie. Liu's pendant is in this last section.
Robert's endSpoilerShow
Once Robert has talked, Tess shoots him. Joel only agrees to Marlene's job after she shows Tess the weapons, and the three set out that night.
- BostonBoston, Massachusetts is the first region after the time skip and the city where Ellie grew up. You play The Quarantine Zone and The Outskirts here, and Left Behind's flashbacks with Riley take place in the same city. FEDRA holds the North End as one of the last working quarantine zones in the country.
- Boston slumsThe Boston slums, marked Area 5 on military maps, are the poor district of the Boston quarantine zone where the smugglers run an open black market. You walk through them in The Slums section of The Quarantine Zone while hunting the smuggler Robert.
- Mission Hill PierMission Hill Pier is the wharf in the Boston slums where the smuggler Robert runs his trade. Joel and Tess fight through Robert's men here at the end of The Slums section of The Quarantine Zone, then chase him through the area.
- Quarantine zoneQuarantine zones are the walled, military-run safe areas FEDRA set up across the United States after martial law was declared. Most have since fallen to infection, revolt or abandonment. Boston's North End zone is the one you live in and play through at the start of Part I, and you pass the dead zones of Pittsburgh and Salt Lake City later.
- 9mm pistolThe 9mm pistol is Joel's first gun in The Last of Us Part I, picked up from his and Tess's hideout in The Quarantine Zone before they go after Robert. It fires fast, has the most ammo around and stays useful all game as a cheap backup to your heavier guns.
- BrickBricks are throwables you pick up from the ground to distract or stun enemies. Throw one to the side to pull a patrol away, or straight at someone to stagger them for a follow-up hit.
- ShivThe shiv is a crafted blade made from one binding and one blade. It is your silent kill for clickers, the only way to open shiv doors, and with Shiv Master your escape when a clicker grabs you.
- Boston Q.Z. MapThe Boston Q.Z. Map is the first artifact in the game and you cannot miss it: it is already inside Joel's backpack when you pick the bag up off a table in the smuggling tunnel during Beyond the Wall.
- Docks NoteThe Docks Note is a gripe from one of Robert's smugglers, lying in the big warehouse at Mission Hill Pier where a fishing boat hangs over the loading bay. Look on the right side, against the railing behind a blue trash bin.
- Drafting NoticeThe Drafting Notice is a FEDRA work order lying in a heap of papers in the Boston slums. After the bus where Malick confronts Joel, walk straight on between a vendor's stall on the left and a canopy on the right; the notice is on the ground at the corner.
- Glueck's Firefly PendantGlueck's Firefly pendant hangs from a tree branch in the Beyond the Wall section of The Quarantine Zone, so you have to knock it down. It belonged to Ben Glueck.
- Liu's Firefly PendantLiu's Firefly pendant is on the body of a dead Firefly in The Cargo section of The Quarantine Zone, right after Ellie joins Joel and Tess. It belonged to Philip Liu.
- Military PamphletThe Military Pamphlet is a FEDRA handout on the stages of infection, and it comes free with Joel's backpack, which you lift off a table in the smuggling tunnel early in Beyond the Wall.
- Note to BrotherNote to Brother is a handwritten letter on a table upstairs in the spore-filled building of Beyond the Wall. After the first infected fight, climb the stairs, turn left before the hole in the wall and open the closed door; the note sits in the next room.
- Shipping ManifestThe Shipping Manifest is a sailor's note at the Mission Hill Pier docks. After you vault the wall down among Robert's patrolling men, go right to the railing above the water; it lies by a fishing net behind a blue trash bin.
- Vigil's Firefly PendantVigil's Firefly pendant is the first Firefly pendant in The Quarantine Zone, lying on the floor of a bedroom in the Beyond the Wall section. It belonged to David Michael Vigil, and you only get one chance at it.
- Wanted PosterThe Wanted Poster is a FEDRA notice pinned to a bulletin board in the Boston slums. Past the bus where Malick stops Joel, head straight to the fence where a man and woman stand talking; the poster hangs on the board to their left.
- Warehouse KeyThe Warehouse Key unlocks the back door of the S&B Co. repair shop on the way to the docks. After Joel and Tess drop through a hole in a fence toward the wharf, four of Robert's smugglers appear; whoever you take down last drops it.
- Ellie WilliamsEllie Williams is the 14-year-old girl Joel is hired to smuggle out of Boston, and your companion for most of The Last of Us Part I. She was bitten weeks earlier and never turned, so the Fireflies believe her immunity could lead to a vaccine. You play as her in the winter chapter and in the Left Behind DLC.
- Joel MillerJoel Miller is the man you play for almost all of The Last of Us Part I. A hardened smuggler in the Boston quarantine zone, he takes a job escorting 14-year-old Ellie out of the city, and the drop-off turns into a year-long trip across the country to find the Fireflies.
- MalickMalick is a tough in the Boston slums who tries to block Joel's path in The Quarantine Zone. Tess knows him and sends him back to his seat with a single word.
- MarkMark is a Boston quarantine zone resident who is only talked about. In The Quarantine Zone, Joel can overhear Ronnie telling a friend that soldiers caught Mark using fake ration cards.
- MarleneMarlene is the leader of the Fireflies, the militia fighting the military in the quarantine zones. Wounded in Boston, she hires Joel and Tess to smuggle Ellie out of the city in The Quarantine Zone, and you meet her again at the Fireflies' hospital in Salt Lake City near the end of the game.
- RobertRobert is an arms dealer and smuggler boss in the Boston quarantine zone, and the man Joel and Tess hunt down in The Quarantine Zone. He owed them a cache of guns, sold it to the Fireflies instead and sent men to attack Tess, so the pair go after him at his warehouse on the docks.
- RonnieRonnie is a short-tempered Boston quarantine zone resident Joel passes near a checkpoint in The Quarantine Zone. If you stop to listen, he is gossiping about his friend Mark, and he snaps at Joel for staring.
- TerranceTerrance is a black market trader in the Boston slums who tries to sell Tess something as she and Joel head to Robert's warehouse in The Quarantine Zone.
- Tess ServopoulosTess Servopoulos is Joel's smuggling partner in the Boston quarantine zone and your companion through the first two chapters after the prologue. She is the one who talks Joel into taking Marlene's job, and she escorts Ellie with him across downtown Boston toward the Capitol Building.
- WarrenWarren is a Firefly fighter and friend of Marlene whom you see captured by FEDRA soldiers in The Quarantine Zone, under a bridge along the Boston waterfront.
Related missions
- Story
The Outskirts
The Outskirts takes Joel, Tess and Ellie out of the Boston quarantine zone and across the ruined city toward the capitol building, where Fireflies are meant to collect Ellie. It is where you meet clickers and learn to slip past them with thrown bricks and bottles, on a route through downtown, the Goldstone Building and a history museum.
- Story
The Firefly Lab
The Firefly Lab is the second-to-last chapter, set inside Saint Mary's Hospital in Salt Lake City, where the Fireflies have their base. It is a single section played as Joel, and its five collectibles include the recordings that explain what the Fireflies have learned from Ellie.
- Story
Bill's Town
Bill's Town brings Joel and Ellie to Lincoln, Massachusetts, a small town that Joel's paranoid contact Bill has rigged with traps to keep the infected out. Bill owes Joel a favor, so you team up with him to find a working car, which means a trip through a clicker-filled graveyard and an infected high school.
Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationStoryBus Depot
Bus Depot opens in the spring of 2034 as Joel and Ellie walk into Salt Lake City, aiming for the Fireflies at Saint Mary's Hospital. The route runs along a highway full of dead cars, through the Logan James bus station and an abandoned quarantine zone, and down into a flooded tunnel full of infected.