Quarantine zone
Quarantine 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.
- Type
- Other
- Region
- Boston
Good to know
- Boston's QZ is still run by the military in 2033 and is one of the few left working.
- Pittsburgh's zone fell to a citizen uprising and is now held by hunters.
- Salt Lake City's zone was abandoned by the military; the Fireflies took over its hospital.
- Hartford's zone is collapsing in 2033, and Henry and Sam fled it before reaching Pittsburgh.
- In Left Behind, a crashed helicopter crew at Colorado Mountain Plaza was flying back to the Denver QZ.
- Zones were placed at defensible spots: Boston's waterfront, Pittsburgh's bridge-ringed high ground, Salt Lake City's hospital.
- Lincoln High School served as a temporary QZ that sent evacuees to Springfield, Woods Hole, Hartford and Boston.
How Boston's zone works
Soldiers scan residents for infection, ration food against ration cards and draft adults into work details. A curfew runs from 6 PM to 6 AM, and the walls are backed by guard towers and a wide patrolled strip outside. Increased checkpoints aim to stop the Fireflies gaining ground, and outbreaks inside are played down.
Where Part I takes you
You start in Boston's zone in The Quarantine Zone chapter, cross the abandoned Pittsburgh zone in Pittsburgh, and walk past the empty Salt Lake City zone and its triage tents in Bus Depot, where Joel remarks on finding yet another abandoned QZ.
The Fireflies' role
The Fireflies, who want a democratic government back, have led uprisings against the military. Pittsburgh's revolt drove the soldiers out but left the city to the hunters, while Salt Lake City became a Firefly foothold for about ten years.
- 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.
- Evacuation LeafletThe Evacuation Leaflet is an old FEDRA warning on the right-hand pavement in downtown Boston. Once you climb the collapsed street and Tess and Ellie start talking about the bombing, look by the base of a traffic light a car has hit.
- 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.
- Patrol Routes MapThe Patrol Routes Map is a marked-up FEDRA map on the floor at the bottom of the elevator shaft early in The Outskirts. Step off the elevator, turn right and check the litter between the water tanks and a pallet against the fence.
- 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.
- 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.
- FEDRAFEDRA, the Federal Disaster Response Agency, is the military government that runs the Boston quarantine zone. Its soldiers are the best-equipped enemies in the first chapters, and you fight them while smuggling Ellie out of Boston.
- SmugglersSmugglers move people, guns and contraband past FEDRA in the Boston quarantine zone. Joel and Tess are smugglers themselves, and the rival crew of Robert, an arms dealer, is the first group of humans you fight in The Quarantine Zone.
- 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.
- 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.
Related places
- Landmark
Mission Hill Pier
Mission 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.
- Settlement
Boston slums
The 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.
- Landmark
Massachusetts State House
The Massachusetts State House, usually called the Capitol Building in the game, is where Marlene sends Joel and Tess to hand Ellie to a waiting Firefly group. It is the goal of The Outskirts and gives the chapter's last section its name.
- Region
Austin
Austin, Texas is where The Last of Us Part I begins: the Prologue of Hometown plays out on outbreak night in September 2013 as Joel, his daughter Sarah and his brother Tommy try to escape the city. It is the only region you visit before the 20-year time skip.