Hometown

This article is about the first chapter of The Last of Us Part I. For the map of the same name in Factions MP, see Hometown (map).

"Hometown"
Game	The Last of Us Part I
Chapter no.	1
Date(s)	September 27, 2013
Location(s)	Austin, Texas
Playable character(s)	Sarah Miller Joel Miller
Collectibles
Artifacts	0
Firefly pendants	0
Training manuals	0
Comics	0
Chronology
← Previous	N/A
Next →	"The Quarantine Zone"

"Hometown" is the first chapter of The Last of Us Part I. The player takes control of both Sarah and Joel Miller.

Characters

Main and supporting

• Sarah Miller (playable)
• Joel Miller (playable)
• Tommy Miller

Enemies

• Infected
  • Runners

Minor

• Rose Graham
• Jimmy Cooper
• FEDRA soldiers
• Marlene (voice only)

Mentioned

• Louis
• Fireflies

Plot

Prologue

The game begins by introducing Joel Miller, a single father living near Austin, Texas, with his daughter Sarah. Late one evening, Joel returns home while talking on the phone with his brother, Tommy. Sarah, who had fallen asleep on the couch, stirs as Joel turns on the light. Ending his call with Tommy, Joel sits beside Sarah, and asks why she hasn’t gone to bed. Sarah presents him with a small box containing his old watch, previously broken, now repaired. Joel asks how she managed to afford the repair. With a playful grin, she quips that she sells hardcore drugs. Joel plays along, remarking that she can now help pay the mortgage. Time passes, and Sarah has fallen asleep on the couch. Joel picks her up, carrying her to her room. Hours later, Sarah is awakened by the ringing of the phone beside her bed. On the other end, a panicked Tommy asks for Joel. Before Sarah can fully respond, the line goes dead.

Sarah gets out of the bed. As she glances around her room, her eyes fall on a birthday card she had written for Joel but had forgotten to give to him. Walking down the hall, she makes her way to the bathroom, where she notices a newspaper left on the counter. The article, dated September 26, 2013 reports a growing number of infected individuals crowding the local hospitals in Texas. Sarah continues down the hallway toward Joel’s bedroom. As she enters, a live TV report is playing, where a news reporter is discussing the recent outbreak of infections. Mid-report, a sudden explosion erupts behind the reporter, cutting off the broadcast entirely. Sarah sees the orange glow of explosion lighting up the night sky in the distance out of a window. Sarah heads downstairs as police cars speed past on the street outside. Joel’s cell phone lies on the kitchen counter, and Sarah sees eight missed calls and numerous text messages from Tommy, all urging Joel to call him back immediately. There's also a note from Joel on the fridge, explaining he would be home late and that Sarah should order food for herself. She walks toward the kitchen, where Joel suddenly bursts in through a sliding door. He hurriedly shuts the door behind him and, seeing Sarah, asks if she’s okay. He tells her to stay away from the doors, quickly explaining that their neighbors, the Coopers, have gotten sick. He grabs his revolver just as their neighbor, Jimmy Cooper, slams against the outside of the glass door. After several attempts, he crashes through it. Joel warns Jimmy to stay back, but the warning is ignored and Joel is forced to shoot him.

Tommy arrives in his truck just as they’re fleeing the house. As they drive away from the neighborhood, Tommy and Joel talk about how everyone seems to have “lost their minds” due to some infection. As they pass Tommy’s friend’s farm, they see it ablaze. Turning onto another road, Tommy spots a family with a child and hesitates, but Joel urges him to keep driving. The family pleads for help, but Joel insists they move on. Moments later, they find their intended escape route completely blocked. Police cars are at the bridge roadblocks, and a helicopter hovers overhead. After a moment of waiting, a man from a nearby car gets out, complaining about the traffic. Suddenly, someone lunges from the bushes and attacks him, mauling him. They turn back and drive away, attempting to go directly through the town, but are T-boned by a vehicle speeding through an intersection. Sarah awakens to find Tommy’s truck flipped on its side. As the three of them crawl out, Sarah realizes her leg is injured, unable to support her weight. Joel picks her up, and they dash through the town, surrounded by chaos: people running and screaming, explosions, vehicles crashing into buildings. The trio reach a roadblock and cut through an alley, but an infected man lunges at Joel. Tommy shoots him in the head, and they run towards the open door of an empty bar. Tommy urges Joel to head for the highway, and Joel promises to meet him there.

Joel runs through a hole in the wall, heading towards the bridge, chased by infected. They rapidly close on him, but before they can reach him a soldier appears and shoots, killing them. Joel asks for help, explaining that Sarah is hurt, but the soldier orders him to stop. After a brief radio exchange with his superior, the soldier raises his weapon and opens fire on Joel and Sarah. Joel spins around, dropping Sarah to the ground. The soldier approaches Joel, preparing to execute him despite Joel’s pleas. But just as he is about to pull the trigger, Tommy arrives and shoots him through the head, killing him. Joel and Tommy then realize that Sarah has been mortally wounded in the abdomen. Joel tries to put pressure on the wound in a last ditch attempt to save his daughter. This doesn't work, and after a few seconds, Sarah succumbs to her wound and dies in her father's arms.

The chapter concludes with the game's title and opening credits, accompanied by various news reports detailing the infection's rapid spread across the United States and eventually worldwide. It summarizes the military's response, which involved establishing quarantine zones and enforcing martial law. A militia group called the Fireflies emerged to resist this, though their efforts met with limited success. The chapter wraps up with their leader, Marlene, urging everyone to "look for the light" and "believe in the Fireflies!"

Transcript

Main article: Hometown/Transcript

Behind the scenes

• This is the only time in the entire game that the player can control Sarah.
• There are family photos on the wall by Sarah's bed. One of them is the photo of Joel and Sarah which is featured in later chapters. In fact, many items and pictures in the house foreshadow scenes or conversations, namely a toy giraffe, the portrait above Joel's bed (which references the "Lakeside Resort" chapter, a Dawn of the Wolf poster, an acoustic guitar and the picture of a deer. These are clearly present for the benefit of players on their second playthrough.
• Two copies of The Turning can be seen in Sarah's bookshelf. The Turning is an arcade game also seen during "Bill's Town" and Left Behind.
• If one looks carefully in the living room of Sarah's house, there is a PlayStation 3 console under the television.
• The calendar in the kitchen says September 1, 2013, was a Monday, but it was actually a Sunday.
• Police cars that respond to the situation have no driver in them. Ambulances have black windows, preventing the player from seeing if the driver is inside. Police cars at roadblocks are also empty.
• During the sequence where the player controls Joel, a Wilhelm scream can be heard when a burning car hits another, just before Joel and Tommy enter the alley.
• When the infected attack the player after going into the alley, they can fail if they do not mash square. Yet the time it takes one to fail is greater than the time it takes Tommy to come in and kill the infected when the player succeeds.
• The ending scene shares many similarities with the chapter "The Firefly Lab", that takes place twenty years later. They both: have Joel carry a loved one away from danger, have Joel confronted by a gun wielding soldier and both result in someone being killed, except Joel is the one to kill Marlene, much like how the soldier would have killed him.