After martial law was declared, quarantine zones (QZ) were set up by the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA) and the U.S. military to protect the remaining uninfected population of the United States by separating them from the infected.[1] Some quarantine zones have since collapsed after being overrun by the infected, were taken over and converted into bases by rebel groups like the Fireflies and Kansas City resistance, or have been abandoned due to running out of supplies and other basic resources.[2]
Quarantine zones are patrolled by FEDRA soldiers, recognizable by their blue uniforms. Compared to other survivor settlements, quarantine zones tend to have more sophisticated medical and manufacturing capabilities. Some orphaned children are raised at military preparatory schools.[3]
History[]
Formation[]
Quarantine zones were set up by FEDRA in an attempt to maintain a continuity of government. At some point, FEDRA set up military preparatory schools to train new soldiers and officers. Ellie, Riley and Bethany were students who followed this program in Boston.[3]
For the adults, FEDRA provided them with opportunities for employment to earn ration cards, the zone's main currency. This employment ranged from disposing of corpses to cleaning sewers. While smuggling was an illegal practice, FEDRA guards (including Lee) participated in it anyway.[1] When not working or in school, the civilians lived in apartment blocks assigned to them in the city. While adults were made to share a space, children in the FEDRA school had their own room for themselves. However, FEDRA soldiers clearly had access to more food, better clothes and larger rooms in the city, leading to FEDRA establishing a clear hierarchy of power in their numerous zones.[3]
Oppression[]
Over time, FEDRA's rule in the zones became even more strict and harsh, with the Kansas City zone becoming especially cruel, with the stationed FEDRA officers using their power to torture, murder and even rape certain residents who resisted their control. By 2023, this oppression generated unrest and an outright uprising from Michael and Kathleen Coghlan's Kansas City resistance movement which ultimately caused FEDRA's regime in the city to collapse and allowed the QZ to fall into the hands of the rebels.[2] Soldiers were lynched throughout the city, while civilians accused of collaborating with FEDRA were rounded up and later executed.
The military faces opposition from not only the infected, but numerous paramilitary groups, such as the Fireflies.[1]
Locations[]
The zones are patrolled by armed guards; it is common for the zone to be walled off within a strategically important part of the larger city. Soldiers would monitor these walls, ensuring anyone trying to gain access to the zone was taken and processed to ensure they were not infected first.[1] The zone in Boston was cut off from much of the wider city, with places like most of downtown, hotels, the State House, the museum and the Liberty Gardens mall inaccessible to all residents, with only the military allowed to operate outside the walls.[4] Despite their reduced size, it was still possible for many people to live within a quarantine zone, with Boston having a substantial enough population that supplies had to be rationed and the zone in Atlanta still had the industrial capacity to manufacture drugs, bullets, and car batteries to trade with the Boston zone.[1]
Known quarantine zones[]
- Atlanta, Georgia
- Baltimore, Maryland (formerly)
- Boston, Massachusetts
- Kansas City, Missouri (rebel-occupied)
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (formerly)
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 HBO's The Last of Us episode 1: "When You're Lost in the Darkness"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 HBO's The Last of Us episode 4: "Please Hold to My Hand"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 HBO's The Last of Us episode 7: "Left Behind"
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us episode 2: "Infected"