Salt Lake City is a major location in HBO's The Last of Us. It was the state capital and most populous city in Utah.[1]
History[]
Background[]
Before the Cordyceps brain infection outbreak, Salt Lake City was a thriving metropolis in America. It had a baseball stadium, a zoo, Saint Mary's Hospital and a highway, among other public amenities. However, after the outbreak, it quickly collapsed into chaos. The United States military took control of the city and established emergency medical camps in the city to treat people and contain the infection. In time, FEDRA gave the order to carpet bomb the area, leading many civilians to die and several buildings to collapse.
By 2024, the city fell into abandonment, with buildings left to decay and nature to reclaim the land as its own. Some of the wildlife from the zoo escaped into the city, roaming on the foraged land as their own, notably the giraffes.[1]
At some point after its abandonment, the Fireflies moved into the city and occupied the hospital. They covered the general area with their Firefly insignia to mark it as their territory. It was here where their doctors worked to create a cure for the Cordyceps brain infection. However, their tests proved pointless over the years.[2] Eventually, all Fireflies from around the country converged on the city, with their leader Marlene bringing her unit from Boston to the city between the summer of 2023 and spring of 2024[3] and the Fireflies stationed at their research center in the University of Eastern Colorado moved to the city before the winter of 2023.[2]
Events of HBO's The Last of Us[]
Sometime later in the spring of 2024, Joel and Ellie made it to the city and were apprehended by a Firefly patrol near the abandoned Army center. In the hospital, Ellie was prepared for surgery because the doctors believed a successful operation on her could lead to a cure. Upon hearing this, Joel resisted and went on a rampage, murdering every Firefly in his path to rescue Ellie. He reached the surgery room, killing the head surgeon, then carried Ellie out. Marlene confronted him in the hospital's parking lot, but Joel shot her dead then drove the unconscious Ellie out of the city in a working vehicle.[1]
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 HBO's The Last of Us episode 9: "Look for the Light"
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 HBO's The Last of Us episode 6: "Kin"
- ↑ HBO's The Last of Us episode 1: "When You're Lost in the Darkness"