Tess refused to let Joel touch her. In his mind, he knew she blamed him for this. Ellie was going to die, and they'd just let it happen, all because she listened to him. To hell with the cure, or an end to suffering. Joel knew that Tess's maternal instincts had taken over from her best judgement. She would never forget Ellie. It was like the Fireflies had ripped her own child from her.

And to his surprise, Joel found that he now regretted what he had done. Seeing Tommy, and the life he'd built with Maria had reminded him of the choice he made to give up on settling down after Sarah died. It had been easier to go to a big city, where no one knew who he was, and spend every day fighting and hustling, knowing that any second he could get hit by a stray bullet, or get bitten, or starve to death, or a million other things, any one of which would finally rid him of the guilt he felt from abandoning Tommy.

But now, life presented him with a different choice. He could stay where he was, let the Fireflies kill Ellie, and try to pick up the pieces of his life with Tess, however impossible that seemed. Or he could do what his heart told him he had to do.

The guard posted outside was trying to light his last cigarette when he heard a knock. "Can we get some water or something, pal?"

When the guard returned with a cup of water, he stepped inside to hand it to Joel. As soon as he did, he felt something against his throat. Tess was holding an unfolded paper clip she'd found in a drawer like an ice pick directly under his chin.

"You know, if I wanted to, I could ram this straight through your fucking neck. You scream, you move, it goes straight in."

Joel took the guard's gun. "Where's the girl?"

The man didn't respond.

"I ain't got time for this."

He put the gun directly agains the guard's crotch and fired. The man bit his tongue in pain as his testicles exploded from the impact, one after the other. "Top floor."

Joel motioned to Tess to drop the guard and shot him in the head. They could hear voices down the hall. "Gunshots! Spread out and find them!"

Slowly but surely, Joel and Tess managed to fight their way through a half dozen Fireflies to reach the operating theater, where they could hear the doctors getting ready to begin the surgery. Without thinking, Tess kicked the door open.

The head doctor yelled at them to leave, but when Tess ignored him and went to check on Ellie, he tried to rush her with a scalpel in his hand. Joel calmly shot him and kept his gun on the other two while Tess carefully eased Ellie into her arms. By that point, reinforcements had been summoned and Joel took a few shots at them while Tess took off sprinting. They found an elevator that led to the pediatric ward, where guards chased them all the way to the parking garage before Joel was able to disable the second elevator and cut them off.

Just then, Marlene fired a shot into the air. "Weapons on the ground, now."

Joel did as she told him and placed his gun on the pavement. Marlene motioned him to kick it over, which he also did.

"You have no fucking idea what you've just done, do you? That man you killed was the only surgeon qualified to perform that procedure. It'll take months, maybe even years before we find a replacement, and in that time, people who we could have saved, will die. Think about that. Because of your selfish fucking decision, you've killed them. But you don't care, do you? You never did. Have you even thought about what's best for Ellie? Better she die here, in our care, then out there, where she'll be torn to pieces by clickers or drown in a creek or some other shit that you can't save her from. You know I'm right, Joel, so tell your bitch to put the girl down, and I'll let you walk out of here."

She put her gun down. "I know you love her, but Ellie's not yours. She's not mine. She belongs to no one. She's our savior. For once in your lives, do the right thing and let her go." She started walking over, her hands raised.

"Tess, do as she says."

Just as Marlene reached out for Ellie, she felt a bolt of lightning strike her torso. Looking down, she saw the smoke from the barrel of Tess's concealed gun.

"Please, take her with you."

"You'd just come after her again." With that, another shot rang out and Marlene was no more.