S1E1 · When You're Lost in the Darkness

Complete story — includes the ending

In 2003, a mass fungal infection of mutated Cordyceps sparks a global pandemic and societal collapse. Joel flees from his home in Austin, Texas, with his daughter, Sarah, and brother, Tommy, but Sarah is shot by a soldier. Joel pleads with his "baby girl" as she dies in his arms. Twenty years later, Joel works as a smuggler with his partner, Tess in the Boston quarantine zone (QZ) under authoritarian control of the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA). When Tommy fails to contact them from Wyoming, Joel and Tess set out to find him. They buy a truck battery from Robert, a local dealer, but he scams them and sells it to the Fireflies, a rebel group opposing FEDRA. While tracking Robert, Joel and Tess encounter the Fireflies' leader Marlene. She hires them to escort a teenage girl named Ellie to the Massachusetts State House in exchange for a working truck. While escaping the QZ, they are intercepted by a FEDRA soldier. He discovers that Ellie is infected, but she claims to be immune. Joel kills the soldier and leads them away.