Mallrats

"Mallrats" is the second chapter of The Last of Us: Left Behind. It explores the origins of Ellie and Riley's friendship.
== Plot ==
=== Escaping the Streets ===
The chapter opens with Ellie and Riley jumping in to a building, barely avoiding a patrol of soldiers. Riley compliments Ellie's speed. The pair walk through the decaying building, Riley telling Ellie how she found the Fireflies by following a member named Trevor the pair met before. Riley followed him down an alleyway, ending with her being cornered by several more Fireflies and Marlene herself. It turns out Marlene had been waiting for Riley to return, wondering why the teenager took so long.
The pair reach the roof as an alarm goes off. Riley orders Ellie to hide but it turns out the patrol is merely returning from outside the wall. Riley confesses being on edge lately. Ellie quickly jokes that she should become a Firefly. Riley reveals she asked Marlene the same thing but Marlene refuse, feeling it best Ellie stay in school.
=== Liberty Gardens ===
They soon reach an abandoned mall, Ellie questioning why they're there. Riley avoids the question. The pair discuss their dream of vacationing in Los Angeles how Ellie lost her water guns and got caught trying to steal them back.
They proceed down a non-functioning escalator, finding Winston Asher's camp. Riley reveals that he died of a heart attack; a surprisingly normal death in the post-outbreak world. They search through his equipment, briefly discussing what became of Winston's horse. Ellie finds a picture of Winston, commenting how handsome he was before the infection began. Riley finds a bottle of whiskey, offering Ellie some. Ellie either takes a swig, spiting it put to Riley's amusement or refuses, something Riley brushes off. Riley drinks, managing to hold it down.
They leave, heading towards a rubble filled path. The two lift a metal poll back on a rock, hoping to crawl through but it gives way, breaking the rubble falling down. They decide to cut through a Halloween store instead. Ellie boosts Riley up so she can unlock it. Several minutes pass, Riley not responding to Ellie's calls. The door opens very slowly as prepares to Ellie walk in.
=== Funhouse ===
Ellie enters, surprised by Riley who is wearing a mask. Riley laughs at Ellie's reaction quickly prompting her friend tout on a wolf mask. Ellie reluctantly does so. Riley commends her on how "badass" she looks, daring her to roar. Ellie does a feeble, lackluster roar. Riley isn't impressed telling her to "fucking roar!" Psyching herself up, Ellie does so, roaring so loudly Riley laughs with joy. The pair rummage through the store, finding several other masks, trying them out and having a good time. Ellie finds a Skeleseer toy and proceeds to ask it several questions about the future, something Riley doesn't take too kindly to.
The pair eventually leave, finding themselves on a balcony. Riley notices two cars beneath them and several bricks in the area. Riley challenges Ellie to see who can smash all the windows on a car first, Riley being blue, Ellie being red. Ellie declares she'll win being a "brick master". The winner gets to ask the loser a serious question.
If Ellie wins, she retains her title, Riley claiming she just got lucky. Ellie can ask Riley three questions or simply let it pass. If she asks about her mom and Marlene, then Riley will tell her they mentioned her a lot and were close friends, despite fighting a lot, reminding Riley of herself and Ellie. If Ellie asks why Riley left like she did, the Firefly responds that she needed her space, but Ellie kept trying to get close to her, something Ellie defends since she cares about Riley.
If Riley won, she will ask Ellie what it will take for them to be friends like they were before Riley left her. Ellie jokes a spaceship but gives in to Riley wanting her to be serious, telling her to just "keep doing what [she's] doing".
=== Secrets of Boston ===
The two descend a flight of stairs, Riley telling Ellie how the military secretly have plenty of power but have flipped the circuit breakers, thus preventing the power from reaching anywhere the military doesn't want it to. The pair enter a control room, where Riley begins forcing the lock off a the circuit breaker. She says one simply has to flip the switch back and power will be restored to the mall. She lets Ellie do the honor, who is skeptical it will work.
Surprisingly, it does, the lights activating in the room. Ellie is in disbelief, questioning if the whole mall will be on, Riley states they should find out. Ellie wonders whether the soldiers will know the lights are on but Riley assures her it is just the interior lights; the exterior ones are broken.
They come to a set of doors. Before they go through, Ellie mentions about before when questioning why Riley left but Riley assures her she is back now and didn't mean anything she said. Happy, the duo open the doors entering a light-filled room.
== Transcript ==
== Trivia ==
*Inside the fun house, two of the costumes on sale are one of Nathan Drake, a reference to the Uncharted series and the one next to it is one of Jak from the Jak and Daxter series, two games made by Naughty Dog.
*Also in the fun house, Ellie will foreshadow many moments from the original game when asking Skeleseer questions. For example, she asks if she will ever drive a car, which she does in "Bill's Town".
*Inside Winston's tent, there is a calendar hung on the wall that reads "October 2013", which is when the initial outbreak occurred.
Category:The Last of Us: Left Behind chapters