Contains spoilers for this episode.
While Joel lies badly injured, Ellie hunts a deer and meets David and James, who belong to a hungry settlement near Silver Lake. Their congregation mourns a man killed by Joel, and David postpones burial until spring because the ground is frozen. David says four men went to scavenge nearby, but only three returned. Ellie trades part of the deer for penicillin and returns to Joel, but David’s group tracks her back. They capture Ellie and lock her in a cage. She learns that David’s community has been eating human flesh and that he intends to keep her. Joel wakes, questions two of David’s men and learns where she is held.
David and James prepare to butcher Ellie at the restaurant. She bites David as they drag her from the cage, then claims she has infected him as they prepare to cut her up. The claim interrupts them long enough for Ellie to seize a cleaver, kill James and escape into the restaurant’s dining area. A fire spreads through the building while David searches for her. Ellie fights him among the flames and kills him with the cleaver. Joel reaches the restaurant after the fight and finds Ellie outside, shaken and covered in blood. He calls her “baby girl” and holds her as they leave together.