Santa Barbara (chapter)

"Santa Barbara" is the tenth chapter of The Last of Us Part II. It contains the sections "2425 Constance", "Pushing Inland", "The Resort", and "The Beach".

Characters[]

Main[]

• Abby Anderson (playable; "2425 Constance")
• Ellie (playable; "Pushing Inland", "The Resort", "The Beach")

Minor[]

• Joel Miller (vision)
• Lev
• Prisoner

Enemies[]

• Rattlers
  • Large Rattler
  • Small Rattler
• Infected
  • Runners
    • Anthony
  • Clickers
  • Shamblers
  • Stalkers
• Abby Anderson

Plot[]

2425 Constance[]

The chapter opens to Abby and Lev in Santa Barbara. Lev mentions how the two traded one of their guns for information that the Fireflies are stationed at 2425 Constance, which is found on the street that they are on. Lev is doubtful but Abby asks him to try being more upbeat, suggesting they head down the street to find the house.

On the way, they encounter a small group of runners but kill them. They soon find the house and break in through the disused garage. Within, they find mail from 2013, confirming the house is indeed 2425. They search the whole building, even the shed in the back garden with a drained pool, but do not find anything. Ready to give up, Abby asks Lev to join her at the exit.

However, Lev bends down near a bookcase and remarks that there are scratch marks. Curious, Abby pushes the bookcase to the side, revealing a staircase that leads to the basement. Drawing her revolver, Abby leads Lev down, calling out into the room. They find it deserted but recently used. Abby finds a generator and turns it on, causing lights to come on. They discover a radio transmitter still functioning. Abby begins working the controls and Lev passes her a board with frequency codes on it. Realizing their intel was correct, Abby begins trying to make contact with the Fireflies on the radio. Despite trying all the frequencies, they receive no response. Lev grows despondent and walks away; Abby does not give up and tries one more time.

Crackle. "Hello?"

Contact. Lev rushes back as Abby hears someone on the other side. The man reveals that the Fireflies relocated to Catalina Island and, after confirming Abby is Jerry Anderson's daughter, invites them to join the now two hundred strong group. Joyous, the pair leave the room and prepare to journey to the island on Owen Moore's boat.

However, on their way out, the pair are ambushed by a group of Rattlers. Abby gains the advantage against one but another flips her to the ground with a baseball bat. Lev shoots the man in the shoulder with his bow and arrow but is soon knocked out by a large Rattler. The larger Rattler orders his group to tie Abby and Lev up. Abby cries out for them to leave Lev alone but the large Rattler only mocks Abby, teasing that she was a great catch for them.

Pushing Inland[]

Two months later, Ellie is on a beach in Santa Barbara, searching through Abby and Lev's boat. She discovers that the pair were heading to 2425 Constance. Knowing where to go, she exits the boat and proceeds inland, climbing the cliffs to do so.

She makes her way through the nearby neighborhood, fending off several stalkers, runners, clickers and shamblers. Just as she reaches a camper near 2425 Constance street, her foot steps in a snare, tripping a trap that launches her into the air. Now suspended from a tree upside down, her side is pierced on a tree branch. Unable to escape, Ellie soon loses consciousness.

Hours later, Ellie awakes as two Rattlers approach her in the trap. Dazed and confused, she mistakes them for Abby and Lev only to realize her error when the small Rattler cuts her down and starts talking about taking her back as a prisoner. The large Rattler agrees and tells the small Rattler to reset the trap. The small Rattler steps back and is startled by a clicker, also strung up in a trap. Ellie laughs at the man's surprise, prompting him to force her up and hold her arm out to the clicker to scare her.

Seizing the moment, Ellie pulls the man into the clicker and takes his silenced submachine gun. The large Rattler attempts to shoot Ellie but only kills the clicker, enabling Ellie to shoot the man in the knees. The small Rattler falls down, bleeding out. Ellie approaches the large Rattler, about to shoot him again only for the man to protest that he heard her speaking about Abby and reveals she is being kept as a slave at their base with Lev. He offers to reveal their location so long as she lets him live, claiming she should agree since she was bitten. Ellie notices the clicker bit her left hand. Undeterred, Ellie orders him to explain, the man revealing the pair are kept at a domed resort at the end of the railroad tracks. Knowing where to go, Ellie executes the man with a bullet through the chest, stitches up her wound and proceeds down the nearby railroad tracks.

The Resort[]

Sometime later, Ellie walks wearily down the road, muttering to herself that she is looking for the dome. She stops to check her stitched-up wound. Suddenly, shots ring out, prompting Ellie to take cover behind a wall. She watches as a Rattler patrol surround and attempt to capture one of their slaves, but fail to prevent the man committing suicide to avoid capture.

Knowing she is in the right place, Ellie proceeds to the resort the Rattler patrol came from, sneaking through a hole in the fence. She finds the Rattlers herding the captured slaves into the dome. She sees another Rattler mocking a runner, displaying the Rattler's cruel methods of turning some attempted runaways into infected to serve as guard dogs. Ellie then fights her way through the resort to reach the prisoners.

She eventually reaches the cells where the prisoners are kept. She advances on one, only for a Rattler to attack her with a bat. The guard manages to pin Ellie to the ground but Ellie counters, tossing the woman into the cells. The prisoners grab the bat, choking the woman out and taking the keys to the cells. Now free, the group steal the weapons in the gun cache to launch a vengeful assault on the Rattlers elsewhere in the dome. Ellie stops them from leaving, asking where Abby is. One prisoner, noticing her clicker bite, threatens to shoot her, but the leader calms her down and reveals Abby is at the nearby beach, strung up on the pillars, likely dead.

Unwilling to give up, Ellie stumbles to the end of the room, proceeding outside to the beach as the prisoners push on to attack the Rattlers.

The Beach[]

Ellie treads her way to the beach, hearing the Rattlers cry out as the prisoners take their revenge, setting the dome on fire as they do so. Ellie is visibly weak but keeps pressing on. She finds the pillars, a dirty, derelict and buzzard-infested area where the runaways are strung up on the pillars, exposed to the intense storms. She searches among them but finds many already dead, having succumbed to exposure and starvation. But then one body calls out to her...

"Help me... please."

It is Abby. She is emaciated, tired and dying, but still alive. Ellie walks up to her, Abby wearily recognizing Ellie as she is cut down. Abby stands up, looking at Ellie, who only stares at her in disbelief. Abby moves to another body strung up on a pillar. It is Lev. She cuts him down, the boy barely conscious and too weak to move. Abby picks him up and informs Ellie that there are boats a short walk from their position. They move to them, both ashore in shallow water. Abby begins putting Lev in a boat as Ellie moves to put her bag in another. As she does so, she feels her stitched wound is now leaking blood. The sight of it causes her to remember seeing Joel's lifeless face at the ranch.

Marching back over to Abby, Ellie declares she cannot let her leave. Realizing her intentions, Abby declares she will not fight but Ellie throws her to the ground, demanding she do so. When Abby refuses again, Ellie draws her switchblade, threatening to slit Lev's throat if Abby refuses once more, claiming Lev is now "a part" of their conflict. Giving in, Abby stands up and agrees to duel.

The pair fight relentlessly, with Abby punching Ellie and Ellie slashing at Abby. Eventually, Ellie pins Abby in the water and pierces her chest with her blade but Abby counters, forcing it out and kicking Ellie off. Now fighting hand-to-hand, the pair fight in the water until Ellie once more knocks Abby down and mounts her, this time drowning her beneath the water. Abby, desperate, bites two of Ellie's fingers off. Ellie cries out, punching Abby down and then uses her legs to pin her arms this time. Abby struggles but is unable to break free this time. Ellie begins to cry as Abby slowly loses air.

But then, Ellie remembers Joel playing his guitar on his porch. Having a moral epiphany, Ellie releases Abby, who lashes up for air, coughing and gagging, but alive. Ellie crawls away and sits in the water, sobbing for Abby to take Lev and leave. Confused, Abby cautiously moves back to the boat, unhooks it and begins sailing away as Ellie sobs in the water, the sounds of the Rattlers and the prisoners fighting finally quieting down. Soon, Abby and Lev are gone and Ellie is left alone in the water.

Collectibles[]

Artifacts[]

"Santa Barbara" contains the following six artifacts:

Trading cards[]

"Santa Barbara" contains the following two trading cards:

Behind the scenes[]

• Upgrading Abby does not make her harder to beat during her boss fight.
• Neil Druckmann has stated that the entire theme of the game was not revenge, but love, and Ellie's decision to spare Abby in this chapter exemplifies that theme.^[1]

References[]