The Cordyceps brain infection is central to the narrative and the storytelling on HBO’s post-apocalyptic drama,The Last of Us. It breaks among the masses in the United States on Friday night, July 19, 2025, and two days later, everything is destroyed.
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The Last Of Usseason 1, episode 1, “When You’re Lost In The Darkness,” opens with the Millers, Joel, Sarah, and Tommy listening to a vague news report about"…continued disturbances in Jakarta.“The show doesn’t immediately clear what this disturbance is, but come night, it’s obvious that some sort of pandemic is underway. Twenty years later, the Cordyceps outbreak has ravaged humanity and turned humans into the infected.The Last of Usshows the infected (host) go through goes different developmental stages depending on how long they’ve been infected.
4Runners
Runners, as the name suggests, are intensely fast, sluggish attackers, and they tend to run in swarms. Tommy, Joel, and Sarah encounter Runners inThe Last of Uspremierewhile making their way out of Austin, Texas. Runners are in the early stage of infection, quite aggressive but the least scary of all. The Millers' neighbor, Nana is the first Runner encountered inThe Last of Us. The show subtly teases that the fungus got to her through the contaminated biscuits and sugary items she consumed.
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Twenty years later,Joel (Pedro Pascal)explains to his cargo, Ellie that the outbreak likely spread among the human population through contaminated basic ingredients like flour and sugar. There were certain brands that were sold all across the world and got the world population infected. On the actual night of the outbreak, Sarah walks into the Miller household and sees Danny Adler bitten on his shoulder. She moves forward to see Nana in the process of infecting her daughter, Connie. As soon as Nana spots Sarah, she rushes toward her in a vain attempt to bite her. Sarah quickly makes her way out of the Adler house, only to watch her dad, Joel kill Nana with a wrench a minute later.
3Stalkers
Stalkers are second in the developmental stage, and they are right behind Runners in terms of scariness. This stage arrives anywhere between two weeks after the host contracts the Cordyceps brain infection. Ellie encounters a Stalker in trapped debris right in the basement of the Cumberland Farms at the beginning ofThe Last of Usseason 1, episode 3, “Long, Long Time.“The infected has its eyes on Ellie the whole time, and it emits croaks as she approaches closer. It has tendrils growing through one of its eyes, and it still retains some of its human features. Ellie gives it a slash on the forehead and eventually stabs it to death with her folding pocket knife.
The infected can remain in the Stalker stage for over a year. They are much more methodical than Runners, in that, they can prefer to hide and attack humans, thus earning them the name Stalkers. They are also stronger than Runners and are known to attach themselves to walls with fungus gradually sprouting out of them.
2Clickers
Stalkers shift into Clickers in the third stage of the Cordyceps brain infection. These types of infected are scarier than their preceding kind, and they are named Clickers because of the clicking noise they emit while searching for their prey. The fungal infection is prominent on their head, and it overtakes their eyes, thus rendering them blind. Unable to see, Clickers limp around their space and demonstrate the use of rudimentary echolocation to prey on humans and to communicate with their kind. Once they hear noises, they rush toward the source of the sound.
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Clickers' heads are badly deformed by the infection, and their skull is split in two to allow further fungal growth. At this stage, they only retain their mouth and teeth in order to bite the victims. Clickers are seen lurching through a museum inThe Last of Usseason 1, episode 2, “Infected.“Unfortunately for Joel’s smuggling partner, Tess, she gets bitten by one of the infected in the melee. Clickers are essentially more fungus than human and are much harder to kill.
1Bloaters
Clickers turn into Bloaters several years after beinginfected with Cordyceps. Bloaters are entirely fungus, and scarier than Clickers. Their outer body is completely covered in thick fungal armor because of which they become incredibly hard to kill. The Infected develop into Bloaters in dry locations.
The Last of Usseason 1, episode 5, “Endure and Survive,” features an enormous Bloater that pops up from underground during the confrontation betweenKansas City revolutionaries, led by Melanie Lynskey’s Kathleen, and Henry and Sam. Because of the Bloater’s fungal armor, it is able to withstand a barrage of bullets from Kathleen’s right-hand man, Perry’s assault rifle. It towers over humans, and lifts and smashes them to death. It runs towards Perry and tears his head off his body thereby terrifying those who witness the scene.
