Ish is a survivor you never meet in person: you learn his story from a trail of notes in The Suburbs, from his wrecked fishing boat on the riverbank to the sewer camp he built under Pittsburgh. Picking up his notes in order tells how one lonely man built, and lost, a community.
Ish's notes and those of the people around him show a camp that grew into a real settlement, with a school, beds, showers and rain catchers that Susan suggested. Ish gave the kids water guns and let them paint the entrance doors to look like a castle. You walk through what is left of it with Henry and Sam on the way out of Pittsburgh.
One door left open let a horde in. A note from Kyle tells of being trapped with some of the children, and Ish's last note, found in a house in the suburbs, says he escaped with Susan and a few children and had to hold her back from going in after her own. He writes that he still has faith in people. The game never says what became of him.
Henry
Henry is a young survivor from Hartford who is trying to get his little brother Sam out of hunter-held Pittsburgh. He and Joel get off to a bad start in a brawl, then team up to escape the city, and he fights beside you through the end of Pittsburgh and The Suburbs.
Kyle
Kyle is a father from the Pittsburgh suburbs who joined Ish's community in the sewers. In The Suburbs you learn his story from the Looting note and the Cornered note, and Ish mentions him in the Rain catcher note.
Sam
Sam is Henry's 13-year-old brother, a quiet, anxious kid who becomes Ellie's first friend her own age on the road. You travel with him from the hideout in Pittsburgh through the sewers and suburbs in The Suburbs.
Susan
Susan is Kyle's wife and one of the founding families of Ish's sewer community under Pittsburgh. In The Suburbs she appears only in notes: the Rain catcher note written to her and the Survivors note written about her.