Runner
Runners are stage one infected, people turned within the last couple of days. They still see, move fast and swarm in packs, so the danger is numbers rather than any single runner.
- Threat
- Low
- Type
- Infected
Good to know
- A bite turns someone into a runner within two days or less, depending on where they were bitten.
- They can spot you at range and even notice you crouch-walking while they move.
- You can sneak up behind one and strangle it like a human enemy.
- Their grab can be shaken off, unlike a clicker's.
- Lincoln and Jackson hold large numbers of runners, because the infected there never progressed further.
How to deal with them
A lone runner is easy to beat with fists, so don't waste bullets on one or two. Strangle them from behind, never from the front, which makes them aggressive and alerts nearby infected. Save your shivs for clickers. If a pack spots you, sprint away, break line of sight and hide behind cover.
Around clickers and bloaters
Runners can see you and will scream when they do, which brings the blind infected running. Thin them out quietly first so the clickers and bloaters stay calm while you sneak past.
Behaviour
Some runners stand passive and only attack if provoked, if something lands near them or if you get right in front of them. When startled they shriek, and some look distressed even while attacking.
- BostonBoston, Massachusetts is the first region after the time skip and the city where Ellie grew up. You play The Quarantine Zone and The Outskirts here, and Left Behind's flashbacks with Riley take place in the same city. FEDRA holds the North End as one of the last working quarantine zones in the country.
- BoulderBoulder, Colorado is where Joel and Ellie search the University of Eastern Colorado for the Fireflies in The University chapter. Left Behind's present-day story picks up nearby at the Colorado Mountain Plaza mall, so this region covers both the campus and the mall.
- JacksonJackson, Wyoming is the home of Tommy's community and covers both the town and the wider Jackson County, including the hydroelectric dam and the Hidden Pines Corral ranch. You visit it twice: in Tommy's Dam and in the short closing chapter, Jackson. It is the one safe, working settlement in Part I.
- LincolnLincoln is a small Massachusetts town a few miles from Boston and the setting of Bill's Town, the fourth chapter. Joel and Ellie come here to call in a favor from Bill, a paranoid survivor who has rigged the whole town with traps, because they need a working vehicle.
Related enemies
- Infected
Infected
The Infected are people taken over by a mutant Cordyceps fungus, and they are the main threat between every human fight in The Last of Us Part I. In Part I and Left Behind you meet four stages: runners, stalkers, clickers and bloaters, each harder to kill than the last.
Image: Naughty Dog / PlayStationInfectedBloater
Bloaters are stage four infected covered in armor-like fungus. They are slow and blind but kill you instantly if they grab you, and they throw bursting sacks of mycotoxin from range. Fire is the way to beat them.
- Infected
Clicker
Clickers are blind stage three infected that find you by the clicking sound they make. Their grab kills instantly unless you carry a shiv and have the Shiv Master upgrade, so most players deal with them quietly or with fire.
- Human
FEDRA
FEDRA, the Federal Disaster Response Agency, is the military government that runs the Boston quarantine zone. Its soldiers are the best-equipped enemies in the first chapters, and you fight them while smuggling Ellie out of Boston.