In the corridors of an abandoned building walks a guy with a beard, dark circles under his eyes and a denim shirt. He carries an old leather backpack that holds a gas mask, a rifle, a pocket knife, an axe, two pistols, and a couple of Molotov cocktails. Much in little. The guy doesn’t make noise, he smells bad, and he feels a pang in his lower belly with every step. A badly healed wound reminds him of where he comes from and how far he wants to go. He has before him the light of several lanterns sweeping the corridors. The owners of those lanterns shout his name and threaten him. Every closed door is fear put with a noose. He, a guy who used to be called Joel and now doesn’t know if it makes sense for him to have a name, stops and looks around. Then the air is soaked with a guttural snap. In the distance, the silhouette of a being walking between spasms and with an unnatural flexion of the legs is outlined. Joel stops. They are already here. Two more blurs appear and he stands still around a corner. Our friend Joel observes the environment, looking for a way to go unnoticed. He knows that to survive it is necessary to think and in the broken world that he shows us The Last of Us the ability to think is the exception that proves the rule.
(Before continuing, and for the reader’s peace of mind, I want to make it clear that this article no tiene spoilers about the main plot of the game or the series, but, yes, I do not rule out that it has spores. If you continue reading it is because you assume the risk of contagion).
Video games are one of the many open doors that culture offers us. And in the case at hand, that door takes us to a world dominated by a fungus that turns humans into puppets. As some politicians do, but without dissimulating and using spores instead of empty words. I decided to tag along with Joel a few months ago, when I found out that Peter Pascal he was going from Grogu’s father to Ellie’s escort. I plead guilty to having taken too long to cross the ruined world of The Last of Us. Despite purchasing the game in 2014, parenthood and life led me to play it in 2023. The story of a father and a pandemic. Fiction acting as a fortune teller on the screen in my living room.
In that other world that is the console, a mutated strain of a fungus of the genus Cordyceps He begins looking for a life around September 2013 (a decade earlier in the series). The idea for the game came from the existence of that mushroom in the real world. On our dear planet Mr. Cordyceps he is capable of infecting arthropods, dominating their mind, and then killing them. A correct dissemination of spores is ensured by playing miniature zombies. From there the creators of Naughty Dog, the company that developed the video game, a premise that is contagious. If this fungus were to infect humans, what would happen? Thus they imagined a pandemic before the pandemic.
In the video game, the disease by Cordyceps It can be produced in two ways. One can be bitten by an infected or inhale the spores emitted by those who are already more fungus than human. In the series it seems that they partially save the spores and raise the possibility that the origin is in what we eat. brand flour Cordyceps for a clearly pastry humanity. Here I must comment, for the peace of mind of the majority, that in human beings, thanks to our body temperature and the presence of correct cellular immunity, fungal infections are usually localized or do not progress. I know that reality is sometimes stranger than fiction, but let’s relax, we’ve just come from a considerable journey and we don’t feel like more microbiological curves.
In the disease produced by the fungus we could distinguish five phases. At this point I must admit that these phases arise from having observed the infected both in the game and in the series. I can be wrong, without a doubt, but allow me the license. After being infected by Cordyceps, the individual begins the incubation period. The duration of this will depend on the amount of fungus ingested or inspired, it is what we can call “infective load”. It will also be influenced, if the cause of the infection is a bite, the distance from the bite to the central nervous system. Spore infection seems like an elegant and effective choice. After all, the fungal friend can be impregnated in the nostrils and there is the olfactory bulb nearby, which would be a wonderful shortcut to the brain and its circumstances. At the time, to reach the lungs, he would enjoy a blood highway to the heart and from this he has a premium pass to the carotids and the skull. So spores make a good Trojan horse. Perhaps that is why in our reality it is the form of contagion for arthropods.
In the incubation phase, the patient initially presents malaise and fever. The latter is done to increase the body’s temperature, in an attempt to burn the invader’s ships. But we already know that Cordyceps It has mutated and the heat is its thing. The first signs and symptoms that something is wrong would be both local, that is, a bite wound that would turn all colors, and distant due to neurological damage. Tremor, headache, dizziness or uncontrolled movements that are a set-up of the puppet. The fungus takes over and tests the product before buying it. Like in a human dealer, but in terrible.
Then consciousness disappears. See you later, it’s over, the person vanishes. They go into zombie mode George Romero. Violence, absence of pain and no feelings. An empty entity in which there is only the need to bite whatever is nearby and looks like a new host. During this biting phase, which can last a few days or months, the body becomes a conquest machine. The fungus knows that from there it will have its expansion. It uses the host’s teeth and mouth to get from one to the other. Meanwhile, it slowly annihilates the nervous system like a meticulous rodent. That will settle and give rise to the third phase of the infection. Neurons are replaced by fluffy fungal tissue that runs through muscle, flesh, and bone. The chaos that does not stop to carry a sinister nature. It is because of this desire to devour the nervous system that the Cordyceps loses a fundamental sense: sight. But in the loss is the search and here the treasure is to find a gift among what one no longer has.
In the fourth phase there are no eyes and there is no brain. The body rots and that dead tissue gives way to the fungus. Everything is mold, liquid and clotted blood. The body remains upright and the frontal bone opens like a wet and smelly flower that has a mouth below with teeth broken from so much use. A nightmare poppy that behaves like a satellite dish that emits and receives sounds, like a disgusting dolphin that wanders dry trying to catch prey. It uses an exaggerated sense of hearing to constantly search. It emits guttural sounds, clicks, which when hitting the environment return and facilitate a map. The clickers dialogue with the nooks and crannies and surfaces so as not to get lost in the maze. In this fearful period the fungus can use its toy for years. In some cases, and if the guest turns out to be five jacks, they manage to achieve a sublimation of their conquest. Giants that oscillate, walk and run, capable of splitting a man in two with hardly any effort or launching spheres of spores that, when broken, infect without remedy. A fungal festival that not even in a movie Ari Aster we found enemy
Finally, when the host has been completely drained, the body is dry. Decades may have passed since the first bite or bite of Grandma’s cake. In the fifth phase of the infection the individual finds rest and falls like a limpet. It becomes uncomfortable sticker. Each inert body generates an invisible path that weaves a web. If you step on them, a clue to a clicker is struck or, as indicated in the series, a cramp is generated that reaches the nearest infected hive. In a world without food delivery, it seems that Morse with footsteps works great.
Due to these five phases and their consequences, humanity moves in an apocalyptic, fungal and dictatorial context. With revolutionaries who believe they can change things as they hopefully search for a cure. A drug that is capable of preventing the progression of the disease or a vaccine that prevents infection. In a dystopia that does not stop, the appearance of someone immune could be a gift for those who want the future to be articulated in another way. It is there that Ellie becomes a promise and presents herself as an Ithaca to protect in order to return home.
Joel stays crouched. He no longer hears the voices of those who searched for him and cannot see his lanterns. He alone hears the clicks of three beings that walk from one side to the other. Guttural sounds that are getting closer. He searches through his backpack considering various options. Perhaps he can kill one with a knife to the back of the neck. He wouldn’t make much noise. Next up could be a Molotov cocktail customer. That option would also draw the attention of the third party. The screams produced by the fire would make a fine rattle, and that would make him a fine candidate for the axe. Joel nods because he has a plan. He is going to multiply by zero to three infected. He shifts slightly and walks in a crouch toward the flailing body. He repeats to himself that they are not human, that they are something else that is far away. He advances in silence. When he’s behind the first clicker he stands up and punches. A cold stream of black blood splatters on his hands as he realizes his mistake. There are many more than he thought and in an instant he is surrounded. He turns on his heel and sees a window to which he runs desperately. He jumps up and closes his eyes as he smiles. He has the chance to make it out alive or maybe, with a bit of luck, to escape forever and get some well-deserved rest.