In episode 2 of the series The Last of Uswe find the usual infected, but also those of a more advanced stage: clickers (or clickers).
The Last of Us is not a series of zombies, but there are all the same. These creatures, called “infected” because their brains have been affected by the fungus Cordyceps, are divided into several categories according to their stage of infection.
Among the most notable:
- Runners (runners);
- Stalkers;
- Clickers;
- Colossi (bloaters).
The runners are the ones you saw from the first episode. Still quite human in appearance, they resemble the classic zombie image (except that they get their name from their speed). But episode 2 of the adaptation puts Pedro Pascal (Joel), Anna Torv (Tess) and Bella Ramsey (Ellie) facing a higher stage of infected: clickers. These develop after at least a year of Cordyceps infection. A runner will therefore generally end up turning into a clicker.
The clackers of The Last of Us are blind
It will not have escaped your notice that Joel and Tess suddenly ask Ellie for complete silence. And indeed, in a room full of clappers, the slightest noise can be your downfall. These infected, whose heads look like some sort of mushroom that has hatched, are blind. To locate themselves and probe their prey, they use sound. That’s why they make a clicking sound — it’s a sound wave used for echolocation. Hence its name, by the way.
If you are in front of him (even silent) when he emits this wave, it’s finished. If you make the slightest noise within a certain perimeter, it’s over too. And all the more so in a room full of clickers, since if one of them spots you, the sound of the confrontation will attract all the others.
Slappers are an evolved species of Cordyceps infected, ultra-fast, ultra-brutal: their strength is far beyond that of a human, so if they catch you, it is very difficult to get away without finishing bitten (therefore infected) or literally devoured.
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