How does Tess Servopoulos die in The Last of Us game?

* SPOILERS below for The Last of Us episode 2

It’s a character we’ve just been introduced to and hardly spent time with. But, she was charismatic and grabbed our attention nonetheless. Tess, played by actress Anna Torv, is a great character on The Last of Us. And unfortunately in the show’s second episode, “Infected,” we said goodbye to the hardened survivor.

So how did she die in the show? Joel and Tess are able to get Ellie to the drop-off location, but no one is there. Now Joel doesn’t know what to do, but Tess does. She reveals that she was bitten and decides to sacrifice herself, distracting those infected as they get close to the trio. The heroine is met with an open-mouthed kiss from a runner, leading to the tendrils of the evolved cordyceps fungi to pass into her. Ew!

As most viewers know by now, the post-apocalyptic drama is based on a video game of the same name. So how closely is the show following the game? Is that how Tess died in the Naughty Dog-developed world? We’ve got the answer for you below!

How does Tess die in The Last of Us game?

In the game, Tess does die. And like in the HBO  series, she’s actually not a part of the universe for very long. Players say goodbye to the long-term smuggling partner of Joel’s in “The Outskirts,” which is the third chapter of the game. But she dies in a different way than what the show portrayed.

In the video game, Joel, Tess, and Ellie reach the Capitol building to find that the Fireflies were killed by the Federal Disaster Response Agency (FEDRA). Tess reveals she was bitten and is getting much worse. As she tells Joel to not turn back and continue on, she sacrifices herself when the military shows up to give Joel and Ellie more time to escape.

Joining Torv onscreen are actors Pedro Pascal as Joel, Bella Ramsey as Ellie. The series also stars Nico Parker as Sarah, Murray Bartlett as Frank, Nick Offerman as Bill, Melanie Lynskey as Kathleen, Storm Reid as Riley, Merle Dandridge as Marlene, Jeffrey Pierce as Perry, Lamar Johnson as Henry, Keivonn Woodard as Sam, Graham Greene as Marlon, and Elaine Miles as Florence.

The Last of Us releases new episodes Sunday nights on HBO and HBO Max.