After completely clearing out the buildings, he and Ellie return to their original refuge. He discussed the philosophy that everything happens for a reason, with which Ellie disagreed. David decided to prove his theory by revealing that it was in fact his men who attacked Joel and Ellie at the university. A returning James overheard the conversation and held Ellie at gunpoint, but David demanded Ellie be given the medicine and set loose, and James reluctantly complied.

David sent his men to track Ellie with the hope that she would lead them to Joel. His men mentioned that they were under strict orders from David to keep her alive, but decided to ignore these orders when they found out from James that it was Joel who slaughtered half the raiders at the university. Overhearing their conversation, Ellie decided to lead them away from Joel, then double back to him.

She rode away from David's group on horseback, then escaped on foot after her horse was shot and killed. Eventually, David himself found her, grabbed her from behind, and choked her unconscious, claiming that he was “keeping her alive.” When Ellie regained consciousness she was in a small cell. She witnessed James chopping up a corpse on a table, and discovered that David and his group were cannibals.

Ellie was visibly disgusted and hostile toward David, calling him an “animal.” David pleaded to Ellie that he had her best interests in mind, and offered her a place in his group. He then affectionately touched Ellie's hand. Seizing her chance, she broke David's finger and attempted to grab his keys, but David slammed her against the cell bars and threatened her life. The next day, David and James arrived and pinned Ellie down onto the table attempting to slaughter her for food.

In the struggle, Ellie bit David's hand, which only infuriated him more. Just before David struck her with a butcher knife, Ellie exclaimed she was infected and stated that David was infected too. David was initially skeptical, but Ellie insisted that he should roll up her right sleeve and see for himself. Upon finding out she was telling the truth, James became frightened but David claimed it couldn’t be real because she would have already turned. As the two men argued, Ellie seized the butcher knife with her left hand and slashed James' throat, killing him.

David shot at Ellie as she ran, but hit one of the hanging bodies instead. Ellie escaped from the room with her switchblade. David organized a search party to look for Ellie and even taunted her in a demented tone as he traversed through the town. David eventually found Ellie in an old restaurant, struggling with her as she attempted to escape from his people out the back door and commenting that she was easy to track.

He knocked her down, taking her revolver, and held her at gunpoint. During their struggle a lantern had been shattered, and the fire distracted David long enough for Ellie to run and hide. As the restaurant was slowly engulfed in flames, he locked the exit and continued to taunt Ellie, telling her that she had nowhere to go and would need to take the keys from him if she wanted to leave. He stalked her throughout the restaurant, all the while mocking her and expressing his disappointment that she did not accept his offer to join the group.

Ellie continued to hide among the tables of the restaurant, trying to outmaneuver David and get the keys. After Ellie stabbed David from behind once with her switchblade, he threw her off and attempted to shoot her with his revolver, missing as she took cover. He then drew a machete and continued to stalk her, growing angrier and seemingly ignoring the bloody wound.

Ellie used her small size to her advantage and managed to get behind David to stab him twice more. In the ensuing struggle, David slammed Ellie onto a table, knocking her out before he passed out as well. David eventually regained consciousness and saw Ellie crawling towards his machete. Before she could reach it, David came behind her and kicked her repeatedly, telling her it was “OK to give up.”

After she refused, David kicked Ellie again, pinned her down and grabbed her by the throat. What his intentions were are unclear, as before he could act on them Ellie managed to seize the machete and slash his arm. David screamed once before Ellie began hacking him repeatedly in the face and neck. She only stopped when Joel finally found her and pulled her off.