Good start.

Nice chapter. I like how Emma and Taylor have patched up.

Sophia turned Hunter I take it, either taking Madison with her or Madison got got...

And it seems like Taylor is replacing Joel in the story.

Hmm, would have preferred a more explicit indication of the time jump i think. Cutting to Emma celebrating the birthday worked, but it was sort of jarring.

Also, Joel got butterflied away! RIP all that character development. I hope you only plan on hitting some of the stations of canon, although finding sophia with the raiders in Boston would be thoroughly amusing.

I'm not really sure this is a Worm crossover? I have a hard time calling something a crossover when you take the characters from one story and insert them in the other with none of their powers or anything except their names. To me this is more a Last of Us fic with four OCs that have the same names as Worm characters and a fic author's version of their personalities. Worm characters without parahuman powers seems to miss the whole point of Wormverse.

Now, if that is going to change and they get their powers back or get back in contact with Earth Bet then that is completely different. Otherwise this seems like a pure Last of Us fic and that is something I normally have no interest in reading. I like your fics and this fic has nothing wrong with it from a writing or storytelling perspective. I just consider it misleading or a marketing gimmick to call it a Worm crossover based on what has occurred so far.

Gritty and Dark, and Taylor. Love it! Thank you.