Ellie has a scar on her eyebrow that originates from a past incident referenced as the "7-Eleven situation." This event happened when Ellie and her close friend Riley broke into an abandoned 7-Eleven inside the quarantine zone. During their escape, something went wrong involving glass, which caused Ellie to get the eyebrow scar. The exact details are kept vague to maintain the mystery, but the scar serves as a symbol of the permanent marks violence and danger leave on people living in that harsh world. The show's creators intentionally left the story of how Ellie got her scar mostly unexplained to highlight that scars are part of living in a violent, dangerous environment and to make the characters feel more lived-in and real.