Alex was quite a bully in his childhood.
In the intro montage we see Alex beating a random kid for no reason. This gives the impression that he was quite a bit like Chris Columbo in his youth. Joel will eventually use his bullet in a future part...
- ...as a Mercy Kill on a joy mutant Alex.
- ...to kill himself if something goes wrong.
Arnold's killing prowess comes from the power of infinity.
It's shown that the franchise has internal ranks that are referred to as the "folds of infinity." Members can ascend the folds by murdering people, although it's unclear what attaining a new fold does (if anything). If we're going with the supernatural explanation for the franchise's existence, it could be that reaching higher folds gives you dark powers of some description. Arnold is so strong because he's reached a high fold by killing a lot of people. This would explain why he's able to singlehandedly punch a joy mutant to death and transform into a monster.- Of course, his toughness could simply come from the experience he's accumulated from fighting so many people.
It won't be Alex making the sadistic choices in later chapters...
But rather his allies. This is based on two factors.- 1) The friendship with Joel operates from a hidden value that changes depending on certain interactions. Being positively receptive towards Joel adds a point, while negative actions such as staying secretive or dismissive will subtract a point. How one decides on important events (namely deciding to heal Joel's broken ribs after finding a trauma kit) contributes three points to that value. The scene before the end determines how Joel behaves towards Hugo. If that value is below range, he'll simply scowl at him. If that value is within range, he'll attempt to bluff him with his gun. If that value is above range, he'll try to shoot Hugo... only to realize he didn't load his bullet.
- 2) The fact that we get to see Jason Pike making the choice, and because he knows nothing of the protagonists, naturally, he chooses to save his own skin over giving in to Hugo's demands, allowing Hugo to mercilessly shank Alex. He takes about a few seconds to think it over.
Beltboy is the sole reason Joel could only find one bullet.
Because dear god, do you see how many bullets Beltboy fires?- Joel probably could only find a single bullet because Beltboy didn't think it was cool.
- Thing is, Beltboy fires all kinds of guns while Joel wields a very specific kind of Sniper Pistol with an equally specific kind of caliber to go with it. Though I honestly wouldn't be surprised if Beltboy has thousands of bullets in the same caliber as Joel's Sniper Pistol. Rule of Funny, you know?
Joel's bullet will be a dud.
When the time finally comes, Joel will try to shoot his gun... but the bullet won't fire. This would tie nicely with the themes of futility of the game Alex Churchland is secretly not as good of a person as we think he is, or at least he has done some morally questionable things in the past.
It could be revealed in a flashback in the upcoming Monster Update, or the next 2 chapters in the future. The game will end with Alex, and (possibly) Joel becoming members of the Infinity Franchises, with the next chapter featuring Alex succumbing to the Franchise's influence at the end, while the third chapter will have you play as an Infinitized Alex and going out in a blaze of violence against The City, ultimately causing it's society to collapse and fall apart in the process.
The credits for Chapter 1 have the credits text turn into the words KILL repeated over and over again, suggesting that the two might have been infected with the Franchise's Mind Virus. One of the games endings will end with Alex and Joel Mutating.
And after the credits will see Buddy approach the mutated Alex and Joel. The City will turn out to be a Crapsaccharine World, with a major theme being Alex and Joel's struggle to thrive in the city.
And the reason as to why it's so Crapsaccharine can vary, as it could be overly authoritarian, extremely capitalistic, or infested with gang wars between the Neon Flamingos and the Extreme Prejudice Society. The infinity Francise is doomed to fall to a warlord's army.
Considering how most have no combat skill, a skilled stronger group would stop them. Rando would have made them a target