JOEL: CHAPTER 12: Family Reunion

After a long drive, he arrived at a late afternoon. He parked the Humvee next to the car he used to get to Jackson the first time. The snow had already melted completely, making it the beginning of spring.

He made his way down the woods. He got closer to the gate and notice Mason at the gate, Mason looked at Joel with relief. "Joel?" Mason said.

"Mason" The two bro-hugged each other, the two had been good friends at a time.

"I'll tell Tommy you're here." Mason grabbed his walkie-talkie from his ballistic vest, and spoke into it. "Get me General Tommy"

"General Tommy?" Joel asked.

"Yeah, long story" Mason said.

"Who the hell are these soldiers?" Joel asked.

"They're Texan soldiers, they protect us" Mason said. "Tommy knows more about it" Mason said.

Tommy soon approached Joel followed by two soldiers, one of them was Captain Pineda, the other was a masked Tactical soldier (from now on masked refers to someone wearing a gas mask, he had flipped his combat hat). Tommy looked nervous as he approached Joel. "Hey Joel, long time no see" Tommy said.

"Who are these soldiers?" Joel asked.

"They're Texan soldiers" Tommy replied.

"Yeah I know that, but why are they here?" Joel asked. Tommy didn't want to answer that question. "Never mind that, where's Ellie?"

Tommy's face grew more nervous. Even Captain Pineda grew nervous, since he knew what happened to her. Then Tommy finally decided to respond. "Try the Capital" Tommy said ready to receive some kind of punch to the face.

"What? Which Capital!?" Joel asked in raged.

"The Texan Capital" Tommy responded. Joel wasn't mad at Tommy just upset. Then, a tear appeared in his eye.

"Why was she sent to the Capital?" Joel asked.

"To get something out of her, for a vaccine." Tommy said. Joel's worst fears had finally come to true, after what Marlene told him, about getting out fungus parasite from the brain, causing her death. He felt like he had failed her.

"Tommy do you know what will happen if they take it out?" Joel asked.

"No, what?" Tommy asked.

"It will kill her in the process." Joel said. This made his brother feel bad of what he had done.

Then Captain Pineda spoke out. "Permission to speak freely, Sir?" Captain Pineda asked.

"Sure, what the hell is it"? Tommy asked.

"Ellie will live the operation." Captain Pineda said.

Joel's face looked confused. "But the Fireflies told me-"

"The Fireflies didn't have the tech we have. They don't have the best surgeons, if you like, the next helicopter that gets here tomorrow, can take you to Austin. There you can see Ellie. A soldier can escort you there" Captain Pineda said.

"Are you serious about her livin'?" Joel asked.

"Yes" Captain Pineda said.

"So it's settled, the next transport helicopter that gets here will be your ride" Tommy said. The masked soldier walked near him and whispered something in his ear. "Oh, that's right" Tommy said.

"What it is?" Joel asked.

"It's just the status on our barracks."

"Oh" Joel said.

Out of nowhere Maria came. She actually seemed happy to see her brother-in-law. "Joel, where have you been?" Maria asked.

"Try Salt Lake City" Joel responded. Maria wondered why he was there.

"Why were you there?" Maria asked.

"The Fireflies interrogated me" Joel said. Captain Pineda and the masked soldier just stood there awkwardly because it had nothing to do with them.

"Huh? Why in the hell did they do that?" Tommy asked. Joel didn't want to answer, but he did.

"They wanted to know where Ellie was" Tommy looked surprised at the fact that they interrogated him.

"Who interrogated you? Marlene?" Joel didn't want to tell his brother that he shot Marlene about a year back.

"The new leader Alex Johnson." Joel said.

"You mean that tyrant? What happened to Marlene?" Tommy asked.

It was time for Joel to face the light, but it didn't come out good. Joel starred back at his brother. "Uhhh…" Joel couldn't finish what he was going to say. He just couldn't say what happen. "Can I talk to you privately?" Joel asked him.

"Sure, this way we'll talk at our house."

The two soldiers, Joel, Tommy, and Maria made their way to Tommy/Maria's house. Tommy stopped and turned to his soldiers. "You two, stay here. I'll be fine, guard the house" Tommy ordered.

"Yes, sir" Captain Pineda said tiredly.

The three of them entered the house. Joel started walking towards the kitchen table, put his old backpack down on the table, and said, "Ain't been here in a while" Joel sat down and so did Maria and Tommy.

Tommy remembered what they were talking about. "Yeah. You didn't answer my question about Marlene."

"Tommy… I know I am goin' sound really selfish right now, the Fireflies didn't stop looking for a cure…" Joel said.

"What?" Tommy asked. "I… I couldn't let them do that to Ellie, I couldn't let them take her. She…"

Joel looked down so that Maria and Tommy wouldn't notice him slowly tearing up. Joel slammed the table. "I killed Marlene! I took her from the hospital! I couldn't let them take her away from me! She has made my life worth living, ever since Sarah. She's like a daughter to me! I just couldn't…" Joel shouted. Boy that felt good to let out. He told himself.

Tommy and Maria look shocked. They didn't know what to say. It was silent for a least 2 minutes. Tommy didn't know which one shocked him more, the fact that he killed Marlene, or the fact that he accepted Ellie as his daughter. Still silence, until Joel broke it, "They're planning on attacking Jackson" Joel said. "And they have armored vehicles, they now want to have the cure to themselves." Joel added

"How do we not know you're lyin'?" Tommy asked. Joel had that coming.

"Okay Tommy, he's had a rough day." Maria said as she put her hand on his shoulder.

"I believe you about the Fireflies wantin' to keep the vaccine. Alex was always tryin' to get Marlene to agree on that when I was a Firefly. But I don't know about the armored vehicles and the Fireflies wanting to attack Jackson. They didn't have that when I was a Firefly. Did you find out who's leading the attack?" Tommy asked.

"Something called the 10th Legion." Joel answered.

"Oh no, this is bad." Tommy got up from his chair and started pacing back in forth.

"What's the 10th Legion?" Joel asked.

Tommy was afraid of the 10th legion attacking. "They're the largest Firefly group in the Fireflies. They're also the most elite." Tommy said.

"Can't you use these soldiers to defend against them?" Joel asked.

But now Maria had to get on this, "There isn't enough troops" Maria said.

"She's right, there is only like 120 soldiers here at the moment, 90 here, 30 at the dam." Tommy said.

"More will come over time, but it seems like they're about to attack." Maria said.

Tommy started to realize that his brother had a long day. "Just go get some sleep, Joel. We'll handle it." Tommy said.

"Are you sure?" Joel asked.

"Yes, now go get some sleep" Tommy told his older brother.

Joel got up from his chair, got his backpack. "Alright" Joel said. He went upstairs. Then he saw Ellie's room. He walked in her room. Her backpack was on the floor. He opened it and found a couple of things. He found her comics, a letter from her mother, Riley Abel's penitent, Sam's robot, her joke books and her SONY Walkman. Hmm, Ellie must have taken her pistol. He thought to himself

Joel put her stuff back on the floor and went to his room. Time to sleep. Maria and Tommy were right, he did have a long day, and way to end it with some sleep.