JOEL: CHAPTER 23: The Inspection

Joel had finally awoken, he looked around and found himself in the county jail. He still didn't understand why he was in jail. He turned to his left to find Fireflies stripped of their equipment, locked up.

"Joel," a voice began to say.

Joel turned around to find his cellmate. By the looks of it, he was a bandit.

"They say this is your name, Joel," the bandit continued, "I've been hearing all about you."

"Who are you?" Joel questioned.

"You should be asking, 'Why am I here,' but that still works. I am not going to disclose my name with you, since that isn't of importance at the moment."

"Okay, so why am I here?" Joel asked.

"Do you know what you did?"

"I don't remember much, what happen?"

"You attacked a soldier, resisted arrest, and broke a soldier's arm."

"I don't remember any of that."

"Well you did, and one of the soldiers had to give you morphine so you would calm down."

Joel began to take it all in. He looked around his cell and looked into other cells. He noticed that the captive Fireflies had been staring at him the whole time entire time.

Two soldiers then walked in the door to the cell room. They were carrying in food and water bottles. Both of the soldiers were talking to each to each other. They then focus on the prisoners of war.

"Alright," one of the soldiers began, "its lunchtime." That very soldier then noticed Joel, awake. The two soldiers dropped the items they were carrying.

One of the soldiers grabbed the hand-radio from his vest and leaned towards it. "Contact Dr. Cole, he is awake." The soldier said as he continued lean towards the radio, "Yes sir," the soldier said.

"What did he say?" the soldier next the other said.

"Continue feeding them, and then report back for extra equipment."

The soldier nodded at the other. They began to feed the ex-legionaries. One of the soldiers would open the cell and feed the prisoners. The other would grab his rifle and point it at the prisoners to make sure they didn't do anything. This would continue until they reached Joel's cell.

Both of the soldiers just gave each other an uninsured look. One of the soldiers whispered something in the other's ear. After he finished, the one listening nodded back at the other.

"Alright," the soldier with the plan began, "if you move, or try to attack me, this soldier," the turned at the one next to him, "will put a bullet to both of your heads."

The soldier opened the cell, the other cocked the rifle for intimidation. The soldier handed the food and water bottles to the two cellmates. Joel stared at him as he handed the items. Everyone in the county jail just stared at the shaking soldiers. Everyone knew both of the soldiers were afraid.

The soldier carrying the rifle hand been shaking the whole entire time. The rifleman then tapped on the other soldier's shoulder. The tap was a signal to the soldier that they had to go.

The soldiers closed and locked the gate of the cell. The two soldiers kept looking back at the two as they exited.

"Well that was weird." Joel admitted.

"They're afraid of you," the bandit said as the opened the package of food (the food was nothing but MREs), "nice, ramen."

The bandit was now enjoying his meal along with the water. Joel then just opened the MRE package, hydrated the food and dug in.

Joel enjoyed the simple, yet delicious food. He would use his fork to twirl up the noodles and shoved it in his mouth. After 15 minutes, he was done.

Four soldiers approached the cell now. Carrying rifle like tasers. The one leading the group of soldiers, was a Major. His helmet was unique compared to others. His helmet was a fusion of a regular helmet and a gas mask. The eye holes lit up blue while placed on the user. By the looks of the helmet, it was a prototype.

The Major removed the helmet in front of Joel, the blue lights in the helmet darkened after the removal of the helmet. "Joel," the Major began, "Dr. Cole wishes to see you, for an…" the Major looked down for a second and then began to wave his arm down low, " an inspection."

"What kind of inspection?" Joel asked as he crawled on his knees and place his hands around the bars of the cell.

"I'm sorry, but you've asked too much. As for a safety protocol, we must do what we are about to do." The Major then placed back on the helmet, with the lenses of helmet lighting up. "It for our own good." The Major said as his voice changed from a voice of a human to a robotic voice. The Major now pulled back the pump of the rifle taser. "Open it up."

Two soldiers went up to the cell door. One unlocked it, the other opened it. The Major now shot the taser at Joel. The other soldier next to the Major, fired his as well.

"Ahhh!" Joel yelled in pain.

The other two soldiers grabbed their taser rifles and fired at Joel, hitting him in the chest.

"Alright that's enough." The Major said as he shut off the transmission of electricity to the taser.

Joel fell forward with smoke coming out of his body.

"What the hell!?" the bandit yelled.

"Shut up," the Major said as he looked at the bandit and pointed the rifle at him, "or I'll taze you and leave you for dead."

The soldiers then dragged out Joel and into the clinic where Dr. Cole was at.

Joel woke up to find a soldier right in front of him. The soldier took a step back for a second. Joel then tried to move forward. He was restrained by some chains behind him. He looked away from the soldier in front of him, to find a man in a lab coat.

That must be Dr. Cole. Next to Dr. Cole was the Major. His helmet had been removed and his arms.

"…that will be all Major." Dr. Cole informed.

The Major just nodded back, placed his helmet back on, and exited. As the Major exited, Tommy entered.

"Doctor," Tommy began as he shook the doctor's hand, "any progress on finding out what could have caused Joel's 'breakdown'?"

"Actually General, I've found some sort of 'drug' in Joel's bloodstream."

"Do you have the chemical formula for this 'drug'?"

"Yes I do, General." Dr. Cole pulled out a mini board and showed him the formula."

By the looks on Tommy's face, the formula was familiar to him.

"Familiar, General?" Dr. Cole asked.

"Sadly yes, this formula," he said pointing at the board, "is known by the Fireflies by 'Drug X'."

"Huh…" the Doctor said now thinking to himself.

"Johnson wanted Marlene to use this on enemy hunters, and the Military."

"And did he do it?" Cole asked.

"No, Marlene never approved of it. She was always keeping his hands tied."

"So what did this drug exactly do?"

"Well? It drove people insane by using emotional stress to fuel their rage. Joel's is different though, I think the drug was modified to make him some sort of sleeper agent."

Joel just kept listening to their conversations. To Joel, it seemed like they were talking trash. He now had to bud in.

"I thought I came here for an inspection?" Joel interrupted.

The two just turned around to an awaken Joel. Tommy said the first words to break the silence.

"Joel, from what we know, you've been drugged. You're going through emotional stress that is being caused by this drug." Tommy said looking at his confused brother.

"I don't know what you're talking about. People have told me what I've done recently. I don't remember any of that. Tommy," he know begged, "you got to believe me."

"From what I remember, those that have been drugged, don't remember what they did as they went savage."

"So you believe me?"

"Sorta, I believe the fact that you don't remember, but everyone saw what you did."

"What about Ellie?"

"She's been informed of your state. With Jackson under reconstruction and citizens returning, it was only a matter of time before she questioned your state. I'm sorry, but she questioned about the Fireflies."

"And?"

"I couldn't come clean, I'll leave that up to you. Whenever you get the chance, of course."

"Thanks."

"Joel…" Dr. Cole began, "until we clear you from this 'drug,' we can't let you go anywhere. And I do apologize for the way the soldiers handled you. It was for our safety. I promise, we'll be more lenient in the future."

"As for Jackson," Tommy began, "a company of soldiers will help in the reconstruction of this fine town. The ex-Fireflies may be subject to 'forced labor'. Speaking of Fireflies; with this coming war, Austin has requested me to recruit members into S.O.C."

"S.O.C.?" Joel questioned.

"Special Operation Commandos. The Texan Army's best."