The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

19

They aimed their weapons back in the direction of the two men that opened the door. It was just a matter of who fired first. Shaun's trigger finger shook. Matt slowly pressed his trigger. He wasn't going down without a fight. That's when Sam cried out.
"Gavin!" She screamed, pushing past the rest of them, almost knocking Jenna over.

The others looked on in confusion. Casey stepped forward and lowered Phil's rifle with her hand as she smiled. She couldn't believe it. There holding rifles of their own were Gavin and Marty. The same two guys that were supposed to be dead, mauled by Walker's ravenous monsters.

"Jesus Christ." Marty said. "You scared the shit out of us. Get in here. Hurry!" He yelled in a loud whisper. He looked outside, down both ends of the building before shutting the door.

Sam was still hugging Gavin. She couldn't believe he was alive. Marty was alive. They had made it through that horrible massacre in the gym that night. Casey gave Marty a hug. The guilt she felt for not saving him was lifted.

"Somebody want to tell me what the hell is going on?" Shannon said as she relaxed a little.
Casey hugged Gavin. "I can't believe you guys are alive." She said.
"We can't believe you two are." Marty replied. He then eyeballed Jenna.

"Save it Marty. I feel bad enough." Jenna said. She felt his cold stare but waved him off and took a seat on an iron pipe.
It was hard to talk over the hissing of the boilers, and the room was uncomfortably warm. Still, it was nice to relax a little, especially because of what lied ahead.
"Everyone." Casey introduced. "This is Gavin. And this is Marty. They're with us."

Handshakes and head nods were given out. Sam would not let Gavin go. He seemed to be enjoying every minute of it. Shaun approached him and Sam gladly grabbed his arm. Suddenly, all the doubts about coming back to the Nest were gone for Sam. If she had stayed with her mom and sister she would never have gotten this moment with Gavin.

"This is Gavin." She introduced.
Shaun laughed. "I heard." He shook Gavin's hand. "Nice to meet you. I heard a lot about you. This girl here is crazy about you."
Both Sam and Gavin smiled as their faces turned a bright shade of red.

"My mom and sister are alive." Sam told Gavin, suddenly. She just blurted it out. Gavin gave her a confused look. "I'll explain later, but Shaun looked them up on the computer, then I went to my old house and saw them. I didn't go in...... I can't explain now, I can..."

"Sam!" Shannon said in a loud whisper. "Save it! We got work to do."
"Sorry." Sam said, embarrassed. Gavin put his arm around her. "I'll tell you later." She whispered.

"So what happened Marty? How did you two escape the gym?" Casey asked.
"Well after I saw you and Sam arguing I thought maybe you were onto something. I mean, you're you, so I had to think your concern was justified. I found Gavin and he said the same thing, that there was something wrong with you girls. So we snuck out to find you both. That's when the doors were chained shut from the inside." Marty explained.

Gavin continued. "We watched it happen from the window of one of the doors. All of our friends. Kids, man. Those things ripped them apart." He stared angrily at the ground.

"Then I remembered this place." Marty said. "I knew from patrolling the halls that nobody ever came in here. So we hid out in here."
"That was smart, Marty." Casey said.
"We snuck out at night for some food and water. Other than that we've been in here trying to figure out what to do." He pointed to two makeshift beds on the concrete floor that were not well hidden by a stack of cardboard boxes.