The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

20

Matt watched Shannon's team turn the corner before he told Jenna to take the lead. Marty was behind her, then Matt and Tyler, and Casey had the rear. It felt like they only walked a minute before they heard gun shots coming from the opposite end of the facility. Shannon's team was in it right now. There was no going back.

A loud alarm started going off, echoing throughout the halls. Red flashing lights were blinking in certain corners of the high ceiling. The Nest was officially under attack.
"C'mon, we have to move." Jenna said, as she picked up the pace.

That's when they ran into their thirty something guards, who opened fire on them immediately. The two teams would have been better off if they ran into their respective army of guards together. Instead the alarms put these particular guards on alert. Matt pushed Tyler behind a pillar. Thankfully the tall white structures were every twenty feet or so. They all took cover behind them.

They fired rounds in the direction of the guards, but it was all cover fire. They couldn't see any of them. The sound echoed off the walls and made it difficult to hear. It was like firing guns inside a museum.
"Don't let them advance!" Jenna screamed.
It felt like they were trapped. Matt got the feeling that if any of them stepped out from behind the pillars they would be shot immediately.

Casey could hear the gunfire getting closer. Bullets from the guards ripped through the stone walls and pillars sending debris down on top of Matt and Tyler.

"Jesus Christ!" Matt yelled.
He knew they needed an opening so they could go on the offensive. He covered Tyler with his own body the best he could. It was then that Casey and Jenna gave them the opportunity they were looking for.

The two girls stepped out. The same two that had taken down ten shifters just a few days ago. They were a deadly combination when they worked together. Together, they walked out in the middle of the hall with reckless abandon, firing away without any care for their own well being. When Matt got out from behind the pillar he saw a few dead guards on the ground but not enough to make him feel comfortable.

He moved to the next structure to hide behind with Tyler and Marty in tow, taking out a guard of his own with a precision head shot. Marty then joined the girls in the fight. This was the war they expected. Some of the soldiers retreated back  towards Walker's office. They finally had them on the run.

Jenna and Casey caught up to the ones that didn't retreat. They engaged them in hand to hand combat. As Casey grabbed the young muscled up guard, she noticed he already had a bandage on his nose. This guy had been one who had jumped her days earlier.

She greeted him by smashing the same nose she had broken before. He would not get off so easy this time. He was able to land a hard blow to Casey's face but she stayed on her feet and grabbed him by the throat. She slammed him up against the wall right before she quickly implanted a knife into his abdomen. She felt it go through him like a knife going through warm butter.

Jenna grabbed the back of the hair of another ex army soldier and smashed his face into one of the pillars. When he fell she fired a single bullet into the back of his head.

Both girls ran back to Matt and Tyler. Marty gathered more ammo from the fallen guards lying dead around them. They were going to need all they could get.
"That bought us some time." Casey said. She brushed concrete dust off Tyler's shoulders. "You okay?" She asked him.

It was the first time she was questioning whether bringing him was a good idea.
Tyler nodded. But there was no way any five year old would be okay with this. Matt would deal with him later, assuming they survived. He could definitely foresee years of therapy in Tyler's future.

"We gotta move." Jenna told them.
They ran, staying close to the walls. Nobody counted the bodies on the ground but there had to still be twenty or so left.

It wasn't long before they ran into more men and the shooting resumed. Marty immediately was hit in the leg, sending him to the ground. Matt grabbed the back of his shirt and drug him behind the wall.
"You good? Cover Tyler." He ordered, before joining Casey. He didn't even give Marty a chance to respond.

Matt took a bullet to his vest. He fell back against the wall, startled. He'd never been shot before so the initial reaction was to panic. It knocked the wind out of him. He felt under the vest, praying he didn't see any red on his hand when he pulled it out. His chest was burning and his breathing intensified.

Jenna ran over. "Shit. Are you okay?"
Matt nodded, still dazed.
"Vest." Jenna said. "You're lucky."
Casey came back to them. Her arm was bleeding.
"You're hit." Matt said.
Casey looked at her arm. "It just grazed me." She hadn't even noticed.
"Marty got shot in the leg." Matt told them.
"We have to get him." Casey said.

They needed cover to make it across to Tyler and Marty. Matt took a grenade out of his backpack. "Stay down." He pulled the pin and threw it blindly down the hall in the direction of the guards.
As soon as they heard the explosion they ran, then slid for cover. Marty had Tyler pinned between his back and the wall. Tyler wiggled out when he saw Matt.

"Can you walk?" Casey asked Marty.
"Yeah, just get me up."
Matt helped Casey get Marty to his feet. Jenna surveyed the hall.
"It's clear, they fell back to my dad's office. We're close." She said.

"Good." Casey replied. "Let's finish it."