The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

22

The door to Walker's office was in sight, but still a good distance away with a couple dozen guards in their path. Marty was walking on his own now, although not very well. They trudged forward, walking past dead bodies on the ground. The grenade had served its purpose.

More gunfire erupted. With Marty now guarding Tyler, Matt had the opportunity to help Casey and Jenna. The guards threw a smoke grenade and they were suddenly fighting blind.

Their enemy took the opportunity to advance on them, charging out of the smoke. Jenna was grabbed and thrown to the ground by a man twice her size. Matt acted quickly and shot him in the back before he could stick the knife he had raised into Jenna.

Casey was so preoccupied with watching Matt kill the man that she didn't see one of the guards come at her with a gun. She turned just in time to see him freeze. His mouth was hanging open, as if he was trying to scream. All of his facial expressions were frozen.

His gun was still pointed out at her face. Casey then turned to see Tyler with his hand up pointed at the soldier. He had somehow frozen him in time. Casey turned back to the man, he could see her, but he couldn't move. He watched helplessly as Casey fired a shot right between his eyes.

"Holy shit." Marty said, looking on. Having done his job, Tyler took cover behind him once again.

They marched forward through the smoke. Matt used a pipe bomb from Zipper's homemade recipe and threw it down the hall. It exploded with force, sending the guards fleeing.

"I'm running low." Casey announced.
"Take the weapons from the dead guards, ammo too." Matt instructed. He looked at Casey's arm.
"Little worse than a graze." He said.
"I'll live."

"C'mon. From the looks of it there can't be many more left." Jenna said as she examined the amount of bodies on the floor.

As the smoke from the pipe bombs faded they saw Walker's office door, clear as day. Only two guards stood in front of it. They were the last defense for their boss. They had to know they were going to sacrifice themselves. Walker really did have them brainwashed.

Casey approached them with her 9mm raised. That's when another of the guards came from the left behind the wall. He had used the other two to bait Casey in. None of them had seen him. He raised his rifle right at Casey and fired.

Something flashed before her eyes. She looked down at her chest, expecting to see a hole in it. Instead she saw Marty laying on the ground in front of her. He had taken the bullet.

It gave Matt enough time to shoot the guard while Jenna took out the two standing by her dad's door. Marty laid on his back, coughing up blood. Casey knelt down beside him.

"Marty! Why did you do that?!" She yelled. "Tyler!" She called.
Matt walked over to the guard that had shot Marty with the bullet that was intended for Casey. The man was still alive.

Matt saw a tattoo on his arm, USMC. Hard to believe this guy was an ex-marine. He looked at the name tag: GARCIA. It rang a bell. Casey had mentioned him.

"Hey Case, you know this guy?" Matt asked her.
She came over and looked down at Garcia. She couldn't believe it was him. He scowled up at her. Matt had got him pretty good but it wasn't a kill shot. For that Casey was glad. She wanted to do the honors.

"Go to hell." He said to her in his most disgusted voice.
"You first." She replied.
She fired a bullet into his chest.

Jenna and Tyler knelt next to Marty. He was losing blood and fading fast.
"Can you fix him?" Casey asked Tyler.
He put his hands on Marty's wound. Matt knew he had been doing better after healing, but they were minor injuries. This was a life or death wound.

All he could think about was if Shannon or Phil or any of the others were hurt. If Tyler passed out healing Marty he wouldn't be there for them. He knew it was selfish, but he had seen enough of his friends die. He took Tyler's hand away. Casey looked at him, confusion all over her face.

"What are you doing?" She asked.
"What if the others are injured? What if he can't help them because he's unconscious?" He said, trying to whisper so Marty didn't hear him.  "What if Sam is hurt?" He asked her.

Casey was crying now as the man who saved her was dying right in front of her. But she knew Matt was right. As awful as it was, they needed Tyler. They were not out of the woods yet. Their loyalty was always to each other first.

Marty took Casey's hand. He had heard everything. He didn't argue, he even seemed at peace.
"It's okay." He said to her. "It's time I paid for my mistakes anyway. Part of me knew this was a bad place. I was just too scared to leave or do something about it."

She squeezed his hand. "But you did do something about it. You're here right now with us."
His breathing got weaker. "Yeah... I guess I am."
He smiled. It would be the last words he would speak. Casey put her hand over his eyes and closed them.

Jenna put her hand on Casey's shoulder. "It's time." She told her.
They gathered whatever weapons they could find on the ground approached Walker's office together. Jenna had a sick feelings in her stomach.

Her father, the man responsible for all of this, was behind those doors. This was her moment, Matt had given it to her. She led the way and pushed the doors open.