The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

23

"We gotta get the hell out of here!" Phil yelled.
They were trapped again. Smoke filled the hallway from the grenades being thrown their way. Sam was still crouched down protecting Shaun as Gavin and Shannon return fire. Shaun was in and out of consciousness. His breathing had slowed.

"Hey, see that room over there?" Gavin asked.
He pointed to a room to their left. "That room runs all the way past the guards. We can run through it and out its other door in the back and flank them."

"Won't they see us go in there? Or notice we stopped shooting at them?" Phil asked.
"Throw a few smoke grenades." Shannon said. "But a couple of us have to stay here, distract them, draw their fire."

"I'll stay." Sam volunteered.
"Me too." Gavin said.
Phil looked at Shannon. "It's me and you."
"You ready?" She asked him.
Phil just smiled. Was there any way to be ready for something like this?

Gavin threw two smoke grenades. A wall of thick white smoke filled the air and shielded them. Phil and Shannon took off. Sam and Gavin gave them cover fire allowing them to make it into the room.

"How you doin?" Sam asked Shaun while she reloaded.
"Never better." He joked. "Get me up." He said to Gavin.
"You sure?"

Shaun nodded. "I'm not letting you two have all the fun." Gavin and Sam got him to his feet. He felt the pain everywhere now, but he wasn't going to let his friends down. They were already out numbered. .
"They're getting closer!" Sam yelled.
"If Phil and Shannon don't hurry we're dead." Shaun stated.

He fired into the smoke. Just the recoil from the rifle caused him immense pain in his side. He was losing too much blood. Shannon had bandaged the wound but it was still bleeding freely. They needed time to attend to it, and they weren't getting it here.

A guard came out of the smoke and kicked Shaun in the stomach, sending him to the ground. The man was quickly grabbed by Gavin who shot him in the chest at close range, then followed it up with a single head shot.

They heard yelling and the sound of rapid fire. Phil and Shannon had surprised the guards from behind. Gavin and Sam had to hold their fire for fear they would hit their friends with stray bullets. They took cover with Shaun.

About two minutes later they found out they didn't even need to fire back at the guards anyway. Phil and Shannon came out of the smoke, the shooting had stopped. The remainder of the guards were dead. Their path to the exit was now clear.

Shaun put one arm around Phil and the other around Gavin as Shannon and Sam led the way to the exit. They hoped Tyler was on his way, for Shaun's sake. He wouldn't last much longer.

Shannon felt the detonator in her vest pocket and was filled with a sense of dread. She had the responsibility of ending this whole thing, possibly with her friends still inside. Sam pushed open the double doors and took in a big breath of fresh air. The fact that they had so much smoke in their lungs made it that much more refreshing.

Phil put Shaun on the ground and leaned him up against the wall of the building.
"I'll get the truck." Phil told them. "Keep him awake." He said, pointing to Shaun.
Shannon looked at her injured friend. Then she looked at the time on her phone. 10:30. Steve's the timer.

11:00. Thats what time she would blow it. Thirty minutes. That's how much time Matt's team had to make it out. Shannon had fought with herself whether she would be able to press the button or not.

Soon, she was going to have to make the most difficult decision of her life.