The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

27

Shannon paced back and forth. Matt and Casey were taking too long. She knew something was wrong. Now Shaun laid dead in the back of Matt's truck and she had the job of pushing a button and killing three more of her friends and Tyler, a five year old little boy. The whole reason they were there. Things were falling apart.

The metal doors suddenly swung open and Jenna came running out. Gavin and Phil lowered their guns they had aimed at the door and ran to her.
"Where are the others?!" Shannon asked.
"We had to split up. They're still in there." Jenna replied. "Those things are loose..... all of them."
"Jesus Christ." Phil said. He looked nervously toward the door.

Jenna saw Shaun laying in the bed of the truck. She ran over and hopped up. "Oh my God. What happened? Is he..."
Sam nodded. "He's dead." She had dry tears on her cheeks.
Jenna started crying again as she touched Shaun's face. "How long?"
"About fifteen minutes." Sam replied.

"Jenna! Why are they in there and you're not?" Shannon asked her. It was a low blow perhaps. She took an unfair jab at Jenna as she sat crying over her boyfriend's lifeless body.
Jenna had no fight left in her. She could have yelled at Shannon, who had no idea what just went on inside the Nest. Instead, she just calmly answered.

"We all agreed to split up. The hope was that some or all would chase me. Looks like that didn't happen." She explained.
"Are they alive?!" Phil asked.
"When we split up they were, yeah." Jenna replied.

"I'm so sorry, Jenna." Sam said.
Jenna hugged her. She knew how much Sam meant to Shaun. And she could tell she was with him when he passed away. Still, she held out hope that Tyler would come out in time and bring him back.

While they were looking at the exit door Matt came running around from the side of the building holding Tyler. When he got to his friends his legs gave out and he fell to the ground, dropping Tyler as he landed.

Gavin picked the little boy up while Phil and Shannon helped Matt to his feet.
"Oh thank God." Shannon said.
"Where's Casey?" Sam asked.
"She stayed behind." Matt said, quietly.

"What? She's the last one. We have to go back." Shannon said.
Matt took out his phone. He set the timer for fifteen minutes. "She said give her fifteen minutes. If she's not out by then, blow it."

"You're not serious?!" Shannon asked.
"What happened in there?" Phil asked Matt.
"They were breaking through the door. Those monsters, all ten of them.....They would have followed us out here and killed us all. Casey went back to distract them so me and Tyler could get out." Matt explained.

"Of course she did." Shannon said. She threw her hands up in the air and turned away.
"Tyler!" Sam yelled.
All of their attention was now turned to Matt's truck, where Shaun laid lifeless.
"Jesus, when did this happen?" Matt asked.
"He's been gone for almost twenty minutes. He got shot under the arm." Gavin told him.

"Christ, that's a long time." Matt said. "It might be too long. I don't know if...."
"Let him try..... please." Jenna wept.
Gavin lifted Tyler into the truck and he immediately went to work on Shaun. He place his hands on the bullet wound and in seconds he had the bullet in his hand. Shannon had come back to life in minutes after she had died, but Tyler had started working on her right away.

His normal minor healings took seconds. This was his first case of someone that had literally been dead for an extended period of time. If Tyler was able to do it, this power alone would be worth everything they had done. All the sacrifices their friends had made would not have been in vain. To be able to bring back the dead is something none of them thought possible.

"Why isn't he waking up?" Jenna cried.
Shannon pulled Matt aside. Phil joined them.
"Walker?" Shannon asked.
Matt shook his head. "He's dead."
"How?" She asked.
"Casey shot him. Jenna gave her the okay." He said.

Phil shook his head. "She lost her dad and possibly Shaun in the same night? Damn."
They looked back at Jenna sobbing uncontrollably. She had quite a night up until now. Shannon realized she had been too harsh on her.
"And Marty?" Phil asked.
"He's dead. Marty's dead." Matt told them.

"He's not waking up." Sam cried.
Tyler had been at it for a few minutes now. Matt knew his friend was gone. The question was how long would he let Tyler work on him.
"I told her not to." Matt said, suddenly. "I told Casey to come with me. She wouldn't listen. I couldn't stop her." His guilt of letting Casey stay behind was now consuming him.

Shannon hugged him. "She'll make it out. I know it."
Matt wasn't so sure. The only thing he was sure of right now was that Shaun was dead. He went over and put his hand on Tyler's shoulder. When his son turned around he had tears in his eyes.

"It's okay, Ty. You did your best buddy. He's just been gone too long. There's nothing more you could do." Matt told him. He picked him up and held him. Jenna and Sam didn't argue. They knew Shaun was gone. They just hugged each other.
Now all their attention would be on Casey getting out alive. Matt looked at his phone.

Nine minutes left.