The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

32

The next few days were a whirlwind of activity. The first order of business was dropping Sam off at her mom's house. She had spent the week at Matt's after they had destroyed the Nest.

She wanted to make sure EVERYTHING was taken care of before she returned to her family. The two scientists were the last known ties to Walker and his evil corporation. Now that they were gone, or at least scared straight, Sam was ready to go home.

They also had Shaun's funeral. There was a big turnout for their well liked friend. His parents, Ed and Renea mourned their son. Detective Milligan even showed up, not to question them, but to pay his respects.

Ben and Mary stood with Shannon and Sierra. As elders they knew Shaun had made the ultimate sacrifice, just like Gab had. Another good friend gone protecting Tyler.

Matt drove as Sam sat in the backseat with Gavin, who held her hand in support. Shannon was in the passenger seat. She had tried hard with Sam this past week to fill the void left by Casey, whose death Sam still wasn't over. There would always be a hole in her heart now. That one fateful day in the cafeteria at the Nest, the day Casey called Sam over, that was the day that ultimately saved Sam's life. The bond formed in the short time after was something that couldn't be replaced.

"Now listen." Matt said to her. "You can call or text any of us at any time of the day or night. We're all here for you. You're family now."
"I'm texting everyone tomorrow when I get my new phone." Sam replied.
"We'll get together next week and go shopping." Shannon said.

Sam gave Gavin a kiss. "I'm going to miss you so much."
"I'm not far away." He replied.
They had spent the whole week together at Matt's house. Gavin would be staying with Matt indefinitely. Sadly, his parents WERE really killed in a car accident. A rare truth told by Walker.

Apparently Walker did bring some orphaned kids to the Nest when he wasn't kidnapping the others. Matt helped Gavin do a deep dive on the laptop a few days ago with the hopes he would find them alive, just like Sam had. Gavin took it in stride though. He had lived the last nine years thinking they were dead anyway so his hopes were not high.

"I'm so nervous." Sam said. She had on the necklace Shaun had given her and was rubbing it between her fingers.
"Don't be." Gavin said. "They're going to lose it when they see you."
They had all sat down with Sam and went over what she should say to her mother and sister.

She was taken by a man who treated her well. She wasn't harmed or assaulted and was blindfolded whenever she left the house so she had no idea where she was the last two years. Then one day her kidnapper blindfolded her and drove her to an unknown location and drove away.

Sam would plead with her mom not to call the police and hope she honored her wishes. Was the story ridiculous? Maybe, but who would argue? They would have her back after two years. Hopefully, that's all they would care about.

"You have your band on?" Matt asked.
Sam held up her left wrist, revealing her black band. The day after they got back Phil went to work on making them black band trackers. They looked like a flat rubber bracelet. When turned on a green light would appear on it, when off, a red light would show up.

Everyone could tell exactly where each other was just by pulling up an app on their phone. Sure, they could all just share location with one another, but phones can be misplaced, lost, or broken. The tracker bands stayed in at all times. Phil's tech skills came in handy. He was a wiz with anything electronic. They all felt more comfortable being able to see where each other was.