The Chosen Ones: Book 3: The War

35

THE FLASHBACK

"I love you." Casey whispered.
The monsters charged at her with a menacing roar. She pulled the string on the grenades and rolled them towards the incoming creatures.

Casey kicked the air vent on the floor with all her might and knocked it in, leaving it open. She quickly dropped onto her stomach and rolled in. She felt like she was falling forever. Then finally, she hit the ground and there was just blackness.

She opened her eyes expecting to see something, anything, but there was still black all around her. How long had she been out? Did she pass out at all? She could feel the heat all over her, it was everywhere. Was she dead? Yes, she had to be, and this was hell. You didn't kill as many people as she had and get invited into heaven.

Casey tried to move, that's when she felt the pain all over. Would she be able to feel pain if she was dead? That's when she realized. She was alive!
She didn't know how or why, or who was up there looking out for her, but she was alive. She tried to get up but had a slab of concrete on her back.

The heat was from the fires that burned all around her. One of her friends had pushed the detonator. That, along with the eight grenades she had thrown and the Nest was officially obliterated. Nothing could have withstood that blast. Well, nothing except a 120 pound 5'3 blonde girl who happened to get lucky she found an air vent on the floor.

She reached up with her free right hand and pushed through debris, sending a beam of light shining onto her face, a sure sign that it was morning. She had been unconscious for a while. She used her free hand to push up, screaming in pain as the slab of concrete slid off her back,  tearing her skin right along with it.

She was able to get her left hand free now. Casey pushed up with both hands and was able to get onto her knees. Slowly, she got to her feet. She tried to take a step but stumbled and almost fell. She braced herself on one of the pieces of rubble that was strewn about.

Casey surveyed the area. It looked like a small city that just got demolished by an earthquake. A city that just got bombed. All around her was white stone and concrete debris with rebar sticking out of it. There were fires burning everywhere.

There was waste as far as her eyes could see. Holy shit..... we did it, she thought. The air vent she slipped into dropped her down into the Nest's dungeon, ultimately saving her life. The irony was poetic. That and a little luck that she wasn't buried under the debris.

She stumbled over the rebar and rubble as she tried to get clear of the mess. Something caught her eye on the ground- her black backpack! She had to laugh out loud at her luck. Casey picked it up and walked out of the debris field. She found a tree stump and plopped down on it. The simple act of sitting down just then felt like heaven.

She closed her eyes for a moment. They burned from the heat that the fires gave off. Everything hurt. She couldn't believe there weren't police and fire departments heading to the scene yet. She must have been out for a few hours. The blast had to be heard from miles away.

Casey reached into the black bag and pulled out her cell phone. The screen was cracked, and not that one crack everyone in the world seemed to have, hers looked like a full on spiderweb. She pressed the button anyway, seeing if luck was still on her side.

Sadly, her phone was dead, and not just the battery, it was destroyed. She looked into the bag at the stacks of money she stole from Walker's desk drawer. There had to be a couple hundred grand in there. If this was Walker's petty cash he truly was a billionaire. WAS. It was a thought that gave her peace. Walker was finally dead.

Casey raised her head when she heard a buzzing noise. She looked around nervously. It seemed to be getting closer. Had someone else survived the blast? She looked around frantically for a weapon but couldn't find one. She was in no condition to fight off any would be attackers. She tried to stand but her legs gave out and she was forced to sit back down. The noise got closer. It was a motor.

A minute later she saw the source of the noise. A dirt bike came zooming around the debris field, kicking up dirt in its path. The rider wore a helmet, concealing his or her identity. The rider of the bike noticed her and slowed as it approached, before coming to a complete stop and letting the motor idle.

The person took their helmet off. A boy. He couldn't have been more than fifteen years old. Casey exhaled a sigh of relief. She truly had no more fight left in her.

"Hi." The boy said.
"Hey." Casey replied, in a tired voice.
He looked her over. She must have looked like a wreck. She was covered in soot, dirt and blood from head to toe.

"Were you in there?" He asked. The boy shook out his brown moppy hair.
"I was"
He looked at the fires burning all around. "What happened?"
"Must have been a gas leak." Casey lied.
"Geez. How are you alive?"

She had to laugh at the question because she was asking herself the same thing.
"I'm not sure. Lucky I guess." Casey replied.
He was wearing some sort of riding suit. It had a bunch of patches from X Games type sponsors all over it.

"How old are you?" Casey asked him.
"Fourteen." He replied, proudly.
"How would you like to give me a ride to that diner up the road?"

He considered. The boy knew the one. The diner was the only place around this area, that's why he liked riding here. There was nobody to call the cops on him for revving his bike too loud or riding too late at night. While he thought about it, Casey pulled out a stack of cash. She wasn't sure how much it was and she didn't really care.
"I'll give you this." Casey said, handing it to him.

His eyes lit up. "How much money is this?" He asked as he took it from her and fanned it out between his fingers.
"A few thousand I think." Casey told him.
"Hop on." The boy said, smiling.

She smiled back and got up gingerly. It took everything she had at the moment to swing her leg over the bike. The boy strapped his helmet back on. A look of guilt suddenly washed over him.

"You know I would have given you a ride anyway, I don't need this." He handed her back the stack of cash.
Casey smiled, impressed by the boy's honesty. "Keep it. I appreciate your help. I'm hoping that money also buys your silence too." She added. "If anyone ever asks..... you never saw me."

He stuffed the money in his suit pocket. "I won't say a word."
For some reason she believed him.
"Wrap your arms around my waist and hold on. I ride pretty fast and this terrain is bumpy." He said.

"Don't worry about me." Casey replied as she held onto him. "What's your name?" She asked.
"Dink."
"Dink?" Casey repeated.
"It's a nickname my friends gave me."
"Okay Dink, let's go."

He pushed down on the throttle and took off. He was indeed fast on the bike and they hit the black top in no time. She kept her head down as they passed a convoy of cop cars and fire engines that were finally heading in the direction of the Nest.

She would get to that diner and catch an Uber to the nearest airport. There was only one place she wanted to go right now. The place she dreamed of going. As soon as she got there she would send Matt a letter of some sort letting him know she was alive. Then, eventually, he would join her there.

And from that moment on they would never be apart again.

TO BE CONTINUED IN BOOK 4, THE CHOSEN ONES: A NEW ENEMY.