The Chosen Ones Book 4: A New Enemy

Chapter 18

It was now about four in the morning. Matt pulled up slowly as they approached his cabin. They were feeling pretty good. Their trip was a success. They had gotten the dagger and Tyler got to see Amy, his mom, in all her beauty. All they had to do now was kill Gabriel.

Tyler leaned forward from the backseat as they approached the front door. He squinted his eyes at the cabin. "Dad! Look!"
The headlights shined light on the cabin now, or what was left of it. All the windows were blown out, dead bodies were all over the ground, and misty white smoke hovered in the air.
"Jesus Christ." Matt said.
He put it in park and they all went running inside, stepping right over the bodies that laid on the ground.

"Shannon! Phil!" Casey called.
"Are these Gabriel's men?!" Tyler asked.
Sierra went running up the stairs. She came down crying.
"What?! What is it? Are they up there?" Tyler asked her.
"No." She cried. "Where are they? I knew we shouldn't have separated." She buried her face into Tyler's chest.

"Let's try Phil's house." Matt suggested.
His house was destroyed. It smelled of smoke and death.
They all ran can out the front door. The only way to Phil's house was through the woods.
"My truckster is gone. They must've taken it." Matt noticed.
Casey was already running through the woods. The others followed. They were all abnormally fast but Casey and Tyler were far faster than the others. The two of them reached Phil's cabin first and noticed all the lights were out.

They entered cautiously. Gabriel had been at Matt's house, so he could very well be here right now.
"Up here." Came a somber voice.
Standing at the top of the stairs was Gavin, holding a machine gun.
"Oh thank God." Casey said. "You guys okay?"
Matt and Sierra joined them now and the four of them jogged upstairs. They had no idea what they were about to see.

It was their worst fear. Tyler saw Phil first and ran over. Phil stopped him and pointed to his bed. That's when Tyler turned and saw Shannon.
"Her first." Phil said, quietly. He was barely able to speak.
Casey knelt on the floor beside the bed and Sierra took her sister's hand.
"Is she dead?" Sierra asked, tears running down her face.
"Almost." Sam replied. "I honestly don't know how she's still breathing."

"Is anything broken?" Matt asked.
"EVERYTHING is broken." Gavin replied.
Matt had to walk away. He was devastated. The thought of his best friend getting tortured at the hands of this madman was putting him over the edge. He cursed himself for leaving. It was his call. He made the decision to leave. This was on him.
Tyler moved Casey out of the way so he could get to work on Shannon. She went over to console Matt.

"Jesus." Tyler said. "I've never worked on anyone this bad."
The white bed sheets were soaked in blood. Tyler brushed Shannon's hair out of her eyes. Her breathing was the weakest he had ever seen in someone he had healed. She was so close to death.

"Stay with me." Tyler whispered in Shannon's ear.
He put his hands on her head. Her skull was fractured in the back. He noticed her fingers on her right hand were bent at an impossible angle. He immediately fixed them.

Tyler respectfully moved his hands all over her, leaving no part untouched. It was so bad he had to choke back tears of his own. Shannon had been with him his whole life. She helped raise him. Seeing her like this was enough to break him.
He saw her breathing start to steady. She still stayed sleeping. All her bruises and cuts were now gone. On the outside she looked like herself again, aside from the blood all over her. The emotional scars were yet to be seen.

Tyler went over and healed Phil. He was in bad shape but nothing like Shannon. Phil hugged him when he finished. It was more of a thank you for fixing Shannon.
"Thanks." He told Ty.
Matt motioned for them all to join him downstairs. Sierra stayed. She laid on her side facing her sleeping sister.

"What the fuck happened?" Matt whispered when they were all downstairs.
"These two." Phil said. "These two savages." He pointed to Gavin and Sam. "If they didn't come we were both dead." He hugged them. "Thank you both."
"We just did what any one of us would have." Sam replied.

"Me and Shannon sent them away." Phil explained. "We knew Gabriel was outside. It would have been impossible for all four of us to live if we all stayed. So we told them to go to my house and wait it out." He looked at Gavin. "By the way, was that my RPG you fired into the house?"

"Yeah, I found it in your closet. I knew we had to do something. Sam was freaking out. She was coming over there with or without me. I just wish we did it sooner." Gavin said. "Sorry about your house." He added to Matt.

"I'm just glad you guys are all okay." Matt said.
"He beat the shit out of her." Phil said. "I can't get it out of my mind. I don't know how she survived that."
"She's a fighter." Matt said. "She can take anything."
"Is she gonna be okay?" Casey asked Tyler.
"Physically, yeah." He replied.
"We'll let her sleep. Gabriel will be looking for us again." Matt said. "We have to be ready."

"We need Shannon at a hundred percent." Casey added. "Hopefully she's okay."
"Hey." Phil said. "We knew the risk when you guys left. We all talked about it. This wasn't anyone's fault."
Casey hugged Sam. "I'm proud of you. They'd be dead if it wasn't for you two."
"Thanks sis." She replied. "All I want to do now is get some sleep."
"Take any room you guys want." Phil said.

Gavin put his arm around her and they headed up for some much needed sleep.
"Hey I almost forgot, did you get the dagger?" Phil asked.
"We got it." Tyler said. He reached behind and pulled it out of his waistband and handed it to Phil, who held it up.
"We can end this." Phil said.

"We have to get close enough to him to use it." Casey reminded. "It won't be easy."
"Who's going to do it?" Phil asked.
"I don't think there will be a shortage of volunteers here." Matt said.

"Tomorrow." Tyler said. "He dies tomorrow."