The Chosen Ones Book 4: A New Enemy

Chapter 35

By the time Casey got to the clearing Tyler was at Matt's side. She caught Shannon's eye and it hit her like a kick to the gut. He wasn't waking up. He was dead. She was already crying as she knelt down beside Tyler, noticing he too had tears in his eyes.
"Mom...... I can't- he's not...."
Casey hugged him. "I know. It's not your fault."

The others stood around quietly. All the gunfire had stopped. There was an eerie silence in the woods for the first time since they entered.
"He can't be gone." Shannon said.

Casey stood and walked out of sight from the others, down a path that led to a stream of water. Her heart was broken.

Tyler watched her go before looking down at his dad's lifeless body. He had been shot and stabbed. The amount of blood he had lost was too much. He knew his dad had fought to stay alive for as long as her could, hoping Tyler would make it back in time to save him. But he had failed, and now his dad was dead.

Sierra knelt beside him and wrapped her arms around him. Phil and Sam finally entered the clearing. Gavin ran over and hugged Sam as Phil hurried to Matt's side.
Phil took the hand of his best friend as Shannon took the other. He knew right away what the others already did. He smiled at Shannon.
"We had great times together, didn't we?" Phil said to her.
Shannon smiled through her tears. "The best."

Gavin walked over. "Gabriel?"
"Dead." Tyler replied.
Sam looked around at all the dead shifters. "Jesus Christ."
Mary and Ben had taken a step back to let them mourn their fallen leader. A young man they had thought of as a son.

Tyler again laid his hands on Matt's wounds. If he was the One, the child the Elders had foreseen as one who could change the world, then why couldn't he heal and bring back someone who had only been gone an hour?

"It's not your fault." Sierra repeated. "We were just too late."
Tyler thought back to the words he was told Walker once uttered: "IT'S IN HIS BLOOD."
His dad had told him he spoke those words before he put a bullet in his head. The reason Walker wanted Tyler so bad was for his blood. Something Matt, Casey and the others just thought made him a delusional psychopath.

"What if it's really that simple?" Tyler said, quietly to himself. "Give me your knife." He said to Shannon.
She didn't even question him as she handed over one of her throwing knives. The others slowly walked over now, noticing that something was going on.

They watched as Tyler sliced his hand, immediately drawing a thick line of blood down his palm. He balled his fist and let the blood fall into Matt's mouth. When he thought it was a sufficient amount, he closed his own wound.

Ten seconds passed. Then thirty. Then a minute. Phil took Shannon's hand. Gavin took Sam's. Ben put his arm around Mary. They waited.....and waited.....

Matt drew in a short breath.
"Holy shit." Shannon said as she laughed through her tears.
Matt's eyes slowly opened. Tyler smiled and patted his dad's chest. He sat down and turned to Sierra. She hugged him tight. She knew if he had lost Matt now he may have never recovered.

"What did you do?" Matt asked him, groggily.
"I gave you something of mine." Tyler replied.
"Is it over?" He asked.
"Yeah." Tyler said. "We got him."
"You killed him?"
"No. Mom did."
Matt looked around.
"Down that path." Shannon told him.

Phil and Gavin helped Tyler get him to his feet. It took a few seconds to steady himself. He looked at the O'Hara's and nodded. Then, he walked slowly down the narrow dirt path.

Casey was on her knees staring into the still water. She couldn't bear to think about a life without Matt. She didn't WANT a life without him. She started crying freely now. She looked down and stared at her reflection. She didn't even recognize the face staring back at herself. Who was she without him?
It was then that Matt's reflection appeared over her shoulder.
"Are you real?" She cried. With all the things in their world she wouldn't have been surprised if it was his ghost.
"If I wasn't would you feel this?" He whispered, putting his hands on her shoulders.

She quickly turned and wrapped her arms around him, squeezing him harder than she ever had before. He was dead minutes ago. Now- he wasn't.
"How?"
"He brought me back."
"You were gone too long.... What did he do?"
Matt laughed. "C'mon. Let's get back to the others, I'll tell you all about it."
"I love you so much."
"I love you more."