The pain was so intense that when the demon retracted its arm Sam lost consciousness. When Nora saw what happened she put her staff away and ran to him. She picked him up and used all her strength to safely get him to the car. But she couldn't make a clean get away with so many moderate level demons following her, she would lead them straight into town and they would take their wrath out on the towns people. She took out her .22 from her boot and shot each demon in the head as they rushed towards her. Eighty-five, eighty-six, eighty-seven, eighty-eight, eighty-nine – she counted as she shot each of them. She didn't make all the shots and ran out of bullets. She put the gun back in her boot and ran towards the souls; she ate the ones she could, dodging demons along the way, until she ate them all.
She was normally very opposed to guns, that's why it was usually her last option after she had discarded her other weapons or if she had no other choice. Chosen ones take immense pride in the weapons they choose and use, using other weapons and eating those souls was like choking down inedible food – it was difficult but not impossible. She did what she had to do to end the fight quickly and get Sam to safety, she was now down to the final four.
She ran towards the first demon and took out its legs with her staff. One charged towards her from behind; she twirled around and swiped at it, she missed its torso but took out one of its arms. She started running at another demon and flung herself in the air using her staff. She slashed through the demon's gut and devoured its soul.
The last demon made a run at her so Nora started running towards it. She dodged its attack and cut it in half vertically. She ate its soul before turning her attention to the remaining 2 demons. She used the last of her supernatural strength and speed to rush towards them, cut through them, and eat their souls. She was so excited to be up to 93 souls, but the excitement was short lived when she remembered Sam was bleeding out in the car. She picked up his weapons and made a dash to the car. After starting the car and turning her powers off she sped back to the town until she found a small medical office. She had to use her powers again to get him out of the car and into the office.
"Please he needs help!" Nora shouted as she entered the office.
"What happened?" The doctor asked as he rushed over to them.
"He was attacked by a demon, it stabbed him in the stomach." She said.
"It's a nasty wound, let me grab a gurney." He said. He rushed to get a gurney and got Sam onto it to examine his wound. "It figures that once we get one of you out here your partner gets injured." He said as he looked over the wound.
"Is he going to be ok doctor?" Nora asked.
"I won't know until I get him in surgery." He said.
"I need to go tell his family." She said.
"You should remain here if they're not close." He said.
"His family is just down the street." She said.
"Oh, so this must be Sam then." He said.
"Yes…" Nora said.
"You should go tell his family quickly. His aunt can assist me in surgery actually." He said.
"I'll hurry." Nora said. She rushed out the office and ran to Cheryl's house.
"What's wrong child?" Cheryl asked as she poked her head out into the living room. "Where's Sam?"
"He was injured at the nest." Nora said, the worry on her face was evident.
"I knew what would be too much. Did you take him to Dr. Wests?" Cheryl asked.
"Yes, he said he could use you in surgery." Nora said.
"So it is serious…how are you doing honey? You look at little pale." Cheryl said.
"I'm a little nauseous. I think it must've been those rancid souls I ate." Nora said as she gripped her stomach.
"You need to lie down sweetie." Cheryl said as she rushed to Nora's side.
"I can't. I have to be there when Sam wakes up." Nora said.
"I'll come get you as soon as he's out of surgery, now lie down." Cheryl said. She helped her lie down on the couch and put a cool cloth on her forehead.
"It's going to be hard getting the last souls without Sam now." Nora said, she was thinking out loud.
"He values your safety and health over that stupid myth, don't push yourself. Rancid souls are bad for you but they can't be removed now." Cheryl said.
"B-bad for me? What do you mean?" Nora asked.
"You said it yourself they were rancid. If you eat rancid food you can get sick, the same is true of souls. You'll be out of commission for the rest of the day at least, I insist you rest as much as you can." Cheryl said.
"I won't be going out until I know Sam is ok. Let's go back to the office and check on him." Nora said as she tried to get up off the couch.
"No, no," Cheryl said as she gently pushed on her shoulder to lay her back down on the couch, "there is no 'let's' about it, you'll stay here and I'll be back as soon as I've finished with the surgery." Cheryl said. She tentatively got up and left.
Nora tried her best to sleep but every time she would drift off to sleep her nausea would kick up and wake her up. At one point she felt like she was going to get sick and had to run to a trash can. She dragged it back to the couch and laid back down. She eventually gave up on sleeping and decided to focus her attention on different objects around the room. She about jumped off the couch when Cheryl finally came back a few hours later.
"Well how is he? Is he ok? How's he look?" Nora started firing questions at Cheryl rapid fire before she could answer any of them.
"Calm down, he's doing well but he's still in surgery." Cheryl said.
"That's not good." Nora said.
"There was more damage than we thought but he's doing well throughout the surgery and Dr. West is continuing solo." Cheryl said.
"This is all my fault…" Nora said.
"Don't think like that child." Cheryl said, she sat down next to Nora on the couch and took Nora's hand in hers. "Sam is capable of making his own decisions. He went to that nest with you because he wanted to because he wants to be with you. He's going to pull through for the same reason, of this I'm sure." Cheryl said and Nora nodded while trying to hold back tears. "How are you feeling?"
"B-better." Nora said.
"Looks like you did get sick. What you need now is a good bath, I'll go prepare one for you." Cheryl said.
After a hot bath Nora was finally able to sleep. The room seemed to empty with just one bed and her in it all alone. She smiled at the thought of Sam freaking out only seeing one bed for the two of them. His aunt thought they were married after all so only one bed would make sense. She took a deep breath and closed her eyes, for now there was nothing more she could do. When the sun came up the next day and draped over her face she jumped out of bed ready to take on the day and get some answers for her and Sam.
She snuck out to the car and drove to the nest. Just the day before there were 13 demons here and now it's empty. She didn't sense any demons nearby which confused her. She was unsure how one trip could have wiped out the whole camp, there had to be a few still wondering around nearby but she sensed nothing. It didn't seem likely that only 13 demons would venture this far South of the border and camp there.
This camp was smaller than ones they've seen, the larger camps are usually father away from town and typically operate more under the radar than this one. When demons banded together to make underground camps they were usually smarter and picked off travelers eating souls only when necessary. This camp seemed to terrorize the town but inflicted less physical damage that they saw. It made the government look even more guilty, they could leave this small camp alone and it would be enough to keep this town under their thumb.
She decided to walk further past the camp to keep exploring and try to sense more demons. She wasn't having much luck and was about to give up when she heard a scream in the distance. She powered up and ran in that direction. When she got there she saw a large demon already feasting on a human soul, it turned her stomach. She saw another person cowering behind a large rock not too far away, the woman had tears rolling down her cheeks and fear in her eyes.
Nora stepped forward and took her staff out from its holster. The demon turned to look at Nora and when it saw her it swallowed the rest of the soul whole.
"A chosen one…" Its deep voice roared at her. "I bet your soul is delicious." Nora was stunned, neither of them moved. A creepy smile appeared on its face. "Never heard a demon talk before have you?" It asked.
"That doesn't matter." Nora said sternly.