Free Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 2): The Journey by Ryan Casey Page A

remaining ten—stared on at her.
    “It’s okay, my boy,” Cassandra cried. She kissed her son’s head as he kept on crying. “It’s okay. Sweet boy. Sweet boy.”
    She let go of his head.
    Grabbed his hand.
    Moved away.
    Chloë didn’t want Reggie to open his eyes.
    She didn’t want to give him a chance to understand what was about to happen.
    So she held her breath.
    Lifted the gun.
    Fired.
    The gunshot echoed through the woods. Cassandra’s cries filled the silence. Nobody spoke. Nobody said a word. There was nothing to say.
    Chloë walked up to Reggie’s body. Looked down at him, eyes stinging.
    She saw the bullet hole right in the middle of his forehead.
    But more than anything—more than the blood, more than the bite mark on his chest—she saw his eyes.
    His eyes were open.
    Looking up at her.
    He’d seen Chloë pulling the trigger after all.
    He’d died knowing he was dying.

14

Fourteen
    T he remaining ten group members didn’t utter another word until the fateful debate at the camp three hours later.
    They decided to rest as soon as they left the woods. There was an old log cabin just on the outskirts. It was cloudy now, raining, so everyone agreed it would be best if they got some shelter. By “agreed”, what actually happened was the group just sort of stopped walking when they reached the cabin.
    Nobody said a word.
    The exhaustion was clear to see.
    The loss was clear to see.
    Chloë stared at the smoking fire in front of her. The smell of it made her feel sick. A heaviness built in her stomach. Memories of the day’s events played through her mind on a loop.
    Dave turning into one of those screaming monsters.
    Dan following shortly after.
    And Reggie. Cassandra’s son. Bitten.
    Chloë putting a bullet through his skull.
    She swallowed. Her mouth was so dry. She wasn’t sure when she’d last had a sip of water. In all truth, she didn’t want any. The thought of eating or drinking anything made her feel ill.
    She just wanted to curl up in a ball and disappear.
    She just wanted to get to Pwllheli with the rest of the group and… well. See what happened from there.
    She glanced up at Hassan. He turned away the moment Chloë made eye contact with him. And then she looked at Jackson. At Colin. All of them glared at her with wide eyes. Like it was her fault. Like it was her failure.
    She looked over at Alice.
    Alice didn’t look back at her.
    She just stared at the glowing fire.
    Watched the wood crackle.
    Chloë’s mind swam with all kinds of thoughts. The monsters, for one. The screaming monsters. What were they? Were they just the monsters in the woods? Or would all the monsters end up like them now?
    And then the gun. The gun that Colin shot the three chasing monsters with. Why did he have a gun? He told her he’d found it. Kept hold of it. But had he? Was that the truth? All the guns were supposed to have gone. Stolen.
    Was he lying?
    Above anything, Chloë thought of Jackson. And when she did, a tenseness built in her stomach.
    First, he’d started acting nicer toward her. Started supporting her.
    And then he’d tried to get her to sneak into the camp by the motorway bridge.
    But weirdest of all, when Chloë was pinned down by Dan’s monster, he’d held her knife. Stood there, wide eyed, not doing a thing to help her.
    She didn’t know why—he was probably just frozen, probably just scared—but that memory brought a shiver to her skin whenever she revisited it.
    No. He’s okay. He was just scared. That’s all it was. Just scared.
    “So what now?”
    Anisha’s voice cut through the silence. It was strange, hearing someone else talk. It’d been a long time since anyone said a word in this group.
    Dean—a muscular black guy who kept his head down and didn’t say much—snorted. “Guess we just sit around and wait to die.”
    “Don’t be like that,” Dad said.
    “Be like what?” Anisha cut in. Her eyes were cold, hard. “He’s right. The way we’re going, he’s