Free Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 1): Chloe by Ryan Casey Page A

their angry wings around her chest.
    And then she ran.
    Ran towards the fence.
    She crouched down in front of the gate. No time to look back. She could hear the bolts of the crossbow firing into the groaning monsters’ heads—and that was enough.
    She fumbled around the keys with her shaking fingers.
    Tried different ones.
    No luck.
    No fucking luck.
    She was about to give up when one of them fit snugly in the gate door.
    When it twisted.
    She heard a slight creak from the gate. Looked over her shoulder to check the man hadn’t heard.
    Luckily, he was leaning over the fence.
    The groans of the monsters drowning out any other sounds.
    Chloë looked back at the gate. Pulled it slowly. Tried to keep it as quiet as possible. She felt bad that the monsters would be able to get in. She felt bad for the people of this camp. Maybe they were good people. Maybe they could’ve helped…
    No. They couldn’t help her.
    And she needed to find her dad.
    She pulled the gate open.
    Sprinted back towards the bike.
    She felt something hot split the middle of her chest.
    She tumbled back, not understanding fully.
    Hit the ground.
    It was only when she heard the footsteps closing in on her that it became more clear.
    The tall, blond man crouched down.
    Yanked the keys out of her hand.
    Pointed the crossbow to her head.
    “I’ll give you ten seconds to tell me what the fuck you’re doing in our camp. If you don’t give me a good enough answer, it won’t be a bolt in the chest. It’ll be a bolt in the head. Speak.”

Fifteen
    C hloë screamed when the woman called Alice poured alcohol on her chest.
    “Shut the fuck up, kid, seriously,” she said. “You’ve caused enough friction as it is. Best not to go wailing like a baby right now if you wanna live.”
    Chloë couldn’t help it. The pain from the crossbow bolt was agonising. It felt like the entire front of her chest had burst open. The crossbow bolt was still poking out of it. The woman was worried about pulling it out because she wasn’t a medical expert. Aiden, the blond man who’d tried to kill her, was a doctor.
    “You’re lucky you didn’t get a bolt in your head,” Alice said, screwing the cap back on the bottle of clear fluid. The air was thick with the smell of pure alcohol. “Best course of action right now would be to be open and honest about what you’re doing here. Then, Aiden might just take a look at you.”
    Chloë held back her tears. The tent she was in—the supply tent—was gently lit by a dim lantern-style torch. It was cool in here. Or maybe that was just the wound making it feel cool.
    Didn’t help that she was cuffed up to a metal cabinet, ankles tied together.
    “Kid, I’m trying to help you here,” Alice said. She grabbed Chloë’s chin. Chloë flinched. “I … I know you find that hard to believe. But I’m not the bad guy here. You were the one who came storming into our camp. Pointless trying to steal the bike, anyway. We only had one good one, and that got nicked. Other one’s been out of action for weeks. But fuck. Opening our gates. You could’ve killed someone. You get that? You could’ve killed someone. And we’ve already lost…”
    Alice stopped. She turned away. The words were caught in her throat. Chloë saw the look in her eyes. She knew who Alice was talking about. The man on the motorbike. The one the CoY people had burned.
    Alice looked back at Chloë. Half-smiled. “If you don’t talk, I can’t promise we’ll help you. I … I’m sorry.”
    Outside, Chloë heard arguing. She heard two voices. The voices of two men.
    One of them was Aiden, the guy who’d shot her.
    “You know how they work, Trev. They use the kids.”
    “But there’s no sign she—”
    “She sneaked into our fucking camp! What more proof do you need?”
    Alice and Chloë looked at one another. Chloë didn’t know what the two men were talking about. All she was sure about was the amount of agony she was in.
    All she was sure about was that