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

these people couldn’t be trusted, either. Because one of them had shot her.
    One of them tried to kill her.
    That wasn’t going away.
    “Did they send you?” Alice asked.
    Chloë looked into her auburn eyes. Alice’s cherry-red hair was tied back in a bun. Chloë shook her head.
    “Then who sent you?”
    “No … nobody sent me.”
    Alice frowned. Her eyes narrowed. “Then what’s a little girl like you doing out in the woods in the middle of the night?”
    Chloë wanted to answer her. She wanted to explain the truth. She wanted to explain how she’d been travelling with another group up until three, four months ago. How things had gone to shit. How she’d been surviving in the woods ever since.
    But that was her strength. Her secret strength. And letting other people in on the truth about herself was unwise. Because word spread. Rumours spread.
    And she needed to stay secret. She needed to stay low-key.
    Especially now finding her dad was involved.
    “Look, those two men out there—Aiden and Trev—they’re good people. I’ve spent enough time with them to know that much. You might think Aiden’s unwarranted in shooting you in the fucking chest and choosing not to treat you. But the truth is, he’s perfectly justified. He’s scared. We lost … we lost one of our own today. Barry. A good guy. He…”
    “I know what happened to him,” Chloë said.
    The words clearly took Alice by surprise. But they surprised Chloë, too. She didn’t sound like she even remembered. She wasn’t the young kid she’d been just months ago.
    “You know what they do to people?” Alice asked.
    Chloë swallowed a lump in her throat. “I know they … they burn people.”
    “Then you’ll know what they do to kids. You’ll know why … why we’re worried. Right?”
    Chloë didn’t answer. She didn’t know what Alice was talking about. She knew some of the men she’d come across earlier were younger than others. Seth. He looked quite young.
    And she knew Dan had been particularly keen to do … things with her.
    But why was that a worry to Alice?
    Why was this group so afraid of her?
    Alice sighed. Lowered her head. The pain in Chloë’s chest started to sting again.
    “For what it’s worth, I believe you. I believe you aren’t with them. But Aiden might not see it that way. So you need to bear with me, kid. You need to bear with me.”
    Alice stood. Picked up the lantern. Walked over to the tent entrance.
    She stopped. Turned around. Lifted the lantern.
    “Do you have a name?” Alice asked.
    A few seconds passed. The more passed by, the longer they stretched out.
    Chloë didn’t say a word.
    Alice nodded. “I’ll be a moment.”
    The second Alice stepped out of the tent, Chloë released a shaky breath.
    She looked down at the bolt. It poked out of the middle of her chest. It wasn’t too deep. There wasn’t a lot of blood. But she was worried about what would happen when they pulled the bolt out. And clearly Alice was worried about that too. Which was why they needed Aiden.
    The man who’d put the bolt in her chest in the first place.
    Chloë’s head spun. The darkness made her dizzy. She tried to focus on the gentle breeze creeping in through the opening of the tent. Tried to think back to that diary. Her dad’s diary.
    She hoped he was still out there.
    She hoped he was safe.
    But more than anything, she hoped she’d find him.
    She thought about Alice. About Aiden and Trev. About the guy they’d lost called Barry. And Chloë wondered whether she could’ve avoided all this mess if she’d just trusted them. If she’d just walked up to the camp with her hands in the air and been honest.
    If she’d just told them who she was. What she was after.
    But the truth was, Aiden had still shot her.
    He still didn’t want to treat her.
    He was worried about her. Worried about kids for some reason. Something to do with the CoY people.
    What was he so afraid of?
    The tent fluttered open.
    Chloë expected to see