Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 1): Chloe Read Free

collapsed.
    She knew this was the third one. But she could just pretend she’d finished the second one and start reading this one.
    She reached down. Stuffed it inside her pocket, which was at bursting point.
    Turned to the front of the tent.
    She saw movement.
    Saw a shadowy silhouette move outside the tent.
    She stood still. Stood completely still. Her heart picked up. She took a few deep breaths of the air. Even though it smelled of rot, she was so used to it now that it didn’t bother her.
    She kept completely still.
    As long as the monster didn’t groan, she’d be okay.
    Because groaning would alert the others.
    Groaning was the way they spoke to each other.
    She watched the monster stumble over towards the other fallen dead.
    Saw their silhouettes as the opening to the tent fluttered in the breeze.
    She watched them stand. Watched chunks of flesh fall from their bones. Watched them wander aimlessly like the flies buzzing around them. One of them—the woman—stumbled where the other monster had ripped a chunk out of her leg.
    An image flashed into Chloë’s mind. An image of the death she’d watched. The struggling. The way the monsters had eaten these people alive.
    A part of her felt bad. A part of her knew she could’ve helped. A part of her knew she hadn’t had to leave these people to die. To trap them.
    But another part of her knew what happened when she trusted people.
    Another part of her knew what happened whenever she allowed herself to get close to anyone.
    Or let anyone close to her.
    Bad things happened.
    Bad things happened that she couldn’t let happen again.
    Ever.
    She turned around.
    Walked to the back of the tent.
    Lifted the knife and sliced the material open.
    She crept out of the back of the tent. Scanned the floor for loose twigs, fallen leaves, anything that might make a sound.
    Clutched her pockets so nothing inside them rattled.
    Clutched her knife.
    She looked back over her shoulder. Looked at the monsters. The chubby man who’d chased her. The glassy look in his eyes. The dead look.
    And the other two. The blond man. The ginger woman. The ones she’d led the monsters right to. Now, shuffling around their tent, desperate to break free in their undead forms.
    She looked at them. Felt pity for them. Wanted to put them out of their misery.
    But she couldn’t risk it.
    She couldn’t risk anything she didn’t need to. Not anymore.
    She turned back around.
    Swallowed a lump in her dry throat.
    And she crept past the trees, away from the camp, away from the monsters, and into the vast expanse of the forest.

Three
    C hloë pointed the dimming torch at the Harry Potter book and tried to focus.
    The darkness outside was thick and tangible. The weather was much cooler than it had been earlier that day. That was just the way it worked. Warm in the day, freezing at night. She wasn’t sure what she was going to do in winter. Last winter, she’d had somewhere to stay for the bulk of the time. People she’d travelled with. People she’d trusted.
    She wasn’t sure she’d have that same luxury this year.
    But she tried not to think about the cold. Just about the book. She was on Chapter Two. She’d just been getting into it. It seemed spookier than the first two books. But then she’d heard howling well into the distance, and when she’d looked out at the woods, she swore she saw movement.
    She swore she saw movement every single night in this dark, vast woods.
    But she just had to try to focus.
    Just had to try to get through it.
    She’d found a decent place to rest a few weeks back. The inside of a massive tree. She didn’t know the kind of tree—Dad used to be good at identifying trees, and he helped teach her the names of a few. But her dad wasn’t here anymore. Not dead. Well, at least she hoped he wasn’t dead. But he hadn’t been in Preston when the outbreak of the monsters had started. He hadn’t been with Chloë, her mum, her sister, when the undead started