Read Online Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 3): Chloe (A New World) by Ryan Casey - Free Book Online Page B

round—if it came round at all—Kesha could be anywhere.
    She knew she had a matter of minutes to find Kesha. To know she was okay.
    But maybe she didn’t even have minutes anymore.
    She was about to look behind the next tree when she heard a branch snap to her left.
    She turned around. Looked over at the source of the movement.
    And then she heard another branch snapping.
    She lifted the knife. Edged towards the source of the noise. It could be anything. It could be a monster. It could be Kesha. It could be another person.
    Or it could be one of those things…
    She held her breath. Stepped closer towards it. Sweat trickled down her forehead. Her heart pounded. Hunger churned in her stomach; hunger she knew would never go away if she went back to the life of living alone in the woods, never knowing where the next meal was coming from.
    She stepped further through the branches, further towards the source of the noise. She thought she saw movement in the corners of her eyes. Thought she heard voices in the trees.
    She had to keep moving.
    She had to hold her breath.
    She had to know what was ahead.
    As she stepped around the back of a tree, Chloë had an image. A horrible image that filled her stomach with dread.
    An image of finding Kesha. Only she wasn’t Kesha at all. She was undead. Blood dribbling from her neck. Snarl on her face. Unable to even feed herself because of her lack of teeth.
    But when she turned the corner, Chloë didn’t find Kesha in this way at all.
    Kesha was crawling along through the twigs. She was completely covered in mud.
    “Kesha,” Chloë said. She felt her shoulders relax. Felt the bubble burst in the middle of her chest. She crouched down beside her. Lifted her. Pulled her close. Her warmth felt so good on her arm. Chloë couldn’t stop herself crying. She thought she tasted tears on her lips.
    She turned around. Looked back at the woods. She knew what she needed to do. The goal was still the same. She had to get Kesha back to the island. It wasn’t ideal. The people there weren’t ideal for her. But anyone was better than this world out here. Anything was better than the way Chloë would have to live her life if Dad was gone.
    She started to walk in the general direction of the tunnel.
    Then she heard gunshots.
    Close by. Not too far behind her.
    Definite gunshots.
    And after the gunshots, Chloë heard a scream.
    She swallowed a sickly tasting lump in her throat. Pulled Kesha closer. “Come on,” she said.
    Chloë caught her breath and then she ran back towards the tunnel, Kesha by her side.
    Darkness closed in.

Sixteen
    D arkness finally spread across Bardsey Island, but Kyle hadn’t been able to see anything but clouds over this place for hours.
    The door to the nursery in front of them was partly ajar. He could just about see in through the crack in the door as Laura shone her torchlight in there. He could see the odd pool of blood illuminating. And it made him feel sick. Sick, right to the pit of his stomach.
    But he had to do what he had to do. This was war. Bad shit happened in war.
    He’d answer to God when he finally found his way above the clouds.
    Finally.
    The island was quieter now. There was still the occasional scream, the odd cry. Even infrequent peppering of gunfire. But nothing matched the chaos of earlier. Nothing competed with the conflict they’d already fought.
    “Come on,” Laura said. “Can’t wait around all day.”
    Kyle swallowed. His mouth was dry. He knew he should probably eat seeing as he hadn’t eaten all day. But hell, he wasn’t hungry. Stomach felt like shit.
    The things he’d done. The things he’d had to do.
    All of them welled up in his mind. He knew he’d have nightmares about them. About the looks of terror on people’s faces as he fired bullets through their chests. About the cries of grief, so much louder and less theatrical than the movies always made them out to be.
    And all of it was for nothing if they didn’t find exactly