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

approaching the darkened entrance.
    She sat still. Completely still. Temple pulsing. Sweat dripping down her face. No breeze. No birdsong. Nothing.
    Just the flies.
    And then…
    She watched the monster drag itself out of the cave.
    Watched the other one pull itself out behind it.
    And then another.
    And then another.
    Chloë sat completely still as the four monsters approached the cage she was trapped inside.
    She sat completely still as their rotting hands and fly-bombarded bodies dragged themselves through the dirt.
    Because other than the deep CoY markings on their chests, all she could focus on were the types of monsters these were.
    You know what they do to the children.
    They weren’t just normal adult monsters.
    They were all children.
    They all had wooden spikes poking out of their flimsy bodies.
    And they were coming her way.

Nineteen
    C hloë held her breath as the four child monsters staggered out of their cave and towards the cage.
    She looked around the wooden cage. Looked for some kind of escape. But no. No chance. No way out. Wooden spikes on the outside, and on the inside. The whole contraption too heavy for her weakened muscles to lift.
    Pain filled her chest from the stab wound as her heart picked up in pace.
    As the stench of decay grew closer.
    The taste of death, thicker.
    She tried to shuffle to the back of the cage. Felt the sharpened edges of the wood split her skin. Shit.
    She watched as the monsters edged closer. A young boy, probably no older than her. Ginger hair. Glazed eyes. Beetles crawling across his dirty skin.
    And a girl. A black girl. Completely naked. Bleeding from a wound on her inner thigh.
    All of them snapping their teeth as they approached the cage.
    As they approached Chloë.
    Chloë curled up into a ball. All she could think of. Because there was no way out. She just had to hope someone would get here and find her. Just had to hope the collective mass of the zombies wouldn’t split through the wood, break into the cage.
    She had to pray.
    She pulled the rucksack Aiden gave her closer. And then she remembered the knife.
    The knife.
    She could use it.
    She could use it to cut her way out.
    She reached into the bag. Glanced up. The ginger kid was just a few inches away. Chloë wagered a guess that he wouldn’t be able to fit his face between the openings in the wood.
    But she didn’t want to take her chances.
    She pulled out the knife.
    Tightened her grip around it.
    Started sawing at the wood.
    The knife barely made a dent.
    Fuck. It’d probably work, eventually. But it’d take forever. And she didn’t have forever. Not if those monsters reached the cage. Then, she’d have to keep her eye on them. Watch them at all times.
    Watch them to make sure they didn’t reach through.
    Didn’t crack through.
    Didn’t—
    A throaty groan.
    Then a hand on her shoulder.
    She yelped. Spun around. The ginger monster had its pale, skinny arm right through the opening in the cage. The poor kid’s neck was right up against the spike, pushing down on to it; the monster was snapping its teeth as it got closer to Chloë. Behind, its friends kept on coming.
    Chloë lifted the knife. Pointed it at the boy’s head. She’d have to reach out. Reach out of the cage if she wanted to stab him. She wasn’t sure she wanted to risk it. Not with the other monsters so close. Not with—
    Another hand on her other shoulder. A growl right in her left ear.
    She spun around.
    Her stomach sank.
    More monsters were approaching from the left.
    Surrounding her.
    Engulfing her.
    She pulled the knife away. Made herself small again. Her pulse rattled through her skull. The monsters piled on to the side of the cage, one by one. And every time another one forced itself up against the spikes, more of the mid-morning sun faded away.
    Darkness prevailed.
    Chloë looked around the cage. Looked at her captors. Felt cold blood dribbling down onto her as one of the child monsters climbed right on top of the cage, spikes