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

cage.
    But Chloë was too busy looking down the man’s loose cotton shirt to think about anything else.
    At the CoY logo etched into his skin.

Twenty
    “ C ome on , kid. Get the fuck outta there. We don’t have all day.”
    Chloë crouched on the ground. The cage still surrounded her. One false move and—bam. She’d be impaled on a spike.
    One false move by the CoY man right in front of her and he’d be on a spike too.
    She looked at the opening. A gap had formed where he’d lifted it. She could tell the cage was heavy from the way the guy’s skinny legs were shaking.
    She could ram the knife into his shin. Tear his torso with her knife. Push him onto the spiked cage and leave him to rot.
    But there was the small problem of the gun he had by his side.
    And the guns of the other five CoY members watching from a distance.
    “Don’t have to worry, kid. We ain’t gonna hurt you. We killed them zombies for you, right?”
    Chloë opened her mouth. She wanted to talk. Wanted to tell this man she knew it was a set-up. That his group had set these traps. That she’d walked right into one.
    But perhaps feigning ignorance was the very thing that’d keep her alive.
    For now.
    She made her teeth chatter together. Felt tears building up in her eyes. “I … I want my mummy.”
    The man tilted his head to one side. A spider wandered through his curly locks. This guy didn’t seem to mind. “I am sorry about your mummy, kid. She get bit?”
    Chloë lowered her head. Nodded. “The monsters got her. I’ve got no one.”
    She moved the knife slowly behind her back.
    Stuck it down her trousers.
    She felt a clammy hand on her hair. Felt skinny fingers working their way through it. Felt long, dirty fingernails against her tender scalp. “You have got someone, sweetie. You’ve got me. Me and my friends. I … How rude of me not to introduce myself. Name’s Harvey.”
    Chloë glanced up at Harvey. When she looked into his bloodshot eyes, stared right into them with feigned love, she reached for her rucksack. Closed it. “I’m … I’m Dara.”
    “Dara?” Harvey said. “That’s a nice name you got. Dara. Never heard that name before.”
    “My dad picked it,” Chloë said. “My mum wanted to call me Elizabeth. But she didn’t…”
    For a moment, Chloë realised her error. She’d said her sister’s name. If her dad was a CoY prisoner, then he’d have mentioned Elizabeth at some stage. He mentioned her in his diary, after all.
    Chloë just had to hope. Just had to pray.
    Harvey studied her for a moment.
    Then he smiled. “I think your dad’s got good taste. Now you gonna roll outta there or what?”
    Chloë took a deep breath. The taste of stale innards and drying blood made her want to hurl. But she kept it together. She kept it together because she had to.
    She didn’t want to go with this man. She didn’t want to go with any of these men.
    She wanted to kill them. She wanted so much to kill them.
    But she knew they’d lead her to her dad.
    She knew they might be the only chance she had left to find her dad.
    She crawled out from under the cage. Stayed on her back, so Harvey didn’t see her knife. Kept her rucksack in her right hand.
    “That’s it,” Harvey said, studying her body as she moved under the cage. “That’s a good girl. A real good girl.”
    She thought she saw him lick his lips.
    Tried to erase that thought from her mind.
    When she was out of the cage, Chloë stood. The pain from the bolt wound stung her chest. She’d moved too much. Couldn’t have helped the stitching. She just had to make sure she held on to the pills. Just had to make sure she—
    “Want me to carry that bag for you, Dara?”
    Chloë looked up at Harvey. Seeing him outside of the cage, she realised he was a tall man. But his figure was hunched over, like he had a dint in the middle of the chest that was forcing him to walk funny. His arms were long. His fingers were bony. He looked like no man Chloë had ever seen. And