Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 2): The Journey Read Online Free Page A

from.
    Upstairs.
    She looked up the stairs. Looked up at the closed doors. Somewhere up there, a clock ticked.
    “I’m not sure we should go wandering up there,” Dad said.
    “Then don’t,” Chloë said.
    She started climbing up the stairs.
    Every step she took, a different creaking noise emerged, each and every one of them making her jump. She felt the foundations of the house shifting as she got higher. Felt eyes on her—eyes she knew weren’t really there because she couldn’t see them.
    But most of all, she heard the crackling getting louder.
    Like a television. Or a radio.
    She climbed the last few steps. Reached the top of the stairs.
    The crackling noise was coming from right at the end of the hallway. The two doors on her right were closed. Outside, in the distance, she could hear the excitement as her group continued raiding the supermarket.
    Chloë held her breath.
    Took a step.
    She heard her dad rushing up the stairs. Heard him chasing her. But she had to get to the room. She had to know what that noise was. Something wasn’t right about this town. And something told her the answers were in that room in front of her. The answers were the crackling noise.
    But she wouldn’t know until she searched the room.
    She wouldn’t know until she found out what it was.
    She wouldn’t know until—
    The door to her right crashed open.
    Two monsters lurched out.
    One of them—a blond man—so bony he had to have starved to death before finally being bitten.
    Another of them a woman, her pale arms covered in cuts, her bare chest and saggy breasts smeared with bloodied bites.
    Both of them staggering towards Chloë.
    “Chloë!”
    Chloë went to lift her right hand out of instinct. When nothing happened, she remembered her left. Her left! Shit. She had to get used to that. Had to retrain her brain to react better. Had to—
    When she lifted the knife in her left hand, it was already too late.
    The woman grabbed hold of Chloë’s left wrist.
    Wrapped her wobbly teeth around it.
    Chloë tried to pull back. Remembered the sensation. The tearing of her flesh. The burning. All about to happen again. All about to—
    Two shots.
    A splatter of blood.
    The monsters dropped to the floor.
    Chloë’s heart pounded. She turned. Saw her dad had his gun raised. He didn’t look happy.
    “I told you not to go—”
    “I had it,” Chloë said, slipping out of his reach before he could grab her.
    “Chloë!”
    She rushed over to the door at the end of the corridor. Wrapped her hand around the rusty bronze handle. Behind the door to her right, she could hear noises. Scraping. Scratching against the wood. Groaning.
    More monsters.
    More of them.
    But they didn’t matter.
    Not when she had to see what was behind the door.
    Not when the crackling noise was so loud.
    She twisted the handle as Dad pressed himself up to the other door. “Need to get the hell out of here. Stop messing around!”
    She pushed the door open.
    Heard the crackling static at full blast.
    And then she stepped into the room.
    The room was empty. Empty of any furniture. Wasn’t even a window in there.
    But there was a machine.
    A big black machine.
    The machine where the static noise was coming from.
    A tune. Some kind of familiar tune, like a song. Only filled with static.
    Chloë walked over towards the machine. Walked over, as the door her dad was holding back split, as he shouted at her to get out of there.
    And as he fired at the monsters, as he fought them back, Chloë could only stare at the machine.
    She could only listen to the voice beneath the crackling static.
    The woman’s voice.
    “Is anyone out there? I repeat, is anyone out there? Safe haven. Safe place. Safe community. Pwllheli. Pwllheli, North West Wales. Survivors welcomed. Survivors welcomed. Pwllheli.”

5
    Five
    “ Y ou have to tell them , Chloë. You owe it to this group to tell them the truth.”
    Chloë walked down the side streets of Hopeforth. It was a nice evening. The cloud