Chloe Zombie Apocalypse series (Book 3): Chloe (A New World) Read Online Free Page A

constant reminder of where she was, of the world she lived in now.
    Chloë leaned forward. Rubbed her stinging eyes. Just a dream. Just another nightmare.
    Another nightmare just like the ones she always had.
    The day Mum died. The day she shot her old friend, Anna.
    The day the world really changed. ’Cause it’d changed before then a bit. The monsters arrived weeks before that day.
    But that was the day things really got different.
    That was the day she found herself.
    She looked over to her left. Squinted. She could see Dad’s chest rising and falling as he lay there in his sleeping bag. He’d told Chloë they’d get a separate tent one day, but that was a while ago and he hadn’t mentioned much of it since. Chloë didn’t mind sleeping in the same tent as her dad. She’d have liked a bit more independence, but at the same time , it comforted her being so close to her dad.
    At least he was here. At least she was by his side.
    She wasn’t alone.
    She was about to lay her head back down on the pillow when she heard voices outside.
    She lifted her head again. Moved closer to the entrance of the tent. People weren’t allowed out at night. Never usually heard anyone talking after about 11.
    But Chloë could definitely hear voices right now.
    She thought about just getting back into her sleeping bag. Because it had nothing to do with her. Dad was right—she needed to just live her life as normally as she could, as much as she didn’t want to. She wasn’t leading anyone anymore.
    But those voices. Something about them made Chloë want to go outside. To find out where they were coming from. Whose they were.
    She pushed aside the sleeping bag. Climbed out. She knew she was in the wrong. She’d sneaked out at night before and always felt like she was being watched, so didn’t do it so much these days.
    She pulled at the tent opening. Unzipped it as gently as she could, doing everything not to distract Dad.
    She heard him move. Froze.
    When she turned round, she saw his eyes were still closed. But he was facing her now.
    Chloë took another few steadying breaths. She carried on unzipping the tent. Unzipped it so there was a big enough gap for her to sneak out of. Hopefully Dad wouldn’t notice the breeze. If he woke up and found her gone, he’d go mad. He’d be worried. Chloë didn’t want to do that to him.
    She lifted her leg out the tent. Then the other. And then she was outside. Outside in the cold.
    She pushed her teeth together to stop them chattering. Tried to get a sense of where the voices were coming from.
    And then she saw the dim light glowing from a tent a few feet away.
    She crouched down. Crept towards it. The island was so quiet, so silent. Up at the top of the hill, the High Lord’s palace stared down at her, like it was watching all the time. It made Chloë feel worried. Uneasy.
    But she had to keep going because she had to know what the voices were; who they were.
    She stopped right beside the tent where the talking was coming from. Stayed still.
    She could hear them, now. Hear them discussing something. Two, maybe three, maybe four people, all crammed into that tent. They were raising their voices. Arguing about something. She couldn’t make out what they were saying properly. But the fact that they were arguing made Chloë want to hear even more.
    So she shuffled closer to the tent. Close enough to hear.
    She leaned right up to the tent entrance and she heard the words. Heard exactly what they said. And it must’ve been a combination of that and the sound of footsteps a few metres to her left that made her slip. Fall against the entrance of the tent.
    Everyone in the tent stopped talking.
    Chloë backed up. Rolled away from the tent. Mud covered her shins, her white T-shirt. She ran across the grass. Ran towards her tent.
    But then she saw the approaching person getting closer.
    She hid behind another tent. Heard the zip of the tent she’d heard the discussion and fallen onto open up. Heard