Dead Days: Season 3 (Books 13-18) by Ryan Casey Read Free Book Online Page A

heavier, its coldness scratching at her face. And her legs could hardly move‌—‌they were too cold, too tired. But she had to run if she wanted to live. There were too many of them. She had to run. That’s what Mummy would’ve told her to do. It was what everyone would’ve told her to do.
    As she ran across the twigs and branches, she tried her best not to tumble over. The shouts of the monsters didn’t seem to be getting any further away, and she didn’t want to look over her shoulder in case one jumped out from in front of her and scared her like Daddy used to do only meaner. So she kept on going. Kept running at the side of the road, heart racing, knees aching and weak, cold.
    She looked to her left for a way out, but the left of the road was just the same as this side‌—‌trees. And she didn’t want to go into the woods. The woods were dark and scary and she didn’t know what she might see in there.
    But did many people live in the woods? Would many of the monsters have gone in there?
    This time, Chloë did look over her shoulder, unable to help herself.
    She wished she hadn’t, because the monsters were closer than she thought.
    And they were moving quicker, too. Quicker than usual. Not running, but going as fast as Mum used to when she went power-walking. They must be hungry. So hungry that they want to run after Chloë, just like Chloë wants to run from them.
    Trying her best to block out the cries and shouts from the monsters getting louder, Chloë looked up the road ahead. There was no point running. It just went on further than she could see, no turns or anything like that.
    She looked to her right. Looked into the darkness of the woods.
    She didn’t want to go in there. She didn’t want to, but what else could she do? She couldn’t shoot all the monsters. There were too many of them.
    She looked back at the monsters again. So close now. Smellier than ever, too. She looked down at her map. Down at the map leading to Manchester. Manchester, where she wanted to be for Christmas, with the other children and nice people.
    If she went into the woods, she might get lost and never get to Manchester.
    And she was hungry already. So hungry.
    She looked at the necklace. Looked at it, tried to imagine what Mum would do.
    But she couldn’t hear Mum’s answers because the monsters were just being too loud now.
    So she took a deep breath and she ran into the woods. Ran into the darkness of the trees. When she’d run a short way, she realised it wasn’t as dark in here as she thought. It was just that all the leaves had fallen off the trees, and they all looked the same.
    She jumped around a few trees, criss-crossed, tried everything she could to lose the monsters following her, as the light from the open road behind her got further and further away, until she didn’t even know whether the road was still behind her or on another side.
    She looked over her shoulder, still running, trying to see the monsters, but she couldn’t see them either. But she could still hear them crying. If they were crying, she knew they were still looking for her. And it was like a game of hide and seek‌—‌you played it until you found the other person, no matter what. But sometimes in hide and seek with her sister, Chloë used to cheat‌—‌she used to lock herself in bathrooms and pretend she wasn’t in there, until eventually her sister got sad and stroppy and gave up.
    She needed a place like a bathroom. A place where the hide-and-seek game would wear off.
    She looked ahead again and almost tripped over with what she saw.
    There was a cottage in front. A cute little cottage, like something out of a fairy tale. The trees just stopped around it, and this cottage was all on its own, away from a road, away from everything. She could see smoke coming out of the chimney, and smell it, too.
    She slowed down. Maybe there were good people here. Maybe there were‌—‌
    She saw a curtain twitch. In the room opposite her,