Dead Days: Season 3 (Books 13-18) (33 page)

It was a cave. A wall of reddish rocks, with a hole just big enough to fit inside. Through the hole, it looked dark. Pitch black.

“Inside there,” Jordanna whispered. “We wait until they pass.”

She moved forward without even consulting Chloë.

Chloë stared at the dark cave entrance. “But what if they‌—‌what if there’s monsters?” she asked, pulling back on Jordanna’s arm.

Jordanna shook her head. “Chlo, I think you’ve been watching too many horror films. Why would monsters hide in a dark cave when they can live in plain sight?”

Chloë sort of got what Jordanna was saying, but it didn’t make her feel much better about the cave. But still, she followed. They couldn’t risk the monsters catching them, and they couldn’t run back down the path. They were in the middle of nowhere. They were following a path to find somewhere to cook the rabbit. It’s all they had left. Then, they could go on to Manchester.

Chloë followed Jordanna to the entrance of the cave. When they stood outside it, Chloë noticed it smelled damp in there, and just standing in front of it made her colder than she was in the already-cold outside.

“Guess I’ll lead the way then,” Jordanna said.

She got down on her hands and knees and pulled herself inside. It’s a good job she was skinny or there’s no way she’d have fit through the hole.

Chloë watched as she disappeared into the dark hole. She peeked back over a tuft of grass sprouting from the top of the cave entrance, looked for the monsters, but she couldn’t see them. She could just hear their shuffling. Hear them getting closer and closer. They’d smell her soon. Smell her or sense her or whatever it was they did.

Chloë looked back at the cave. She hadn’t heard anything for a bit. She wanted to shout Jordanna, but she knew she couldn’t because then the creatures might hear her. She wanted to go inside. Check Jordanna was okay. But then if Jordanna wasn’t okay she shouldn’t go inside. What should she do? What should she‌—‌

“It’s fine,” Jordanna whispered, her voice echoing against the cave walls. “Come in. Plenty of room for the two of us.”

Chloë gulped and got down on her hands and knees. She pulled herself into the darkness, scratching her tummy against the sharp rocks at the entrance. When she got inside, the damp smell surrounded her. She could hear dripping water somewhere over her head. As she moved herself further into this dark hole, she felt something tickle her neck, and tried not to think about what creepy crawly it might be.

She hit something spongy.

“Ow.”

Phew. Jordanna. Just Jordanna.

“What do we do now?” Chloë asked. It was cramped in the tunnel. She tried to lift her head as far as she could, but there wasn’t enough room. She looked over her shoulder, her stomach tight. She was glad she could still see outside. When she was younger, her cousin, Holly, trapped her in the car boot. Slammed down the boot and walked away from the car as a joke. Chloë banged her hands against the inside of the car boot. Banged her hands and screamed for what felt like forever in that complete darkness.

She gulped. Tried not to think about that feeling again.

“We wait for them to pass,” Jordanna said. “Keep quiet. Keep still.”

Chloë shuffled a bit closer to Jordanna. Felt her warmth, reminding her that she wasn’t alone.

And then she held her breath as she saw the first of the shuffling monsters walk along the path up ahead.

She felt a tingle down her neck when she saw the second. And then the third, and the fourth. Even though she saw the monsters all the time, she didn’t usually take the time to actually look at them. To watch them. They were weird. How they moved along, how their necks were twisted in all kinds of ways. They were dead, but they didn’t look dead. They looked like waxwork models, or actors from fake haunted houses. She wondered whether one day, they’d all just stand up straight and start laughing and tell her it’s all been a big joke, and the whole world would laugh about it.

She’d wondered that right up until the moment her mum’s head exploded.

The monsters all passed by. All wandered down this path. Chloë could hear Jordanna breathing shakily. She wondered how scared Jordanna was. She never seemed scared. She wished she was like Jordanna. Pretty and unique like her. Maybe she would be one day. Maybe if she stuck with her long enough, she would be.

She heard a groan.

At first, she thought it must just be the monsters outside.

But then it happened again. It echoed around the cave.

And again.

From somewhere inside the cave.

Jordanna looked around. Chloë could only just see her in the darkness, the light outside not doing much to light up the cave. She looked over her shoulder. Chloë tried to look too, but she couldn’t turn properly.

The boot slamming shut.

The darkness.

Her breathing got trickier.

Just look at the light. Look at the…‌

She looked outside the cave into the light, and what she saw didn’t put her at any ease.

The six monsters from the path were all walking towards the entrance of the cave. They’d walked off the path, and they were all walking towards her and Jordanna, as the groan echoed inside the cave once again.

Chloë tried to hold her breath. Her heart pounded. She’d be trapped soon. She’d be stuck in here. Stuck in here like she was in the boot. Stuck in here in the darkness with nowhere to go, only this time she wasn’t allowed to scream either.

Chloë tried to launch herself forward. Tried to get out of the cave before the monsters trapped her in. Tried not to scream.

Then she felt a hand grip tight hold of her leg, heard the groaning right behind her, and she couldn’t help but yelp.

Chloë knew screaming was a bad idea, knew she shouldn’t do it, especially when the monsters were coming towards her and Jordanna inside the cave.

But when she felt the hand squeeze into the bottom of her right leg, she couldn’t help but squeal out a gasp of air.

She kicked out. Kicked out and rolled around in the darkness, the grip on her leg not getting any looser. She banged her head on the hard rock ceiling of the cave. Thumped and kicked, desperate not to let the monster get her, desperate to get away.

Jordanna was saying things. Saying things and thumping at the groaning, gripping monster too, but her words didn’t calm Chloë down. She didn’t want to be one of those monsters. She didn’t want to become one of them on Christmas Day. Christmas Day was meant to be a happy day.

As she continued to kick out, her foot connected with something solid, and the grip of the hand on her right leg came loose.

She lifted herself up. Lifted herself up even though there wasn’t much room, squinted into the darkness that her eyes had just about adjusted to.

There was a monster in the cave with them. Only it wasn’t a full monster‌—‌it was just half of a monster. A man wearing a black T-shirt and missing the bottom part of his body. He was reaching out with his long-nailed fingers, his dark face covered with little specks of ice. Chloë thought he looked so cold, but she didn’t feel sorry for him. Not at all.

“Shit,” Jordanna said. She shuffled away from the opening of the cave. “Shit.”

Chloë looked around. The monster in the cave was far enough away now to make a run for it.

But when she looked outside, she knew she wasn’t going anywhere any time soon.

The six monsters were right outside the cave. All of them were getting closer. The one at the front, who looked like she used to be an old lady with long silver hair, started to crouch down as she reached the cave.

Chloë’s heart pounded. She was trapped. Trapped, just like she was in that boot when she was younger. Completely stuck.

“Watch yourself!” Jordanna shouted.

Chloë only realised at the last second that the monster inside the cave was getting ready to bite her again. But it didn’t get to her. Jordanna squeezed herself towards it, then grabbed it at the sides of its head. She pushed it back. Pushed it back through the darkness of the cave as the gooey insides from the middle of its body spilled out onto the rocks below. She pushed it, struggled with it, then disappeared out of sight and into the darkness.

Chloë looked back around. The monsters were coming inside the cave now. They’d get her soon. There was no way out.

Panting, she grabbed hold of Mum’s necklace. Squeezed it tighter than she’d ever squeezed it.

“Please Mum. Please help. Please.”

From the darkness behind her, Chloë heard a thud.

And then she heard another and another. And with each thud, she could hear rocks crumbling.

And then she could…‌Wait. Was the cave getting lighter?

She turned back around. Turned back to where Jordanna had gone.

The good tingles jittered around her tummy.

There was a light at the other side of the cave. It was coming from higher up, a little hole shining through the rocks. Jordanna was bashing the monster’s head up against the rocks. Blood was spilling down all over her, covering her hands. But whenever she hit the rocks above with the monster’s head‌—‌getting a weirder shape by the second‌—‌more of the red rocks crumbled away.

“Quick, Chloë!” Jordanna shouted. “Through‌—‌through here!”

Chloë looked around. The creatures were all in the front of the cave now, all clambering around for her, the stench of death filling up the small space.

She held her breath and shimmied forward. Shimmied towards the tiny light that Jordanna had cracked in the top of the cave. Shimmied towards the dust, which stung her eyes and made her cough.

The light was getting bigger. She felt little stones tumbling onto her head, then scratching at her face. She could hear the stones of the cave around her creaking, and she knew what was happening.

“Quick, Chloë!” Jordanna shouted.

Chloë threw herself forward. Threw herself to where Jordanna was. She’d dropped the monster now, its head completely caved-in, cold blood leaking out of it.

Jordanna tugged at the rocks. Yanked them away, one by one, bigger stones falling down from the outside and hitting Chloë everywhere.

“Climb‌—‌climb through,” Jordanna said, red dust sticking to her bloody skin.

Chloë looked up at the light. Looked up at the light, just wide enough to get through. But Jordanna. If Chloë got through, Jordanna might not have time. She might not‌—‌

“Just go!”

Chloë didn’t think about anything else. She let the small rocks tumble from above, let the itchy dust fill her eyes and nose.

She reached out for the edge of the light and she lifted herself up.

She felt Jordanna touch her bottom and push her further outside. Back out into the woods. Right out of the top of the cave, which was crumbling away.

She lifted her legs. Lifted her legs, brought them over the sides.

And then she was out.

She turned around. Turned to reach for Jordanna. She had to help her. She couldn’t leave her in the cave to die. She couldn’t leave her to get crushed.

She looked down through the hole. Saw Jordanna’s pretty eyes looking up at her.

For the first time since Chloë met her, she looked really, really scared.

She didn’t see her for much longer because the rocks of the cave tumbled completely and buried Jordanna underneath.

Chapter Four: Chloë

Chloë wasn’t sure how long she sat and stared at the rocks of the cave, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the spot where they’d crushed Jordanna.

She sat completely still and in silence. The monsters had been crushed too, which was a good thing. But Chloë, she was on her own again. She’d followed Jordanna’s lead and now she was all on her own.

She tasted saltiness on her lips. Saltiness mixed with the dust from the crumbled cave. She shouldn’t have gone into that cave. She should’ve run, and so should Jordanna. It was another decision somebody else had made, another decision that had got her into more trouble‌—‌that had left her on her own again.

She sniffed back her tears. She knew she had to be a strong girl now. And even though her legs were hurting with scratches, and her head was aching from the rocks that had fallen onto it, she knew she was lucky to be alive.

But how much longer would she be the lucky one? Was she just going to keep on losing people forever? Why was she always alone?

She wiped her eyes. One time, she’d decided not to play out with her friend Katie and some of the other girls because she liked her alone-time. And Elizabeth went out. Told Katie and the other girls that Chloë didn’t like playing with them, which just wasn’t true. But after that, they didn’t invite her out. She hated being alone then. That’s when she started spending even more time with Mum, doing adult things like going to the shopping centre and trying on clothes. She enjoyed doing that. And going out with Mum made her realise she wasn’t alone. She wasn’t ever alone.

She held her necklace. Looked around at the trees, tall and watchful over her. Listened to the sound of the cold breeze brushing against them.

She’d never felt more alone in her life.

She waited there for a little longer. Waited there, just to calm herself down, to rest her tired legs.

And then she stood up. Stood up on her shaky legs. Turned around, started walking away.

She heard something from the rocks as she headed back towards the path. Heard them clinking together. She ignored them. They were just settling. The cave was getting used to not being a cave anymore.

But then she heard the rocks clinking even more. Heard them tumbling over.

She stopped. Looked around.

She couldn’t be…‌could she?

The rocks where Jordanna had been buried were moving. Red stones tumbled down in the dust.

Something was moving them. Something was trying to get out.

Chloë walked back towards the rocks. Started slowly, but then broke into a run, even though she felt too tired and too weak to run anywhere anymore.

She crouched down by the rocks. Crouched down, started to pull them away, one by one, heart pounding, mind racing.

And then she saw her.

Her face was bloody, but it was definitely her face. And even though she should be dead, even though she
looked
dead, she couldn’t be dead because she was moving rocks away with her even bloodier hands.