C.M. Chidgey published her first book, Fallon Mansion in 2013, but did a lot of writing long before that knowing that she wanted to be a writer since she was younger. She has now published nine books and will soon be publishing the fourth book of the Zombie Apocalypse series. Spending time with her family and writing are her favourite things to do. She has lived in England for her whole life and is thankful for all the support she receives from her family on writing her books.
Monday, 9 March 2015
Friday, 13 December 2013
To Hell And Back (Zombie Apocalypse Series, Book 2)
OUT NOW!
The man she once hated, has been absent for over a month. Left responsible to run the hotel with Bethany and Gordon while the zombies still rule the Earth, the missing Lucian isn't her only problem. Her health begins declining for reasons unknown to anyone and her sleep is filled with nightmares of Lucian being locked up and tortured. Determined to get to him she leaves the hotel alone with only one plan. Save Lucian. Taylor Mckenzie must walk into the very depths of hell to get to him, but no one just walks straight into Lucifer's domain and back out without their being consequences.
New allies will join them, the worst enemy you can imagine will try to claim her and someone she loves will be used to send her straight into a trap. No one ever said an apocalypse would be easy to live in, but the things Taylor must face takes difficult to a whole different level.
Buy Now At:
Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com/Hell-Back-Zombie-Apocalypse-Series-ebook/dp/B00H9IP5DI/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1386984278&sr=8-2&keywords=cm+chidgey
Amazon.co.uk: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hell-Back-Zombie-Apocalypse-Book-ebook/dp/B00H9IP5DI/ref=la_B00CPN7VBG_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1386984206&sr=1-5
Smashwords.com: https://www.smashwords.com/books/view/387857
Thursday, 11 July 2013
Barnes & Noble
Demon Hotel (Zombie Apocalypse Series, Book 1) is now available as a nook book on Barnes & Noble!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/demon-hotel-cm-chidgey/1115951860?ean=2940044621039One Of The Enemy (Hidden Descendant Series, Book 1) is now available as a nook book on Barnes & Noble!
http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/books/1115951877?ean=2940044621183Wednesday, 3 July 2013
Book Covers
The first cover is for the second book in the Rakshasa Series and the second one is for another series I am going to start at some point when I have more details as to everything that happens in it. Neither of these books will be out quite yet, but I felt like making covers and came up with these, so here they are. Hope you like them.
Friday, 28 June 2013
Tuesday, 25 June 2013
Out Now!
What happens when the world is no longer what it once was? Zombies now walk the
earth and with it comes more dangers than just the risk of a bite from one of
these undead creatures. After an attack at a camp that Taylor believed to be
safe from the walking dead she is left alone with Eric until he goes missing. It
isn't long before it's apparent to her that being a girl alone is a bad thing
for a lot of reasons even after teaching herself to fight. A big mistake gets
her into a bad predicament and to her surprise she is saved by someone she
hates.
Being in an apocalypse doesn't seem to be making anything easy though. Someone she thinks is a friend turns out to be her worst opponent. Arguments with her childhood enemy no longer end with hate, but turn into passion. She thought she knew everything about him, but he tells her a secret that he is forbidden to reveal and her life almost comes to an end more times than she cares to count.
Being in an apocalypse doesn't seem to be making anything easy though. Someone she thinks is a friend turns out to be her worst opponent. Arguments with her childhood enemy no longer end with hate, but turn into passion. She thought she knew everything about him, but he tells her a secret that he is forbidden to reveal and her life almost comes to an end more times than she cares to count.
Click Here To Buy Now!
Thursday, 13 June 2013
Demon Hotel (Zombie Apocalypse, Book 1) - Excerpt
Demon Hotel (Zombie Apocalypse, Book 1) - Excerpt, full book coming soon.
Unedited version, may change slightly when released.
Prologue
12
years ago.
I
am six years old and my name is Taylor Mckenzie, it is not Tinkerbell like my
stupid neighbour, Lucian Adams keeps calling me. Ever since he moved next door
four years ago he keeps annoying me. Just because he is eight he thinks he can
get away with anything and because he is older parents believe him over me.
I
crossed my arms over my chest and glared at him playing catch with his friend,
Gordon. I wanted to just go over there and kick him, he had messed up my game
with my dog. He had pushed over the trash can so everything went rolling away
and then blamed it on Patch! Patch hadn’t done anything though, I had seen
Lucian do it, but now Patch was locked in his cage for being bad and I was not
happy!
Boys
were definitely the worst, my sister, Trisha was always screaming at Mummy for
not letting her out with boys. She was seventeen years old and she was crazy if
she wanted to spend time with boys.
Mummy
and Daddy kept telling me to come out and play with Lucian, but I didn’t want
to and now he had made sure I would be bored out here. He was so mean, but next
week we would all be going to Australia . Why did they think it
would be fun to invite him and his Mummy to Australia ? He would spend the whole
time annoying me, I liked his Mummy though, she was nice, I don’t know how he
got so mean.
I’d
rather his Mummy came and we took Patch instead of him, Daddy had told me that
Patch wasn’t allowed to come though, some people were going to look after him
for us because he was afraid of airplanes. I didn’t know why he was scared
though, Daddy said that it would be like flying and that sounded really fun
until Lucian said that I was used to flying anyway because Tinkerbell flew all
the time.
Maybe
they would just move somewhere else soon and I wouldn’t have to see him
anymore.
8
years ago.
“Hey
Tink, watch out for the spiders.” Lucian called before running into his room.
Yes,
despite all my hopes that they would move, they still lived next door and the Australia trip had become a yearly
thing since I was six. This was the fifth one, we always came to Queensland and Lucian always tried
to scare me with the spiders, but the truth was that they didn’t really bother
me. I didn’t like spiders, but it’s not like the idea of them being in the room
kept me up as long as they kept to themselves I didn’t care. He probably knew
that by now, but he never passed up a chance to say something annoying. Our
fights and arguments with each other had only developed more the older we got,
we had mud fights, food fights, snowball fights, water fights, you name it and
we had probably done it. Most people in our neighbourhood avoided us nowadays
so that they didn’t get caught in the crossfire and my parents and his Mum had
learnt by now to let it run its course instead of trying to stop us. We argued
about almost anything and when a girl from school got caught in our argument
she burst into tears and I realised then how strange it was that no matter what
happened I never resorted to tears and in typical Lucian style he had no
problem telling me how weird I was.
We
were now getting ready to go on one of Dad’s long walks he had planned out, I
never looked forward to them, they were long and tiring and he barely let us
have any breaks. Last year I had come back with so many blisters on my feet
that I thought they would fall off much to Lucian’s amusement who of course
didn’t have a single one. Since Trisha hadn’t been with us I had been the only
one complaining and I had a feeling since she was absent this year too it was
going to be a repeat experience.
We
all met at the front door where Dad was filling up a rucksack with bottles of
water, a map, a book of Australian wildlife, some snacks and a torch. I really
hoped we wouldn’t need the torch, the idea of being out there in the dark
seemed even less fun than walking out there in the day.
“You
walk up here with me Luc and you walk back there with Mum Taylor, I don’t want
to be held up by a fight between you two so keep your distance.”
I
saw the grin on Lucian’s face before he turned to follow Dad leaving me with
just the back of his black hair covered head to see before his Mum followed and
then I followed with my Mum next to me.
As
I had thought we hadn’t even been walking for that long when my feet began to
hurt, my Mum was holding my hand and almost dragging me along so that I
wouldn’t fall behind. I kept up with her help, my feet had been worse than this
before so I kept going.
The
Australian heat beating down on us through the trees didn’t help at all, we
were all breathing heavily and I was sure we must be coming to a stop soon, but
Dad just kept walking and looking at his map. I was sure that a ten year old
shouldn’t be sweating this much and I was so thirsty, but I knew if I asked for
water now I probably wouldn’t have enough for later so I kept quiet and forced
myself to keep walking.
I
was glad when Dad’s steps became slower as he started matching wildlife to the
pictures in his book so that he could find out about them. It proved how tired
I was when I didn’t mind stopping so close to spiders for my Dad to compare
them to his book.
When
he sped up again though I groaned and started dragging my feet before whining
out. “Mum, my feet really hurt.”
“Mine
too sweetie, but we have to keep up with the others.”
I
nodded and took abut ten more steps before I couldn’t take it anymore and
tugged on her hand when we stood in a clearing. “Mum, please can we sit down
for just a few minutes?”
“Joseph,
we need to take a break!” She called to them and they were the best words I had
heard all day.
I
let out a breath of relief before letting go of her hand and sitting down on a
close by log.
“Surely
we should have stopped for a break before this?” Lucian’s Mum asked as they
walked back towards us.
“I
was trying to get us to this spot on the map, but I can’t seem to find it.” My
Dad answered.
“You
mean we’re lost?” Mum asked in outrage.
“No,
no Nikki, I’m just not sure where that spot is.”
“Which
means we are lost!” She said raising her voice.
I
groaned, great we might be lost in trees full of spiders. This was the sort of
thing that Lucian would do to me.
“Dad,
can I have some water please?” I interrupted their argument.
He
took his rucksack off and pulled water out without even stopping the shouting
back and forth. I took the water without even bothering to thank him knowing
that there wouldn’t be much point and took a mouthful, it felt amazing sliding
down my parched throat.
“Aww,
is the walking too much for Tinkerbell?” Lucian asked with a smirk taking his
time to drink some of his water.
I
glared at him not bothering with any words knowing that I didn’t have the
energy to waste after all this walking. After taking another mouthful of water
I did it back up and waited to find out what my parents were going to do. My
Dad was now looking at the map and Mum came and sat next to me while Lucian’s
Mum savoured her water.
“No
spiders around here are there?” Mum asked me looking around us suspiciously.
She
was even more frightened of spiders than I was and clearly the idea of spiders
in the trees was really bothering her. “I hope not.” I answered.
Suddenly
a few birds flew out of close by trees and I jumped letting out a little squeak
and dropping my bottle of water having sudden images of spiders jumping out of
trees at us.
Lucian
started laughing at me and I glared at him again before leaning down to pick up
my bottle from behind the log. Since I was still glaring at him I never looked
down before picking it up and that was the biggest mistake I had ever made.
I
felt it before I looked at it, there was a sudden intense pain in my wrist
making me drop my water bottle, cry out in pain and look at my wrist to find a
spider biting me. It pulled its teeth out and I could actually see it rear back
to bite me again when I jumped to my feet and started screaming my head off. My
sore feet were forgotten, the heat from the sun seemed like nothing, all that
existed was the searing pain in my wrist as I shook it trying to get it off.
My
Mum being the closest one to me grabbed at it suddenly making it direct its
attack at her after landing on her hand. She must really love me if she was
willing to get a spider off of me when I knew how frightened she was of them. I
didn’t stop screaming even though it was off of me because it started biting my
Mum stabbing its fangs into her arm repeatedly. My Mum was screeching for Dad
to kill it, everything seemed to move so slow and it seemed like it took
forever for my Dad to get there, but I was certain he had started moving
towards us the moment I had started screaming. I was so happy for Dad’s
wildlife book at that moment when he used it to hit the spider off of Mum’s arm
before stamping on it killing it outright.
We
were both crying and my Mum shouted in between tears. “That’s it, we are never
coming on one of these stupid walks again!”
“I
know, I’m sorry love.” Dad said taking my Mum into his arms.
My
whole body was shaking and my legs felt weak, but I refused to sit on that log
again. I looked down at my wrist to see the two little holes there still
bleeding.
“You
ok?” Lucian asked from next to me.
I
jumped and wiped my eyes before looking away from him. I really didn’t need him
to use this later for something to laugh at me about.
“I’m
f-fine.” I stuttered.
I
wiped my eyes again refusing to cry anymore, but tears didn’t seem to stop
coming. I wasn’t really crying anymore so it didn’t make sense that my eyes
were still blurring.
“Are
you ok sweetie?” My Dad asked me pulling me in for a hug now that Mum seemed
slightly less hysterical.
I
nodded against his t-shirt and gasped out. “I’m fine Dad.”
Now
I was panting, that was weird. Apparently my Dad thought so too because he
pulled back and looked at me as if he’d never seen me before. I blinked several
times when he blurred into two people and I stumbled.
“Dad,
I don’t feel good.” I admitted in between breaths.
“Taylor , what’s wrong?” Mum asked
me and I thought I could detect a slight breathlessness in her voice.
“What
kind of spider was that?” Lucian’s Mum suddenly demanded grabbing the wildlife
book.
“I
don’t know.” Dad answered as she started flicking through the book glancing at
the dead spider on the floor after every few pages.
Suddenly
she stood up and grabbed Dad’s map. “We need to get them to the hospital now.”
I
took one step before my legs gave way and Dad scooped me up and followed her
into the trees.
“What
is it Stephanie?” Mum asked stumbling against Dad.
“Funnel-Web
spider, we need to get them the antidote now.” She stopped. “Give me Taylor , you better carry Nikki.”
She said to my Dad.
He
handed me over quickly before scooping my Mum up and they started marching
through the trees. Lucian of course kept up without a problem and was
completely silent.
“How
long does it take to spread?” Dad asked between breaths, but I knew that was
from walking so fast with the extra weight of my Mum too.
“Anywhere
from fifteen minutes to three days. It depends on a number of things, I hope we
are going the right way.”
“We
are, I can find the way back.”
From
that point on everything seemed far away at one second and too close at another,
things blurred and I couldn’t seem to make out anything. I could have sworn I
heard Lucian trying to talk to me at some points, but I didn’t know if that was
just my imagination or not. I heard the voices of my Dad and Lucian’s Mum, but
they always sounded panicked and I couldn’t make out exactly what they were
saying.
Then
there were voices that I didn’t even recognize and I thought I heard my Dad
crying, but that must have been wrong because my Dad never cried. I knew I
wasn’t in Lucian’s Mum’s arms anymore, but I couldn’t identify where I was
either and it didn’t seem to matter I was just so tired. I wasn’t even sure why
I had forced myself to stay awake for so long, but I couldn’t find the energy
anymore so I let sleep pull me under hoping my Mum would be there to hug me
when I woke up.
The
spider was on me again, only it was bigger and it wouldn’t let go no matter how
much I shook my arm it clung on biting me repeatedly. I screamed and screamed
until my throat was raw, but it was still there. My wrist was hurting so much
where it was biting me and I just wanted my Mum there to save me and tell me it
was all ok, but she never came and it never stopped biting me until my screams
woke me up.
“Sweetie,
wake up, you’re safe.”
It
was my Dad’s voice and my eyes snapped open to find him sitting there next to
me in a chair. A sob escaped my throat and I climbed out of what I now noticed
was a hospital bed before crawling into his lap and crying against his chest.
He wrapped his arms around me and soothed me until I had finally calmed down.
It
wasn’t until I lifted my head up to look at him that I noticed the red circles
around his eyes as if he had been crying too. I looked around the room to find
Lucian and his Mum sitting in here too, but where was my Mum? Lucian’s Mum
still had tears running down her cheeks and Lucian for once didn’t look amused
as if he was about to make fun of me.
“Daddy,
where’s Mummy?” I asked calling them by the name’s that I had replaced with Mum
and Dad a while ago.
“Sweetie…-“
Dad started before taking a deep breath seeming unable to finish a sentence.
“Dad,
I don’t understand, you don’t cry.” I said wiping a tear off of his cheek when
it fell.
“Your
Mother is gone sweetie.” He whispered before more tears fell.
“No.”
I shook my head. “Where is she gone Dad, what do you mean?”
When
he refused to answer me I started screaming at him and hitting his chest. He
had to tell me where she was, she couldn’t be gone. What did that mean anyway,
where did she go, what was he even talking about?
I
didn’t stop until Lucian’s Mum pulled me from his lap saying.
“She
died Taylor .”
The
words hit me like a slap to the face before I fell on my knees and cried and
screamed for my Mum hoping it was all some mistake and she would come in the
room at any minute and hold me, but she didn’t. Lucian’s Mum and my Dad were
the only ones there to comfort me while Lucian watched from his chair with a
look on his face that I couldn’t even identify.
4
years ago.
I
sighed and slammed my locker shut before leaning against it, I was having such
a bad day. First, I had, had a bad night of sleep so I was exhausted when I
woke up, then I forgot that we were having a pop quiz in English so I had got a
one out of ten mark, then I had been kicked out of Math for falling asleep at
the desk and I had just been disqualified from a test when I asked for a new
pen because mine ran out. I swear the stupid teachers were ganging up on me to
make my school experience hell.
I
groaned when I saw Lucian turn the corner into the hallway, great that was all
I needed. We still annoyed the hell out of each other, the only time he had
stopped was for around a month when we had returned from that life changing
trip in Australia . Then suddenly without
any warning we were arguing and fighting full force again. It had taken me a
while to understand that my Mum was killed and I survived, but the doctor had
explained that the spider had injected a lot more venom into her so it had
killed her quicker and apparently I was almost dead when we arrived.
Understandably I was now absolutely terrified of spiders and I still had
nightmares about that day. Trisha had moved away, we never heard from her
anymore and my Dad was raising me the best that he could, but I wasn’t immune
to the sadness that enveloped me every time I entered the room he was in.
“Hey,
Tinkerbell!”
I
just closed my eyes and didn’t acknowledge him just hoping he would go away,
but of course that didn’t happen. When I knew he was standing in front of me I
sighed and opened my eyes. He had one hand pressed against the lockers above my
head and was leaning down all in my personal space with a smirk on his face.
Just because he was annoying as hell though it didn’t make me oblivious to how
attractive he was. He still had the same messy black hair and eyes so dark that
they were almost black just the same as when he had first arrived in the house
next door. What was different though were the muscles he was developing in his
chest and shoulders. Every girl I knew wanted to kiss the guy, but that was
because they didn’t have to deal with him all the time.
“Thanks
for the paint splattered on the inside of my locker. I got detention for that
you know.”
I
smirked at him. “Thanks for the glitter you poured inside mine Adams . Was real fun trying to get
all of the glitter out of my books. Did you want something?”
“Careful
Tink, I might think you’re glad to see me.”
“I’m
not in the mood today Adams , save it for tomorrow.” I said trying to
slide along the lockers so I could get away from him.
He
pressed his hand against the lockers close to my hip blocking me in. “Not so
fast Blondie, your Dad needs me to give you a ride home later. Meet me out
front after school.”
“Fine.”
I muttered dreading the journey already. He had only just received his licence
and he was a pretty crazy driver, the first time I had been in the car with him
was the only time that I questioned if I had travel sickness or not, but it was
just his driving.
“Don’t
be late.” He said pushing away from the locker and wrapping his arm around the
waist of a girl who I hadn’t noticed until now. “I don’t want to explain to
your Father why you are walking home.”
“I’ll
be there.” I muttered reluctantly.
The
minute he turned his back and headed down the hallway with the girl I leaned my
head back against the locker and closed my eyes. My eyes snapped open when I
heard girls scream and guys chuckle from the opposite end of the hallway that
Lucian was walking. Looking in that direction I didn’t notice what the whole
thing was about. The girls had stopped screaming and the guys were walking down
the hallway still looking amused, I figured they had just frightened them or
something so I shrugged it off leaning against the locker again.
“Oi
Mckenzie, what’s up?” One of the guys asked me. I think his name was Robert,
but I wasn’t really sure because I never really spoke to these guys and they
never spoke to me.
Instead
of answering I simply frowned at them in confusion until the guy who was maybe
Robert moved out of the way revealing his friend holding a tarantula in his
hand.
“You
like my friends’ new pet?” He asked.
Now
if I was any other girl, I probably would have simply screamed, they would have
laughed and then moved on, but with the history I had that I was sure they were
completely unaware of I reacted to it just as I had every other time I had seen
a spider since Australia . Taking a step away from
them I glanced down at the inside of my wrist where the scars from the spiders’
fangs still remained on my skin.
Immediately
images of that day flashed through my mind and my breathing became erratic. My
vision blurred and everything seemed to be fading, I would have fallen
backwards, but arms caught me and held me upright.
“Shh,
it’s ok it won’t hurt you, just breathe.” Someone whispered in my ear.
I
nodded and attempted to do just that, but the memories were so clear in my head
that it was like I was there all over again. A whimper escaped my mouth and I
started shaking.
“It’s
not real, you need to breathe.”
The
whispers sounded urgent and I tried harder to push the memories down. I
couldn’t believe that this was happening in the middle of school, everyone
probably thought I was crazy. My senses were still struggling to work properly
and the voice sounded far away so I didn’t even know who was holding me up.
Slowly
as I started to catch my breath my focus cleared only to find the guy still
standing in front of me with the tarantula. They all had shocked looks on their
faces, but the spider drew my attention quickly making me freak out again as I
started panting all over again.
“Put
that damn thing away, before I knock you on the floor!”
Now
that voice I recognised, but I had never heard it so full of anger before. The
guy with the spider scurried away quickly followed by the others and I managed
to stand upright. I was still shaking and I felt weak, but the worst of it was
over now. Slowly I turned to face Lucian and I was sure the confusion was
written all over my face because before I could say anything he said.
“Even
I have lines I won’t cross Blondie and that is one I’d never cross.”
Before
I could even so much as thank him for his help he left and I was still
wondering when these lines had appeared because as far as I was aware Lucian
Adams couldn’t see the line between acceptable and not acceptable, either that
or he just ignored it. At least I thought he had, but now I wasn’t so sure.
That
afternoon when I met him after school though it was as if nothing had happened.
He was back to his pain in the ass self and by the time I got home I wanted to
punch him.
8
months ago.
“Stupid
piece of shit!” I shouted at my car before kicking it in the bumper.
I
had no idea why I was yelling at my car when I knew it was something Lucian had
done to it. He had only been next to it for a few seconds checking the oil after
my Dad had asked him to and now it wouldn’t start.
I
was meant to be going to a party with some friends tonight, but it didn’t seem
like that would be happening anytime soon. After letting out a growl of
frustration I slammed the door closed and glared over at Lucian’s car.
It
didn’t take long to decide to get him back so I ran over to their driveway
before kneeling next to the tyres. I didn’t know much about cars, but I knew
how to put air in the tyres so it didn’t take a genius to figure if I pulled
the caps off of the tyres they would eventually be flat. So that’s what I did,
I felt like some kind of criminal sneaking around to each tyre in the dark and
unscrewing the caps, but it was soon done and I ran back to my house quickly to
give my friends a call, they needed to know that I wouldn’t be coming to the
party tonight thanks to a certain dark haired neighbour.
“Get
your ass down here Tinkerbell!” Were the words that woke me up the next
morning.
I
rolled over in bed chuckling to myself before snuggling back under the covers
planning to get a bit more sleep before school.
“Blondie!”
The word was shouted from within my room making me sit up suddenly.
“What
the hell are you doing in here?” I yelled at him. “Get out of my room!”
“You
let the air out of my tyres!” He roared.
“And
you broke my car!”
“I
didn’t break it, I just disconnected the battery, it will take five seconds to
put back, but all of my tyres are flat!”
I
couldn’t help it I just started laughing.
“It’s
not funny!” He growled at me.
I
stopped laughing and glared at him. “And it wasn’t funny that you made me miss
the party last night!”
“It
was probably a stupid party anyway, it’s not good to get drunk.”
“Whatever
Adams , we are teenagers, we are
meant to get drunk. Now get out of my room.”
“Not
until you give me back the caps you took.”
“I’ll
give you back your cap thingys when you’ve fixed my car.” I shouted before
pulling the covers over my head to ignore him.
“I’ll
fix your car, but get out of bed you’re driving me to school and I can’t be
late today.”
I
grumbled and stayed where I was hoping he would just leave my room and fix the
car.
Suddenly
the covers were pulled from my bed completely leaving me lying on the mattress
in my too big t-shirt.
“I
tried being nice Tink.” Lucian said before he grabbed my ankle and started
pulling me off.
I
screamed and kicked at him. “Let me go, I’m going to get you for this!”
“I’m
sure you will.” Despite my struggles he picked me up from the bed and carried
me to the bathroom before slamming the door behind me and shouting through the
door. “Get dressed!”
“I
hate you!” I yelled at him.
“You
too Blondie, you too.” He said before I heard his footsteps disappear down the
hall.
Chapter 1
5
months after apocalypse.
It
had been about a month since Eric had been taken, he had been the only person
to escape with me and not get eaten by the zombies. That had happened three
months ago now. Losing everyone at the camp including my Dad and Lucian’s Mum
had been bad enough, but now I was alone completely. I had no idea where Lucian
even was, he had been at a friends house when all hell had broken loose and I
hadn’t seen or heard from him since.
When
Eric and I had set off from the destroyed camp alone he had protected me from
the creatures and soldiers that roamed most places now, but now he was gone and
everything was down to me. Over the last month I had been captured by the
soldiers three times and had barely managed to escape. I had been training hard
and I was quite proud of myself for the way I had fought my way away from the
last group. They had seemed to find me in every one of the hiding places Eric
and I had found, it made me wonder if they had tortured the locations out of
him and then killed him, but I couldn’t think about that. All I really knew was
that he had left and not come back, which was never a good sign.
I
had been at this new location lying low for a week now not wanting to get in
the soldier’s clutches again. The mere thought of them made me shiver all over,
but I knew I was going to have to risk them getting me to search for supplies
soon. I was hungry, thirsty and extremely weak. I knew that I was capable of
fighting well now, but that was when I had felt stronger so I could either sit
here and dehydrate or starve to death or I could take the risk and fight my way
to some supplies.
It
was obvious which path I had to take, I wasn’t the sort of person to just give
up and I definitely didn’t want to get taken by soldiers again or have my brain
eaten by zombies. Killing zombies had been fun when it was on a video game, but
it wasn’t so entertaining when it happened for real. Most of the zombies were
slow and died instantly when their heads were removed or their brains were
damaged, but it was the stronger ones you had to watch out for that still
seemed to have some intelligence. It wasn’t so easy to hack off their heads
when they fought back and used some kind of ninja moves that shouldn’t even be
allowed. Luckily though those guys very rarely came out of hiding and instead
ordered the weaker ones out to fight.
The
soldiers spent their time capturing humans to feed the stronger ones, they
weren’t even zombies, but they were working for them. It made me sick to think
how cowardly people could be that they would start giving people to zombies
knowing full well that they were going to be ripped apart. They were stupid too
if they really thought that the zombie’s would never eat them if it came right
down to it, just because they had worked for them it didn’t mean they would
consider their brains off limits if they got hungry enough.
When
the sun rose I was going to find some food and water knowing that it was less
likely that zombie’s would be about, not impossible, just less likely so I sat
in the small room that I had barricaded myself into and waited for light to
appear through the hole of the crumbling roof in the corner. Most people had
left the city by now or been eaten by zombie’s leaving almost everywhere
deserted. I just had to find somewhere that food had been left and maybe if I
was lucky there would be guns too because I was getting low on ammo.
The
ammo wasn’t that important because I still had my samurai sword and bow and
arrows, but the guns were back up in the case of too many zombie’s or a
stronger one so it was better to be safe than sorry. If I had learnt anything
since the zombie outbreak it was better to have more weapons than you needed
than not enough. Nothing would be worse than being stuck in an army of zombie’s
with one bullet left, which was why I now carried a sword at my hip, two
pistols, a shotgun across my back, daggers in my boots and a bow with plenty of
arrows over my shoulder. Ok, so it might weigh me down, but I had learnt to
move more easily with practice and zombies were in for a surprise when they
messed with me.
The
minute the light from the small hole lit up the room I made sure my weapons
were in place and pulled the chair out from under the handle of the door before
opening it slowly and looking out into the alley. To my relief it was clear,
well clear as in no zombies or soldiers considering it was covered in rubbish
and broken furniture, but none of them were a threat to me unless zombie’s had
started making undead pizza boxes or something.
I
crouched and ran to the end of the alley before looking out on the street.
There were too many places that I couldn’t hide, but I had to go through there
if I was going to find some food since I knew this side of the city didn’t have
a lot to offer. The random cars abandoned on the roads were the only cover
provided giving me at least some illusion that I was hiding. I knew the
soldiers were my biggest problem at this sort of time and I knew there were
never more than about ten in a group so it shouldn’t be that hard to sneak past
them if there were any around.
Taking
a deep breath I wiped the sweat from my forehead wishing I had something to wet
my dry throat with. The sun felt too hot and I knew I shouldn’t have let myself
go this long without water, it was foolish on my part and could lead to a
mistake. Knowing there was nothing that I could do about it now I glanced
around the street quickly before making a dash for the closest car and ducking
behind it. When my breathing had slowed I darted behind the next one, when I
headed for the third one however, the sound of a gunshot echoed throughout the whole
area as my shoulder exploded in pain. I couldn’t stop the cry that escaped my
throat before I fell behind the car as I tried to block out my pulsing
shoulder.
“Come
out little girl, you didn’t really think you would escape us did you?”
I
closed my eyes wishing it would go away as I felt shivers of fear run up my
spine at the familiar voice of one of the soldiers who had taken me last time.
Lifting my hand up to my left cheek I felt the burn mark shaped like a small
wonky star, he had been the one responsible for putting that there. Knowing if
I thought about it the images of what they had done to me would appear in my
mind I pushed it down dropping my hand from my face and concentrated on
thinking about how I was going to get out of this because there was no way I
was going back there without a fight.
After
kneeling up I pulled out my bow and an arrow before pulling the string back
making my shoulder scream in pain. I lessened my grip on the string again
before slowly looking up to locate any one of the soldiers through the window
of the car. When one yelled for me to come out again it didn’t take long for me
to identify him, this one was strolling between cars with his gun raised
loosely as if he didn’t really consider me any threat. I smirked, this would
definitely be to my advantage. Readying my bow again I leaned around the end of
the car taking aim at him and let loose the arrow before ducking behind the car
again trying not to make any sound when my shoulder started burning. The only
indication that I had hit him was simply because I knew I was a good shot and
the “oomph” before the sound of a body falling. If my aim had been as good as I
thought he now had an arrow through his eye.
That
horrible voice spoke again now. “Stop playing with us little girl and come out
like a good girl, maybe I’ll go easy on you.”
I
cringed wiping sweat from my brow before attempting to pull another arrow back,
but my shoulder refused to cooperate and before I could stop it my arrow
clattered to the concrete revealing my location to anyone in the area. Horrible
voice guy must have been closer to the car than I had thought because he
suddenly appeared next to me looking down at me with that grin that promised
pain to anyone who crossed him. Before he had a chance to do anything I grabbed
the arrow from the ground and shoved it into his thigh. I heard his howl of
pain behind me as I made a run for it.
Before
I could get very far though the world tilted and I could only put it down to a
combination of the blood loss and lack of food and water. My arms were grabbed
from behind and I was yanked back against a chest sending my shoulder into
agony. At first I thought it had been horrible voice guy, but it proved it must
be one of the others when I was pulled around to face him making me shiver in
fear. He chuckled seeming amused that he had that affect on me as he threw the
arrow on the floor that he had just pulled from his thigh.
“I
told you not to escape.” He hissed seeming suddenly angry just as a few
soldiers circled us. “Did you really think we wouldn’t get you again?”
“Fuck
you.” I hissed before spitting at him.
He
sighed. “Really, again? You enjoyed it that much?”
Before
he could dodge it I swung my foot up full force between his legs. He actually
roared at me before lifting his gun to my stomach and pulling the trigger. I
automatically tried to dodge it, but I realised it didn’t miss me completely
when my hip screamed in pain. Letting out a scream I struggled in the guys
arms.
“You
have to come with us now, I’m sure you don’t have the medical equipment to fix
yourself up.”
“I’d
rather die than come with you.” I hissed at him.
He
shrugged. “Well, I can always lend you a hand with that.”
I
gasped in pain when he punched me in the hip, suddenly the guy behind me let go
and without his support I fell to the ground. It took a few moments before I
could make out the sounds of gunshots surrounding me, not having any desire to
get shot again today I stayed low to the ground as I got to my knees and
grabbed my bow that had fallen from my shoulder when I was grabbed. Looking
around I could see that all of the soldiers were now lying on the floor
motionless and probably dead or curled up in pain and probably minutes from
dying. There was however, no sign of where the ones responsible for it had
gone.
I
struggled to my feet knowing that I had to get out of here, daylight or not the
zombies would be drawn to this amount of blood and I was in no condition to
take them on. After stumbling for a few steps someone caught my arm holding me
up, my brain felt slightly fuzzy and it took me a moment to realise I had
stopped let alone that someone was holding me. When I looked up I found dark,
almost black eyes and I knew I should know them, but for some reason my mind
couldn’t figure out why. Instead I murmured.
“Don’t
I know you?”
The
only answer I got before I passed out was.
“I
would hope so Tink.”
“Is
she going to be ok?” The words sounded far away and I didn’t know if I was
dreaming or if it was real.
“I
don’t know yet, she’s dehydrated, been shot twice and her fever is sky high.
She’s not looking good.” A woman replied.
“Well,
do something, you have to save her!” The first person yelled. He didn’t sound
very happy and the woman sounded slightly scared when she answered.
“We
are trying, but until her fever breaks we can’t know what’s going to happen.”
“Then
break her damn fever, try harder, you cannot let her die, do you hear me?”
A
man answered then instead. “Calm down son, we are doing everything we can.
Leave it to us and we’ll let you know when there is a change.”
Everything
started fading again then and I didn’t hear anymore conversations, instead my
dreams were haunted by spiders killing my mother, zombies killing my father and
in the end that conversation just seemed like another part of my imagination.
It was like I wasn’t really even in my body and every time I tried to get back
into it I hurt so much that I just left again not ready to deal with the pain.
I
didn’t know how long it had been when it was finally bearable, it didn’t hurt
so much anymore, but my body felt so weak that it was as if it refused to
listen to the movements that my brain insisted it do so I simply laid there
feeling as if a single arm weighed a million pounds when I tried to move it.
“Is
there any change?” A male voice asked from close by.
“No,
she hasn’t woken up yet.” Now that voice I did recognise, but why the hell
would Lucian Adams be here?
I
really wanted to open my eyes to see, but they just wouldn’t cooperate.
“What
do you think she was doing out there on her own?”
Lucian
gave a heavy sigh. “I don’t know Gordon, but if she was alone from the
beginning I don’t know how she lasted this long.”
Wasn’t
Gordon the friends’ house he had been at? And I completely objected to that
statement, I could look after myself. Who was I kidding though I had only been
alone a month and already been kidnapped three times almost four and had
stupidly let myself get weak because I didn’t have any water or food. I had
always been good at finding the food and water when Eric was with me though it
was just because the kidnappings had scared me.
“Why
are you surprised, you could see that she can fight?”
Thank
you Gordon, he saw my fighting skills even if they had sucked at that point.
“I
do not doubt how well she can fight, but women on their own are easy prey to
those soldiers as you saw. It wouldn’t be easy for her to survive with them one
step behind her all the time.”
Well
that was true, there had been way more soldiers since I had been alone. More
than there should have been I would imagine. I mean how did they all suddenly
know where I was? I was just being paranoid though, it’s not like they had a
tracker on me or anything.
It
wasn’t until long after Gordon had left that I managed to force my eyes open, I
half expected Lucian to have left even though I hadn’t heard him move. That was
why I was surprised when I groaned at the pain pounding in my forehead in
objection to my opening eyes and he said.
“You’re
awake, how are you feeling?”
I
couldn’t help the snort that escaped me before I asked. “Who are you and what
have you done with the Lucian who would have laughed at me for my stupidity?”
My
voice came out husky and it hurt my throat to talk, but I managed to get the
words out.
I
saw him smirk after I blinked a few times and my vision cleared. “He decided it
was more important to make sure you were going to live before he took the
piss.”
I
grunted. “Well, I’m fine I just hurt a bit.”
At
least I did until I tried to sit up, then my shoulder decided to remind me it
had been shot by pulsing down my entire arm making me cry out before falling
back.
“A
bit?” He asked raising an eyebrow.
I
groaned looking around the room. “Ok, a lot.” I was in a hospital like room and
then it only just dawned on me that we had been through an apocalypse, hospitals
weren’t even running anymore and most buildings were in ruins. “Where are we?”
He
chuckled. “You like?”
I
glared at him. “You know more than anyone how much I hate hospitals.” Since Australia , it was unspoken, but we
both knew what I meant. They didn’t scare me like spiders did, I just didn’t
like them.
He
shrugged. “You needed to be fixed up, wasn’t my fault and technically we aren’t
in the hospital. It’s just the hospital wing of the building so deal with it.”
I
stuck my tongue out before saying. “I wasn’t talking about the hospital bit
anyway, I meant all the buildings are like falling apart around here and this
doesn’t look any different.”
He
smirked seeming quite proud of himself for some reason. “You know that big
hotel right next to where you decided to get shot?”
“I
didn’t decide to get shot!” I growled at him before adding. “And no I didn’t
notice it, I was too busy trying not to die.”
He
rolled his eyes. “You could have tried harder and we are in that hotel.”
“Well,
thanks for all that info Adams . “We are in that hotel.” Gee thanks a
bunch.”
He
chuckled. “Watch your mouth Tink or I might give you to the zombies.”
“Yeah,
well once I’m healed I’ll be out of your way so don’t worry about it.”
His
eyebrows drew together then. “You can’t just go back out there.”
I
snorted. “I can and I will, where are my weapons by the way?”
He
ignored my question and instead said. “You’re a girl, you can’t just go
gallivanting around killing zombies!”
“So
if I was a boy I could? That is completely sexist Lucian!”
“You’re
more vulnerable than a man!” He yelled.
“I
can fight just as well as a man thank you and better than some so that is
crap!”
“I
never said that Tink, b-.”
“My
name is not Tink or Tinkerbell or anything to do with that little fairy that
wears green!” I almost screamed at him.
He
put his hands up in surrender, but I could still see the grin tugging at the
corners of his mouth and it really pissed me off that he had only gotten more
attractive in the five months or so since I had last seen him. “Just hear me
out, you can stay here. There is plenty of room and quite a few of us are here
now. There is food and water, clothes, weapons and medical supplies. Everyone
is safe here and you can sleep knowing you’re not about to be snuck up on by
zombies or soldiers.”
I
frowned as I considered it until he added on with a smirk.
“We
have to question you though to make sure you aren’t working for the zombies or
anything.”
“You
what?” I shrieked at him. “Do you really think I would work for the zombies,
are you completely insane?”
“Everyone
goes through it, it’s not like it’s only for you!” He shouted. “It’s to keep
everyone safe.”
I
grunted and looked away from him not in the mood to deal with his crap anymore.
My whole body was sore, my hip and shoulder were painful and my throat felt
dry, yelling certainly wasn’t helping it.
He
sighed. “Do you have to be so immature?” Before I could even respond he added.
“Do you want some water?”
That
was enough for me to forget about the immature comment so instead I answered.
“Please.”
He
nodded and stood up before walking out of the door leaving me in the room
alone. He wasn’t the one who returned with the water though, instead it was a
middle aged woman with dark hair pulled back into a ponytail and a kind face.
“Hi
honey, I’m Kate, I’m the nurse here. Lucian had some business to attend to, he
said you needed some water.”
“Thank
you.” I said when she handed me the cup.
I
was so thirsty that I almost gulped it down, but I knew my throat wouldn’t
agree with that so instead I took small sips. Water had never tasted so good
and I almost moaned as it ran down my throat.
“How
are you feeling?” Kate asked reminding me that she was still there.
I
gave her a small smile. “I’ve felt better, but under the circumstances I guess
I feel pretty good.”
She
nodded. “We thought we would lose you there for a minute. You’re Taylor
Mckenzie right? Lucian said he knew you before the zombies.”
“I
am and he did.” I answered slightly surprised that Lucian had told them my real
name. It wouldn’t have surprised me one bit if he had told them all that my
name was really Tinkerbell.
“Do
you need any pain pills?” She asked me when I winced as I took another sip of
water.
I
looked at her surprised. “How do you get hold of pain pills now?”
She
smiled. “We send out a lot of teams, you’d be surprised what we can still
find.”
I
nodded. “Well thanks, but I don’t want to waste them I’m sure I’ll be ok
without them.”
She
nodded. “If you change your mind just shout for me, I’ll only be in the next
room. You should get some sleep though, it will give you more of a chance to
heal.”
“Thank
you for the water.” I said just before she left the room.
Now
that she mentioned sleep though I really was tired so I finished the water, put
the cup on the small table next to the bed and tried to think about what Lucian
had suggested. Staying here would obviously be the better option, I would be
safer and things would be easier. I wondered if Lucian knew about his Mother
yet, but that was silly, how would he know? I realised then that I was going to
have to tell him, it must be horrible to not be sure what happened to her. It
was the same with my sister, I had no idea what had happened to her and it
broke my heart to think that she could be alone and scared somewhere.
Of
course it was a bad idea to think about it before going to sleep because when I
did I dreamt about her on her own and terrified. She may be the older sister,
but I felt that I had to save her, she was the only family I had left after
all. If she was still alive that is, but there was no way of knowing.
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