Chloë Read Online Free PDF Page A

window.   She didn’t know if she was
supposed to stay quiet or scream out for help.  She was three stories up;
there was no way someone should be shining a light into her room.  She
held still and held her breath.  What had she done to these nice
people?  What evil had she brought upon them?
    Just
as quickly as the light came, it was gone.  She could hear footsteps on
the roof outside.  They were moving away from her window and down the
length of the house.  The next room over was Heather’s.  Chloë’s
stomach tied itself in knots as she thought of poor Heather next door. 
The girl was so wonderfully nice.  Surely they wouldn’t bother her. 
But Chloë couldn’t take a chance!  She slipped out of bed and crept to her
door and peeked out: to her horror there were three strange men in the hallway,
ready to sweep into poor Heather’s room!
    It
wasn’t a planned reaction, it just sort of happened: Chloë screamed as loud as
she could.  It wasn’t a plan to warn Heather so much, rather it was raw
fear bubbling over.  The scream launched the three intruders as they
rushed Heather’s door and flung it open.  The three ignored the source of
the scream, too preoccupied with their prey, so Chloë burst out of her room and
down the hallway, aiming for the staircase.  Just as she reached the
staircase, she suddenly noticed Llewellyn standing there calmly at top,
blocking the path.
    “Shhh!”
he scolded.  “You’ll wake the rest of the house!”
    Chloë
stood there frozen in panic.  Don’t wake the house?  There were
intruders!  Llewellyn was blocking the staircase; was he party to all of
this?  That didn’t make sense; they had gone into Heather’s and not
Chloë’s room.
    The
sounds of brutality erupted from Heather’s room and Chloë reflexively spun to
see what was happening to poor, poor Heather.  There were also sudden
vulgar shouts of outrage as the intruders suddenly realized that Heather’s fur
coat was unmistakably not Chloë’s.  So they were after Chloë!
    Suddenly
the three quickly backed out of the room in a defensive fighting posture. 
The sounds of a thrashing in Heather’s room only added to Chloë’s
confusion.  In an instant, Heather was at the door, snarling, teeth
flashing in the narrow streaks of moonlight.  The first man rushed her
only to have his feet knocked out from under him by an excellent kick by Heather. 
The man started to fall over.  Halfway to the ground, Heather fired a
second shot, a savage knee strike that sent his head into the door frame. 
He hit the ground and didn’t even twitch.
    “Are
you going to help her?” pleaded Chloë to Llewellyn.
    Llewellyn
looked shocked and confused, “Um, there were only five of them.  I didn’t
think she needed any help.  Besides, she has it down to two now.”
    Chloë
was shocked, not just at the statement, but with the tone of Llewellyn’s
voice.  He honestly didn’t seem to think this was a problem!
    The
second man leaped at Heather and grabbed her left arm.  In a smooth motion
Heather spun, rocketing her elbow into the side of the man’s head.  In the
same arc of motion, she jumped into the air and kicked off the far wall,
sending the man crashing against the nearer wall.  Even at this distance
it was obvious the man’s shoulder was completely dislocated.  Half stunned
and in an immense amount of pain, he was reduced to writhing on the floor, no
longer a threat.
    The
third man did something foolish: he went for a knife.  With the silver
blade flashing in the dim light he swung wildly at Heather.  Heather, to
her credit, expertly dodged the first two wild blows before catching the man’s
wrist and firing a powerful shot into the man’s elbow.  His arm was at
full extension and he was teetering off balance.  Heather’s strike bent
the man’s elbow a good forty-five degrees… backwards.  As his scream
filled the hall, Heather pulled him the rest of the way off balance before
spinning and