𝑺𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕 𝒐𝒇 𝑻𝒊𝒎𝒆 | 𝘋𝘢𝘳𝘺𝘭 𝘋𝘪𝘹𝘰𝘯 ¹

𝑺𝒊𝒙𝒕𝒆𝒆𝒏

Chapter Sixteen,
A Diamond in the Rough

CHLOE FOUND HERSELF sleeping in a tent just like everyone else, which was far from her preferred sleeping arrangement. Being accustomed to early risings, she was up before the sun. Rick and Shane were both awake, and Carol was busy doing the laundry on her own, while Lori was nowhere to be found.

Despite her aversion to laundry duty, Chloe felt compelled to offer her help. "Morning," she greeted Carol as she approached.

"Morning sweetie, what woke you up this early?" Carol asked her.

"Couldn't sleep any longer, I think it was the heat," she replied.

"Yeah, it's really hot today," Carol said.

"Want any help?"

"Oh, that would be great. Thank you."

"No problem," Chloe said, taking a seat next to the woman.

"We didn't get the chance to chat, to know you more," she told Chloe.

"Yeah, that's right. Here we are," Chloe said with a smile.

"You're not from around here. British?"

"No, Australian. But didn't really live in Australia much," Chloe replied.

"My Sophia loves kangaroos so much, if she was here now she would have asked you a million questions."

"Oh, I'd be glad to answer every single question," Chloe said with a smile. "When she's back, maybe I'll tell her about them."

"Yeah," Carol said with a smile. "So you were living in Atlanta?"

"No, Spain."

"Oh."

"We came to Atlanta for vacation, but our vacation turned to this," Chloe chucked.

"I'm so sorry," Carol said.

"It's okay, I made my peace with it."

"I'm sure you'll find them," the older woman told her.

"I hope so," Chloe replied.

"So what did you do in Spain. Had a job or were you studying?"

"Physical Therapy. I did work, more like a hobby. Football," Chloe said before realizing her mistake. "Soccer."

"That's great. So you're an athlete?" Carol asked the girl.

"Part-time," Chloe said with a chuckle.

"And you're good at archery too I see."

"Yeah, that's my other hobby."

"That's cool. My daughter would've loved you so much. She didn't get the chance to spend time with you."

Chloe tried to offer some words of comfort to Carol. "Hey, we'll find her," she said, not entirely sure whether the woman had lost hope or already believed her daughter was dead.

"Morning," Dale greeted Chloe later when he found her sitting on the porch outside.

"Morning," she replied in kind.

Lori emerged from her tent, exclaiming, "Good morning! I can't believe I slept in."

"You must have needed it. Feeling all right?" Carol inquired.

"Next time wake me, all right? Especially on laundry day," Lori directed her request to Carol.

"Chloe helped," Carol chimed in, smiling at Chloe. "I had an idea I wanted to run by you."