Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  Connor gripped the bat in his hands. “You best leave.”

  The gun’s aimed straight at Connor’s chest. He didn’t buckle, despite the possibility of death.

  “We won’t ask again, young man,” White stripe said. “Either hand over Winter and Nathan Smith, or we will get them our own way. No blood will be shed tonight if you cooperate.”

  “No blood will be shed here, but it’ll be shed somewhere else,” Violet argued. “This whole city is turning to shit.”

  “You know nothing.”

  “I know enough!”

  There was silence, and then white stripe spoke. “Fire.”

  Before the red Blitzer’s could fire their guns, Connor swung the bat. It collided with the helmet of the Blitzer, knocking the gun out of its hand. The Blitzer fell into the next, knocking them both to the floor. Violet snatched the gun up and pointed it at the two Blitzers left standing.

  Suddenly, a red hand grabbed Connor’s foot. He was yanked forwards, and fell backwards, landing on his back. He was dragged away from the group and thrown into the hands of the white striped Blitzer. Connor struggled; the bat he had been holding had rolled away from him. Violet fired her gun but missed. The bullet lodged into the wall behind the Blitzers.

  Winter screamed as white stripe began to drag Connor out of the building. Nathan ran forwards, shouting. “If you want me! Take me! Don’t take him!”

  Another Blitzer grabbed Nathan, handcuffing his wrists together, and pushed him forwards.

  “Dad!” Winter screamed.

  Missy grabbed her, holding her back. Violet did the same, watching Nathan and Connor being dragged away.

  “What about the girl?” A red Blitzer asked, in the same hoarse voice.

  “Leave her.” White stripe replied. “We’ve got two.”

  “Connor!” Winter cried.

  One red Blitzer stood guard as Nathan and Connor were dragged away. Violet fired the gun at the Blitzer. It took three bullets to break through the armour on its chest and knock the person inside dead.

  They ran out of the apartment, over the dead Blitzer, and down the stairs.

  They ran out onto the street in time to see Connor being thrown into the back of a government vehicle, printed with ‘NWO’. Winter realised she had seen this sign before, when the helicopters had come to rescue those who had managed to escape her parents party back in Watford.

  “New world order,” Zach said, staring at the same sign.

  The jeep started up and as they ran towards it, it drove away. Connor and Nathan Smith were inside, being taken away to government headquarters for reasons that none of them knew.

  Winter shook.

  Because everyone who knew Winter met a terrible fate.

  Chapter Twenty

  They hurried away from the apartment Nathan Smith had secured, as now it wasn’t safe. The Blitzers would be back for Winter, if they wanted her so desperately.

  “We can’t risk waiting around for them to come.” Violet argued. “If they’re set on getting you, Winter, then we have to keep moving.”

  “They took my dad.” Winter gasped. She couldn’t believe what had happened. How had she failed everybody so miserably? “My mum is somewhere with them, too. We have to get them. We need to stop them from turning into the dead.”

  Violet stopped in the middle of the ruined street. “Winter, what is wrong with you? Why do you feel the need to help everybody? Why can’t you see that it affects us, too? We’ve all lost people. We’ve all lost family. If it’s yours it seems we all have to drop everything and go along with what you want.”

  “Violet,” Zach began. “Don’t get like that.”

  “I’m sorry, but Winter is selfish.”

  “I’m not selfish,” Winter argued. “But when my mum and dad may have a chance, and when Connor may have a chance, then I need to help them.”

  “This happened in London.” Violet pointed out to Zach. “We had to do everything Winter wanted to do. Please, don’t you see what the main thing is? We need to find somewhere safe and survive.”

  “There isn’t anywhere safe,” Missy snapped, surprising Violet. “If you want to find anywhere safe then leave us. I’m with Winter, and I’ll stay with Winter. But we need to really get moving. We can’t keep hovering around hoping something will happen and we’ll be safe.”

  “Then what do you suggest we do, pretty girl?” Violet snapped.

  “We need to find The Union,” Zach said, before Missy could say the same thing.

  Violet looked annoyed. She glared at Zach. “You really think we have a chance in hell to find people that are probably just as clueless as us?”

  “The rumours have to start somewhere.” Zach shrugged. “If they’re truly an option for safety, then why aren’t we following that?” Zach indicated the gun in Violet’s hand, and the baseball bat in Winter’s. “That’s all we have, and that’s barely going to be enough to get us through this apocalypse. The worst is yet to come.”

  “Why are you so certain?”

  “I just have an idea of what V is up to.”

  They hurried along the street, which was as desolate as any others they had been to. They came across a toilet block, which they hurried into, shutting the door as quickly and as quietly as possible behind them.

  “Think.” Violet said, pressing her fingers against her head.

  “It’s the middle of the night,” Zach said. “Good thing is there won’t be many people out tonight.”

  “How did they find us?” Winter asked.

  Zach looked at her. “The people in the supermarket.”

  Violet blinked. “Someone saw you in the supermarket?”

  “A family. They said we were stealing from them and wanted us out,” Winter explained. “I didn’t think much else of it.”

  The toilets they were in smelled of piss. They had walked in to the men’s urinals. Tiled flooring and dirty cubicles made them feel dirty themselves. The white adhesive between the tiles had gone black a long time ago.

  “So you saw someone, and you forgot to mention it?” Violet said. “God, Winter, you’re incredible.”

  “I’m getting sick of you ridiculing me,” Winter snapped. “I’m not your leader.”

  “No, I know you’re not.”

  “Then why are you giving me a hard time when things go wrong?”

  “Because they almost always centre around you,” Violet shouted, her voice echoing around them.

  “Keep your voice down. We don’t want to wake the dead.” Zach gasped.

  Violet rolled her eyes and turned her back on the group.

  “I don’t mean to cause problems.” Winter fiddled with her tangled hair. “I don’t want to get anyone in a bad place. But V wants me, and I don’t know why. If I did I would solve it myself.”

  Violet shook her head. “I don’t expect you to solve it yourself. Winter, you’re not a hero.”

  “I never said I was.”

  “But you try to be, and that’s worse enough.”

  Winter was defeated. “I just want to make sure everyone’s safe.”

  Violet looked at Winter, equally as burnt out. “It isn’t your responsibility.”

  There was silence. Zach and Missy felt awkward, as if they shouldn’t be there. Violet leant against the hand dryer and stared at nothing as she tried working things out.

  “Look at us,” Zach said, a wry smile on his face. “We’re locked up in a men’s urinal. Isn’t this exactly where we wanted to be?”

  Missy laughed. “Exactly where I wanted to be.”

  “You said The Union are further in to France, didn’t you?” Winter asked Missy.

  “I did.”

  Winter looked at Zach. “We need to find them. And we need to find William, Lara and Caroline.”

  “How many people are you hoping to find?” Violet couldn’t help but comment.

  “Violet, please just trust me on this.”

  Violet nodded after a moment, and turned away from the group
again.

  Winter looked at Zach. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

  Zach glanced at Violet before answering. “We’re with you all of the way.”

  “Violet?”

  Violet turned with a sigh. “Yes?”

  “Will you stick with me whilst we find The Union, and find Lara, Caroline and William?”

  Violet nodded. “If you know where to start, be my guest.”

  Winter looked at Missy. “Do you know where to start?”

  “We need to get further in to France,” Missy said. “And the best way to do that is to go underground again.”

  * * *

  Going underground one more time was like willingly walking into the rotting arms of the dead. At least that’s what it felt like for Winter. They tentatively treaded down dirty steps, to nothing but darkness.

  It made Winter shiver to think that Keiron’s group had lost their lives here. Winter almost expected the dead to be wandering around, waiting for them to come back. Thankfully, the tubes were quiet.

  “If we keep walking down this way, we’ll get further into Paris,” Missy said, pointing right. “Just be warned though. When I was hiding out here, I heard that the undergrounds further in were so dangerous it was impossible to survive it.”

  “Great,” Violet muttered. “Then why are we doing this?”

  “We need to join The Union,” Zach said.

  So they walked. Down through centuries old tube lines that were now no longer in use. There were dead bodies littered across the ground at one point, twisted and tangled in the rails as if they had been run over. They walked slowly, over pools of blood and puddles of water, almost afraid that someone would rise from the ground and attack.

  Once out of the tunnel, they found themselves in another station: Avenue Henri Martin.

  “Where are we?”

  “Closer to Paris, but not quite there yet,” Missy replied. “We’re getting closer to the river.”

  “Seine?”

  “Yes.”

  Violet leant against a nearby wall, looking at the tube station stretching out before them. “Do you think we should find somewhere to bed down?”

  “It’s up to you.”

  They decided to bed down in a disused newsstand. They found an unlocked door and boarded it up once inside with an old newspaper rack. It was cramped, and smelled of stale bread and tomatoes. Old newspapers littered the floor, as if they had been dropped in a hurry. Winter spotted moulding paper coffee mugs rolled under the cash register. Zach sat on a stool, left behind by the previous worker, which looked fairly new compared to everything else, and peered out through the rolled down shutters over the counter.

  “It’s quite eerie being underground when nothing is moving.”

  “You want to hope nothing moves,” Violet said, glancing out into the darkness. “We’d be fucked in here.”

  “We always find ourselves in situations like this.” Zach sighed.

  “It’s our new world order,” Missy said, with less humour than she had intended.

  “Brilliant,” Zach muttered.

  None of them even attempted to sleep. They knew it was futile. Anything could come out of the darkness, and a chill kept them alert.

  “Tell me, Violet,” Missy said. “What did you do back in London?”

  “Sold myself.” Violet laughed bitterly. “Prostitution was all I could do. At least, that’s what society told me I could do.”

  Missy looked shocked. “I can’t believe that. I’ve never met a real life one.”

  “Well, now you can tick that off your bucket list.”

  “Why did you do it?”

  “Family.” Violet shrugged. “Had to keep us living, didn’t I? First off it was tough, then it got a little bit easier. Prostitution paid enough.”

  “What did you want to do?”

  Violet didn’t reply immediately. In the dense darkness Winter thought she saw Violet blush.

  “That doesn’t matter.”

  “Go on, tell them,” Zach said.

  “I don’t want to.”

  “Tell us!” Missy exclaimed. “I wanted to be an actress.”

  “Too bad you didn’t have a talent for it.” Winter laughed.

  “I want to be an artist,” Violet said, blurting the words out before she could think again. She avoided eye contact. “Not wanted. I want to be an artist.”

  “Well, that’s not so bad, is it?” Missy asked the group, as if she was leading a meeting. “That’s quite fascinating, really. What type of art?”

  “I don’t know,” Violet mumbled. All traces of her mean persona were gone. She felt vulnerable. “Paintings.”

  “Ah, I knew a modern artist.” Missy rolled her eyes at the word. “Honestly, there was nothing art about it. He truly thought laying a breakfast table and charging three hundred pounds a ticket was art.”

  “Everyone has their own style,” Violet said.

  “Sure, but painting is a talent,” Missy said.

  Violet looked at her, not sure if she was trying to belittle her. “You really think so?”

  “Definitely!” Missy smiled.

  Violet looked pleased. “I left all my works behind. They b…burnt.”

  “Burnt?” Missy looked quizzical.

  “Back at my house, when I lost my family,” Violet said simply. “They were all stowed away in my room. I had some fun ones, and some darker ones.”

  “We need more fun these days.” Missy grinned.

  “I was hoping to do a college course when I got here.” Violet admitted. She began to feel more confident, addressing the group rather than just Missy. “But obviously that’s out of the window.”

  “Well, hopefully soon colleges will be up and running.” Zach shrugged.

  Violet pulled a face. “I doubt it.”

  “Do you think we can go back to something as simple as education?” Winter asked, tracing her fingers over a grove in the counter next to her. “Do you think we’ll have that stability again? That order?”

  Missy looked pained. “I think whatever happens, it will never be the same.”

  “Shame, really,” Violet sighed. “I dropped out of secondary school in year nine. To be honest, my education was never straight forward.”

  “But you don’t seem uneducated,” Zach said. “You’re very intelligent.”

  “That’s because education was just created for us to do something,” Violet shrugged. “Sure, you learn the odd thing that helps in life, reading and numeracy, but a lot of it is taught just to pass the time. Believe me, I learnt a lot more valuable things living the way I did.”

  “Prostitution?” Missy questioned.

  Violet shook her head. “Homelessness, for one thing. We had a home when I was in primary school, and we had supported accommodation when I was starting secondary school, but then it fucked up. We were on the streets for a few months. That’s why I had to do what I had to do.”

  “You had to get a roof over your family’s heads.” Missy nodded.

  “I did. Especially when my mum fell pregnant.” Violet shrugged. “You have to do what you have to do.”

  “Why couldn’t your mum work?”

  “Pregnancy,” Violet answered. “Then the cancer. Before that she only had the odd reception job, nothing fancy. My mum got lazy. Got in with the wrong men. She claimed a lot.”

  “Benefits?” Missy wrinkled her nose.

  “Got a problem with that?”

  Missy shook her head. “Not anymore.”

  “Some people have no choice.”

  “Some people have a lot of choice.”

  Violet stared at Missy. “How would you know? You’ve never had a hard life.”

  Missy nodded slowly. “I guess you could say so. Our lives were very different.”

  Violet glanced at Winter. “Very.”

  Zach looked out at the darkness. “None of that matters anymore. It’s defined who we are, shaped us into people that have dislikes and desires, but it doesn’t m
atter. It’s completely trivial.”

  “I’d give anything to be back there.” Violet sighed.

  “You wouldn’t.”

  Violet bristled. “Sure, my life was shit. I barely scraped by. I lived a life of crime. But if I could get back to the life I had, and live with a mother who gave me two beautiful brothers, then I would. You see, we don’t all need wealth. We don’t need designer clothes to be happy. We don’t need a lifestyle where we are glued to our iPhone’s. Sometimes, all people need is the comfort of knowing they can get by, and a family around them. A purpose. People need purpose.”

  “I agree.” Zach nodded.

  “And that hasn’t changed.” Violet looked around the small newsstand they were in, where a gap had been left under the counter where a small refrigerator had been. “This was somebody’s job. They came here every day to sell sandwiches and newspapers to commuters. Do you think they dreamt of that? No, of course they didn’t. Nobody wants to work in a newsstand. But we have to do what we have to do to get by, and to survive.”

  “What are you saying?”

  “I’m saying purpose is what we need to function.” Violet shrugged. “Our purpose now is to find The Union. That’s what we do now to survive.”

  Chapter Twenty-One

  Winter was the only one who couldn’t sleep that night. Something about being inside a newsstand that resembled a tin can made her feel uncomfortable. The tiniest noise, made by a creature in the shadows, multiplied. It fed into the room and reverberated on her eardrums.

  Violet snored lightly besides her. Missy had awkwardly slumped in the corner, next to a bucket and mop which was black with dirt and grime. Zach had slept where he had sat.

  Winter stayed awake, ignoring her thoughts, staring into the darkness, and convincing herself the shadows she saw moving were nothing but her own imagination.

  Eventually, someone began to stir, prompting the others to stir around her. They were awake. Winter felt relieved. She thought she could hear voices somewhere in the tunnels, and didn’t want to chance seeing anyone go by.

  They headed out of the tunnels, and kept walking away from where they had come. Being underground was incredibly disorientating. Gone were the sounds of trains rushing by, the hustle of people moving past one another to get to their designated points. It was as if life had never existed, as if Winter and the group she travelled with were aliens in a foreign land.