Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  Lara looked put upon. “For what?”

  “We know where The Louvre is,” Violet said. “At least, we know how to get there. We can figure that out. I say we go there, and we get Connor back.”

  “Did you not just hear what I said?” Zach’s voice had risen slightly as he sensed what was being planned before him. “We can’t just walk into The Louvre!”

  “Who said we would walk into The Louvre?” Violet asked. “Connor is underground, as are the labs. We get in underground.”

  “There will be an army of Blitzers.” Zach shook his head.

  “I’m not sure it’s a good idea,” Lara muttered.

  “If Winter wants to save Connor, then she should be able to,” Caroline said. “I’m with you, Winter.”

  Winter felt conflicted. It would be dangerous. But she couldn’t sit here doing nothing.

  “We get access to The Louvre’s blueprints,” Winter said. “I don’t know how yet. Maybe one of you can get them out of Cedric?”

  “I might be able to.” William nodded. “I can work something out. Make it look like it is work related.”

  Winter nodded. “Once we have them, we can see how to get into the underground labs and prison blocks. Connor will be there, as will my parents. If Connor is a threat to them and knows something, then we need him on our side. If we can only save one person that night, it has to be Connor.”

  “Not your parents?” Violet asked.

  “If we get the opportunity, then yes. But we can go back for them.”

  Violet struggled to understand, but nodded anyway. “Weapons?”

  Winter looked at Lara and Caroline. Lara sighed.

  “You really want me to steal from The Union?”

  Winter nodded. “It’s the only way. Just a couple of guns, a few bullets, maybe a couple of knives.”

  “They have a whole selection of them,” Caroline eagerly said. She looked at Lara. “It won’t be a problem taking them.”

  Lara shook her head. “I suppose you’re right.”

  “So we’ve already gone rogue.” Missy laughed. “Wow.”

  “Are you in?” Violet asked Missy.

  Missy looked worried. “I can see what Zach is saying. This is a government we’re trying to take on. It would be a miracle if we got in and saved Connor.”

  “It will take proper planning,” Winter said. “We can do that.”

  “I want to help out as much as I can. You need people. I’ll help. I don’t really think it’s a great idea, but I will help.”

  Zach shook his head. “I can’t believe the lot of you. This is idiotic.”

  “You’re more than welcome to stay here on your own Zach and wait for us to come back.”

  “Can’t we at least take Cedric or somebody with us?”

  “No,” Winter spat. “They can’t know about this. They’re not planning to do anything themselves. What makes you think they’re going to come with us? We need to prove to The Union that we’re fit for operation. We need to give them a kick and get them to speed their processes up. This is Connor’s life on the line. We need to save him before time runs out.”

  Zach crossed his arms. “I really think this is a bad idea. But I’ll come with you.”

  “Great.” Violet smiled. “Looks like we’ve got a plan.”

  * * *

  Dressed from head to toe in white, Winter opened the door to David Herald, holding a SLR Nikon camera. He looked at her and pulled a face. “You need to change.”

  “What?” Winter asked, affronted. “Why?”

  “Because you’re a fugitive, not a fucking best dressed celebrity. You need to be in survivors clothes.”

  “I’m a survivor and these are my clothes.”

  “Change.”

  Winter did as she was told, changing into something that was less bright but still relatively clean.

  “We’ll have to make you dirty when we get underground.”

  “I look forward to it.”

  “David,” Violet said. “Violet Black, nice to meet you.” David looked at the brisk girl that had appeared before him. He seemed confused. He shook her outstretched hand once and quickly let go. “I’ve painted this for the next edition of your newspaper.” Violet showed David the painting she held in her other hand, of the dead man and the Eiffel Tower. “I think you should publish it.”

  David blinked. “I’m not sure.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’ll give away our location.” David said. “Come on, Winter. Let’s go.”

  Winter said goodbye to Violet, who had already begun planning their route into The Louvre. She seemed deflated, having being shot down.

  Winter walked underneath barbed wire with David, past the rotting man Violet had painted. He was dead, a gun shot through his brain.

  “Glad someone finally got him.” David muttered. “I was getting worried walking through there.”

  “What you did to Violet was really very cruel.” Winter snapped.

  David shrugged. “Rejection is part of this whole creative industry.”

  “You couldn’t even publish one painting?”

  “I don’t want to.”

  “It was good, and might give people something nice to look at.”

  “Look, the girl has talent, but people aren’t interested in art right now, Winter.” David said. “Pretty pictures just don’t cut it these days.”

  Winter shook her head. They walked down a flight of stairs, underground. They walked past the hospital wing, where a group of people had disappeared. Winter sensed that they had passed on.

  “Hello, David,” Heidi, the ginger girl in the black dress said. She looked tired, as if she had been working non-stop. She eyed the camera in his hands and looked at Winter. “Something being planned?”

  “Winter has agreed to be our spokesperson.” David nodded, stopping to chat to Heidi.

  “Well,” Heidi spoke, an Irish accent thick and strong. “Isn’t that great?”

  Winter thought Heidi was being sarcastic. Winter nodded. “It sure is.”

  “You’re brave.”

  Winter looked at the people underground. Many looked like they were at death’s door. “You’re brave. I imagine this is a very hard place to work.” And William wanted to work here!

  Heidi nodded. “It’s non-stop, but I like it. We should be having new staff joining us soon.”

  “William,” David said to Winter.

  “Yes, I know.” Winter snapped. She smiled at Heidi. “Keep up the good work.”

  Heidi looked a little strange. She nodded. “Keep safe.”

  They left Heidi to tend to a young teenager. They dropped to the tracks and carried on walking, underneath dark tunnels, away from the safety of The Union.

  “What we’ll do is get some photographs of you on the tracks.” David explained. “Then we’ll find a tube station where you can have a couple of photographs.”

  “Just hurry up.”

  “Believe me, Winter, I don’t really want to spend the day with you, either.”

  They started taking photographs. Winter remembered the times she had had to pose for photographers before. Most of the time, she had been dressed in clothing that was rather revealing, or the latest dress from the latest designer. This time, she was just Winter Smith. A girl who had lost her parents to V, and was a fugitive just like everybody else.

  Winter played the part. She looked forlorn, staring just over the camera. She thought of Connor: he would be saved.

  “Perfect,” David said. “Like you’ve been practicing. Let’s get to the tube station.”

  They kept walking, in silence, until they found a station that was vast with burnt out bikes. Winter stared at melted tires, and bent metal frames, wondering what happened.

  “Great,” David said. “Stand next to them and I’ll get your photo.”

  He walked across the platform, leaving Winter where she stood. For some reason, she felt weird here, like she was being watched. She awkwardly stood as David
snapped the camera. He looked at her and called. “Put some effort into it, Winter!”

  She adjusted her position and let David take some photos. Then, she froze.

  From behind David, she could see shadows. But they weren’t human. They walked on broken legs, dripping blood. They pulled themselves across the dirty ground with arms that had snapped a long time ago. They groaned out of necks that were ripped to shreds, tongues lolling out of the side of their cheek.

  David heard them too. He turned, quickly, drawing a gun. He fired, and one of the dead fell down. He ran backwards, towards Winter.

  She didn’t have a weapon.

  The gunshot reverberated around the tube station. It took too long to die down. More groans came out of the darkness, chilling Winter’s skin.

  David had shot down the gaggle that had crowded behind him. They lay in their own blood, still. But more had arrived, across from them on the second platform. David ran to Winter and gripped her arm.

  “This isn’t good.” He gasped.

  “Shoot them.”

  “I’m out of bullets.”

  “Shit.”

  The dead were now pouring onto the tracks. More were arriving. It seemed they had been in the tunnels furthest away from them, waiting for a noise that told them there was meat.

  Thankfully, Winter and David were close to tunnels that were empty. They jumped into the tracks as the dead ran towards them. David raised his camera and snapped three photographs in quick succession. Winter nudged him.

  “Don’t be an idiot.” Winter snapped. “Are you forgetting all the people on the platform?”

  “Shit.”

  They ran back up the tunnel they had walked down. Inside the tunnel, closed in, the groans from the dead multiplied. It sounded like they were all around them, and Winter feared that they were going to be cornered in by the dead.

  When they got to the platform of the hospital wing, where people who were ill gathered, Winter saw they already knew what was coming.

  Those that were not too weak had gotten to their feet, peering into the darkness of the tunnel, hoping that what they heard was not true.

  Heidi stood at the edge of the platform, waving at Winter and David. “Hurry!”

  Winter jumped, and Heidi grabbed her hand. With surprising strength, Heidi assisted in pulling Winter on to the platform. David pulled himself up, the camera next to him. Winter turned in time to see the dead running out onto the tracks. Some carried on running, unable to work out where Winter and David had disappeared to. Others spotted the oil lamps, the people on the edge standing a little bit too close.

  They sensed an opportunity.

  The dead leaped, and grabbed people on the edge of the platform. An old man was pulled down, landing on his head. He didn’t move as the dead bit into him. A young girl was grabbed, but she got away. She began to run but was grabbed again, this time being pulled by her feet onto the tracks.

  People screamed. A young girl in a black nurse’s dress was trampled by those that tried to escape the dead. Suddenly, there was no more room to move.

  Blood splattered around them, hitting the walls and pooling on the tracks. Winter, David and Heidi headed towards the escalators. The hospital wing was no longer safe.

  The dead feasted on the living behind them. Those lucky enough began to climb the escalator. Winter was jostled into the tiled wall. Heidi gripped her, as David ran on ahead.

  “He doesn’t care for anybody but himself,” Winter said, joining the throng of people running to the escalator. She could still hear the screams back on the platform, but for now they were safe.

  “I’ve been bitten! I’ve been bitten!” A woman called, blocking the middle of the corridor. “Oh help!”

  A woman in a black dress drew out a gun and shot the woman squarely in the head. Winter gasped, ignoring the man who barged past her. She looked at Heidi.

  “You have a gun?”

  Heidi nodded, as if she was ashamed. “In case something were to happen. The dead have walked on the tracks before, but only one or two of them. Nothing like this.”

  “This is our fault.” Winter looked up to the top of the escalator to see David snapping photographs. “His fault.”

  “It doesn’t matter whose fault it is, Winter. We just need to go.”

  They climbed the escalator as quickly as they could, joining the throng of people that ran upwards for their safety. It struck Winter that some of the people were ill, or on treatment. When faced with survival, they knew they could move. It amazed Winter what the human body could do. It reminded her of their animal instincts. Their thirst for survival.

  Winter got to the top, photographed by David. She grabbed the lens and pulled the camera down from his face. “This isn’t the time, David.”

  By now, the dead were running in the corridor below. Some people were bitten and killed. The dead seemed confused by the escalator at first, but soon began climbing.

  Winter felt her heart flip. They were still confined underground. Many people seemed to be getting stuck at the barriers. The old were too weak and frail to climb over, so queued and waited for their turn. The young leapt over. One girl went crashing to the ground, but quickly got back to her feet and ran out into the open.

  David ran to the barrier and began to climb underneath, squeezing his way through the narrow gap. Winter climbed over the barrier, listening to the gurgles of blood spitting zombies downstairs getting closer and closer.

  Heidi helped a ten-year-old girl carrying a teddy bear to get over the barrier before she climbed over herself.

  “Come on, we don’t have all day,” David hissed.

  They hurried up the stairs and out into the open. The scene above was rather terrifying. Those who had been confined to the hospital wing, and had been barged up the stairs in their rush to get out into the open air, had not anticipated the barbed wire fencing. Some people had run straight into it, cutting their skin, their clothes getting stuck.

  Winter, David and Heidi kept running, covered by the barbed wire fencing. The screams and the sound of footfall had alerted those that were in their houses. From where Winter was, she could see Violet and Zach on their doorstep, looking at the commotion.

  A flash of green hair in the street told Winter that Maria was on the scene. Did she know just how badly her area had been infiltrated?

  They got into the street. Some people chanced their luck and tried to get into other people’s homes. Violet and Zach had kept their door closed, and told anyone that came up to them to move aside.

  Winter joined her friends. Heidi and David stood behind her, looking pale.

  “Who is that?” Violet asked, vaguely remembering Heidi.

  “She’s a nurse. She works underground.”

  An alarm started to ring from the street, piercing through their eardrums. Winter looked up to see a red light flashing on the side of their house. Maria was running through the crowd, trying to reassure people.

  “I have to tell her we need to get inside,” David said. “Winter, get inside. You all need to get inside.”

  They stopped when they heard screams coming from the stairs of the tube station. The dead began to pour out, feasting on those that had got stuck in the barbed wire fence. People scattered, pushing through the barbed wire fencing until it broke, running underneath the Eiffel Tower, hoping for an escape. Suddenly, the infection was all around them. Heidi lifted her gun, ready to fight.

  “Oh my god.” Zach headed to the door. “Oh no. Please no.”

  “Get inside,” Heidi ordered.

  “We can’t leave you out here,” Winter said.

  “I’m trained.”

  “You need to come inside with us.”

  The dead began to filter into the street. They bit at those that had waited or lagged behind. A crowd surged and pushed Winter and Heidi away from Violet and Zach.

  Winter worried when she saw Violet and Zach disappear back inside, but then she remembered that for now she was safe. She just n
eeded to keep Heidi safe, too. She couldn’t leave her behind.

  Winter disappeared into the crowds, hoping to find Heidi. She spotted her stood over a woman who had recently been bitten.

  “I’m going to end this for you, Leah.” Heidi was saying, as Winter approached. She momentarily forgot the situation they were in. “Succumb to it, Leah. Let it take you. You’ll be in less pain.”

  Leah stared at Heidi with tears in her eyes. “Do it now.”

  Heidi blinked back her own tears. “Let go.”

  Tears fell from Leah’s brown eyes. She looked up at the sky and stopped moving. A few seconds later, she coughed. Her eyes opened again, only this time they were bloodshot. Before she could utter a groan, Heidi fired the gun.

  Blood burst from Leah’s forehead. Leah lay dead.

  “Heidi,” Winter spoke.

  Heidi flinched. “Winter! Get inside!”

  Heidi pushed Winter, but not to safety. Instead, Winter fell into the arms of the dead. A man, bigger than her, twisted his decaying neck to look at the food that had fallen into his arms. Winter tried to move, but the man’s rotting fingers had grabbed her. Winter screamed out, afraid of what was to come.

  The man bit into Winter’s shoulder, drawing blood. Winter screamed. Heidi fired her gun and the man let go, crumbling into a heap.

  Winter began to shake. She had been bitten.

  Chapter Twenty-Six

  Winter swayed where she stood, as people around her feared for their lives. Heidi began to shout, but Winter didn’t know what she was saying. There was a dull buzzing in her head, swirling around and around. She forgot who she was. She forgot who the ginger girl was in front of her. She forgot what was happening.

  She fell to her knees, sitting in the blood of the man who had bitten her. She turned to view the wound with a heavy head, and felt nauseous as she saw the bite mark, the blood seeping out of the teeth marks in her white skin.

  She stared ahead.

  “Winter!” Cedric gasped, appearing at Heidi’s side. “What happened?”

  “He bit her!” Heidi said.

  She heard the words, and only just managed to process what was said. The world was spinning around her. Why were people running?

  “I didn’t know what to do! I tried to kill the man but it was too late.” Heidi exclaimed.