Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  Sure, she was feeling better than yesterday. But pushing herself to even do a simple task of using the bathroom seemed too much for her immune body right now.

  She looked at herself in the dusty mirror, which was still covered in a film of plastic. Her face was thin and pale. It seemed when she had been out she had lost some weight. Her green eyes looked empty, and her tangled white hair was the biggest it had ever been.

  She looked fucking wild.

  Winter licked her dry lips and made her way out of the bathroom, taking William’s hand with her shaking own. “This is shit.”

  “Be thankful you didn’t turn.” William reminded her. “None of us would be able to say we survived a zombie bite. We’d be gone.”

  The reality hit home. Winter had an advantage in this apocalypse, and it was down to nothing but sheer luck. Even though she knew she could still die at the hands of the dead, and there were other pressing matters to worry about, she felt lighter. She felt relief.

  When they got back in the room, Zach was still sat at the side of the bed, only this time Violet had arrived. William helped Winter back to her bed and looked at Violet. “If you’re here for what I think, then Winter isn’t in the right mind to discuss it.”

  “I’ll discuss what I like with Winter,” Violet snapped. “Since you’ve had some responsibility as a doctor, Will, you’ve lost your fun.”

  “I need to make sure my patient is well.” William insisted.

  “Winter, are you well?”

  Violet stared at Winter. She just wanted to sleep. “I’m well enough for you to tell me what’s going on.”

  William held up his hands as Violet smiled with victory. “We want to plan Connor’s rescue.”

  “You’re still planning it?”

  Violet nodded. “We’ve mapped out the underground route on the tubes from the Eiffel Tower to The Louvre. We’re going to be able to get there, and find an underground door that will lead us to the cells.”

  “That easy?”

  “Should be!” Violet nodded. “But we need weapons.”

  “There are chainsaws out there.” William said, almost as if he was trying to prove to Violet that he was still up for some Union rebellion. “But I didn’t tell you that.”

  “Thanks, Will.” Violet blew him a kiss. Zach looked uncomfortable. “Lara’s also managed to get us some hand guns.”

  “Cool,” Winter said. “But we’ll need more if we’re to take on Blitzers.”

  “We’ll sort it.” Violet nodded.

  “And has anybody thought of how we will actually break Connor out of the cell?”

  “We’ll sort it.”

  Winter lay down, staring up at the ceiling again. “If you say so.”

  “I think Winter needs some rest now.”

  Winter heard Violet and Zach get to their feet. Violet appeared above Winter, looking mildly concerned. “Don’t forget Halloween, Winter. It’s my birthday. You better be awake for it. We’re having a party.”

  “A party?”

  “Not every day you turn eighteen, is it?” Violet asked. “I deserve a party with all this shit.”

  “A house party?”

  “Sure,” Violet nodded. “And you’re invited.”

  Winter grinned. “I’ll be there.”

  Violet planted a light kiss on Winter’s cheek. “Get well soon.”

  “I will.”

  Chapter Twenty-Eight

  V walked slowly down the flight of stone steps, with Marcus at her side. She was exhausted. Underneath the yellow head to toe gown she wore, she was withering away. Her head ached, her eyes sagged, and her body screamed for sleep. This hadn’t been part of her agreement.

  Marcus was leading her down to the cells, where they were keeping hold of people, most notably Connor Getty, a young man who had turned out to be immune.

  “How do you feel?” Marcus asked.

  “Angry.”

  Marcus nodded. “I bet.”

  Something in his tone angered her. He seemed false. Did he know something was up? Impossible.

  They strode past Blitzers guarding open doors and through to the rows of cells V had installed. They walked slowly, past people who were close to death, until they got to Connor.

  V didn’t pity him. To her, he was filth. He was scum. He didn’t belong in the new world order. Nobody immune belonged in the new world order.

  “Get up,” She snapped.

  Connor got to his feet. He was naked, and nothing but skin and bone. She grimaced.

  Two Blitzers stepped forwards and opened the cell doors. Connor was manhandled out of his cell and pushed forwards.

  “Take him to the lab.”

  The Blitzers pushed him with the ends of their guns into a laboratory that was at the end of the cells. Connor was strapped down into the chair. He didn’t even fight. He had been pushed and prodded so much that he didn’t care anymore.

  Masked doctors stepped forwards and began injecting him, taking his bloods, which they would later evaluate in the hopes to find out why he was immune. If the Union had a cure, then V needed to know about it.

  “Don’t you feel disgusting?” V questioned Connor as Marcus stood at the end of the room with his arms crossed. “Don’t you realise how disgusting you are?”

  “I can’t help that I’m immune,” Connor grovelled. “Please, just let me go.”

  “You won’t be getting out of this place,” V said, smugly. “You’re not fit to be on this earth. As soon as we find out why you’re immune from what I created, you’ll be killed.”

  “Fuck you, V, you disgusting woman.”

  “I’ve been called worse.” V giggled. “Take his blood.”

  The masked nurses did as they were told. Connor screamed out, trying to fight it, but having no luck. Marcus stared at him as if he were bored, as if all of this was just a children’s game.

  V stepped forwards and looked at Connor. “Time is ticking, boy. If you know something you need to tell us.”

  “I don’t know anything.”

  “Who else is like you?”

  Connor winced as a needle was taken out of his arm. “I don’t know!”

  V slapped him. Connor gasped. “You do know something!”

  Connor gripped V’s cloak and pulled. V was thankful that it didn’t come off her head. The fabric had been clasped down, for this very reason. Connor spat at her, and she slapped him again, pushing away from the boy before her. Marcus stepped forwards, drawing out a gun and placing it to Connor’s head.

  “Should I shoot him?”

  V readjusted the cloak she wore. She had every right to shoot this boy dead. They had taken enough blood from him. Anything else was just torture, in the hopes he would speak, or spill something remotely useful. He was proving a waste of time. He truly had no idea he was immune, and had no idea if he was the only one.

  “No.” V replied. “Keep him alive.”

  Marcus stared at V for a moment, before withdrawing his gun. Connor exhaled, relieved.

  “Let’s go,” V instructed Marcus. “Nurses, take him back to the cell.”

  Blitzers headed in to the lab after V and Marcus and escorted Connor and the nurses back to his cell.

  “I will kill you, V!” Connor screamed as he was dragged back to his cell. “You won’t get away with any of this!”

  V ignored him. They headed back up the stairs, away from the cells; away from everything that was draining V to the ground.

  Marcus grabbed her and twisted her arm behind her back. With his knee, he pushed her forwards, until she knelt on two stairs, leaning forwards. She gasped, crying out with pain.

  She felt the gun Marcus had in his possession placed to the tip of her skull.

  “I know you’re not who you say you are,” Marcus hissed. “So tell me. Where is the real V?”

  V swallowed. Now they had a problem.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Winter was awake when William finally got his well-deserved break. Heidi strolled i
n to the glass ward wearing her black dress, as if nothing had happened. The white light above set her red hair on fire, contrasting nicely with her skin.

  “Hi, Winter, how are you feeling?” Heidi smiled, revealing a straight set of white teeth. The girl could have been a front cover supermodel, if she had been a couple of inches taller.

  “A little better.” Winter nodded. Rest sure was getting her back to how she should be feeling. William had decreased her intake of morphine, which her body was beginning to feel. Pain was coming back to her in her bitten shoulder. She could feel the stitches pull at her skin.

  “You won’t be in here much longer,” Heidi said, taking a seat next to Winter’s bed. “You’ll be able to rest back home soon.”

  “Good,” Winter sighed. “These glass walls are very annoying.”

  “I’ll see you tomorrow, Winter.” William said, halfway between the door and the bed.

  “See you.”

  William left, carrying a rucksack on his back.

  “He’s a good man,” Heidi said, watching him go.

  “He certainly is. Will he be okay travelling back?”

  “There’s a car waiting for him. Cedric has contacts.”

  “What happened to the ward?” Winter said, remembering the train station where everyone had been receiving medication. “I’m so sorry. It was David. He was stupid to do a photoshoot underground.”

  “It was nobody’s fault.” Heidi insisted. “David was just doing his job. We’ve had the dead come back and forth that platform, but it was only a matter of time until we got an army. We investigated what could have happened. We even considered that it may have been V unleashing them, in the hopes to flush us out, but that wasn’t the case. It turns out there had been people camping in the platform down from ours, and they got bitten. That’s all it takes.”

  “Shame,” Winter said.

  “We lost a lot of people that night.” Heidi sighed. “A lot of promising people, too.”

  “It is a shame.” Winter repeated. “The girl you shot. Who was she?”

  Heidi looked like she didn’t want to answer. For a moment, Winter thought she had gone too far. She hadn’t had chance to work Heidi out, though first impressions told her she was hardworking and reasonable. “Someone I knew.”

  Winter didn’t want to push the matter, but she did. “A girlfriend? A sister?”

  “She was my cousin.” Heidi sighed. “Grew up with her from a child. She was twenty. It’s horrible to die at the hands of the dead, but to die at twenty? It’s barbaric.”

  “Unfortunately, a lot of people might not live to be twenty.” Winter sighed. “I don’t think I will.”

  Heidi looked shocked. “You can’t say that, Winter. The moment you start believing you’re a goner, the sooner you’ll be gone.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because I’ve seen it happen. My friends were shit people. They did drugs, had no ambition, and spent their days and their nights in a crack den. They embraced the apocalypse, but when it came to survival they didn’t have a fucking clue. They died because they weren’t in the right mind-set. You have to think ahead, and think positively. You have to see a way out.”

  “I’ve struck a nerve.”

  Heidi nodded quickly. “Damn right you have! Since they found out you’re immune, Winter, you’re all they can talk about. You’re their god damn fucking saviour right now. It’s not surprising; they want to find a hope to cling onto. You’re good for morale.”

  “I don’t want to be good for morale.”

  “Well, tough. It’s what you are. Hell, if Leah had known you were immune, she would probably still be here.”

  “Leah being the girl you shot?”

  Heidi sniffed. “Yes. Don’t put it so harshly. I put her out of her misery.”

  “Why do you think she would still be here?” Winter asked, then quickly added, “If she had known I was immune.”

  Heidi shrugged. “She was beginning to lose hope a few weeks ago. We’d argue about a cure. She would ask me why I was working for The Union, getting paid very basic, and barely living. She knew I was endangering my life working with people who were ill. Someone could be hiding a bite, or I could catch a common cold and be too weak to run when the dead came. She always tried convincing me to leave, but healthcare was my profession before this shit happened. It is in my blood. Leah didn’t see any hope for a future, or a cure. She just thought we’d be stuck in this shit hole for life.”

  “That’s a sad outlook to have.”

  “The girl was sad. She killed herself.”

  “What?”

  Heidi got off her seat and headed to her workstation, where she signed her name in a folder. “She lost her mother, my aunty, and her stepdad. She couldn’t get over that. There wasn’t enough room on the boat we evacuated on. They got left on land. Soon after, we received news the station people had evacuated from had been destroyed.”

  “Where did you evacuate from?”

  “Aberdeen. I suspect V had something to do with destroying the evacuation points. It wasn’t the first place or the last place to fall victim to an attack.”

  “That woman is vile.”

  “Leah struggled to settle in. When she found The Union, she seemed to be happy. But like your friends are getting, she got frustrated. Too little action and too many words and hypothetical plans. By the way, Violet told me about your plans to save Connor. I’m in. I know how to get in.”

  “You do?”

  “I found the entrance to the cells a while back, when I did my own research,” Heidi said. “It was something I thought would be useful. I like knowing how things work.” Heidi dropped the pen she had been playing with and sat back down next to Winter. “Leah had enough. When the dead got in from the tube station, she ran out into them. She sacrificed herself. Maybe she thought The Union were under attack and wouldn’t get through it. If only she held on a little longer.”

  “If she hadn’t, I wouldn’t have saved you.” Winter pointed out. “I wouldn’t have been bitten, and nobody would have known I was immune. It is always sad when somebody dies, but think of this as her legacy. Leah held a big part in finding out if I was immune.”

  Heidi seemed to accept this as some form of comfort. She relaxed ever so slightly, and smiled. “You’re right. It isn’t all doom and gloom. I’ll always miss her. There will always be a hole where she should have been. But she helped us move forwards. She would have liked that.”

  Heidi started to open up more as they spoke. Winter learned that Heidi by chance managed to get into university to study nursing, after having volunteer experience working for health care charities. Heidi’s mother had been a florist, whilst her father had been a banker. Heidi had earned a rather moderate lifestyle, quite laid back and modest. Speaking to people and learning about their past lives, and their hopes and thoughts for the future, just reminded Winter that V had stolen everything.

  “When we save Connor, you know the fight will carry on, don’t you?”

  Winter had thought about it. V wasn’t going to just let Connor go from underneath her. She would suspect an attack. They had to ensure they were prepared, and didn’t go in naively.

  “Should we let Maria know what we’re planning?”

  Heidi shook her head. “Maria and Cedric are planning their own heist. But they’re taking too long, and we don’t have time.”

  “I know that.”

  “Indeed. But we’ve got to do something quick, but be aware that once we do, Maria will not be happy. V will be straight on us.”

  “Maybe that’s a good thing.”

  “Maybe.” Heidi shrugged. Her ginger hair shivered over her shoulders, reflecting the white light above. “Either way, this situation is shit.”

  “It is.” Winter agreed.

  Heidi headed back to her workstation when she could see Winter was tired. Winter soon fell asleep, dreaming of the dead, and of her old life in London. Her mother was there, telling her everything w
ould be okay, telling her that they would be safe. If only Winter could believe that. If only it were true.

  Chapter Thirty

  Three days later, Winter was allowed to leave. She had been given tablets to take daily, and had been advised to rest for the next two days, but she was finally free of the glass walls. William hugged her goodbye as Violet and Missy escorted her to a waiting Bentley, organised and owned by Cedric.

  “Cedric is rich?” Winter remarked. Missy held the door open for her. She remembered her father saying something about Cedric’s wealth, but she hadn’t paid much attention.

  “Apparently he stole well over sixty thousand from V before he left,” Violet explained, already in the car. “He already had money before that, too. He owned a successful business.”

  “What business?”

  “A modelling agency.” Missy said, shutting the door behind her. Their driver, a man in his thirties, began to drive. “It was rather influential, but one I was never a part of. Though some of the people we knew, Winter, were his clients.”

  “Fab,” Winter said, though she didn’t think it was fabulous at all.

  It didn’t take long to get back to their street. The drive through the once picturesque Paris was now something to avoid. Thugs targeted cars, especially ones that oozed wealth. Thankfully, nothing had happened on this occasion.

  “The car is bullet proof,” Violet was saying, as they walked Winter back to the house. She eyed the street that had been full of the dead when she had been bitten. It was spotless, as if nothing had happened. “Can’t risk getting attacked by Blitzers.”

  “Surely they would find us, driving around in a car so expensive and noticeable.”

  “Actually, quite the opposite. V tends to leave those with money to their own devices. She doesn’t kill them personally, like she does the poor.”

  “That makes me feel sick.”

  “Join the club.”

  When Winter walked through the door, there was a chorus of cheers. It seemed everyone had known she was set to arrive back home, and they had made a fuss about it. Banners hung up on the stairs and above doors, reading ‘Welcome Back’. Winter smiled, heading in to the kitchen, to see a whole meal prepared.