Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  “You’ll learn quick that V see’s everything.” Caroline said.

  “She has eyes everywhere.” Lara nodded.

  The world came crashing down around Winter.

  “We really are in trouble, aren’t we?”

  “Yes.” Lara nodded. “And it’s only a matter of time until we get caught ourselves.”

  Winter watched as Caroline rooted through a backpack. Tonight, things had truly changed for them. They had involuntarily joined The Elite. Caroline took out a few bowls, and a few cans of tomato soup. They were all served it cold.

  “I stole these a few nights ago,” Caroline said.

  The urge to sleep soon came to them. Violet had taken Miranda’s sleeping bag, and the others had no other option but to use towels or thin blankets to cover them. William dropped off almost instantly,

  his head rested against the upturned bucket. The others were either feigning sleep or staring down.

  “Why were you waiting at Le Havre?” Zach whispered, breaking the long stretch of silence.

  Violet looked up, staring directly at Lara and Caroline who were sat together in the corner of the room. They were sharing a thin blanket, and had been communicating in mumbles every now and then.

  “We’ve been waiting there every time a ship comes in,” Lara said, adjusting the blanket. “It’s our way of recruiting people. Like I said, tonight we were there just in case. We weren’t expecting more people.”

  “How did you know who I was?” Winter asked.

  “You were a celebrity, Winter,” Caroline said. “Everyone knows who you are.”

  “Will you be going back sometime soon?” Violet asked.

  Lara shook her head. “There’ll be no one else coming in to France.”

  Winter glanced at Violet. “No one?”

  “You were the last boat to come into France.” Lara explained. “And you met a safer end than most of the others that came in.”

  Winter remembered the escape from the ship, away from the dead that had gotten on board. “What happened to the others?”

  “Some came in full of the dead. It was already too late.” Lara sighed. “Others sunk, others were shot down by the Blitzers that guard the wall.”

  “The wall was built by who again?” Zach asked.

  “Blitzers,” Caroline said. “Under V’s orders. It was to convince people that the dead were being kept out.”

  “Are they?”

  Lara shrugged. “There aren’t as many as there were back home,” she said. “But they’re getting in fast. You saw what happens when they bite. It doesn’t take much.”

  “So what you’re telling me is that we’re in France, prisoners to V and locked up behind a wall topped with barbed wire in a claustrophobic country, where Blitzers are killing innocents and the dead are multiplying?” Violet asked.

  “That’s right.” Lara breathed.

  “Well that’s fan-fucking-tastic,” Violet said.

  Chapter Five

  Nickel Solo strode across France in a suit that had been measured to fit his toned, thirty year old body. It was a light shade of blue, with a crisp white shirt and black polished shoes. Gripping his arm with a petite hand was Juliette Weiglass, wife to Maxwell Weiglass: a man who controlled the wealth of the world.

  They walked past the diamond pyramids that sparkled outside The Louvre, passing survivors who were making the most of their time in France by visiting the sites.

  “Aren’t they brave to be out?” Juliette remarked.

  “Bravery is foolish,” Nickel replied.

  The scene at The Louvre was not what it had been this time last year. Gone were the crowds of people who were not interested in art, but rather the landmark, and now replaced now with litter and graffiti on the walls and on the floors. Blood stained stone, and Nickel was sure he saw a dead body in the distance.

  A hooded man joined the group at the pyramid, exchanging money with another man in a white hoodie. The man in white gave him a knife, and without saying anything more the people moved on.

  “I don’t like that,” Juliette whispered.

  “They won’t last long,” Nickel said. “Conducting business outside government headquarters is not the smartest of moves.”

  “Do you think they know?”

  “Of course not.”

  They walked in through the entrance of The Louvre, which was empty and as pristine as ever. V made sure that nobody got in to trash the place, like they had done to so many other buildings in France.

  They climbed the stairs in the main foyer, upwards and through double doors that led into a part of the gallery the public were not allowed into. They walked down dimly lit corridors, until finding a dark stairwell that they climbed, taking two steps at a time.

  “I don’t know why she won’t let us use the lifts.” Juliette complained.

  “We’re not privileged enough.” Nickel smirked.

  Juliette squawked a laugh. “My husband pays her wages!”

  Nickel said nothing. Out of breath and with a stich in his side, they emerged onto the top floor. It was lit up brightly, glass walls sloping around to a glass fronted office. V sat at the desk, her face obscured by a pink veil. Without knocking, Nickel stepped into the office, Juliette following closely.

  “Nickel, how very nice to see you,” V said softly, looking directly at her two visitors. “Juliette, always a pleasure.”

  V did not stand. She did not extend a cloaked arm as a greeting. It was her way of making her staff, her followers feel on edge. They worked for a woman who was in control, but they had no idea who she was.

  “Nice to see you, too, V,” Juliette said. “Well, the pink veiled you.”

  V nodded her head stiffly, and turned back to her computer monitor. How she could see anything was a wonder to the two employees.

  “What can I help you with?”

  “We’ve come to tell you about Winter Smith,” Nickel spoke, and he was pleased to see V’s attention drawn back to her visitors.

  There was nowhere to sit. V didn’t make her room welcoming. Despite it being well lit, it wasn’t decorated traditionally. There were two seats in the back of the room, but they were pointed and nobody ever sat on them. There was a plant, decaying and withered, positioned near the two huge windows that had a great view of The Eiffel Tower.

  “Winter Smith,” V repeated, as if the name was foreign, and as if she had never heard it before. “She’s here?”

  “Yes,”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yes,”

  “The one we need?”

  “Yes.”

  “Wow,” V breathed, leaning back in her chair. “Then where is she? In the cells?”

  Nickel looked at Juliette.

  “She escaped.”

  “Escaped.”

  “Yes,” Nickel nodded. “With the girls. Lara, Caroline and Miranda. She is with them.”

  “So this makes it harder for us to get to her, I assume.” V stated.

  “Yes,” Nickel sighed. “We’re trying our best to find the girls and get them in to you. They need to be punished. They need to be captured and slain.”

  “They do,” V nodded. “But now they’ve got Winter Smith travelling with them. She’s become a wanted person, on more than one offence. She’s a fugitive. But the girls survive. They have information on Winter and we need it. We need to get her in. Get her in for the experiments that will take this apocalypse further.”

  “One of them died.”

  V sat up. “Who?”

  “Miranda.” Juliette said. “She was killed by Blitzers.”

  V clasped her gloved hands together. “Excellent. Where is the body?”

  “The Blitzers took it.”

  “I want it displayed.”

  “Of course.”

  “Along the river Seine.”

  “With the other bodies?” Juliette asked.

  “Yes, but put Miranda’s pride of place. We want this to be news! We want people to see that you
cannot go against me or my new world order. If they do, they end up a body on a stick. You can run, but sooner or later someone will get you.”

  “We’ll make sure that happens,” Nickel nodded, looking slightly queasy.

  “Tell me…what is the word on Cedric?”

  Nickel and Juliette glanced at one another, before Juliette cleared her throat.

  “Your Blitzers have gone aboard the ship from London, to see who was killed. Of course, some people are unrecognisable. Either they were ripped apart so bad they couldn’t rise again, or they became the dead and landed in the water.”

  “You know what happens when they land in water,” Nickel said.

  “Of course I know,” V snapped. “I created the damn things.”

  “Yes…” Juliette nodded, successfully hiding a shudder. “But the offices where Cedric was seen last, with his accomplice Ruby…well, they were empty.”

  “Empty?”

  “Empty.”

  V sat back in her chair. “Who told you they were empty?”

  “Our spies aboard the ship told the Blitzers that was the room where Cedric was staying, with Ruby and a boy called Connor…”

  “I know who Connor is.”

  “Yes,” Juliette replied. The bangles on her wrist jangled together as she crossed her arms. “Well, the room was untouched. Cedric and Ruby escaped…though we don’t know how, and we don’t know if they drowned.”

  “Have they been seen?”

  “They were not seen. They haven’t been seen in France yet.”

  “But they could have got in,” V said.

  “Yes. There are still a few weak spots here in France.”

  “Then ensure those weak spots are reinforced. Nobody gets out.”

  Nickel cleared his throat.

  “We do have word on Connor Getty.”

  V leaned forwards, across her desk. Even though her face was covered, both Nickel and Juliette could tell that she was staring at the door, and not at them. “What’s the word?”

  “He is here in France, and he is also a fugitive.”

  “He was a fugitive to begin with. What do you know?”

  “He’s with The Trio Girls,” Juliette spoke. “He’s with Winter Smith.”

  “As are a small group of people.” Nickel added. “We are still trying to find out who they are.”

  “And where they are.”

  V pushed away from her desk, and stood up. Her robes concealed her frame, so nobody could tell if she was skinny or fat. She walked around the table, until she was a few inches away from Nickel and Juliette. She sat on the edge of her desk and crossed her arms.

  “Find out where The Trio Girls are hiding. Find Winter Smith and Connor Getty. Find The Elite. Reinforce the weak parts of France. Do that, and you’ll live. Fail, and I will ensure both of you die a very gruesome death.”

  Nickel, keeping his bouncy exterior, clapped his hands together.

  “You can bet we won’t let you down.”

  V titled her head. “I hope so.”

  There was an uncomfortable silence, before Nickel and Juliette realised it was time to leave. They had outstayed their welcome. They turned, without saying a word, and exited V’s glass office. Despite being incredibly important to V’s plans, they both felt as though they were nothing. They both felt like they could be disposed of in seconds. Once out of sight of V and walking back down the stairs, Juliette sighed. Working for V was taking its toll on them.

  “Why are Winter Smith and Connor Getty important to V?” She asked.

  Nickel barely moved his lips. “Only she knows.”

  Chapter Six

  “We have to go,” Lara spoke.

  Winter started, woken up from a slumber. She looked around the dim room, to see everyone in various stages of awakening. There was no immediate need to escape. There was no sound of a threat. In fact, there was hardly any noise from outside at all.

  “What time is it?” Winter asked.

  “About three in the morning,” Lara said, standing in the middle of the room. “We’ve learned that around about this time there are less Blitzers on patrol. It means we have a better chance of escaping and finding somewhere else to hide out.”

  “Don’t you have any contacts around here?” Violet grumbled, getting to her feet. “Somewhere with a comfortable bed? Maybe a hotel owner?”

  “We’ve got a few contacts, but nobody like that. We’re heading to a group hiding out further in to Paris. Be warned, the closer we go to the centre, the more dangerous it becomes.”

  “How?” Zach asked, mid-stretch. “What’s it like there?”

  “Bodies line the banks of the river Seine. Blitzers triple in number. Houses are boarded up and reinforced to keep out the dead and the Blitzers. The dead walk the streets like they own it. It is not a nice place to be.” Caroline sighed. “France isn’t safe anymore. It is a trap.”

  Winter groaned. “How did it end up like this?”

  “V.” Lara responded.

  The group gathered at the door, Lara at the front. Winter felt nervous that they were about to head out into the dead of night, with no idea of what to expect. She gave an awkward smile to Connor, but kept close to William and Violet. She wished she had a weapon of some kind, something to keep her safe if they were attacked.

  Lara opened the door, but instead of going downstairs, she opened another door to their left, which led to a narrow hallway.

  “Where are we going?” William whispered.

  “We’re not going out into the street,” Lara replied. “We’re going to the roof.”

  “To the roof?” Zach gasped. “Are you crazy?”

  “How the hell are we going to get off the roof?” Violet asked.

  “We’re pretty close to another building,” Caroline said, halfway up the hallway now. “We’re going to jump across, and then climb down the fire escape.”

  Winter looked at Zach with worry. He was visibly shaking.

  “I can’t jump.” Zach moaned.

  “You will be able to.” Lara reassured him. “The gap is quite small. It’s like jumping from the fourth step to the floor.”

  They headed down the hallway single file. The peeling wallpaper reminded Winter that many houses were now empty in France. It told her that not only had lives came to a sudden halt back home, but they had done here, too. Had the people in France known they were in danger all along? Why had nobody warned them that France was not safe?

  They climbed four steps and emerged out onto the roof, through a door that had only been locked with a latch. The night air was nippy, but not freezing. From the top of the roof, Winter could see Paris in the distance. The Eiffel Tower was the only thing lit up. Many buildings were blacked out, the silhouettes only illuminated by the full moon above.

  Winter crept towards the edge and peered over the roof. She looked down on a cluster of Blitzers, staked outside the building they had been hiding in. Thankfully, none were looking up.

  “Winter,” Lara hissed. “Get away from there!”

  Winter jumped, stepping backwards. “I’m sorry.”

  “Stupid girl. They could have seen you!”

  “I’m sorry!”

  “Leave her alone,” Violet argued. “She just wanted to see where she was.”

  “Well, you need to learn to be a bit more careful. You can’t just go exposing yourself to the world. Anybody could have seen you.”

  “We’re on the top of a roof,” Connor said, coming to Winter’s defence. “We’re fairly exposed.”

  Violet looked impressed. Lara said nothing. With a flick of her hand she signalled for them to follow her to the end of the roof, where everybody else was waiting.

  Winter could see that Caroline had been right. The gap was not big to jump. It reminded her of her escape from the London diner. She had leapt from a window to a wall and had somehow escaped the dead that had broken in.

  “One by one, we jump,” Caroline explained, when Winter, Violet and Connor had joined the o
thers. “Once on the roof, stay low. Once everyone is across we’ll get to the fire escape at the back of the building and head towards our next stop.”

  “Where is out next stop?” Zach asked.

  Caroline looked at Lara. Winter knew the answer before she spoke. “We don’t know yet.”

  Violet let out a laugh that was not humorous. “Oh, great. We’ve got ourselves stuck with girls who have no idea what they’re doing.”

  “If you have a better idea, let us know,” Lara snapped.

  “I don’t need to have a better idea.” Violet shrugged. “I’m sorry, but you two are just two girls who are alone and scared. You’ve probably only been out here for a few days. You’re probably hoping with more people you can get somewhere. You’re probably hoping we have ideas, something to save you. We don’t. You don’t. We’re all in the same boat here.”

  “Look, this isn’t the time.” Caroline began.

  “No, I’ve got an idea,” Violet said. “Once we’re on the ground, we go our separate ways.”

  Winter gasped. “That isn’t a good idea, Vi.”

  “Why isn’t it?”

  “These girls know France better than us.” William said.

  “Pfft,” Violet spat. “They’re from Bristol. They don’t know anything about France. Neither do we. We have no idea where we’re going, or what’s going on, or what we’re supposed to do. This is survival. We won’t survive long with these girls.”

  “You won’t survive long without us,” Lara hissed.

  “Like I said, you’ve probably only been out here for a few days.”

  “More than a few days,” Caroline said, taking a friendlier tone. “We’ve been evading V longer than anybody else.”

  “You don’t know that,” Violet said.

  “You don’t know what you’re talking about,” Lara said.

  “Look, this isn’t the time for an argument,” Connor stood between the two girls. Violet glared at him. “The longer we’re out here, the more exposed we are. Look at the buildings around us. Some are taller. For all we know, people are looking at us from their buildings. They could be good guys, or they could sell us out. We don’t know that. Let’s get across and get down and get to the next place. It is the middle of the night and I’m tired.”