Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  Nickel let out a whistle. “You employed a hot babe, there.”

  Juliette tutted. “Don’t you know who that is?”

  Nickel shook his head. “My next wife, with any luck.”

  Juliette crossed her arms.

  “Well, I’m glad somebody in my team has recognised who this person is,” Maria spoke. “For the two of you dimwits who don’t know. This is Ruby Minister. Ruby Minister has been working as a double agent, if you will. She has been my decoy, keeping an eye on things whilst I have been out in the field gaining information off The Union, and feeding it back here, using it for information. It is worrying how much The Union knows, and how many people are spies in this organisation I am running.

  “But Ruby Minister is also Cedric French’s assistant, and has been keeping an eye on The Union and thwarting them whenever is possible. She was also the brainchild behind inviting them to the New Year’s event.”

  Kylie shook her head, as if she wasn’t impressed. Nickel clapped his hands together.

  “Fucking brilliant. When they said you had been on a holiday, I knew it was bullshit! You had us fooled, Maria!”

  “That’s why I’m your leader.” Maria replied. “Ruby has successfully gained the trust of Cedric French, a man we desperately want to capture and kill.”

  Ruby knew there was going to be a catch. She knew Maria wasn’t pleased. Her eyes were still dark and hooded, despite her words.

  “You’ve been doing fuck all then.” Kylie hissed. “Fraternising with the enemy. You leave a government you set up, after promising your father you were fit for the job. You’re not! You’ve done nothing!”

  “I’ve been gaining valuable information,” Maria said. “I know, for certain, that Winter Smith is immune. I know Connor Getty is immune…”

  “Because Connor has been captured here!” Kylie screamed. “Because he was experimented on!”

  “I knew where he would be to capture him. True, I didn’t think we would discover he was immune. When they captured him at the home of Nathan Smith, I was certain they would get Winter. Unfortunately not. The bitch still evades me. But New Year’s she will come for me. She will be unable to stay away. We get her then. The key to this new world order is the immune: they must all die.”

  Kylie shook her head, disbelieving.

  “Good work,” Juliette commented.

  “Earning my funding from your husband,” Maria replied. She turned to Ruby. “But whilst Ruby has done some good work, she’s also failed me.”

  Ruby began to cry. “Please…”

  “Oh, come on!” Kylie screeched. “This girl was in charge? You’re disgracing Daddy’s establishment.”

  “He was not your father, and he did not achieve what I achieved,” Maria screamed back, silencing her stepsister. She turned her attention back to Ruby. “Ruby, you killed Marcus, a man that was very responsible here.”

  “I had to…” Ruby breathed. “He was going to expose everything.”

  “I wouldn’t have let him. You doubted my authority.”

  “I didn’t. I panicked.”

  Maria shook her head. “Because you killed him, his disappearance was noticed. They began to suspect something had happened. They began to suspect me, who was of course, you. I don’t know how it got out, but someone clicked it wasn’t me up here. It was you. Hell, The Union was even beginning to suspect one of us was betraying them. I had to get out, because you hadn’t done your job properly. You blew it.”

  Ruby shook her head, her lips trembling. “I panicked.”

  “You did. Good thing you’re not a true leader, isn’t it?”

  Ruby nodded. “Y-Yes.”

  Maria walked around her desk, and Ruby moved away, standing on the other side, away from Kylie and closer to Juliette.

  “Ruby, why are you so frightened?”

  “I don’t want to die.”

  Maria let out a laugh, cold and hollow. “Oh, you will die. Yes, you will. But your death will be necessary. It will be the next phase of the new world order.”

  “It…” Ruby stopped speaking.

  Maria took her seat and looked around the room. “It’s good to be back home.”

  Before anybody could say anything else, they were plunged into darkness. The computer monitor on the desk next to her cut off, the hum of the fan inside dying. The lights outside died, cutting off the light supply that lit up The Louvre and casting it in shadows.

  “What the fuck?” Maria snapped.

  “Ruby didn’t pay the electricity bill,” Nickel joked.

  But Maria didn’t find it funny. With the lights off, she sensed something was wrong. “Get the lights on. Nickel, get Blitzers up here. Juliette, take Ruby to the cells.”

  Ruby let out a cry as Juliette grabbed her. She didn’t even try to fight back, tears running down her face.

  Maria stared out of the window, at the darkness of her headquarters. Somehow, she sensed The Union were responsible.

  Chapter Forty-Five

  The lights in the tunnel died, and Violet and the remaining girls were now standing in darkness. They had severed a wire, using a sharp rock they had wedged out of the ground. They knew they didn’t have much time before The Blitzers came investigating.

  They ran, hoping they could get out and get somewhere safe without being discovered.

  They crashed through a door at the end of a hallway, and fell out into an underground garage. It was similar to the one Violet had been in, but the cars here were older, the walls lower.

  They went from government van to government van, trying the doors. Finally, Heidi kicked through the glass of a jeep and opened the door from the inside.

  “There will be keys somewhere around here,” Heidi said, searching around the wheel in case there was something she could use to get the car going. “Split up, get out there, find something.”

  They scattered. The room was vast and industrial. Violet rooted through metal cupboards, toolboxes and drawers, hoping to come across something they could use to at least hot wire the car. She was about to open a red toolbox when she heard someone cry behind her.

  “I’ve got a key!” Missy said. She hurried across the room, the jangling of keys moving with her. “Will this work?”

  Violet and Olivia came towards Missy and watched her hand the keys over to Heidi. Heidi put the key into the ignition and turned. The jeep came to life, roaring with a gritty authority.

  “Oh, my god.” Violet breathed a sigh of relief.

  “Fantastic, Missy,” Heidi said, clapping her hands. “Get in. We’re getting out of here.”

  They got in the jeep. Olivia sat in the back, pulling the seat belt tightly around her. Missy sat with her, looking pleased with herself.

  Heidi drove across the large car park, heading towards a door in the distance. Violet, sat next to her, crossed her fingers.

  “Where do we go from here?”

  “Hopefully we won’t be stopped,” Heidi said. “Cutting the electricity cut off the alarms, too. We’ll hopefully be able to get out.”

  They descended a ramp, and found their way blocked by barriers, a ticket booth demanding to devour a pre-paid ticket. Heidi cursed, reversing, before putting the car in drive again. She revved the engine and propelled forwards, blasting through the barriers. The clunk was sickening as the barrier was twisted out of shape. Olivia screeched as the barrier caught the glass, cracking it in the top corner. Heidi braked on the other side of the barrier, breathing out.

  “It was the only way,” Heidi said. “Is everyone alright?”

  “You could have killed us.” Violet screamed. “Dick.”

  “Would you rather us still be on the other side?”

  Violet shook her head. “Just drive.”

  They drove, heading out of The Louvre car park and out into France. They drove through dark streets, lit only by lampposts. Violet glanced at The Louvre in the wing mirror on her side.

  “It’s completely dark.”

  “I bet there is p
anic inside,” Heidi said.

  “I can’t believe we got out.” Olivia breathed.

  They turned away from The Louvre, and with it out of sight, Violet relaxed a little bit. They drove back towards the Eiffel Tower, hoping to find the others, hoping they could figure out the next plan, now they were no longer prisoners.

  “When did you learn to drive?” Violet asked Heidi, as she changed from second to third.

  “Lucky I knew how, wasn’t it?” Heidi grinned, keeping her eyes on the road. “I learned to drive in a few months, passed just before my eighteenth birthday. My first job was as a delivery driver for Domino’s.”

  “Wow,” Violet laughed. “I couldn’t afford a Domino’s.”

  “Sad life.”

  “You bet.”

  They came towards the isolated community Maria had managed to hold down, but now it was open. The barbed wires had been pulled to the ground, and the houses had already been ransacked. They came to a stop outside the house that had been their sanctuary. The door was on the floor, ripped from its hinges in a rush to attack. The hallway was littered with muddy boot prints from Blitzers.

  “Do we go in?” Violet asked, remembering how they had been torn away from the house. “What if the dead are inside?”

  “The dead or the Blitzers,” Missy commented.

  “It’s another street that has fallen to the hands of the rotting,” Heidi said, staring out of the smashed window. “But what if the others are inside?”

  “Did they ever return from The Louvre?” Violet asked.

  Missy placed a hand to her lips in doubt. “What if they’re still in there?”

  “We can’t go back.” Heidi shook her head.

  “My husband might be there,” Olivia said.

  “Or your daughter.” Violet pointed out.

  Olivia said nothing.

  Heidi started creeping forwards, slowly, looking in to each house, which had been trampled.

  “Is there anywhere we can go?”

  “We’ll find somewhere,” Violet replied. “Let’s find somewhere and try and make contact with the others.”

  Heidi nodded. She began to move forwards. Coming out of the street, she slammed on the brakes. They were face to face with a gaggle of the dead, who were intrigued by the rumble of the engine.

  Chapter Forty-Six

  Winter sat outside, feeling the cool chill of the French air on her skin. She stared out at the water, her back turned to the ship that was nearby, drifting closer and closer.

  They planned to go back into Paris only when they needed to. If they went now, they might get caught. Paris was too dangerous, especially with V set on edge now that The Union was evading her eyes.

  They had done too much damage. They knew that. They had freed Connor, fled the government headquarters undetected, and had escaped Paris without being caught. V had no leads. Out in the ocean, they were safe, but they couldn’t stay here for long.

  Winter knew everybody was too afraid to say it, but the reality of the situation was living out at sea unplanned was not an option. They had no food. They had no drink.

  Winter sighed, as the boat behind her closed the gap. It moved slowly, propelled by the motion of the waves. Soon, it would bump into theirs, but Winter wasn’t aware of what was on board.

  The water splashed against the boat she sat on, plinking quietly. It set her on edge. Being out here reminded her of the life they had left behind. She had hated living with her parents, hated the lifestyle she had, but compared to this it was so much simpler.

  Winter stared up at the twinkling sky, no longer polluted by artificial lights. She wondered what other life forms were facing, whether it was as bad as theirs. She had always been fascinated by the universe, and by the sky above her. It made no sense, but yet it existed.

  There were footsteps behind her. She turned, and saw Connor stood before her.

  “You okay?”

  Winter pitied him. He had been hoping to reconcile with her, establish the bond they had in London. But that just couldn’t happen. They could barely be friends.

  “I’m fine.”

  “You shouldn’t be out here alone.”

  Winter sighed. “Why?”

  Connor turned his back on the boat drifting towards them, where shadows moved on the deck. Both humans were oblivious.

  “Anything could happen,” Connor said. “We’re away from life, but someone could be watching from the land.”

  Winter turned to Cannes, which was a shadow of shapes on the horizon. “There’s nobody there to see us.”

  “We don’t know that.”

  “We’re the only people here.”

  Connor sat, staring at Winter. “It was horrible, Winter. Horrible being stuck in those cells. I felt so degraded.”

  “Why?”

  “They stripped me, injected me, experimented on me…” Connor sighed. “She learnt I was immune and wanted to find out why before she killed me, but she couldn’t. Her scientists aren’t the best.”

  “Sounds like she hasn’t got a good establishment there.”

  “I heard a lot of people bitching about her,” Connor nodded. “But whilst she fails on some things, she runs a lot of other good things. Dangerous things. There’s nothing good about what she does.”

  “I hope it caves in on her.”

  “It might do. But someone has to bring her down.”

  “Why does it have to be us?”

  Connor ran a hand over the back of his head. “We fell in with the wrong people.”

  Winter smirked. “You brought Cedric into our lives.”

  “I thought he was the good guy.”

  “He’s a strange guy.”

  The boat in the water hit theirs, but gently. There was a clunk, but Winter and Connor didn’t react.

  “I just don’t know what to do anymore.” Winter sighed. “I don’t feel safe.”

  “Nobody does.” Connor sighed. “As New Year’s creeps closer, and Cedric puts down these plans, we just have to go with it.”

  “What if we die?”

  “Then at least we’re out of our misery.”

  Before Winter could answer, they heard the hisses from the dead man behind them. They turned, and saw the man hopping from his boat to their own. He headed towards them, his broken leg snapping underneath him. He fell forwards, his arms outstretched. He grabbed Connor, and Connor fell. Winter screamed, her scream echoing off the night air. She stumbled backwards, hitting the side of the barrier. She steadied herself as a woman from the other boat began to climb over, half of her side missing and her face blown away by a bullet. Winter realised it had missed her brain, and she was still functioning. It was a disgusting sight.

  “Connor!”

  Connor began to climb to his feet, as the man with the broken leg dragged himself across the floor, blood streaking behind him. Connor kicked, but missed. The hands of the dead man grabbed him, but slipped, a finger snapping backwards. These dead people had been dead for a long time, and it seemed their bodies were decaying as time went on.

  Cedric came running from underneath the boat, carrying a gun in his hands. He saw the commotion, saw the woman fall from her vessel and wedge in between both boats, and fired at the man. Blood splattered, the man didn’t move, and Cedric hurried to the side of the ship to fire another bullet into her brain. She let out a squeal as her painful existence was ended.

  Cedric turned and gripped Connor. “Are you bitten? Did they get you?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “Tell me!”

  “He’s fine!” Winter shouted. “Get off him.”

  Cedric let go, staring at Connor, trying to see if he was lying, trying to look for a wound. Satisfied, he fell backwards, landing a few feet away from the now dead man.

  “What the fuck happened?”

  “The ship across from us obviously had dead on board.” Winter said. “I don’t know how it got to us.”

  “Obviously been drifting,” Cedric said, looking at t
he other vessel. “Maybe they didn’t tie it down.”

  Winter looked at the man. “I wonder how they died. I wonder who was first to go.”

  “We’ll never know.” Cedric eyed the ship, breathing deeply. “We need to go on board their ship and see if there is anything on board.”

  “Such as?”

  “Weapons, food…”

  “I’m not going on there,” Connor said. “What if there are more?”

  “I’ll go on. You two stay here.”

  Winter stepped forwards, the edge of her dirty shoes touching the fingertips of the dead man. “I’ll come with you.”

  “Well, if you’re going…” Connor began.

  “No,” Cedric said. “David is still in bed. Stay on here in case he wakes up.”

  “He doesn’t need a baby sitter.”

  “Zach’s here, too.”

  “No, but if he wakes up and sees we’re all gone he will panic.”

  Connor was silenced.

  Winter and Cedric climbed slowly over to the next boat, Winter praying the woman still wedged would not wake up and grab her. Thankfully, she was truly dead.

  They got on board the ship and Winter felt queasy. The white floors and sides were stained with blood, flooding the ship. It seemed whatever had happened here had been barbaric. An icebox lay open in the corner, three bloody axes inside. Cedric lifted one and handed it to Winter.

  “Better than nothing.”

  Winter took it, feeling better now that she had a weapon. Cedric took one himself, and handed the final one across the ship to Connor.

  “Be careful,” Connor said, glancing at the blood stained boat.

  “We will be.”

  They walked down three steps and down to the sleeping quarters. There was more blood here, and a dead body of a man.

  “Careful.” Cedric eyed closed doors. “There could be anyone here.”

  The kitchen was at the end of the hall. They moved towards it. A bedroom door had been opened, and the bed sheets were stained with blood. There was a dead body of a dog.