Winter Smith (Book 2): The Secrets of France

by Strange, J. S.

  “Okay.” Cedric nodded. They stopped at the open window and peered down. They were one floor up, but the height was at least fifteen feet. The drop was big enough to hurt them, but not enough to kill them.

  “We’ve got to jump.”

  The dead joined the Martyrs in the hall. People began to cry, the dead biting in to their skin. Art was splattered with a new substance, and bodies fell to the floor, only to rise again a few moments later, looking as though they had been dead for years.

  Without thinking, Winter leapt from the window. She hit the floor with a ‘huf’, but got to her feet. She held the gun in her hands and looked around her. Nobody was here. They were safe for now.

  The others followed suit, aware that if they waited any longer they would be bitten. Once everyone was on the ground, they ran around the corner, seeing the glass pyramids of the Louvre. Their jeep was where they had left it.

  “There won’t be enough room for all of us,” Cedric said, fishing out his keys.

  “We’ll manage it.”

  They ran, past the glass pyramids, which were splattered with cherry droplets of blood, and got into the jeep. It was a squeeze in the back for Winter, Zach and Violet. Heidi got in the back, sitting out in the open, holding the gun Missy had stolen, whilst Missy climbed into the front next to Cedric.

  Cedric drove, making crowds of survivors scatter. Their eyes were wide with fear as they realised what had happened. They had been tricked.

  They drove away from the Louvre, leaving behind Ruby who was somewhere inside, safely protected.

  “I hope David is safe.” Zach said.

  “I hope so, too.” Cedric said from the front.

  They drove down empty roads. It seemed nobody had thought to escape in their cars. The roads were quiet, as if everybody expected the attack to happen tonight. There was no doubt that tonight had been Maria’s way of bringing the dead into Paris. After tonight, Paris would no longer be safe. The dead from The Louvre fell out of windows, infected people who ran out into the streets. Soon, Paris would be full of the dead, the living trying their best to survive despite being outnumbered.

  Cedric turned the corner and came face to face with the Eiffel Tower. Winter gasped when she saw the three pentagrams, set alight. She looked up and saw three people stood in the middle of the pentagrams, away from the flames but sweating from the heat.

  She looked at Caroline, her screams drowned out by the chants of gathered Martyrs. Her stomach contorted when she recognised her father underneath his straggly beard. Then she cried out when she saw Connor in the middle, blood pouring from his chest.

  “No!”

  Her eyes looked up at the top deck of the tower. Maria seemed to be staring back at her, a sly grin on her face.

  Chapter Fifty-Seven

  “Our guests have arrived!” Maria’s voice sounded over a tannoy system, sounding muffled in the car.

  The Blitzers stood in a square, guarding the Eiffel Tower, turned to view the car. The ones nearest to them stepped back. Winter covered her mouth when she saw six cages, full to the brim with the dead. Cedric cut the engine, the lights turning off, casting them all in darker shadows.

  “Come, come see the final show,” Maria said.

  “Shit,” Violet said. “Oh my god, this is a bad mistake. Turn around, Cedric. We need to go.”

  Cedric shook his head. “We need to get your father, Winter. We need to save Connor and Caroline.”

  “They’re goners,” Violet said.

  “Don’t say that!”

  Without thinking, Winter opened the door. She stepped out and held her gun, so the Blitzers could see it.

  “Let her keep the weapon,” Maria said.

  Winter walked past the Blitzers, and gave the cages with the dead inside a wide berth. She stopped when she saw the group of Martyrs, dressed in evening wear attire, their makeup wiped off. It seemed some had already made it here before them, whilst others had probably come straight here.

  They parted, allowing Winter to walk through them. She took a deep breath.

  Suddenly, she wasn’t alone. Her friends had followed her.

  “Looks like the whole team arrived,” Maria said. “Well, what’s left of them.”

  Winter walked through the Martyrs and stopped at the entrance to climb the towers. Two Blitzers in red stood guard, blocking people from going up.

  “I’m glad you could make it,” Maria said, aware that they had come to a stop. “You’re viewing your friends, and even your relatives on podiums. You may have noticed a pattern, Winter Smith. They’re people who mean a lot to you. A father who hates you, and was never proud to call you a daughter. A girl who is fighting with her lesbian desires to sleep with you. And a boy who lusts after you and keeps getting shot down. It is your fault they’re here, Winter. You treated them all badly, and now you feel guilt.”

  “Don’t listen to her, Winter.” Violet glared up at the tower. From here, they couldn’t see Maria, only hear her. “She doesn’t know what she’s talking about.”

  “I assume you have found out the truth. All of you. Ruby has been the decoy. She’s been playing you. I’ve been proud of her. Particularly in her ability to convince Cedric that she was a good guy. Cedric, did you feel upset? I’m sure you did.”

  “Let us up there!” Cedric shouted at the red Blitzers. “Let us get to her and speak to her!”

  His voice seemed to carry. Maria laughed. “Let them up. I want you all up here to witness the deaths of the ones Winter has let down.”

  The red Blitzers stepped aside. For a moment, Winter hesitated. She sensed it was a trap. She knew if she went up there, there would be danger, but her anger forced her forwards.

  She ran up. Cedric was close behind her. They stopped on the first flight of stairs when they heard a scream. Missy and Heidi had been grabbed. Violet and Zach were halfway up the first flight of stairs.

  “Let them go!” Violet shouted.

  Winter didn’t wait. She had to stop Maria from going through with the killings. She ran up the flights of stairs, ignoring her loss of breath, ignoring the stitch in her side.

  When she got to the top, orange Blitzers grabbed her. They handcuffed her to the side of the tower, against a railing. Cedric shouted, getting to the top, only to be whacked over the head with a bat. He fell to the floor, lying face down.

  “Cedric!” Winter screamed.

  “Cedric! Cedric!” Maria hissed. Winter looked at her. She had a microphone strapped to the side of her face, so every word carried around Paris. “You’re pathetic!”

  “Please, take me instead if you have to. Let my friends go.”

  “Oh, no.” Maria laughed. “Winter, you don’t die tonight. You have to watch your friends die. You have to watch them die because you have to learn the lesson of guilt. It is your fault they’re here. You didn’t care for them. You brushed them all aside because they didn’t fit your expectations.”

  “That’s not true!” Winter shouted. She heard her own voice over the tannoy system.

  “It’s very true. Did you not sense Caroline was falling in love with you? The bitch came to me when I was living with you all, just to tell me how she couldn’t cope with seeing you. She was losing focus on her work, because she kept thinking of you. I told her romance hurts, but really I wanted to fucking strangle the bitch.”

  “You’re evil.”

  “You’re only realising this now?” Maria smiled. “Then there was your father. Of course, I sensed you weren’t happy with his relationship when we met. You didn’t seem to care about your missing parents too much. I’ve read the stories, too, of course. Coming from Britain myself, it was hard not to read a story about you. You didn’t get along with your parents. You mother would have been here tonight, if she hadn’t have been saved. Trust me, when we find her, she’ll have her throat slit in front of you.”

  “Bitch!” Winter wished Violet and Zach would hurry up.

  “Then there’s Connor, the worst of the lot. Did yo
u know he’s my son?” Maria relished in Winter’s shocked expression. Her grin widened. “That’s right. A son I didn’t want and never needed. You see, I had Connor when I was sixteen. He was adopted. Only my father knew. Nobody else. I couldn’t have him. He disappeared from my life, and I was glad of it. But then, when I came into power, I found him again. I gained his trust, if only for a month or two. He had to recognise me and know who I was, for his death to be such a huge impact. I was always interested in Connor, because I knew he had to die. It worked out rather nicely that he met you. It worked out rather nicely that he was immune. It was an excuse to kill my own flesh and blood. There is no room for the immune in the new world order.”

  “You will not kill him!” Winter shouted, fighting against her constraints. “Let them go! Let them all go!”

  Maria shook her head. Her green hair spiralled down her neck. “You don’t understand. The new world order needs to happen.” She pointed at Maxwell, who stood behind her, staring out at the crowds of the dead and Blitzers. “Maxwell here tried to warn you. He tried to give you a chance. Ruby even tried to warn you. But nobody listened. You all let yourselves get into this mess. It’s your fault you’re here.”

  The Blitzers who had knocked Cedric out had disappeared below them. Winter knew they were on their way to get Violet and Zach. She feared they had been killed.

  “You’re not his mother,” Winter said. “You can’t be.”

  “Why?” Maria asked. “You have proof?”

  “Of course I don’t. But Connor would have told me he was adopted.”

  “Except he didn’t. He didn’t believe it when I met him. It was vital he knew who I was, but it wasn’t a necessity that he believed me. I can assure you, it is true. I made sure his adopted parents died in London. I couldn’t have them getting in the way of me killing my own son, could I?”

  “You’re an evil woman.” Winter growled.

  Maria clapped her hands. “We’ve established this. I’m truly glad you have realised my true intentions. It makes my job and my life a whole lot easier. Do you know how exhausting it was living with you?”

  “I don’t care,” Winter sighed. “Please just let them go.”

  “Maria,” Maxwell said. “It’s time.”

  Maria stepped back and looked at the crowds. The dead had been let out. They ran towards the burning pentagram. Others ran to the nearby Blitzers, tearing them apart and biting into exposed flesh.

  “Stop them!” Winter cried. “Call them off!”

  “I only control the Martyrs.” Maria smiled. “The dead cannot be controlled.”

  The dead ran past their cousins, ignoring the Martyrs as if they were animals. They ran to the burning pentagrams and clustered together, climbing upwards. Some caught alight and fell to the ground, but others kept climbing, getting closer and closer to the people on the platforms.

  “No!” Winter shouted. “No!”

  “Resign to the fact they’re dead, Winter!” Maria cackled.

  Her father was the first to get bitten. Blood dripped from wounds in his legs and then the dead bit into his shoulders and neck. He fainted, but began to convulse. Winter watched his skin change colour, the blood vessels rising underneath his skin and bursting. Before she knew it, her father was one of the dead.

  She began to cry. She fell to her knees and watched as Caroline screamed out as her flesh was torn into, teeth ripping through layers until blood fell to the floor below. Caroline tried to fight back, tried to get away, but it was futile. Her head lulled as she began to fall victim to the virus. She passed out before it took control, the dead biting in to her too much to handle.

  Winter saw her eyes open once more, but they were no longer human.

  “You’re a horrible woman!” Winter sobbed.

  “Behold my creation, watch as they kill the living, kill the traitors, kill the scum of this earth! Be with me, and survive. Be against me and this will be your fate!”

  Connor’s scream ripped from his bleeding chest as the dead bit into him. He did not convulse, he did not turn. His immunity kept him alive. Below him, carnage had erupted. The Blitzers shot at the dead that had got bored of the feast above them. People were out in the open trying to fight them, but losing. Next to her, Cedric grumbled but didn’t move.

  Connor screamed. Winter watched as he fell from the platform. Even over the sounds of bullets, Winter thought she heard his body crumple on the ground.

  Maria laughed, as if this was all a game. She clapped her hands, swaying on her feet. “Oh, wonderful!”

  “Let them go.”

  Winter turned, tears clouding her sight, and saw Violet, Zach, Missy and Heidi. They all held guns from Blitzers, who they had managed to overpower down below.

  Maria looked at them, and for one moment she seemed genuinely surprised. She recovered quickly. “Like I said, I’m not interested in killing you lot personally tonight. I want you all to see the world you are against, and I want to give you a chance to join me. Your friends have died tonight for a reason.” Maria took Maxwell’s good hand and walked forwards. “We’ll be on our way.”

  Violet fired her gun, narrowly missing Maria.

  “How dare you!”

  “You can’t leave tonight.” Violet snapped. “You have to die!”

  Violet fired again, but Maxwell took the bullet. Maria turned, leaving him, and headed in to the lift. The doors closed behind her and she disappeared.

  “Fuck!”

  Cedric groaned again. Zach hurried to Winter and used a key from a Blitzer he had disarmed to unlock Winter. When her wrist was free she rubbed it, stumbling to the edge of the tower and looking at Connor’s body. It was no longer in view. It had been set upon by the dead below.

  “There are people fighting for us!” Heidi said. “A lot of people came to our rescue when it really mattered.”

  “Who are they?”

  “People we may have tried recruiting in the past. We can’t be sure.”

  Cedric lifted his head, his eyes unfocussed. “What happened?”

  “They’re dead.” Winter fell to her knees in front of him. “All three of them.”

  “No,” Cedric groaned, sitting up slowly.

  “Maria’s gone,” Violet said. “She escaped.”

  Maxwell lay on the metal grids that made up the floor, a bullet lodged in his knee. He groaned.

  “What should we do with him?” Zach asked.

  “Leave him,” Violet said. “The dead are getting out of control down there. I want us to get away from here.”

  “Where are we going to go?”

  “To the edge of Paris,” Heidi said. “Your mother is there, Winter.”

  “I’m going to have to tell her about dad.” Winter broke down. She hated herself for what had happened. She felt like she had failed three people tonight.

  “We’ll be there to help you.” Cedric rubbed the back of his head. “That’s going to bruise tomorrow.”

  “There’s no more time. We have to get back indoors.”

  They got to their feet and began their escape from the disasters of Paris. They had lost too many people tonight.

  Chapter Fifty-Eight

  The lift opened on a secret underground bunker underneath the Eiffel Tower. Maria stepped out, flushed and shaking with adrenaline. She had successfully killed one of the immune. The other deaths had been an afterthought.

  She stepped out into a stone hallway and walked down the corridor, directly towards a door at the end of the hallway. Her green hair floated behind her. She felt strong, confident and undefeatable.

  “Maria.” Kylie’s voice came from a side room. Maria ignored it, but Kylie ran to her side. “Maria, what happened?”

  “The right things.” Maria smiled. “Connor Getty is dead. As are Nathan and Caroline.”

  “What about Cedric French? Winter Smith?”

  “Not yet.”

  “But why?”

  “That will be the next plans.”

  Maria opened t
he door and walked into a disused bedroom. Sat in the middle of the room on an iron chair was Ruby Minister. She was hooked up to a drip, which was pumping the virus into her bloodstream.

  “Ruby! You did fantastically.”

  Ruby managed a smile, though she looked as though she wanted to faint. Her porcelain skin was pale, and her face was covered in sweat. “Thank you.”

  “What the hell is happening?” Kylie gasped, looking at Ruby. “What are you doing to her?”

  “She’s becoming a Martyr,” Maria replied.

  “A Martyr.” Kylie stated. “Another creation?”

  “A valuable creation. The Martyrs are going to be very important for our future. And Ruby, here, is going to be the leader of such creatures.”

  “I am?” Ruby gasped.

  “Of course!” Maria smiled, hugging Ruby awkwardly. “I could not have done any of this without you. Risking your life to be the decoy was a massive favour. One I can never truly repay to you. You have worked for me well, and you have done a great job, and you deserve this promotion.”

  Kylie watched Ruby’s skin tighten slowly. “I wouldn’t say this is a promotion.”

  “Believe me, it is. If you would just work with me, Kylie, maybe one day you will have a good role in this new world order. Ever thought of working in your life?”

  “I’ll work with you when I see reason to.”

  Maria shook her head. “You’ll be lucky to survive.”

  “What?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Please leave. I need to speak with Ruby.”

  Kylie huffed and left the room, slamming the door behind her.

  Ruby managed a smile. “Thank you so much for this opportunity, Maria.”

  “Yes, of course. Now, Ruby, this is going to be hard. You have to trust me. Becoming a Martyr will take some adjustment.”

  “Why?”

  “Your body will be dead. But your brain will not. You will be able to think, talk and walk, but you will always be craving food that you will not be able to eat. You will always be craving the human necessities of love, sex and marriage. You will always be craving friendships, a lifestyle, but you can’t have any of that.”