Winter Smith (Book 1): London's Burning

by Strange, J. S.

  Violet and Zach looked at her. Neither of them had thought that this was what Jason had been saying, and it was clear they both thought she had read it wrong. Yet from the look Judy gave her, and the way Deana had given her full attention to Winter made her realise that she was right.

  Jason said nothing. He just looked at her, a slight smirk on his lips.

  Winter glanced at Michael and saw he was wrapped up. His skin was covered with clothing, a hat on his head obscuring his hair. Deana was also the same, although she looked broken and weakened for completely different reasons. Judy was the only one with flesh on show, but the way she was spoken to and looked at by Jason told Winter she was regarded as important.

  “How many of you were there before?” Winter enquired, staring straight into Jason’s eyes.

  “Never you mind how many there were before.”

  “There were sixteen,” Michael muttered.

  Jason turned glaring eyes that could have killed on Michael. Michael sunk back and Jason rose from his seat slowly.

  Judy placed a hand on his shoulder, and Jason breathed in deeply a few times, glaring at Michael, waiting for his anger to subside.

  Jason lowered back into the office seat, his eyes on the desk. Judy stared at Winter, willing her to shoot a bullet.

  “There were sixteen,” Jason repeated.

  “And what happened to those sixteen?”

  Jason looked at Winter and gave her the same treatment he had given Violet. He observed every part of her, almost finding her weakness. Winter felt a little uncomfortable, unable to hold her ground like Violet.

  “All you need to know is there were sixteen.”

  “You’re frightened, aren’t you?” Winter asked. “The government are outside, feet away, and you’re afraid they’re going to come in and find you are holding people hostage here, counting the days until another is fed to the dead so you can watch and observe how it’s done.”

  Jason rolled his thumb over the nearest file and watched the pages flicker past as if he was bored.

  “Why should I be afraid?”

  “Surely what you’re doing is illegal,” Violet said. “The government would consider you to be as bad as the dead. You’re willing humans to become infected, going against what the government are fighting for.”

  “The government are nothing but people now.” Jason shrugged. “Nobody is more important than anybody else. We’re all in the same boat. Rules and laws are out of the window. They’re gone.”

  There was a bang and Jason slumped forwards in his seat. His blood began to stain the stacks of paper around him and the lamp that was teetering on the edge fell to the floor, where it smashed and plunged them into darkness. Someone lit up a match and Winter saw Violet had shot him straight through the heart.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Deana turned from the bookcase she had been staring at slowly. She was holding her breath, her eyes staring at the wall straight ahead. She lowered her eyes daringly; almost afraid of what she might see.

  Her eyes, so broken and sad, found Jason slumped over on the table with blood dripping onto the floor. She showed no emotion. Her face remained blank and her mouth twitched at the corners, almost as if she was going to smile.

  She looked at Judy for confirmation that what she was seeing was true. Michael was still sat where he had been before, unmoving, staring at Jason’s feet.

  “He’s dead,” Deana said, her voice so quiet Winter struggled to hear her.

  “He’s dead.” Judy nodded.

  “Now what?” Michael said.

  “You’re free,” Violet answered, staring at the man she had just killed. Winter could almost hear her mind suppressing any guilt she felt for taking this man’s life so easily.

  “We can’t go.” Judy shook her head.

  “What do you mean, you can’t go?” Winter asked. She couldn’t understand why the three of them looked so spooked.

  “We wouldn’t survive,” Michael said. “This is our refuge.”

  “You’re not going to survive in here much longer,” Zach said. “The place is full of zombies, and you can’t share this place with them.”

  “What are you going to do for food, too?” Winter asked.

  “There’s a canteen downstairs,” Judy said. “We’ve been using that.”

  “And how much have you got left?”

  “We’re struggling,” Michael admitted. “They’re right, Judy. This is our chance to go now. If he was still alive…well we would have died anyway.”

  Judy shook her head. She had a pained expression on her face. Violet looked at Winter with raised eyebrows, as if to say they had walked in on some mad family with no sense of reality.

  “And now he’s gone, and because he is gone, we can have this place to ourselves and stay here until this all blows over,” Judy responded quickly, her eyes clamped tightly shut.

  “This isn’t going to just blow over,” Winter warned. “London will not be functioning for at least a few years.”

  “You don’t know that.”

  “No, you don’t know that.” Violet snapped. “We’ve been out in it. You’ve been in here, building happy families.”

  Judy’s eyes shot open and she glared at Violet with intense dislike.

  “It has been anything but happy families in this building.” Her voice shook with anger. It stung Winter and made Violet bristle. “Do you know what he did to us all? Do you know what he did to Deana?”

  Deana seemed to shrink back into the shadows of the room, her gaze dropping to the floor. She crossed her arms and let her greasy hair fall over her face.

  “No, we don’t know.” Zach began, but Violet interrupted him.

  “And we don’t need to know.”

  Zach threw her a look, shaking his head slightly. He turned back to Judy who looked like she wanted to turn one of the guns they held on them.

  “We don’t know what he did, but we know just by being here that he was not a very nice man.”

  “You don’t know anything.”

  “No, you’re right. But he was cruel and inhumane if he was feeding you to those zombies for his own…experiments. What we do know, however, is that you can’t stay here. It’s infected. It’s crawling with zombies. You’re running out of food. The virus will most certainly get to you before the dead, and once that happens it’s too late.”

  Michael stood up. Judy and Deana looked at him.

  “I’m going with them. I need to get out of London.”

  “You can’t!” Judy screeched. “You’ll die out there.”

  “They haven’t,” Michael countered, indicating Winter, Violet and Zach.

  “But look at them. Just look at them. They’re dirty, and they’re criminals.”

  “There’s no such thing anymore,” Winter said. “Rules are being broken every minute of the day. There’s no such thing as laws anymore.”

  “They’re convicts, Michael,” Judy said. “If you go with them you’re going to get into all sorts of trouble!”

  “Maybe he will, but if he stays here he is going to get infected,” Violet argued.

  Deana lowered her hands, shivering slightly. Her eyes were on Michael. Winter glanced at her. Judy lunged forwards and grabbed Jason’s mane of tangled hair, yanking it up.

  Jason looked at them with vacant eyes. His mouth hung slightly open. It was a sorry sight Winter would never forget.

  “This man, here, this man was a brutal cruel man that cared only for himself,” Judy spat. “He lived to keep us prisoner here, and he lived to feed us to the dead that he was keeping locked up. He would have gladly taken you three into that room and watched you die.”

  “What’s the big deal?” Michael shouted, to the shock of the others. “He’s dead. We can leave.”

  “Have you forgotten what he did to your brothers? Have you forgotten what he did to you?” Judy screamed. Winter felt small, paralysed. If she moved an inch Judy would turn her raging temper on her. Her voice wasn’t even drowned out
by the wailing of the stormy wind outside. It was scary to think that such a small woman could intimidate the whole room. “We can’t leave, Michael. We’ve been kept in a zoo. If we were to go out there now, we would have no idea how to survive.”

  “That’s pathetic, Judy.” Michael sighed. “I’m going. I’m not staying here.”

  He made to move across the room. Violet and Zach quickly moved out of his way. Everyone seemed to have forgotten they were there. With a thud, Judy dropped Jason’s head back onto the table. She was around the table in seconds, as if she had walked straight through it. She grabbed Michael’s shoulder, trying to stop him. He swung around, his fist raised. Violet screamed out for Judy to move but it was too late. Michael’s fist collided with Judy’s cheek and knocked her to the floor.

  Michael pulled open the door and strode out into the hallway. They heard his feet banging off the floor in temper.

  “Go and stop him!” Violet said to Zach. “If he leaves now he’s going to alert the government.”

  Bang!

  The light that was not in use above them smashed, showering them in glass.

  Winter turned to look at Deana, who held a small pistol in her hand. She pointed it straight at Zach.

  “You’re not leaving here.” She whispered. “You’re staying here.”

  “Put the gun down, Deana.”

  “Don’t you dare tell me what to do.” She growled, turning slowly to Violet. “I’ve had enough of being told what to do. Now you’ll all do as I say. Get up, Judy!”

  Winter jumped. Her words rang around the room as a clap of thunder boomed outside. Winter thought she heard shouts in the night, but it was too hard to tell over the sound of rain.

  As Judy got to her feet, clutching her bruising cheek, they heard footsteps in the hallway. Winter wanted to shout, warn whomever it was to turn back. They were clearly in a room with people who had gone mad, locked up in a building for so long. Nobody trusted each other.

  Michael appeared at the door. He looked at Winter, unable to see Deana with the gun from where he stood. He was about to move in to the room when Deana walked around the table and fired.

  Michael screamed. His whole body seemed to break away around the wound in his chest. His eyes rolled back into his head, while the colour of his skin drained away with his life. He lay on the ground in a heap, non-moving.

  “Deana, what the hell?” Judy wailed. “You’ve killed one of our own!”

  “Do you think I fucking care?” Deana asked, so politely it was almost comical. “Do you think I liked any of you? Do you think I was truly sad that people were sent to their deaths? No. And do you want to know why, Judy?”

  She clicked the gun in her hand and lowered it so it was placed at the back of Judy’s head. Judy froze.

  Deana leant forwards so her mouth was inches away from Judy’s ear.

  “Because none of you helped me when he was raping me.”

  Winter suddenly saw bitterness in Deana. She saw a hurt girl that would always be scarred. Whatever she was like before had been replaced with someone so hollow, so achingly dead, it was too late to save her. She was broken, and whatever she did now would not be any worse. Winter didn’t know what had been happening in these walls, but it was enough to break everyone still remaining.

  Judy’s head exploded in a burst of blood. Winter screamed, her knees buckling. She had to steady herself by holding onto the wall.

  They were suddenly stood in a bloodbath. The stench of death was too much to take in.

  “Now, what do I do with you?” Deana asked of the three teenagers, stood against the wall, unable to move. “You could help me send the dead to the dead. It could be our little experiment.”

  Her eyes shone. The excitement was there for them all to see.

  “I wonder if the dead will already eat the dead. It would be good to know, as well, if they eat the fresher of the dead, wouldn’t it? How long do you think this bastard has been dead? Ten minutes?”

  She glared at Jason, hatred burning into the back of his skull.

  In one fluid motion she raised the gun, pulled the trigger and grinned as the bullet went straight through his head. Winter winced.

  “Don’t just stand there.” Deana snapped. “Take one each to the sports hall.”

  “We can’t get to the sports hall. It’s all blocked off.” Zach spoke.

  Deana stared at him for a minute or two. She seemed to be working out what to do after he had spoken. She was deciding if she could accept he had spoken to her, working out if he was scared or if he was planning something.

  “I know another way,” Deana said.

  A few moments later, in some surreal and disgusting nightmare, they were pushing open a small, blue door that led up a flight of narrow, dark steps. Winter was carrying Judy, trying not to breathe in and trying to ignore the blood that dripped down her clothes. Violet was carrying Jason with the help of Deana, while Zach carried Michael past mops and buckets and cleaning supplies that were long forgotten.

  Deana pushed open a door and the sounds of the storm, falling rain and echoing thunder intensified. The cold, harsh wind pushed past them. They stumbled slightly, Winter almost dropping Judy.

  Deana walked out onto the roof of the building as if she couldn’t feel the strong winds and the freezing rain lashing at her skin. Winter was first out, following quickly behind. Her gun banged into her hip over and over, but she couldn’t move it for fear of dropping Judy’s body. Deana didn’t even seem to be worried that they all held guns. She didn’t seem to worry that her back was turned and she was open to being killed by the people she was keeping here.

  Winter didn’t know what was going to happen next as they walked across the slippery roof. One side of the roof was taped with orange material, denying access. The tape pulled on the metal poles it was attached to, fluttering in the winds.

  Deana came to another door; similar to the one they had walked through. She pulled it open, pushing it against the wind that battled to close it. She moved to one side and smiled at Winter, waiting for her to walk past.

  Winter did, her hair by now dripping wet and her clothes sticking to her body. She walked down another set of steps identical to the ones they had walked up, and came to a door, which she opened.

  She gasped.

  She was stood on the top of a balcony that overlooked the sports hall. She could see the basketball hoops mounted to the walls, shelves holding footballs and rugby balls, rackets tied to the walls and tennis courts, which were not constructed. Violet and Zach followed her in and Deana was last to enter.

  “Come and look at this.” She beckoned for them to follow her to the edge.

  Winter exchanged looks with Violet and Zach. Surely they would be mad to follow her further in. Winter thought they should shoot her now, leave her to die, escape while they could.

  Violet moved forwards first and looked over the balcony edge, still carrying Jason. Winter didn’t know how she was doing it. He was twice her size and not the skinniest of people.

  Winter and Zach walked forwards, hovering just behind Violet and Deana.

  Below them, cast in light shadows, were zombies, so many of them it made Winter’s skin chill. They slumped around, walking back and forth, dully gazing anywhere but upwards. The air was chilly looking down at them. Winter found she wanted to move back, that she wasn’t safe.

  “Drop the first body.” Deana spoke.

  Zach struggled with Michael. He lifted him up awkwardly, stumbling towards the edge. Winter moved forwards and gripped the back of Zach’s top, afraid that he would fall with Michael.

  Zach threw Michael through the air and they watched his body fall. As he fell, the zombies below seemed to sense food was coming. They began screeching, making noises that only they could make, and when Michael fell into their midst they began running towards his body.

  The sound of clothes tearing, blood drawing and flesh being ripped filled the room, making Winter want to throw the body she held and l
eave. The zombies fought it out amongst themselves to get the best part.

  “They liked that one. We’ll have to keep an eye on him, see if he wakes up. That’s an interesting thought, isn’t it? Can the dead rise again?” Deana said, more to herself than the others. “Next body.”

  Winter moved forwards and threw Judy down.

  They were quicker to pounce this time. They tore and attacked her body with much more enthusiasm than they had Michael’s. Winter watched, unable to tear her eyes away. She was glad the room was cast in shadows so she couldn’t really see anything too gruesome.

  “And finally, the king himself.” Deana grinned.

  Violet edged forward, standing next to Deana. She lifted Jason with the help of Zach and let his weight and gravity pull him down; so far he seemed to float before falling. The zombies below looked up in apprehension, and when the body hit the ground they didn’t go to him for a few moments.

  Then, one by one, they began to inspect him, biting at his flesh.

  “So there you have it.” Deana spoke. “They eat the most recently dead quicker. I was right. If only Jason had learnt that. He could have written that down in his books.”

  Deana smiled, patting the bar of the balcony affectionately.

  “Thanks for helping me with that part of my experiment, guys.” She lifted the gun and pointed it at Violet. “Now let’s see how quick they pounce on someone living. Jump.”

  Violet didn’t move. With a gun pointed to her head she could do nothing. Winter suddenly realised that this had been Deana’s plan all along. It wasn’t shocking. It was expected. A clap of thunder outside echoed, making the scene terrifying.

  As Violet began to climb the balcony, Winter thought fast. She knew Violet was going to give up. She could see she was going to jump.

  Winter ran forwards. Deana still had her back turned when Winter grabbed the back of her legs and lifted them. Deana screamed as her feet were pulled from under her and she toppled forwards, over the balcony and down into the sports hall.

  She landed on her back and didn’t move. The height was so high that Winter was sure she had broken her back. The zombies jumped, attacking Deana’s paralysed body quicker than Judy’s. They seemed to sense she was helpless. In seconds they had bitten into major arteries. She began to scream, and even though she was partly hidden Winter could see she was convulsing. The infection was taking place.