Winter Smith (Book 1): London's Burning

by Strange, J. S.

  “Look!” Violet gasped.

  She pointed at Michael, who was rising to his feet. He looked left to right, his eyes falling on the commotion, and with speed that was too fast for any living human he was upon Deana in seconds.

  As they watched the attack, they saw Judy rise, followed a few seconds later by Jason.

  “We have to go,” Zach said. “They’ve been enticed.”

  Winter knew they were tempting fate if they stayed any longer. There was no threat to them now but the zombies, the worst threat of them all.

  Violet pulled open the door and led them back up the steps. She pushed open the door leading onto the roof and toppled out, the door being pulled away from her by the force of the wind.

  The storm was in full swing by now. Their hair whipped around their faces and the rain lashed at their skin, chilling their bones. In seconds, Winter’s vision was obscured by tears that fell from her eyes.

  Bang: a telephone pole wire at the end of the street went up in flames. Zach stumbled to the edge and Winter screamed for him to stop, but her voice was carried away by the wind.

  She began to battle against the wind to the edge. If he didn’t move soon he would fall. In an illuminating flash from the lightning Winter saw Violet hurrying across the roof towards Zach, dangerously speeding over wet floor.

  Winter again called for Violet to be careful, again she knew she hadn’t been heard.

  And then Winter saw something that made Winter’s trust for Violet go up in flames.

  With a flash of lightning, Winter saw Violet reach out and push Zach. He stumbled, flailing his arms around to grab something. He tried to balance, but his body outweighed his feet and he toppled over the edge and out of sight. Winter couldn’t hear his scream but she could see it. Violet reached out, trying to grab him, but Winter knew what she had seen.

  Running to the edge, keeping her distance from Violet, Winter saw that the town below was infested. Houses were burning, people were dying, and hope of escape was fading. The zombies were showing no resistance to the storm, while the humans knew they would be caught and that it was against them.

  Winter scanned the whole street and could not see Zach.

  Chapter Sixteen

  Without worrying for what Violet would do standing on the edge of the roof, Winter turned and again battled the wind to get back into the building.

  She thought she could hear Violet shouting for her but she didn’t turn back. She reached the door at last and threw it open, pushing herself inside.

  Once inside, the door slamming shut behind her, she felt calmer. The storm was quieter now and being able to hear her own thoughts made her feel peaceful.

  Running a hand through her wet and tangled hair, Winter carefully walked down the remaining steps before coming out onto the small hallway she had left before. Michael’s blood in the doorway still remained, and she hovered where she stood looking in at the room where so much had happened in the space of a few minutes.

  She turned her back on the room and hurried down the flight of steps. She had to find Zach.

  She didn’t stop to look at the door Judy had chained shut, but she could hear it straining and knew the dead were on the other side.

  Stepping off the last step, she found herself in the reception. At the end of reception was the canteen. Apart from a few empty coffee cups, the place was pristine and clean.

  Something struck the window, and Winter spun on her heel, her gun raised. Zombies were pressed up against the glass. In the background, Winter could see government officials and towns people fleeing. She could hear the distant sound of guns being fired. She knew nothing would help.

  She had to find Zach.

  Winter turned to the entrance, which was clear of zombies. She was surprised to find the first set of double doors was working. They slid open and she stood in a porch area, feeling the harsh draft of the storm.

  She knew what waited for her outside. She was leaving the mildly safe building for something that was life threatening. Stood where she was, her eyes fixed on the burning phone pole at the end of the street, she thought about all of the escapes she had had before. It was only a matter of time before her luck ran out.

  Suddenly feeling lost, she thought she should go back to Violet, but there was no time. The glass next to her smashed, the force of a dead being from the outside tumbling through. Winter turned, her fear increasing, as a zombie lunged towards her. She raised her gun and squeezed the trigger, not letting go until the bullets she had fired shot the zombie down.

  She knew she had no more time. She jumped through the broken glass and tried to ignore the rain that soaked her. She ran towards the street, where government workers tried in vain to save anyone that had been hiding out in the location.

  Winter looked left and right, trying to find Zach, but the rain that fell from the sky combined with strong winds obscured her vision. She could hear the dead around her and thought it was a miracle that she was still alive.

  Before she could move a swivelling spotlight briefly illuminated her. She followed the beam of light and saw it scan the rooftops, stopping on a figure stood on the leisure centre: Violet.

  Violet was jumping and waving, and Winter wondered why she hadn’t left the building. The light stayed on her while a government worker tried talking to her in a distant voice, using a sound system attached to one of their cars.

  Violet ran across the roof, the light staying on her. A helicopter flew overhead, shining a light on the street below before moving towards the roof. Violet, spotting the helicopter, began to run.

  “She’s going to go with them.” Winter gasped. “She’s going to leave us.”

  Watching the safety of the helicopter flying towards Violet made Winter feel nervous. She suddenly realised that Violet was taking the safety; neither concerned nor quizzical about what had happened to the two friends she had travelled with. All of Winter’s suspicions about Violet’s motives had been confirmed in a succession of moments. She had pushed Zach off the roof and now she was escaping without Winter.

  But then, unable to believe what she had seen, Winter saw Violet stop. The building began to crumble, along with the roof, and Violet fell out of sight, obscured by dust and stone.

  Winter screamed. Despite what she thought of Violet she couldn’t see her die. She began to run towards the leisure centre once again, but a government guard jumped in front of her.

  “You can’t go there, it’s a health hazard!” He shouted at her over the pounding rain and stormy wind.

  Winter tried to fight back, but a second later she saw a zombie approaching them. She pushed the guard away from her and began to run up the street, not watching to see the fate of the guard she had left behind.

  The street she ran down was burning a vivid orange. The heat was so strong, Winter suddenly thought it odd. The freezing cold rain above still fell, but it no longer felt cold. With her hair dripping from her head, she ran, ignoring the stitch in her side and her numbing body.

  People screamed out to her. She didn’t know why. She thought they must think her to be a government worker, running through the street with a gun that could kill. Yet she wasn’t ready to help anyone. She knew now she was alone. She knew she would never see Violet or Zach again. She had lost them at once.

  She had no time to grieve. After all, she had only known them a few weeks. She needed to think about what she should really be doing at a time like this and that was to get help and find her parents.

  “Help! Help!” Voices screamed.

  Winter didn’t know why but she stopped. She turned and spotted two kids, pressed against a downstairs window while their house went up in flames.

  As people sped past, pursued by zombies, Winter thought of what she could do. Should she go in, risk her life and save the kids? Could she really be alone?

  Being alone was not something she wanted. She knew she would go mad with no one to talk to, no sense of reality. She remembered the people in the leisure centre,
how they had gone mad after being confined to one small space.

  But they were kids. They couldn’t help her. They would slow her down.

  The house next door exploded. The brick burst apart and began showering the street. Winter cowered, escaping the rubble. A car horn beeped as she ran out into the middle of the street. She screamed and leapt out of the path of the oncoming vehicle.

  She hit the ground, rolling across the wet floor, feeling the heat of the flames next to her. She was hurt. Her head had collided with something strong. Looking up in a daze she saw the kids looking down at her from a window, expectant.

  “Move.” Winter shouted to them, indicating with her hand for the kids to move. They did. She picked up a stone and threw it, smashing the glass window. The kids ran forwards and Winter lifted out her arms to lift them out of their burning home.

  Once outside in the pouring rain they hugged her and didn’t let go. She gripped their arms and began pulling them through the street.

  Already she knew this was a bad idea. One of the kids was bleeding, and this seemed to be attracting the countless zombies. They sprang out of doorways, out of car doors and out of thin air, each time Winter changed direction.

  “Winter!” Someone screamed.

  Looking up she saw two people she never expected to see again. Zach was clutching his hip and his face was badly bruised and bloody. Violet was covered in plaster, also with bruises and cuts.

  Winter propelled herself forwards, suddenly happy. Zach grabbed the kids and lifted them up and began to run ahead.

  Violet glared at Winter for a moment before following. The group hurried through the street, down a flight of stone steps that were covered in blood, and into a high street where shops had long since been closed. Zach was climbing a fire escape of a modern looking building, heading towards a window that was three floors up and open.

  Winter was last to climb. She heard it groan under their weight and felt it pulling away from the wall. She climbed across to the window, slipping as she did so, and was pulled in by Zach. The zombies were behind them, some even climbing the escape. Zach pushed at the metal ladders with all of his strength. Winter helped and just before a zombie got to them it dislodged from the wall and fell down to the ground. Before they could move, Violet began firing her gun until all of the zombies were dead.

  Zach slammed the window shut, looking slightly worse for wear. “I think I damaged my hip.”

  Violet led him to a seat, watched by Winter sceptically. She couldn’t work her out. Violet had definitely pushed Zach. Winter had seen it.

  They were in an office with three desks, supporting Apple computers, left on by residents who never came back to turn them off. The room was cold, even though the windows were all shut and the door leading out into the hallway was closed. Winter listened for any sound of other people inside but there were none. All she could hear was the pouring rain outside.

  The kids were huddled next to her, shivering and snivelling.

  “I’m going to find the heating system,” Violet said to Zach. She spared a look of dislike to Winter and gave the kids a look of annoyance before leaving the room. The door slammed behind her, echoing in the hallway outside.

  “Are you okay?” Winter asked the kids.

  One of them, a boy, looked younger than the girl, however they both had the same facial features. Their noses were small and round, their eyes blue and innocent and their hair light blonde. They both looked angelic, wrapped up in white cotton pyjamas that were wet and muddy now.

  “We’re cold,” the girl cried.

  “Where is mummy and daddy?” The boy asked sweetly. He didn’t look upset, just confused and sad.

  “They need to be warmed up, Winter,” Zach said, clutching his hip.

  “Violet can find the heating, then I’ll go inspect the place. Are you okay, Zach?”

  She couldn’t believe Zach had survived the fall. They had been so high up.

  “I’ve done something to my hip. I’ve bruised it or chipped it at least. There were these poles attached to the side of the building that broke my fall. If they hadn’t been there I would have been killed.”

  “And how did you fall, Zach?”

  “I lost my footing.”

  He didn’t look at me, Winter thought.

  “Are you going to be alright?” Winter asked, guiding the kids to a nearby table to sit down. “I mean, we can’t stay here long, can we?”

  “We might have to.” Zach shrugged. “I’ll be fine.”

  Winter spotted a white board above her, with reminders of what to do today. There were the words ‘Call Simon’, ‘Conference meeting 10AM’ and ‘Chase up lead on recycling waste.’

  Peering at the table, Winter saw files full of newspaper stories. Moving the mouse an inch, she watched as the computer on the desk sprung to life. On the screen was a piece of software that allowed you to build templates of any sort. The person who had left their work behind had been in the middle of designing the front page of a newspaper, ‘Harrow Topics’.

  “Harrow Topics,” Winter read. “We’re either in or near Harrow.”

  “We’re not too far from London, then.”

  “Is it warm yet?” The young girl whined.

  “Not yet,” Winter said, as kindly as she could.

  She walked over towards Zach and pulled out a green swivel chair, which she sat on and turned to face Zach. His clothes were damp and dirty after his fall, with a rip across the chest of his t-shirt. His face was bruised, and his exposed flesh was cut. Winter thought he was very lucky to have survived.

  “Did Violet push you?” Winter whispered.

  Zach looked a little stunned. He observed Winter through his glasses, which were cracked and dirty.

  “Of course she didn’t push me.”

  “I saw her. I watched her reach out and push you.”

  “She tried to help me, Winter. She tried to reach out and grab me. I moved to get hold of her and then I fell.”

  “But I saw her, Zach. I watched her touch your back. I saw her push you.”

  “No, she only tried to grab me. I wasn’t pushed. I slipped.” Zach insisted. “It was so slippery up there, I could barely see because of the rain, and that wind was so strong. All it took was for that to come, and it did. It was the wind that made me fall. It just happened.”

  A dull hum reverberated throughout the building. Pipes on the wall began to click and moan, groaning in protest now they were awoken from a slumber. Suddenly the building came alive around them. The lights turned on, flickering before they came into full beam. Winter cast around for a light switch, fearing they would be targeted if people knew they were inside.

  Zach picked up a black remote control, which he pointed at the lights. He pressed one of the button presets and they watched as the lights dimmed before turning off.

  “These technical buildings are brilliant,” Zach sighed.

  Winter watched him for a bit as he flicked through folders of unpublished papers. She wasn’t convinced his fall had ‘just happened’. She knew what she saw. She needed to warn Zach of Violet’s motives, and she needed to separate herself from the girl before something else happened. Violet was strong, and if she snapped they would know it. Winter was convinced she was dangerous, someone not to trust or be around. Deciding it was time to move on Winter started calculating her own escape in her head.

  But the kids were her responsibility now. She had to look after them. She realised she hadn’t looked around for their parents. Had they been alive inside? Were they still alive and worried for their children, who had been abducted by a strange girl?

  She looked at them both, so young and innocent, sat on one swivel chair looking smaller than the computer monitor in front of them. She wanted them to know everything would be alright, and she wanted them to believe her. But now Winter didn’t think everything would be alright. They were getting nowhere; running and travelling but not to the right places. They were lost and she knew time was running o
ut. If they were any longer, they would never get to the Thames and get evacuated. Paris seemed like a distant dream to her now.

  She heard footsteps out in the hallway and a few seconds later Violet appeared as the door was pushed open. She strode in, letting the door slam behind her again, passing a coat rack with one lone coat on the peg. She sat down across from Zach and didn’t look at Winter when she explained the building to him.

  “The building has three floors. It seems this is a place where businesses and companies can rent out offices. The offices are all a decent size. Some doors are locked, but most of them are open. There’s a few that are completely empty, so I think we can set up beds there, but it will be an uncomfortable couple of nights.”

  “I plan to leave here by tomorrow night,” Winter said.

  “Then you’ll be alone doing that,” Violet said, still looking at Zach. “The front doors are controlled by fob keys, so if you don’t have one you can’t get in, which makes this place pretty safe. The windows have all been protected from the inside by metal grills. There are three kitchens on the three floors, and three toilets. The one downstairs, near reception, has a shower. So we get to clean ourselves up at least.”

  “And how did you get the heating on?” Zach asked.

  “There’s a boiler room in reception. Nothing spectacular. In a way, the building is pretty basic, but I think we’re the only ones inside.”

  Zach stood up slowly, clutching his hip.

  “Are you alright?” Violet asked, her face full of concern. Yet Winter thought she could see a hint of resentment in her expression. Was Violet angry that her attempt to kill Zach had failed? Why was Zach convinced he hadn’t been pushed? Winter had seen it happen.

  “I’m fine. I’ll just have to go easy these next few days.” He set down his gun on the table and began to walk to the door. “I’m going to use the toilet.”