Winter Smith (Book 1): London's Burning

by Strange, J. S.

  “We’re not too far from central London,” Gerry said. “I think the M1 is nearby.”

  “So we’re heading there?”

  Gerry nodded. He let go of Laura who began to wipe her eyes and pack up her stuff slowly.

  “Laura thought it would be a good idea to get driving a car, if we can find one,” Gerry said. “It would get us to London quicker.”

  “That would surely alert the zombies, though.”

  Making noise was a bad idea to Winter. She also thought that the closer they got to London itself, the bigger the chance of bumping into the dead.

  “It’s all we have now.” Gerry sighed. “Everyone is growing tired. Everyone is becoming tense and paranoid. We all just want out.”

  “No more deliberating.” Laura croaked.

  Winter agreed. If the only chance they had was to get into London by car that was what they would have to do. Winter knew what Gerry had meant about people getting paranoid. Losing everything they had gotten used to and always known had put people back to times they had never experienced. Everyone thought everyone else was against them in someway, and even the most selfless person would want themselves to escape more than someone else.

  “Have we got enough to get to the M1?” Winter asked Gerry. She was trying to ask the question in a casual way. She knew Laura wasn’t stupid, but she knew she was tender. She didn’t want to upset her anymore than she already was.

  “We’ve got everything we need.” Gerry nodded. “We just may have to be more alert. We’ll be out in the open there.”

  Winter smiled. She trusted Gerry.

  “I’m going to go and make us a last meal. Do you mind helping Laura pack away, Winter?”

  “I don’t mind at all.”

  She moved aside to let Gerry get out of the tent. When he disappeared she looked at Laura, who was holding Winter’s notebook.

  “Ah, Connor, you’re already making food, are you?” Winter heard Gerry say. She breathed a sigh of relief, knowing that Connor was safe.

  “You two are cute,” Laura said, still looking at Winter’s journal. She hadn’t opened it or read any of the pages. Then again, Winter thought there was nothing to read but zombie observations.

  “Thank you.” Winter began to roll up one of the sleeping bags she had been given to sleep in.

  “He hadn’t stopped talking about you.” Laura smiled at Winter. “He kept saying how kind you were, and how funny you were. He was upset one night when Oliver told him he would never see you again.”

  Winter felt her skin crawl. She had experienced the same thing with Violet. She had been told too many times that Connor was dead and that she should give up on him. She was glad she didn’t.

  “I just didn’t really believe him.” Laura laughed. “You’re Winter Smith, after all.”

  Winter shook her head.

  “I hated that life. I’m not famous. I never considered myself to be famous. I never enjoyed it.”

  Laura nodded. “You’re nicer than I thought you would be. You’re doing well keeping off the drinks, too.”

  Winter looked at Laura to see she was smirking. Winter smiled too.

  “So you’ve read stuff about me then?”

  “Of course.” Laura nodded. “Who hasn’t? I see now that it’s all just bullshit.”

  “Most of it, yes.” Winter remarked, remembering the reports on what really happened in her grandfather’s home.

  “I think Oliver is a prick.”

  Winter looked across at Laura, who had put Winter’s journal to one side and was now packing up the rest of her things.

  “So do I.”

  “I wish he had died instead of Helena.”

  She choked on the name and Winter feared she would cry again.

  “He doesn’t deserve death. Nobody does. But as soon as we’re out of this country I hope we never see him again.”

  Laura managed to pack up her things, which hadn’t been much, and looked at the rest of the tent. All that was left was Helena’s things and Winter’s journal.

  “What are we going to do with her stuff?” Winter asked.

  “I guess we just leave it behind. That’s what we did when we lost anyone else. We took what we needed and left the rest behind.”

  “Does she have anything you need?”

  Laura shook her head. “Her clothes never fit me. Anything else she had the rest of us did, too.”

  Winter remembered Helena’s locket. She wondered if she should take that.

  Laura began to pack away Helena’s things until the tent was cleared. Winter picked up her journal and put it away into her pocket.

  “What have you been writing in there?”

  “Everything I can remember of the apocalypse up to now.”

  Laura nodded with interest.

  “They’re fascinating creatures, aren’t they?” Laura whispered. She seemed to think if anyone else heard her they would judge her. “We watched them once. They don’t really seem to interact with each other as such. They don’t really interact with things either, unless they bump into them. They can be funny.”

  Winter just nodded. She hadn’t seen them do anything remotely funny. They just scared her. They were monsters.

  “It’s weird to think as well that they all had lives before it happened. They were all doing normal things, too.”

  Winter hadn’t really given much thought to it, but she supposed Laura was right. Everyone infected at her parent’s party were just enjoying celebrations, something they did on a regular basis.

  “I want to know where it all started.”

  “So do I.”

  Laura sighed. “Do you think someone just got ill and something happened inside them?”

  Winter thought about that. She also realised she hadn’t given much thought to how everything had begun, other than she wanted to know how and why it had happened.

  “Something obviously happened inside someone.” Winter nodded. “But to turn into something that makes you look like you’ve been dead for years, and to suddenly forget everything about yourself…well, that’s just weird. I’d like to know what makes them eat human flesh. Why do they crave it? Why do they only eat the living, and not each other, or even themselves?”

  Laura nodded, absorbing Winter’s words.

  “That’s a good insight.”

  Winter shrugged. “You got me thinking it.”

  “I’d like to find out more about them. I’d like to find out how they live, interact, if they die themselves over time, what they can take and what they can’t, if they can be made smarter. I want to do experiments on them.”

  “Like a scientist?”

  “Yes. Like a scientist. I think the government are probably doing experiments on them.”

  “I’d be surprised if they weren’t.”

  “Well, when I get to Paris, I’d like to help them.”

  Winter thought it humbling that Laura had ambition, a drive that kept her going even through the toughest of times.

  “Food is done.” Gerry called.

  Laura clapped her hands. The tent was looking empty now.

  “You’ll be alright, Laura,” Winter whispered. She didn’t want to upset her now, but she had warmed to Laura in such little time. “We’ll get out of this.”

  “I know.” Laura agreed. “I’m with you.”

  Winter felt elated as she stepped out of the tent. Laura had put on a front to look relaxed, but had kept a respectable sad air. Winter admired her. Even though she was young, she was smart. She was a little warrior.

  Winter sat down and was handed a plate of beans, burnt bread and sausages by Connor. He grinned at her and sat down next to her. As everyone else settled down, Oliver joined the group a little late, William following him closely. William packed away a first aid kit, looking pissed off, while Oliver tugged at the bandage on his arm and glared at it.

  When Gerry handed Oliver the plate of food, no words were exchanged. William took his own food from the middle of the camp and
sat down next to Gerry. Laura moved a few feet away from Oliver, so he was sat on the ground alone.

  They ate in silence. They all seemed to be thinking different things. The mood was sombre. Winter thought it would have been awkward, but she was thinking of Violet and Zach. The group here had a tight friendship, except with Oliver, and they all relied on each other for their survival. Winter realised she had done the same with Violet and Zach, until she began to fill in the empty spaces and create the pair to be people they weren’t. She had let her paranoia ruin things. If she never saw Violet and Zach again, well she would regret it.

  She looked around at the others around her. She could see her being friends with them. She had managed to develop a bond quickly with them all, except Oliver, and she had enjoyed their company. But none of them had made her quite as happy as Violet or Zach. None of them had made her laugh or feel quite as safe as she had with Violet or Zach. She had been incredibly stupid to let them go. After all, she had been the one insisting the trio stick together.

  But looking to her left and seeing Connor, she felt safe. She felt like he could truly get her through this. Escape was on the tip of their tongues. They could all taste freedom, and if Winter hadn’t found Connor she feared she would have given up.

  Winter heard the sound of a guitar note being strung. She looked up to see William holding an acoustic guitar with the American flag painted on the front.

  William began to sing the first lyrics to The Smiths Heaven Knows I’m Miserable Now. Winter felt her soul soar at the song. She waited for him to finish before singing the next line. She waited for him to carry on and when he did she began to laugh. She couldn’t believe she had met someone else who enjoyed The Smiths like she did. Nobody else back in her rich lifestyle would have dared sing a song that wasn’t made in the current year.

  She wanted to jump up and dance. She wanted to sing with William all night. She admired that the power of song had let her forget what was now and remember what was then.

  When the song was finished, Winter and William grinned at each other. Everyone else, who had been watching, just looked around at each other, slightly bemused at the outburst of song. Winter didn’t feel judged, she just felt happy.

  As the night wore on not much was said. They tried to forget their worries by telling jokes, or remembering things they had done or had before any of this happened, but it was no use. Each time the darkness around them became a shade lighter, they knew they would need to leave this sanctuary for good.

  When Gerry stood up, clapping his hands as he did so, Winter felt her nerves jump to attention. She had the gun she had gotten with Violet and Zach, but suddenly she felt like she wasn’t ready to leave.

  “It’s time to go.”

  They picked up everything they had bought for their own. Winter was carrying the least, having only arrived with a gun and acquiring a sleeping bag in the park. Connor was carrying a rucksack full of items, Laura carrying two rucksacks and a sleeping bag, Gerry carried the food and all of his items, William carried his guitar and his rucksack, and Oliver carried various items that looked like they were set for one purpose only: killing.

  Of course, everyone had a gun or a baseball bat on them. It seemed they had all learnt how to take the monsters down from previous experiences.

  They left Helena’s stuff in the middle of the park, and Winter placed the locket on top of all of her items. She joined the others in admiring the belongings before the sun above broke over the trees surrounding them and shone down on the park.

  Through the early morning haze they hopped over the wall one by one. Laura kept close to Winter and Connor, while Gerry led. William walked alone; staring at the ground while Oliver had his hands in his pockets and did not look remotely bothered about anything.

  They walked with no complaints, everyone accepting that they needed to get to their destination before time ran out.

  “There it is. There.” Gerry suddenly said.

  They were walking across a field that Winter hadn’t paid much attention to. It was strewn with dead bodies. She didn’t even spare a thought on what had happened to them. They had either been infected and were later killed, or people had committed suicide. The ground was muddy and soft, due to the heavy storm they had experienced a few nights ago. The air was silent, which was odd. Winter almost expected to hear the sound of cars driving past.

  They pushed through a small set of trees, the M1 coming in and out of view. Winter caught glimpses of parked cars, but she couldn’t make out the state.

  “Now, get ready…” Gerry whispered, crouching low.

  They followed his lead. Winter noticed that Oliver rolled his eyes before doing the same. They hid at the edge of the trees, viewing the long road in front of them.

  “Anything?” Laura whispered.

  “I don’t see anybody.”

  “Then the coast is clear,” Oliver said.

  He stood up and strode out into the woods, ignoring Gerry’s whispered calls.

  Oliver looked left and right, holding out his arms to make a point. “You should come and see this.”

  Winter decided she would follow. If anything were to happen she could defend herself. The idea of escaping was too strong.

  She stood up and walked onto the road of the M1, something that would have been ludicrous to do when life was up and running. Cars were parked in all three lanes looking lonely and abandoned, forced to stop where they had been. Doors had been left open as their owners scattered the scene. Some even had smashed windows, the glass still littering the floor.

  Winter spotted the odd body, lying across the roads from where they had failed to escape. She wondered if they had been killed, or possibly hit by zooming cars. She felt pity. Some of these people would have been miles from home. Others would have been ready for summer holidays.

  She suddenly realised that all over the world life had been going on. She thought that she could even be standing where the infection first began. She wouldn’t know. She wondered when people realised something was wrong. Had a car spiralled out of control only for the dead to run out and kill the people in the nearest car? Had someone signalled them to stop?

  She felt a hand on her shoulder and flinched.

  “Sorry,” Connor said quickly, withdrawing his hand.

  “It’s alright. I was just thinking how sad this is.”

  She looked at everyone else. Laura was crying once more, while Gerry was shaking his head. The impact of one simple road, full of abandoned cars and the odd body was shocking, and none of them could really understand why.

  “So, what now?” Oliver clapped his hands. He didn’t seem to be remotely bothered about being here. He even seemed jolly.

  “We need cover. We’re pretty open here.” William spoke. He started to inspect the nearest car; a small, Ford Fiesta, blue but stained with blood. The passenger window had been smashed, and Winter noticed some clothes had been ripped and left behind on the glass. She didn’t even want to think what had happened.

  “Where are we going to stay that’s closed?” Oliver said. His tone was judging, a smirk on his face that told everyone he thought he was in low company.

  “We’re not, are we?” Gerry snapped. He turned to the others. “No, we’ll find a few cars near each other, make sure there’s nothing around that could harm us, and stay in the cars. I think we’ll be pretty safe here, but we can’t stay in one place long. We keep on the move.”

  “Whatever.” Oliver muttered.

  “I think that’s a good idea,” Laura said, loud enough for Oliver to hear.

  They walked, following signs that were signposted towards London. Winter eyed the signs until they were out of view, feeling hopeful that they were closer than ever.

  “This will do,” Gerry said after awhile.

  They had come to a group of cars, many of them with flat tyres. There was a KA, untouched except for one smashed back window. There was a people carrier, dented in the driver’s door but otherwise unscathed,
and a Jeep with one wheel missing and the bonnet broken off, lying a few feet away. They were all relatively close together, with enough space for them to get out and set up a temporary fire.

  “We should find a lorry,” Oliver said.

  “We’re staying here,” Winter replied.

  But as she turned towards the people carrier, Winter thought that Oliver had a point. A lorry was high up, it was safe, and they could all stay in one place. That would have been ideal. Winter made note of this in her journal. Laura saw and winked.

  William climbed into the people carrier with Winter, taking the seats behind her and making up his bed already. He took off his bag with a humph.

  “That boy is annoying me,” he said to Winter, looking through the window at Oliver who was climbing into the Jeep with Gerry.

  “I wouldn’t like to be Gerry right now.”

  “Guys! Guys, I got one.”

  Winter turned in her seat to see that Connor was stood on the side of the road that went away from London. He was peering into a car parked by the barrier, his gun raised.

  Laura walked around the people carrier.

  “Oh my god, look at it.”

  Winter jumped out of the people carrier and climbed over the barrier, joining Connor. She admired the Smart car in front of her, equipped with only two seats. She thought they were ridiculous.

  Strapped into the driver’s seat was a woman, dressed in a flowery dress, wearing no shoes. The stench was unbelievable. Death had been contained in something so small for so long it had begun to rot. Her skin was beyond decaying, the point where if it were to be touched it would wither. The raised blood vessels were no longer purple but black. Her teeth had fallen out, lying on her bosom and in her lap. Her skin was nothing but paper thin, with bones jutting out at odd angles.

  “That’s disgusting,” William remarked.

  Winter turned to see that everyone had gathered to observe what Connor had found.

  “Kill it,” Oliver said indifferently.

  The woman moaned at them, watching Gerry edge around to her side of the car.

  A slight breeze went flowing past, and Winter shivered against it. She looked up to see rolling dark clouds. It would be raining soon. She looked back at the woman, wondering how she ended up like this.