Winter Smith (Book 1): London's Burning (52 page)

              Winter rested her head against the window. Her bushy hair had gained length since her parents’ party. She wondered if she should cut it when she got to Paris. If she thought things like that, she could momentarily forget her worries of even getting there.

              “If we get to Horseferry Road, and travel down Millbank, we’re at the Thames.”

              “But where is the ship running from?” Oliver asked. “It could go from any road. It could even go from the other side.”

              “We’ll find it.” Winter nodded. “We’ve got until tonight, haven’t we?”

              “That’s what the radio said,” William said. “I just hope they haven’t changed plans since we’ve been driving.”

              “Try and get the radio now. We couldn’t earlier.”

              Connor hadn’t apologised for causing the crash earlier, but Winter hadn’t expected him to. Oliver had enraged the situation, causing distractions. Everyone had come out unscathed, except for Gerry and poor Laura.

              The radio whirled to life under William’s touch and the voice of the French radio filled the car.

              They listened to him interviewing a woman who owned a pub, who had said business was booming now, and that anyone angry that Paris was becoming ‘increasingly full’ needed to get their priorities sorted. The interview finished, to be followed by statistics on home prices shooting up as people were forced to house refugees.

              “You can already see the strains, can’t you?” William said.

              Oliver shook his head. “I say they should just get over it.”

              Winter wanted to hit him.

              “People in London, if you are listening, you are in a high risk zone. You must evacuate tonight, at 8PM. If you miss this ship, running from the river Thames, then you will unfortunately be left behind.”

              “It hasn’t changed,” William said.

              “One chance.”

              “Let’s get going then.”

              “But if we get there early, what are we going to do?” Winter asked.

              “They’re not going to keep us on land, are they?” Connor fired back.

              Winter shrugged. She supposed he was right.

              Then, suddenly, they knew what they had to do. They all poised themselves, ready to open their doors and get moving. They would have a few seconds before the dead realised they were in company of the living.

              Winter pushed open her lock. She felt the door move slightly but she kept it shut. She heard the others do the same. She looked up and down, noticing that only a few eyes were on the car.

              “Do you think it’s safe to go when we’re being watched?” William questioned.

              “If we wait any longer we’ll have more eyes on us,” Oliver said.

              Oliver opened his door first. It swung with a slight noise that seemed magnified to Winter, but looking around she saw that nobody was heading their way. Following his lead, the others opened their door one by one and stepped out, not bothering to shut the car doors.

              They hurried past the car and headed straight towards the street in front of them, suddenly panicked. Winter knew she wasn’t moving fast enough. She felt like her body was purposely slowing her down, failing to allow her the escape she desperately wanted.

              William had his gun raised at all times, ready for the attack. They passed the statue, Winter admiring the grandness of the design, before coming face to face with a rotting woman.

              The stench filled her nostrils, stinging the back of her throat. Fear curled up and imploded inside her, paralysing her body and striking her heart. She moved just as the woman screeched and went for the infectious bite. A gun shot at the woman’s head exploded in blood.

              Now they were surrounded. The dead came running from all areas, intent on killing survivors. They seemed to run with hungry ambition. It seemed like they hadn’t tasted human flesh for a good few days at least.

              They all lifted their guns and began to fire, hopping and running along towards the street they had headed to earlier. Winter felt her survival kick in. She spun around to shoot at a police officer running her way, and then a second later she slipped across the ground and fired a bullet at a woman who had been seconds away from grabbing her.

              Oliver was firing the most bullets, manoeuvring through the crowd effectively. They all knew they were in dangerous waters now, but everyone shared the same determination: survival.

              Together, as a team, they looked out for each other. Winter jumped up on top of a parked car and skilfully shot a man carrying a camera, who was running straight at Connor. William fired straight at the zombie that had grabbed Oliver, with such precision, Winter was impressed.

              Jumping off the car she ran towards the road they had been heading towards. Her coast was clear, and Oliver was already waiting for them. Someone screamed. William fell to the ground. Connor sped towards him, and Winter’s heart suddenly sunk.

              She fired aimlessly at the area, until Oliver stopped her. She was ready to shout at him, to tell him that they needed to save their friends, but Oliver spoke.

              “You might hit them.”

              Then, Connor and William began to run towards them. The zombies were all set on the two boys, while the odd few came towards Winter and Oliver but were shot down before they could get too close.

              Winter’s heart beat heavily as she willed Connor and William to get closer. When they were nearby they fled up the street, where the odd zombie came running from the trees, and where bullets fired in different directions until they knew they had more time to escape.

              They passed wrecked black cabs, strewn bodies, pools of blood and stray animals. They were safe for now but as soon as they got into the streets they knew they would have more problems on their hands.

              Then, running into one street, they were stopped by an oncoming speeding car. Winter only just managed to scatter, being pulled to one side by William. The car screeched to a halt a few feet away. Winter wasn’t concerned, and her and William began to run, but firing bullets and smashed windows made her stop. She turned around to see that Connor had fired the bullets. He was staring at Winter.

              “You can’t go,” he said.

              The doors of the car opened, and two people stepped out. One was a woman, the same age as William, strikingly pretty with wavy blonde hair. The other was a young man, a year or two older than Winter, with chiselled features and piercing blue eyes.

              The man raised the gun in his hand and shot Oliver straight through the head.

Chapter Twenty-Three

              Winter screamed. She couldn’t take her eyes off the blood-splattered wall where Oliver’s head had been.

              The woman accompanying the man was also carrying a gun, and she hadn’t even flinched. Instead, she walked straight up to Connor and hugged him.

              Winter stood where she was, completely stunned. What was going on?

              Connor looked uncertain, slightly frightened. William kept hold of Winter’s arm. She could feel him trembling.

              The man shook Connor’s hand like they were old friends. Connor actually smiled, as if he were glad to see him. Winter wanted to speak, but after the ruthless killing of Oliver, Winter thought it was best to keep her mouth shut.

              The young man turned to look at Winter, his hand still in Connor’s. He turned back to Connor, patting him on the shoulder and began walking towards Winter. The woman followed, slightly pursed lipped. Winter gripped William, ready to save him if this man was to kill him, too.

              The man seemed to read her thoughts. He grinned boyishly.

              “Don’t worry, I’m not going to kill him. We had a deal.” The young man exchanged knowing glances with Connor, who nodded slightly.

              “What the…?” William said under his breath.

              The young man held out his hand to Winter, surveying her through those diamond blue eyes. She noticed the veins in his arms. “I’m Cedric. Cedric French.”

              Winter didn’t move. She didn’t speak. What was she supposed to say?

              “Who are you?” William asked.

              Cedric French turned to him and smiled, which relieved Winter. The woman had a slight smirk on her face.

              “Pardon my manners, I would have thought my friend here would have told you.” He was indicating Connor, who was still stood on the other side of the street. “I’ve just told you my name is Cedric French. My assistant here is Ruby Minister.”

              “You know I don’t like to be called your assistant,” Ruby said. Her voice was seductively soft, with a French edge to it. Winter felt something stir inside her.

              “I’m here to poach you, Winter.” He grinned.

              Winter blinked. “Poach?”

              “It sounds much worse than it actually is,” Cedric said. It annoyed Winter that his stupid, business smile hadn’t faltered. “You see, we
know
things back in Paris. Only a small number, that is, but we have to alert more people. And with you on our side, we can do just that.”

              Winter looked around at Connor, who looked like he wanted the ground to swallow him up.

              “You knew about this?”

              “He arranged it.” Ruby said.

              “You what?”

              Connor quickly walked forwards. “Listen, can we talk about this on the boat? We don’t have much time.”

              “Yes, that’s a brilliant idea!” Cedric said enthusiastically. “Do you want us to take you there?”

              “No, no, no,” Winter said, shaking her hands. “No, you tell me what’s going on right now.”

              Cedric sighed. “It’s not something we can really talk about here, out in the open.”

              “There’s no one to hear you.”

              “I’m afraid there’s always someone to hear you.”

              Winter shook her head. “Why do you want me on your side?”

              “Why are there sides in the first place?” William asked.

              “I’m afraid we can’t discuss this here,” Ruby said.

              “Then I’m not travelling with you to the Thames.”

              “You would travel with the government.”

              “Yes, because they’re here to help.”

              Cedric shook his head. He turned to Connor. “Was I wrong about her? Have you been lying?”

              “No. No, what you’ve heard is the truth.”

              Winter looked from Connor to Cedric. She let the realisation that they had been talking about her sink in.

              “What have you been telling him, Connor? What have you been telling this complete stranger?”

              “I-”

              “We’re not talking about this here.” Suddenly Cedric’s tone was dark. The smile on his face was gone. Ruby looked stern.

              “I’m not getting in that car with you. I don’t know who you are, or what you want, but you killed Oliver and then you expect me to join ‘your side.’”

              “We were told to kill him,” Ruby said.

              “By who?”

              “Me.”

              Winter looked at Connor. He was staring back at her.

              “I told him to kill Oliver. I told them where we would be. I told them we were on the way to the Thames. I told them you were with me, at last. They’ve been looking for you all this time.”

              Winter glanced at William to see he was just as confused as she was.

              “We don’t mean any harm, Winter,” Cedric said, although something in his voice suggested this wasn’t entirely true. He was a man who got what he wanted, and Winter was sure if he didn’t get what he wanted, he would do what it took to get it.

              “I’ve been talking to him this whole time,” Connor said to William. “I found the walkie-talkie in your shack.”

              Connor took the walkie-talkie out of his pocket. Winter suddenly realised she had heard it go off before, when they had been in the woods together, when Connor had confessed his deepest secrets. Had he been lying? Or had that been an opportunity for Winter to realise he wasn’t to be trusted?

              “How did they get the other device?” Winter asked.

              “I sold it to them,” William said. Winter turned to him with despair. She couldn’t learn that William had been in on the communications too. William shook his head quickly. “I didn’t know who they were. I didn’t know Connor knew them. But they were our last business. They cleared us of weapons, and then they bought only one walkie-talkie. I remember because it was really odd.”