Winter Smith (Book 1): London's Burning (51 page)

              Laura looked alarmed, but with the reassuring smile of Winter she nodded. 

              Winter climbed past Connor and got to his window, which had smashed in the crash. Connor smiled at her and waited for her to climb out into the road. She did with caution, looking left and right. The zombies were all behind the car, the nearest standing at the back of it. She stayed low and pulled Laura through. Once Laura was out into the open, Winter placed a hand over her mouth.

              Laura spotted the nearest zombie. If it turned it would see them. If it turned, they would be killed.

              Connor was next out. He had managed to get their guns, as well as his own. Winter felt a little safer. William came next, and then Oliver.

              “Now what?”

              Winter peered over the top of the car. She almost screamed. She was looking into Gerry’s bloodshot eyes. His face was filled with purple blood vessels and decaying skin. It looked like he had been dead for years. He hissed at her, all memory of her gone, and by his sounds the others were alerted to them.

              Laura screamed. Winter knew they had to move. They scattered, running down the M1 as fast as they could. Each car they passed, they checked for keys, but luck had gone against them. Laura slipped and Winter, who had been running behind, stopped to pick her up.

              Doing that had cost them time. She knew if they didn’t speed up they would be caught. The zombies were too fast.

              Signs pointing to London taunted them, reminding them how close they had been. Winter urged her feet on, refusing to give up, refusing to believe she would meet the fate of Gerry.

              “I’ve got one!”

              Connor had found a Jeep. It looked roomy and unscathed. He was already climbing into the driver’s seat. William and Oliver were already at the doors.

              They sped past a car, two spaces away from the one Connor was firing up. The front door flung open and Winter jumped out of the way. But Laura wasn’t quick enough. The zombie woman, dressed in business attire, grabbed Laura around the waist.

              Laura screamed and Winter raised her gun. She tried taking aim but Laura was flailing too much. If Winter shot now there was a chance she would shoot Laura.

              And then the woman bit into Laura’s neck, drawing blood immediately. Laura’s eyes widened and she stopped moving. It was all over. She had nothing more to fight for.

              “Go.” Laura cried, sobbing as the woman bit into her shoulder.

              Winter had no choice. The other zombies were only feet away. She got to Connor’s car, threw open the back door and had only just jumped in when Connor sped off.

              William grabbed her and pulled her onto the seat, and he kept hold of her when she turned back to shut the door.

              “They got her.” Winter gasped. “They got Laura.”

              Oliver craned around to look at her. This time he didn’t look at her with disgust, or with a look that was smug and rude. Instead, he looked sad, even a little guilty.

              “What a life,” Connor said, keeping his eyes on the road. He was gripping the steering wheel tightly.

              “I can’t believe Gerry is dead.” William shook his head.

              “It’s done.” Oliver growled. “Focus on getting us to London.”

              William looked like he wanted to aim his gun and fire into the back of Oliver’s head, and to Winter it seemed he was doing all he could to restrain himself. Winter felt suddenly empty and hollow. She knew back there Laura was alive, just waiting for the infection to take hold of her. She had been so close, with so much to look forward to, and Winter had failed her.

* * *

              “Think we can do it?”

              “Yes, but we have to do it now.”

              Violet and Zach stood side by side, looking down at the street below. There was a small, empty gap they could jump to, with the risk of breaking bones in their feet and getting caught before they could flee. But it was all they had.

              “Have you got everything?” Zach asked.

              Violet looked around the room. She had a bemused look on her face.

              “All we had on us was our guns. I’ve got everything I need.”

              Zach smiled. He looked at the kids who were stood in the middle of the room, huddled together.

              “Are you ready?”

              They nodded.

              Violet took the girl in her arms. Zach took the boy. She couldn’t help but think that this was the situation of her escape with her brother all over again.

              “Remember, as soon as we get down there we run,” Zach said. “We don’t stop running, either.”

              “Yes, Zach, I know.”

              They looked at each other, slight smiles on their faces, understanding coursing between them, not just because they knew what to do in the next few moments, but because spending this time together had confirmed many things.

              “The Thames is achievable if we keep running. But it’s going to be swarming the closer we get.”

              “It’s in sight, Zach, and that is all that matters.”

              “What if we get there and the ship isn’t leaving until tonight?”

              “They’re not going to make us wait on land.”

              Violet opened the window as quietly as she possibly could. She peered out, keeping the girl close to her.

              “Okay, are you ready?”

              “Yes,” said Zach and the two children.

              Zach opened his window, slower than Violet’s as his creaked and groaned.

              “Are they looking?”

              “No.”

              Violet and Zach climbed onto the sill of each window until they stood between the indoor and out. Standing, they both realised the height they had to jump, but now was not the time to overthink things. Now was the time to escape, once and for all.

              “Three,” Violet whispered. “Two…”

              And they jumped, before they reached one, before they could let the doubt set in. Someone screamed. Zach was aware of a girl screaming. Falling through the air, which seemed never ending, he could see Violet covering her face and hugging the girl.

              They landed. Zach stumbled. Violet was already running. For a moment he thought she was leaving him. Until she shouted for him.

              “Zach, run!”

              Zach did as he was told without looking back. He knew the scream would have alerted the dead. They would be chasing. The ones in the house would be fighting to get out, outraged that they had lost their meals, if they could even feel outrage.

              They ran up the winding, cobbled road of the strange street. They passed dank shop window after dank shop window, their hearts pounding as the air whistled past their ears.

              Violet took a left down a side street and Zach followed. The alleyway was narrow, and Violet thought back to the escape from the diner, all that time ago.

              Zach’s gun hit his hip. It was beginning to bruise. He knew that if even tried to shift it, he could drop the boy he held who was making odd noises. There was no time to find out the problem. He could hear the dead behind him.

              They got to the middle of a street and were surrounded by dead yet to see them. Violet didn’t even stop, and by the time the dead were aware of living souls they were gone.

              “How do we know which way we’re going?” Zach called after Violet.

              “We don’t.”

              They stopped by a doorway. Zach skidded and fell backwards, landing on his back. The boy was still whining.

              “Why have you stopped?”

              Violet hushed him. She was looking up the street. Zach peered over her shoulder to see two government workers leaning against a car. They were both on mobile phones, animatedly texting. The back doors of the van were left open, but from this angle neither Violet nor Zach could see inside.

              “How are they using those?” Zach whispered.

              Violet shook her head slightly.

              “There’s no signal. There’s not even electricity. How are they still using those phones?”

              Something fell behind them. They turned and saw the dead charging down the street towards them. Their knees buckled and moved at odd angles at the speed they were going. Zach swayed slightly, feeling nauseous.

              Violet ran straight out into the street where government workers stood. She shouted at them, alerting them to the zombies. They looked alarmed and quickly hid their phones. They charged into their car, shutting the two back doors before Violet or Zach could get a good look inside.

              The car started up and Zach knew they were about to scarper. He shot at their tyres, one deflating, while keeping a grip of the boy who was gripping the back of Zach’s neck. Violet did the same, shooting the side so the bullets went ricocheting through.

              The guards shouted after them as they went running by, but in a few seconds the car and the guards became the main interest to the pursuing dead.

              As they ran, Zach tried door after door in the hopes they could get inside somewhere just for a few minutes. Violet seemed to think this was a good idea. They knew they were close now, and they knew that in reality they couldn’t keep running.

              Finally, a door opened under Zach’s hand and he fell into a small front room. Violet stopped, realising what had happened, and quickly made her way in, shutting the door behind them.

              All that was of this house was this front room, equipped with a real fireplace with wood stacked to the side, pink soft sofas, bookcases, an antique table, picture frames and a backdoor leading to the kitchen and bathroom.

              “What an odd place,” Violet commented.

              “We won’t be here long.”

              He placed the boy on the sofa, who was going a shade of green. Violet let his sister run to him, but she didn’t look much better.

              “They’re really not well, are they?” Zach whispered.

              Violet shook her head. She had a feeling she knew what was happening to them.

              “Did you see those government workers?”

              Zach nodded. “How the hell were they using the phones, Vi?”

              “It’s odd, isn’t it?”

              “It’s more than odd. Mobile signals, TV signals, even radio signals are down. The only signal comes from Paris, but even that isn’t enough to generate throughout the world. We’ve got no electricity, so any devices like that would soon run out of charge.”

              “We just killed government workers.” Violet gasped.

              “But we escaped, and that is all that matters.”

* * *

              Their car pulled up outside Buckingham palace. They drove slowly, keeping all eyes open and aware to what was around them. The palace was surrounded with the dead. They walked from left to right, up and down, looking for their next victims. Connor cut the car engine. They were parked next to the gates of the palace, where the dead guard regiments looked at them through the inside of the gates.

              Winter took it as a good sign that none of them had come towards the car yet, although many nearby corpses stared at them.

              “Good to know they’ve been locked inside,” Connor whispered, looking at a guard inside the gates.

              “Yeah, but we’ve still got those lot to face,” Oliver said.

              Winter eyed the Victoria Memorial. It was covered in blood and the dead seemed to centre around it, enthralled.

              “Can’t we drive further in?” Winter asked. There was no chance they were to get through the rest of London when the area they were in now was full of the dead.

              “Queen’s in,” William said, nodding towards the Royal Standard flag, which was flying proudly above the palace. It looked untouched.

              “But is she alive?” Connor added.

              Winter eyed the guards. “Probably not.”

              “Are we going then or not?” Oliver asked, evidently annoyed at the irrelevant conversation.

              “How far is the Thames from here?” Winter asked.

              “We’re pretty close,” William said. “If we could only drive.”

              “To drive there, we’d have to go down roads, and you know how full those roads will be. We won’t stand a chance of getting out of the car,” Connor said.

              “So you’re saying we have to get out here?”

              “That’s exactly what I’m saying. It’s open, and if we hurry without drawing too much attention to ourselves we can get to the Thames.”