All Blaze could see as he made his way towards the voices was the upright silhouette of a very wide human - or in this case, the two bodies of two slightly thinner humans.

He could hear the girls crying quietly as they seemed to hold onto each for dear life, and he almost immediately regretted adding another female to the team; there was going to be hormones and emotions galore. He regretted it so much that he wondered whether his next words would be the death of him.

"Hey, girls, I hate to interrupt but we have to get moving and get away from here as fast as we can. We're going to be in bigger danger than ever now that they know we're here."

As soon as he had spoken, the sniffling from the girls quickly quietened before it became non-existent. They eventually pulled apart and rubbed their eyes before turning to look at his outline in the darkness. "You're right," Abigail responded, her voice thick. "I'm not about to get my sister back just to lose her again. Where are we going from here?"

"We're going to be heading in the direction of London first, before slowly making our way north," Blaze started to explain.

"North?" Alexis repeated. "I thought we were going to Europe? Aren't we catching a boat from the south coast?"

"Europe?" Abigail reiterated then. "No one said anything about Europe. We're leaving the country?"

Blaze shot her a look. "I'll explain later. As for going north – it's the least suspect route. Don't you think they're going to be expecting you to leave the country and catch a boat from the south? We need to go where they least expect it, and on a boat that's small and inconspicuous."

"But they probably know you're involved with me – with us – now. I'm hardly male, and you'll have been gone from their radar for quite some time now. Don't you think they'll try to track your train of thought and do the least obvious thing as well?"

For once, Alexis made sense, and Blaze was momentarily surprised. He paused for a moment before he responded. "Be that as it may, I assume that they're still going to guard the south coast heavier than the north. We'll be safer going up that way. The further we go the better, but for now following any sort of road and general travel route is going to be too risky, so we're going to have to go slowly along less travelled routes, at least until we're out of this part of the country."

Abigail nodded as she listened to both of their arguments. "I agree with Blaze. I think we should go north."

Her companions looked over at her before Alexis slowly nodded. "Alright then, north it is. Slower but safer, right?"

"Exactly. For that reason, I think it would be better for us to hold hands as we move on." He went to grab Alexis' hand as he spoke, but she pulled away.

"Why hands? Why not wrists, as usual?" Alexis interrupted him.

"Alexis, you didn't let me finish. It's because it's dark and we're more likely to trip. I'm far less likely to pull your hand off if I hold it than if I were to be holding onto your wrist," Blaze replied, with a calmness that let Alexis know he was agitated under his calm exterior. Why did she have to make everything so difficult?

"Yeah, right. Very funny." Blaze could almost feel the sarcasm emanating from her body.

Blaze sighed. "Look, I feel like it's safer in the darkness. If one of us lets go for whatever reason at least there's insurance because the other person won't let go when they do."

Abigail spoke up then. "He makes a point, you know." Blaze realised that maybe having Abigail along wouldn't be the worst thing ever, but at the same time he couldn't help but feel as though she was a student trying to get on the good side of her teacher.

For a moment, no noise was made and the darkness seemed to emphasise the silence. "Fine, whatever," Alexis suddenly said, reaching out to try and grab the hands of both her companions in the darkness. "Let's go."

Blaze smiled slightly to himself as took out his phone, before the chain of humans made their way away from the road in the direction they needed to go.

They followed Blaze's direction for the remainder of the night, making use of the darkness to hide their movements from anyone who might be around. Blaze managed to manoeuvre the trio using the map on his phone whilst keeping a distance from any roads, only crossing a handful of times when it was necessary and when they were sure there was no one around.

It was only just starting to get bright when they crossed the final road and entered a decently sized wooded area – a rarity in such an overpopulated world. Blaze led the girls a fair ways into the trees before he dropped Alexis' hand and turned to look at them; Abigail looked a fair sight better than her sister, who was clearly struggling to keep her eyes open.

"What are we doing?" Abigail asked, bright eyed and bushy tailed as though she had just woken up. Blaze looked at her for a moment in confusion, before taking in both of the sisters and noting how different they seemed to be.

He opened his mouth to ask Abigail how she could still be so energetic when he internally shook the question out of his mind, and instead answered her question. "We're going to be sleeping here for the day. We'll head out again later, preferably when it gets dark, but maybe before while we're under the cover of the trees."

As Blaze had been talking, Alexis had groaned in relief as she slumped to the ground, now preparing to curl into a ball and evidently quite happy to just sleep on the ground.

Blaze sighed as he bent down and grabbed her by the upper arm, pulling her back up. "Alexis, no, you know the rule. It's safer to sleep in the trees and there are plenty here. There's even one that looks like it can hold the weight of all three of us."

"Noooo," Alexis groaned sleepily as she made weak attempts to get away from him. "I don't want to sleep with you anymore."

The look on Abigail's face betrayed what she was thinking and she looked at Blaze in disbelief. "Don't tell me-"

Blaze was about to clarify what Alexis had meant and that Abigail had misunderstood, but as Alexis kept talking, she nullified any doubts her sister had. "I want to sleep with Abigail."

Both Blaze and Abigail shut their mouths as they looked down at the lifeless Alexis. "Here, let me help," Abigail finally said, walking over and grabbing the top of Alexis' other arm, with them both pulling her to her feet – much to the displeasure of a very disgruntled Alexis, who let out a disapproving groan.

"Which tree?" Abigail asked as they held Alexis between them. After Blaze had pointed it out, they made their way over, and Abigail asked Alexis to stay conscious for a bit longer. "So..." Abigail started as she looked up at the branches above them. "How are we going to get her up there?"

"Well, normally I give her a leg lift, but like this... Maybe we should try slapping her awake?"

"Slap me and it's the last thing you'll be doing," Alexis responded; her voice was still sleepy but now at least her eyes were opened wider so she could function a bit better.

"Right," Blaze chuckled, chuckling nervously as he was unaware what threat she could pose. "Then we'd better get you up there while you're functioning. We'll get you up onto the higher branch."

"Why is she going to be the highest? It'll be a pain getting her up there when she's the most tired," Abigail groaned.

"Which is why it makes the most sense," Blaze said slowly. "She's most likely to be out like a light for the duration of our rest stop here. Hence, no need to go down."

Alexis pursed her lips in annoyance at how right Blaze always was, but she was too tired to retort so she stayed silent as Abigail went along with what he said and nodded. "I'll jump up, pass her to me from the ground and it might be easier if I pull her up too."

"Wait, but how are you-" Blaze started, but was left dumbfounded as Abigail left Alexis to him and proceeded to flawlessly make her way up to the first branch. As she manoeuvred her way up, Blaze thought he understood why Alexis thought her sister was a valuable asset, for her movements were flexible and fluid, with a certain purpose behind each movement.

Whilst Abigail was positioning herself to be able to pull her sister up, Blaze couldn't help but wonder if she undertook some sorts of martial arts classes, and that's why Alexis insisted she come along. If that was the case, then she would indeed prove to be invaluable.

As he helped Alexis up, Abigail pulled her up with amazing strength, and Blaze couldn't help but stand speechless at the bottom of the tree as Abigail helped her sister get comfortable on the highest supportive branch, tying her to it with a rope that Blaze passed up.

"If you could move to that branch then I can get up onto the one you're on," Blaze said. Abigail nodded and was about to move over when Blaze handed up his backpack, which she quickly tied to his branch with another bit of rope before she moved.

Once they were all seated and tied to their respective branches along with their bags, they decided that Blaze would take first watch while the girls slept. As the sun began to rise, Abigail struggled to fall asleep, but eventually managed to join her sister in the land of dreams.

She hadn't been sleeping long when she woke up and felt fully rested, so she decided to let Blaze know that he could sleep now.

"Blaze?" she whispered. "Blaze, I can take watch now if you want to sleep."

The only reply she heard from Blaze was heavy breathing, and as she turned to look at him she saw that he was already sleeping, with his head leaning back against the trunk and his mouth slightly ajar; she chuckled at the sight.

As she was looking over at Blaze, Abigail also noticed that her sister's hand was dangling down from the branch above, and she couldn't help but reach up to grab a hold of it, relieved that her sister was back in her life. She had meant to grab the hand gingerly so as not to wake Alexis, but had forgotten that her sister was quite a light sleeper and hence jumped just as much as Alexis did when she jumped awake.

"Abi? What are you doing?" Alexis mumbled as she realised what had happened. She leaned back against the trunk and closed her eyes, but not before seeing Abigail shush her as she pushed her finger against her lips, indicating that Blaze was still asleep. "What are you doing?" Alexis repeated her question, but as a whisper.

Abigail debated whether to tell her the truth, but decided to beat around the bush. "I wanted to see how soft your other hand was since Blaze was holding it, to make sure that it was nice and soft."

Her sister was quiet for a moment. "Huh?" Alexis asked then, incredulously. "What the hell are you on about?"

"Well, naturally a soft hand is nicer to hold," Abigail sniggered to herself.

Alexis became ever so confused at her sister's words as she was still half asleep; as she opened her eyes, she proceeded to look down at Abigail's perch below her as she said her next words. "And why is that even relevant?"

"Come on, Alexis. That dude is hot. Don't tell me you haven't thought about kissing him."

Alexis scoffed as she leaned back against the trunk once more. "Abigail, I don't think you know the severity of the situation. I created a disease that could possibly wipe out the whole world. I want to rectify that, and Blaze is helping me. I'm pretty sure a romance is the last thing on our minds. Don't tell me he's the only reason you decided to come along?"

"What? Of course not! The news that you were alive is great, and I wouldn't pass up that opportunity," Abigail responded indignantly. "But I guess maybe he is the reason I decided to tag along, rather than just ask to meet you... I mean, do you really think I wouldn't risk it if you were travelling together with a man like that? I would hardly let you keep such a prize to yourself."

Abigail heard Alexis chuckle to herself quietly. "You haven't changed," Alexis mumbled with a small smile on her face, and Abigail could tell she was about to fall asleep again. Abigail let her and said nothing more, deciding to stay awake to watch over her newly found sister and her new companion.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here's the next chapter! I want to thank you all for your patience for the next upload; I haven't had PC access with wifi until yesterday which is when I started writing this. I had to finish it today despite a harsh headache which has been lingering since yesterday (normally they disappear after a night of sleep, not sure what happened this time), so the quality might not be as good in this chapter. I hope you can still read it and I may go back to edit this at some point (though likely when the whole story is complete rather than anytime soon, unless it's impossible to read).

Nevertheless, I hope you liked it (: Remember to vote if you did ;) A single click makes my day (100% serious statement). Thank you for reading :D