At the rate they were travelling, it took them almost a whole week just to reach the western edge of the city of London. Five days, during which the crisis in England was worsening.

They had rarely ventured into towns, and when they did, they did it solo and in turns to top up their food stores; all except for Alexis, that is. Blaze deemed her too valuable to risk so Blaze risked his and her sister's faces instead, for they weren't as openly wanted. Scarves covered the majority of their faces as they entered the towns though, in order to hide the masks beneath, of which they had now given Abigail one as well.

The removal of the masks wasn't an option, as the downfall of England had slowly begun; although the number of dead didn't appear to be noticeable, the number of infected had increased dramatically, and a panic had begun to set in, making the shopping trips ever harder.

Alexis naturally had not been happy to put her sister's life on the line, but Blaze made up for it by doing most of the shopping and leaving the girls to talk. In a way, he was doing himself a favour too by getting a bit of peace from the two girls.

As Blaze finished the shopping in Slough, he met up with the girls on the northern edge of the town, as they had agreed, so that they could begin their trek northwards.

He was given a subdued greeting as he reached them and handed out the different bags for them to put in their backpacks to carry.

They headed off without a need to say much else, and Blaze once again led the way, with the two girls behind him. He hadn't told them yet, but they were just on the outskirts of London, the city which had been the capital of England for many centuries now; he figured that they knew of the likely increase in danger, but as they chittered loudly behind him, he figured that he had best let them know.

"Do you two know where we are?" he asked, as he turned his head to look at the two through his peripheral vision. They stopped talking immediately as they looked at him.

Alexis replied with a bored-sounding negative as her sister responded. "Slough!" she chirped. "Or rather, we just passed it."

Blaze nodded happily as he heard her answer, and wishes, like he already had a few times before, that it was the sister that was easy to get along with that was the one to be worth saving. The thought had only just just crossed his mind again when Alexis spoke up.

"So we're at a place called Slough. Where is that and why is it important?"

Blaze let out an agitated sigh as he faced the front once more. "And it's of no significance to you that we've finally started heading north after so many days of going east?"

Alexis made no sound as Abigail let out an excited gasp. "We've finally reached London!"

"And?" both Alexis and Blaze asked simultaneously, wanting her to expand on her words; Blaze pressing as to why that was of importance, and Alexis as to why it was important at all.

"So..." Abigail started, as she moved her hand up to her chin as she was thinking. "It's more dangerous?"

"Yes... And?" Blaze continued to press as Alexis rolled her eyes, not saying anything this time.

"And... We should be quieter?" Abigail finally responded, phrasing it as more of a question than a reply.

"Correct. If you can't not talk at all, talk quietly. London isn't just the capital of the country, but also the organisation, so there could be plenty of them around here. Undestandably, it's better if we're not noticed. Agreed?"

"Agreed," the girls responded simultaneously; Alexis still appeared less enthusiastic than her sister, but even she was quieter when she spoke her next words.

For once, Blaze breathed a sigh of relief. He had perhaps been dreading the addition of Abigail, but she definitely made handling Alexis that much easier. It was great.

"Ah." Blaze immediately tensed as Abigail made the noise and spun around to see what was wrong.

"What is it?" he asked, as he walked closer. "Is something wrong?" Blaze scanned the area, but nothing appeared out of place.

"No, no," Abigail responded quickly, shaking her head. "Well, yes... But it's my rope. I just remembered that I broke it last night."

Blaze was quiet for a few moments before he let out an exasperated sigh; he seemed to be sighing a lot with these two around him. "And you couldn't have remembered that before I went shopping so I could get you a new one?"

"I'm sorry..." Abigail whispered, bowing her head in shame. Blaze noticed Alexis sending him a glare and realised that maybe he was being a bit harsh. After all - she had made the journey much easier in so many ways and it was like she wasn't even here most of the time. Now he was the one who felt ashamed.

"Sorry," he muttered, rubbing the back of his head. "Tell you what... We'll be nearing a place called Amersham before nightfall. It's a decently sized place, it should have a hardware store. I may as well get us all new rope while I'm at it; you had the old spare anyway, that's probably why it broke." Blaze regretted his words almost immediately, for they were running low on money.

Abigail had a look of relief on her face at his words as she fished out her purse, pulling out some money before handing it him. "If my rope was worn, you probably don't need extra. Just get me one and use this; it was partly my fault anyway, even if it was old."

Blaze looked at her curiously as he accepted the money. "What exactly did you do?"

Abigail blushed, and was about to reply that she'd rather not say when Alexis spoke up. "Let's get a move on then. We don't want it to be dark by the time we get there."

She pushed between her two companions into the direction they were heading, irked at their interaction and wanting to break it up. As Blaze looked at Abigail in confusion, she just shrugged her shoulders apologetically and jogged to catch up with her sister after she had put her purse away, leaving Blaze behind momentarily.

"What was that all about?" Abigail asked Alexis once she'd caught up to her, taking pace beside her.

"I don't know," Alexis muttered, for she didn't. "I just want to get all of this over with. The whole world is going to pot and it's my fault. I want this over with, sooner rather than later."

"So you two can realise your love for each other and be together?"

Alexis shot her sister a sarcastic look. She didn't bother responding as Blaze caught up to them, and changed the topic instead.

It took them most of the rest of the sunlight hours to reach Amersham, and the sun was starting to set as Blaze returned from the shopping trip with a rope in hand. As per usual, the girls had walked around town to meet up with Blaze on the other side, and Abigail gratefully took it from him with words of thank you.

Blaze smiled at her in return, and they continued on their way to Biggleswade, hoping to get as far as possible before settling down for the night. They had traveled at night for a while, but Blaze's battery pack was running low, and they were being frugal until he was able to charge it again; hence, with a lack of torch, it wasn't possible to travel at night.

They had walked until the sun was beginning to tint the sky a bright red when Alexis presented a small problem.

"Blaze?" Blaze didn't respond, as he was absorbed in his thoughts, trying to find the right way to go. "Blaze??"

"Alexis?" he responded, turning to look at her.

"I need to go to the toilet," she stated. There was no embarrassment in her voice for this had become a standard procedure, but she knew what his next words would be.

"And you really need to go now? Then why couldn't you have gone before when I was shopping?"

"I didn't need to go then," Alexis grumbled.

Blaze just looked at her. "How old are you again?" When Alexis just scowled at him, he continued. "Alright, fine, but go together and be quick. I'll wait here but don't go too far."

"Aye aye, cap'n," Alexis mumbled, dragging Abigail along behind her and back through a gap that they had passed in the hedge and out of sight of Blaze.

"You two need to get along," Abigail said, as Alexis looked for a good spot to do her business.

"Well, I just don't get what his problem is," Alexis replied, frustrated. She indicated for Abigail to turn around, and she did, folding her arms as she did so. 

"You're only making it harder by not getting along."

"Who, me? Or him?"

"Both of you. Get along and everything will get easier."

Abigail heard Alexis chuckle behind her. "Well, you two get along just fine. Honestly, you can have him."

"First come, first-"

Abigail was interrupted by a very Alexis-sounding scream behind her, and immediately turned around without thinking. As her eyes landed on Alexis, she noticed that her trousers were still down by her ankles, and some man had her in a neck hold. Abigail immediately got ready for a fight. "Who are you?" she demanded.

"Sorry, girl; I don't have the time to be dealing with you. I'm just going to grab this money here and be off," he sneered, not loosening his grip on Alexis.

"Oh, trust me, if I were you, I would think twice about walking off with her and turning your back on me. She won't be able to go very fast with her trousers restricting her movement anyway."

Alexis' face turned red and she opened her mouth to retort in anger; Abigail sent her a discreet warning look, letting her know to keep her temper under check. She closed her mouth again.

"I will do what I darn well please. I get my money whether she's dead or alive, so don't tempt me." The man tightened his grip around Alexis' neck as Alexis fought to keep breathing. Abigail didn't know why her sister was of value both dead and alive, but the flash of fear through Alexis' eyes led her to believe that what he was saying was true. "Now, make sure you stay where you are, because we're going to leave before your backup arrives."

Backup? Abigail blinked stupidly. As she was questioning what backup he meant, he took a step back, but he only managed one before Blaze powered through the hedge and knocked him down and away from Alexis before he had a chance to react. "Too late," Blaze said.

"I could have done that myself, you know," Abigail said, walking up to the trio, with Alexis quickly pulling up her trousers with a remnant blush on her face.

"And I appreciate that," Blaze responded, as he walked over and bent down beside the fallen man, who was lying face down on the ground and out cold. "But I wasn't going to wait forever." Blaze actually hadn't been entirely sure if Abigail could have done anything, but wasn't going to voice his thoughts; after all, he wasn't aware of her strengths.

He was shocked as he turned over the body of the man, recognising the face, even if it was more unshaven than when he had at least seen it. "Brett?" he asked more than stated, even though he wasn't going to get an answer.

"You know him?" Alexis asked accusingly, having wrapped her arms around herself in comfort.

"Yeah... He's a member of the organisation. He must have spotted me in town and followed me out to find you."

"Nice... Is he better trained than you are then? I'm surprised you didn't notice him."

Blaze became irked at Alexis' words but played along with what she was saying. "Yeah, he is."

"So you don't regret knocking him out and saving me?" Alexis asked then, less accusation in her tone.

"Not at all," Blaze responded as he straightened up, his eyes never leaving the face of the man named Brett. "In fact, I'm afraid to say that, unfortunately, just knocking him out won't be enough."

Abigail raised her hands to her face slowly in shock. "You don't mean...?"

Blaze looked over at the two girls. "You two go on ahead. I'll catch up."

Abigail's stance didn't change, and it was Alexis who grabbed her by the arm and pulled her away, with both of the girls continuing on their way in silence, leaving Blaze behind.

"So," Alexis started, looking over at her sister with sadness at what she'd just had to witness. "You still think I should go for him?" she asked.

Abigail smiled sadly at her sister but said nothing, letting herself get dragged along and away from the scene behind them.

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I'm always writing these chapters last minute lately! I hope they're good anyway (: Got a bit of action into this one which I don't really do often, so please let me know what you think! And vote if you liked it :D Thank you for reading~ Have a good rest of the day!