"So, what did you say your name was again?" Alexis asked once they'd finally decided on a place to settle for the night; it was 2am by now and a safe enough distance, they deemed, for a short kip before they continued on their way. They figured the more distance they covered as soon as they could, the better.

"Blaze. Blaze Kilburn. And if you make me repeat myself one more time, I promise you that you'll regret having gotten out of that building," the uniformed officer called Blaze replied through clenched teeth.

"You mean you'll regret having helped," she used air quotes as she said that, "Me get out. Please, you're welcome to leave any time." She flourished her hand in a manner befitting a queen to indicate his supposed direction of exit.

Blaze straightened up, taking his hand out of his backpack in the process and smiling thinly at her. "Don't tempt me." That was all he said before he went back to rummaging through his backpack.

Alexis folded her arms and leaned against the tree behind her, observing him. They had picked up his backpack not far from the building after they had gotten out, and it contained many useful things – even a flashlight and some blankets. She couldn't fathom why he would have that lying around outside, but let's just say that their relationship hadn't gotten off to the best start. She put it down to her childish excitement at finally being outside and free again, but he didn't try to understand that at all. How old was he anyway. Like, 40?

"I'm 27, actually," Blaze said, his movements not faltering at all as he responded to her, what she had thought was an, unspoken question.

Alexis grimaced in his direction. "Who cares. Are you done yet?" she asked, trying to not show her embarrassment at having asked the question about his age out loud.

"You know," he started angrily, "You could be at least a little grateful for my help. But no, to answer your question, I am not done yet."

"I never said I'm not grateful. I just asked for your understanding on the matter," she retaliated, eyes narrowed at him in anger. "I haven't been outside nor have I had any freedom to myself for a year. Then, when I do get out, I'm stuck with a boring old fart who won't let me have any fun and gets mad at me for doing any little thing he doesn't 100% approve of."

Blaze ripped a light blanket out of his backpack as he stalked up to her and placed his face directly in front of hers. "You don't understand!" he whispered angrily. "This world is not the relatively happy, carefree world that you left behind a year ago, and England even less so. To survive, you need to be alert at all times. I don't wish to scare you, but devious humans hide around every corner, and some of them are wracked with the sickness that you created."

Alexis was about to retort and say that was not her fault, but he didn't give her a chance as he continued talking. "No, I am not saying it is your fault, but it is up to you to fix it. You are going to fix it, you will be able to, and I am not going to leave your side until you've done it."

Blaze was breathing heavily as he finished his whisper rant, and for a second he had left Alexis speechless.

"I'm going to bed," she mumbled, and made to climb the tree behind her to sleep on one of the branches. She still didn't trust him, and if what he said was true, then sleeping on the ground wasn't safe.

"What are you doing?" he asked, as if he hadn't just given her a whole lecture.

"What does it look like? I'm climbing the tree," she stated. The tree had a useful dent in its side, maybe caused by a car accident at some point, and it was just the right height for her to get her foot in and hoist herself up to the lowest branch, but she was going to go one or two higher for extra security.

"Yes, I can see that. But why?" he asked, agitated at her vague answer.

"You just said yourself there are bad people around. Better to get off the ground, right?" Alexis was just about to hoist herself onto the next branch when Blaze told her to wait.

Letting out a huff, she stopped what she was doing and waited. For a few seconds, Blaze rummaged around inside his bag before pulling out a small wad of rope. He handed it up to her; she took it with a perplexed look on her face.

"What is this for?" she asked.

Blaze frowned; he wondered if she was really as stupid as she acted. "So you can tie yourself up... You weren't planning to sleep without any form of keeping you up there, were you?" The look on her face gave him the answer he needed and he just sighed and shook his head, leaving her to climb up no less annoyed than before.

He was still rummaging through his bag as Alexis settled down for the night, though she wasn't exactly comfortable – or warm.

She almost jumped when she felt a blast of air and something landing on her and looked down to see a blanket. She looked down and saw Blaze return to his bag. "What about you?" she asked.

"I have two," he replied. "For cold nights."

"And what if we have a cold night while we're together?"

"Then I'll keep the two blankets to myself."

Those were the last words they spoke to each other before Alexis fell asleep: the first night of her freedom.

They both slept restlessly that night, and it wasn't yet light when Alexis was rudely awoken by Blaze. She was confused when the random earthquake occurred in her dream, and was even more confused when she woke up and it continued. She almost panicked when she realised that each tremor of the earthquake was associated with a dull thudding noise. She looked down.

"What are you doing?" she asked. In the dim light of the moon she could make out the shape of a human – notably, Blaze – who was repeatedly kicking her tree.

"Trying to wake you up because apparently nothing else would work. So, good morning sleeping beauty; I'm afraid no carriage awaits you to take you to your next destination but we really must be going now, so if you could come down, that would be much appreciated."

She really knew she mustn't agitate him further, but she couldn't not correct his mistake. "It's Cinderella," she said, as she started untying herself, and despite not looking at him she could feel his gaze land on her.

"What's Cinderella?" he asked, trying his best to keep calm.

"The pumpkin carriage. It's Cinderella who gets the pumpkin carriage, not Sleeping Beauty."

Blaze took a deep breath to calm himself so as to not explode. "Believe me, I couldn't care less about what princess has what kind of carriage. And you can believe me even more so when I say that you are not fit to be any of the princesses in any way whatsoever. Now, get down here and we'll get going."

She couldn't believe what he had just told her but did as he said, holding the rope and blanket firmly in her right hand and swinging her legs over the side of the branch. Her stomach did a couple of flips when she realised how high it was.

Blaze was packing up his blanket and removing some breakfast bars when he heard the combination of a thud and a cry of pain come from behind him. Surprised, he turned around to find Alexis limping towards him, his gear in hand. "Are you alright?"

"Oh, look, someone does care," she replied as she reached him, handing him his stuff back, which he took.

"Yes, I do. I care about whether I have to carry your sorry butt halfway across England," he replied with no hint of sarcasm in his voice.

She was about to retort when he handed her a small cereal bar in return for his returned gear. Not that she wasn't grateful for something to eat, but it wasn't much. "Is this it?" she asked before she could stop herself.

Blaze bristled, and she knew she'd made a mistake in asking. "I'm sorry I don't carry around a full English breakfast in my bag at all times in case of emergencies," he replied, his voice laced with anger as he forced the rest of his stuff into his small bag.

"That's not it!" she quickly responded. "I just expected something a bit... More," Alexis tried to explain – badly. Suddenly, she could make out the outline of his hand in her vision.

"If you don't want it, I'll have it," he replied, his voice too calm.

She hugged the cereal bar to her chest. "No."

He raised his eyebrows. "Oh, look. Someone is grateful and just won't admit it." Backpack now on his back, he ripped open his own breakfast bar and started eating. As she did the same she mumbled a small thank you and his eyes seemed to light up in a small victory, but he said nothing.

"This is only to keep us going," he finally said, as he handed her his empty packaging and she stuffed both in her pocket for disposal later; it was a tiny bit less weight off his shoulders. "Once we're far enough away to hopefully not be recognised then we'll stop somewhere for a proper breakfast."

Alexis swallowed nervously. "But I don't have any money."

Blaze nodded. "I know. I'll pay everything for you for now and you'll pay me back when you can in the future."

She frowned. "Even though you can't stand me?"

"Even though I can't stand you, you're still our best, or even our only, hope right now. The sooner we get to Europe, the better, so let's go."

"But- Wait. What about my sister?"

Blaze sighed impatiently. "Are you serious? Can your sister really bring so much to this mission that we have to go out of our way to see her?"

Alexis nodded desperately. "Not only do I want to let her know I'm alright, but if she comes with us, you have no idea how helpful she will be."

Blaze eyed her suspiciously. "If you're making fun of me, you'll be in a lot of trouble. Where does she live?"

"Tavistock," Alexis replied; upon seeing Blaze's blank expression, she expanded on her response. "It's on the bit of England that sticks out in the south-west."

"Uh huh," Blaze responded. He was silent for a few moments. "So, do you want to hear the good news or the bad news first?"

Alexis' stomach flipped. "Why should there be any news on where my sister lives?"

Blaze glanced at her. "Well, the good news is that they released the disease in North England, so it could easily spread in both directions – Scotland to the north and Wales and England to the south, so it's unlikely to have reached that far south in great quantities yet."

Alexis smiled; that was indeed good news. Then her smile faded. "And what's the bad news?"

Blaze frowned. "The bad news is that we're in the north of Wales. We have a long way to travel."

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So, this was the first chapter outside of the building - I hope it was ok. As usual, I really would love appreciate some feedback on all aspects of my writing (: And if you liked it, make sure to vote! That also makes me super happy :D Thanks for reading!