[b][centre]James Morgan
Near Worthington (a bit north of Coalville)[/b][/centre]

James was sat on an old wooden log, the morning dew causing a slight dampness that left his backside a bit chilly. As a result he found himself slumped forwards with his arms tucked in to keep his body slightly warmer. He was nursing a cigarette but it seemed to give him little relief; other than the odd night out he wasn’t really a smoker, but he’d found the pack the previous day and at this moment in time thought [i]fuck it, why not?[/i] He raised his head to see Doc approaching him and as he did so let out a puff of smoke, “How are they doing?”

Doc shrugged as he squatted down closely in front of James. Doc was in his mid-forties and had thick but greying hair which matched his grey eyes. Even in his muddy shirt and jeans combo he still seemed to have an air of distinction about him. “Melisa didn’t get much sleep last night and is feeling it now. The twins are well… they’re too young and just can’t rap their heads around this yet” Doc’s eyes looked tired too, but James guessed this was due more to emotional fatigue than physical fatigue. The two of them shared a look of understanding for a moment before Docs eyes drifted towards the cigarette in James’ hand. Without any words being spoken James put the cigarette out on the log before flicking it into some grass. “We need to think about where we’re going. So far we’ve just been moving around to survive, but we need to think long term.” Doc paused for a moment before continuing, “We could go east towards Wales. It’s rural and perhaps safer. There’s also the possibility of us trying to catch a boat over to Ireland or the Isle of Man; we don’t know if this pandemic has spread overseas.”

James softly shook his head, “But that means trying to go through or around Birmingham. None of us know Wales either. And well… if there are any other groups of survivors out there I don’t think their first instinct will be to flock to Wales?”

Doc smirked. It was a silly point and yet one that was hard to argue against. “We could go East. Again more rural. Lots of farmland, which means food. But that’s about the only plus I can think of. We could go North towards the peak district and hide up there, or go on further still to the Scottish Highlands?” 

“Too far. Plus it’ll mean we’ll have to worry about the environment killing us just as much as the biters.” James replied. The reality was James knew where he wanted to go – South. To be precise he wanted to go as close by to Leicester as he could in the hope that he might somehow find his fiancé Carly. “We should go South. It might be just like in the movies, like 28 Weeks Later, where people could be crossing the Channel to France. If there’s military anywhere it’ll be between here and the South won’t it?” James wasn’t going to say that it was just for Carly, although he suspected that the Doc would realise as much. 

“Ok.” Said Doc with a gentle nod, “In that case I think we should head off now and try find a place for the night before the days up. Once we’ve secured it, me and you should go hunting for supplies.”

With that the two of them took each other’s hands and yanked each other upright. They then walked over to Melisa and the kids. Melisa was short and very skinny, almost ill-looking with her fading blonde hair, pale complexion and tired baggy eyes. The twins both had blonde hair to their shoulders and wore identical white and red dresses that were now caked in mud. The three were a dim sight if nothing else, but Melisa tried her best to put on a smile as the men approached. “Are we moving on again so soon?” she asked and her smile began to whither. Though they had set off early in the morning they had only traveled a short distance and only for a short amount of time. 

“Yes honey. We’ve got to keep moving. Come mid-afternoon we’ll find us a little cottage or something to settle into and you and the kids can get some more rest.” Doc stroked her hair back behind her ear and kept his hand their as she nuzzled her head into it. The kids were eerily quiet for their age, but they had been since James met them; like Doc said, they didn’t know how to process what was happening. After a few moments of checking that they were all ready, the group set off again in single file, with Doc leading and James taking the rear guard.