The next morning was uneventful. Despite the events of the previous evening, no more of the undead were waiting for them. After they had finished off a tin of canned beans each, Sayid unrolled the map and the three of them poured over it.
"We're about here. We went past this lake yesterday. So we should come out into the open at some point today." Sayid looked at the women. "This is where it could be dangerous. There's not a lot of cover here. It means we'll be easily spotted by anything out there."
"But we'll spot them too." Michonne gripped the hilt of her sword. "And we'll get them first." A sideways look at Georgie and her crossbow suggested that this was Georgie's responsibility.
"Mmm." Sayid pressed on. "If you look, this is Washington. And here," he pointed to three spots on the map, "are three minor towns. Any of these could be the place that Dayo talked about. All on the outside of Washington, to the North East." Michonne and Georgie studied the map.
"Where do you think is most likely? I assume he didn't grace you with the name of the place?" Sayid smiled.
"No. Smart man. So I think our best choice is to start at the bottom and investigate each town. If we're lucky, the first one will be the one we want. And if not, we can always loot. Grab supplies, maybe hi-jack a car." Make travel easier anyway."
"Do you know how to hot wire a car?" Georgie looked doubtful. Sayid simply smiled.
"What makes you so sure that this place is legit?" Michonne didn't look up, still examining the map, hands tracing where Sayid had pointed out. Sayid didn't blame her for her lack of confidence in him.
"Unlike the rest of the country, Washington and the surrounding areas are on separate power grids. They also have solar power grids. In case of emergencies. This town here, has a high military population. So combine access to power with trained military personal and we could have a winner. However, these towns are further away from Washington. Experience tells us that towns closer to big cities are more likely to be overrun. So, most people would have probably moved back, away from the danger. But, it's better to be safe than sorry, so we'll check it out anyway." Michonne nodded, seemingly satisfied.
"How long?" Sayid looked at the map, calculating the distance.
"Well, this one, the military one, is about thirty miles away. So maybe a day or so walking. Depending on..." He looked at Georgie.
"A day." Georgie said firmly.
The three of them regarded each other.
"Ok then." Sayid stood up. "No time like the present."
It didn't take them long to get to the edge of the woods. Sayid studied the map and then pointed. The three of them walked in silence, focused on looking for trouble, speaking as little as possible, except to raise a hand and point out possible zombie sightings. Only two of those turned out to be legit, and for both, the creature was too far away to be able to register that possible sources of food were passing it by.
At noon, they had covered around half of the distance they needed to. They were sat in silence, eating more tinned food, when there was a different sound.
"Stop." Michonne tapped Sayid on his arm. "Can you hear that?" Georgie twisted her body to look in the direction of the noise.
"It's a car!" She turned to Michonne. "Some sort of vehicle anyway." Sayids heart quickened. Could it be that they had had a stroke of luck? Had Aaron and Abraham come out to find them? He stood up, shielding his eyes against the sun. The car, was in fact a large van. He couldn't make out who was driving, but odds were it was the men they had been looking for. He started to jump and wave, and sure enough, the van changed direction and headed straight towards them, ignoring the roads.
"Is that a good idea?" Georgie started to reload her crossbow. "It could be anyone." Sayid raised an eyebrow.
"How likely do you think it is that there's more than one town functioning here? It has to be them. And even if it isn't the same people from the town, the fact we know names of people in the community will reassure them." He continued to wave, until the van pulled up next to them.
There were two men and a woman in the van, but only one man got out. He was a monster. Easily six foot tall, stocky and muscular. Powerful. His hands looked as if he could crush a mans skull without breaking a sweat. Sayid automatically took a step back. He saw the van rise a little as he got out. This was no half starved survivor. This was a killing machine.
His brown eyes scanned over the three of them. He rubbed his neck and took a step towards them. Sayid saw Michonnes hand go to her sword.
"Easy Michonne," he murmured.
"Name's Dayo. Who the hell are you." His voice was astonishingly deep, but melodic. He sounded like he might be from Louisiana. Sayid felt a wave of disappointment crash over him-it wasn't Aaron. No matter, more than likely they took shifts, or different people covered different areas. He pressed on.
"It's us. We spoke to your man Aaron on the radio," Sayid rushed over his words in an effort to convince Dayo not to shoot them, or crush them to death with his hands. "We have an extra now though." Dayo said nothing, just continued to stare at them with his dark eyes. Sayid realised with a jolt of unease that his eyes weren't brown, but jet black. He folded his arms and glanced back at the van. The other two people got out. Neither were any less intimidating than Dayo. The woman, although slender, was still toned, muscular and was looking at the three of them like they were a meal. The other man, although not as tall as Dayo, had the same aura of power.
All of a sudden Sayid knew that these people weren't from the same place as Aaron, and that they could be in real trouble.
"You know what. My mistake." He put his hands up in a defensive mode and started to walk away. Michonne and Georgie followed suit, Georgie with her cross bow raised. "We'll be on our way now."
Dayo laughed.
"Sure you will."
A blast of pain shot through Sayids body, and his muscles started to jerk uncontrollably. He heard Michonne and Georgie fall to the ground beside him, and felt, rather than saw, his arms being jerked behind his back, and handcuffs being placed around his wrists.
"Tie em in the back. We don't know how dangerous they'll be once they get full function back." A bag was forced over his head, and he felt himself being placed into a van. Furious, he started to lash out as the feeling came back into his body.
"Zxander, Bella. Deal with them. Don't want them tiring themselves out before we get them back to base." Firm hands grasped his legs and he felt some sort of cord being tied around them, in an attempt to restrain them. Gritting his teeth, he flung his foot out, and with grim satisfaction felt it connect with something-a jaw hopefully.
"GODDAM!" the woman's voice rang out.
"You're making this harder than it needs to be." A second male voice, not as deep nor melodic as Dayo's. Sayid kicked out again in response. He felt the van dip as someone climbed into the back with him, and then felt himself being turned onto his front. A blinding pain struck the back of his head, and then the world went black.