Once they were comfortably settled on the porch he looked at her again.
"So who are they?" He reached a hand out and touched the gold necklace around her neck. Her hand pulled it protectively out of his reach. "Is it that guy?" She nodded.
"And a little girl. And my best friend." She looked at him. "I'm really not going to get punished for trying to escape?" Dayo shrugged.
"If you want to leave that badly, we can stock you up and set you on your way tomorrow. With food and warm clothes." Her body relaxed and she slumped against the chair.
"It really is different here." She looked up at the sky. "I wish this was the place..." She stopped suddenly and leant forward to Dayo, her face curious.
"How far have you explored around this town?" Dayo shrugged.
"Only into the city. Why?"
"Didn't you wonder who we meant by Aaron?" When Dayo looked blank, she pressed on. "We were looking for another town. They actively look for survivors. It's more than likely that that's where my old group is. Aaron contacted Sayid by radio. I wanted to go further North. Just to see."
"What were you going to do if you didn't find them?" Dayo was curious to know. Georgie shrugged.
"Carry on North. Come back here and risk the 'whipping'." She laughed and Dayo joined in. "It is safe here. You've done something wonderful. Even better now I know it's not an actual prison."
"So stay. Be a part of it" They both jumped. Zxander was stood in the doorway. "We could use you. And everyone is dying to learn to shoot like you. So stay and work with us." Dayo raised an eyebrow. He didn't know that Zxander had taken enough notice of Georgie to make a decision on if the town needed her, but he let him speak. Georgie slide down further in her chair, looking unhappy.
"What about my friends? What if...what if Adele's less than fifty miles away and I just sit here, doing nothing."
"We can sort that." Dayo smacked his hand to his head. "The scavenging parties can just check out the towns. We've avoided them because of the high Zombie infestation, in small confined streets, but if we're just looking for life, we can observe from a distance. If it's just the dead, no biggie. If it's full of living people, we can find out if your friends made it, maybe establish a link, or trade." He stared at Zxander. "It's such an obvious step, I can't believe no-ones thought of this."
"Our main concern has been creating a safe zone," Zxander reasoned. "Perhaps it was on the agenda, but just not right now." Dayo nodded.
"Well, tomorrow, I'm asking Herman to put it on the agenda. And if he doesn't, I'll stock you up myself. But no more sneaking out at night. The dead are more active at night, you don't need to be putting yourself at risk." Georgie nodded. She looked stunned, as if she couldn't quite believe what was happening, as if she was being given a gift she desperately wanted, but had never dared to hope she would get. Dayo stood up, suddenly tired.
"We need to get to bed. You," he pointed at Georgie, "put your stuff back first thing tomorrow." Not waiting to hear her response, he stood up and walked into the house. He was about to go back to his room, when a thought struck him. He waited at the door and listened. Zxander was talking to Georgie.
"Even if they don't agree to go looking for this town, you should still stay you know. You could make new friends here."
"You can't just replace people Zxander!" Georgie sounded tired and outraged. "Smooth Zxander", Dayo thought.
"These people, they saved my life. They fed me, they looked out for me. Daryl pulled me out of an ice river and stopped me from first drowning and then dying of hypothermia. I can't just replace someone like that!"
'Ah,' thought Dayo. 'that's where your necklace came from.' He waited for Zxanders response, but there was only silence. A door closing told him that Georgie had gone back to the house she shared with Bella and Michonne. Not wanting Zxander to know he had overheard his disastrous attempts to persuade Georgie to stay, he climbed back up the stairs to bed.
By all means, keep an eye on this story. But watch out for something else ;)