Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Five.

 Is it her?

Rick's pov:

"Rick! We have a problem!" Glenn yells running towards me, I run over to him, Shane, daryl and Carl following. "Whats going on?" I ask "I was walking around checking for walkers and I came across a girl. We were bringing her to you and she collapsed but we can't get her cause her dog won't let us anywhere near her." He explains as we run over to where Dale and Andrea are.

We slow down when the dog gets louder, I stop, there's no way. "Everyone step back" I say gently and they all follow, I put my hand out in front of me and slowly walk towards the dog making myself smaller.

"It's alright Bear. Good boy." I say and he stops barking, his nose starts to work as he smells me, I place my hand in front of him so he can smell me more, he lets his guard down finally realising its me and its safe.

I look down at the body on the floor "Is it her?" Shane asks "oh my god" I say in disbelief I look back at Shane and Carl "it's her" I say smiling.

Bear watches closely as I take her bag off and hand it to Shane and I pick Iris up and carry her to Hershal "why is she bleeding?" Sahne asks looking at the blood covering her "She said she got shot" Glenn says.

"Hershal!" I yell running towards the house with her in my arms and he runs out to the porch, "what happened?" He questions "She was shot" I say taking her into the house, I put her on the bed. "Leave her with me, I'll fix her up" Hershal says.

"Bear follow" I say but he doesnt he just sits and watches Hershal, I grab the handle of his harness and guide him out of the room to the porch.

"Iris is here?" Lori asks coming up to me, "yeah" I say looking down at the very stressed dog, "How is she here?" Lori asks "she probably tracked us" Shane says.

"So do the rest of us get to know what's going on?" Andrea asks, I look down the steps and see everyone stood waiting to know what is going on, "who is she?" Maggie asks.

"We knew her from before. She worked with me and Shane. She's family. She stayed behind when Shane, Lori and Carl left." I explain.

"So who shot 'er?" Daryl asks "not sure" I answer, rubbing my hands over my face. "I need a bit of help in here!" Hershal yells over Iris's screams, I run into the room. "Don't touch me!" She shouts "Iris! It's okay" I say and I grab her arms and hold her on her side.

"Shane get the dog out of here!" I shout while he barks at us, Iris goes limp and Hershal starts working again. "She got the bullet out, but part of it broke and its still in her shoulder" he says.

"She's passing out cause of the loss of blood" he says "I've got it" he adds lifting the tweezers that are holding a small piece of metal. He puts it down and starts to stitch her up "She'll be awake in a few hours" hershal says and I lay her back down on her back.

"How is she?" Lori asks as I walk back out to the porch, "she'll be okay. She got almost all of the bullet out herself" I say sitting down on the steps, I watch Bear as he patrols around the house.

"How does she look?" Shane asks, "I don't know... something about her seems different" I say "is it definitely her?" Shane asks "I don't know" "did you check her dog tags? She always wore them" Shane says.

"Iris Wolf" I say, reading the words that are engraved on her tags, "it's her" I add looking back at Shane and Daryl "How?" Daryl asks "She have a group?" He adds

"She grew up doin this shit" Shane answers "told me 'er dad trained 'er" Shane explains. I look down at her one more time before walking out behind the other two.

"So when she wakes, we gonna let her stay?" Andrea asks "If she wants... yeah... She thinks it's safer for people if she's on her own. She always has" I explain "we can't let her go back out there alone" Lori says "We can try to convince her to stay but you know how she gets" I say.

Iris's pov:

I open my eyes quickly and look around the room, I look out the window to see the sun is starting to set, I look at my shoulder and see the bandages.

I slowly stand up and notice my knife on top of the drawers, I grab it and quietly walk towards the open door, I keep my knife raised ready, I walk towards the front door of the house and gently place my hand on the handle.

I take a deep breath in and prepare myself for what might be on the other side, I quickly open the door to the young guy that got me and a girl, they look back at me in shock and then stand when they see my knife raised at them.

"Hey put the knife down!" The guy shouts, I look past them and see people running towards us, "stay back!" I warn. "Just put the knife down" the girl says "Iris put it down"

I freeze. I look up, it cant be. "Please Iris put it down" he says "Rick?" I question, it cant be him. The blood loss is getting to me, I look next to him and see Shane "Iris its okay" shane says.

"Please just put the knife down" Rick asks, "wheres my dog?" I question the young guy "he's fine" he says "Iris your okay" Rick says stepping toward me "stop!" i warn keeping my knife raised towards them. "Iris its rick" he says, i look behind him and see people with their weapons pointed at me.

"Put them down" Rick orders to the people behind him, they slowly lower their guns, but still hold on tight in case they need to fire. "Iris just put the knife down" Shane says, i hear a bark and look to my side to see Bear running towards me, he sits in front of me watching everyone and waiting for my command.

Rick moves towards me, "just put the knife in it's sheath" he says gently, his eyes dont leave mine, I slowly follow his orders and put my knife in it's place, "everyone give us some space" Rick orders, they all reluctantly turn and walk away.

"Shane you too" he adds looking over his shoulder to the man, his emotions turn annoyed and he walks away, "i know your scared... but it's me" he says calmly, "how about we get you a tent set up for the night" he says "i dont need help, i can do it myself" i say "whatever you want" he says.

We walk towards the camp and he grabs me a spare tent, "thanks" i say taking it and walking away, and I decide to set it up away from the rest to give myself space from prying eyes.