Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Forty.

Hey, little red.

Maggie walks into the church and up to the group, leaving Iris outside, "where is she?" Carol asks "she's just outside" Maggie answers, crossing her arms and looking over her shoulder to Iris sitting on the church steps, "should someone go talk to her?" Glenn asks. "No. She'll come in when she's ready" Rick says looking out at his friend.

Once Iris finishes her cigarette she stands up and walks into the church, she sits down on the pew next to Tara, the group watches the woman's every move, Tara watches Iris sit next to her scared of what she might do. "Dont speak" Iris says looking straight ahead, her eyes glued to a spot on the wall.

"I don't want your apologies... and i don't want to hear your side of the story" Iris says, and Tara listens to the woman's orders, keeping her mouth shut as Iris talks. "What the... governor did" the woman struggles to say his name, anger rising in her body, "it's unforgivable. He hurt the people I love. He ripped them from their home..."

"I can't forget that you were with him that day yet... but... Maggie trusts you, so does Glenn and rick. Give me some time to try." Iris says looking at the woman next to her, Tara holds out her fist in front of the woman, Iris looks down at it before looking back up at Tara, reluctantly Iris fist bumps Tara before walking over to Rick and the others.

"You fist bumped her?" Carol asks laughing slightly "what?" Iris asks looking at the woman confused, "nothing, just never thought you would fist bump someone. I thought you were too tough" Carol says, still struggling to keep herself from laughing, "stop it" Iris says growing annoyed, "i swear Carol" Iris says when the woman doesn't stop. Iris glares at the others as they begin to join Carols laughing.

"Whatever" Iris mumbles under her breath, before walking back outside towards Abraham looking at the bus, "hey, little red" Abraham says when he notices her stop by the bus, "hey" "you know anything about fixing buses?" he asks, "buses, no, but i could try and help" she says "my dad used to make me sit and watch him work on cars and bikes. He used to run a garage out of our house" she adds looking under the hood.

The group spilt off to do different jobs, Daryl and Carol out looking for water, Glenn Maggie and Tara looking for more weapons, Rick taking another group with Gabriel to find food, leaving Iris, Abraham, Carl, Rosita, Ugene and Tyrese at the church looking after Judith and watching out for any unwelcome guests.

"Im gonna go check around for a bit, make sure its clear" Iris says lifting her head from the hood of the bus and wiping her hands on her trousers and taking her gun from her leg holster. Iris walks around to the back of the church and finds Carl, "hey kid whats up?" she asks watching the boy look at something on the church wall "look at this" he says, Iris walks over to the boy and looks at what he is pointing to.

On the wall she finds gouges in the wooden shutters, "and this" Carl says moving over to something else he found "you'll burn for this" Iris reads, the words carved out on the wall. "Show this to your dad when he gets back. I'm going to go into the woods and look around" Iris says "stay here and keep and eye on your sister. If anything happens shout and i will be there" she adds before whistling and walking into the woods with Bear running after her.

Iris walks through the woods with her gun held tightly in her hands, she keeps her eyes to the ground looking for track, the woman stops when she hears a twig snap in the distance, Bear stops and looks up in the direction of the noise, Iris watches his nose work to figure out what it is when he suddenly starts barking. Taking that as her sign its not an animal Iris runs in the direction it came from, Iris keeps her gun in her hand as she runs, dodging branches left and right, Bear running close next to her. After a while of running the woman stops, spinning around looking for anything, "fuck".

Disappointed and defeated, Iris makes her way back to the church, "hey did you find anything?" Rick asks as she steps into the opening, "i heard something, it made Bear bark" she says looking "could've been an animal" Michonne says "no. Bear doesn't bark at animals" Iris says "we chased it but couldn't find anything" she adds.

"What do you think it was?" Rick asks "not sure. But I don't think we should stay here long" Iris says "okay. We stay alert. Anything out of place you say something and we find it" Rick says before they all scatter in separate directions.

Iris walks into the church towards Carl, Tyreese and Judith, "do you want to hold her?" Tyrese asks, "uh no, thanks" she says, "are you sure? You've never held her" Carl says, looking back through his sister's time on the earth and realising the woman who was like a mom to him had never held his younger sister.

"No... I'm fine thanks" Iris says walking away from them, she feels guilty for what she's doing, but it can't be any other way. Iris walks out to the bus and starts helping Abraham again, she lays down next to Abraham and looks up at the bus, "it's a mess, but, i think we can get it fixed up enough to do what you need" Iris says "are you going to join us?" Abraham asks.

Iris thinks about it for a minute before answering the man "I'm gonna stay with Rick, Carl and Judith" she says tightening a bolt on one of the pipes, "i understand" he says. "Your gonna need fuel, as much as you can find." she says, she stands up from under the bus and looks in the hood again.