Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Forty-three.

You look tough.

Iris follows Daryl and Carol out of the room, they make it back to the chained door, Carol slipping through first, Iris slips through next, standing up she sees a young man standing in front of them with a gun pointed at them. "Daryl dont" Carol warns, "get up!" the stranger orders, Daryl stands up and moves next in between both women, "hands up. All of you" he says, Iris reluctantly raises her hands in the air.

"Lay down your crossbow" "you got some sack on you" daryl grumbles, growing annoyed, Iris glares at the stranger as he points the gun towards them, she watches his every move, growing angry and annoyed with people constantly putting the people she cared about in danger, taking advantage of them.

"Look, nobody has to get hurt. I just need weapons, that's it. So, please, lay down your crossbow." he says, reluctantly Daryl places his bow on the ground "Back up." he orders, Iris steps back and drops her arms to her side, "you" he says pointing the gun at Iris, "put your gun in the floor", she slowly lifts it from it's holster and throws it at his feet.

After picking all the weapons up he begins to back away from the trio "Sorry about this... You look tough. You'll be alright." he says pulling out his knife and cutting open the tents, Iris and Daryl pull out their knives before moving and killing the walkers, Carol shoots one of the walkers with a gun she had hidden, before she can shoot the thief Daryl nudges her hands making her miss.

Iris quickly runs after the stranger, Daryl and Carol running behind and trying to keep up, she runs to the door but it doesn't budge "move back" she tells the other two, stepping back and kicking the door but nothing, "hey this way" Daryl says, stopping her from hitting the door again and guiding them both in a different direction.

Iris walks through the empty floor, following Daryl's lead, "Three bullets. We're in the middle of a city. He was stealing our weapons... Did you think I was gonna kill him? I was aiming for his leg. Could that have killed him? Maybe, I don't know. But he was stealing our weapons." Carol rambles, Iris doesn't pay much attention, too focused on trying to find an exit.

"He's a damn kid." Daryl says "Without weapons we could die. Beth could die." "We'll find more weapons." Iris reassures "I don't want you to die. I don't want Iris to die. I don't want Beth to die. I don't want anybody at the church to die, but I can't stand around and watch it happen either. I can't. That's why I left. I just had to be somewhere else." Carol explains "Well, you ain't somewhere else; you're right here. Tryin'" Daryl snaps looking back at the woman.

Iris moves closer to him, taking the knife from him as he struggles to open the door, the man lets her have it and she gets to work, "Look, you're not who you were and neither am I." Carol says just as Iris opens the door, she hands Daryl his knife and he slides it into his belt.

"I don't know if I believe in God anymore or heaven, but if I'm going to hell, I'm making damn sure I'm holding it off as long as I can." Carol says picking up a bag, Iris looks down as the contents fall out onto the floor. Everyone looks down in silence as the book lays on the floor, 'Treating survivors of childhood abuse', Daryl picks up the book, handing it to Carol and walking away, but she lets it fall to the floor again.

Iris bends down and picks up the book, standing up straight she looks at Carol, the woman takes the book and shoves it in her bag for Iris, and the redhead walks after Daryl. They make it out of the building and start walking to the road with the van, the trio walk in silence only the sound of walkers filling the air.

Daryl opens the back doors to the van "alright. Let's get this done" he says moving to climb into the back of the van "it's not stable. I'm lighter" Carol tells the man, making him stop, but he ignores her input, turning around and pulling himself up into the van. Iris climbs in after, following Daryl to the three front seats, Iris climbs into the middle seat next to Daryl, Carol close behind her.

They look through the papers, trying to find anything about where this van has come from, "There's more coming. We're gonna have to fight through." Carol warns looking out at the walkers making their way towards us, "Yeah, I see 'em." Daryl says getting out of the seat and moving to the back, Iris stays sat, reading through the papers.

"We have to go." Carol says, Iris puts the papers back in the glove box, "GMH, what's that? A hospital?" Daryl asks "I don't know. Grady Memorial, maybe?" Iris says "Grady, the white crosses-- it might be where they're holing up." Daryl says, Iris climbs out of the seat and carefully makes her way out of the van behind the other two.

She pulls out her knife and they all start killing the walkers, "Daryl!" Carol shouts "Go, go, go, go!" he says, ushering them back into the van, before jumping in himself and shutting the doors. "Anything we can use?" Carol asks, as the walkers hit against the van causing it to rock back and forth, "Nothin' but what we got." Daryl replies before moving into the driver's seat, Iris sits in the middle with Carol next to her.

"All right. Buckle up" Daryl says and they all put on their seatbelts, the more the van shakes the more scared Iris grows, she grabs onto Carol's hand holding it tight and then grabbing onto Daryl's hand. Iris and Daryl look at each other, "you hold on" he says, gripping onto the handle above his door and squeezing onto Iris's hand. The van starts falling forwards and Iris watches as the ground gets closer and closer, before it hits the ground with a loud crash.