Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Forty-eight.

I get it now.

Iris and Rick move to their positions, while the others take the hostages up to the roof, the pair stand by the cruiser and wait for Tyrese to give them a signal through the radio. "Why'd you shoot him?" Rick asks, looking around, "what do you mean?" Iris asks "i was going to do it... you didn't need to do it" Rick says, "yes i did... you shouldn't have to kill another cop" she explains "neither should you" he says "im fine" Iris says, reaching into her back pocket and pulling out a cigarette and her lighter.

She places the cigarette between her lips, and holds the flame to the end of it, "I'm really glad your still with us, i wouldn't want to have anyone else by my side" Rick says, glancing over at the woman, Iris looks down at the floor, blowing out the smoke, "are you staying?" he asks when the woman doesn't speak. Before she answers the sound of the radio interrupts and deep down the woman sighs in relief, "They're headed towards the vantage point." Tyrese says, Rick lifts the radio to his mouth speaking into it "Okay. Copy that."

Iris puts her gun back into her thigh holster and takes one last drag before throwing her cigarette on the floor, they turn and wait for the car to approach, raising their hands in surrender and walking towards the car as they slow to a stop, two cops step out of the car, their guns raised and pointed at Rick and Iris. "Officer Franco. Officer McGinley. I'm Rick Grimes. This is Iris Wolf. We were deputies in the King County Sheriff's Department. We're here to make a proposal." Rick explains.

"Lay your weapons on the ground." one of them says, "All right." Rick says Iris slowly pulls her gun out and lays it on the ground, she then pulls her knives from her belt, placing them next to her gun. Slowly Rick and Iris turn and face away from the cops, turning back to face them again to show that all the weapons are on the floor, the cops slowly walk closer, stopping a few steps away. "What's your proposal?" they ask once our weapons are on the floor "You have two of my people, I have two of yours. We want to make an exchange. Then we'll be on our way. No one gets hurt." Rick explains.

"Who?" "Officers Shepherd and Licari for Beth and Carol." Rick says "You picked up a woman yesterday after your people hit her with a car." Iris says trying her hardest to not get angry, "Noah, he's with you? That's how you know?" "Yes, he is." Rick answers "What about Officer Lamson?" "He was attacked by the dead before we got to him." Iris says "Where are your people?" the cop asks, Iris glances over at the walker walking towards them before it drops to the ground, getting shot in the head. "They're close" Iris says, the cops look around and Iris watches fear flash in their eyes, "Radio your lieutenant. We'll wait." Rick says.

..........

The group make their way to the hospital, Rick and Daryl holding onto the hostages, Iris walking in the middle of them and the rest of the group behind them, while the other two cops lead them through the hospital. Iris has mixed feelings about what they're doing, she's happy that they are getting Beth and Carol back, that they're going to be able to bring Beth home to Maggie, but then she feels nervous, her stomach in knots, what if something goes wrong, what if someone gets killed.

She's brought out of her thoughts when everyone stops, she looks through the door window and at the other end of the corridor stood cops, hospital staff, Beth and Carol in a wheelchair. "Holster your weapons." a voice she's guessing is Dawn, says through the radio, Iris holsters her gun as they open the doors. They walk down the corridor, stopping a few feet away from the other group, Beth walking forward pushing Carol with her, "They haven't been harmed." Rick says.

"Where's Lamson?" Dawn asks, "Rotter's got him." "We saw it go down." the hostages say "Oh. I'm sorry to hear that. He was one of the good guys." Dawn says, and everybody goes quiet "One of yours for one of mine." she says "All right." Rick answers, nodding his head at Daryl "Move." Daryl says, pushing his hostage into the middle, a cop from the other side taking the handles from Beth and rolling Carol to meet the man.

Iris moves in to take Carol's bag from Daryl as he wheels Carol over to our group, Iris turns and watches as Rick takes the last hostage, meeting Dawn in the middle with Beth. Rick grabs onto Beth, checking she's okay, hugging her slightly before walking back to the others, "Glad we could work things out." Dawn says, Beth walks up to Daryl and Iris, Daryl places his hand on her back comfortingly, while Iris grabs her hand smiling at the girl who smiles back.

"Yeah." Rick replies before continuing to walk off, "Now I just need Noah." Dawn says Iris stops and lets go of Beth's hand and turns back to the woman, "And then you can leave." she adds "That wasn't part of the deal." Iris snaps, "Noah was my ward. Beth took his place and I'm losing her, so I need him back." Dawn answers, Iris walks closer to the woman Rick following closely "Ma'am, please, it's not..." one of the cops tries from behind "Shepherd!... My officers put their lives on the line to find him. One of them died." she says "No, he ain't staying." Daryl says walking over to Rick and Iris.

"He's one of mine. You have no claim on him." Dawn says "The boy wants to go home, so you have no claim on him." Iris snaps, "Well, then we don't have a deal." "The deal is done." Rick says Noah walks towards them "It's okay." he says, but Rick stops him from going further, "No. No." Rick says looking at the boy "I got to do it." Noah says, handing his gun to Rick, "It's not okay." Beth says.

"It's settled." Dawn says and Noah walks towards her, "Wait!" Beth says, running past the others before they could stop her, Beth grabs onto Noah, pulling him into a hug "It's okay." he says to the girl "I knew you'd be back." Dawn says, slowly Iris grabs onto her gun, lifting it out of the holster and holding it by her side, Beth pulls away from the boy and gets closer to dawn "I get it now." the young girl says, lifting her hand up and stabbing something into the cop, and time starts moving slow.

Before Iris can move, a gunshot echoes through the halls, her ears begin to ring, as she watches the young girl in front of her fall to the floor, without thinking she drops her gun and runs to the girl, dropping down to her knees next to her, as she cries. Beth's lifeless eyes staring up at her as Iris cradles her bleeding head, the woman flinches slightly as another gunshot sounds, the cop falling to the floor next to her and suddenly everything around her becomes normal again.

"No! Hold your fire!" One of the cops shouts "It's over. It was just about her. Stand down." She adds, Iris gently closes Beth's eyes, looking up at Rick and Daryl, both men broken and angry. "I'm sorry" Iris whispers, stroking Beth's cheek "I'm so sorry". Everything goes quiet, the only sounds heard are the sobs of the group, Iris looks up to Daryl, his lip shaking as tears fall down his cheeks.

"You can stay." Shepherd says "We're surviving here. It's better than out there." another man says "No... And I'm taking anyone back there who wants to leave... If you want to come with us... just step forward now." Rick says, his voice laced with grief.

Rick walks over to Iris, gently grabbing her shoulders and pulling her up, she watches as Daryl picks the girl's lifeless body up, his pain and crying hurting Iris, as she wishes that it was her and not Beth. Iris moves away from Rick, picking up her gun and leading the way out of the hospital, Rick walking close behind her.

As Iris walks closer to the exit her heart breaks more as she watches Maggie and the others make their way to the hospital, she slowly opens the door walking through. She stops walking, her legs not working anymore, as she watches Maggie's heartbreak, looking at her sister's lifeless body being carried out of the hospital. The sounds of her screams plaguing Iris's mind, as she watches her friend fall to the ground, Rick quickly moves to Iris holding onto her as he notices her grief take over her body, she watches as Maggie cries, not noticing that she was also crying, her eyes red and her face stained with tears, blood covering her hands and knees.