Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Fifty-three.

We Are The Walking Dead.

Iris looks down at the ground, watching as the blood and dirt from her skin fills the puddle at her feet, she watches everyone look up, catching the rain drops on their tongues, Iris takes her backpack off and pulls out her coat, walking over to Carl and Judith, and putting it over the boys shoulders, pulling it to cover Judith slightly.

She steps back from the kids, opening her water bottle and holding it out to catch the rain water. Iris looks around at everyone , Tara and Rosita laying on the floor laughing with each other, she moves her gaze to Glenn to see him crouched down smiling. But then she looks to Maggie and Sasha as they stare off into the distance, she moves her gaze to Daryl seeing his gaze locked on the floor.

The sound of the thunder becomes louder as it moves closer, Iris looks up at the clouds and then back at Rick "we should keep moving!" Iris shouts over the sounds of the storm, Rick nods at the woman "there's a barn!" Daryl yells as Judith cries, "where?!" Rick asks, and Daryl leads the group to the barn.

They make it into the barn and make sure it's clear, Iris walks through with her gun raised, looking around every corner and checking all the hiding spots. Everybody else enters and they barricade the door, Iris sits down in front of them, taking first watch and watching the others sit around and start a fire. She looks to Carl next to the group as he lays on the floor holding Judith and using Bear as a pillow as the three of them sleep peacefully.

She looks down at her gun and checks how many bullets she has left, she looks back up at the group again only to find eyes already on her, Daryl sat by the small fire, watching Iris, thinking about how it was before, how they would find comfort in each other and now she can't even look at him. When he realises she's watching him he looks back down at the floor.

Iris looks away, looking down at the cut on her thigh, she runs her thumb over the cut, ignoring the sting, and she leans her head back on the door as they fight against the wind, closing her eyes and listening to the conversation Rick was having with the others. "I asked my grandpa once if he ever killed any Germans in the war. He wouldn't answer. He said that was grown-up stuff, so... so I asked if the Germans ever tried to kill him. But he got real quiet..." Rick says looking into the flames.

"He said he was dead the minute he stepped into enemy territory... Every day he woke up and told himself, 'Rest in peace. Now get up and go to war.' And then after a few years of pretending he was dead... he made it out alive. That's the trick of it, I think. We do what we need to do and then we get to live. But no matter what we find in DC, I know we'll be okay. Because this is how we survive. We tell ourselves... that we are the walking dead." Rick says, silence falling over the barn, only the sound of the storm able to be heard.

"We ain't them." Daryl says, and Rick looks at his found brother, "We're not them. Hey. We're not." Rick says, trying to get Daryl to look at him, "We ain't them." Daryl says, standing and walking away from them. The storm suddenly gets stronger, the wind pushing the doors against Iris, she stands up and moves away from the doors, looking at Daryl as he stands next to her.

He walks up to the doors, placing his crossbow on the floor, he looks through the gap in the door, looking at Iris with concern before looking back outside. He quickly presses himself against the door, Iris runs next to him helping him hold the door shut, "it's a herd" he mumbles to the woman. Iris sees Maggie run next to Daryl, working with them to try and keep the door shut, then Sasha joins them followed by the rest of the group

Iris digs the heels of her boots into the ground trying to stop herself from slipping, but the rain mixed with the mud makes her slip. After a while, the wind calms down, and they take it in turns to sit on watch by the door. Iris lays down in the corner, placing her cap over her face and falling asleep.

.........

She opens her eyes to people talking, she notices that her hat had fallen in her sleep, so she looks next to her, finding Daryl and Magie sat talking. She watches as they smile for the first time since the hospital, she smiles to herself, before closing her eyes again and thinking to herself.

She opens her eyes again when she hears footsteps walk away, and she sees Daryl sitting by himself. Iris stands up and walks over to him, sitting down on the floor next to him, Daryl watches her as she looks off into the distance. Without saying anything Iris reaches down and grabs Daryl's hand, the man intertwines his fingers with her and watches her. Finding a little bit of life inside her eyes again, she leans her head on his shoulder and he rests his on top of her head, looking ahead at the group as they sleep.

Iris rubs her thumb across the back of Daryl's hand, looking down when she notices something, a small cigarette burn, her heart aches knowing that the man had done it to himself, he watches her from the corner of his eye as she gently rubs the burn, looking down at the cut on her thigh knowing she got it the same way he got the burn, happy they are finally finding comfort in each other again. The two sit in silence enjoying their time together again after missing it for so long.