Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Fifty-nine.

Let's explore.

Iris and Rick sat together for a short time before going back inside and laying down again, Iris doesn't go to sleep though, she lays with her eyes open, staring up at the ceiling letting her mind run wild. The air feels empty without the soft snores of Bear. her body feels cold without him sleeping next to her. And her heart feels lost without him.

Iris watches as the sun begins to rise, peeking through the curtains, she listens as the group begins to wake up. Looking to her side she watches Daryl as he stirs, his eyes fluttering open to find hers. The woman stands and walks back out to the porch, sitting in the corner with her back against the banister she reaches into her pocket and pulls out her cigarettes and lighter.

Daryl walks out not long after and takes a seat next to her, bringing his knees up and resting his arms on his knees, Iris hands him a cigarette and her lighter and the man takes it. They watch as the group starts to leave, "They said explore. Let's explore." Rick says, stepping onto the porch and looking down at the two "Nah, I'll stay." Daryl says Rick looks to Iris "same" she says.

"All right." Rick says, stopping at the top of the stairs, looking around at the people walking around living their life as if the dead aren't walking, "Lori and me, we used to drive through neighbourhoods like this. Thinking, "One day..." Rick says "Well, here we are." Daryl says, Iris looks down at the floor as she continues to smoke her cigarette.

"We'll be back." Rick says walking away and leaving them alone, "did you get any sleep?" Daryl asks, looking at the woman next to him, "a bit" she says, she looks up at the man and sees the concern on his face. "Iris!" someone calls from over the road, the two look over to see Deanna walking over to them "i'm glad i found you... I was wondering if we could talk" she says.

Iris looks over to Daryl and then back to Deanna "it won't take long i promise" Deanna says, noticing the unsure look on Iris's face, Daryl leans closer to the woman and whispers in her ear "i'll be here" he says, Iris takes one last drag of her cigarette before pressing it into the floor before standing up.

Iris follows the woman into her house and into the office, "can i get you anything?" Deanna asks, walking to her camera "nah. Im good" Iris mumbles looking around, "why're you filming this?" Iris asks, watching the woman sit down after pressing record, "it's just something we like to do here. I do it for everyone" Deanna says, watching Iris nervously look around.

Iris sits down on the chair in front of the woman, "how are you settling in?" Deanna asks, "i'm fine" "I've got a job for you" Deanna says, Iris stares at the woman waiting to see what she says, "i've been thinking about it and i've decided that the best role for you is to train our people, i want you to be a cop", Iris stares at her lost for a moment, "what do you think?" Deanna asks, but when the woman doesn't reply she speaks up again.

"Let me ask you a question... Why do you think I shouldn't let you in our walls?" Deanna asks, Iris thinks for a minute before breaking the silence, "I was a cop before all this and now I will do anything to protect my group... I don't care who it hurts and I don't care if it hurts me" "give me an example" Deanna says, iris thinks for a while and then decides to speak "one night we got in trouble... Michonne and Rick were being held at gunpoint... I had a man on top of me holding me down on the ground and Daryl was getting beaten to death... i saw a man takin advantage of Carl... so i did what i had to do" "and what was that?" "I dug my thumbs into his eyes and smashed his head against the concrete floor as he screamed," Iris says looking up from her hands.

"Then I took my knife and moved over to the men attacking Daryl, I drove my blade into his back before dragging it down... we had cops as hostages for a trade... one of them escaped and I shot him in the head as he lay on the ground with a broken back... i will kill anyone that hurts my family" Iris says "I think you've done what you need to do to survive. I'll let you think about the job some more" Deanna says, standing and turning off the camera.

Iris walks out of the house and down the street to the house, "hey" Daryl says, his voice gruff, "hey" she replies sitting down next to him, "what did she want?" he asks, "she has a job for me. She wants me to be a cop again" Iris says, rubbing her hands down her face, leaning into the man's body and bringing her knees up to her chest, he reaches his arm out and wraps it around her "you gonna do it?" he asks "i dunno".

"I'm gonna go to the grave in a minute" Iris says, listening to the man's heart beat as she leans into him, "mmm" he hums before standing up pulling her up with him and walking with her to the grave. The two stand in front of the fresh grave, looking down at it, Iris crouches down placing her hand on the dirt, Daryl quickly turns his head when he sees someone walking towards them, Iris stands and looks at the person, Aaron stops in front of the two with a bunch of flowers.

"Sorry. I wanted to bring these for Bear" he says, Iris turns back to the grave and crouches down again, Aaron carefully steps closer and places the flowers on top of the grave, standing back up with Daryl, "thank you" Iris says, kissing her hand and pressing it to the dirt again before standing and walking back to the house with Daryl walking close behind her.