Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Sixty-two.

A latch?

Iris slowly stands, looking around at everyone as they sleep, she steps over everyone and makes her way up the stairs. She walks into the bathroom, turning on the light and closing the door behind her, she moves to the sink and looks in the mirror, dirt covering her face and clothes. She looks down at the dirt and blood staining her legs, she turns to the shower and slowly turns it on, she kicks off her boots, and pulls her socks off before she unbuckles her belt and pulls her shorts down leaving her in her t-shirt and underwear.

Iris looks at the scars littering her upper thigh, looking back in the mirror she lifts her top off, her eyes flicker to the scars covering her stomach and peaking out of her bra, she takes off her underwear and slowly steps into the shower, lowering herself down and letting the water hit her back as she sits with her knees to her chest. As she lets the water wash over her she lets her emotions out, quietly sobbing to herself.

What she didnt know is Daryl had woken up downstairs and noticed she wasn't there anymore. He slowly gets up and hears the shower running upstairs, he quietly climbs the steps and stops outside of the bathroom door, as he stands there he hears the quiet sobs coming from the woman inside. His heart and mind fight each other, his heart wanting to go in there and comfort the woman, but his mind wanting him to let her be. After a short battle his mind wins and he forces himself to go outside to smoke a cigarette.

After a while Iris wipes her eyes and slowly stands up, she wraps a towel around her and picks up her clothes before walking out of the bathroom, the slowly walks down the hallway towards one of the rooms to see if there was anything in there she could wear, "hey" Carol whispears from behind Iris, the red head quickly turns to the woman, growing insecure about the scars on her back that are now very visible, "hi" Iris whispers nervously.

"I put some fresh underwear and clothes on the bed for you" Carol says, trying to act as if she hadn't seen the woman's scars, "i'll wash your other clothes today" she adds, "thanks" Iris says, the two stand and stare at each other until Carol realises that Iris won't move until she's not there anymore. "Right , i'll see you in a bit" Carol says, turning and walking away, Iris turns and walks into the room shutting the door behind her, she walks over to the window as the sun peeks through and she closes the blinds.

On the bed lay a new bra and pants, underneath them lay a pair of shorts and a tank top, she puts on the underwear before pulling on the shorts and the top, she puts on her belt and her socks and boots before walking back downstairs, noticing that everyone has gone off to do their own things. She grabs her back pack and pulls out her leg holster, strapping it to her thigh.

"Hey, you showered" Rick says from behind her, "yeah i did" the woman says, keeping her back to him and shoving her things into her bag, Rick looks down at the woman and notices the woman's scars peeking out from the openings of her top, he reaches down and grabs her coat, she watches him as he holds it out in front of her, "you might want to wear it" he says, Iris realises what he means and quickly takes her jacket from him and pulls it on.

"Thanks" she says, putting on her backpack, "see you in a bit" she adds walking out of the house and to the pantry, Iris stands in front of the open garage and sees a woman sorting through the shelves "hi, you're Iris, right?" the woman asks, "I'm Olivia... uhm what can i get you?" she asks when Iris just stares at her, "i'm here for my gun" Iris says, Olivia thinks for a minute and Iris speaks again "i'm going out" "okay follow me" the woman says and leads Iris into a different room, Iris looks through all the guns and picks out her handgun.

"Do you want a riffle as well?" Olivia asks, watching Iris slide her gun into her leg holster, "nah i'm good" Iris says, walking out of the building and to the gates, she watches as they open and she walks into the woods, making her way to the meeting spot.

"Sorry i'm late" Iris says, walking up to Rick, Carol and Daryl, "it's okay" Rick says, "We won't be here long. So what do you think?" he asks, "We can go in when it's empty." Carol says, "How is that? It's locked up at night." Rick asks, "The window. There's just a latch. I can leave it open." she explains "A latch?" Rick asks confused, "Yeah." "What if one of those pricks shuts it?" Daryl questions, "Wait a couple of days, leave it open again." Iris says.

"It's getting closer." Daryl says, moving his attention to a walker, "We need to do it sooner than later. Right now, they're not watching us. Not worrying about meetings like this. We may need the guns, we may not." Rick explains, "We will whatever way it goes." Carol says, "They're the luckiest damn people I ever met. And they just keep getting luckier." Rick says.

"How's that?" Daryl asks, "We're here now." Rick says "They've got a couple of footlockers just full of 9 millimetre autos, Rugers, Kel-Tecs. Just tossed in there. They don't use them. They're never gonna know they're gone." Iris says, thinking back to all the guns. "Someone's got one now, right?" Daryl asks "Mmm. Listen, the others, we want them to try." Rick sas "You, too." Carol says looking at Daryl and Iris, "So we keep it quiet. Just us." Rick says.

"Here it comes." he warns, looking up at the walker making it's way over to them, Daryl moves to get rid of it, but Carol stops him "Hey, wait." she says, raising her gun and shooting the walker a few times, "We said we were taking me out shooting. I couldn't go back with a full mag." she says lowering her gun again, "Lucky he came by." Daryl jokes "We should get back." Rick says and they start walking back "You'll pull the latch, we'll pick our moment. Us, we don't need to be lucky." he adds.