Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Eighty-six.

Get further out.

Iris climbs into the bed of the truck she reaches into her back pocket and pulls out her pack of cigarettes and her lighter, lighting it she leans her head back against the truck cab. She watches the trees as they drive down the road, relaxing after a stressful day. After driving for hours they make it back to Alexandria, Iris jumps out of the truck and makes her way over to Carl and Judith as they stand waiting.

"Hey kid" she says, taking Judith from him and wrapping her free arm around him, "hey" he says hugging her back, "how'd it go?" he asks, "it was fine" Iris says kissing Judith on the head and handing her to Rick. Iris turns and see Daryl standing a few feet behind her, watching and waiting, she walks over to him and wraps her arms around his waist, hugging him tightly, "let's get you to bed" he mumbles, pulling away from her and holding onto her hand, he starts to lead her to Rick house, taking her up to her room.

She takes off her hat and belt putting them on the dresser, she unclips her holster and sits it with her other things. "What are you doin?" she asks, turning and seeing Daryl walking to the door, "leavin' you to sleep" he says, turning back and looking at her, "can you stay?" she asks, looking down at her hands and picking at her skin nervously, "i just... don't wanna be alone right now" she admits, "alright" Daryl says, stepping back into the room, Iris kicks off her boots, Daryl doing the same.

Daryl sits on the bed, leaning his back against the headboard and laying his feet out in front of him, Iris sits down next to him, she cuddles up into his side and lays her head on his chest as he wraps his arm around her. She listens as Daryl's heart pounds against his chest, her eyelids begin to grow heavy as she listens to the song of his heart beat and she finally falls asleep. Daryl listens to her soft sleeping breathing, he looks out the window slowly falling asleep.

.........

Iris opens her eyes, looking around she forgets where she was until she feels the arms wrapped around her, when she relaxes she looks at the sleeping man. "Daryl" she whispers, his eyes shoot open and he looks at her, "what is it?" he grumbles, looking around the room and making sure nothing was wrong, "i gotta go" she says, he looks out the window to see the sun hadn't come up yet, "where?" he asks, "I'm teaching Aaron to track" she says "be safe" he says, taking his arms from around her, She slowly gets up off the bed.

She looks down at him as he watches her, she smiles down at him, "you should sleep some more" she whispers, walking over to the dresser, putting on her belt, cap and holster before slipping on her shoes, Daryl watches as she quietly walks out of the room, he lays back again, missing the warmth she was bringing him. Iris carefully opens the door for Carl's room, "Carl. Get ready" she whispers loud enough for him to hear her in his sleep, "why?" he questions, sitting up and looking at her, "just do it" she says, she closes the door and heads down stairs waiting for Carl.

The boy walks down the stairs a few minutes later and they make their way out of the house, "walk ahead" Iris says, pulling out a cigarette and lighting it, "why?" the boy asks, "because you cant breath this in" Iris says. Iris walks down the street smoking her cigarette, Carl doing as he's told and walking ahead of her, she throws the finished Cigarette on the floor before walking up the porch steps of Aaron and Eric's house, she gently knocks on the door and waits a few minutes until Aaron opens the front door "hey" he says stepping out of the house and closing the door behind him. "Are you ready?" she asks "yes i am" Aaron says, they walk down the porch steps and towards the gate, "where are you two going?" the guard at the gate questions, "hunting" Iris says, the man nods and slides open the gate.

They make their way into the woods, "so what are we going to be learning today?" Aaron asks quietly, "i'm gonna show you how to track prey. Kill them efficiently and use every part of them" Iris explains "are you going to show us how to do that thing with the fur?" Carl asks excitedly, the woman thinks back to the last time she was able to do that, back at the farm, "yeah" Iris says.

She stops and looks down at the floor, "Carl tell me what's going on here" Iris says, Carl and Aaron both look at the ground , inspecting it and trying to figure out what the woman was seeing, "a rabbit?" Carl questions unsure, "yeah" Iris says, she crouches down "see here?" Iris asks, pointing to the prints and looking up at Aaron, "they're light. Meaning the rabbit is moving fast" Iris says, standing up they start walking again.

After a few hours of walking more the sun had risen and they hadn't been able to get anything, after a while of silence Iris speaks up "I think tomorrow we'll need to head out in a car. Get further out. That okay with you two?" she asks, "of course" Aaron says "im in" Carl says, "we should probably head back now" she says and they all start walking back to Alexandria. "How did it go?" Eugene asks opening the gate for them, "nothin'" Iris say, she walks to the graveyard and stops in front of Bears grave, she kisses her hand and places it on the plaque with his name on it, "miss you buddy" she says.