Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter Ninety-three.

Welcome to where you're going.

"Hey Maggie" Iris says, stepping onto the room in the RV, "you ready?" she asks "yeah" maggie says, her voice tired and weak, Iris grabs the rifle and walks out of the RV with Carl, the others slowly carry Maggie out, Iris scans the area with her gun high and she starts leading the group with Carl making sure it's clear and leaving Eugene behind.

She pulls out her knife as they run, driving it into the head of a walker, pulling it out and continuing to move, "I heard what you told her when we were leaving. We can do anything, 'cause we'll do anything we need to do. We have and we will. What happened to Denise, I'm not gonna let anybody die like that again." Carl says to his dad and Iris, "Son..." Rick says "What?" he asks. Iris stops walking, blocking off the others from walking, whistles start echoing through the trees, Iris turns in every direction trying to find the source of the sound.

"Go! Go!" Rick says and they start running through the woods, the whistles follow them as they make their way into a clearing, suddenly a bright light shines in their faces, Iris grabs onto Carl and pulls him behind her as she raises her gun, the whistling becomes louder and constant. Iris looks around for somewhere to go but they're surrounded by saviours, she looks around at them all and stops when her eyes fall onto Eugene, kneeling in front of some of them.

"Good. You made it." the leader says, walking out of the shadows, "Welcome to where you're going. We'll take your weapons. Now." he says pointing his gun at Carl, Iris steps to the side slightly, making the gun point at her, "We can talk about–" Rick tries "We're done talking. Time to listen." the leader says, his men start walking over to the group, Iris glares at the man standing in front of her as he starts ripping her weapons from her and taking her backpack from her.

Iris looks back at Carl as the leader takes the boys weapons "That's yours, right? Yeah, it's yours." he says getting into the boys face, he flicks Carls hat up and moves away, "Okay. Let's get her down and get you all on your knees. Lots to cover." he orders, "Hold up. We got it." Abraham says when the strangers try to touch Maggie, "Sure, sure."

Together they help her up and lower her onto her knees, "Gonna need you on your knees." the leader says to Rick, Iris drops onto her knees next to Carl, keeping him close to her, "Dwight!" the man calls out, "Yeah." "Chop-chop." Iris watches the blonde man walk over to one of the vans, "Come on. You got people to meet." Dwight says, Iris looks at the people he was talking to.

No.

The men drag Daryl, Michonne, Rosita and Glenn out, throwing them onto the floor, Iris looks over at Daryl catching his eyes, tears flood her eyes as her breathing becomes shaky, all she wants to do is protect her family but she's stuck. "Maggie?" Glenn says, Iris looks away from Daryl to see Glenn getting pushed back onto the floor, "On your knees!" Dwight orders.

Iris blinks away her tears and straightens her back, sitting up on her knees, "All right! We got a full boat. Let's meet the man." Iris watches the man with the moustache knock on the RV door and walks back over to the side, the door swings open and a man steps out but stands in the shadows "Pissing our pants yet?" he questions.

He slowly walks closer to the group, the light shining on him, "Boy, do I have a feeling we're getting close." he says, Iris watches him walk closer to Eugene, slowly walking along the line and looking at them all, "Yep. It's gonna be pee-pee pants city here real soon. Which one of you pricks is the leader?" he questions "It's this one. He's the guy." the man with moustache says pointing at Rick.

"Hi. You're Rick, right? I'm Negan. And I do not appreciate you killing my men. Also, when I sent my people to kill your people for killing my people, you killed more of my people. Not cool. Not cool. You have no idea how not cool that shit is. But I think you're gonna be up to speed shortly. Yeah. You are so gonna regret crossing me in a few minutes. Yes, you are. You see, Rick, whatever you do, no matter what, you don't mess with the new world order. And the new world order is this, and it's really very simple. So, even if you're stupid, which you very may well be, you can understand it. You ready? Here goes. Pay attention." Negan explains.

Iris stays tall and never takes her eyes off the man, "Give me your shit... or I will kill you. Today was career day. We invested a lot so you would know who I am and what I can do. You work for me now. You have shit, you give it to me. That's your job. Now, I know that is a mighty big, nasty pill to swallow, but swallow it you most certainly will. You ruled the roost. You built something. You thought you were safe. I get it. But the word is out. You are not safe. Not even close. In fact, you are pegged, more pegged if you don't do what I want. And what I want is half your shit." he continues.

Iris balls her hands into fists, gripping tightly as she listens to the man "And if that's too much, you can make, find, or steal more, and it'll even out sooner or later. This is your way of life now. The more you fight back, the harder it will be. So, if someone knocks on your door..." he says laughing slightly "...you let us in. We own that door. You try to stop us and we will knock it down. You understand? What, no answer?" he questions getting closer to Rick.

"You don't really think that you were gonna get through this without being punished, now, did you? I don't want to kill you people. Just want to make that clear from the get-go. I want you to work for me. You can't do that if you're dead, now, can you? I'm not growing a garden. But you killed my people, a whole damn lot of them. More than I'm comfortable with. And for that, for that you're gonna pay. So, now... I'm gonna beat the holy hell outta one of you. This-- this is Lucille, and she is awesome." he says, showing them the bat in his hand, wrapped in barbed wire.

"All this, all this is just so we can pick out which one of you gets the honor. Huh. Ugh, I gotta shave this shit." he says, standing in front of Abraham, he slowly walks and stands in front of Carl "You got one of our guns." he says crouching down in front of the boy, Iris watches the man closely, "Whoa. Yeah. You got a lot of our guns." he says. "Shit, kid, lighten up. At least cry a little." he adds watching Carls face stay cold, he looks at Iris and thinks for a minute about why she looks so familiar until he remembers.

Negan stands and slowly walks back down the line "Jesus. You look shitty. I should just put you out of your misery right now." Neagan says, looking down at Maggie and raising his bat, "No! No!" Glenn shouts, lunging to his wife, Dwight stops him and starts hitting him "Stop it!" Maggie pleads "Nope. Nope, get him back in line." Negan orders and Dwight drags him back. "Don't. Don't." Glenn cries out, "All right, listen. Don't any of you do that again. I will shut that shit down, no exceptions. First one's free. It's an emotional moment, I get it. Sucks, don't it? The moment you realise you don't know shit. This is your kid, right?" Negan asks, stepping closer to Carl.

"This is definitely your kid." he says, laughing slightly, and looking at Iris as anger flashes in her eyes, "Just stop this!" Rick yells "Hey! Do not make me kill the little future serial killer. Don't make it easy on me. I gotta pick somebody. Everybody's at the table waiting for me to order." he says before whistling and walking to the beginning of the line "I simply cannot decide. I got an idea." he says.