Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter 120.

I believe in you kid.

"You up for this?" Daryl asks, looking at Michonne sat next to him in the truck "I came here 'cause I wanted to see things for myself. I wanted to know that things were gonna work. But you know what? I don't get to know that. None of us do. What I do know is that things are working now. So maybe... we just need to trust that things are gonna keep working, because this... what we're about to do... it's not worth risking us." Michonne explains.

"It is for me... Just is." Daryl admits "I hope it works. I-I really, really do, but I-I can't do it. I just can't." Michonne says, looking over at Daryl, "Then you shouldn't." he says, Michonne thinks for a minute before climbing out of the truck and walking away.

........

Iris sits on the porch steps, watching the smoke of her cigarette fly in the air around her, "did you do it?" she questions, glancing up at Daryl as he walks over to her, "yeah" he mumbles, Iris looks down at the road in front of her, she lets out a sigh before standing up, "you mad at me?" he asks "yeah" Iris snaps, turning and looking at him, "you could've gotten hurt! You could've been killed!" she shouts.

Daryl stands there watching the hurt look on her face as she yells at him, "I know you needed to do it but I need you to live! I can't lose anyone else! Not you! Not Rick! Or Carl and Judith! I can't lose anyone else!" Iris shouts, "'m sorry" Daryl says, stepping closer to her, Iris pinches the bridge of her nose before turning and walking away from Daryl.

"Hey deputy" Iris smiles sitting down next to Judith, "we'll be back soon" she says, kissing the girl on the head, Iris stands up and looks around for Carl, "Michonne, wheres Carl?" she questions, "he's up in his room" Michonne says, Iris walks away and starts making her way to the boys room.

"Hey" Carl says, looking up at Iris as she enters his room, he quickly closes his book and puts it on the floor next to him, "hey" Iris says, sitting down on the floor in front of him. "Whats up?" he asks, "we havent spoken properly in a while. I'm sorry" she says "thats okay, we've been busy" Carl says "how are you doin'?" Iris asks him.

"I'm fine. How are you?" he lies "im fine" Iris says, she looks at the boy in front of her and smiles "so, you and Enid?" Iris questions watching the boy go shy "it's good, your a teenager" she says, "what about you and Daryl?" Carl asks "i dont know" Iris mumbles, looking down at her hands in her lap.

"How have you grown up into such an incredible person?" Iris questions, looking at the boy again, "i had you teaching me and protecting me" Carl says, "i love you kid" Iris says, she stands up and kisses him on the top of the head, smiling down at him and walking towards the door, "i love you mom" he says, Iris looks back at him and smiles.

.......

Iris looks up at the night sky, waiting for the others so they can leave, the sound of something hitting against the gate echos through the air.

"You may be wondering why the hell your lookouts didn't sound the alarm. See, we are polite. I mean, I don't know when they're gonna wake up from that kinda shot, but they should wake up. So let's just cut through the cow shit -- you lose. It's over. So you're gonna line up in front of your little houses, and you're gonna work up some apologies, and then the person with the lamest one is gonna get killed. Then I kill Rick in front of everybody, and we move on. You have three -- count 'em, three minutes to open this gate, or we start bombing the shit out of you!"

Iris looks across the street to Daryl and the others, as the saviours whistle Iris thinks back to that night, she watches the gate as the others start to get ready, Daryl runs over to her and grabs onto her arm, pulling her with him.

Iris moves next to Carl, shoving supplies into her backpack "We need to make it look like we're escaping out back. Get to the woods, halfway to the quarry, and cut the lights. Get enough of a lead on them, hit them, and get away on foot. You know where we'll be. Just have to get the guns, get everyone else here, and we'll meet you there." Carl explains.

"Two minutes, people! Dig deep. I want these apologies to be memorable. Bonus points for creativity. Work up a poem, sing a song. I love that shit." Negan says through a mega phone, "Get going. There's gonna people in the infirmary. They're gonna need your help." Carl says, some of the people run off to help the people.

"Look, we got guns. We can fight them." Tara says "We will, but not now." Iris says "Carl's right." Rosita says, steeping up next to Iris, "Carl, we can't just let them have this place." Michonne says "We can. All you need to do is survive tonight. This is my show. You said it. This is my plan, and you're gonna do it. You're all gonna do it. So let's go!" Carl says running off, Iris following after him, while the others run the opposite way.

"One minute! One minute!" Negan announces, "i believe in you kid" Iris says, splitting off from him. "Okeydokey. Brought this on yourself, Rick. See, i was willing to work with you. All you had to do was follow a few very simple rules." Negan says, Iris grips onto her gun and climb onto the roof of the house, laying down with her rifle proped up and ready for them to move in.

"Now -- Well, now I see that you got to go. Scorched earth, you dick!" "He's not home." Carl announces, Iris listens closely as she readjusts the cap on her head, "Oh-ho-holy shit! Everybody hold your fire. It's Carl. Look at you. Answering the door like a big boy. I am so proud. Daddy's not home, huh? Well, I guess he's gonna get back to a big old smoky surprise." Negan says.

"There's families in here. Kids. My little sister." Carl says "Well, that shit just breaks my heart. There's kids at the Sanctuary. You must've seen 'em. Even had a little baby at one of the outposts. I wonder what happened to her. None of this shit's fair, kid. Hell, you know that. You had to kill your own mom. That is screwed up. Ergo, we need someone in charge who's willing to do whatever it takes to make sure that shit doesn't happen. Oh. Wait. That's me." Negan explains.

"Bad stuff does happen, but we can figure this out. We can stop this." Carl says "Oh, now you want to talk? See, your dad had it that I died, no matter what. He gave my people a choice. Not me. Now we're gonna need a new understanding. Apologies, punish–" Negan explains

"kill me." Carl says cutting the man off, Iris stands up, her heart stopping, she rushes to climb down from the roof "What did you say?" "If you have to kill someone, if there has to be punishment, then kill me. I'm serious." Carl explains, "You wanna die?" Negan asks.

"No, I don't. But I will. It's gonna happen. And i-- if me dying could stop this, if it can make things different -- for us, for you, for all those other kids – it'd be worth it. I mean, was this the plan? Was it supposed to be this way? Is this who you wanted to be?" Carl questions.