Solitary: The Walking Dead

Chapter 135.

He'd be proud of you.

Rick steps out of the house and watches Iris walking away from the horse stables, he notices the woman's tired eyes glued to the floor as she walks towards the graveyard, "hey kid" Iris mumbles, sitting on the floor in between Carl and Bear's graves. "I just got back from the sanctuary... they're almost done fixing the windows" Iris mumbles, looking up at the dark sky.

"You'd be proud kid... everyone's working together, helping each other just like you wanted" she continues, she lets out a sigh, looking at the floor in front of her as she hears the man stand behind her, "how was the trip?" Rick questions, "it was fine" Iris says, keeping her eyes down on the floor.

"He'd be proud of you too" Rick says, Iris tries to swallow the lump in her throat, "Iris?" Rick questions, looking down at the woman, Iris slowly stands and walks towards Rick, keeping her head down as she stops next to him, "he'd be proud of you" Iris whispers, standing on her tiptoes and gently kissing Rick on the cheek before walking away.

Rick watches Iris slowly walk down the dark road, Iris steps into the house and spots Juniper sat on the sofa reading, she kicks her shoes off and hangs her coat over one of the chairs, "hey" Juniper chirps, Iris doesn't speak as she slowly walks over to her sister, sitting down and laying her head in Junipers lap.

"Are you okay?" the blonde questions, placing her book next to her and turning her attention to her sister, Iris stares at the wall in front of them, Juniper slowly strokes her sisters hair, Rick stands outside his house debating on going and checking on Iris, he shakes his head and lets out a sigh, turning and walking into her house.

He stops when he sees Juniper staring at him with concern and Iris lying on her lap, her face blank as he stares at the wall in front of her, "I'll be back" Juniper whispers, carefully standing up and leaving her sister on the sofa, Rick and Juniper step outside, shutting the front door in front of them, when the door closes Iris stands form the sofa and walks up the stairs to the bathroom, she locks the door before turning the shower on.

She slowly drops her clothes to the floor and steps into the shower, lowering her body to sit on the floor, letting the water gently hit her back, she hugs her knees to her chest and feels as her muscles slowly begin to relax.

"What's wrong with her?" Juniper questions, "I wish I knew" Rick says, crossing his arms and looking out at the community, "we just need to keep an eye on her. She'll talk eventually, she always does" Rick explains, "she's been like this before?" Juniper asks, looking up at the man, "yeah. But don't worry, she's strong. She'll get through this" Rick explains, Juniper nods and turns back into the house, Rick heads over to his house.

Juniper looks at the sofa and notices Iris is no longer there, "Iris?" she calls out, she listens to the sounds in the house and walks up to the bathroom hearing the shower running, "Iris?" She calls, quietly knocking on the door, "I'm fine" she says, loud enough for her sister to hear from the other side of the door, "okay, i'm going to bed. Call me if you need me" Junipers says, heading to her room.

After sitting in the shower for another hour Iris slowly stands from the floor and grabs a towel and wraps it around her body, picking up her clothes and walking down the hall to her room, "hey, how was your shower?" Iris quickly turns and looks at her sister, "it was good... i'm gonna go to sleep" Iris says, not moving, "okay, night" Juniper says going back into her room.

.......

"How are you doing?" Rick asks Iris as he catches up to her walking down the road, "i'm fine, i was just tired" Iris lies "you sure?" Rick questions, not believing her, "yeah, trust me i'm fine... I'm going hunting with Aaron so i'll see you later" Iris says tapping him on the shoulder and walking away, Iris walks into the armoury and grabs a bow and a quiver full of arrows,

She walks to the stables and starts getting the horses ready, with her bow and arrows on her back she climbs onto the horse, she holds the reins of both horses and makes her way to wait at the gate, "hey" Aaron says, putting his rifle on his back and climbing on the horse.

Iris leads the way into the woods, keeping slow and quiet, she holds up her hand and signals Aaron to stop, she lets go of the reins and takes her bow off her back, holding it in front of her, pulling out an arrow she aims it at the squirrel on a tree, they watch as the arrow goes through the small animal, pinning it to the tree.

Iris taps her foot against the horses stomach and moves towards the tree, pulling the arrow out and sliding the squirrel off the stick, Aaron hands her some rope, Iris takes it and ties it around the squirrel to it before sitting it over her shoulders, together they collect more squirrels before turning back and making their way back to Alexandria.

Iris skins the squirrels, letting Aaron get back to Gracie, Iris throws the meat into a large cooking pot and throws the bones and fur into a bucket. She looks up from the animal and watches the community working together, she notices someone standing down the road staring at her, Beth, Iris shakes her head and looks back down, continuing to skin the squirrels.

Over the next weeks Iris moves back and forth between Alexandria and the Sanctuary, working on trying to fix them, she tries her best to keep up with seeing Daryl but some weeks she becomes too busy.