Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Four.

Flute.

Iris slowly opens her eyes and looks around at her surroundings “did you sleep on the porch?” Judith asks, standing at the bottom of the steps and looking up at Iris, “how long have you been watching me?” Iris asks, “long enough to see you sleepin on the porch” Judith says, walking up the steps and sitting next to Iris.

Iris looks out at the community watching as people work, “i’m sorry i haven’t been here kid” Iris mumbles, picking the skin around her nails “it’s okay. You're here now” Juniper says.

…………

Iris follows Judith as she walks towards Gabriel and Siddiq handing things to the strangers, “Sorry, guys. If I knew we were gonna be booted as soon as I recovered, I would've hit my head a bit harder.” one of the women says “You know, it's not too late.” the other jokes, Iris watches two of them use sign language “Doc. Thank you.” the man says, shaking Siddiq's hand and walking over to Gabriel “Thank you for your hospitality.” he says shaking his hand.

Iris watches as he walks over to her and Judith “Especially you. Thank you.” he says, as they walk towards the gates, Iris slows down when she sees Michonne riding the horse over to them, “Change of plans.” she says, sitting on the horse in front of them, Iris watches her throw something to Judith, she looks down and smiles as she sees the little sheriff action figure in Judith's hands.

“There's a place a lot like this one. The leader might take you in. I'll escort you personally, talk to her.” Michonne explains “You're gonna take them to Hilltop?” Siddiq asks, Iris looks at them confused at their shock, “With you. You gotta keep an eye on your patient till we get there… and Iris, need our old road companion” Michonne says, Iris nods yes.

………

Iris sits in the trailer, keeping her eyes on the tree line as they make their way down the road, “How much further have the patrols cleared?” Michonne asks “'Til the Route D river bend. Their rig's about five miles past that. If their story checks out.” Iris keeps her eyes on the trees, gripping her knife tight in her lap, she’s too focused to hear any of the conversations.

Everyone watches as she stands up, raising her bow and pulling her arrow towards her. She aims her weapon at a squirrel climbing a tree, she watches the stick pierce the creature and jumps out of the slow moving trailer, she pulls the arrow from the tree pulling the animal with it.

Iris walks back over to the trailer as it continues to move down the road, she throws the dead animal on the floor of the old truck bed and sits back down, laying her bow down next to it.

………

“Oh, no. No, no, no, no. Sickos tore the damn place up.” Luke says, Iris looks around at the mess “Look at this place.” “I didn't think it would be this bad. Is this all that's left?” Yumico says, Iris stays in the trailer and watches as everyone gets out, she pulls a cigarette she had already rolled out of her pocket, lifting her lighter and lighting the stick,

“DJ, collect all their weapons.” Michonne says “Hell, no. We're taking what's ours.” Iris holds her cigarette between her lips and points her bow at the woman “No.” Michonne says “I'm not letting my people take five armed strangers into Hilltop.” Michonne adds “Your people? What about you?”

“I came to see if your story checks out. It does. Siddiq, Iris and DJ will take you the rest of the way.” Michonne explains “So not only have you not been to this place in who knows how long, you aren't coming with us and we can't have our weapons?” the woman Iris is pointing her bow at says, “You want your weapons, take them. Then you're on your own out here.” Michonne says.

“Michonne…” Siddiq tries “You want an escort to Hilltop, a chance at something better, they stay with us.” Michonne snaps, “I vote for the second one.” Luke says, Iris lowers her weapon and points it to the floor “So we're just supposed to trust her if she doesn't even trust us?”

“I mean, guys, we... We made it this long. I-I say we take our chances out there.” “Nope. Second one. You with me? Second one?” Iris pulls her cigarette from her lips and ignores everyone's arguing, “Sun'll be down soon. We should find shelter.” Iris says, looking at the position of the sun.

…………

Iris quickly opens her eyes and stands up, raising the knife that was already in her hand, “michonne?” She questions looking around for the woman, Iris runs and stops behind Michonne as she stands over Luke, crying as he holds onto a broken violin, Iris sighs as she lowers her knife, she’s starting to miss being out on the road alone.

Iris lays back down on the floor, resting her head on her backpack and laying her cap over her face, “T-This is... This is unbelievable. It's utterly unbelievable.” Luke says, Iris lets out a sigh as she tries to get to sleep “Listen, I…” “Do you... Do you know what this is? This is... This is an original Stradivarius, circa 89.” “Circa 89. He found it in a mansion outside of Philadelphia before it was overrun by sickos. In the kid's room, of all places.”

“Like the kid was gonna miss it.” “What? Oh, so you've been travelling with a... a collection of instruments all this time? Why?” Siddiq asks, “It's art.” “Here we go.” “Look, for a very long time, historians and archeologists have wondered how did ancient humans survive the Neanderthals? Okay? How did we defeat them when they were bigger and they were smarter and they were stronger, faster? They had better tools than us. So why are we still here and they're not? And then they found a cave. Okay? And in that cave, they found a 40,000-year-old flute.”

“A flute?” Siddiq asks “Yes. A flute. Yeah. And then they realised that maybe ancient humans didn't defeat Neanderthals. Not in the way that we think of the word "defeat," okay? They came together as an answer to defeat. They sat around a campfire. They shared their stories with each other in the form of music. And paintings. And... And they created a... a common identity. And then they, you know, they... they built communities, and they grew.”

“And... And then, as they grew, Neanderthal retreated, and then, after a while, they just died out. So this, yeah. This. This. This is the one thing that separates us from the animals. For better or for worse, it brings us together. And if we're trying to rebuild something, you can't ignore that.” Luke explains.

“After everything you've seen and done, you still believe that's all it'll take?” Michonne asks, “Yeah. It's survival of the fittest. Sharing with each other... that's part of what makes us stronger.” Luke says, Iris turns on her side and let's sleep takes over her body.