Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Fifty-nine.

Failed.

Iris stands next to Pope, listening to Frost's screams as he gets tortured, "Tell us where they are!" Carver demands, Iris looks up as Leah and Daryl make their way towards them, "My dance card's wide open, man. We got all day." Carver says.

"This bother you?" Pope asks, looking over at Daryl, "I've done worse." Daryl says, "Why don't you take a turn, then? Speed things up for me." Pope says opening the door, Iris watches Daryl walk into the room, she follows behind Pope, "All right. I'm up." Daryl says.

"Like hell you are!" Carver snaps, Iris watches him back down when Pope stares at him, Daryl stands in front of Frost, staring down at the beaten man, "Well, are we just gonna stand here staring at each other dreamily or are we gonna get to it?" Frost questions.

Daryl stands behind the man, wrapping his arm around his neck, pulling back and choking him, "Hey, you kill him, the two of us are gonna have a problem!" Carver yells, Daryl lets go of Frost, "Don't need a babysitter. I know what I'm doing." Daryl says.

"Just give 'em a location, where your friends are hiding. You do that, this all goes away." Daryl says, "That's, uh... That's a good offer. Or... and hear me out... you all could go eat shit instead." Frost says, Daryl punches the man in the face, "Just a thought." Frost coughs.

"I've already gone through these steps. Maybe we start taking pieces." Carver says, Iris watches again as the man backs down when Pope stares at him, "You do what you gotta do." Frost says.

Pope looks back at Leah, "Give him a knife." he says, Iris watches Daryl walk past her and take his knife, her focus is drawn to Carver as she watches him hold something behind his back, "I don't think you understand. I'm the best shot you got." Daryl says, "Why? We "friends" now?" Frost asks.

"No. Not 'cause we're friends. 'Cause I'm the one holding the knife." Daryll says, Iris keeps her eyes on Carver and she realises he's holding onto his gun, "Yeah. And your buddy's the one holding the gun." Frost says, Daryl punches Frost, "Shut up! Shut up and listen to me. I know you're close to her. The leader. Close enough to know where they're hidin'." Daryl says, getting close to Frost's face.

He moves back and grabs onto Frost's finger, holding his blade to the limb, Iris catches Pope nodding to Carver, the man holds his gun in front of him "No one needs to die in here. So just say a location so we can all walk away happy." Daryl says.

"Go to hell, assho..." Daryl presses his knife down, slicing off Frost's finger, "Location! Or I take another!" he shouts over the man's screams, "I can't!" "Location!" "No! No! Please stop!" "Location!" "Yellow house! Town off the. Antenna. Antenna. Antenna. Antenna." the man cries, Daryl stands back.

"Is that good enough?" Daryl asks, "I can scout it out." Leah says, "Take a squad. Three of you. See if our friend speaks truth." Pope says, Iris stays quiet as she wonders why she isn't going with, "You want us to take him?" Carver asks, Pope looks over at him and Carver walks away.

Daryl stands in front of Iris and Pope, holding his knife out in front of them, Pope shakes his head and Daryl walks away, "wait for me outside" Pope says to Iris, she nods to him before stepping out of the room.

She stands outside and listens to the man as he tourters Frost, the weight of her ring in her pocket grabs her attention, she pulls it out and looks down at it, letting out a small sigh.

..........

Iris follows Pope back to the room from last night, "how's your leg?" the man questions, sitting down, Iris stays stood, looking down at him, "it's fine" Iris mumbles.

"Sit" the man says, pointing to the chair opposite him, Iris sits down "tell me a story from your cop days" Pope says, leaning back in his chair, Iris looks down at the floor, thinking about what she would say, "i had this call once. Dispatch didn't know anything other than shots fired. I was on call when I heard it over the radio, I got my gun and put on my vest and headed there" Iris explains.

She lets out a sigh "I was first on scene. There was a broken window, the front door was open and all I could hear was shouting, a woman was screaming and there was a baby crying. I radioed dispatch and they told me to wait but i couldnt... when i walked into the house there was blood everywhere... there was a young boy, 14, he had a rifle pointed at a body on the floor." Iris continues.

She picks at the skin around her nails, "the woman screaming was his mother, she was covered in her own blood, bruises all over her. And the man on the floor was his dad, he was still hanging on. I told him to drop the weapon but he didn't. He told me that he was done letting his dad hurt his family" Iris says.

"Just drop the gun" Iris says, gripping her gun as she stays back, "I cant!" the boy cries, "i'm done with him hurting us" he adds, "what's your name?" Iris asks.

"Jamie" the boy says, "Jamie i'm Iris" Iris says, she takes a small step towards the boy, keeping her gun pointed at him, "i've been exactly where you are Jamie" Iris says, "shut up!" Jamie shouts, "my dad was the same" Iris says, taking another small step.

"You cant let him take anymore away from you... dont let him take your future" Iris says, "just put the gun down" Iris says, taking another step, "stop!" the boy shouts, turning and pointing the gun at her, "stop!" he repeats.

"Okay" Iris says, "here" she says, holding her hands up in surrender and moving her gun away from him, "i want to help you Jamie. But i need you to put the gun down" Iris says "we tried to get help once but you did nothing" Jamie says, "you've been failed Jamie. But I won't let that happen again" Iris says.

Iris catches his dad trying to move, "don't move" she says to him, the boy turns his gun back to his dad, "hey look at me" Iris says, Jamie keeps his gun pointed at his dad as he looks at the woman, "you're stronger than him" Iris says.

"Let me help you" she adds, she watches the boy slowly lower his gun, "good" she says, he drops the gun onto the floor and Iris lowers her arms, as she goes to slide her gun into her holster another shot goes off, Iris looks up at the boy falling to the ground, his dad holds the rifle, Iris raises her gun and shoots the man.

"Jamie!" his mother shouts, Iris runs forward, dropping onto her knees next to the boy, she slides her gun into her holster and presses her hands down onto the boy's injuries as he bleeds, she grabs her radio from her vest, "shots fired! I need an ambulance!" Iris shouts into the radio.

She drops it to the floor and presses down onto the wound, "it's okay" she says, to the boy as he cries, "your gonna be okay" she says, the sound of his mothers cries mix with the babies screams, "stay with me Jamie" Iris pleads, she watches the boys eyes roll back.

Leaning down she listens for his breathing, "no! Come on Jamie!" she begs, she starts doing CPR on the boy, "come on Jamie!" she pleads, pressing down, "come on" the sounds of the sirens travels down the road, pulling up outside of the house, "come on" she begs. More sirens sound as cops fill the home, "we've got it from here" the paramedics say.

Iris stands up, stepping back, she looks down at the blood on her hands, Iris steps out of the house, sitting on the porch steps, she looks up at Rick and Shane as they rush over to her.

"He died in surgery" Iris says, "He was failed by the system, like many of us, like you" Pope says, "he was failed by everyone" Iris mumbles.