Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Sixty-seven.

We got this.

DAY 4 IN THE COMMONWEALTH.

Iris walks through the streets, nervously biting on the inside of her cheek, her heart quickens as she walks towards the woman sat alone at the table, "thanks for meeting me" Carol says, watching Iris as she sits on the chair opposite her, Iris offers her a tight lipped smile.

"Can I get you guys anything?" a waitress questions, "black coffee please" Iris says, "latte please" Caroll smiles, the waitress walks away, leaving the two in an awkward silence again, Iris keeps her eyes down, staring at a spot on the table.

"Iris, I wanted to tell you how sorry I am. For everything that's happened" Carol says, Iris takes a deep breath in, "before it happened I told you that I didn't care what happened and that I still loved you... I trusted you" Iris says, looking at the woman, "because of you I was trapped down there. Bleeding out, scared and alone" Iris explains, fighting her tears back.

"I thought I was gonna die down there... I was ready to die down there. And I hate that I hate you for it. I hate that I blame you for it." Iris looks away from Carol as the woman's eyes start to fill with tears, "you're my family Carol. Some of the only family I have left... I don't want to hate you but everytime i look at you I feel the pain I felt down there..."

Tears slip from her eyes, "All I see is darkness as I sat alone hoping my husband would move on after I died. All I can think about is that it hurt more to put the fire out than it did when I was pressing my hot knife to my leg to stop myself from bleeding out. when you talk all i can hear is the explosions before everything went black." more tears fall from Carol's eyes.

"So i can't look at you. I can't think about you. I can't talk to you. Because it hurts too much, and it hurts that it hurts... so for now i can't be near you" Iris says, she stands from the table, wiping away her tears, "maybe one day I can but not right now, not for a while" she adds before walking away from the woman.

DAY 30 IN THE COMMONWEALTH.

Daryl holds onto Iris's hand as they walk behind RJ and Judith, making their way through the haunted house, Iris holds back a laugh as the kids jump back from the scare, they walk further and the door at the end opens.

Smoke starts crawling through the doorway and a man starts to stumble towards them, RJ hides behind Judith "come on man, that's... that's enough." Daryl says, "Yeah, man. No problem." the actor says, RJ and Judith start making their way out of the building.

Daryl fist bumps the actor as they walk past him, "Did great in there, buddy." Daryl says, "You were very brave." Judith says to her brother, "Hey!" Jerry says walking over to them, he kneels down in front of RJ and pulls his mask up.

"Don't worry, li'l dude. You're home, see? Safe and sound. Apples?" he asks the kids, Daryl and Iris look around the fair as they walk around together.

"So, uh, what do you think?" Carol asks, handing Iris and Daryl a cookie, "It takes a minute to get used to all this, you know?" Daryl says, "You know, this place was up and running long before we ever got here. Maybe we don't have to do anything to make it work." Carol says.

"No, there's always something you got to do to make it work." Daryl says, Iris looks over as everyone starts cheering, "Oh, hello! Happy Halloween!" Pamela Milton says, "And here's one for you... and one for you." she says, handing out candy.

Daryl rests his arm around Iris's waist as she stands in front of him, leaning back against him as they watch Pamela announce the costume winner, "And first place goes to... dressed as our very own Mercer... Celeste!" the woman announces.

The winner steps up onto the stage as the crowd cheers "And this year's grand prize is... lottery tickets! Let's take some pictures. Thank you all for coming out today. You all look fantastic, and I'm so happy you're out here for Halloween."

"I always thought she was so classy." Carol says, "I never knew anything about her." Iris says, "me neither" Daryl says "Mm, I used to read a lot of tabloids." Carol says.

"Hey! You two look busy." Iris says, watching Kelly and Connie, "Connie's reporting for the paper. We've got a full day." Keely explains, "How's work?" Daryl asks, "'It's nice to be reporting again, but Commonwealth news isn't exactly... hard-hitting.'" Kelly says.

"Have you, uh, met Pamela yet?" Daryl asks, "'I interviewed her once, before the world fell.' Yeah, and you also got her uncle kicked out of Congress, so..." Kelly says, "That was you?" Carol asks, shocked.

Connie just smiles and shrugs her shoulders, "'We gotta go. We have a lot to do before the masquerade ball.'" Kelly says, "See you later." Iris says.

"See you in a bit" Iris says to Carol, smiling at her before walking away, "You should ask her to dance." Carol jokes, looking back at Iris, Daryl shakes his head, "I gotta get to work." Daryl mumbles, "Hey. Catch up later?" Carol asks, "Yeah. See ya later." Daryl says.

The man catches up to Iris, he holds onto her hand and they walk up to the apartment together, Iris changes into her black jeans and black long sleeve top, she ties her boot laces before pulling her hair into a ponytail.

She stands by the front door and waits for Daryl to be ready, the man walks over to her, quickly kissing her before they leave, "hey" Iris and Daryl say at the same time as Rosita, "How's the place? Getting any better?" Daryl asks, looking over at Rosita standing on the staircase next to them.

"Hell, no. No, I think this place is literally made out of paper. You sleeping?" Rosita asks, "Nah." Daryl says, the three of them continue down the stairs, and start walking together, "Can't wait 'til basic's over and we get new apartments" Iris says. "Worrying about money again is so weird." Rosita says, "It's not forever." Daryl says.

Iris stands at the back of the group next to Daryl, "Welcome to the kill house. In this exercise, killing is not your primary goal. I'm looking for speed and teamwork. Three teams of two will start the course simultaneously. One team goes through the house on the right, the other team takes the house on the left. And the last team takes the house behind me." Mercer explains.

"There's one weapon per team that must be shared." the man says, holding up a knife, "Your objective... get through the house and all the rotters inside. There will be a rotter marked in red at the end of each house. First team to take out their red gets one step closer to earning their stripes. But fail to work as a unit... see what you get."

"Hart, you're with Thomas. Espinosa, Green. Wolf, Johnson. Dixon, Daniels. Team up." the man says, Iris looks over at Daryl nodding to him before walking over to Johnson, "nice to meet you" the woman says, holding her hand out in front of Iris, "you too" Iris says, shaking her hand.

"Espinosa, Green. Dixon, Daniels. Wolf, Johnson. You're up first." Mercer says, Iris takes the knife, "you ready?" she asks her partner as they stand outside the entrance of the house, "yeah" Johnson says, nervously.

"Here, take this" Iris says, handing the woman the knife, "we got this" she adds, Mercer blows his whistle and Iris runs up to the house, pulling herself through the window, they creep through the building.

A door opens and a walker lunges at them, Iris grabs onto the walker's arms and throws it to the floor, holding it down as Johnson drives the blade into the walker's head. They walk further into the rooms, splitting up.

A walker grabs onto Iris, knocking her to the floor, "Johnson!" she shouts, holding the walker back as it snaps its teeth at her face, her partner rushes into the room and stabs the dead in the head. "Thanks" she sighs, standing up again.

More walkers fill the room, Johnson hands the knife to Iris, the redhead raises the knife and starts driving it into the walker's heads, Johnson grabs one of the walkers and holds it as Iris stabs it in the head.

Iris stands outside the buildings again, Rosita by her side as they wait for Daryl and his partner to join them, "man what was that? He was good. I was right there." Daryl says, stopping next to Iris.

"I said speed and teamwork. Green, Espinosa. Nicely done. Wolf and Johnson, best I've seen in a while" Mercer says. "Dixon. You're with me." Mercer says walking away, Daryl looks back at Iris before following the other man.