Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Sixty-nine.

Official.

DAY 33 IN THE COMMONWEALTH.

Iris pulls on her new uniform before standing in front of the mirror, Daryl stands next to her and they look at themselves, Judith steps in front of them, looking at her new dress.

"You look beautiful Judith" Iris smiles, "yeah you look awesome." Daryl says, "Thanks. And you two look official." the girl says, looking at their uniform in the mirror, "Yeah?" Iris asks, "You think so?" Daryl asks, Iris adjusts the arm pads of her uniform "Hm. I don't feel official." Daryl mumbles.

"Hey, I got you something." he says walking away, Iris smiles as she watches the man give the girl her gift, "Yes!" Judith smiles, the girl hugs Daryl before moving and hugging Iris.

Judith grabs her record and Daryl kneels down and helps her put it on the player, Iris kisses Daryl on the head as he smiles at Judith, listening to the song.

...........

Iris holds onto her gun as she watches one of the other guards smash open the door, Iris leads the team into the building, she peers around the corners, "Clear!" someone shouts, Iris finds Rosita looking in a closet.

Iris taps Rosita on the shoulder, she raises her gun as Rosita pushes the closet wall, opening up to another room, they step in and start looking around, Iris pulls off her helmet and mask as she looks at all the protest posters.

...........

Daryl climbs out of the truck, turning back and holding his hand out to Iris, helping her down, they look around Alexandria before walking behind Mercer and following Aaron as he starts showing Pamela and Lance around the community.

"Uh, Alexandria was a self-sustaining ecological community. We have water, solar panels, and, uh, a crop system." Aaron explains, "Who is the engineer?" Pamela asks, "I don't recall anyone from intake." Lance says.

"Uh, no one, actually. We got the plans from the leader of an allied community. Maggie Rhee. Uh, some of our people studied the blueprints, and we built it." Aaron says, "Fascinating."

"How do you keep a place like this safe with it being so isolated?" Mercer asks Daryl and Iris, "Wasn't easy. Fought a lot of fights." Daryl says "You were one of the leaders here?" Mercer asks.

"Yeah, yeah, I guess you could say that. We all were." Daryl says, "What'd you do before all this?" Mercer asks "Doesn't matter. Least, not to us, anyway." Daryl says, Iris turns and looks at her boss, "i was wondering if i could do some personal errands" Iris says.

"Okay" Mercer says, Iris turns and walks away from them, making her way to the graves, "what is she doing?" Mercer asks, looking over at Daryl, the man watches as his wife walks out of sight, "that's our graveyard" Daryl mumbles.

Iris sits by the three graves, "hey guys" she whispers, "i'm sorry it's been so long... i've wanted to come and visit but we've been so busy with training.... I've missed it here. I've missed you guys" Iris says.

"Judith is doing good, she made a new friend and she's getting into music just like you Carl... RJ's gotten so big and he really likes it there, he's started reading comics too... i love you guys" Iris says, she stands up again and starts walking over to Mercer again.

She stands in silence and looks around the community, "who did you lose?" Mercer asks, "uh, i lost my kid... Carl" Iris mumbles, "how?" Iris lets out a quiet breath, "he went out to help someone, a doctor, got bit... even though he was dying he did everything he could to save this place and the people in it" Iris explains.

"How old was he?" Mercer asks, "Fifteen. But he was so much wiser than that" Iris smiles, "Dixon the dad?" the man asks, Iris shakes her head no, "Carl's dad saved me long before the world ended. Him and his wife became my family and when Carl had to kill his mom I stepped up... we were there for eachother" Iris explains.

She looks down at her feet, "theres a breech" Mercer says, rushing into the building the others are in, Iris pulls out her knife and starts walking towards the walker, she drives her blade into the dead's head, stepping back and looking over to Daryl as he stops next to her.

"You good?" he asks, Iris looks at him for a minute, "it's nice to be back" Iris says, "yeah" Daryl says, he notices something wrong with Iris, "what did Mercer say to you?" he questions.

"How do you know he spoke to me?" Iris asks, "I saw you two" Daryl says, "he asked me about Carl" Iris says, Daryl grabs onto her hand, pulling her close to him, "are you up to going to Oceanside?" he asks, "I'll be fine" Iris says, kissing the man on the cheek, "i've got you with me" she adds, smiling at the man.

.........

"Iris" Rachel grins, "hey Rachel" Iris says, pulling her into a hug, "i wasn't expecting to see you here" Rachel says, pulling away from the hug, "i know, it's been a while" Iris says.

.........

The truck slows to a stop, Iris grabs her sword and jumps out of the truck after Daryl, they run down the road towards a group of strangers trying to fight off some walkers, Iris runs past Daryl as he stops to shoot walkers.

"You alright?" she questions holding her hand out to Maggie as the woman pushes the dead walker off of her, Maggie takes her hand and Iris pulls her up, "yeah, i'm fine" Maggie says, pulling Iris into a hug.

The redhead steps back and Daryl pulls Maggie into a hug, "at ease" Mercer orders, Iris watches the guards lower their guns, Pamela steps forward "You must be Maggie." the woman says.

Iris turns to the others, "hey kid" she smiles, pulling Lydia into a hug, "hey" Lydia says, wrapping her arms tightly around Iris, the woman pulls back and holds Lydia's face out in front of her, "it's good to see you" she says, "you too" Lydia says.

"Wolf" Mercer says, Iris smiles at the others before turning and walking over to her boss, "keep guard" he orders, Iris nods and walks off, she slides her sword onto her back and stands in front of one of the trucks.

She watches Maggie stand behind one of the trailers and start to clean the dirt off of her face, Iris looks around before walking over to Maggie, "hey" she says, "hi" the brunette replies.

Aaron comes up to them and offers Maggie some food, "I already ate. Thanks." the woman says, "I'll just leave it right here." the man says, placing it on the trailer floor, "There you go." Daryl says, standing next to Iris and putting the woman's bag in front of her.

"It's good to see you guys." Maggie says, "Maggie..." Aaron says, "Why do you trust these people?" the woman questions, "Who says we do?" Iris asks, "When do I ever?" Daryl adds.

"Fair enough." Maggie smiles, "It's good to see Alexandria getting cleaned up, though. Least their word meant something." Daryl says, "Yeah, there's like 50,000 people living there. At least 499 seem like decent enough folks. And it's not forever. You sure you don't want to come with us? You don't have to do this alone." Aaron says.

"Hey, sorry to interrupt." Lance says, standing behind them, "The forward unit picked up a swarm. We have some extra rifles with us. So while they're handling that, Governor Milton proposed that we all go hunting, if you're up for that?" Lance asks.