Solitary {2} : The Walking Dead

Chapter Eighty.

Mind games.

Iris stops walking, letting out a sigh as she looks up at the sky, "How much farther?" Carol asks, "Just a couple miles up." Lance says, "Just never realised until now how much it looks like a prison from out here." Lance says, leading the way again.

Iris stays back for a minute, staring at the commonwealth walls, she walks back and catches up to them, "anyway, i hope dixon's okay" Lance says, Iris raises her sword and points it at the mans neck, Carol points the gun at the man.

"Hey, whoa." Lance says, "I know what you're trying to do." Iris says, "I'm just making conversation." he says, "Where are we going?" Iris asks, "I told you I'd take you there." Iris presses her blade harder into his neck, "I'm done with your mind games." she snaps.

"I'm not lying to you!" Lance says "Saying you give a shit about what happens to Daryl." Iris says, "I was just locked in a cell and forced to feed my colleague piece by piece to Pamela's rotter son. I might not be moving at full speed here!" the man says.

"Fine. Do it. And then good luck finding your friends." The man says when Iris doesn't lower her sword from his throat, after thinking for a minute she lowers her sword and crouches down when she hears an engine, they stay low as they move to hide in the trees.

Iris watches as two motorbikes and a jeep stop a few feet away from them, "Check the tree line! Go on!" one of the officers shouts, "I know how we can lose them." Lance whispers, "How?" Carol asks, "Come on." the man says, Iris looks at Carol, "Come on." he repeats.

Iris nods and they start following Lance again, staying low and keeping quiet, the three of them keep walking, the sun goes down and Iris looks up at the stars, her husband and the kids filling her mind with worry.

"You expect us to follow you in there?" Carol questions, looking at the dark entrance, "I do if you don't want to get caught." Lance says, Iris sighs before continuing to follow him, "This was an infrastructure repair project dating back from the early days of the Commonwealth. After a series of cave-ins, it was considered too unstable." he explains.

"Great" Iris mumbles, looking at the old mine, "I meant what I said back there, about hoping Dixon's all right." Lance says as they walk deeper into the darkness, "It's hard to find someone like that, that you'd do anything for. I felt that way about Pamela once." he continues.

Iris looks over at the man, "Thought I could make her feel the same about me. By helping her build the Commonwealth, run it... letting her take all the credit. Even by bringing in your communities, which, I admit, was... mishandled." Iris rolls her eyes, shining her torch at her surroundings.

"But it was never enough. I know there was nothing I could do that would ever change how she saw me. Just her chauffeur's son. More importantly, there's something I wanted to ask you. What comes after?" he questions, "After what?" Carol asks.

"The unrest in the Commonwealth. Let's say Pamela doesn't survive it. That's going to open up a power vacuum. And when that happens, well, just look at history. The people who suffer the most in revolutions are the civilians." Lance explains, "What is your point?" Iris snaps.

"You and your people will hold fifty-thousand lives in your hands." "Until we find our people, there is no 'after.'" Iris says, "You'll find them. I know you. And then you'll have a choice to make. Will you let the Commonwealth burn?" he asks, "That's not my problem." Iris says, looking down at the floor and walking again.

"Sure. Yeah, you want to leave all this behind you. I... I get it. Me, too. But what about the kids? Are you really gonna deny them their only chance for the kind of life we took for granted? Doesn't the next generation deserve better than the one before? Otherwise, what's the point?" he questions.