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but i feel so far from it

THE QUARRY WAS THE PERFECT PLACE TO FORM A CAMP.

It was high up and isolated, with a big winding path leading up to it. One they hoped meant that would keep them hidden from their new predators. They set up their tents and cars just outside the line of trees, overlooking the quarry which had a pool of bright blue water, enough to keep them hydrated for a long time. Actually, the site was beautiful. Iris could spend hours watching the little ripples hit the rocks, the silence was familiar to her now.

According to Dale's watch, which he religiously kept wounded and marked off every single day since the day that ended all days, it had been two months since the group of twelve had driven to the quarry and decided it was their safest bet to protect them from the walkers.

Walkers had become their term for the undead that had plagued the city of Atlanta, the country, the world. Glenn had come up with it, on their first night in their newly formed camp. Walkers, because they weren't exactly people, and they tended to walk around aimlessly, with no goal or destination. That is, until they found their prey.

But no one in their group had died from them. Not in the two months since they had set up.

No one had died, but things had changed.

They had found new people, taken them in, formed a stronger group. The Morales family — two parents and two children — who became quick friends with Carl and Sophia. There was Jim, and Jacqui, both travelling alone and keen to find people to camp with. There were brothers, Merle and Daryl Dixon, who had stereotypical Southern accents and a motorbike with big handles that Merle rode around.

They had developed a nice system in the two months that had passed. Iris didn't know how permanent of a solution it was, but many of the group believed that the world would be getting back to normal any second and all of this was just temporary. She had her doubts.

Not that she ever wanted to return back to a normal world where Rick didn't exist anymore.

A lot of the girls did the laundry and took it as a chance to hang out next to the Quarry. It had become a communal task where they could sit and chat. Iris was the youngest girl there, except for Sophia and Eliza Morales, but she did enjoy listening to the woman talk, and washing the clothes reminded her of Opal.

Daryl had a crossbow stocked with a lot of arrows, that he took every day out into the woods hunting for food. He shared with everyone what he killed, much to Merle's dismay, (Iris got the feeling that Merle was less than ecstatic that he'd ended up in such a large group and wasn't just alone with his brother). Shane had become somewhat of an impromptu leader, but Dale was the wise man that people went to for advice. A month ago, when Daryl's hunts went dry for a couple of days, Glenn decided to take his first trip back into Atlanta to scrounge for supplies.

Iris had paced around the Quarry for hours while the others hung out and washed clothes, until he'd finally returned with a sheath of knives, a dozen cans of food and a twelve pack of twinkies.

He'd been a popular man that day.

Since then, Glenn went on supply runs into the city every couple of days. Always alone, but he always came back. This morning, Glenn was due to take the car and his pack to Atlanta for another run.

As usual, Iris had woken up early enough to see him off. The group had fallen into a routine, and this was a part of it. Iris was still grateful as hell to both Glenn and T-Dog for saving her life, and making sure Glenn had someone to say goodbye to felt like a small way to say thanks. Most people here had some kind of family around them: Iris had Lori and Carl and Shane, the Dixons had each other, the Morales family was always together, Amy and Andrea stuck together and with Dale too. Even Jacqui and Jim had gotten close.

So Iris liked to look after Glenn and T-Dog. Make sure they know they have their people and their place, just in case they were unsure.

She woke up even earlier than normal today, heading to the Quarry for a couple moments of peace before she watched Glenn drive off. Her thick blonde hair was once something that she loved, but now she had no access to running water (or conditioner for that matter) in the blistering Georgia heat, it was getting aggravating. She started putting half of her hair up into two space buns, getting a layer off of her back while the rest of her hair remained down.

She had just finished the loop on her second bun when she heard Glenn whistle to get her attention from the top of the Quarry. Iris raises her eyebrow, looking up at him with a face that said really? Glenn raises his hands in a peacemaking manner.

"He's really gonna make me trek all the way back up there?" Iris grumbles to herself, but she gets up with a smirk anyway.

Glenn stood at the top of the Quarry, waiting until Iris made it up, her smile still resting easily on her face.

"I'm gonna be late, you know?" Glenn tuts, tapping an invisible watch on his wrist.

"Shut up. I woke up early for you." Iris mutters back, shaking her head.

"Hey, it's appreciated, it's appreciated." Glenn pacifies, adjusting his cap on his head. His face softens. "You don't have to see me off every time, you know? If you want to sleep in."

Iris shakes her head. "Nah. Someone's gotta see you off, or you wouldn't want to come back."

"Hey, I'll always come back." Glenn chuckles. "Even if you snore in your tent instead of watching me drive off."

Iris grins, and the pair starts to walk towards the car that Glenn was going to take into the city. He had his backpack on, ready to go. There was a comfortable silence that they had gotten used to, a silence that didn't feel forced or awkward but rather a quiet between friends. Glenn had become her best friend in a very short period of time, but she wouldn't have it any other way.

Once they reached the car, Iris took a breath. "You want me to come?"

Glenn shakes his head. "No, it's okay. I can get in and out, no problem. It's easier on my own."

Iris hadn't really been exposed to the walkers since the ones she had killed in Opal's shop. The Quarry had been safe, and Iris wasn't a part of the group of people that killed any walker that even got close to the camp. Mostly, that duty was for Daryl, Merle, T-Dog, Shane and Glenn, when he wasn't doing runs. There had been a few instances where Andrea and Jacqui had killed walkers when they needed to. However, Shane tried to keep Iris (and Lori, too) away from the walkers, which was annoying but understandable. Since Rick had passed, Shane felt the need to protect the three of them and keeping them away from walkers was one way he could do that.

Glenn always said no when she offered to go with him. A smile grows on his face, patting his cheek. "But you could give me a good luck kiss."

Iris snorts. "Oh, ha ha, in your dreams." She pushes his face away. She was used to his banter, and she always returned it with an eyeroll and a smile.

He gives her a cheeky smile, opening the car door. "I'll try to be back before sunset. Don't wait up for me."

"You know I will." Iris replies with just as cheeky a grin. "Alright, go. Get us some cool stuff."

"You got it." Glenn salutes her and gets in the car. Iris backs up as he starts the car, watching him drive off and not moving from her spot until he was out of her field of vision. Then the anxiety set in.

When she walked back to the main circle of camp, Dale had woken up and taken his usual position on the top of the RV. He liked to keep a lookout for walkers, and the top of the RV was also the best place for the radio to connect with Glenn, no matter how weak the connection really was.

She holds her hand to her head, shielding her eyes from the sun. "Hey, Dale."

"Hey there, Iris." Dale gives her a kind smile. "Seen Glenn off already?"

"Yeah." She replies. "He's gonna be okay."

"I know." Dale sounds confident and faithful, as he always is. "He's Glenn. He's always okay."

Iris smiles. "Can I come in? Reread another one of your books?"

"Sure." Dale smiles. He had a very small collection of books in his RV from before the apocalypse, which Iris had already gotten through. But there wasn't much else to do apart from worry, and she needed to take her mind off of it. At least until the others woke up.

She read for maybe half an hour when she heard voices speaking outside, and the general shuffle of people starting the day. A lot of the days blended into one, a solid routine was becoming unbreakable. She spots Carl sitting on one of the wooden logs by the fire, eating some oatmeal that was from their food stores.

"Hey, buddy." Iris perches next to him, ruffling his hair. "Where's your mom?"

Carl shrugs. "She said she was going to the bathroom."

"Oh, okay." Iris sits down fully, taking a spoon and stealing a bite of his breakfast. He gives her a look and she chuckles, her mouth full. "What? Glenn'll find more today."

Carl gave her a small smirk, which Iris took as a big win. Since they had lost Rick, it had been hard to make the twelve year old smile, which was understandable. Everything that had happened over the past two months was traumatising enough for a grown adult, let alone a kid. Whenever her grief over her big brother got too overwhelming, Iris thought about Carl and how he needed as many people around him as possible.

She kept her gun in her backpack just in case she needed to protect him one day. Which she kept willfully secret from Shane, who was determined that she never have to touch a weapon. Iris knew better, and kept it around just in case. At Opal's shop, she had worked purely on adrenaline, using the scissors and defending herself, but Iris didn't know if she truly had it in her to actually pull the trigger on the gun. Glenn had told her that the walkers were different two months on than on the first day of the outbreak, they were rotting, had body parts missing, were basically caricatures of every horror movie to exist. The thought terrified her.

Carol brought her over a bowl of oatmeal, which Iris gratefully accepted. Carol was incredibly sweet, and Iris loved being in her company. When she was away from her husband, that was. From the first day the camp was formed, Iris got a weird vibe from Ed, he was oddly possessive and clearly controlling of Carol and their daughter, Sophia. Iris had tried to talk to Shane about her concerns, but all the former police officer could say was that it was none of their business and they couldn't disrupt the careful alliance between all of the people in the camp. It was the same thing Shane said when Iris told him about her observations of Merle and his nasty behaviour to others in the camp.

Iris hated it, but she felt powerless to stop it. Utterly powerless.

Shane wasn't around now, he must've been out hunting with Daryl or Merle because he didn't return for a couple hours, when a small group of them were hanging out at the Quarry. There wasn't much to do in their new life except look for food and wash clothes and not much else. Carl and Sophia were playing by the water, and Lori had finally joined them after doing who knows what all morning. Ed was doing something to his car back by the tents, so Carol was smiling and joking around with them.

Iris had one of T-Dog's shirts in her hands, stitching up a hole. Her skills as a seamstress had come in handy since they didn't exactly have a lot of clothes to spare. Glenn brought back what he could, but there wasn't much to go around. She had one of Glenn's shirts in her pile to fix. The tiny thread and needle was therapeutic for her, it felt like a little slice of normalcy, and she liked to feel useful.

The group had bonded a lot since the world had ended, but there were still very obvious pockets of family who stuck together. Daryl and Merle had gone off somewhere alone again, they didn't tend to stay often during the day. On the opposite end, Andrea and Amy were lying next to the water, talking about their parents. The Morales family were eating lunch together by the tents. Lori and Carol were sitting close to their children, and Shane wasn't far off from them. Iris would've joined them, but she felt a little out of place without Rick there, especially now that Carl had made a good friend out of Sophia and didn't need her as much anymore.

That was a good thing, Carl needed friends in a twisted world like this. They all needed their peers just as much as family.

Iris finishes up her final stitch, chucking the shirt at T-Dog. "Hey, T."

T-Dog smiles and catches it with ease. "Thanks, Iris. You're like a Disney Princess."

Iris snorts. She liked to make sure that both T-Dog and Glenn didn't feel alone in this camp, which meant she'd formed bonds with the both of them. T-Dog was older than them, and he'd stepped into some sort of brotherly role for Iris, which she so desperately craved. T-Dog had a light humor that made her feel better when she was anxious, especially on days like today. When Glenn was out on a run. T-Dog was like a brother to her, but Glenn was her best friend. They were the same age, the only two their age, so naturally they hung out more than Iris did with T-Dog, and they were closer.

"Hardly a Disney Princess." Iris replies, rolling her eyes. She points her needle at him. "It was like... six stitches. And it could come in handy if you ever need me to stitch up a wound."

"Oh please, Iris." Andrea cuts in. "If anyone here is a Disney Princess, it's you. Even your name is princess-y."

Iris gasps, faking offence. "I am not. I'm super tough. I'm not waiting around for some guy to save me."

"That's not what you said when me and Glenn picked you up from the shop." T-Dog smirks.

Iris scoffs and throws her pile of holey clothes at him. "That was different. Besides, I think the princess name should be reserved for Sophia. She looks like a little princess."

Sophia beams.

"Princess Sophia sounds very fitting." Carol nods with a smile. Iris packs away her stitches and the scissors in her backpack.

"That it does." Iris scrunches her nose up. "So take over the princess duties for me, will you?"

It was important to her that the kids still feel like kids despite how twisted the world had become. The kids were their future, and they deserved their childhoods while they were still here.

The sound of a car pulling back into the camp pulls Iris out of her thoughts. Daryl and Merle hadn't taken a car out on their hunt, so there was only one person it could've been. Iris' smile takes over her face. He's early. She jumps up.

"There's one guy she's waiting on." Amy whispers, intentionally too loud.

Iris gives her the middle finger as she starts to walk up the Quarry, just as she had done early that morning. Some people at the camp liked to tease Iris about Glenn when he was gone, because they thought it was totally impossible for a guy and a girl to be friends without there being underlying feelings there. Which there wasn't.

Glenn was just getting out of the car with his backpack, now full, secured to his back. He noticed Iris as soon as she reached the top of the Quarry, and she ran to give him a hug. She always did when he came back, because she was glad that he had made it back alive.

"You're early." Iris smiles as she pulls away.

"I got what I needed." Glenn shrugs. "No need to hang around in walker central."

"You know Shane was thinking about asking volunteers to join you next time, so you can get further into the city and come back with more, have to go less." Iris says, as they started to walk towards the RV where they stored most of the food.

Glenn's face sours. "That's not really necessary. I've been doing it by myself since the start. I can get in and out, with ease. More people will just cause more problems."

Iris sucks on her teeth. "Yeah, but you'll be able to go less. That's less of a risk, right?"

Glenn didn't reply.

Iris stops walking, raising her eyebrows. "You'd still be the most important supply runner, Glenn. You're the only one who knows the ins and outs of the city, the safe places, the places to avoid."

Glenn froze, giving her a sheepish smile. "Yeah?"

"Yeah." Iris nudges his shoulder with hers. "So, you'll consider it?"

He looks her up and down, and nods with a defeated sigh. "Yeah. If people volunteer, I'll let them come."

Iris claps her hands. "Yay! Hey, keep this up and you might just get that cheek kiss, after all."

"Wow, even more incentive to keep coming back." Glenn remarks.

Iris giggles, the warmth in her cheeks rising as they reach the RV, still going back and forth. 

AUTHORS NOTE

❥ Welcome back to Doomsday!
❥ I really love this chapter. It might be a teeny bit of filler but I think it was necessary. I needed to expand on the dynamics of the group and Iris' place in the group before I started writing season one (which you may have noticed I started to prepare for in this one!)
❥ If you enjoyed, please vote and comment <3