Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

He'll Come Back

Rick returned in the morning and Parker, exhausted from waking up to feed the baby in the middle of the night and staying awake for an extra two hours until she fell asleep, barely saw him at the cell block door. That is until her brother spoke, and she jumped so hard that she knocked her breakfast onto the floor. "Damn it.."

"Everybody okay?" Rick asked after staring at her for a second, entering the room slowly.

"Yeah, we are," Maggie replied, everyone watched him, all pausing what they were doing.

"What about you?" Hershel eyed him as he walked closer to the group.

"Cleared out the boiler block," Rick announced, ignoring the question he was asked.

"How many were there?" Daryl questioned, spoon halfway to his mouth.

"I don't know," Rick answered, still looking empty like he wasn't really processing anything. "A dozen.. two dozen. I have to get back. Just wanted to check on Carl and Parker. See how they were doing."

"Rick, we can handle taking out the bodies," Glenn told him, getting up from his spot at one of the tables. "You don't have to." 

"No, I do." He nodded his head as he quickly walked over to Daryl. "Everyone have a gun and a knife?"

"Yeah. We're runnin' low on ammo though." Daryl responded.

"Maggie and me were planning on making a run this afternoon," Glenn cut in. "Found a phone book. Some places we can hit, look for bullets and formula."

"We cleaned out the generator room," Parker added. "Axel is trying to fix it. In case of emergency. We were also thinking about going and clearing out the lower levels too."

"Good," Rick replied, "Good." He walked out the way he came and Hershel shouted his name. Parker shook her head not even the littlest bit surprised at how Rick had been acting. 

"Let him go."

"So he can get himself killed?" Glenn slightly snapped at her.

"So he can grieve," Parker replied cooly, looking at the cellblock doors. "Look, he feels guilty. He and Lori weren't doing well, we all knew that. We saw it for ourselves. He feels like he's failed. Like he won't be able to fix things before it's too late. He'll be fine. We just have to let him process it his way."

"But we need him," Maggie insisted. "He's our leader."

"I think we're doing fine on our own," Parker responded, looking at her through the corner of her eyes. "Look, I want him to get better. He's my brother, and I hate seeing him like this, but... that's how he handles things. When our mom died, he behaved the same way. The only reason he snapped out of it was because I broke my ankle falling down the stairs. He had to take me to the hospital. He'll come back when he's ready, or when something forces him to."

"So, you're just telling us to give up?" Glenn asked. Parker simply shrugged her shoulders and nodded. 

"Look, I know it'll probably be hard to do, but he'll come back. I promise."

"I trust Parker," Daryl mumbled, pointing the spoon he was holding at her. "If she says he'll come back, I believe her. I mean, she knows him best. She grew up with him."

"Thank you," Parker said, giving Daryl a grateful look. "And if he doesn't, I volunteer to talk some sense into him. In a sisterly fashion." The group laughed, causing a sigh of relief to leave Parker's lips and Carl smiled. 

"It wouldn't be the first time you hit him."

"What?" Beth asked, eyes wide. "What did he do?"

"I broke his nose when we were kids," Parker explained bluntly. "He broke the head off my favorite doll."