Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

The End Of An Era

The group devised a plan to defend their home, making the Governor believe they had abandoned the prison. In reality, they would be waiting in the wings for the right moment, waiting for the Governor to let his guard down as he assumed his victory, and that was the moment they would launch their own attack. They had to defend their home, no matter how many soldiers the Governor had. They would have to fight. The morning they tested their plan was a little colder than usual, almost as if the world was warning them.

Parker saw Carl heading to the car with his bag. She was worried about him. Ever since Rick told them about his plan to give Michonne over to the Governor, Carl had been cold towards him. Parker has never seen him like this, not even when his mother died. When Lori died, he simply closed himself off, but now he was actively showing hostility towards his own father. He had been fine with Parker when she talked to him that morning, but with Rick, it was like he couldn't stand to see him.

Parker sighed as she heard Rick tell Glenn that 'he was just a kid and it was easy to forget that,' before going over to Daryl. Her own bag had been packed that morning and was safely stored in one of the cars, so she walked over to Daryl, who was working on his motorcycle. 

He had needed time to process his brother's death, and although he thought he wanted to be alone, he couldn't stand the silence. The night his brother died, he found Parker in the cell she had for herself and climbed into bed with her, needing the comfort of another person. She went out of her way to offer him that. When she stopped behind him, Daryl sighed. "You know, Merle never did nothing like that his whole life."

"He wanted to give us a chance and he did." Parker responded, offering Daryl a hand. "He redeemed himself." He took her hand and pulled himself up.

"Yeah, you're probably right." They drove the cars into the forest, stashing them in the trees to hide them. Beth, Hershel, Carl, and Judith were down there with the vehicles, hiding in case their plan went wrong and they had to leave. Rick couldn't put his children in danger, nor let Hershel and Beth get hurt if things went wrong. Parker, Glenn, and Maggie were dressed in the riot gear they had cleaned of walker guts, along with the vests they had found when searching the prison. When Parker tossed one of the vests on, Daryl walked over. "I got it," Daryl said, helping her tighten the straps. "You ain't gotta do this, you know that right? You're barely back on your feet."

"I have to defend my home," Parker heaved a sigh, looking over her shoulder at him. "Our home."

"No one would blame you if you backed out," Daryl continued, trying to talk her out of it.

"I would," Parker stated, pointing to herself. "Besides, I'm bulletproof and ready to kick ass. The Governor doesn't know what's about to hit him." Daryl rolled his eyes. 

"Just don't let them kill you."

"You got it," Parker replied. "Don't do anything stupid."

"How could I? You take all the stupidity with you." Daryl held in his laugh as she turned to look at him. Parker punched him on the shoulder gently. 

"That's mean!"

"I'm not sorry." While Parker and Maggie took positions on the skyway, taking cover behind their defenses to stay out of sight, Glenn headed to the lookout, hiding as they waited for his signal. The sound of approaching trucks made Parker's fingers tighten around the gun she was holding, and when she heard the gunshots start, she took a deep breath. When the Governor's men arrived, they blew up the guard towers and shot walkers down in the field before storming the prison. Parker knew she was as safe as possible, but knowing Rick and Daryl were nearby made her tense. She was just waiting for the signal. The Governor needed to pay, for what he did to Maggie by humiliating her, for what he did to Glenn, beating him almost to the point of killing him. For what he did to her, almost killing her by watching her bleed to death from a gunshot wound... he deserved everything that came and more. The grenades and the alarm blaring were when the three started preparing. Waiting for them to emerge from inside the prison.