Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

The Gathering

Luckily Rick didn't kill Pete, but because of what happened, he was held in one of the unfinished houses until the situation was under control. Rosita helped clean up a cut on Parker's cheekbone which she had discovered when she thought she was wiping off sweat only to see blood on her fingers. It was a small gash that she'd gotten when Pete elbowed her, so Rosita offered to clean it and put a bandage over it. Nothing special, but just in case to keep it from getting infected. Parker had gone to check on Rick, who was unconscious all night, but Michonne eventually sent her and Carl home to get some sleep. 

Michonne kept an eye on Rick while Parker and Carl stayed awake until the early hours of the morning, unable to sleep thinking of what would happen to Rick the next day. When Parker finally woke up after three hours of sleep, she slowly made her way back to the house Rick was in and discovered that at some point during the night, he had woken up. Carol, Glenn, and Abraham joined her in the doorway, each with looks of disapproval on their faces when they saw Rick.

"Where'd you get the gun?" Michonne asked him once she saw there was an audience.

"You took it, right?" Carol guessed, acting like she had no idea. Like it wasn't her plan in the first place. "From the armory? It was stupid. Why'd you do it?" Parker glared at her, arms folded over her chest as her eyes looked over them all. Rick caught Parker's gaze. Noticing the anger bubbling in his sister's eyes. He shook his head slightly, warning her not to make a scene.

"Just in case." He answered, shrugging a shoulder.

"Deanna's planning to have a meeting tonight," Glenn informed the group. "For anyone that wants to."

"To kick out Rick?" Abraham questioned.

"To try," Carol corrected.

"We don't know that," Glenn shook his head. "Maggie's with Deanna right now. Trying to find out what it is."

"Okay, but it's an entire town against us. Against him." Parker nodded in her brother's direction.

"At the meeting, say you were worried about someone being abused and no one was doing anything about it," Carol gave Rick a cover-up story. "You say you took a gun just to be sure Jessie was safe from a man who wound up attacking you. You say you'll do whatever they want you to. Just tell them a story that they want to hear. That's what I've been doing since we got here."

"Why?" Michonne pressed, not understanding why any of them should have to lie.

"Because these people are children and children like stories," Carol responded.

"What if after all the nice words and made-up stories.. they still want to throw him out?" Parker worried, biting her lower lip.

"They're guarding the armory now," Glenn stated, basically saying they couldn't get any more guns.

"We still have knives," Carol pointed out. "That's all we'll need against them."

"Well, tonight, at the meeting, if it looks like it's going bad... I whistle," Rick started creating a plan. "Carol grabs Deanna, I take Spencer," He pointed to Michonne, "You grab Reg. Glenn and Abraham cover us and watch the crowd."

"We can talk to them," Parker argued, not wanting to get any of these people killed. Except for maybe Nicholas, but that was for another time.

"And we will," Rick assured her. "If we can't get through, we take the three of them and say we'll slit their throats."

"Like at Terminus?" Glenn retorted, not liking his plan at all.

"No. We just tell them," Rick stated. "They give us the armory and then it's over."

"Did you want this?" Glenn asked him, seeming to lose faith in how well Rick could lead them.

"No," Rick looked almost offended by the question. "I hit my limit. I- I screwed up. And here we are. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm just gonna sleep some more." When they left the house, Parker closed the door behind her before looking at Glenn.