Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

Inside The Walls

The next day, Parker and Maggie were up on the lookout posts, where they had been since morning. They took breaks periodically, and one of them would go down to get some food and water and then come back and share with the other. They were waiting for a sign. Anything that might indicate that Glenn, Daryl, Abraham, or Sasha were coming back. Rick spotted them up there, mindlessly talking, and decided to climb up to join them.

"You two don't have to be up here so much."

"That's why we've been taking turns." Parker glanced his way. 

"Waiting isn't going to bring them back faster," Rick explained as if they didn't already know.

"We wanna be up here," Maggie replied, her gaze focused on the trees and anywhere else. "This is the direction they'd come in. If Glenn sends up a signal, it will be from out there. Or it... it won't be."

"When we go out there, it's never easy," Rick leaned on the wooden rail. "It's never simple. It's always a fight. But we've come back from harder things. From further away. Glenn, Daryl, Abraham, and Sasha, they will too." Parker sighed, sitting down and resting her arms across the rail as she squinted, scoping out the terrain.

"I hope you're right." She mumbled, her eyes never leaving from the trees beyond.

"Maybe we don't wait for them to be back," Rick suggested, putting a hand on Parker's shoulder to get her to look at him. "We should start figuring out how to draw the walkers away. We have some food and water to last us a while and the walls are holding. We can take our time... really think this through. Do it right. Clear it so they can... they can walk right in."

"Only way we're making a dent in that mass of walkers is if we send out another group and lead them out," Parker muttered, finally looking at him. "It'd be a suicide run, Rick."

"I saw Judith in the house the other day," Maggie commented, changing the subject. "She's starting to... she's starting to look like Lori."

"Yeah," Rick whispered, looking down.

"Made me happy," Maggie added, trying to lighten the mood.

"Me too," Rick gave her a small nod before turning to walk away. Parker offered him a slight smile as he climbed down. Waiting for her brother to be out of earshot, she turned to look at Maggie.

"It's nice that she looks like Lori and not... you know. Like him."

"Stop it," Maggie hit her arm as she told her off. "We'll never actually know."

"Exactly," Parker whispered, kicking her foot. "But it doesn't matter. Even if Shane was... you know... her biological father. It doesn't matter. Not anymore. Rick is her dad. Always will be." Maggie nodded, agreeing with her.

"Yeah. You're right." She snickered for a moment as she looked down below at the walkers. "For once."

"Okay, first off, when have I ever been wrong?" Maggie glanced at her out of the corner of her eye. "Don't answer that." They remained on the lookout all day, without moving. That didn't mean there wasn't a fair amount of drama within the walls of Alexandria. Spencer, it seemed, had decided to go on a solo mission to ward off the walkers, using a grappling hook and a cable to try and climb to the other side, where he would lure them away. His plan undoubtedly failed when the hook came loose. If it weren't for Rick and Tara, Spencer would be dead. 

As grateful as Parker was for Deanna letting them stay... she wasn't willing to risk her life for one of her sons. Not anymore. Not after what the last two had done. Even if Spencer had saved her life. If Spencer wanted to be reckless and careless with his life, that was his own problem. With stress piling up, she didn't think she could handle trying to stress over someone failing their own mission. Which was pretty much a suicide mission with how poorly thought out it was. As she sat at the edge of the handmade platform, picking at the blood caked up under her nails with her knife, Parker sighed. "Come on world. You've been shit to us lately. In fact, you've been shit to us since this whole thing started. Give us a sign that something good is going to happen."