After the meeting, Parker walked back to the house with Daryl, Rick, and Morgan. When he was introduced to her, Parker was stunned. She remembered the story Rick had told her when he had just found them back at the Atlanta camp.

"You're Morgan?" Parker asked, "The Morgan who helped my brother?"

"The same one," Morgan smiled at her. "It's nice to put a face to your name finally. Rick talked a lot about you. I'm glad he found you."

"Thanks for giving him the chance to find us." She thanked him.

"Hey," Daryl said his first word since he'd gotten there, just now noticing the medical tape on her cheek and the dark bruise that had formed on that side of her face. He pointed at her face, making sure she couldn't dodge the question. "What the hell happened?"

"Would you believe me if I said I walked into the door?" When she looked him in the eyes she already knew his answer and she sighed. 

"Not anymore." He carefully turned her head to the side, anger filling his eyes. "Someone do this to you?"

"An elbow to the face. But I'm fine." She turned her face away, stepping to the side. "Besides, he's dead now."

"I weren't even gone for five whole damn days," Daryl muttered angrily, maybe more disappointed.

"A lot can happen in the span of just two days. imagine five." She argued jokingly. When they got to the house, the first thing Daryl did was help himself to a bowl of cereal, pouring a bowl for Morgan too. Parker stood beside Daryl as he sat on one of the stools, occasionally stealing a bite of his food when he offered her a spoonful.

"You were right," Morgan broke the comforting silence as he handed Rick the map that had been left for him at the church by Abraham. "It wasn't over."

"We should talk more tomorrow," Rick told him and Morgan nodded. "Listen..." He sighed, walking over to the island they were sitting around. "I don't take chances anymore."

"And you shouldn't." Morgan agreed with him.

"Rick, you should go clean yourself up," Parker said through a mouthful of cereal. "You're covered in blood," Daryl grunted, nodding his head.

"You look like shit, man."

"Okay, I get it," Rick shot his sister a dirty look. "I'm going to take a shower."

"Make sure to actually clean up," Parker called after him. When he left, Daryl gave Parker his attention.

"So, you gonna tell me what happened while I was gone?" She thought about it for a moment. "Rhetorical. No lyin'." She sighed, her shoulders falling.

"Fine." Once they caught up, they went upstairs, getting ready to go to bed. Parker laid down next to Daryl, her head on his chest as she listened to his heartbeat. "I missed you," Parker whispered tiredly. "I hate that you get to go out there and I don't."

"I missed you too," Daryl responded, quietly telling her about his time out there, minus the near-death experience he and Aaron faced. "But, I made it back, didn't I?"

"I wasn't worried that you weren't going to make it back," She murmured. "I was worried you'd decide that you liked it more out there and just not come back."

"Never," Daryl assured her, placing his hand just above her stomach. "I would never leave you. At least, not forever."

"You better not," She warned him, not able to fight back her smile. "Just hold me for now. I just want to be here, with you, and forget everything else for a while, even if it is just for tonight." Daryl did exactly that, holding her in his arms until she fell asleep, and even until he fell asleep. He hadn't seen her in days and she was all he had on his mind the entire time. He hated having to leave her, but he also knew she was better off here in Alexandria. If he spent too much time trapped within these walls, he would go crazy. 

Rick found them the next morning, working on Daryl's motorcycle. Or rather, Parker was sitting on the sidewalk while Daryl worked on it. She was sat cross-legged on the concrete next to Daryl, watching him with an open- forgotten- book in her lap. Looking up when she heard Rick, walking over, Parker closed her book, setting it down beside her and Daryl turned around to look at him.

"So, is he okay with it?" Daryl asked him, referring to Morgan turning the house Rick was held in into a prison.

"It was pretty much his idea," Rick replied. "He gets it."

"It's got a bed and a bath." Daryl said, "But it's still a cage, you know?"

"He gets it," Rick assured him. "He told me what happened out there. With the trucks."

"Trucks?" Parker furrowed her eyebrows, not remembering anything about that when he told her about his time out there.

"I'll tell you later," Daryl brushed away her concern, knowing damn well he wasn't going to. "He tell you about those guys he met? With the 'W's'?" He pointed at his forehead.

"Like the walker we saw, yeah," Rick nodded, worried there was more going on than just a few 'W's' being carved into people's heads.

"W? Okay, either I start being told stuff or you're both going to have to deal with me going back out there." She muttered, standing up.

"We need more watch points," Rick stated, ignoring her. "And I'm gonna tell Deanna we don't need to go looking for people anymore." Daryl gave him a slight nod, but it was obvious he didn't like the idea of not being able to look for people. Of not having a reason to leave. "You feel different about it?" Rick questioned him when he realized Daryl wasn't one hundred percent on board.

"Yeah," Daryl responded. "I do."

"Well, people out there... they got to take care of themselves, just like us," Rick shrugged, deciding it was still the best choice.

"I think you might actually be right for once." Parker glanced at her brother. "If these people with the 'W's' are starting to become a problem, we shouldn't risk bringing more people in. Taking in more survivors might be more trouble than they're worth." 

"I'm gonna get him out. Shouldn't leave him there any longer than we have to." It was later that day that the group received word that there were walkers in the quarry. Rick and Morgan had seen them while they were outside and had come back to inform everyone of the threat not even five miles from their homes. They needed a plan to prevent the walkers from marching to their gates and most likely going right through them. Not to mention, the few trucks blocking them inside the quarry wouldn't hold much longer, and when they fell, the walkers would have a clear path straight to Alexandria. 

There was a man named Heath who had just gotten back from a two-week outing with his team, Annie and Scott, and he was well aware of the walkers in the quarry. He told them that when the entire population of Alexandria was gathered in the living room of Deanna's house, discussing what to do about the problem on their hands.

"My team," Heath started, looking around at everyone. "We saw it early on. Back when we were on one of those scouts, finding out what was around here. There was a camp at the bottom. The people, they must have blocked the exits with those trucks back when everything started to go bad. They didn't make it."

"You didn't try to save them? Offer them a place here?" Parker asked, leaning against the wall next to the windowsill Daryl was sat in.

"They were all roamers. Maybe a dozen of them." Heath defended.

"And no ones been back since?" Maggie asked, concerned.

"DC... every town worth scavenging are all in the other direction," Heath explained. "And I never really felt like having a picnic next to the camp that ate itself."

"You could have been the desert." Parker quietly joked, earning a few stares. "What? I'm sure they would have been the main course if they showed up to Terminus." Rick shot her a look and she rolled her eyes, crossing her arms.

"So all the while the walkers have been drawn by the sound and they're making more sound and they're drawing more in," Michonne summed up, meaning that herd could double in just a few more days if they don't deal with it now.

"And here we are," Rick stepped in. "Now what I'm proposing... I know it sounds risky, but walkers are already slipping through the exits. One of the trucks keeping the walkers in could go off the edge any day now. Maybe after one more hard rain. That exit sends them east. All of them. Right at us. This isn't about if it gives, it's when. It's gonna happen. That's why we have to do this soon."

"In other words, we sit here waiting for the truck to fall and hope this resolves itself and we all end up dead anyways. Or you people get off your asses and start acting like grown men and women instead of children." Rick pinched the bridge of his nose, shaking his head at how she phrased it. "We need to come up with a proper, well-put-together plan. And how things turn out is up to you." 

"This is, uh... I don't even have another word for it," Carol stressed, trying to come off as scared. "This is terrifying. All of it." She looked around at the people with wide, fearful eyes. "But it doesn't sound like there's any other way."

"Maybe there is," A man named Carter spoke up. "I mean, couldn't we just build up the weak spots? I- I.. I could draw up the plans. I worked on the wall with Reg. A construction crew... we can try and make it safe."

"Even if we could, the sound of those walkers is drawing more and more every day," Rick told him, telling it to Carter in a way he'd understand. "Building up the exits won't change that."

"We could always feed people to them as peace offerings. As a way to keep the peace between us and the walkers," Parker suggested, causing a few murmurs from the crowd. 

"Stop." Daryl ground out, giving her an incredulous look. She bit back her smile, failing to hide her laugh.

"Sorry, this is supposed to be serious." She muttered the apology as she choked on her laughter, looking away.

"We're going to do what Rick says," Deanna ordered, less put together after her husband died. She kept her body turned towards the window, not willing to let them see her. "The plan he's laid out."

"I told you all, we're going to have Daryl leading them away," Rick started saying his plan.

"Me too," Sasha added, wanting to do anything to keep her mind occupied. "I'll take a car, ride next to him. Can't just be him. I'll keep them coming, Daryl keeps them from getting sloppy."

"I'll go with her," Abraham volunteered. "It's a long way to white-knuckle it solo."

"Alright, we'll have two teams," Rick continued. "One on each side of the forest helping manage this thing. We're gonna have a few people on watch from now on. Rosita, Spencer, and Holly. So they're out. So who's in?"

"Me," Michonne instantly said. After a quiet conversation with one another, Glenn convinced Maggie to stay behind and let him go.

"I'd like to help as well," Gabriel raised his hand and Rick glared at him.

"No," Rick snapped. "Who else? We need more."

"I can," Parker offered.

"No," Daryl shook his head, pushing her arm down. "Ain't no way in hell."

"Man, this is some bullshit," Parker muttered, pulling a chair out and sitting down with a pissed-off sigh.

"There's got to be another play," Carter argued, not wanting to follow Rick or his plan. "W- we can't just control that many."

"I said it before, walkers herd up," Rick tried to explain to him. "They'll follow a path if somethings drawing them. That's how we can get them all at once."

"So what? We- we're just supposed to take your word for it?" Carter challenged him. "We're all supposed to just fall in line behind you after.."

"After what?" Rick asked, stepping closer.

"After you wave a gun around, screaming, pointing it at people," Carter finished his statement. "After you shoot a man in the face. After you-"

"Enough!" Deanna's voice boomed over the two.

"I'll do it," Heath finally offered.

"Me too," Allie followed after him.

"Whatever you need, I'm in," Tobin added.

"Now who else?" Deanna asked her people.

"I'll go," Nicholas offered, and Parker saw the way Glenn's jaw ticked in disapproval. "We have to do this. I need to help."

"Sure you can handle it?" Rick asked him, knowing what happened the last time he was outside the walls.

"You need people," Nicholas shrugged.

"Hold on," Parker spoke up, gaining Rick's attention. "You're gonna let that help." She pointed her finger at Nicholas. "And trust him to have your back, but you don't trust me enough to go out there?"

"It's not that we don't trust you.." Rick started but Daryl cut him off.

"You just ain't goin'. That's that." She side-eyed him, her arms resting on the back of the chair as she chewed her bottom lip.

"We'll make this work," Rick nodded after a moment, half expecting Parker to keep arguing. Instead, she was bouncing her leg as she stared daggers at Nicholas. "We'll keep this place safe. Keep our families safe. We will."

"The plan," Carter cut in again, a few groans of annoyance coming from the crowd. "Go through it again."

"Of for fuck sake," Parker dropped her head into her hands, trying to keep herself from throwing a knife through his skull

"Man, he just said it," Daryl spat, starting to get tired of his shit.

"Every part," Carter demanded slowly. "Again." Parker sighed, pinching the bridge of her nose.

"This is going to be a long few days.."

Authors Note:

Alright people, season 6 has started. Better start preparing your goodbyes. Not much time till you know who joins the story.