Parker was pacing the aisle anxiously. While everyone else ran off to figure out what the fuck was happening, she was stuck inside, carrying Judith in her arms as she waited for the group to come back. When gunshots rang out from beyond the door, she began to panic even more and was considering walking out the doors herself but was startled to a stop when Carl caught her arm by the door. The entire time Gabriel had been talking about his sins, Parker had been silently panicking, chewing on her thumbnail. Daryl wasn't there, he was out there somewhere and he hadn't told her that he was leaving. Sure, she'd told him to go check on Carol but that was nowhere along the lines of runoff. She wanted nothing more than to go out and find him, but she knew it was a useless idea. 

She wasn't a tracker, she wasn't as good as Daryl. She could only pray that he and Carol would protect each other and that they'd both return safely. Still, that didn't mean she wasn't upset or angry with him for leaving. He had done it before, he left without even a word, and Parker hoped there wouldn't be a next time. However, unfortunately for her, it had happened again. The only problem was now she had to be worried about her safety and the rest of those people in the church and at that very moment she had no idea what the fuck to do. When the group flew through the doors of the church, Parker was horrified to see them helping Bob, his left leg had been cut off below the knee and wrapped in thick bandages. They carefully set him on the floor and they all crowded around him when he returned to consciousness. When he was awake enough to speak, Rick had asked the question they were all dying to know. What happened? Where'd he disappear too?

"I was in the graveyard," Bob answered weakly in between hasty breaths. "Somebody knocked me out. I woke up outside this place. It looked like a... a school. It was that guy, Gareth... and five other ones..." His face was coated in sweat as he used his elbows to prop himself up, Sasha holding up his head. "They were eating my leg right in front of me. Like it was nothing. All proud, like they had it all figured out." He sucked in a pain-filled gasp of air, his face scrunched in pain as recounted the memories.

"Did they have Daryl and Carol?" Parker asked as she tapped her foot anxiously.

"Gareth said they drove off," Bob told her. Parker closed her eyes, taking a slow breath in as she turned away from the group to hide the tears in her eyes. Daryl was gone. He went god knows where with Carol, which meant there was no hope of finding them unless they came back on their own. Her body shook from silent sobs which didn't go unnoticed by Glenn, who pulled her away from the group on the floor and hugged her tightly to his chest.

"He's in pain," Sasha said, while Bob groaned in pain when he tried to shift. "Do we have anything?"

"I think there are pill packets in the first aid kit." Rosita instantly replied, pointing over at it.

"Yeah?" Sasha nodded, making sure she was okay with taking them.

"Save 'em," Bob tried to stop them but Sasha was quick to shut him up.

"No." She instantly shook her head, a mixture of worry and fear on her face as she looked down at him.

"Really," Bob insisted, slowly pushing himself into a semi-sitting position, tugging down the collar of his shirt, only to reveal a bite mark to the group. "It happened at the food bank."

"It's okay," Sasha whispered, trying her best to make him even the slightest bit more comfortable. He leaned back slowly, almost looking like he was about to pass out. "Bob?"

"There's a sofa in my office," Gabriel offered them. "I know it's not much but.."

"Thank you," She said gratefully. Grateful that he'd even offer them anything after how they'd treated him not even five minutes ago.

"I got him," Tyreese muttered, going to move Bob. Parker gently stepped away from Glenn and headed to the back of the church. He grabbed her bicep when she turned away.

"Where are you going?"

"I just need to think," She mumbled in reply, seeing the unasked question written all over his face. "Don't worry. I'm not going to run after him like some damsel in distress." She walked off, to the other end of the church, passing Abraham as she did so. Judith began to cry as Parker leaned up against the back wall, her forehead pressed against the wood. She put her hand to her chest, feeling her heart pounding against her ribs. Feeling something inside her pocket, she reached into her shirt pocket and ended up pulling out a photo. Looking at it, she realized it was the one Daryl always carried with him, the one of her sleeping. Also, the one that she hated. She turned it over, not expecting to see anything on the other side, but there, written in Daryl's messy scrawl, were the words 'I'll be back.' Those words calmed her nerves a little bit. He must have slipped it into her pocket when he hugged her before leaving to follow Carol, which was why he didn't say anything before. She didn't know if this was planned or if he knew it was bound to happen but he had given her something to keep her mind at ease even while he was away. The gesture alone made her relax way more than she had been just seconds ago.

"Time for a reality check," Abraham spoke loudly, catching everyone off guard. "We all need to leave for DC right now."

"Daryl and Carol are gonna be back," Rick was quick to disagree with him, not willing to leave the two behind. Parker turned around, not moving from where she stood.

"I'm not leaving until they get back." She stated firmly, her arms crossed over her chest as everyone's eyes tracked her voice.

"We're not going anywhere without them," Rick backed her up.

"I respect that, but there is a clear threat to Eugene here," Abraham argued, his mind had been made up. "I need to extract his ass before things get any uglier. So if y'all won't come, good luck to you. We'll go our separate ways."

"You leaving on foot?" Rick questioned, hinting that they weren't taking the short bus.

"We fixed that damn bus ourselves," Abraham countered, slowly spinning around, figuring Rick was trying to stop him from taking it.

"There are a lot more of us," Rick pointed out, the two slowly walking toward each other.

"You want to keep it that way?" Abraham asked the question, aiming towards everyone in the room. "You should come."

"Carol saved your life," He reminded him. "We saved your life."

"Well, I am trying to save yours," Abraham snapped. "Save everyone's."

"We won't be going anywhere without our people. Easy as that." Parker stated, finally moving to join them as Rick and Abraham stopped mere inches from each other.

"Your people took off," Abraham replied harshly. "Your damned husband is gone. He left."

"They will be back," Parker finalized, not letting him get to her. "And until they are, I'm not leaving."

"What are they going to come back to?! To picked over bones?!" Abraham shouted in her face, spit landing on her cheeks, Parker glared at him, her hands balled into tight fists. Rick stepped between his sister and Abraham worried he might do something stupid. Or she might. 

"You're not taking-"

"Do not lay hands!" Abraham shouted, pushing Rick back. Everyone was quick to go to Rick's defense, some hands hovering over undrawn weapons.

"Abraham!" Rosita yelled at him, running forward.

"Hey, hey, hey! Hey, stop!" Glenn screamed, planting himself between Rick and Abraham. "Now!" He turned to Abraham. "Do you really think that you're going to be any safer leaving right now? In the middle of the night?"

"Yeah." Abraham answered, nodding stubbornly. His ragged, hard breaths were a clear sign he was acting more out of anger than thought. "Yeah."

"What about tomorrow?" Glenn asked him, trying to make a compromise. "We need each other for this. We need each other to get to DC. We can go through all of it together."

"I have an idea," Tara announced, feeling the need to voice her opinion. "If you stay just one more day and help, I'll- I'll go with you to DC no matter what." She spun to face the rest of them, her eyes wide with fear of the group turning on each other. "Okay?" Abraham thought about it for a moment before nodding towards Glenn and Maggie.

"Glenn and Maggie too."

"No." Parker instantly declined.

"Good luck then," Abraham shrugged. "I'm not interested in breaking up what you have here. Rosita, grab your gear."

"Abraham..."

"Now," He barked out the order. "Eugene, let's go." Eugene didn't move from his spot. "Eugene." He waited a few more seconds and he remained in his place, dead silent as he stared straight ahead. "Move it."

"I.. I don't want to." He protested, visibly shaking.

"Now!"

"Okay.." As they started walking away, Rick once again stepped forward.

"You're not taking the bus." He ground out, Abraham stopped in his place, not even bothering to turn around.

"Try to stop me." Rick hesitated for a moment, weighing up his chances before stalking towards him. Again, Glenn stepped between them.

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait! Hey, hey, hey!" He looked back at Abraham. "You stay... stay and help us and we will go with you."

"No." Rick muttered under his breath as he stared daggers at Abraham from over Glenn's shoulder.

"It's not your call," Glenn told him before turning back to Abraham. "You stay, help us."

"Half a day," Abraham finalized. "Come high noon, we're taillights. I'm not waiting for the other damn shoe to drop."

"And we will leave with you," Maggie confirmed.

"Twelve hours," Abraham continued, "Then we go."

"Yeah, we got it," Parker murmured, kissing her teeth as she shared a look with Rick. A little over half an hour had passed of everyone being dead silent, some passing glares to Abraham and his little group, and many others just sat alone thinking things over in their heads and what the hell they were doing. Sasha had gone to be with Bob, wanting to be with him for the little bit of time she had left.

"They think they're in control," Rick said. "We're in here and they could be anywhere. But we know exactly where they are." The group was sitting around, planning their attack in the pews, and Parker had joined them eventually after staring at the photo for half an hour after the argument.

"Plan's got stones, I'll give you that," Abraham gave him some credit, sounding slightly impressed.

"Make our move before they do," Glenn added to Rick's plan.

"That's right," Rick nodded. "They're not counting on us thinking straight."

"Are we?" Rosita looked around at the people they were surrounded by. When she was met with dirty looks and mumbles she shrugged her shoulders in defense. "I'm just making sure. It's a big play."

"Remember what these people are capable of." Rick clarified, wanting to engrave into their brains that the dead weren't their only enemy anymore.

"He's right," Parker mumbled as she shifted uncomfortably in her seat. "We know exactly what these people are capable of, which is why I'm wondering if this is the right move. They sent Bob back for a reason. They could have killed him. They wanted us to know where they were camped out. They want us to go and attack them."

"How can you be sure?" Rick asked her, whether it be the naturally formed sibling rivalry or his want to be overly cautious, he still seemed to want to know. "They could have sent Bob back because he was bitten. He was no use to them in that state." Parker laughed dryly, shaking her head in disbelief as she stared at her brother.

"Rick, after everything we've been through, after every single thing that's gone wrong, why aren't you considering that we could be doing them a favor?" She got in his face, ready to make an argument. "If we send over half of our group out there with all our weapons, we're practically giving them an opening to just come and slaughter the rest of us."

"We have to end this once and for all," Rick declared, looking around at all of them as he said it. "It's the only way." Parker sighed, not willing to waste her breath on someone who wasn't willing to listen. She sat back on the pews, her chin resting on her hand.

"Fine. Don't say I didn't warn you if this goes to shit." She muttered earning a glare from Rick.

"Tyreese?" Rick called his name.

"Yeah?"

"You up for this?" He was referring to the surprise attack they planned on doing.

"I'm going with you" Sasha declared as she walked out of Gabriel's office, quietly shutting the door.

"You should stay with Bob," Tyreese stopped her.

"No," Sasha refused. "I want to be out there. I want to be a part of this." Parker moved around the pews and walked over to Rick.

"I don't like this." She muttered under her breath to him.

"You don't have to like it," Rick replied coldly. "Because you're staying here. Where it's safe."

"Rick, seriously. There's something up with this. I mean, look what you're doing. You are splitting us up here. You're taking all the capable people out of this church. They know where we are and you're practically letting them in with open arms. Me, Carl, Judith, and Bob? What if this is exactly what they want, hm?"

"Parker, everything's gonna be fine," Rick assured her, now starting to second-guess himself.

"I've gotten pretty damn good at reading people, Rick, and right now I can tell that you're about to agree with me."

"We're ready," Rick announced to the group, squeezing Parker's shoulder. "Everything will be fine." He repeated quietly to her.

"You better be right," She huffed as he turned away. "This time I don't want to be right."

"We'll be back soon."

"Hey, Rick." Parker stopped him once they started to head out. "If you see Daryl, tell him he's a piece of shit for me." Rick took Glenn, Maggie, Sasha, Abraham, and Michonne with him, leaving the rest of the group behind. Parker stood in the middle of the aisle while the remaining portion of the group closed themselves into Gabriel's office with Bob. She blew out a breath of air, sliding her back down the wall, setting the basket Judith was in beside her, watching as she kicked at the blankets. "I got a bad feeling about this one, kid." She whispered as Judith wrapped her hand around her pointer finger.

"Me too," Carl heaved a sigh as he sat on the other side of his baby sister. "I think you might be right."

"Don't say that," Parker glanced over at him, shaking her head. "I don't want to be."

"If so.." He trailed off as he got up, grabbing two rifles. "We have to be ready," He finished, handing her one as he sat back down. It wasn't long before a loud bang sent shivers through Parker's body. She was on her feet in an instant, rushing Carl to Gabriel's office as she held Judith in her arms while Carl ran with the basket. Slowly shutting the door behind them, they listened to the sound of the front doors opening and footsteps echoed throughout the silent church. Parker cursed under her breath, her back pressed against the door. She was right. They were here.

"Well, I guess you know we're here," Gareth's voice echoed through the church when he was met with nothing but an empty room. "And we know... you're here. And we're armed. So there's really no point in hiding anymore. We've been watching you. We know who's here. There's Bob- unless you've put him out of his misery already. And Eugene. Rosita. Martin's good friend Tyreese. Parker. Carl.... Judith." Parker felt chills run through her body when Gareth had said Carl's and Judith's name, and instantly backed away from the door, moving closer to Carl. She carefully set Judith in the basket, her gun now held tightly in her hands. "Rick and the rest walked out," Gareth continued. "With a lot of your guns. Listen, we don't know where you all are, but this isn't a big place. So let's just stop this now, before things get more painful than they need to be." The door handle shook as someone tried to open it from the outside and Parker crouched down beside Judith and pulled Carl back, ready to defend her niece and nephew if anyone walked through that door.

"Get down!" She whispered almost silent, keeping one hand on Carl's arm as they sat in silence, both staring at the door. Rosita crouched in the opposite corner, adjusting her grip on her shotgun as she aimed it at head level. Tyreese kept his eyes on the door, his hand tightly gripped around the knife Sasha gave him before leaving as he sat with a  slowly dying Bob. Gabriel and Eugene being the cowards they normally were, shaking behind the armed people.

"Look, you're behind one of these two doors and we have more than enough firepower to take down both." Gareth taunted from outside the doors, somewhere behind the wooden rails that blocked where Gabriel would normally do ceremonies of sorts. "Can't imagine that's what you all want. How 'bout the priest? Father, you help us wrap this up, we'll let you walk away from this." Parker looked over at Gabriel who was shaking as if he was stuck in his underwear in a blizzard. She shushed him, putting a finger to her lips. "Just open the door and you can go," Gareth tried to persuade him. "You can take the baby. with you" It looked like Gabriel was actually debating on if he should take the offer and Parker glared at him, adjusting her hold on the gun as she pulled out her knife, ready to turn on him if he even tried to move near Judith. "What do you say?" Gareth called out as if he was waiting for a reply. "What about you, Parker? We know you're pregnant. If you give up now, we'll let you go. You can take Judith, the three of you can go now and live to see another day." Paralyzing fear coursed through Parker at Gareht's words, but then Judith began to cry and she cursed under her breath.

"Shit, shit, shit." She tried to rock Judith in a weak attempt to quiet her down. To some miracle, Judith had stopped crying, but the damage had already been done. They all shared horror-filled looks when the footsteps stopped outside their door. She could practically feel Gareth's smile when he found out which door they were behind, betrayed by Judith's inopportune screams.

"It's your last chance right now to tell us if you're coming out," Gareth said loudly. Parker heard two gunshots, everyone flinching at each one before her eyes widened at the sound of Rick's voice.

"Put your guns on the floor."

"Rick, we'll fire right into that office," Gareth threatened. "So you lower your gun." A shot rang out and Gareth screamed in pain. Parker slowly crept towards the door.

"Put your guns on the floor and kneel," Rick ordered.

"Do what he says," Gareth breathed out the order, his voice full of pain. "Martin, there is no choice here."

"Yeah, there is," Martin answered back in a cold voice.

"Want to bet?" Rosita slowly rose to her feet and stood beside Parker when she heard Abraham's voice. Judith started to cry again and Parker bent down to pick her up, bouncing her lightly in her arms.

"Shh, Judith.. Shh." She whispered, facing the door, as she continued to listen. "Everything is going to be okay. You're alright." After a moment of just dead silence, all they could hear were screams and Parker covered Judith's ears as she held her close to her chest, listening to what was happening outside the door. When everything fell silent again, Parker slowly pushed open the door, being the first to walk out. Her eyes roamed the bodies that littered the church floor, blood splattered on the walls beside her, she stepped over Gareth's body, just barely missing the pool of blood that was forming around him. "Rick?" Parker muttered quietly, looking around in shock.

"It could have been us," Rick responded, his tone emotionless.

"What happened?" She wondered, staring at the bloodbath with wide eyes. Each of the six people had been taken out in gruesome ways besides the two who had been shot. "Why'd you come back?"

"I realized you were right too late," Rick said as he stepped around a body. "I'm so sorry I didn't believe you."

"It's okay," Parker comforted him, balancing Judith on her hip, holding her with one arm as she placed her free hand on Rick's shoulder. "You came back."

"Yeah," Rick nodded slightly. "And I will never ignore your bad feelings again. That's a promise I won't break this time." Parker smiled, shaking her head.

"You're a good brother."

"And you're an annoying little sister." Rick laughed, at the look she gave him.

"You might want to take your daughter before you end up with a knife in your chest." She warned him, already handing Judith off to him. Gabriel stumbled out of his office, his eyes falling on the blood splattered on the walls, moving to the bodies and the weapons in the hands of the survivors. No one moved as they watched him take in the bloodshed that had occurred inside his church, his expression transforming from shock to horror as he surveyed the scene that lay in front of him.

"This is the Lord's house," Gabriel murmured in a low, shaking voice.

"No," Maggie replied, her voice filled with remorse for her next words. "It's just four walls and a roof."

Authors Note:

Figured I do a double update since I haven't posted in a bit. It was only ten days but that's double the usual wait so it's a Summer Break gift. Mainly cause I finally finished school for the year. Hope you all have a good summer!!!