A few days later, Parker was sitting in the driver's seat of one of the group cars, helping to move the bus so that it faced the other way and no longer blocked the door.

"Okay, let's get the next car in," Rick said. "We'll park 'em in the west entry of the yard."

"Good," Daryl tossed the keys over to Glenn as he walked over. "Our vehicles camped out there look like a giant vacancy sign."

"After that, we need to load those corpses so we can burn 'em," Rick responded as Parker got out of the truck to join the rest of them.

"Gonna be a long day," T-Dog sighed.

"Where's Glenn and Maggie?" Parker asked once she reached them. 

"We could use some help," Carol added.

"Up in the guard tower," Daryl answered, pointing up to it.

"Guard tower?" Rick questioned, eyebrows pinched together. "They were just up there last night."

"Glenn!" Daryl yelled. "Maggie!" Glenn opened the door after a moment, still putting on his pants. He clearly wasn't expecting to be called out, because he wasn't wearing a shirt. 

"Hey, what's up, guys?" Parker laughed as Daryl put his hands on his hips. 

"You coming?"

"What?"

"You comin'?" Daryl repeated. "Come on, we could use a hand."

"Yeah, we- we'll be right down," Glenn held up a finger. Parker laughed again. 

"So that's what they do up there.." She nudged Daryl. "We should go up there sometime." Daryl turned red and Parker almost died.

"Hey, Rick," T-Dog called, seeing Oscar and Axel at the fence. They all turned to see what he was looking at, their smiles quickly dropping.

"Come with me," Rick ground out through clenched teeth, all of them running over to the fence. When they reached them, he held out his hand. "That's close enough. We had an agreement."

"Please, mister, we know that." Axel stuttered. "We made a deal. But you gotta understand... we can't live in that place another minute. You follow me? All the bodies... people we knew. Blood, and brains everywhere. There's ghosts."

"Why don't you move the bodies out?" Daryl suggested.

"You should have burned them. Just gonna make it worse by keeping the bodies there." Parker added.

"We tried," Axel replied. "We did."

"The fence is down on the far side of the prison," Oscar explained. "Every time we drag a body out, those things just line up. Dropping the body and just running back inside."

"Look, we had nothing to do with Thomas and Andrew," Axel tried to tell them. "Nothing. You trying to prove a point? You proved it, bro. We'll do whatever it takes to be part of your group. Just please, please, don't make us live in that place."

"Rick.." Parker said quietly but he held up a hand to silence her. She kissed her teeth, arms crossed over her chest in annoyance.

"Our deal is not negotiable," Rick shook his head. "You either live in your cellblock or you leave."

"I told you this was a waste of time," Oscar looked over at Axel. "They ain't no different than the pricks who shot up our boys. You know how many friends' corpses we had to drag out this week? Just threw them out like..." He trailed off sadly. "...These were good guys. Good guys who had our backs against the really bad dudes in our joint. Like Thomas and Andrew. Now we've all made mistakes to get in here, chief. And I'm not going to pretend to be a saint, but believe me, we've paid our due. Enough that we would rather hit that road than to go back into that shithole." They locked them outside the fence while they discussed what to do with them. T-Dog seemed to be a defender of allowing them to stay, and Parker was leaning towards agreeing with him.

"C'mon, dude," Axel muttered, clinging to the fence.

"Realy?" Rick whispered angrily.

"I'm just saying we should give them a chance," Parker whisper yelled back at him.

"Are you serious?" Rick asked in disbelief. "You want them living in a cell next to you? They'll just be waiting for a chance to grab our weapons. Y- you want to go back to sleeping with one eye open?"

"I never stopped," T-Dog cut it. "Bring them into the fold. But if we send them off packing, we might as well execute them ourselves."

"I don't know," Glenn sighed. "Axel seems a little unstable."

"Not everyone copes the same way with the end of the world." Parker defended the prisoner she barely even knew.

"After all we've been through?" Carol spoke up. "We fought so hard for all of this, what if they decide to take it?"

"There's like ten of us or something and two of them. That seems pretty unlikely." Not to mention the fact that neither of them had guns.

"It's just been us for so long," Maggie said. "They're strangers. I don't- It feels weird... all of a sudden having other people around."

"You brought us in," T-Dog reminded Maggie.

"Yeah, but you turned up with a shot boy in your arms," Maggie replied. "Didn't give us a choice."

"Remember what Dale said?" Parker said quietly. "On the farm. The day we tried to save that boy. We can't punish them for something they haven't done and might not even attempt. It is wrong. Trying to stop things from happening before they happen... it never ends well." It took a moment for Parker's words to sink in, but just like on the farm, no one seemed to consider what she had said to be correct. Of course, she didn't want the prisoners to live with them, but they weren't murderers.

"They can't even kill walkers," Glenn finally said.

"We can teach them! They've been locked in a damn closet for ten months."

"They're convicts, bottom line," Carol shrugged her shoulders lightly.

"Those two might actually have less blood on their hand than we do." T-Dog pointed out.

"I get guys like this," Daryl spoke. "Hell, I grew up with 'em. They're degenerates but they ain't psychos. I could have been in there with them just as easy as I'm out here with you guys."

"So are you with me?" T-Dog asked him. 

"Hell no. Let 'em take their chances out on the road. Just like we did."

"What I'm saying Daryl-"

"When I was a rookie, I arrested this kid. Nineteen years old." Rick interrupted their conversation. "Wanted for stabbing his girlfriend. The kid blubbered like a baby during interrogation, during the trial... suckered the jury. He was acquitted due to insufficient evidence and then, two weeks later, he shot another girl. We've been through too much... our deal with them stands." Parker wasn't happy about the decision and made sure to apologize to Axel and Oscar when they were sent back to their cell block. They seemed to understand that she had asked them to be given a shot with the group. And were more than willing to let her help when she offered to come by and help when everyone was asleep and help them with the bodies. She was angry at Rick, that was true. But she understood where he was coming from. She understood that he was nervous about letting strangers join his group, but at the same time, hadn't Rick been a stranger to the group before taking on the role of leader? Hadn't he been the stranger?

Parker channeled her frustrations in clearing the field, dragging the bodies across the grass to where they were building a walker pile to burn later that day. Rick and Daryl offered to help when a walker's limb came loose in her hands but she just went back for it and pulled it away. At one point, she was able to spend time with Glenn, and when she grabbed a walker by the arms and the whole thing fell apart, she held it up to Glenn and waved from across the field, causing him to burst into laughter. After the bodies were in a pile, Rick planned to send Oscar and Axel on their way, one more thing that was pissing her off. "Move the cars up to the upper yard. Point them facing out." Rick instructed. "They'll be out of the way but ready to go if we ever need to bail. We'll give the prisoners a week's worth of supplies for the road."

"Might not last a week," T-Dog pointed out.

"It's their choice," Rick responded. Parker went over to Daryl, who was next to his motorcycle. Axel was looking at him.

"Twin cylinders. Is that a Triumph?"

"Don't even look at it," Daryl muttered.

"Didn't want it bored out?" Axel continued as Daryl started up his bike, trying his best to ignore him. "Sounds like it could use a tune-up. I'm pretty handy with a wrench." Parker watched Daryl ride away on his motorcycle and turned to Axel and Oscar apologetically. 

"Sorry about them. It's hard, you know? You never know who you can trust." Axel nodded his head in understanding. 

"We understand, ma'am." Parker smiled and whispered 'Ma'am' to herself before heading to where the cars were parked, Daryl disappeared along the fence with Rick and Glenn. She was getting the rest of her things out of the car when she heard footsteps approaching, turning to find Hershel making his way toward them on his crutches, accompanied by Beth and Lori, Carl following behind them.

"Hi," Parker greeted, turning toward Lori and placing a hand on her stomach. "How is little Parker Junior?"

"For the last time, we won't be calling my baby Parker Junior," Lori said, laughing. Parker sighed dramatically. 

"That sucks." She looked at Carl. "What do you think? Parker Junior? If it's a girl. We could call her PJ Grimes for short." Carl smiled, but his smile soon faded when he turned and saw walkers coming in from the yard. 

"Walkers! Look out!" Parker pulled out her gun immediately, aiming it at the walkers as she yelled at everyone to go. 

"Get out of here! Now! Go!"

"Lori!" Maggie shouted. "Parker! Over here!" Parker grabbed Carl by the back of his coat and dragged him with her as she and Lori ran toward the door Maggie was guarding. Once inside, they slammed the doors behind them and headed inside, hoping it would be safer. As they stopped to catch their breath, an alarm began to sound, and Parker's head shot up in a panic at the sound.

"What the hell?" Parker panted. "What's going on?" The growls of walkers caught their attention, and Carl whispered that they were coming. "They're here!"

"We have to move," Maggie insisted, leading them down one of the hallways. "Let's go."Lori stopped when they turned a corner, leaning against the wall with her eyes squeezed shut in pain. "Can you keep up?"

"Somethings not right."

"Were you bit?" Carl asked, his eyes wide with worry.

"No, no, no," Lori whispered, before turning to Parker with fear crossing her face. "I think the baby is coming."