Okay here is chapter 4 I really hope you guys like it. This chapter contains suggested Meth but when I say that it just mentions feelings Merle has for Beth etc so if not for you I understand but I totally ship them A massive thanks to my beta, your fantastic hun xxoo Let me know what you guys think.

Chapter 4

Saving Beth.

Merle thought they had gotten away clean, all unharmed but as they sped out of the prison gates he had heard the shot, glass shattering and when Beth wailed in pain he knew she had been hit. He grabbed an old towel that sat in the back seat of the car near them pressing it hard over the wound on her chest; it was on the left side just below the collar bone.

"It's alright sugar just try to stay calm, the more you panic the more you'll bleed." Beth nodded trying to keep her heartbeat steady but the pain was blinding. "Follow that car," Merle ordered Tyrese.

"But we are meant to split up," he replied.

"In that car is her pa, she is going to need him to remove the bullet something none of us know how to do properly." Tyrese nodded turning off the road and following the small car in front. They had drove for an hour before both cars finally felt safe enough to stop.

"We agreed to go different directions Merle, what the hell are you doing?" Glenn snapped at him as he got out of the car. While Glenn and Merle were no longer trying to kill each other on a daily basis, Glenn still had a sharp tongue towards Merle who for the most of it just tried to ignore him but not tonight.

"Beth's been shot you idiot, she needs her pa," Merle snapped at him.

"Oh my god, Maggie get your dad, Beth's been shot," Glenn called out. Hershel moved fast, or as fast as a man with one leg could, leaning in the open car door he looked at his youngest daughter, she was pale holding a bloody towel to her chest.

"Oh Bethie what happened here?" he sighed pulling the towel back to look at the wound, she hissed in pain.

"I'm okay daddy, Merle stopped the bleeding pretty fast it just hurts a lot."

"I know it does dear, Maggie get me my bag," he called out. Maggie went quickly, grabbing her father's medical bag and bringing it to him. "Here swallow these it will help with the pain." Maggie passed her a bottle of water and she quickly swallowed the pills down.

"Is she gonna be alright?" Merle asked stepping closer. Hershel could hear his concern. It hadn't gone unnoticed by him how Merle looked at his youngest but until now he thought the man was just looking for some fun, even though he knew nothing had happened between the two. But now, hearing the concern in Merle's voice, the look of worry on Merle's face, he truly believed it was more then he first thought.

"I need to remove the bullet but I'm going to need supplies I don't have," Hershel replied.

"There's a doctors clinic about an hour before my aunt's home, there should be supplies there as long as they haven't all been taken."

"Then that is where we'll head, until then I'm just going to have to clean the wound as best I can and wrap it. The pills should help with the pain for at least a few hours," Merle nodded watching the man get to work cleaning and patching her up. By the time her father was finished Beth had dozed off.

"We need to get back on the road, the Governor will be looking for us," Glenn piped up when Hershel finished. Hershel nodded.

"I'm going to travel with Merle and Beth so I can keep an eye on your sister in case she needs anything." Maggie nodded understanding, the few Woodbury people got back into the car with Maggie and Glenn, while Hershel and Merle slid into the back seat with Beth while Tryese and Sasha got back in the front. Getting back onto the road, Merle hoped the clinic had the supplies they needed to help Beth.

Two days, it had taken two days to get to the town Merle had spoken of. What should have been a quick and simple six hour drive had turned into a nightmare, every road they took seemed to lead to the Governor's men and they were forced to go into hiding. Holding up in a small apartment block they had locked the cars in the garages and stayed put for twenty four hours. Finally it seemed like the Governor's men had moved on figuring they weren't there.

Beth was in bad shape, the wound had become infected which only made her pain that much worse. Hershel had gone through all his pain medication and clean dressings he had in his bag, they needed supplies or she wasn't going to make it and as much as Merle didn't want to admit it, the thought of watching Beth die ripped his guts out. He loved the girl even though he knew she was far too good for the likes of him.

Pulling up out in front of the clinic, Merle and Tryese went in first but there were no walkers around. Merle scooped Beth up in his arms, carrying her into the clinic he laid her onto examination bed before moving to try and find some supplies but the place had been picked clean.

"Shit!" he hissed in frustration kicking the counter.

"Nothing?" Hershel asked stepping into the room.

"No nothing, I'm going to have to do a run."

"Why don't we just head to your aunts didn't you say she usually kept the place fully stocked," Glenn said walking into the room with Maggie and Tyrese.

"Beth's in bad shape, she can't travel much further, we would have to get the supplies and bring them back to her," Maggie informed them.

"When we made these plans the deal was to stay there no longer than two days. Chances are Daryl has been there and gone taking everything with him I can't run the risk of wasting hours there and back only to find nothing. Beth doesn't have that kind of time." Merle sighed taking a deep breath he knew what he had to do. "Okay Hershel, Maggie you stay here and watch over Beth, Sasha there is a hatch in the back room that leads to the roof you go keep watch, Tyrese you stay here it's your job to protect them if something happen, Glenn there is a grocery store across the street and a café just down the road see if you can find food and drinks for the group," he said assigning everyone a job, picking up his gun and knife her headed for the door.

"Wait, where are you going?" Hershel asked, Merle stopped turning to face him.

"There is a town about forty minutes west of here; it's larger, has a hospital and a few doctor's clinics, I should be able to find everything we need there."

"You can't go alone, I'll go with you," Maggie said moving for her gun. Merle grabbed her arm and pulled her aside.

"You need to be here in case… in case I don't make it back in time, your father… he won't be able to do it." Maggie choked back a sob nodding her head, she knew he was right.

"Then take Glenn."

"Look we may not be trying to kill each other anymore but me and the china man don't see eye to eye," Merle said in a hushed tone.

"I'm Korean," Glenn snapped walking up next to them.

"Whatever," Merle huffed.

"Look this isn't about us, it's about Beth and if you're willing to risk your skin to save her life, well then I guess we're alright." Merle was stunned but he took it.

"Alright we'll make a quick food run across the street and then head off." Glenn nodded as they headed outside and across the street.

They had swept the shop and only found a few stray cans of food but the biggest score was when Merle walked into an aisle and saw five dead walkers one with a very familiar arrow between the eyes, pulling it free he couldn't help but smile.

"Is that one of Daryl's arrows?" Glenn asked coming up behind him.

"He was here," Merle smiled.

"That's good right, means him and Carol are alive."

"Only a Dixon can kill a Dixon boy, come on," he said moving out of the shop and down the road to the café. They had found enough food to last everyone for at least a day and a few bottles of water to go around, after handing it out they had headed off. Merle and Glenn had been on the road for half an hour when the town finally came into view.

"Do we know what to expect?" Glenn asked looking over at Merle.

"Before we lost phones I was speaking to a mate that lived here, he had barricaded himself inside cause there was geeks everywhere."

"Great," Glenn sighed.

"For all we know the place is deserted now."

"Knowing our luck, probably not."

"Probably," Merle agreed, they rolled into town slowly, parking in one of the back streets they moved slowly and quietly. Going into the back of a doctor's clinic they put down three walkers inside and started looking for supplies. Moving from store to store they were not in short supply of walkers but they had dealt with them easy enough.

They had found food, water, a little ammo and medical supplies but Merle knew Beth needed more, she would need a suture kit so Hershel could close her up after removing the bullet. She would need stronger pain killers than the over the counter stuff they had found. No, she would need morphine if they were going to go cutting into her and with how infected the wound was she would need I.V antibiotics and fluids. There was no avoiding it they would need to get into the hospital. Loading what they had found so far into the car, Merle looked at Glenn.

"We need to go into the hospital."

"Are you crazy? Did you see how many walkers are out on the street and all around that hospital?" he snapped following Merle back inside a café as they looked out to the street. Merle knew the kid was right; there was hundreds of walkers out there but he knew he had to try, for Beth.

"Don't got a lot of choice, Beth is going to need morphine for the pain, fluids, I.V antibiotics."

"We'll make do with what we have."

"The pharmacy antibiotics won't be strong enough, that wound was rank when we left and the pain she is in it will be near impossible for Hershel to operate on her without strong pain killers and she'll need to be stitched up afterwards."

"She'll be in pain but we'll make it work."

"She'll die and you know it." Glenn sighed knowing he was right.

"What do we do?"

"You're going to lead as many as you can away and I'm going to go in" Merle said pointing at a car parked just outside the café keys clearly inside.

"You don't know how many are inside; it could be overrun inside."

"If it is both of us going won't change anything, it's better I go alone."

"You'll die," Glenn said to him trying to shock him into seeing just how dangerous this could be.

"But you won't and you'll get in the car and drive back to Beth and just pray that what we have already does save her." Glenn couldn't believe his ears, was this really Merle Dixon? Okay sure Merle had changed over the months, become a valuable member of the group but he could still be a real dick sometimes but now he was ready to run into a possibly overrun hospital to save Beth's life.

"I can't let you go in there alone," Glenn argued.

"You can and you will," he turned hissing at him. "Now get in that car and get the geeks away from the hospital alley for me…. If I'm not out in fifteen minutes…. Leave without me." Glenn swallowed hard.

"Merle…" he started but was quickly cut off.

"Go." Glenn nodded slipping out the door; staying low he slipped into the car and started it up. The moment the engine roared to life every walker turned to face him.

"Fuck," he couldn't help but whisper, putting his foot down he started driving away slowly blowing the car horn hoping they would all follow him and most of them did. Merle waited till Glenn was pretty much out of sight, most of the walkers were stumbling after the car. What few were left Merle quickly got rid of before slipping in the emergency entrance of the hospital.

Merle moved fast from bed to bed filling his bag with everything he could find. The hospital was stocked and he figured no one was game enough to try and clear the walkers out so they could get it so the hospital was mostly untouched.

Bandages, gauzes, patches, syringes, antiseptic lotions, I.V's, bags of fluids, morphine, antibiotics and more. Everything they needed to save Beth and a few extras for the road. Merle figured it was time to leave he had been inside for almost fifteen minutes and he didn't want Glenn leaving him behind. He came out of the last room, rounding the corner to head out the back entrance and he ran into a wall of walkers.

"Fuck!" he hissed turning to run in the other direction they turned trying to grab at him, rounding the corner he smashed right into five walkers, falling to the ground he tried to scramble away but it was no use they had him cornered and it would only be moments before the other walkers caught up. Figuring this was it, he put the gun to his temple deciding he would rather blow his brains out than be torn apart.

"I'm sorry Beth," he whispered closing his eyes and picturing her angelic face, he just prayed she survived. A gunshot rang out, opening his eyes he saw Glenn firing, killing the five walkers in front of him.

"Come on," Glenn yelled pulling Merle up off the ground they ran just as the walkers rounded the corner, running outside they quickly jumped into the car and sped off.

"I thought I told you to leave without me," Merle snapped at him trying to sound pissed, truly he had never been so glad to see him.

"You're welcome," Glenn replied sarcastically. "I led the bulk of them away and then doubled back, got our car and was going to go but I figured you were right, Beth needed the stronger medication."

"Well… thanks." Glenn smiled looking at him.

"You're welcome besides …your family," Glenn whispered almost choking on his words, he never thought he would think of Merle Dixon as family but after almost being torn apart to save Beth he decided he had earned it. Merle smiled, the only family he had ever had was Daryl and it was nice to be truly accepted into the group. They headed back to the others, both happy at the knowledge that Beth was going to be alright.