I'm sure quite a few of you are going to be too busy to read this chapter today but for those of you that aren't, I didn't want you to have to wait for it. So here you go. Stay safe and have a great day. As always, thank you for reading! =)

Chapter Twenty Five

They had barely gotten out of their alive and now this. Daryl cursed as walkers started stumbling out of the trees that lined the other side of the road. There were bodies surrounding the truck already and he could just make out Carol and Sophia standing on the roof.

Him and Martinez were able to keep the walkers at bay and Carol was doing a good job of clearing them away from the truck. The kid was trying, he'd give her that, but she was mostly just wasting ammo. When this crazy shit was over he'd need to work with her a bit because he wasn't about to deal with a repeat of what happened on the road last summer. If the girl got lost again, she'd be able to handle her own.

But he had to worry about that later. Right now he was worried about is brother. Merle wasn't handling this very well and Daryl could hardly believe that this woman could have the man so far out of his head. As a rule, Merle didn't give a goddamn about anyone but Merle. Sure, Daryl knew that Merle loved him. They were blood and that was different. They were all each other had ever had. But Merle treated women like objects. Like material possessions to be used and then discarded when the new wore off.

This was obviously not the case with this particular woman.

Carol jumped from the roof of the truck and helped Sophia down, wasting no time she shoved the little girl into the back seat. Their eyes met for a split second and then she took in his brother and her jaw clenched. She threw the backdoor open again and ushered Merle inside.

"I'll drive. I know this place a lot better than you three," Martinez said, taking it upon himself to push Carol in through the driver's door. Daryl got in behind his brother just as a hand reached in, clawing at his vest. He reached out, grabbing the walker by the hair and pulling it's head in just enough so he could slam the door a few times, smashing the skull. Martinez took off, not turning on the headlights.

Sophia was huddled against the door on the other side of Merle, huge eyes trained on the woman. Merle was trying to adjust her on his lap when Carol reached down, finding the lever that would move the front seat up. Once there was a small amout of room she crawled into the back, her knees on the floorboard.

"What happened?" She asked.

Merle shook his head, his face pale and his eyes unable to move from the woman's face. Carol calmly asked Martinez to turn on the interior lights. With a grumble the man obliged. Without another word Carol pressed her fingers against the woman's throat. Her eyes came up, meeting Merle's.

"Her pulse is a little erratic but she's alive. I need you to move your hands, Merle," she said in a soft placating voice.

Merle moved his hand and color seemed to seep back into his lips. "She's alive?"

Carol nodded. "She's alive and it sounds like her breathing is clear. I need to find out where the blood is coming from."

He nodded quickly and slid his hand away from the bloodied chest. Carol quickly worked the buttons of her shirt, pulling it away gently. Daryl was watching Merle's face. He'd never seen his brother look squeamish before but at the moment Merle looked like he was going to throw up. Glancing down he grimaced.

"It ain't a chest wound," Merle said in a low voice. He glanced up at Carol.

She shook her head. "Shoulder. A few more inches and it would have been fatal." She reached her hand around to the woman's back and then frowned. "No exit wound. Damn it," she muttered.

Daryl watched as her fingers moved back, prodding lightly at the wound. He saw blood on Merle's arm then and realized she had a head wound also. "Her head's bleedin'. Must have knocked her out when she hit the pavement."

"I need to get that bullet out," Carol said suddenly, looking up at Merle.

"We gotta pull over," Merle said, getting Martinez's attention.

The man shook his head. "We don't know if they're looking for us yet. I can't risk it and you know it."

Daryl was sure that Merle would have reached up and strangled the man if it wasn't for the woman. "We ain't seen a tail yet," Daryl snapped. "Those assholes are still back there runnin' around like idiots. They can't know where we ended up or that we even left! Pull the goddamn truck over now," Daryl growled. Before Martinez could reply Daryl had a pistol to his head. "I said now."

Carol looked up then, her eyes flashing. "Daryl!"

He looked at her. "Don't start with me. You gotta get that outta her now or anything could happen."

"You don't have to put a gun to his head. He's helped us!" She argued.

"Why the hell are you stickin' up for this asshole anyway? Up until an hour ago he was that son of a bitch's sidekick for fucks sake!"

"I'm not sticking up for him. I'm trying to think logically and he has a point. It's pitch black out there and there isn't anything I can do to help her if we get attacked by walkers or people from Woodbury. So would you put the damn gun away and then we can work on finding a safe place!"

Martinez glanced up in the mirror and Daryl cursed, still not moving the gun away from his head. "I'd listen to the lady if I were you. I want her to be okay just as much as the next person but stopping now is just asking to get us all killed. We won't be on the road much longer. I know exactly where that town is that you mentioned earlier. The place you're suppose to meet your people."

"Is it close?" Carol asked, sounding slightly frantic. "The longer we wait the more damage can be done. Every bump puts her more and more at risk. There's a lot of blood but I don't think anything major was torn but we need to get her somewhere fast. That head wound needs to be looked at too." Without even looking at him she reached out and snatched the gun out Daryl's hand.

He glared but she ignored him. As soon as they were able to get a few minutes alone her ass was gonna get an ear full.

"It isn't too far," Martinez said, looking relieved that there wasn't a gun to his head anymore.

~H~

Carol was worried about Maddy but she was also worried about Merle. He seemed to be in shock and seeing him like this was very strange. She remembered the man from the quarry. She remembered being afraid of him. Even more so than she was afraid of her own husband. But with Ed, it was different. He was a bully and a woman beater but inside, she knew he was really only a coward. Merle Dixon hadn't struck her as a coward and though Ed had done his damage to her over the years, she knew what to expect from him. With Merle, she made it a point to stay as far away from him as she could. He'd been dangerous in a different way Ed had been. Unpredictable.

But now he seemed at a loss and it was all the more heartbreaking because she knew how strong he was. For him to be in this shape, he really must love the woman. And she was going to be able to help the woman then she needed him to have a clear head in case she needed his help.

"So, Madison went and made an honest man of you, huh?" She asked, needing to coax him out of his shell. She could feel Daryl's eyes on her but she didn't look away from his brother.

Merle glanced up and then tried to smile but failed. He shook his head. "She ain't no miracle worker. And it's Maddy. Call her Maddy."

Carol nodded. This was good. He was at least talking.

"She said she found you in Atlanta?"

Another nod but his eyes went back to the woman. "Found me the night that prick cuffed me to the roof. Picked the lock and got me the hell out of there and then I got hit by a goddamn car. Dixon luck."

"And then you married her?" She asked when he went silent.

This got a reaction out of him. He smiled thinly. "Fucker went and told them I was her damn husband while I was knocked out. I went along with it though. Didn't blame her. Poor girl has the awfullest goddamn last name I ever heard in my life."

Carol smiled. "What is it?"

He glanced up then, his eyes growing somber. "You fix her up and let her tell you."

Carol nodded. "It's a deal."

"Can you do it?"

She held his gaze. "I promise you that I'm going to everything I can."

"Guess if that's all you got then I ain't got much choice but to take it. But just in case it'll inspire you to work a bit harder, she's the one that found your girl."

"Then I'm gonna make damn sure that me and Daryl can both thank her in person. We were actually looking for you when those men came. Daryl tried to find Sophia but the weather got so bad that..." Her voice trailed off and she glanced at her daughter. Sophia was looking at Maddy but she must have felt Carol's eyes on her because she looked up.

"She's really great, mom. You're really gonna like her."

"I already do," Carol said softly, reaching out and taking Sophia's hand, squeezing it gently.

Carol turned when the truck slowed down but it was hard to see because she was on her knees on the floorboard. Martinez pulled onto a wide street lined with abandoned buildings. There were walkers but not as many as had been coming out of those woods back at Woodbury. She turned sharply when she heard a pained groaned.

~H~

Maddy's dark eyes fluttered open and then she bit her lip against the pain. "Merle?"

"Shut up. I gotcha," Merle grumbled even though he felt like his goddamn heart was going to beat out of his chest. She was alive and she was speaking and she was going to make it. He didn't want her to use up too much of her energy just yet though. He'd thought she was dead. He'd been so sure of it. Hell, even Martinez and Daryl had seemed sure of it.

"Don't tell me to shut up. I feel like I've been hit by a bus," she tried to snap but her voice was weak. "And Jesus, my head hurts."

He watched her carefully. "Not a bus, a bullet. You got shot tryin' to do somethin' you knew was stupid. You hit your head when you fell. Why the fuck would you do somethin' so goddamn dumb?"

"Don't you start with me, Merle Dixon! I was trying to save you," she shot back in a voice that was still too weak to hold much threat.

"I didn't need savin'!"

Martinez looked up in the mirror then. "Actually he would have blown your face off if she hadn't came when she did."

"Nobody asked you, asshole," Merle snapped. He still didn't know why this man was helping them.

"Stop it Merle," Maddy scolded, her eyes closing again.

Merle turned at the sound of Daryl's quiet chuckle. "The hell are you laughin' at, huh? This ain't the only woman stickin' her neck out for Mr. Latin Heat up there in the driver's seat. Don't you forget it either."

Daryl's face darkened and he glanced at Carol then. Merle hadn't missed the back and forth between them a few minutes ago. He wasn't sure how or when but his little brother done put the dick to the widow. Now he was grinning knowingly and Daryl was scowling at him.

He thought about fucking with him about it but really, he didn't want to. Finding something good out here was a hard thing and if you did manage to luck into something, well, that wasn't no goddamn joke. It was a fragile thing. Not something to be mocked.

Oh Jesus fuck on a stick, what the hell kind of fucked up romantic faggoty shit was that? He'd eat a bullet before he ever spoke it out loud... but he still wasn't gonna try to get a rise out of his brother. He was damn happy for him.