Not much left to go for this one! I feel like the chapters are getting ridiculously boring and I hate that. It needs to be finished up. Hope everyone has a great weekend! Thanks for reading.

Chapter Twenty Nine

Maddy felt a little out of place with these people. She didn't like their self proclaimed leader and after meeting his wife, she didn't like her either. Glenn was nice and so was T-dog. She mostly stayed with Merle while everyone greeted Carol and Daryl warmly. There was no warmth for the man standing next to her.

She felt like she needed to defend him from the group, which was absurd, since Merle Dixon was perfectly capable of defending himself in any situation. Not to mention, they were probably leery of him for a reason. He had surely shown his ass many times while he was actually a part of this group.

There were candles burning and even a few lanterns, giving the large living room a soft glow. Her shoulder was aching but she didn't want to complain. Carol was trying to explain to the rest of them how everything had happened. Rick was interested in hearing more about Philip until Martinez spoke up and assured the man that Philip was dead and there really wasn't anyone left at Woodbury that would retaliate to the point of actually hunting them down.

There was an old man standing with Glenn and a pretty brunette that was hanging off his arm. She watched them as Glenn motioned towards her and Merle. The old man nodded and made his way towards them. Even he watched Merle with a wary expression, like he'd heard enough about the man to not trust him. Maddy felt her hackles rise a bit but when the old man turned towards them he had a friendly smile on his face that somehow put her at ease. Even Merle seemed to relax a little.

"I should probably take a look at that gunshot wound you have. I'm sure Carol did a fine job but infection is the thing we're most concerned with," he said, his eyes moving from her to Merle.

She studied the man for a moment before she finally spoke. "You're Hershel? I heard them mention you. Are you a doctor?" How great would it be to be a member of a group with an actual doctor?

Hershel chuckled softly and then shrugged. "The closest we have to one. I was a veterinarian."

Merle snorted. "Then she's the patient for you, Doc. She may look human and all but she's a real bi-"

"Merle Dixon, I swear if you finish that sentence..." Maddy growled, leaving her words hanging there.

He rolled his eyes. "You'll what?" He asked, a challenge in his voice. He knew that everyone was listening.

She smiled. "How about I tell this group, that seems to think of you as some sort of super villain, that you like to cuddle in your sleep."

He gaped at her and the room erupted in quiet laughter. His face turned red and he glared at her so hard she was sure his face would get stuck like that. She smiled and kissed his jaw lightly before letting the old man lead her out of the room.

Hershel motioned to a chair and she sat down, getting to work on the buttons of her shirt. He had a bag with some new first aid supplies that they had picked up on the road. He gently peeled away the shirt from her shoulder and frowned. He studied it carefully. "Well Carol certainly did a decent job for someone with no medical training but I wish we could have stitched you up. This will leave a pretty obvious scar," he said, more to himself than the Maddy.

She smiled thinly, wincing when he pressed on the tissue around the wound. "I don't think I'll mind much. I'll wear it like a badge of honor. I survived a bullet so I might as well have a little gruesome proof, right?"

Hershel smiled as he worked. "That, my dear, is a fine way of looking at things. You saved a man's life so a badge of honor is a good name for it."

"He would have done the same," she said without a doubt in her mind.

Hershel looked up then, meeting her gaze levelly. "Are you sure about that?"

She felt her eyes grow hard. "Yes, I am sure about that."

His eyebrows went up and he nodded, the corner of his mouth turning up slightly. "I've heard some of the others talk about Merle Dixon. The only two that never had anything bad to say about him was his brother and Carol, and I'm suspecting Carol didn't say much just because she's not the type."

Maddy turned his words over a few times in her head before she replied. "What makes a man a good man?" She asked, not giving him a chance to answer. "Is it how he treats the world? Is it how he carries himself or how much he sacrifices for the greater good?" She paused. "Or is it something else? How he treats the people that mean something to him. Merle Dixon doesn't give a damn about the rest of the world and I know that. He could set a fire to this house while the rest of you were sleeping and he could walk away without a backward glance and not feel a damn thing about it."

His lips thinned out in disapproval.

"But the man would make damn sure that me and his brother and Sophia were out of the fire before he closed the door. So everything that those people, the people that left him for dead, said about him is probably the damn truth. But the difference in him and them is, he doesn't try to pretend to be something that he isn't. He'll look you right in the eye and tell you he's only out for himself and the ones he loves, but the rest of you, well, you'd try to make the world believe that you were better than him. You'd try to make yourselves believe that you're better than him. But if it came right down to it, if Merle did set a fire, who are the two you'd pull out of it?"

"My girls. I'd make sure I saved my girls," Hershel said thoughtfully. "But, if I may, I wouldn't ever set the fire to begin with."

She smiled. "Touche."

He chuckled lightly. "You know, I have a feeling that you're a perceptive girl."

She nodded.

"And I don't think you'd believe he'd burn us all alive." He stood up and started putting his things back into the bag.

"Well, no. I don't suppose I do. I was just using that as an example." She took the pills he offered her and stood up.

~H~

Merle felt the urge to spit when Rick stared at him hard.

"Prison?" Rick asked, not sounding like he would warm up to the idea at all. "You think we should go to a prison?"

Merle shrugged, wishing that Rick wasn't the leader of this band of ass hats. Wishing he could talk to someone, anyone, else about this. "It's got fences to keep out the walkers and it's got towers. We go in, clean house, stake a claim."

"And exactly how do you know about this place?" Rick asked knowingly.

"Does that even matter?" A soft voice came from the corner of the room. Merle's eyes sought out the person that spoke up and was a little surprised that it was Carol. She was sitting away from the rest of the group, Sophia curled up next to her with her head in her lap. "The point is, it sounds like a secure place. Or at least a place we could make secure. At this point, who cares how Merle knows about it?" There wasn't a challenge in her voice. Just a hint of annoyance.

Rick eyed her for a moment and then finally blew out a heavy breath. He nodded. "You're right. We should at least check it out anyway."

Merle didn't comment. He'd rather it just be him and his own group going but he knew that, for whatever reasons, Daryl wasn't leaving these bunch of assholes. So he would be stuck with them. That was okay though because he had plans on making sure Rick knew he wasn't Merle's leader. As far as Merle was concerned, Rick was so far below him that he barely registered on the human scale.

Rick nodded. "We'll work out a plan and head out in the morning if that's okay with the rest of you," he said, sounding like he added that last part just to keep a little peace.

Merle looked up when the door to the room Maddy disappeared through with Hershel opened up. She was wearing a different shirt that wasn't blood soaked and she looked like she felt a little better anyway. He was still pissed at her for the barb from earlier but he couldn't lie and say he wasn't relieved that Hershel seemed to think she'd be okay.

"So what did I miss?" She asked, following him to a small room off the living room. It had no door but any privacy was better than none and the house wasn't all that big. It also had a small sofa in it that looked too inviting to pass up.

He shrugged and sat down. "We're gonna leave here in the mornin' and check out a prison." He stretched his legs out and folded his hands behind his head. "Don't sound like much but it'll be somethin' that's already reinforced. Officer friendly seems to agree and so do the others so I guess that's our next stop." He watched her.

She sat down next to him, favoring her shoulder. "You hate this group, I get that, but you're doing the right thing," she said, meeting his eyes and smiling.

He grunted and looked away. "These people are fuckin' idiots. They'll fuck up and get people killed. You can bet that. You keep your smart mouthed ass close."

"And by they what you really mean is Rick?" She asked.

He glanced at her then. "Pretty much. The people here are stupid enough to depend on him and he's arrogant enough to think he knows what's best for everybody else. I'm gonna give this a shot but if he starts makin' bad calls, we're out."

She nodded. "I know. I just think we should give it a shot. Your brother was right. Strength in numbers"

Merle snorted. "My brother is thinkin' with his dick." And as far as he was concerned it was about damn time.

"No he isn't. He's thinking with his heart," she argued quietly.

"Oh God. Now you're thinkin' with your ovaries."

She laughed and the sound had him grinning despite himself.