The hunter reached down and grabbed a fistful of Beth's hair, yanking her face up to look right at Joel. He gently dragged the gun down her cheek, laughing at Joel struggling against his restraints. Rage bubbled in her chest at the hunter's teasing. This was enough. She wasn't going to allow this to go on.

Well, it was now or never.

The strength she put behind the bite was more than she had ever used for any reason. As he trailed the gun over her face to her other cheek, she took the opportunity to bite a chunk out of his arm. She could taste his blood, and felt his flesh go limp in her mouth as she ripped it off. The hunter let out a guttural scream and jumped back, dropping the gun next to her face. She quickly spat the flesh out of her mouth, gagged, and scrambled to pick up the gun. She heard Joel screaming for her, but she had to focus on the threat. The hunter was breathing heavily, but he was already back on his feet and ready to fight.

"You bitch! You're going to pay for that!"

He yelled through gritted teeth.

He lunged at her, she steadied her aim, and fired off three shots. Each shot rang out and bounced off the concrete walls, blaring loudly in her ears. One chest hit his shoulder, one hit his inner thigh, and one hit him square in the chest. His body convulsed violently as each bullet pierced him, and collapsed on the floor at her feet. Blood quickly spilled out of his wounds and mouth, and he let out a garbled chest-rattling moan before he went completely limp. Beth let out a small cheer of triumph and looked over at Joel happily. She did it, she finally helped him for once. He gave her a warm smile as she ran over to get him out of his restraints.

"Thanks Beth, you alright?"

He asked, walking over to retrieve his backpack.

"I'm good, that clicker out there almost did me in though"

She chuckled, holstering the new gun she got from the hunter.

"I'm sorry, I was comin' to help but I was blindsided. I'm glad you found me; I could have been a goner"

He said warmly, giving her a congratulatory pat on her shoulder.

His touch lit a fire inside her, and she would have given anything to allow his hand to linger forever. The warmth that spread over her chest made her smile and blush. It was rare that he ever touched her, but she cherished every second of it. When he pulled his hand away to holster his weapons, a biting chill took place of the warmth and she shivered. His hair was in disarray, his face was a bit roughed up, and his clothes were torn. Masculinity seeped from every inch of him, and it honestly turned her on. It's been so long since she's seen a man...simply be a man.

"I reckon we give up on the second outpost today, and just get some sleep at the bell tower."

Joel stated, leading the way to the door.

"Couldn't have said it better myself, old-timer"

She joked.

Joel shot her a humorous glare at his nickname, and she just giggled at him. Before opening the door, Joel looked back at her and lifted his fist, telling her to be quiet and to be ready. She nodded and pulled her gun back out, ready for anything that might be waiting on the other side of the door. It creaked loudly through the pharmacy when it opened, and Beth cringed in case someone heard them. Surely there wasn't just one person out here, they had to be careful. When nothing screamed at them in return, they slowly and quietly maneuvered around the hole she fell through. Crouching behind the counter, they listened for any intruders, but heard nothing. Joel gave her the signal, and they visibly sighed a breath of relief and stood up. Beth looked around the pharmacy for anything they could use, but it was bare. They exited the pharmacy and listened out for more hostile enemies, but heard nothing. They relaxed a bit and started heading back to their post.

"You scared the hell out of me, falling through that floor. You're tough for an old woman"

He teased, holstering his gun.

She gasped in surprise at his words. "Old woman? I'm younger than you! I was worried you went and took your afternoon nap when I was fighting off that clicker!"

He chuckled and nudged her elbow. The air around them was light and friendly again, and it made her heart soar. Maybe this patrol could be salvaged, as long as he stayed by her side. He reminded her of the warm and welcoming home she had waiting for her, right next to him. It was worth fighting for, and she intended to. They approached the garage that they had stationed their horses and belongings before parting out to the pharmacy, and Joel instantly went on high alert. He threw his arm up to stop her in her tracks, his eyes never leaving the big metal rolling door. She gave him a questioning look, but he lifted a finger to his lips to tell her to be quiet. She followed his orders and instead looked around to find out what was wrong. The street was clear, there was no infected roaming about, and she could hear their horses on the other side of the door just fine. They didn't seem spooked at all, so she didn't understand what Joel was seeing.

"Cover me"

He instructed, leaning down to pull the door up to open.

She quickly grabbed her gun and held it at the ready, determined to not let him down again. She was going to cover him like her life depended on it. As soon as he got the door open, shots fired off from the inside of the garage. Beth started firing blindly until the door opened completely. She saw two people in the garage, and she started spraying bullets into the intruders. Joel quickly pulled out his gun and began firing as well, and it wasn't long before the two gunmen were down. Her heart was pounding from all the excitement, and she felt a little breathless. She did it! Joel didn't have a scratch on him!

"Beth?! You okay?"

He cried out.

What was he talking about? Of course she was fine! She looked at him but he was rushing over to her. The world started spinning and her legs gave out beneath her. Why weren't her legs working?

"Beth! Hold on!"

He dragged her inside the garage and closed the door. He panickily tore the garage apart looking for something. What was it? She tried asking him but her mouth wouldn't cooperate. Her breathlessness was getting worse. What the hell was going on? Was she having a panic attack because of the ambush? That wasn't a big deal. Joel was tearing the place apart and all she really needed was a nap to sleep off the adrenaline. She closed her eyes for just a second, to let the panic attack run its course.

"Beth, keep looking at me, okay? Don't close your eyes"

Why couldn't she sleep? They literally almost died several times, if that didn't warrant a nap she didn't know what would. Joel firmly slapped her cheek a few times to make her look at him, but it took all of her strength to open her eyes. Damn, what the hell was going on.

"Just keep your eyes on me, okay? Don't look at anything else just look at me"

Okay, normally she would love this kind of attention from her friend but he was starting to piss her off. She liked her sleep, always have. There was no reason she couldn't take a nap right now. He chuckled at her scrunched-up face of annoyance.

"There she is, there's Beth. Look at me, okay? Quit closing your eyes"

She honestly wanted to swing on him, but her body was too tired. So she was helpless, all she could do was watch him. He got some gauze and was trying to wrap her chest up. Holy shit!

That was a lot of blood.

Did she get shot? Was that why she felt like this? Joel was trembling as he tried to figure out where all the blood was coming from, hell, even she couldn't tell. It was in her chest somewhere. Shit. Shit shit shit! Was this actually it? Joel roughly grabbed her face by her jaw and slapped her cheek hard enough to make her jump. Her blood was all over his hands, which in turn got all over her face. Gross.

"We have to get back to Jackson. Can you ride? Don't speak just shake your head yes or no."

She nodded. She didn't have a choice, they had to get the horses back to Jackson. He wrapped an arm around her and helped her to stand on her feet. She was surprised by how much her body wouldn't respond to what she wanted to do. Fuck. Maybe she wouldn't be able to ride after all.

She had to try. She had to.

He lifted her up on her horse, and tried to tie her down the best he could. She weakly gripped the reigns the best she could, and let Joel take the lead. They rode out of the garage and started heading towards Jackson. Each time the horse's hooves hit the dirt, it jerked her forward almost off the horse. She was holding on with all of her might praying to God that they would make it. She didn't want to leave Joel alone so far away from the settlement with no backup. She had no perception of time; Everything had slowed down drastically. The constant rhythm of the galloping horse made her dizzy, and she felt the warm blood spilling on her pants. Shit, she was losing a lot of blood really fast. They had to hurry.

"Come on, Beth. Come on, you're gonna be okay! Just hold on!"

Joel yelled back at her as they sped up.

Fuck, this was hard. She could feel the strength leaving her body little by little, and her grip on the reigns kept getting weaker and weaker. The cold was biting at her skin, making her tremble uncontrollably. What was going to take her out first? The gunshot wound or the fucking blizzard? She mentally groaned at the absolute mess her life has become over the course of three hours. And now it was going to take almost an hour or two to get back to Jackson. Shit, this situation was perilous. All these years kicking ass and taking names, only to be done in by some asshole that wanted shoes or some shit.

How embarrassing.