So, I've been without internet for a while now but I am still writing and I will update when I visit my mom. I'm nervous about this chapter. We're about to hit the home stretch and this complicated monstrosity will finally be over! I hope you like this chapter. I don't. Lol But sometimes that's just how it goes. Thanks for reading!

Prison

Like Daryl, Carol and Carl, Andrea couldn't sleep. No matter how much she longed for it, it eluded her. She also had very little appetite and she found herself snapping at everyone that happened to try to talk to her. All day she waited, like the others, for some kind of sign that Merle and Sophia would be okay. All day long, she had been let down. Hershel couldn't tell them anything. Medically, as far as the old man could tell, Merle should have woken up. There was nothing wrong with his head.

She stood up and stretched, grimacing at the ache in her muscles. She paced the floor of his bedroom a few times, causing the candles to flicker as she stirred the air, giving the illusion that there were more shadows in the room, like her misery had taken on a life of it's own and was now following at her heels. She walked to the bed and pulled the sheet down his frame until she could get a look at his bandages. He was receiving antibiotics so the risk of infection was pretty low but she wanted to keep an eye on it anyway.

"How is he?"

Andrea jumped at the sound of the voice. She knew it well so she didn't have to turn around to discover who it was. "The same," she said, wincing at the bite in her voice. She glanced over her shoulder when she heard the door close.

Carl walked to the small table that sat in front of the window, picking up the magazine that sat on the top of a stack. She watched him as he flipped through pages and then he dropped it like it had burned him. "I should have known better," he muttered as his face flushed enough for her to see it in the candlelight.

She let her eyes settle on Merle for a brief moment and then covered him back up. She had the overwhelming urge to kiss him but she didn't. Picking up a thick candle that sat in a round base she joined Carl at the table. The magazine he had picked up was a Hustler and she groaned out loud, and moved the stack to the bookshelf behind her. Carl was still red faced but his mind was no longer on the skin mag he had glanced at. Andrea reached across the table, covering his hand with her own. He looked up at her, his blue eyes clear but troubled. "How are you holding up, Carl?"

He shrugged lightly and looked towards the darkened windows. "Better than the rest of you I think," he said.

"I think you're more used to this stuff than the rest of us," she tried to smile but it faltered and then she just gave up.

He met her eyes. "Merle didn't get you pregnant," he said bluntly.

She frowned. "What?" Now it was her turn to blush.

A small smile graced his lips. "I've seen it. Sophia showed me. You and Merle were suppose to get in this huge fight because you end up thinking you're pregnant. He lied to you about something but it turns out, it was a false alarm."

She opened her mouth but shut it quickly. How in the world... "What else did she show you?"

"She only showed me that because I was worried about my parents. I thought maybe they weren't going to work things out because of you. She wanted to let me know that you end up with Merle, even though you and him fight a lot. It isn't as bad as it sounds either because from what I can tell, the two of you fight because your both weird and really like the making up part."

She flushed deeper and moved her hand away from his. "And your parents?"

He shook his head. "You're not the reason for any of that. My parents end up being okay, just not together."

"Are you suppose to be sharing all of this?" Andrea asked, although this news really did make her feel better. She would end up in a happily toxic relationship with Merle Dixon and she doesn't ruin a marriage. This was all better news than she could have hoped for.

"No. But I figured maybe if I tell someone something, Sophia will get mad enough to wake up so we can fight about it. You and Merle aren't the only two people that end up at each others throats all the time."

She smiled, a genuine smile that felt odd. "You two end up with each other when you're adults?"

He sighed and nodded. "I've seen it a lot. As long as both of us live to see puberty, we end up together in every single reality. It's kind of set in stone. Carol and Daryl are the same way. Always together."

"That's really nice Carl."

He nodded and a small smile graced his tired features. "Can you imagine how weird it is to see that? I'm too young to know what it all means. I mean, I know things. Especially now, but to be a kid and get to see your kids... The first time it happened I threw up." He grew embarrassed and looked out the window.

"You've seen that?" She asked, astonished. "You've seen your own children?"

He stared off into space for a few moments but reluctantly nodded.

"Carl, that's... I couldn't imagine," she whispered, studying him intently. How hard would that be for a child? What could that do to them emotionally?

"You wanna know what happens to you?" He asked suddenly, meeting her eyes.

She leaned back in the chair and her eyes drifted to Merle. Did she want to know? Whatever he told her could all mean nothing if he didn't wake up. What could it hurt? It was all probably going to end up different now. "Sure. Why not?"

"Whatever you want," he deadpanned. He met her eyes and she was surprised to see anger there. He leaned across the table. "Nothing Sophia has shown me has to happen. None of it. You can choose something different for yourself or life is gonna force you to choose something different for yourself. You won't know the difference. You haven't seen it with your own eyes. Sophia..." His voice trailed off. "Sophia and Merle may never wake up. Everything that could have been could be dead now. All of it. Can you imagine feeling like... feeling like you've failed as a parent? I've failed as a parent and I'm only eleven ears old! That's what people don't understand. If I lose her, I lose my family. I lose everything. I'm not suppose to have to think about this. I'm not suppose to mourn because... Because..."

Andrea was out of her chair, kneeling in front of him. She gripped his shoulders. "Carl, stop," she said softly, tears falling freely down her face. The raw pain in his eyes tore at her. He was just a child but he had seen his whole life laid out before him. He had witnessed so much... and in his mind he had lost it all. She was sad and she was afraid but she had no idea what she would be missing out on. Carl did. How did someone so young come back from that?

His face crumpled in misery and she pulled him to her. Her own tears flowed freely as she held the boy close, his body quaking with silent sobs. She didn't know what to say to him so she didn't say anything all.

~H~

Sophia grabbed Merle's hand as they watched the last walker stumble out of the barn. She heard the breath leave his lungs heavily and his hand tightened around hers. She watched herself, in walker form, snarl at the group. Watched as her mother ran towards her, Daryl dropped his gun and grabbed her around the waist, holding her so she couldn't get any closer to her dead daughter.

"This happened?" Merle asked, his voice heavy with emotion.

She flinched when Rick raised his gun. "It happened to them. Not to us."

The gunshot rang out and then there was nothing but the sounds of her mother, broken there on the ground.

"We should keep walkin'," he said as he placed a hand over her shoulder and walked her towards the woods.

They didn't say anything for a long time but she did notice him stop and study a bush that was growing next to the pond. He pointed out one of the flowers. "There's this story..." He began but Sophia spoke up.

"Daryl told my mom the story after I went missing. This is the world I pulled them from. This was their world."

She waited as he took this in. "This is bad shit, kid."

He tugged her towards the trees before they could see anything else from this place. They walked a while through the trees when suddenly the sounds of someone coming towards them sounded. Not just someone but many people. When they crested the small hill they saw them. Walkers. There were a lot of them. The sky grew dark and she heard Merle gasp and then curse as he tried to spin her around so they could run. She grabbed his hand, forcing him to stop.

"Just keep going. We're not here, remember?" She said, her voice devoid of fear.

He looked at her like she had lost her mind but finally nodded and started walking towards the herd, his hand was shaking around her own. Just like she knew they would the walkers moved around them like they were nothing but shadows. "This is the creepiest goddamn thing I've seen yet," he whispered.

Sophia nodded. "I thought so too." She didn't bother whispering. They couldn't hear them. Just like the group wouldn't have heard them had they screamed at the top of their lungs. They weren't really here.

"What happens when we find the farm?" He asked.

She shrugged. "Then we wake up. That's the plan anyway."

"We won't wake up until we find it?" He asked.

She shook her head. "No, we don't have to find it. We could wake up before we do but if we find it then we might be able to force it."

"Might?" He groaned.

"I'm not a total expert on this kind of thing Merle. Actually, this is the longest I've ever been stuck in here. And I'm pretty sure we're gonna stay stuck in here until we find the farm."

They stopped in their tracks after the last of the walkers made it past. There, sitting in the moonlight, was the prison. Merle cursed but Sophia frowned. It looked different than the last time she was here. It only took her a second to realize why.

"Merle, this is the prison before they found it. This is the prison now," she hissed as she grabbed his arm.

He glanced down at her. "What the fuck does that mean?"

"It means that those guys, the good ones, are in there. Right now." This was huge. This could mean that she could save them.

"How the fuck can we do that?" Merle asked, not sounding thrilled at the possibility that she was going to suggest that they actually go into the prison.

"I don't know but it doesn't seem right to just leave them." She had seen those men before. There were three of them that were good men. Good men that would end up dying.

"Sophia, you're the one that said that they couldn't see us. We're just watchin'. Like a fucked up 3D movie. Right." He looked down at her, the moonlight catching the worry etched into his features.

"You talked to Daryl and my mom at the quarry. It was like we were really there. We can help these guys if it's like that here."

He studied the high fences of the prison yard, remembering it from dreams he had had before. He knew the layout of the place. He'd walked it's halls. He knew exactly where to go once he was inside.

"It's a sure way for us to get back to the farm," she said hurriedly. "And even if we don't go get them now, we'll have to go when we get back. We have too."

He looked down, frowning. "How the fuck you figure?"

"Everyone that was a part of this group, in one way or another, found the damn farm, Merle. These guys aren't any different. We get them out, we stay with them. They'll know how to get there. Somehow, maybe they'll take us back home."

"If we can talk to them, if they can see us, that means we're really here. We can get our asses bit!"

She shook her head. "That's not how it works... I don't think."

He gaped at her. "You don't think? Seriously? You lost your damn mind! We keep walkin'. We'll find it without those guys."

He tried to turn around but she grabbed his arm. "You want to keep going? Fine. But I'm going in there and one way or another I'm getting those guys out."

He was about to argue. He had every intentions of arguing but something caught his eye. Sophia followed his gaze and cursed. The moon hung heavy and large in the distance but something about it wasn't right. The color was off.

"What the fuck is this all about?" Merle asked in a whisper.

Sophia shook her head. "Looks like you're about to get your way whether I like it or not." She found his hand and held it tightly. She waited for the blackness to obscure the moon but it didn't happen. She frowned.

"How long does it take to wake up?" Merle asked.

She shook her head. "There isn't a set time, really. It feels like we should be awake right now."

"No shit," he muttered.

Something moving in the distance caught her eye. The prison seemed to shimmer before her. "Did you see that?" Sophia asked.

Merle nodded and then cursed when the ground seemed to shift under their feet. The air smelled strangely of ozone and then everything faded away. Everything was black for a few beats and then the veil was lifted and they were staring at the farm. The afternoon sun shining brightly.

"You said we was waking up," Merle said in a strained voice. "What the fuck happened?"

She shook her head, studying the house. Only, it wasn't really the house they knew. It looked like it had been painted recently. There were trees and flowers brightening the place up. Even the roof looked new. "It's... the farm. Only, maybe quite a few years down the road. Things look a lot different."

"No shit," Merle muttered as he took a few steps closer to the looming structure.

"I don't think I've ever seen it like this," Sophia breathed, not daring to let go of Merle's hand.

They walked closer and stopped in their tracks when the front door opened up and Sophia herself walked out. She had never seen herself so old. It was more than disconcerting. She had to have been pushing forty years old. Behind her, came another familiar face. Carl, his hair showing the first signs of gray.

"Jesus Christ... If I walk out that door all stooped over with a cane or some shit I'm kickin' your ass. I don't need to see this shit," Merle whispered, sounding spooked.

"What the..." Sophia squinted when she noticed that the gates over on the east wall were wide open. "What the hell have they done to this place?"

At the same time the two of them really took in their surroundings. The land was alive with late blooming flowers and shrubs. There were more trees than there should have been. Pathways cut through the back, branching off here and there. There were gardens and benches and fountains. "I don't understand what the hell is going on," Sophia breathed.

Merle shook his head as they both started walking towards the couple that were standing on the porch. They didn't stop until hey reached the bottom of the steps.

"Merle, I... I think I have wrinkles," Sophia whispered, studying her older self critically.

Merle chuckled. "Darlin', I think you're right." He glanced down at her, his arm going around her shoulders. "But I gotta say, you grow into quite a woman. You could have done better than Carl."

Just then the older Sophia turned towards the door, her hand sliding into Carl's. "Merle! Get your brothers! It's time to go!"

Merle looked down, his face filled with confusion and then suddenly the screen door opened up and out stepped a young man. He looked to be in his early twenties, his dark hair in need of a trim and his blue eyes sparkling in the sun. Sophia went very still as she studied the man. Her twelve year old mind tried to wrap around the idea that the man standing there on the porch was her son.

Older Sophia smiled and brushed his hair out of his face. "You remind me of your grandpa with that mop on your head," she laughed.

Merle swallowed hard. "That's Merle?"

Sophia nodded. "My oldest..."

"This is so fucked up," Merle said as he studied his name sake.

Two more boys stepped out the door. One looked to be about sixteen and the other was twelve or so. The youngest looked a lot like Carl did but the middle boy was the spitting image of Carol. It was so strange that Sophia actually turned around, her heart pounding out a painful rhythm in her chest. She would never ever get used to seeing them.

The older Sophia spoke again. "We're going to be late if we don't get a move on."

"Listen to your mom, boys. If not, she'll find a way to make it my fault," Carl said with a laugh.

Sophia grabbed Merle's hand and started walking towards the driveway and away from her future. She was relieved. Merle didn't say anything at all as they walked and she used that time to calm down her racing thoughts. When they made it to the end of the drive the gate was open wide and a few cars drove past on the road in front of them. If the world was still infested with walkers and mad men then surely they wouldn't be leaving gates open and talking about traveling.

"What now?" Merle asked once they made it to the road.

She looked around and then up at him. "I don't know Merle," she said wistfully. But truthfully, she did know. She could feel it inside of her head, swirling around in her blood. It was leaving her. She had done it. They had done it. She knew that she should feel ecstatic but she only felt a great sense of disbelief. They were finally going to be safe. Despite all of the hits and misses, it was over. They were safe.

They both looked up as darkness suddenly fell over them. It went from day to night in the blink of an eye. Right above them the moon hung, full and heavy, it's light shining so brightly that their shadows fell across the grass. "What's goin' on now?" He asked.

She watched as a dark spot fell across the center of the moon, growing larger and larger and it began to fade to black. "Now we can go home."