HAPPY MOTHERS DAY! I am so sorry I haven't posted another chapter. It's been ready. As a matter of fact I have the epilogue to write and that's it. So after this there are four chapters to go! But this site isn't sending anyone any email notifications so I was afraid I would post it and then no one would get to read it. But it's been a few days so I am posting it anyway. Hopefully they will fix this soon! Thank you all for reviewing! If you got an Email for this then please let me know! Hope everyone has a great day!

Chapter Ninety

Sophia wasn't sure where she was when she finally came too. She knew that she was lying on a hard floor but she was having trouble remembering how she had ended up there. She tried to bring her hands around so she could push herself up off the floor but they were tied behind her back. Memories flooded her mind then and she stiffened and craned her neck to look around the now familiar room.

The first thing her eyes landed on was the tanks full of heads. Faces peering at her from the eerie blueish liquid they floated in. She forced herself to look away. Those tanks were more creepy than the other thing that her eyes zeroed in on. The barred door set into the far wall. She shut her eyes, tears threatening to spill once more.

She wondered vaguely why he hadn't went ahead and killed her. She almost wished he had. The pain in her face was really bad and that throbbing in her head was still there and now her wrists were aching and burning. Her hands were slick but she didn't know whether the moisture was from blood or sweat. When she realized she was alone she sat up on her knees on the floor. He hadn't tied her to the chair. Probably because he knew she wouldn't be a threat. She was tied up, locked in a room. What could she do?

Her vision wasn't too great at the moment. She closed her eyes and shook her head back and forth, like she could shake off the vertigo that had suddenly hit her once she was sitting up. When she opened her eyes her head was still hanging down and something caught her eye. Blood. Her blood. Where she had been lying on the floor, her face pressed against the hard tile, her nose or maybe her mouth or maybe a new wound, had left a small dark puddle, with a smear where she had moved while she was unconscious.

Her blood. Right there on the floor, where she had landed after that sick freak had hit her again. Ed had never even hit her like that. Oh, she didn't have any doubts that he would have eventually if he had lived long enough. But he hadn't. No one had ever hit her like Philip had. She had vowed a long time ago that no one was ever going to hit her like that. Not the way Ed had hit her mom. And here she was, sitting on the floor next to a small puddle of her very own blood, because she hadn't been strong enough to prevent it from happening.

A small part of her wanted to crawl into the corner and cry. But that part was a very small part. The bigger part had her narrowing her eyes. She wasn't about to be anybodies victim. She was strong and she was smart. How many times had Daryl and Merle told her that? And they weren't full of shit. They weren't men that handed out compliments like that unless there was a damn good reason. She was strong and she was smart and she was going to get the hell out of this room.

She stood up then, a wave of nausea hit her hard once she was on her feet but she shook it off and then backed up until the wall was right there. She leaned against it heavily for a few long minutes as her eyes scanned the room. She had no weapon. There was nothing sharp that she could try to use to cut through the ropes. She had no idea how much time she had spent unconscious on the floor so she had no idea how much time she had before he came back. She remembered that her wrists were slick and so she once again tried to work her hands free but that was just causing them to hurt more and there was no way she was slipping out of those knots. She tried to keep herself level headed. She needed to think. But all she could think about was him hitting her again. Apparently the plan of keeping her mouth shut was out of the question. That was something she had tried and failed at doing.

She once again scanned the room, finding nothing. There had to be something. She'd seen enough movies to know that when it seemed like all hope was lost, something turned up to get the person out of a jam. But this was looking bleak. Her eyes once again fell on the tanks full of heads.

An idea hit her then and it nearly caused her to gag. Her stomach rolled once more with nausea. She paced the room, causing Penny to snarl and groan behind her bars.

"Shut up." Sophia growled as she continued her pacing. The pacing was actually clearing her mind a little. She didn't have time for this. She needed to act. Now. So she stormed over to the tanks, took a deep breath and kicked.

Nothing happened.

She growled in frustration and kicked again and again. This ordeal had her weaker than she had thought. But finally her last kick worked. She yelped and jumped back as the putrid fluid gushed out of the hole that her foot had made in the tank.

"Oh God." She gasped as a head rolled lazily towards her. She backed up quickly, almost slipping.

She had managed to kick a nice sized hole into the glass and shards were hanging, long and sharp from the tank itself. She sucked in a deep breath and made her way over to the tank. The heads looked like they were watching her. Looking down at the stuff on the floor she was really dreading her next move. She slowly lowered herself back onto her knees, wincing as her jeans soaked up the stuff the head had been floating in. she couldn't think about that. She squeezed her eyes shut and then shuffled around so her back was to the glass.

It took her a while to even get herself situated and then find a long enough piece of glass to used against her roped. She had to be careful not to put too much pressure on it since that could cause the pieces to just fall away from the side of the tank it was stuck too. She almost felt like she was sticking her exposed hands inside the mouth of some kind of gaping monster. But that was kid stuff. No time for kid stuff.

She worked her hand up and down on the edge of the glass and couldn't be sure if it was even working. She just had to hope that it was since this was her only option. Several times she had to wince as her numb hands slipped and she would feel the glass dig into her flesh. But she kept trying, constantly glancing at the door and wandering how much time she could have. He had to be coming back soon. She had no idea what time it was or how long she had been in the room. It could have been hours or days, she had no way of knowing how long she had been unconscious either time he had knocked her out.

She was close to giving up. She was starting to worry that she was cutting her wrists more than she thought but suddenly there was a little give to the restraints. She let out a sob of relief when she tugged and the ropes gave a little more. She tried to slow herself down, tried to keep calm enough to not slit her wrists on the glass in her excitement but it was hard to do. She still kept expecting him to bust through the door any second. And if he did she would surely die. He would kill her.

Finally, after what felt like hours, her hands came apart. She was afraid to even look at them. For all she knew she could have severed a vein and was now bleeding to death now that she was one small step closer to victory.

She held them up and studied them nervously. There was a lot of blood but it wasn't gushing so she was probably going to be okay. It ran down her forearms in vibrant red streams. The smell must have been enough to get Penny started again because the Walker lunged at the bars once more. Sophia made an angry sound in the back of her throat. She picked up a long jagged piece of glass and stormed over to the barred door. Penny lunged again, the bloodstained cloth covering her face pressing into the metal as her mouth worked frantically, driven to another frenzy at the smell of fresh blood.

Sophia studied Penny for a few minutes. The small frame and the desperate hungry growls. She was filled with sadness for this little girl. How easily this could have been her. Would her mom keep her this way? Would Daryl? Just an empty vessel. That was all that was in front of her. She wondered about this girl. What had been her favorite song? Had she had a good life? What had been her favorite things to play? She watched the Walker, Penny, until her vision blurred and a sob escaped her throat.

This was wrong. Very wrong. This wasn't a little girl anymore and the thought of leaving her like this made Sophia cringe. Without thinking about it any further she aimed and plunged the glass into Penny's eye. Her aim was good, considering she wasn't exactly sure where the little girls eye was with that thing over her head.

~H~

Merle met Daryl and Carol outside the apartments. They were about to make another round when they spotted Philip walking towards them. One of the first things Daryl noticed was the fact that he had changed his clothes. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"Keep your head, baby brother." Merle whispered.

He smiled when he approached them. "Any luck?" He asked.

Merle shook his head. "You still got your men lookin'?

Philip nodded. "We're pretty sure she didn't leave the town but we have some men scouring the road and the woods just in case. We did find somethin' else that was pretty interesting though." He looked past them and waved someone forward.

Merle heard Carol gasp before he even realized what he was looking at. When he saw them he cursed under his breath. This was the last thing they needed right now. Morgan and the Irishman were walking towards them, with a battered and half conscious Randal between them. They were holding the boy up.

"The fuck is this shit?" Merle growled.

"We found him on the road. He had himself an impressive looking gun on him but he didn't use it. Gave himself up right away." Philip said in that friendly tone he used that always put the Dixon's teeth on edge.

"So you took his gun and then beat the shit outta him?" Daryl spat as he approached the men.

Philip shrugged. "I wasn't there. I'm sure there was a good reason they did what they did."

Merle eyed Morgan angrily. "You do this to one of ours?" he growled.

Morgan shook his head. "I was just told to bring him to you and your brother. I wasn't with the one's that were searching past the wall." He said dully.

Merle looked Randal over. He was pretty banged up but he didn't look like he was in too bad of shape. "I'll take him to his room. He tell anyone why the hell he took off in the first place?"

Philip shook his head but was studying Merle in a strange way.

"The fuck you lookin' at?" Daryl growled and Carol instantly had hold of his arm.

Philip shook his head and turned to walk away. Back towards the Town Hall.

"We got it from here Red." Merle said as he grabbed Randal by the shirt front.

The man nodded. "Yes sir." he said as he walked away to join the others that were on the wall.

Merle helped Morgan get the boy into his room while Carol and his brother followed silently. This was definitely a complication. Philip was naturally a suspicious mother fucker and this shit was just making it worse. If somehow he was the one that had Sophia this was possibly going to make it harder to find her. All his hopes were riding on the boys. They were good. He had to keep telling himself that. There wasn't another option. Sophia was okay and the boys were going to get to her. Wherever she was. And then after she was found all hell was going to break loose. There would be people lost on both sides but there was no avoiding it now. There would be no sneaking in and out of rooms, quietly killing. There was a huge tension between the groups. The thing that surprised Merle the most was the fact that there were several of Philips men that seemed as though they were leaning more towards following Merle's lead. That could be a good thing. But he couldn't come out and ask those men who's side they wanted to take once the shit hit the fan.

Once they had the door shut and Randal was on his bed Merle towered over him as Morgan stepped back. "What the fuck were ya thinkin', dumb shit?" He growled.

"We were worried. We thought you guys ran into trouble here so we came to help." He said weakly. "I didn't know they would be in the woods and on the road."

"We?" Carol asked quietly. "That woman came with you?"

Randal nodded. "She's a lot more stealthy than me. I don't think they found her. By now she's probably already here. What's going on? Why haven't you all left yet?"

"Sophia's missing. We have to find her and then when we do we still aren't leaving. We're killing the Governor and taking the town." Carol deadpanned as Randal gaped at her.

"Well, Michonne will be happy about that. She's here for some revenge herself. One of the men shot her."

Carol, Merle and Daryl all looked at Morgan. Merle couldn't let the woman kill him. Even if he didn't much like him, he was still Duane's dad and he couldn't let anything happen to him. As far as Morgan knew he had been doing the right thing.

A knock at the door broke the silence that had enveloped the room. Merle flung the door open angrily. He stood there for a few shocked seconds, blocking everyone's view. "The fuck you want?" He finally sneered.

Martinez glanced down the hall nervously. "Can I come in?"

Merle glared. "Are you one of the ones that beat the shit out our boy, here?" He asked as he tilted his head towards Randal as he stepped out of the way.

Martinez shook his head. "I need to see your brother." He said as he glanced down the hall once more.

Merle moved so the man could come in. The look on his face was turning Merle's stomach. Something was about to happen. Martinez and Daryl hated one another. Neither of them made that fact a secret. The man had taken a real beating at the hands of his brother and it was just now healing up.

Martinez glanced around the room, his gaze landing on Morgan. "You're with them, aren't you?" he asked quietly. It didn't sound like an accusation. Just a question that needed an answer.

Morgan didn't hesitate. Even he knew that they were at the end of the charade. He had loyalties to this group, and if not he at least had loyalties to his son, who was at the heart of the group. He nodded.

Martinez locked eyes with Daryl who had put himself only inches away from him, bristling for a fight already. Daryl was on edge and Merle figured he was itching to blow off some steam.

"I know where your girl is." Martinez blurted out quickly. "The Governor has her in the Town Hall. She's locked in a room on the first floor but the whole place is guarded."

Merle watched as the blood drained from Daryl's face. "Has he...? Has he hurt her?" He choked out as he took a few steps away from Martinez.

Martinez shook his head. "I don't think so. Not yet. But I know that man. I know how he is and that girl of yours is a feisty one. You need to figure out how to get to her soon."

"Why are you telling us this?" Carol asked, her voice cracking and her eyes filling with tears. Merle knew that she had been holding on to the hope that Sophia was just out there somewhere, working things out for herself.

Martinez shrugged. "She's a kid. She's a hellion but she's still just a kid. I had kids of my own before all this. I can't stand either one of you, but it isn't her fault. I don't know what good it's gonna do any of you. I don't know how you can get to her."

"You could." Merle said suddenly.

Martinez shook his head again. "No. there's too many on guard. If I showed up with you then we'd both get gunned down. I told you what I know. That's all I'm willing to do to help. And I wasn't even going to do this much." He turned to walk out. Merle let him pass.

"What the fuck do we do?" Daryl asked as Carol buried her head in his shoulder and finally cried.

Merle took a deep breath. "We go make another round. It wont look suspicious. We're getting into that fuckin' buildin'."

Daryl nodded, blindly trusting his brother. Merle wasn't a praying man. He never had been. But in that moment he prayed that his brother wasn't making a mistake by trusting him.

~H~

Duane was covered in dust and cobwebs. Damn Carl probably was too but not as much as Duane. He was the one crawling through the shit head first. Carl was getting it all second hand.

"What if she's on another floor?" Carl asked from behind him.

Duane once again had to hold in a sneeze. His eyes were watering something fierce and he was having a hard time keeping from coughing. "If she is then I guess we'll have to get outta here and find some stairs."

"Every room we've had a view of so far has been empty. I hope we ain't wasting time. Time ain't on our side at the moment." Carl whispered worriedly.

"We're gonna find her, damn it! We have too." Duane snapped as he turned another sharp corner.

He let out a sigh of relief when he saw light shining from further down the shaft. This was a good sign. This was the first time they had came upon any sort of light. Every now and then he would take out the penlight just long enough for them to get their bearings and then he would keep on, letting blind faith lead his blind ass forwards.

"There's light up there. It's a good sign." He whispered.

~H~

Sophia almost panicked when she realized what she had done. She was dead now. Totally and irrevocably dead. And he wouldn't kill her quick for this either. This was going to be the thing that made the guy lose it completely. He was already most the way there as it was. Her mind was spinning. She had to do something.

Penny was on the floor, dark blood spilling from the wound in her eye. Sophia quickly opened the door and crawled into the small space. She didn't know what this space could have been used for before it had become Penny's prison, but it was deeper than it was wide. The back wall was about ten feet away from the door. She turned and worked her fingers through the bars, straining to get the door latched. When she finally managed to latch it she grabbed the body by the wrists and started pulling her further into the darkness of the small room. She leaned her against the wall.

This would buy her a little time. She wasn't sure what else to do. She paced the small space, every now and then a whimper would escape her lips. She still clutched the shard of glass, oblivious to the cuts she was causing to her own fingers and palm.

She tried to calm down but it was hard since she was pretty sure that soon she would be dead. Or maybe a replacement for Penny. Maybe he would kill her and let her turn so he could have another little girl to try to cure. She put her back against the wall and slid down, pulling her knees up to her chest. She suddenly thought back to that day at camp, it seemed so long ago, the day she had gotten up the nerve to ask Daryl if she could help him. She almost smiled when she recalled the look on his face. He didn't want her around, she knew it. Then he had protected her. Wouldn't let Ed get near her that day. He would have killed the man if he tried. And he had been there for her ever since.

She recalled the gleam in her moms eyes the day they left the CDC. She had been happy. Really happy. That was really the first time she had seen that look in her moms eyes and she never wanted to forget it. It didn't matter if she lived another twenty minutes or another hundred years, she wanted to always remember her moms face that morning.

Merle, lying in that bed. She had been so sure that he wouldn't make it. But he had. He'd proved to all of them what kind of man he really was. The way he looked after her and the boys. The way he looked at Maggie with that half scared look in his eyes, even now. She hoped she would live long enough to see that grin on his face every time she said or did something that made him proud.

Duane and Carl. She let a tear slip down her face. What would they do without her? It was suppose to always be the three of them. It was suppose to be the three of them taking on this crazy new world and winning. She hoped they would still win. They would beat this world, even if she wasn't there to see it happen.

Her mom and Daryl would be able to get through this. They had each other and they were strong. Maggie would be their for Merle and Duane and Carl would pull each other out of their sadness. She was so lucky. Even now she knew how lucky she was. She had a family, at least for a little while. A real family that was full of more love than most people ever get to even see, much less be a part of. Some people died without knowing love like that. She wouldn't be one of them.

She was scared. She could admit it now. She was terrified and she finally laid her forehead on her knees and sobbed like the little girl she had tried so hard to fight. She wasn't afraid for herself. She was afraid of the pain that this would cause her family.

She raised her head slowly when she heard the door open. She wiped the tears away on the back of her hand. This was it. She would give it everything she had. She would try to stay alive for them. But her odds were bad and her outcome seemed bleak. She took a deep breath. She hoped they knew how much she loved them all. Surely they did.

"What have you done, you little bitch!" She heard him roar. She flinched.

She kept herself silent as she scooted back against the wall, right next to Penny. There was no where else to go.

"Where are you!" He screamed.

She flinched again. He sounded completely unhinged now. The only thing she could hope for was that he would be so enraged that he made it quick. Maybe she wouldn't have to suffer.

She was still clutching the glass so she knew deep down she was also still clutching a small sliver of hope. Suddenly his head appeared behind the bars. "What have you done? What have you done? What have you done?" He chanted over and over. Panting out the words. He already knew that she had killed the thing he thought was his daughter. He ripped the door clean out of the wall and threw it.

She scooted away from Penny, who he was coming towards, like he didn't even notice Sophia was there at the moment. She tucked herself into the corner as he dropped to his knees and ripped off the thing that was covering the girls head.

"NO!" He screamed as he cradled the dead child in his arms. Sophia got up as fast as she could and ran. She ducked out of the doorway. But there was no where to go. She went to the door, trying the knob, knowing it was fruitless but having to try it anyway. She was surprised to still be alive. She had thought he would kill her as soon as he saw the dead girl. But he hadn't. Right now he was still in the small room. He was chanting her name now in broken sobs that she thought would cause her to lose her mind.

She banged on the door then. It was was made out of steel. No one was going to hear her. Either the room was nearly soundproof or wherever he had her was far enough away from other people that there was no one there to hear. But she pounded on the door anyway.

She felt his hand grab her hair before she heard him coming. She hadn't been listening, hoping he would stay lost in his grief until maybe someone came for her. But her luck had ran dry. He yanked her backwards by the hair and shoved her forwards. She collided with the chair and almost hit the floor but she righted herself just in time. She spun around and he was right there.

"You killed her." He snarled as he reached for her again. She dodged him quickly.

"She was already dead!" Sophia shrieked as she dodged him once more.

She spun around to face him right as he slipped in the putrid liquid covering part of the floor. He fell to his knees, yelling angrily.

She saw her opening then. She ran at him and brought up the glass that had mangled her palms. She was feeling it now, the stinging in burning in her palms. She plunged it into his eye, thinking that if it killed the Walker it would surely kill the man.

He screamed out in agony and pulled away before she could shove it all the way in. The tip of it broke as he jerked, leaving a jagged shard protruding from his eye socket.

She scurried away then, finally dropping the remainder of the glass to the floor. He was right behind her. She couldn't do this all night. He was going to eventually catch her. She just did what she could to keep the chairs between them but suddenly, with an angry roar, he picked up the smaller wooden chair that she had been tied too and threw it at her. It hit her solidly in the midsection and she doubled over in pain.

He was on her then, puffing and snarling like a rabid bear. He jerked her up and then started dragging her towards those tanks. She wasn't sure what he was about to do but she was afraid it had something to do with those heads and she didn't want to be anywhere near those things. He ripped the cover off the top of one and with another vicious snarl her plunged he head into the tank.

She tried to fight him. She kicked and she flailed but he wasn't to be budged. Her lungs were on fire, her eyes burning. Some of the liquid was getting into her mouth and the taste made her gag, causing her to suck in a mouth full of it into her lungs. Her body reflexively coughed up the liquid and then she sucked in even more. This was it. She was going to drown. Her very last thought before everything went dark was of her mom. Daryl had to find her body because this would kill her mom.

I know, you all want to choke me for ANOTHER cliffhanger! But I only do it because I post often! I would never write one like this and then leave you hanging for weeks. If that ever happens you can be sure that something very bad has happened! I hope, if nothing else, I was able to get your hearts pumping a bit with this chapter. Don't forget to let me know, either review or pm, that you've read it so I'll know whether to post another one!