Cliffhangers. Cliffhangers everywhere. I'm so sorry for that! I hope all of you from the States enjoy your fourth! Be safe out there! Thank you for reading!

Chapter Sixty Eight

Something was wrong and Carol knew it. She could feel it. She knew that she was okay and she knew that the baby was fine too, but she also knew that despite them both being fine, Daryl would never leave. He would have slept in the car even if the nurses had tried to run him out. If he left then that meant that there was something going on. She had left the house without her phone and she cursed herself for it now.

He had made a good effort and it had almost worked. He had been nervous since they left the house but when he had came back into the room, although she could still sense that nervousness in him, there was something else. There was a feverish, almost frantic look in his eyes. There was a tension that she could almost smell rolling off of him. But she played it off because whatever this was, he needed to handle it. She couldn't shake the cold feeling it left her with though.

It wasn't long before Merle came in and she had to wonder how he managed to get past the doctors and nurses that would surely enforce visitation limits. Daryl was welcome because it was his baby and he had every reason to stay. Merle on the other hand wasn't, so she wondered how he managed.

"How ya feelin'?" He asked, pulling up a chair.

She studied him closely. It was there. He could hide things from her about as easily as his brother. She knew these men better than she knew anyone other than her daughter and she could tell that something outside of these walls was very very wrong. But she smiled anyway. "I'm fine."

"Yeah?" He raised a brow.

She nodded. "I'm sleepy. I'm tired. I'm waiting."

"Waitin'?" He asked, settling deeper into the chair and grabbing the remote.

She shrugged. "Never mind. How did you get in here? I was worried that they wouldn't let you."

He turned on the T.V. that was bolted to the wall and a small smile settled on his face. "Told them I was the other Dixon and... possibly the daddy. Me and Daryl are takin' turns."

She paled. "You didn't!"

He didn't even look at her. "How the hell else was I suppose to keep your ass company tonight? They were talkin' about visiting hours and shit."

"Merle!" She cried, covering her face with her hands.

He sighed and shifted in his chair. "It's fine."

She removed her hands and glared at him. "After I have this baby, and I'm completely recovered, I am kicking your ass, Merle Dixon. From my house all the way back to yours I swear!"

He rolled his eyes. "Go to sleep, little sister. You're bein' cranky."

She growled and settled back down, using the remote on the bedside to lower her head a little. "I can't believe you," she muttered darkly, feeling the heat in her face still burning strong.

~H~

Sophia was having a hard time waking up. Her head felt fuzzy and she couldn't get her bearings. When she tried to open her eyes she found that just that small effort hurt because she was suffering from the worst headache she had ever had and opening her eyes was only making it worse. She tried to remember why the hell she would feel like this but the last thing she remembered was leaving the lake and heading towards home since Damon had to leave early. It had been dark and... nothing. She didn't remember anything at all.

She realized that she was lying down and tried to sit up as she forced her eyes to open and tried to focus. She realized quickly that there was nothing to focus on. She was either stone cold blind or she was somewhere very dark. She was still working on her fuzzy thoughts so she wasn't really panicking just yet. She shouldn't panic. She needed to remain calm and figure out what was happening.

Had she been in an accident? The last thing she remembered was driving down the road and being annoyed at the car behind her for following so closely without passing her, even when they reached a long stretch of road where passing would make a lot more sense than tailing her like that.

She felt her brow furrow when she realized that she was lying down. It was cold. Extremely cold and she was shivering. Was she on the road? Had she crashed and gotten thrown from the car? But that was unlikely because she always wore her seat belt. She would still be inside the car if she had hit something. And surely it wouldn't be so cold. And there would be light. Even on the dark stretch of county road she lived on, there would be lights in the distance. There would be stars because she distinctly remembered gazing up at them as she laid on the hood of Damon's car with him earlier.

So what had happened? Why was it so dark? She felt the ground with her fingertips and frowned when she discovered that it felt like cement. But that didn't make any sense either. A flash of a memory had her stiffening there on the floor. There had been a truck blocking the road. It looked like there may have been an accident so she had slowed, pulling over to the side of the road. The car behind her did the same thing, parking close behind her. She heard the other vehicles car door slam and realized how stupid she had been. She went for the glove compartment where Daryl had stashed a gun but something had happened and she hadn't been able to grab it. She knew how to use it. Between Daryl and Damon she could hit a moving target with her eyes closed.

But what had happened?

She strained her ears but all she could hear was her pulse. Other than that there was only silence. An oppressive silence that she thought would drive her mad. She brought her hand up to the back of her head and grimaced when her fingers came away wet and warm.

"Okay, Sophia," she said quietly to the empty room. "What in the hell happened to you out there and where are you now?"

The sound of her own voice only unnerved her further but other things were starting to come into focus. She smelled something damp, like mold or mildew and then realized that this smelled almost like their basement. The cold, the dark, the concrete floor, the smell. She was in a basement. But why would she be in a basement, with an injured head?

She swallowed hard and winced because her throat felt dry. Her pulse quickened as she tried to stand up. Even in the dark she could feel the room spinning and was sure that she was going to fall flat on her face. With arms outstretched she took a few tentative steps until the palms of her hand met with a damp cold wall. She put her back to it and tried to will her heart to slow down but it was no use. Someone had hurt her. She knew that much, she just didn't know why, or how. It would come back to her though. She had been kidnapped. She felt ridiculous for even thinking the word but it was the only explanation. But who would have...

"Ed?" She spat the name and it left a vile taste in her mouth.

She didn't remember seeing Ed, though. She couldn't think of anyone that would do this. She didn't bother anyone...

The truck in the road. Someone had gotten out of the truck that was parked in the road. It hadn't been Ed, though. It had been someone else that was vaguely familiar. Someone that she had seen, more than once, but couldn't place the name. All she knew was the look on his face had been almost unsure, and then everything had gone black. The car behind her. Whoever was in the car behind her had been approaching her as she watched the person leave the truck.

Just in case these people were careless she checked her pocket for her phone but it was gone. She felt tears sting her eyes. She didn't understand why anyone would want to do this to her and she was terrified of what was going to happen to her. She didn't dare cry out for help. Whoever had taken her probably still thought that she was knocked out. She needed to find some kind of weapon, even though she felt weak and lethargic, maybe from blood loss, and wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight, she still had to try.

She was a Dixon now. She would fight with everything she had in her. Or she would die trying. She whimpered at the thought and then took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. She would be okay. She was smart and she had lived her whole life avoiding danger. She would get herself out of this. And she knew that her family would tear hell apart to find her once they realized that something had happened.