<P> In the first season finale "TS - 19", the sole remaining CDC worker Dr. Edwin Jenner reluctantly agrees to let them all in . While there, Sophia and the others are briefly introduced to the many luxuries the CDC has to offer, such as delicious food, hot showers and a recreation room full of games and toys she and Carl can play with . However, it is soon revealed that Jenner had locked them inside the CDC, which was going to self - destruct when a timer ran out . Sophia immediately begins to cry, and Carol pleads with Jenner to let them all go, saying that Sophia doesn't deserve to die in such a manner . After pleas from all of the group (minus two survivors, Jacqui, and Amy's sister Andrea), he finally lets them go with just minutes to spare . Ultimately, Sophia, Carol and everyone except for Jacqui (who stayed behind with Jenner) make it out alive . </P> <P> In the season two premiere, "What Lies Ahead", the group is stopped on a vehicle - jammed highway, where they stop to loot abandoned cars for supplies and new clothes . In the process, a massive herd of walkers forces the group to take cover underneath the cars . Sophia is separated from Carol, and is discovered by two walkers . She runs away from them, with Eliza's doll in her arms . Rick runs after her and carries her to a safe spot in the nearby woods so he could go and kill the walkers . He does so successfully, but when he comes back, Sophia is nowhere to be found . Carol is beyond devastated, and Carl is very concerned as well . The group goes on a search for her, but find no trace of her . They come upon a church, and while there, Carol stops and prays to the figure of a crucified Jesus . She says that even though she prayed for Ed's death for abusing her and "looking" at Sophia, her punishment shouldn't be Sophia's death . This implies that Ed had a history of sexual temptations towards his daughter, and may have even acted upon them before . </P> <P> The group keeps searching for Sophia but is unsuccessful . In the episode "Cherokee Rose", Carl's injuries ultimately lead the whole group onto Hershel Greene's farm, where they settle . They continue their search, but still nothing seems to turn up . In the episode "Chupacabra", the only thing that comes to light is Sophia's doll, which had been discovered by a member of the group named Daryl Dixon . Daryl goes on several searches for Sophia, being one of the most devoted members of the group in looking towards recovering her . He and Carol bond greatly because of his efforts . In the mid-season finale "Pretty Much Dead Already", Glenn tells the group that he discovered that Hershel has been keeping a group of walkers, consisting largely of his family and neighbors, in his barn, as he had believed them to be sick but nonetheless curable patients . Shane goes against Rick's orders, opens the barn, and (along with the rest of the group) shoots all the walkers that stumble out . Just as things seem to be over and done with, one more walker stumbles out of the barn - Sophia, who had been bitten while in the woods . (She had then been found by Otis, who put her zombified form in the barn before his death .) Knowing what must be done, Rick steps forward and shoots her, putting her out of her misery . In the mid-season premiere "Nebraska", she is buried in a funeral ceremony, alongside Hershel's second wife Annette and stepson Shawn (who were also kept in his barn as walkers). Carol does not attend the funeral because her daughter "died a long time ago". </P> <P> Gina McIntyre of the Los Angeles Times referred to the second season premiere "What Lies Ahead" as "thrilling" and "heart - wrenching", citing Sophia's disappearance and the shooting of Carl . Derek Boeckelmann of Daily Nexus commended the suspenseful sequences of the episode, stating that "the show wisely puts both Carl and Sophia, the youngest survivors, on the edge of peril many times" in the episode . Zack Handlen of The A.V. Club felt that Sophia's disappearance was contrived . Paste's Josh Jackson felt that the side - plot of the continued hunt for Sophia takes a backseat to the events with Rick's family at the farmhouse in "Bloodletting". HitFix's Alan Sepinwall commented in his review of "Save the Last One" that with all the time spent lingering around that traffic jam and looking for Sophia, "the show and its characters seem to be heading nowhere fast". Mark Maurer of The Star - Ledger opined that the search for Sophia had gone on long enough, and that the next episode would be the appropriate time to bring her back . Nate Rawlings of Time commented on the situation with the still - lost Sophia that the show "really knows how to drag out a situation, doesn't it?" </P>

The walking dead do they ever find sophia