Beth stood up from her prayer and surveyed her surroundings. She judged the time to be around noon. The sun was burning brightly in the sky despite the chill she felt in her bones.
She couldn't give up on finding Daryl. It simply wasn't an option.
Daryl had become her rock. She needed him and he needed her. She could feel it.
She knew by the way he would casually let his eyes slip across her for a few extra seconds than was necessary.
At night, when they were in the woods, he would hold her tight to his broad chest so they could be warm. Beth had often found herself waking with his blanket doubled with her own, because he'd rather her be warmer than he.
His kind gestures towards her had stirred something deep inside of Beth.
She knew he was older, but she knew it wasn't by much.
And frankly, she didn't give a damn.
Before the walkers had busted down the doors of their new home, Daryl had given her a look that had melted her heart.
His dark blue eyes seemed to bore into her, reaching down deep within her until the realization hit her.
Little Beth, the one everyone ignored, had broken down the enigma that was Daryl Dixon. She had challenged his thoughts, stood up to him, and she had changed his attitude on life.
At that beautiful moment time had seemed to cease to function, the walkers outside were nonexistent, and Beth had someone caring about her in a way no one had before.
Of course, she was no stranger to being cared for.
But, Maggie, her daddy, and her family had cared for her in a different way. It was not the same care that Daryl had for her.
And it was beautiful.
And Beth wanted nothing more than to show Daryl that she cared for him just as much, maybe even more.
This cruel world had tried to break her down; it had tried to crush her spirit. But, she clung to hope.
Daddy I need you. I need guidance.
As if the good Lord had heard her wish, her eyes brushed over some new evidence. She noticed another set of tracks she had previously missed.
The gravels were scuffled around haphazardly, creating small valleys of dirt and rock.
Someone had taken off running.
It had to be Daryl. Beth wouldn't entertain the notion of the tracks belonging to anyone else but him. She could not and would not defer from her hope of finding him once more.
Beth wasn't about to let him slip through her fingers.
He belonged to her, not the awful world and its walkers. She was going to find him. And nothing was stopping her.
So Beth took off running down the drive in the direction of Daryl's tracks, like a bullet from a gun.
Walker blood sprayed across his whiskered face. But Daryl didn't care.
He imagined every walker as being the prick that had taken his Beth, and the strength came easily to him.
Daryl continued to crush his crossbow into each walker's mottled skull. The stench was horrifying, but Daryl could care less.
Nothing mattered except getting to her.
Nothing.
He knew love was a powerful force that could drive people to do maddeningly dangerous things. He had seen it happen with Rick, Maggie, Glenn and many others.
He had never known what compelled them so.
But now he knew.
With each walker he decimated, he felt his love for Beth Greene increase tenfold. Never would he imagine himself having an epiphany about love in the heat of a walker brawl.
But being separated from Beth had spurred his heart to realize what that strange emotion he felt back at the funeral home actually was.
It was a love of the purest kind.
Daryl never knew anything about love, but Beth had shown him what it was. Her kind eyes and gentle soul had brought down all the walls he had built around his psyche. She had brought him out of the darkness he dwelled within and into her own marvelous light.
He had to find her; he had to show her he loved her.
After the last walker, Daryl could see the sun setting on the horizon.
But something was different.
A small ball of fire was bobbing up over the horizon.
As the strange sight emerged completely, he knew it to be a person.
Their hair caught the twilight in an awe dazzling way, igniting it to the color of flames.
Sunshine hair.
Daryl felt his body leap towards the person, like a magnet searching for its mate.
He would know that head of hair anywhere.
