Daryl POV
He woke up slowly, squinting from the early morning sun light shining on his face. He grunted, muttered something unintelligible to himself, and rolled back over. Needless to say, Daryl Dixon was not a morning person.
He expected Beth to be up already, trying to scrounge up some food for breakfast, but he couldn't find the pretty blonde anywhere in the small cabin. He checked all around outdoors, searching the quiet woods around their cabin. Beth was nowhere to be seen.
"Beth?" he called quietly, circling around the cabin once more. Maybe he had missed seeing her and she was right around the corner. Oh, who am I kidding? I never miss anything, he grumbled to himself. He wouldn't be half the hunter he was if he missed stuff.
That's when he saw her knife lying on the far side of the porch. "Hmm," he grunted, thinking that was odd. Then, he remembered waking up last night to her saying she needed to go outside for a minute, and that she'd take a knife with her.
Damn it, Dixon, you should've went with her. He mentally cursed himself. He'd let her go out in the middle of the night by herself, and now she was gone. And it was all his fault.
Without a second thought, Daryl made preparations to leave the cabin. He gathered all the supplies he'd need. He picked up her gun—still lying on the nightstand by the bed they had shared just a few short hours ago—and holstered it on his side. He took all the stuff she'd had—just a pair of clothes and a few spare clips of ammo—and put it in his bag too. She'd need it when he found her.
"Alright, let's see where you're goin' to, Greene," he said to no one in particular. He picked up her knife and went down the steps leading away from the cabin. He noted a few scuff marks a couple feet to the left—two sets of boots it looked like. He followed the marks until they reached a road a couple kilometers ahead.
Immediately, he came to one conclusion: walkers weren't at fault here. Beth could have taken them down easily with her knife, and would have called Daryl for help. Whoever had caused Beth to disappear, had subdued her and taken her. No way would his Beth Greene go down without a fight.
He noticed tire marks—someone had gotten out of there in a hurry—heading down the road. Well it ain't much, but hell, it's better than nothing. He went in the direction of the marks, following them until he came to another dirt road. There weren't any tracks leading down, but he decided to follow the road in case they had covered the marks up. As he'd suspected, the road turned up nothing.
He got back on the main road, following the tracks and thinking about Beth. How beautiful she was. How she never cared about what anyone else thought. Her desire to learn to survive, be independent. Her will to fight. He'd never met a more incredible woman. What drew him to her most was her ability to hope, and to carry on after everything that had happened to her. She was strong. And she grew on him quickly.
He willed himself to find her, because in truth, Daryl needed her. He needed the light she brought wherever she went, he needed her to teach him to be a better person.
I'm going to find you, Beth he promised as he kept walking down the road, the sun beating at his back.