Our Extinction Event {Daryl Dixon}

This Side? Pt.1

Daryl felt stupid, like he'd made the biggest mistake of his life. After the prison fell, he escaped with Beth intending to find Parker, but she wasn't there. He hated himself for sending her off on her own, wishing he had told her to stay. He tried to track her down, but there wasn't even a trail for him to follow. He had lost her. He promised her he would find her, but he had lost her. He felt like he'd let her down. Daryl didn't know where Rick, Carl, Michonne, Maggie, or Glenn were. For all he knew they could all be dead. The walkers were chasing them, and the two had to keep running. All they could do was run, and with the number of walkers following them, his heart sank at the thought of Parker facing a herd alone. He knew she wasn't stupid, and that she wouldn't try to take a herd on, but he was scared that they would trap her and tear her apart. 

Daryl ran across a field with Beth, before they collapsed to the ground, gasping for air. He hadn't realized that he had been crying until he felt a tear fall down the side of his face. He felt completely lost without her, the not knowing was eating him alive. She was gone. Missing. Dead. The one person he promised to protect was gone, and he had no idea if he would ever find her again. Every time he thought of her, he felt a pain in his heart. He had a photo of her in his pocket but he didn't dare take it out. If he did, it would be admitting defeat. He had been telling himself that the photo was the last thing he had left of the woman he loved. So Daryl kept it in his pocket and he swore to never look at it until he had completely given up. He had to find her. He and Beth set up a little camp that night, sitting around the fire in silence. Daryl was still thinking about Parker, about her smile and the way she had always looked at him with love in her eyes. He missed her sarcastic comments, that stupid hat she always wore, how she would always say she was bulletproof when she wore the damn police vest.. except this time she wasn't.

"We should do something," Beth finally spoke, breaking the silence and breaking Daryl out of his thoughts. Her voice was raspy, exhausted, they were both dehydrated and this was the only break they had taken since they got split from the rest of the group. When her words were met with nothing but silence she repeated herself. "We should do somethin'." Daryl just looked up at her through the flames of the fire, his arms propped on his knees as he kept to himself. "We aren't the only survivors. We can't be. Rick, Michonne, they could be out here. Maggie and Glenn could have made it out of A block. They could've." She insisted when Daryl didn't say anything. "Parker could be out here too, she could have escaped." Daryl ignored her, so Beth stood up. "You're a tracker. You can track. Come on. The sun will be up soon, we can..." Beth ranted, giving up on trying to convince him once she realized she wasn't getting anywhere. "Fine! If you won't track, I will." She grabbed her knife and left.

 Daryl would have been perfectly content to stay where he was if it weren't for the fact that he could almost hear Parker scolding him for letting Beth go alone. He could see her face in his mind, and he heard her telling him to follow Beth, so he stood up and stomped out the small fire. Following after Beth, and after scaring her when he walked up behind her silently, they continued walking for the night. Beth was relieved to have him there and although she and Daryl never got along. Mainly due to their age difference and the fact that they came from two different backgrounds, she was grateful to be stuck in this with him. As the sun rose, Daryl finally saw something, discovering a set of footprints. Beth stood on her toes to see over his shoulder. "Could be Luke's... or Molly's. Whoever they are, it means they're alive."

"No," Daryl replied, not trying to get his or her hopes up on actually finding anyone. "This means they were alive four or five hours ago."

"They're alive." Beth insisted, not letting him get the last word. As they walked, Daryl couldn't help but think about Parker. He still couldn't wrap his mind around her being dead. And every time Beth looked at him, he knew by the look in her eyes that she was showing sympathy. She felt the exact same way. She had lost Maggie and Glenn, she didn't know if they were dead or alive and it was eating her up inside.