Please hold my hand || Daryl Dixon

𝟏𝟔.

Panic swirls across their vision and makes it hard to concentrate as they run down the stairs so fast they almost trip, skipping some at a time. Everyone turns their head towards them, confused on why they would be acting like a bunch of animals.

"Has anyone seen Nina?" Glenn rapidly turns his head to scan the groups faces, only getting confused glances. Maggie perks up at the sight of her worried boyfriend, knowing something must have happened to her. Rick and T run out the door, not caring to grab a jacket.

"She handed me Daphne not too long ago; said she was going down for a nap and I told her I would watch her." Hershel says, Daphne shakes the toy in her hands in his arms on the couch obliviously.

The two men run back in, adrenaline keeping them from shivering. "Found the limbs of a walker on the yard." T-Dog informs the group, already k owing it was her who littered the lawn with walker pieces. It was definitely a sight, arms, a jaw and teeth. Rick was frustrated as to how no one heard her out there, the blinds were closed so no one could see them, but it wasn't an easy task. So, how?

Daryl now being dressed throws on his jacket and the hat Nina gave him. His face was blank but his eyes were piercing and he was just about ready to snap. Nothing ever went right anymore, that woman made him feel so many things at once, and he was only able to name a few of them. Worried, angry, sadness, happiness. Why couldn't she have just stayed in the safety of the house with everyone to watch her, why was no one watching her close enough? Why was he not paying close enough attention? The other three hurriedly put their coats on and grab their guns along with a few knives and Daryl keeps his crossbow in his clenched fist.

Maggie does the same, not giving them any time to say something about it and rushes out the door with the three men hot on her heels. She was not going to let them search for her best friend without her.

Daryl leads the way, following the very faint footsteps. It leads them to a house not too far from the one they were residing in. Throwing open the door they separate to look for any signs she was still there. All of them tense as they search, the unknowing is getting to them.

The cupboards were ajar but they couldn't tell if that was from previous raids or from Nina.

They do the same to the rest of the empty houses the footprints led to, still not finding the woman herself.

Daryl follows the tracks to a larger house, a little farm. He leads them to the back with his crossbow in his firm grip.

Hay bales and a frozen water trough letting them assume it was a horse that was staying there until Nina took it. Silently following the now hoof prints to frozen over green house. Daryl abruptly stops when he sees her metal bat lying in the snow.

His running thoughts take over him, forcing him in the direction of the snow tracks, not slowing down for the others. Heart beating painfully hard in his chest, lungs painfully breathing in the stinging cold air, legs painfully pushing through the snow as fast as they could, mind painfully thinking the worst.

He needed to see her. Now, he needed to see her now and make sure she was okay.

He needed to pull her into his arms where she would be safe. He wouldn't know what to do if she wasn't. He wouldn't be able to live with himself.

He halts to a stop when he sees the horse in the distance. But no Nina. No. No it can't be.

"No." He whispers and continues to sprint toward the large animal.

The other four don't stop racing after him for a second, just wanting to find the Kenyon woman. Everyone slows to a stop at the lone horse, where the tracks end. They had seen the farm and the missing horse, two plus two equals her taking the animal, and the tracks leading them here meant she was here at some point. The snow filling the prints and making it impossible to follow her any further.