Frightened from the beginning then went ahead (8)
I believe the answer is:
startled
'frightened' is the definition.
(thesaurus)
'the beginning then went ahead' is the wordplay.
'the beginning' becomes 'start' (start is a kind of beginning).
'then' says to put letters next to each other.
'went ahead' becomes 'led' (I've seen this before).
'start'+'led'='STARTLED'
'from' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for startled that I've seen before include "Scared" , "Shocked, alarmed" , "Surprised with fright" , "Taken by surprise" , "Suddenly alarmed" .)