Chapter 1

Rick and Hershel stood both a little sideways from the group which prepared it's new temporary home between the trees. Hershal watched them and a deep sigh escaped his mouth before looking at Rick. The man was still watching his people build up the tents. His hands crossed in front of his chest he seemed a bit strained. Probably because of his son still laying in bed and recovering from the shot and now needing to look the best so this old man wasn't kicking them out of this seemingly perfect place. Rick felt compelled to try his best to keep the people he was with on a leash. He may have known them for not very long but still he kind of knew who could make problems and who not.

"Rick, I would like to ask you to keep an eye on them. I think you are a good guy and I wouldn't like to kick you out because one of them decided to do something stupid. Please respect me and my rules as long as you are guests here.", Hershel said while looking at each one of them again before turning his eyes to the younger man beside him. Rick nodded after his words and gave the man a smile.

"Be assured that I will take care of it. We won't bother you", Rick returned while keeping eye contact with the old farmer.

"I want to thank you once again for saving Carl and giving us a place to stay here.", Rick seemed relieved with the thought that this place was maybe the start of a new beginning. If they did a good expression on Hershel maybe they were able to persuade him to let them stay even longer than just for the time being.

"Just don't do any ruckus.", Hershel said while turning away to walk to a white car.

At the time Lori and Carol built up one of the smaller tents under the trees when they looked up to see Hershel and Rick speak. They couldn't understand what exactly they talked about but when the older man's eyes wandered over the group and reached them they smiled and waved at them.

Rick followed Hershel to the car where Shane already waited with Daryl. A map was sprawled out on its hood, the cornes weighted with stones to make sure it stayed in place. This map currently showed the area of Hershals farm and the woods where they planned to search for Sophia. Shane was displeased and he seemed like he would rather just pack up the whole 'Sophia is lost'-Ordeal and move on. For him she was already lost and this whole attitude isn't bringing him any favour points from anybody.

"So we continue looking for Sophia? What if she is already-", he didn't come very far when Rick gave him a look to shut up.

"We will divide the area to make the search easier", Rick kept looking on the map and showing the areas while Shane crossed his arms over his chest and turned his back to the car. He grunted in annoyance and threw a glance over his shoulder to watch Rick who still explained his plan to look for Sophia. Shane still listened to his friend in one ear but his attention already turned back to the group and how to best keep them safe. It was currently his only interest than looking for a lost little girl. It was only when Hershel started to talk that he turned back to the little group of men.

"Rick, I think you two shouldn't go out into the woods to search. You already spend 3 blood 3 times and will just fold like a wet paper and Shane with your ankle you also shouldn't walk miles. It will never heal.", Hershels voice sounded like it wouldn't accept any kind of retort. He looked each of the men in the eyes before Daryl tapped with his bolt on the map. The tension became less when he started to talk.

"I'm goin' to look here for her. Maybe I can even find a clue at the river where she might be.", he looked up at them to make sure they had listened before starting to turn away and walking in the direction of the woods. He wasn't far away so he could still hear Hersherl who asked for them to not wear their weapons on his land. He didn't look back but he could see Shanes reaction. He was probably even more agitated now and would say some shit. With each step he walked further away until he vanished behind the tree line. Now he felt at ease being alone in the woods and concentrated on finding any clue to where Sophia went.

Meanwhile Shane looked at Rick with a bewildered look who just accepted what the old man asked of them. Giving up their weapons? These farms looked safe but nobody could tell if there wouldn't come a horde the next few days and then they would be defenseless.

"We are guests here", Rick gave his friend an angry look.

"As long as we are here we will do what Hershels asked of us.", saying that the former Cop removed his gun and holster to lay it on top of the hood. Expectantly he looked to his friend. With one angry grunt he also removed his gun to put it to Ricks. He inhaled and exhaled to keep calm and looked over to the old farmer.

"If it's possible can we at least keep one guard with a weapon? Just to let the others feel safe.", Shane seemed all calm and his request didn't sound angry at all. Hershel openly struggled a bit with this question but then nodded his head.

"As long as there is no trouble.", with that he gave the two man a short nod and turned to walk back to his house.

Hershal had already climbed the stairs and was opening the door when the sound of a motor came closer. He turned and watched as a bike was coming closer. Shane freezed in his motion while collecting the weapons as he watched the unfamiliar man driving past their makeshift camp. Rick looked to his old friend who returned the look. His grip on the bag got stronger as he watched the bike coming to a stop in front of the house. Apparently Hershel seemed to know the guy when he came back down the stairs and put a hand on the guy's shoulder. Rick came walking over to the two people still a bit wary of this stranger. Everybody had stopped with what they but slowly proceeded to continue with whatever that had done. Looking at them from time to time.

"Hershel, who is that?", Rick asked as soon as he was close enough and the guy turned to look at him.

"Could ask the same. Is there some kind of party I missed?", his voice was raspy and his eyes looked tired. He visibly felt uncomfortable to be in the presence of so many new faces and his eyes wandered over to Hershel waiting for him to finally say something.

"Nicholas, this is Rick and his group. They will stay for a while.", he finally said with emphasis on 'a while' while locking his eyes with the former Sherriff.

"Please just Nick.", he stretched out his hand to Rick with a crooked grin and both the men gave each other a firm and short handshake. Nick gave a quick glance to the other new people before turning to the bike and pulled out one small bag from the right saddlebag of his bike. With a nod he dismissed the little group and entered the house.

"Nicholas is a helper on my farm. Rest assured that he will be no trouble to you as long as you not accidentally shoot at him or something.", Hershal watched the young man walk into the house. Rick's eyes lingered on the already closed door and he couldn't shake the feeling that this guy had something to hide. He could tell with his experience and that he had enough contact with guys who had one or two skeletons in their closet. Maybe because he just met this or maybe because he looked like he just came out of the prison.

Through the windows Nick watched Hershel and Rick talk while he put the two bags on the dining table and started to pull out the things he had found. His attention was pulled from them when he heard footsteps coming down the stairs and when he looked who it was he saw that it was the young Greene. Her blond hair was open and she wore short jeans with a white blouse. At the time she saw Nick her face lit up in a smile and she came up beside him.

"Nick! I thought you would come back tomorrow.", she exclaimed and started to snoop on what he had pulled out. It was mainly some medicines Hershel had asked for since you could never have enough. She started to help him pull the things out of the bag and put them where they belonged.

"I just felt like coming back today. Also it seems like we have some new possible friends. Where did Hershel pick them up?", the brown haired man asked as he looked out the window again. He immediately saw that those guys knew exactly what was happening out there. While watching how Rick started to walk back to the little camp he started to spin one of the rings on his finger. He heard how the front door opened and closed again. Hershel walked past the dining room and into the living room where he sat down on the armchair. He looked just as tired as Nick felt. Beth stood beside him watching her father.

"Are you okay?", she asked as she looked up to Nick. When he heard Betch talking to him he got out of his trance and glanced down to her.

" I'm fine", he gave her a little smile. When he saw Beth he wished to shield her from the terrors of the dead but his gut told him otherwise. That it wouldn't be possible. He didn't exactly keow it but he had a bad feeling with this new people being here and that it would only mean trouble for the whole farm.

"I should move my bike. You know the old man hates seeing it stand in front.", he squeezed her shoulder and started to walk outside. This farm was like a patch of heaven and it was like a miracle that no dead had found its way here.

The bike stood outside in front of the house and the black metal was hot from the sun. He kicked back the stand and started to shove it. From the corner of the eye he watched the newcomers until he could no longer see them and disappeared behind the wall and into the pleasant and cold shadow. For a second he enjoyed the change in temperature, closed his eyes and listened to the animals in the woods behind him. He opened his eyes again and started to get out some changing clothes he could put on after a short shower. He needed to wash off the sweat and the remaining blood he had gathered on his trip the last two days.

Nick walked back around the house and up the stairs to enter it. Beth sat in the living room talking with her father and when he saw her saying something with a smile he had a small smile too. When he reached the top of the stairs he turned right to get into the bathroom.

His worn clothes got thrown onto the toilet seat and he jumped under the cold shower to quickly rinse off the dirt.

When he climbed out of the tub and turned off the water he heard a knock on the door.

"Nick?", Beths soft voice rang out from behind the door as she knocked a second time.

"Just a sec.", quickly he dried himself off with a towel and put on a white shirt and dark jeans. When he was pulling down the shirt he opened the door and right in front of him stood Beth with a basket under her arm.

"I wanted to make laundry", she exclaimed and he furrowed his brows and processed her words.
"You don't need to I can do it myself really.", he said to her with a smile but Beth already slipped past him to collect the clothing and the towel.

"Whatever you do can't be called washing.", Maggie came up the stairs with her brows pulled up and snorted when he looked at her like a betrayed dog.

"You are really mean", he said while making space for her to get past them. She glanced back at him with a knowing grin and opened the door to her room.
"Says the right one.", she retorted and disappeared into her room. Beth had already put all the dirty cloth in the basket and was already on her way to get out of the bathroom when she saw Nick's vest and cap on one of the shelves. Both were dangerously close to falling down.

She knew that he always carried both items with him and looked at him standing a bit lost in the hallway. The young girl grabbed both items and stepped out of the room.

"Here.", she held both items in front of him and he looked down at her again. Seeing what she held in her small hand he gave her a small smile with a 'Thank you'.

Nick watched her walk down the stairs again before he decided to close the door to the bathroom and turn off the lights. After that he put on the Vest and the Cap before walking down the hallway and stepped into a smaller room with only one bet and a small table beside it. Hershel had given him this room when he started to work on the farm before the whole ordeal with the dead and it was since then so sparsely furnished. He never had a lot of things he called his own and all his stuff fitted perfectly in the bags on his bike. Except that some things now were put into the small drawer that was on the table.

With a sigh he sat on the bed and looked down to the ground before opening the drawer and pulling out two old dog tags with a photograph. Behind him was a small window and the sun had started to go down. With a last look on the photo he put both things back into the drawer and laid down on the bed. He had closed his eyes for a minute before somebody knocked on the door.

"Are you still awake?", it was Beth. Nick opened back up his eyes and glanced over to the door considering if he should say something or not but in the end he decided to keep quiet. Between the door and floor was enough space that he could see the shadow of her standing in front of his door before she moved away. While he listened to her steps moving away he closed his eyes again.

This is the first chapter of my former TWD Fanfic which I finally decided to translate. Hope this first chapter got your interest : First time in a long time really writing in english again so I already excuse myself for weird writing