Tessa looked out of her bedroom window at the new group that had arrived yesterday. She watched as they finished setting up their camp right outside of Hershel's home. She didn't like this, she didn't like it at all, but it wasn't like Hershel to turn people down. Especially since their child was hurt. If Hershel was the type of man to turn people away, Tessa highly doubted that she would be here today. Not that there was much left to live for. A knock from the door made Tessa tare her gaze from the new comers. It was Beth.

"Will you help me feed the chickens?" the small blonde girl asked. Tessa nodded before passing the girl out of the room. Beth had become like a sister to Tessa. In fact, all of Hershel's family had. They cared for her, and she knew that, but Tessa also knew that she was too cold, too damaged to really allow them into her life. If she let them in, it would only be a matter of time before someone got hurt.
"Have you met the new people?" Beth asked form behind Tessa on the stairs.

"Got back to late last night. Every one was asleep." Tessa often disappeared from the farm. She would go into the woods or into town. She was used to solidarity, and she liked being alone. Hershel didn't mind as long as she came back at night. He knew the girl was damaged and didn't want to push her to a breaking point.

"That's too bad," Beth continued, "they seem like nice people." Tessa snorted a little bit.

"Everyone seems nice until you get to know them. You best not forget that." Tessa walked out of the house, not looking to see if Beth was fallowing. She could feel the weight of the groups stare as she rounded the house. She was watching her feet and almost collided with a man.

"Watch were ya' going," the man said rudely before making his way back to the front of the house. Tessa watched as he walked away. He was wearing a cut off shirt with a biker vest, and was carrying a crossbow on his back.

"Stupid redneck," she muttered before continuing on her way to the chicken coop. When Beth finally caught up with Tessa, she was all ready feeding the chickens. Tessa looked up as Beth walked into the coop with a relieved look on her face.

"Thought you were going to disappear on us again," Beth said as she started looking for eggs.

"No, not yet anyways."

"Why do you do it? Disappear, I mean," Beth asked tentatively. She knew how touchy Tessa could get. Tessa was quiet for a long while, thinking how to answer the other girl's question.

"I've been on my own for as long as I can remember. I've grown used to being alone," she said quietly. Beth stopped what she was doing and looked at the other girl.

"You aren't alone anymore," she whispered. And like that, Tessa was gone. She dropped the feed and stormed out of the chicken coop. She wasn't good with touchy feely crap. She didn't want to get close to the Greene family. Being close to someone only meant pain, and if there was one thing in this world that Tessa couldn't take anymore of, it was pain. Her whole childhood had been nothing but hurt. It was more then she could stand.

Tessa trudged away from the farm and out to an old brick ruin that used to be part of the original house that was built on this land. She sat down and rested her head on the old bricks. This was where she came to clear her head. Where she could be alone and not make the family who took her in worry about her. She sat there like that for a long while. She let out a sigh and finally opened her eyes when she heard footsteps approaching. She was expecting Maggie, or Beth, telling her that she had missed dinner, but instead, it was that stupid redneck she had almost ran into earlier.

"What the hell are yer doing here?" he asked in that same tone of voice. Tessa looked at him for real this time. He was tall, well built. He had good muscle definition and tanned skin. She could tell that even before the world went to shit he was an outdoorsy type.

"I should be asking you that question," she retorted as she went back to staring at the sky.

"Do ya even belong 'ere? Sneaking 'round and hiding from everyone." Tessa shot him a glare.

"Yes, I belong here. It's you and you're stupid group that doesn't belong here," she said as she stood to confront the stranger.

"Watch what ya say girl," the man retorted angrily.

"Or what? You'll kill me?" Tessa watched as the man's eyes grew slightly. He obviously wasn't expecting her response. She shot him one last glare before marching off in the directions of the woods.

"Where ya going?" he called after her.

"What's it to you?"

"Ya can't go in the woods by yerself. Ya'll get yer self killed!"

"Watch me!" Tessa said as she continued on her way. She had her gun tucked into the waste band of her pants, along with her throwing knifes. She knew how to fight the walkers. She would be just fine.

Tessa wandered deeper and deeper into the forest. She knew this forest better than anyone in the Greene family home. No one went into the woods as frequently as she did. It bothered Hershel, but he knew that it wouldn't have been a good idea to confine the girl to the farm. So he reluctantly agreed to let the girl wander around.

Tessa wasn't paying attention to how long she had been walking, but sooner then she would have thought the sun was starting to set.

"Shit," she said under her breath. There was no way she would be back before dark. She let out a frustrated sigh before turning around to head back. She was about halfway back when she heard them. Walkers. Tessa quickly jumped behind a tree as she pulled out her knifes. There was no need to waste any ammo tonight. As she peered around the tree trunk, she saw that there were two of them coming towards her. Tess gripped her knife tighter before throwing it across the path into a tree. Just as she had suspected, the walkers were distracted by it. She launched out of her hiding spot and drove the other knife into the head of the first walker. Before the other one had time to snap at her, she pulled the knife from the tree and threw it at the second. It embedded itself right between the walker's eyes.

Tessa pulled her knifes out of the walkers heads before she continued on her way, a little more quickly. She didn't want to be stuck in the woods when the walkers got active. She knew from past experiences that sleeping in a tree was not fun.

Daryl and the group were gathered around their fire, eating the squirrel that Daryl had gotten earlier that day. He sat quietly as the others continued to talk. There was talk about Sophia, and how tomorrow the search for Carol's little girl would really start. Rick had invited Hershel and his family to join them around the fire, and they sat quietly with the group. Daryl was picking at the last of his food when Hershel's blonde daughter came running up to the group almost in tears.

"Dad…Dad Tessa isn't here. I can't find her anywhere," she said hysterically. Maggie went to her sister's side and pulled her close.

"She's supposed to be back by nightfall," Maggie said harshly in her dad's direction.

"Who's Tessa?" Shane demanded from across the fire. Hershel turned to the group then.

"She's one of mine. We took her in shortly after things went down. She's a bit difficult to handle sometimes. Girl likes to keep to herself."

"Ya mean that dark haired bitch?" Daryl commented from his spot.

"You know her?" Shane said incredulously. He still believed the worst of Daryl.

"Little bitch was yelling at me 'fore she ran into them woods." That pushed Beth over the edge. She started to cry.

"Maggie, take your sister inside," Hershel said as he stared at the fire. The group watched the old man as he contemplated what to do. He knew that Tessa cold take care of herself, but the woods were not a place to be at night. Hershel sighed as he stood up to go inside and comfort his daughters.

"You aren't worried about her?" Carol asked as the man moved to leave. Hershel turned back to the group. Everyone was studying him.

"Tessa is a smart, tough girl. She can take care of herself."

"Even at night? In the woods, with the walkers?" Lori said quietly. Anyone could tell she was thinking of Carl in that situation.

"She was an army medic and sniper. She knows how to survive in enemy territory."

"How come we never met her?" Rick asked from his perch by his wife. Hershel opened his mouth to say something, and as if on cue, the dark haired girl from earlier rounded the house and stepped into the light of the fire. Daryl took a good look at her. He'd be lying if he said she was ugly. Her dark hair complimented her light eyes. Hershel's whole body relaxed as he saw the girl he had taken under his wing.

"Tessa," he breathed out, "Why are ya getting back so late?"

"Ran into some trouble," she said as she looked around the fire. She still wasn't sure how she felt about these people.

"Well, you're back now and that's all that matters." Tessa nodded at Hershel before he brought her closer to the group. He introduced the girl to the new people before he let her go. Daryl watched the sway of her hips as she walked away. It had been so long since he had seen a girl like that.

"Interesting girl you found there Hershel," Rick commented once Tessa was gone. Hershel chuckled to himself before answering.

"Like I said, she likes to keep to herself. We don't know much about her past, but when she came to me she had been shot three times. She said it was her father, and by the amount of scars that girl has, I think it's the truth. She's kind of like a wounded animal. It's best not to push her, and just let her come to you."

Suddenly, everyone heard voices shouting from the house. It appeared that the girls inside were getting into a pretty heated argument. When a door slammed from the back of the house, Hershel shook his head excusing himself to go check on the girls. It seemed a good as time as any to slip away so Daryl stood and headed back to his tent.

After Maggie yelled at Tessa for her being selfish, Tessa stormed from the house, slamming the door behind her. She had had enough of people to day. She trudged over to the hammock that she had set up. She hesitated slightly when she saw that a tent was set up near by.

"Great," she mumbled under her breath as she continued on her way. A tent meant that one of the new people was setting up near her favorite place on the farm. Tessa sat cross legged in the middle of the hammock before pulling out a rag from her back pocket to clean her knives. Tessa stopped her cleaning when she heard footsteps. She quickly held up her knife, ready to throw, only to see the redneck from earlier.

"Jesus, I just can't get away from you people," she said as she went back to cleaning her knife a little more forcibly. She just wanted to be alone.

"Get used to it girl," he retorted in that tone of his. Tessa made a face at her knife.

"Nobody asked you stay," she muttered quietly. She could feel the eyes of the man on her, but she refused to look at him until her knife was clean. When she finally lifted her eyes to meet his, he looked angrily.

"We got a reason to be here, and if ya paid even the slightest bit of attention to what was happenin' 'round ya, ya'd know we're lookin' for a little girl we lost." Tessa felt the breath leave her lungs. A little girl lost in the woods? That hit a little to close to home for Tessa. She quickly turned her gaze from the man back to the woods.

"I'm sorry," she said. She couldn't imagine loosing a child out in the world today. It would have almost been better if the girl had just died. The man grumbled something under his breath before climbing into the tent. Tessa sighed. Maybe she'd go look for the girl tomorrow. She went back to cleaning her knifes as she thought of the time she got lost in those vary same woods.