(3 Months Later)

*SHIK*

*SHIK*

*SHIK*

The sound of a shovel cutting through dirt fills the air around me, as a soft breeze blows through the chain link fence of the prison. The past few months have been filled with nothing but reinforcing. Temporary barricades were placed in the hole in the back of the prison, while sturdy wooden poles were used to reinforce the chain link fence.

This is all temporary, however, as we've already started the process of building the first level of the palisade.

"Penny!"

I hear the raspy voice of Shane call out from behind me, bringing me out of my repetitive stupor. I turn to face him, seeing the man dressed in a thick denim jacket with fur lining the inside. The black beanie he wears has a short visor that makes one wonder if it truly serves any purpose. He stands on the inside of the chain link.

I nod to him, and stick the shovel in the dirt below,

"Yeah?"

He looks at me with a slightly melancholic expression, his brows furrowed. He shakes his head and says,

"One of the new arrivals isn't gonna make it. He's far too old, and we don't have the right kind of meds to treat whatever he has."

I sigh and lean over on the handle of my shovel, looking down at the freshly broken dirt. We've had a couple more people join us lately. Though, none of them are fighters. At least, not like Rick and Shane.

I nod my head and stand up straight, before answering him,

"Alright. Just do the typical procedures. Lock his cell when nobody else is inside, and check up on him every hour. The second he dies, destroy the brain."

He nods his head and says,

"I figured. I went ahead and told Carol and Hershel to do just that. So, watchu up to?"

I look down at the hole I've dug, and look down the line, seeing all the others. 

"Reinforcing. If we dig down a little and couch the poles in them, they'll be less likely to slip. How's the work on the wall coming along?"

He nods his head before answering,

"Good idea. It's… Going. It's just so damn cold we have to take breaks a lot more often now. If we'd started during fall, we probably coulda finished off quite a bit. At the speed we're goin', we'll probably get the entire thing walled in a year. But, we'll speed up as it warms up."

I nod my head. Fuck, that's pretty slow. It'd go by much faster if we had an excavator, but we haven't been able to find one that we could get running. I sigh as I walk away from the shovel and say,

"Tell you what, do you know where Dale is?"

He nods his head,

"Yeah, he's right up there."

Shane points up to one of the watchtowers closer to the prison. I spot Dale sitting in a lawn chair right under the shade, keeping an eye on the tree line. I turn back to Shane and thank him for pointing him out to me before walking up to the base of the tower and calling up to him,

"Hey, Dale! I need your opinion on something!"

I see him prop his rifle up on the side of his chair before standing up and leaning over on the railing. He squints as the sun gets in his eye before answering,

"Alright, what's the question?"

"I was thinking about going out and seeing if we can get an excavator up and running to make the wall easier to put up!"

Dale gives me a look of confliction, making me guess that my idea isn't entirely sound, nor is it out of the realm of possibility. He motions for me to give him a second before sighing and saying,

"Well, it's not a bad idea. But there's just one issue. Bringing the damn thing here. There's no way in hell we'd be able to drive that thing all the way here without attracting every horde imaginable right to us. We'd basically be a can of sardines sat in front of a starving cat."

I nod my head. I didn't think about that, honestly. We'd need a semi with a trailer specifically designed to move one. Honestly, it's not the most impossible thing to get. I call back up to him,

"If we had a semi and a trailer, you think it would be worth it?"

Dale thinks for a second and says,

"Honestly, yes. A single excavator would be able to help with tons of different building projects, especially if we add some other heavy machinery with it. Though, we're not exactly going to be digging up a mountain, so we could get by with a small one. Hell, we'd probably do just fine with a compact excavator."

Alright, so we get a semi, trailer, compact excavator, and as many other heavy machines we can load up. Sounds like a plan!

"Alright! We'll go with a compact for now. You mind heading to the mess hall?" Dale gives me a nod. As I turn to walk away, I think of something else, "Ah, if you spot Glen could you bring him with you?"

I hear a muffled "yup" come from the doorway into the tower as I turn around and head on inside. As I pass by the area where people are building the wall, I spot Rick and give him a small wave. He and two other guys are currently working to get the wall up. So far, we've managed to get about ten feet done out of who-the-hell knows how much. 

To make the palisade, we've been tying two fourteen foot logs together at the top and bottom, cutting a point at the top, burying them two feet into the ground, and then filling the dirt back in before packing it down. When we get enough down, we then secure them with three two by fours at the top, center, and bottom, before taking another log and using that to brace the wall even more. It feels a lot more sturdy to me than that metal monstrosity in Alexandria. But, it's gonna be temporary. The real wall will be concrete, cobblestone, or something else similar. 

As I step through the gate into the prison, I spot Amy preparing lunch for herself. Daryl managed to hunt a deer, so we've had some fresh meat to go with the dehydrated foods we normally eat. As she spots me, she practically beams with a smile spreading from ear to ear. I chuckle a little at this and nod my head to her as she begins walking towards me. I stop to give her a chance to catch up, seeing the small, thinly cut venison on her plate. She wraps her arm around mine, carrying her plate in her other hand, before speaking up,

"What's cookin' good lookin'?"

I shake my head and say,

"Oh dear god that made me cringe! My dad used to say that to my mom all the time!"

She chuckles at me,

"Teehee! So, you got any plans tonight?"

I shake my head,

"Probably not for tonight, why?"

She smiles and says,

"We're gonna have a movie night tonight! We're planning on watching Star Wars!"

I nod my head and smile,

"Alright, see you there."

She smiles and leans into me as we walk in. Ever since we've fully moved into the prison, she's been a lot happier it seems. We all kinda have. I guess the security really helped in that regard. She's gotten a lot more bold with her shows of affection, too. Though, I don't hate it.

As we walk through the front door to the prison, which we tore that chain link off, I spot Dale and Glen sitting at one of the metallic tables with a lantern turned on and a map. Amy and I head over and take seats with them, before I nod to Glen. Straight away, we get to business.

"Alright, Glen, how's it going?"

He shrugs his shoulders,

"It's definitely going. How about you?"

"I'm good. Alright. So, as for the reason I asked you two to meet me, I was thinking we could use some heavy machinery to help the wall building go faster. A compact excavator, and anything else you guys would think we'd need. I was wanting to see if you found any places that might have everything we'd need. A semi, a flatbed trailer, and a compact excavator. As well as any other potentially helpful machines."

He nods his head and thinks for a bit,

"Uhhhh… Yeah I think I got a place in mind. We passed by it on one of our supply runs. It was a rental store with everything from box trucks to full on excavators. I'd guess they would have a compact one, too."

He looks at the map, trying to pinpoint where it is before pointing at a clearing by the side of the highway,

"I think it was right here. Right at this intersection. We'll know immediately if I'm right because it had a giant sign."

The place isn't even that far away. Maybe a ten minute drive or so? I nod my head and speak to the two guys,

"Alright, get ready to head out. We won't take long, so just bring a small amount of food."

-------------------------------------------------