The subtle changes

"Oh, my God!" 

Looking at the huge community wall in front of them, and remembering the iron fence they had guessed at earlier, they couldn't help but admire this security. This place is completely different in terms of security, so they secretly admired the work of these people to build such a place. 

The base, community or shelter in front of them is very different from any other place they have been before. Although the outer wall is a bit short, the outer defenses with some walkers covered in a type of melted metal over their bodies. The whole wall exudes a chilling atmosphere. 

Now the farmland inside can no longer be seen from the outside. A badly wounded gate slowly opened as vehicles appeared in the distance. At this moment, several soldiers came out from behind the wall in front of the two vehicles. After a salute, the two vehicles drove toward the gate. 

Rick looked at the people standing next to the car, also waved with a slight smile and then slowly moved forward to get out of the car with much more confidence. Ahead of the cars, there was some sort of metal that prevented the cars from moving forward in case there was a problem and they bypassed protocol. 

"Please exit the car. From this point, we will do a brief inspection." 

Rick presented the rules to Chris and Allison, and at the same time pointed to two houses that were built from containers next to the gate. 

"This is the first checkpoint upon entering the base. It is responsible for checking people for scratches or bites that could lead to infection later. Chris and Allison, we need to go to that spot for the special medical group to give them a full body inspection, there is a spot for the women and men." 

After pointing to the place, Rick indicated to the people to follow him and they all together with the others entered the room, and Rick started to take off his clothes without saying a word, the rest did the same in different places, only Chris was impressed for a few seconds and kept doing the same as the others. 

After everyone had removed their outer clothing, several members of the medical staff began to carefully check the wounds of various people and were soon told that all was well.

The medical staff again greeted Rick and Daniel who were getting dressed again, and the leader of this team said, "I'm so sorry, Captain Rick, it's my duty." 

Rick smiled, indicating that this was nothing he would take issue with.     

"You've done a good job. You need to make sure everyone returning from the outer area goes through inspection. You must not allow any threats to enter the base. By the way, any new survivors today?" 

"Yes, Dale went out hunting along with Captain Carol and came back with a group of fifteen people, it was a real job dealing with so many at once." 

Rick nodded and said nothing, but secretly reminded himself to see those new survivors and left the room with a calm expression.  

"Zz..." 

At that moment, Rick's radio in his waistband beeped and the outgoing voice said, "Zz.... Message from Commander Airon to Captain Rick Grimes." 

Seeing the survivors who came with his group leave, Rick said to Morales who was standing next to him, "Take them on a tour of the base and then to Nara's test."    

"Yes, Captain Rick!" 

Thus, Morales stayed, and Chris along with Allison was with him. After watching Rick and the others walk away, the two turned their heads and smiled at Morales. 

"Come on. For you two to get a better understanding of the base, let's walk." 

Chris and Allison nodded, then suddenly someone asked Morales, "If I may ask, why does everyone call Rick captain?" 

Morales turned his head back and looked at Chris before explaining with a smile, "There are many captains on the base, I for one am about to be promoted to a captain to lead my own squadron, but there are ranks and those are on our bandanas, Rick is in charge of running the base but the real leader of our community is someone else, you'll understand later." 

As Morales said this, they walked through a large field where food was planted, seeds from all over the field had sprouted not far away, so Chris asked excitedly, "Is all this food, how much is in this whole area?" 

Alex pointed to the inner wall and said, "Now at the base there are two walls, the inner and outer wall. The outer wall used to be a chain link fence, and now we've run that wall a hundred and fifty yards forward where it should be at least over 180 acres and outside there are some newly built greenhouses that will be used to grow fruits and vegetables."

"We plan to structure the entire inner area and create large buildings in the outer area to start moving families in, then if there are resources and time make a third wall." 

Chris' eyes widened and he exclaimed in surprise, "So much land to farm? How many people are on this site?" 

Morales didn't want to think about that and said, "More than a thousand people for sure, in the last few weeks hundreds of people have come because of the recent sound caused by a confrontation against walkers. It's okay, come with us."     

Jim who passed by on the side said, "The guards in this place are very strict, we are all soldiers after all, remember not to enter places you shouldn't be as you will be arrested." 

The group led by Morales walked towards a suspension bridge while talking to the others. The further into this shelter they went, the tighter the security became and the more powerful the inner wall became, outside platforms could be seen where there were people holding sniper rifles. 

There were many people in the fortress, indirectly telling them that these weapons were not just for decoration. 

Entering the city wall, the base today has changed a lot compared to before. There are a lot of containers stacked in the open space. A lot of people are moving things outside. Materials of various formats are loaded onto carts and transported inside. 

On the other hand, many people are refurbishing these containers and filling the inside with sandbags. All these containers were placed around the outer wall on the inside.  

This is so that the wall is reinforced and very difficult to breach even if dynamite explodes on the outside. 

The ability to defend against foreign intruders is greatly improved, and can also be protected from wind and rain, so that patrol personnel can be more comfortable. As long as the port shot deflector is closed, they can even sleep directly on the watchtowers. 

The surrounding farms and greenhouses are also under construction, and some people are building new farms and greenhouses more secluded around the base. 

The buildings were for workers and most of those who want to be soldiers are sent to the base where Sam is continually training new soldiers. 

Following Morales' explanation, the two gradually understood how this base originated and the person who ran all this in the beginning was named Airon. 

Hearing this, the two were secretly surprised. They had always thought that this was a facility in the last days, but they never thought that it was built after the last days. How many materials it would take to build such a large base was hard to imagine. 

Both were relatively outgoing people and could not hide the thoughts in their hearts at all. 

They all chatted happily with Morales and he shared with them that his family lived here. 

The inner courtyard is also being remodeled, but progress is obviously much slower. First, it starts from the auxiliary buildings on both sides. Rick discussed it with everyone. Anyway, there is some workmanship left on the base, and their plan to improve the buildings in the inner courtyard will be delayed until the buildings on the outside are constructed. 

Now the buildings in the inner yard are very high, but the utilization rate is not high. In addition to the unit rooms, a lot of corridors and public areas take up too much space. 

Now these places would be demolished and rebuilt to create the highest quality facilities. 

Walking into the inner courtyard, Morales abruptly finished his explanation, looked at the two people who were inexplicably excited and turned up the volume a bit to remind them. 

"You guys have to pass a test, then you have a two-day isolation period and then there's an evaluation period at the end, it's based on how well you two did on the test, so good luck and we'll see you later." 

After the test, a team member took the two people to the isolation area. There were many survivors in the isolation area at this time. Chris's eyes went over the faces of these people one by one gradually with a disappointed expression, no familiar person was in this place. 

"No fighting, murder or adultery is allowed here. Anyone who violates the rules will be judged by the rank and file. Every day, food will be delivered on time. Don't worry, this is just a small change and your lives are about to change." 

"Yes, sir." 

"You can call me Alex." 

"Thank you Alex..." 

The moment Chris entered the isolation room, there was a gasp of surprise in the room. 

Chris looked up and a smile appeared on his face. 

"Haha, you're not dead!" 

"How's Michelle?" 

"She didn't make it..."