"Hello Jason, you're here."
That's right, this guy is Jim, the one who was with Shane's group at the beginning of the end of the world.
He was supposed to be bitten the day the undead at the quarry attacked the camp, and afterward the protagonist's group left him behind on the way to the CDC, but due to Jason's intervention, this guy didn't die and is now a blacksmith working at the central base to create some of the things needed in this place.
"I talked to the person in charge and everything you ordered has been done, but the gears you mentioned still aren't finished."
As he spoke, Jim pointed at several metal shell-shaped things on the ground around him. Jason stepped forward to check them and found that everything was well-made and handled perfectly, so he nodded in praise.
"I don't have much to mention, I'm not an expert in this field, but I know one thing or another, and I can say you did a great job. Now that there are new blacksmiths at the base, they'll work here."
Jim is someone who doesn't like to express himself, but he seemed very happy to hear the compliment. He put down his work and walked toward a table beside him.
"I like having new help, not everyone is an expert in blacksmithing. If this job was already a problem in the world before the dead arrived, can you imagine now? Come, this is the gear mold from the design and it's still not finished."
"Well, we had a lot of complications finding people who are experts in electricity. If now Georgia and Atlanta have their schedules full and can't send experts, imagine now."
Jason stepped forward to pick one up and looked at it carefully, and found that these metal gears had a good shape but still needed a lot of improvement.
He needed this work finished as soon as possible since time was pressing down on him, so he signaled everyone to come closer.
"Some good blacksmiths will come. I'm not belittling your work, not at all. I just want this job to be in good condition."
"Don't worry, boss."
The attention of the few people quickly returned to their work again, because Jason had introduced new people who would help them, and some with more experience would act as guides, so these few people had been busy with this matter for the past two days, and this morning they reached the final stage.
After some people worked for half an hour, basically everyone called it a day. The few who had gotten up early in the morning and started working finally took some time to rest for a bit.
Jim pulled out a pack of cigarettes, took one out and lit it, and unconsciously looked at Jason, who was still watching the work of those people.
Then his expression faded, and the cigarette in his mouth fell to the ground without him even realizing it, and the people behind him weren't doing much better, all staring at the result of the work those people were doing.
Everyone saw that old man named Earl Sutton quickly adjusting, shaping the gear at a visible speed with the help of other team members.
The sealing from the hammer strikes and the quality of the shape were good, each of the teeth had its size, and they just needed some more work to complete the job.
"God, what kind of old man is that?"
"That was very fast work."
"All the men brought by the commander are always excellent at their jobs, it's nothing surprising."
"Will we learn from him?"
Earl, who was deeply focused, didn't have time for the others at all. At that moment, he devoted himself wholeheartedly to the equipment before him. Since he had the experience and skills to do this work, he could only help however he could. Although he had never mechanized something as precise as gear parts, he was confident he could do it.
At some point, Earl married Tammy and had a son with her, Kenneth. He was an alcoholic and was drunk when Ken was born. He can't even remember the first time he saw him. And now, he had immersed himself in his work, remembering the trade he dedicated himself to in the early days before the end of the world.
Earl thought Jason was a good leader and that what he always sought was the safety of his people, something that led him to work in this place as soon as he settled in the base.
Looking up again, he was startled by the situation around him. He saw that the not-so-small smithy was full of people, all staring at him with monster-like eyes, but they looked at him inexplicably.
"What is it? Why are you looking at me like that?"
"You're amazing, Earl, we're all surprised." Jason said with a smile.
There was an outburst of shouts from the once silent crowd, followed by applause.
"God, your movements are really good."
"That sentence can be misunderstood."
...
Jason looked at his watch and was startled to realize it was already close to noon, remembering how long he'd been here without noticing.
Even sitting here all morning, the problem was that it clearly felt like only a short time had passed.
He motioned to the crowd and dismissed them, only then hearing Jim speak from the side.
"Sir, the work is almost finished. With Earl we'll definitely finish much faster."
"Hehe, I feel very relieved hearing that. I think these few gear molds should be fine. They can be cast after polishing."
"You know a lot for someone who supposedly knows nothing..." Earl said from a corner.
"Well, I worked in many places before all this began."
...
It was already 11:30 when Jason left the smithy. He hadn't had lunch, so now he was heading to the dining hall.
As soon as he entered the dining hall, there were very few people because of the hour, but as he approached the kitchen he noticed the atmosphere wasn't right, since there were very few people eating.
Behind the kitchen window, several service staff members glared angrily at a man who was standing to the side.
Jason didn't mind, he stepped forward and asked with a smile.
"Hey, what's going on, Jorge?"
The guy named Jorge, who used to be the chef before the official cafeteria, was the most upset of all.
"Sir, this person is here deliberately looking for flaws in our food."
When Jason approached, he also saw Charon standing there, shaking his head and complaining about the way they cooked.
Even though he was starving, that chef still had time to criticize the food in the pot in front of him and said in disgust: "How can you blame me? It's obviously the fault of this horrible food preparation!"
"Bastard, we've been cooking for a year too, and no one ever said it tasted bad. I think you're deliberately looking for problems!"
"We cook for thousands of people! Do you think you can do better? This isn't some damn ten-star restaurant or the crap you worked in, we make food to survive here."
Seeing that both sides were about to fight again, the cooks stepped forward to intervene if things turned bad.
"I'll tell you why—because you got a pretty good recipe but don't take advantage of all the wonders of a simple dish, you create garbage with valuable resources."
Jorge looked at Charon speechless and said in disgust, "You're really sick. You think my food is bad? You've only been here a few days, I've been here for more than half a year."
"You've only made garbage for hungry people, you're not on my level." Charon looked at him with disdain, then turned his head and smiled at Jason, the speed of the expression change was astonishing.
"The more time passes, the more attention must be paid to the taste of the food. Everyone is tired after a day's work. It is the duty of a chef to let everyone enjoy a delicious meal and not the same simple garbage, you understand?"
The few kitchen staff members who were angry were left speechless, and Jorge even opened his mouth but couldn't speak.
Seeing that both sides were still arguing, Jason had no choice but to clap. When both sides looked at him, he said: "I know everyone's job is difficult. Listen, Charon, there are different groups in charge of thinking up and cooking new things with the resources that must be used at the time. If you want to make a change, you need to teach them first. You can start by joining the kitchen and making rich dishes that fill people's stomachs."
"Listen, Jorge! What Charon said is also true. After the reform is finished there will be more than four kitchen groups, so your workload is close to decreasing in intensity."
"We shouldn't cause problems over food, we look like fools because we don't know when we'll stop having food on our table."
"Understood, Boss!"