"What's up?" Naomi said, lounging in a chair at the town hall.

"I believe it's time I fulfilled a promise." Mark nonchalantly replied.

Confusion crossed Naomi's face momentarily before her eyes shot open with shock. "Already? What's it been, like a day or two?"

"Yep, but I want to be known as someone who keeps his promises. Plus, I'm excited to see what you can do." Mark had already constructed the Mechanic's Workshop on his walk over from the factory. "Follow me," Mark said turning and walking out of the town hall.

Mark led Naomi out of the tent and to the new Mechanic's Workshop that he had placed beside the factory. It wasn't a grand reveal, but Mark figured Naomi wouldn't mind.

A concrete building with two garages and a small office attached to the side was beside the factory. Mark looked beside him just as Naomi took off at a dead run towards the building. Mark was taken aback by her speed, and he realized that she must have gotten some benefits from her level in the tutorial as his soldiers would have been hard-pressed to match her.

"Is it mine?" Naomi asked, pleading in her voice.

Mark hesitated but he couldn't say no to the puppy dog eyes Naomi flashed him. "Yes it's yours. I will ask for some of the things you make with it, but I'm willing to pay, or at least provide something in exchange."

"Absolutely, whatever you need. I can't tell you how much this means to me." Naomi turned her eyes to the ground, but Mark noticed a single tear form before she wiped it away.

Mark wasn't sure what to say at the sudden outpouring of emotion, so he just moved on with the tour. "Why don't we check out what it has inside?"

Naomi rushed in the front door to the office, with Mark not far behind her. Inside the office was not much, but it did contain a workbench with various tools. Naomi immediately started looking through the tools with an approving nod given out every time she found a tool that Mark had never seen before. They moved into the garages next where things were truly confusing to Mark. As he watched, it seemed like Naomi picked up every single tool and evaluated it before placing it exactly where she had found it. Mark just watched on with a smile as Naomi excitedly moved through the room.

She finally walked back over to Mark giving her thoughts. "It's got everything I could want, and even some things that I've never seen before. I won't bore you with the details, but I'm going to really enjoy making things here."

"I'm glad you like it. I look forward to seeing what you can make." Mark said with a smile. Naomi's excitement was contagious.

She dropped her eyes and spoke again. "I know we haven't talked about what happened before the integration, but I was in a bad spot. I had a mechanic shop just like this where I did car tunings. People kept blaming me for their cars breaking, but it was their fault. The stuff I made required someone who knew how to drive a car and drive it fast. They didn't know how to drive, and always blamed me for their shit breaking." Naomi looked back up at Mark. "The day it all happened, someone had just picked up their car and refused to pay. We had a huge argument cause if I didn't get paid, I was going to miss my third payment in a row, and they were going to repossess my shop. It had been my life's goal to open a shop by myself. I drank myself into a stupor . . . and . . ." Naomi stopped talking, her words failing her. Mark stepped over and hugged her, just trying to comfort her.

They broke apart and Naomi continued, "It was just too much. Seeing the shop like this, reopened a wound that hadn't closed. I can't thank you enough."

"I'm glad I could help. I didn't mean to upset you, I was just trying to keep my promise."

Naomi wiped her eyes and said, "You couldn't have known, but this means the world to me. Anything you need, just say the word, and I'll do what I can."

"I'll leave you to get acquainted with the shop. I don't know if there's anything you can use in there, but the factory is right next door, so feel free to use it. If you can find any way to put together some kind of vehicle with what we have, I'll say we're even."

"That's just gonna be the beginning. I'm gonna make something truly amazing." Naomi said with a grin that sent a shiver down Mark's spine.

Mark left her at the shop as it was getting late into the night, and he had learned that he needed to sleep when he could. He walked back to the town hall and crashed, at least for a few hours.

Hours before the sun broke the horizon, Mark woke with a sudden sense of purpose. No one else was awake, except for the guard, and he got an early start on clearing out the forest and feeding it into the Material Processor. It was slow work, but Mark appreciated the time to just do something simple for once. He couldn't clear out any large trees yet as he didn't have an axe of any kind, but he could at least haul the large logs that he had found, and after that set about breaking the smaller trees that he could snap by himself.

This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.

Throughout the night and into the morning, he had heard all kinds of power tools from the direction of Mechanic's Workshop, no, Naomi's Workshop. He had even seen her a couple of times in a mad dash running in and out of the factory. He had tried to engage her in conversation a couple of times, but every time had just gotten a nod in response. One time he tried to walk in to see what was going on, but she politely shoved him out the door and locked it behind him. He could only shrug his shoulders and go back to his log collecting.

An hour or so past dawn, by Mark's estimate, most of the new townspeople were awake, and some even helped him haul logs. He took the opportunity to talk to them and learned a bit about a few of them. The recurring theme throughout was that they were all nervous about what this new existence would hold. He tried to assuage their fears, which worked to a certain extent, but most were still apprehensive even after his talks. He realized that some semblance of normality would help most adjust, and decided that giving them something to do would keep panic from spiraling. He assigned jobs as he saw fit and from his interviews with most of them as they arrived in the town, he was able to get most to work on something that they had some experience in. Unfortunately, there wasn't much for the people who had white-collar jobs before the integration.

Eventually, he had to stop hauling logs as the influx of people required his attention, but he was pleased to see that most of the people continued hauling logs as he greeted the new arrivals. As he continued to greet people, his confusion as to where all these people came from resolved. This new wave seemed to have only woken up within the last few days. In his head, he called the first wave including him and the original members of the town "frontrunners." The rest he called "pioneers." It seemed like there was a new group that woke up every week. Where they were while everyone else was in the new world, he didn't know. He also didn't know how many people woke up every wave. He assumed they were still on Earth based on how long a day took, that there was still one moon, and most of the flora and fauna seemed familiar, but how many waves it would take until the global population had arrived was a mystery.

After another day of interviewing new citizens, Mark checked the population tab on his Town Management Menu and saw that it had grown to fifty-eight. It was making the town hall quite cramped, but he realized that he now had enough resources from the log gathering to upgrade it. He politely ushered everyone out and made some space. He selected the upgrade and watched as the town hall deconstructed itself. Mark's brows creased in worry as he thought he had selected the wrong thing, but then the new construction started.

First, a concrete foundation was poured out from the center of the previous tent and rapidly hardened. Then, concrete pillars rose from the concrete pad and quickly filled in rooms before Mark's vision was blocked by the walls being constructed. Finally, a metal slanted roof appeared over the top of the building.

Mark announced that the new town hall was ready. He turned to the gathered crowd and noticed the amazement in their eyes. The townspeople rushed inside, but Mark didn't mind as it was as much for them as it was for him.

Arlo passed by him and simply noted, "That was sick." Mark simply nodded his assent and walked in to take his own tour.

Inside the front door was the same reception area with an executive office off to the side. Past that was where the differences were. As Mark walked through the new halls, he noted the various rooms that were available. On the first floor, there were gathering rooms of various sizes and some even had bartops and places for kegs. There was even a gym with exercise equipment. He walked up the stairs to the second floor and saw that it was filled with single bedrooms. Nearly enough for every townsperson to have their own, but Mark was amazed as he saw a third set of stairs that led to even more bedrooms. These appeared to be more luxurious and many were arranged as suites.

Mark returned to the front of the town hall to wait out the last few hours of the day, making sure no one else showed up before night fell. As soon as he was down there, he found Naomi waiting for him.

"It's ready." Naomi said with that fanatical grin of hers.

"What's ready?" Mark cautiously asked.

"The vehicle you asked for."

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Ragnar the wolf looked on as his pack assembled. He couldn't remember much of the Before. He could only vaguely recall his last litter before he would need to leave the pack. That litter had been the future of the pack. Now, After, he had the strength to continue to lead. He didn't truly understand the Change, but he knew it was great for the pack. That was all that mattered: greatness for the pack. And the pack had been truly great, for nearly seven dawns, the pack had flourished. There was plenty to hunt, and the entire pack ate and grew strong.

Then, the two-legs had appeared. He recognized them from the Before. But now they did not have the stench. He hoped they had realized their folly. Their abominable, unnatural collections of things. He never knew what they were called, but he knew to stay away. The forests were where the pack thrived, and so he had been happy to stay there.

That was, until, the beginnings of one appeared in his pack's territory. The two legs did not know that they had encroached, but that was never their way. The first few skirmishes were understandable. That was the way things were done. His pack had even won a few. But when the two-legs escalated things and began hunting in return, they had forced a response.

He sent his strongest son, the one whom he loved most, to remove them, once and for all. It was for the good of the pack, after all. His son had known that injury was possible. That there was a chance that he would be injured badly enough to never hunt again. The young wolf had known this, and in an act of selfless service to the pack, had led the charge.

But it was a failure, and now Ragnar would have his revenge. He did not blame his son, it was, after all, due to the accursed sticks that the two-legs wielded. Since then, the pack had hunted, and grown very strong. Many had become more. Like his son had been. Like he was now. Those humans would feel his bite.