So...

I didn't just get off the train and start running.

Jesseme conducted a survey and found out what happened to the train.

I need to rewind a little. Come back in time with me, just a couple of chapters...I mean minutes. Minutes.

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Prior to me running to find the foresters, before I left the train but after Hawthorn had commissioned me to run.

The brit rated people all stood uncomfortably with each other, clearly not trusting each other. Jesseme, with her hurt ankle, gimped around the top of the train. Did she not fell pain? Maybe not.

The other guy, Lt. Burnbree, was standing gaurd, and he turned out to know enough about steam engineering that Jesseme was impressed with him and even questioned his vocational chooses. They had pried open a hatch, and that was when we finally found where the sabotage had happened.

"The jump rod was removed." Jesseme said.

Hawthorn cursed. "Drat." Strong language, I know.

"Can we make a spare?" Asked Lt. Burnbree.

Jesseme shook her head. "No...I could hold the coagulation together myself if that was all the damage, but whatever failed tech engineer operating this train seems to have removed even more items below, first, given the coperation. Only when the jump rod was removed did the train stop."

I nodded, wondering if I would have to still run to get the foresters or not. If we fixed the train, would we still have to worry about zombies?

How were we supposed to contain people if they were turning into zombies. How could we enter the city with the zombie virus loose?

"So...plan?" I asked.

"If I can fix three of the damaged systems, I can manually operate the systems even without the jump rod. If not, we need a replacement. For whatever reason, it appears the extra parts were left behind at the train station." Jesseme said.

"Will the shelter have a replacement?" I asked. Why, you ask? Because I was in a TV show, and we were not ready for the beach episode yet. There would be a shelter, with the piece we need.

How did I know?

The plot demands something happen.

"It's possible." Hawthorn grimaced at his fob watch. "Ms. Rogers, please tell my ward what a jump rod is?"

"Why doesn't she come with me?" I complained. Look. I recognize a main character when I see one, and it was Jesseme.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

In this train arc, she was either the Mc or a guest appearance.

I was a side character, and I needed to hope this wasn't one of those edgy TV shows where side characters die to falsely make it look like the stakes have elevated.

"I need to fix the train, and I hurt my foot." she said. "I imagine the Deputy Constable and Lt. Burnbree will be standing guard and helping me work with the other britt enriched individuals. I will still need their help."

Dang it. I was the gofer again. Every job every turned into me running and getting things for other people.

Why didn't we have a wifi arc? Where they need their wifi reset? I am great at connecting to wifi. I once got wifi in the basement of the university where everyone said it was impossible because it was a nuclear fallout shelter. Why couldn't the steam punk world have wifi? I could be the MC with plot armor.

Ignorant to my sufferings and shame of being iseikaied and yet still a side character, Jesseme showed me 3d images on her phone of the pieces she needed. The Jump Rod looked like a flute with a lot of extra starshapes holes. There were some others images, but they all looked about the same.

"I'm starting to think it was sabotage." she confided in me. "As unlikely and strange as that sounds. I am starting to really think this wasn't an accident."

Somehow, I kept my face completely neutral and mockery-free. Someone hadn't been taking their paranoid pills this morning.

Honestly, I was fifty-fifty odds with her being the bad guy. This felt like one of those murder mystery shows were you are just a little suspicious of everyone, except I was paranoid about everyone.

I was starting to get the feeling that Steam Engineers were rare. How did we happen to have one onboard? TV plot armor? Or some nerficous plan...

Then again, if she was the villian, then I don't think she would have had to disable the train. I was thinking that Steam Engineers sounded a lot more like magic to me. Then again, any technology could be preceived as magic by someone not educated in that technology.

"We are running out of time." Hawthorn called. "Time to go."

I looked at all the britt rated people, aware that anyone may turn into a snarling zombie. The silence where the bird song had once filled was opressive and heavy.

"Miss." Hawthorn said, to me as I was climbing down the little ladder back to the little elevated sidewalk.

"Yes?"

"Do your best." his clipped British accent sharp. "It is not safe here. As you search for foresters, look for smoke signals. The foresters may release that should they find a shelter. If a shelter is found, and if it becomes too dangers, and you must choose between returning the train and remaining, stay in the shelter. We are sitting on dynomite, Miss. Don't let everyone's faces fool you. It would not take much for panic to set in."

So...he thought I would be better looking for the foresters and also away from the danger.

"The" he said a word that had syllabols I didn't know humans could make "are not to be underestamiated. Do not become over confident."

"I won't."

"Then hurry. We are running out of time."

So I started running.

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So, yeah. Back in the present, I had just...crazied my way away from two foresters and one zombie queen.

I had no idea what was safe. I didn't know if it would be safer back at the train or not, but I was already running away from the train anyway. I almost had the feeling those foresters may chase me if I went where others were.

As I was running, wondering if I had backup or not, there was a smoke signal, ahead about a half mile.

Someone had found a shelter.

Or it was another enemy.

I only had bad choices. Or there were good choices, but I had no understanding of how to find them.

All I knew was my little feet hurt running in my slippers, dinosuars were coming, and I had just yelled at a zombie queen.

"I just wanted to study for tomorrow's test!" I yelled, and ran harder. If I could find those train parts, (and a nice forester who would naruto run through trees while giving me a piggyback ride), we might be able to fix the train, and ride away to the safety of the city.