Okay.

So this was getting too ridiculous.

"How big exactly are we talking about? Won't we be safe in the train?"

Because there was no way a dinosaur would just hunt us down. I mean...I weighed a lot less than cow or pig. Movie logic shouldn't be a thing here. In movies, the predator the size of a school bus is expending more calories chasing the MC only for them to get away. Just because there were dinosaurs didn't mean we would be in trouble. Right?

"It's not the big ones we worry about, Miss." Hawthorn said. "It's the steam-starved. They are small, about the size of a man, and the color of purple death. If a train is stopped outside of the protection of the walls, they will smell the steam and come. And since we spend time in the city, surrounded by the steam...they will go after us as well. It is a poor combination. They will tear into the steam storage, the train will be disabled, and then the people...it's not good, miss."

Then Hawthorn looked at his gold fob watch. "Drat. There is no staff member from the train coming to help."

Well, I thought there should be. I mean, back at the station, there had been many busy workers helping people, checking bags, closing doors before. But in the moments since the train stopped, there was no noise of people outside.

People were beginning to move. The people injured began to move. One lady had obviously broken her arm. One person was bleeding but not stirring at all. That older lady in the kimono was moving to bandage and help, as well that two people that looked like sisters wearing what looked like old fashioned nurse uniforms.

Hawthorn did not move to assist them. I thought he would. He was a cop. Right?

"Do not run away, miss." he said. "I need your vow that you will not run away. My first duty is to you."

"Doesn't a train derailing beat that? Isn't it more important?"

He looked at me with those stern eyes.

Okay. Jay-walking was apparently a very serious issue here.

"I will not leave. I will listen to you." I mean, was I going to run away into the forest? I could probably figure out how to live in a city. In a forest with ravenous barneys? No way was I going to try that!

"Vow it."

So...

Yep.

"I vow it." I made my first vow. Boy did that bite me in the butt later, let me tell you.

"Stay close to me." he said, and started moving.

It was weird, but it seemed like a really good idea to stay close to the only person who seemed to know what was going on and also had a vested interest in at least getting me away from the dangerous dino fested forest.

Survival instincts, am I right?

He went to a dangling walkie talkie speaking tube thing, and picked it up. It looked small in his large hands, but he held it as delicately as though he were holding a teacup.

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Ladies and Gentlemen. This is Deputy Constable Hawthorn, of Special Yard."

I could hear his voice twice, once from him, and once from little tubes throughout the train. I realized that his words were probably being carried to all the train cars.

"Due to circumstances, I believe help from the East West North station South will not be coming. The Morning Valley has experienced a difficulty. I will be blunt, ladies and gentlemen, and I encourage all to remember proper decorum. We have about thirty minutes to either get the train moving again, or we will need to flee and hope we are close to a shelter. We are running out of time until the Stolistc event."

The people on the train...

All nodded.

Stiff upper lip. There were no children on the train, so that probably helped.

"I need two parties. All brit tested to come to the front door of your train. The second party, all people with forest experience, assemble at the back doors of your carriage and prepare to start scouting the surrounding forest for a shelter. Everyone, set your fobby" he literally said fobby, as he pulled out his fob watch. "For thirty minutes from now. Either this train will leave at this time, or we will all abandon it before the steam-starved arrive. If you have blood on you, in any way, stay on the train and aid the other injured. Everyone who is leaving the train, we leave together all at once. Take one minute to prepare yourself, then leave exactly on the mark. Thank you for listening."

He gently replaced the walkie talkie horn thing. And a lot of people jumped up and started gathering tools. A group of people, wearing a wide spectrum of clothing, from the fancy three piece suits to people wearing simple two piece shabby suits, and women too, from fancy kimonos to elgent victorian dresses, all moved to the back for scouting. Also, there were a lot fewer people going to the front of the train to the back. In fact, there were only about four who went to the front.

"Now is the dangerous part." Hawthorn said to me exclusively.

Okay. Since this world worked by movie logic, let me think in movie logic. Stuff like this only happened in movies. "This was sabotage, wasn't it?"

Hawthorn looked surprised. "Indeed."

"And the culprit is probably amongst the passengers."

"Indeed." he said, approvingly.

"Are they after me or you?"

"Why would they be after you?" he asked, not unkindly. Just truly curious.

"I don't know." I admitted. It might be because I swam in the universe ocean just a while ago. But I had a feeling I had interrupted Hawthorn and Yu Lin's adventure. They mentioned Samurai guy was still following them, which meant that was going on before I arrived.

"They are probably after me, Miss." Those dark eyes. What had happened that led him to be so sought after? Was he the heir of a secret sect, the last descendant? Or had he arrested someone who was important, and his detective work was too airtight for the villain to get away with it? "But after seeing us together, they may have come to unfounded conclusions. Until I get you to Central Yard, I still believe it safer with you with me than to their mercies."

I had thought Yu Lin had been their target. What if it was Hawthorn all along?

Was she like a body guard?

This really did impact the 'will they won't they'. He loves her, but she won't allow herself to get attached to the person she is protecting?

Also, Deputy Constable Hawthorn of Special Yard.

Special Yard.

Probably not an ordinary copper than.

Then Hawthorn said softly "Besides, I may need your help. I watched you cross the steam earlier. You did very well for such a concentrated stream. You probably have a naturally high brit rating. And even though it was clearly your first time in the City, first time on the train, you were watching and observing. You are good at watching, aren't you? You can spot people who don't belong. Like the train conductor. You picked up on cues very quickly. You are a smart young lady."

I was just a girl with social anxiety wearing a bathrobe and slippers in a steam punk world, armed only with a toothbrush and a smartphone. "Even then, I don't know how to help you."

"I am going to fix the train. Because I know the saboteur will need to leave as well, so they will not have destroyed it. That means there are only a few things they would have done. And I need you to watch people while I figure it out."

"I can try."

He nodded, satisfied as his little fob made a sound. All the people at the doors stood ready. They opened the doors, and the two different groups departed. The ones at the back defied the laws of physics, jumping off the elevated tracks and ninja kicked their way down the forest floor below. Seriously, I wish I knew they were going to do that, so I could record them on my smart phone. That was seriously cool.

The people with the brit rating (Whatever that was) poured out and up, walking along a side walk that was clearly for maintenance.

"So, Miss. Are you ready to meet a dinosaur?"