I should have never tempted fate and asked the world what can possibly go wrong.

Everything did.

Everything started to go downhill with the sound of an explosion ringing through the air, jarring everyone awake. It didn't help that there weren't any beds to sleep on- just a very comfortable couch- which caused Ethan and Matthew to fall down to the floor in surprise.

"woAH-" Ethan sat up, looking around wildly "What as that???"

"An explosion-?" Theo looked up, rubbing his eyes "Creeper?"

I didn't even bother answering his question, and rushed to the door and slammed it open to try and pinpoint where the explosion came from. Was it a creeper? or did someone light up tnt? It wasn't raining outside, so there was no way it could have been lightning.

Another explosion gave me my answer. A chain reaction shook the entire train, this time closer to us.

"Came from that direction-" Matthew joined me by the door and looked to his left "The cockpit? Why was there an explosion in the cockpit-"

Noah reacted first and ran out of the compartment and straight for the front of the train. "someone go to where the first explosion was- try and figure out what was that first explosion! Something happened in the cockpit-"

He didn't ask and I didn't wait for him to say something about someone following him. I ran after him as the group split up to try and figure out what had happened.
It wasn't impossible that creepers somehow managed to get into the train, but a chain of explosions, one after another?
Someone was causing the explosions.

The iron door to the cockpit was blown away, revealing an empty but destroyed control center with missing levers and buttons. Glowing restone lines peeked out from under the blocks- it was most likely protected from the blast with blocks in front of it to place the mechanics.
The glass was missing and there was a side of the train that was completely missing- causing strong gusts of wind to knock us off balance and blow away things that might have been essential.

But something was wrong.

the train wasn't stopping.

in fact, it was doing the exact opposite since there wasn't anything controlling the speed. The few levers that were still keeping the whole thing powered were left alone while the others what controlled the tick speed- and therefore the speed of the entire train- was missing.

"Get blocks!" Noah shouted over the noise, "Make things!"

"Like???"

"Uh- Levers? Buttons??? I don't know! Anything to get the Redstone to start working again-"

Fortunately, I had a better Idea than try and craft things while holding onto dear life. Still holding onto things, I made a leap over the crater separating us and the Redstone, and... well, started breaking things.

The Redstone in the train wouldn't be able to run if there's nothing connecting it to the power source, right? The train did start slowing down, thankfully. I was just about to say something when something started hissing... again.

My eyes widened when I realized that I may have accidentally set something off in the Redstone circuits, and something was probably going to explode right in my face-

Just in time, Noah grabbed the back of my sweater and pulled me away right as the tnt exploded, taking another chunk out of the train's hull. "back to the hallway! block it off-"

I didn't need to be told twice as we scrambled into the train, picking up two blocks of stone to block off the two-block tall doorway that was supposed to have an iron door. I flopped down to the floor, leaning my back against those two blocks "Safe now...?"

"Not until the train fully stops-" he turned to me "are you okay??? why didn't you just make a level to control the speed instead of break the damn thing???"

"Because I thought it would be faster..." I mumbled under my breath "and I'm okay, stop fussing. Oh, look- the train's actually slowing down by a whole lot... Who even put the tnt on the train and set it off at a time like this?"

Noah looked back down at the hallway, straightening himself up against the wall "It's most likely someone here... there is no way someone was able to put explosives on a moving train. Someone working against us, most likely..." he held out a hand to help me to my feet- which I gladly accepted. "We should probably go and check on the others. Let's hope no one is hurt..."

<>

The train had fully stopped by the time we reached the part that had been blown up. A huge chunk was obviously missing from the side of the train- which was haphazardly patched up with random blocks like stone or wood that everyone managed to salvage.

Every one- all 80 or so of us, looked dead tired but alert from the explosions, looking around at the people around them with a suspicious tint in their eyes.

"who stopped the train?" a boy asked, glaring at me and Noah when we raised our hands "Why'd you stop it? We aren't too far from the capital- we could have gotten there by then."

Noah had to hold me back. "A huge chunk was carved out of the front, and all the Redstone that was controlling the speed of the train was broken- how do you expect us to stop at the station and not hurt anyone or ourselves?"

"That was the first explosion?" Kisha looked up.

"Yeah."

I looked around the sleepy group of people, and sighed "well, another explosion was triggered when we stopped the train, which probably did something to all the Redstone under the train-."

Emily, who was standing pretty close to us, let out a yawn "And the other explosives definitely did something to the wiring too... probably cut huge gaps in it. There is no way this train would be able to run unless we re-wire the restone. We have any Redstone engineers here?"

A handful of people- around seven in total, stepped forward. Among the crowd was someone I recognized from Emily's group- Caleb.

To my surprise, Matthew was part of the seven people. My jaw almost dropped, and Matthew looked a little uncomfortable in the spotlight along with the other six.

"Great!" Emily grinned "Do any of you have any confidence to lead and fix the wiring?"

There were some shrugs and a mix of 'yeah a little bit' and 'absolutely not', which wasn't too comforting.

"Wouldn't the capital notice that they're missing a train of people?" Kisha frowned, "If we stay put and just focus on surviving, we should be able to be rescued."

A girl who was next to the boy who had spoken and irritated me earlier shook her head "Mmm... I heard from friends from other towns that their scheduling is all different- some hadn't even started that whole race thing for the train. Let's not count on them."

"So we're sitting chickens?" someone asked from the crowd "we're just going to be stuck here? the train is complex as hell, there is no way these seven will be able to fix the Redstone before we all die. We're in the wilderness!"

A loud rise of voices and whispers erupted.

Noah let out a loud whistle to grab everyone's attention "Hey! Stop thinking so negatively! There's always the possibility of people from the capital to come and save us."

Kisha nodded "We'll just need to hold out until they get to us or we get to them in any way possible. It wouldn't be too long now. We'll need to stay on the train for now as cover from the mobs until morning and truly figure out what to do. Who are the squad leaders?"

The squad leaders- including Emily and I- raised their hands.

"Okay... that's about 14 of us." I cleared my throat "Let us meet tomorrow to try and figure out what to do- we have the responsibilities as a squad leader to do that." I looked around "is anyone awake enough to keep watch around the train?"

around 15 people, including Theo and Noah, raised their hands.

Ethan laughed a little "Whoa! Guess no one was getting sleep then- or everyone was too spooked"

Theo looked around "Let's disperse the crowd a little bit- everyone who volunteered, grab your weapons, and come back here."

As the numbers dwindled slightly as some were going back to their rooms to sleep or grab their weapons, I looked around. "Ah... I think that's it... we'll make all the other important decisions tomorrow and make plans," I smirked playfully "Who's tired?"

A small chorus of laughs comforted me a little bit, and Noah clapped his hands.

"I guess we can all go to sleep now. We'll patrol the area and switch people if we get too tired. Quick and unofficial meeting over! Everyone back to your compartments!"

I looked up at Noah after everyone started leaving "You sure you have the energy to do patrol? You and I were awake for a while now."

he patted my back "Ah, I took a nap in the afternoon and woke up a little while before you did. I'll be fine! Go get some rest, squad leader, and make some important decisions in the morning with the others, okay?"

"Alright then."

"Like actually get rest," He grabbed onto my arm to get my attention when I turned around "Not just sit in the dark thinking. There will be enough of that tomorrow morning. Go to sleep."

I smirked "Sleep is not something to be commanded. Good night."

A short chapter in exchange for punctuality.
Yay