"Emily, why did you put me into the spotlight like that-"

"To be fair, you put yourself in the spotlight. But-" She patted me in the back with a mischievous grin. "Think about it- you really should be thanking me right now."

"I'm sorry?"

"Think about it!" She said loudly "I just got you so much credit! Now everyone knows that you're the one person who figured out a way around the system in the train station. You're finally going to get the recognition you deserve because I have a feeling you just don't get enough of that."

"Thanks-?"

"You're welcome! Now, about the exploring thing, can I be in your squad?"

I frowned "Don't you have your own squad to deal with? It'll be unfair to them, wouldn't it?"

"Oh, but Caleb is on the redstone and everyone else is-" she lowered her voice "-pretty boring. I want to go on an adventure! Mara said she'll tell all the missing squad leaders about it, and if anyone wants to volunteer would go to her. I doubt my group of scaredy-cats will join, so I'll be on my own."

"You're... awfully irresponsible for a squad leader."

"Am I?" Emily asked with a smile "I wouldn't leave them alone if I wasn't sure that they'll be okay. Besides, there's going to be multiple teams going out to explore- I can fill in for whoever that was on your team that was doing Redstone, Matthew? his name was?"

"I'll have to ask my team for that, but I think it'll be ideal for us to keep the group small," I pointed out "We'll be traveling faster. I think my group of five would be enough."

Emily looked a little crestfallen, which made me feel terrible about saying now to her. Her grin came back to her face as soon as we walked outside of the train and into the open space again though, and she laughed "Aw, alright then! I'll go ask around, see if anyone wants to join me. Let me know if any of your members suddenly decides to drop out! I'll go look and bother Caleb now, see ya!"
And just like that, Emily ran off toward the front of the train, leaving me quite confused. Despite her lighthearted tone, that last sentence almost sounded threatening, almost as if she was purposely do something so she'll end up with me.

I looked around some more, trying to spot any of my teammates so I can tell them about what was discussed in the meeting. I knew Matthew must be with the Redstone group and Noah and Theo better be resting after their night shift, so I didn't try and find them.
Which left Ethan and Kisha.

I kinda expected Ethan to be slacking off somewhere chasing a bee or something, but I found him and Kisha together with a group of people surrounding three furnaces and a single chest. "What's up?"

Kisha looked up at the sound of my voice and grinned "The people in the night shift did some exploring and brought back beef from a few cows they found so we're waiting for that to cook. Mara asked before that meeting she ran off to that we take inventory and keep all the food in one place so we can distribute."

"How much food do we have?"

Ethan shrugged "It's scattered, but maybe enough for a day or two if we save enough? there are ingredients to make things like pumpkin pie so we can use up the pumpkin and eggs, so maybe a little more. How'd the meeting go?"

I was surprised that Mara already got something set up before that meeting, and the idea to gather all the food so we can ration them is pretty smart. "The meeting went, eh-?" I answered, "Not everyone actually showed up, which really says something about their attitude."

A boy next to Ethan sighed "I tried getting my group leader to get up this morning, but she said that there are more than enough people attending the meeting already and you'll manage without another voice. It really does say something about the overall attitude of everything."

"But what about the actual meeting?" Another asked as everyone's expecting eyes stared at me. It crowd wasn't much, but it was making me slightly uncomfortable that they were all looking at me for answers. "What did you discuss? What are we going to do next?"

I cleared my throat "Well, we've said that we wanted to set up exploration groups to try and fill in the resource gaps that we might have. There must be abandoned villages or temples around here in the different biomes that probably border this area that we can loot." I answered, trying to sound as confident and assured as possible "Our goal is to either find resources to repair the damage in the Redstone and go to the capital that way or find a faster method of travel and send someone to the capital to get help."

"Is there an update about the restone? Maybe we can try and cut corners to squeak in."

I shook my head "No- I think the group is having a meeting of their own as we speak. It's been ages since anything was introduced considering restone, so I don't think there will be any short cuts."

"Besides-" Ethan patted the guy in the back "It's bad to cut corners. Watch as we crash into the station or something because we removed the Redstone to stop the train to make the train go. I can be kinda lazy at times but I'd like to live. "

The comment made everyone crack a smile or bring out a little giggle, which made me appreciate Ethan's humor a little more.

"Alright, I'll tell Mara about the food situation." I said, turning around "Think about the exploration! It doesn't necessarily have to be by group, so if you're interested in joining, let us know!"
I waved goodbye and walked away, looking around the small area as I watched the other group leaders that actually showed up to the meeting talk with the scattered groups among the grass.

It was a little insulting to me that there are people that have been put in the leadership role but refuses to take responsibility for the people they're leading. No matter how capable they can be in whatever aspect, their lack of commitment would get them nowhere when we get to the capital and face whatever challenges there.

I walked into the train and was about to head into our compartment to make sure Noah and Theo were resting when I heard some voices in one of the larger compartments near the engine room where a lot of the Redstone and fuel would be running.

Peering through the window, I watched the Redstone group discuss the plans. I couldn't hear whatever they were saying because of the closed door, but it made me smile to see Matthew talking next to Caleb and a shorter boy with tanned skin and a head of messy black hair tucked underneath what looked like goggles- which I assumed to be Cole.
To my surprise, all seven people that stood up yesterday were present in the meeting and looked like they were having a fervent debate with some handwaving over a drawn-out map laid out on the table in front of them.

When I looked up, I almost jumped out of my skin when I saw Mara standing by the opposite side of the door, peering in just like how I was with a little smile on her face. I stared at her some, and she noticed me and motioned for me to follow and take a walk with her.

"The boy in the blue hoodie- he's from your group, right?" She asked once we had gone far enough in the train to get out of their earshot "He stood up from your side last night."

I laughed "How good is your memory if you managed to remember something like that?"

Her eyes twinkled softly but shone with a sense of mischievousness, as she pushed her hair behind her ears. "I just somehow do?" She chuckled with me "There's only seven of them anyway, and Cole was talking about it this morning while I was on my way to the meeting."

"Oh! which reminds me- the group which you asked to gather all the food? I spoke to them earlier, and they have about half a chest of food items. I'm impressed."

"For what?"

"For what?? You managed to think of an excellent idea even before the meeting was called. This way, we'll have some information by the next meeting on where we stand on food."

She laughed "I thought it was common sense, but thank you."

"If that was common sense, then we're all idiots."

"I asked a group of people, but I'm pretty sure two more people from your group automatically started leading after I left." she noted "Kisha and Ethan? My goodness, your group is filled with people that can actually contribute to society. Your team is blessed to have you as a leader."
Her soft voice contrasted with the jokingly sarcastic attitude woven in her voice, and that made me grin.

"I've been blessed with my team."

"I like that humility. I like that." she said with a smile, looking sideways at me "You'll do fine in a leadership role when we get to the capital."

I shrugged "That is if we even get there in the first place. I have a feeling you'll do great too, Mara."

"You really think so?" She asked, raising an eyebrow.
The sentence didn't sound too much like a question- it sounded more like a challenge.

I grinned "Of course."

That looked like a good place to end.
The amount of time I spent on this is not justifiable by the low wordcount sorry lol

Thank you guys for 1K BTW
Idk if I've said it before but thanks anyway.

see ya next update.