"My apologies for my leave, but we may continue." Shane states while he leads me back inside the conference room with all the District Owners. I direct myself to the 4 seat where Carter had originally been seated, but is now mine.
"So, is this child going to be staying?" The man sitting for District 11, known as Zachary Zen, questions, gesturing to me.
"My brother has business at District 4 and needed to return suddenly. His advisor, Alex Clark, will be filling in for the meetings." Shane explains with a smile that almost seems real. It's hard to believe that only moments ago Shane was furious and hitting his brother in pure rage, and now he's smiling at a coworker. Zachary shrugs and rests his arms on the table, still looking at Shane respectfully.
"Now, if we might continue." Shane pauses, as if he already knew that people would have objections to me being here. However, everyone stays silent and simply watches the man at the front of the room.
"Alright. As I was saying previously, I have installed security cameras in all rooms in my business building to save on file. This is so we have all our gathered information from interrogations and court cases saved in case of a breach in our system." Shane explains, showing pictures of the small, black cameras. They do blend in to corners well, and his reasoning does make sense. In the briefing file, I actually agreed that the cameras are a good plan. It also said that we would be voting on if they should become mandatory for all the districts. I suppose that's the topic they started with today.
"But they should be optional I believe, since, in my district, we have people who document all important information in the building." The man who sits in for District 5, Robert Richardson states.
"What if those documents are lost? Or the writer lies? The cameras are the most reliable way to keep that information. I agree with Shane." The District Owner of District 13, Kevin Brooke, states. He gives a slight nod and smile to Shane. Kevin is known for agreeing with Shane, no matter what the idea is. No one knows if he does this in hopes of getting a higher district than his current, 13, or if they simply have similar beliefs.
"They are reliable. The only reason I would be against them is because they take a lot of energy from the Districts supply from our solar panels to run day and night for all 18 districts. Would you be willing to set up solar panels or another energy supply in each district to help with this, Shane?"  Xavier Campbell, the owner of the sunniest district, 8, questions.
"I'm sure we can set up a wind supply of some sort. This is something we have discussed before, Xavier, and I have ideas written in my notes to make us more energy." Shane replies, lifting a notepad at the head of the table in from of him.
"I know, but just your promises haven't sufficed yet. I will be more satisfied when we actually have results." Xavier states, tapping his finger on the table to make his point come across more clearly.
"We can vote on power sources and where they will be placed for tomorrows meeting. Will that satisfy you?" Shane questions in return. He replies without any hesitation, making eye contact with the other District Owner.
"Yes. As long as your promises aren't empty ones." Xavier crosses his arms and shrugs. Next, the decision is to go district by district and vote on the new camera system. Carter and I agreed that he would vote for this one, so that is my plan. Shane begins the vote with himself, and of course he votes for it.
"District 1, Mr. Bruce Garrison. Your vote please." Shane requests.
"I vote no." The owner of District 1 states sternly.
"Alright. District 2, Mr. Johnathon Walker. Your vote." Shane states as he marks a no for the man in District one. The man in for District 2 nervously looks around, then locks his eyes with Mr. Garrison.
"I vote no too." The nervous young man states.
"Alright. That takes us to District 3, Mr. Brent Everheart. Your vote, sir." Shane requests with a sigh.
"Yes for the camera system." Brent replies cheerfully.
"Alright, and District 4. Since Mr. Carter Lancaster is not present, Mr. Alex Clark, may I take a vote for your district?" Shane asks me, his bright eyes locking with my own.
"For Carter, I vote yes." I tell him with a smile. The voting goes overall, very smooth. There is no shouting or bickering amongst the men, and everyone is very orderly about it all together. In the end, the cameras are voted in. There is a large gap, since it won 15 votes and there were only 4 against it.
"Since the verdict is obvious, I believe we should instill the cameras after this meeting. Once everyone is back in their home districts." Shane states, guiding everyone in the right direction.
"What will be the latest they can be installed?" Mr. Garrison from District 1 questions, crossing his arms.
"A week after our returns seems reasonable." Zachary Zen states, putting a smile on his pale lips. His icy eyes make him intimidating, and his status to the districts as the highest court makes him someone that not many are willing to argue with.
"Fine, it will be done." Mr. Garrison replies, giving a slight wave of his hand in a type of dismissal.
"Good. Then onto our next problem, Liam, would you care to explain since it is your proposal?" Shane questions, giving the floor to the owner of District 16, Liam Cooper. He accepts and steps to the front of the room where Shane had previously been standing. The owner of the Main District sits in his seat at the head of the table and turns his attention to the new speaker.
"The proposal I have today is that all the districts should give reports to Shane monthly. I believe that this will help us all to be more connected and it will also give everyone a clear idea of what is happening in each district. I know being farthest from the Main District in 16, I sometimes have no clue what's going on with you all. This plan will help to solve that problem." Liam explains with a smile.
"But what we do in our districts is no business of yours." James Winters from District 14 states while shaking his head. "I'm not the only one who sees that, right?" He adds, looking around the table.
"Yes, Mr. Winters. I agree. Why should all of you know what I do all the time?" Mr. Garrison questioned angrily.
"Obviously this proposal is from Shane who convinced Liam, his best friend, to tell us this idea." James adds while shaking his head at both Shane and Liam.
"That's a lie. I want to know what you're doing all the time since some of you might be doing shady things that need to be monitored." Liam argues, slamming one of his hands on the table, causing me to jump slightly in my seat.
"Shady? What are you trying to say?" James shouts, causing all the men at the table to go into an uproar of angry comments.
"Silence!" Shane calls louder than all the noise. His eyes are closed in annoyance and his hand is raised slightly up in the air.
"Why? We always listen to you, why should we?" James shouts back from his side of the table.
"He has protected us all this time, James! Don't insult Shane, he's the only reason any of us are alive now." Kevin Brooke from District 13 almost screams at the man across from him representing District 14.
"I said... Silence!" Shane shouts again, much louder this time.
"We should take a recess, so we can all catch our breath." Allan King, the owner of the military district 6, states, looking around the room.
"Yes, we can continue this meeting tomorrow. And Liam, perhaps we should suspend your proposal. It seems that it has caused too much commotion in here." Shane sighs and crosses his arms on the table.
"But, Shane-"
"I said no, Liam." He shakes his head and glances at the table.
"You are all dismissed." Shane adds while standing from his seat and walking from the conference room. I watch quietly as, very slowly, each District Owner leaves with different muttering voices cursing each other. This was not how I would have ever thought these meetings to go. I always thought that Shane kept everyone in check with every word they spoke. I suppose my mistake with that was assuming that all the owners respected and were in some way frightened of Shane; and they obviously aren't.