A/N - Hey readers! Here's a remake of Tales of MineZ I've come up with, after playing hours of the game with my sister. ;P This is gonna be very different to the original story, just so you know.

Please note that many of the places in the MineZ map are NOT connected underground, as I will say they are in this story.

BelowZ will be taking over from Base of Operations for some time, while the wheel that is my hobbies has rotated around to MineZ again.

Check out the new series of my sister and I playing MineZ, on the BRAND NEW Team Grounded youtube channel! ( www . youtube watch?v=ay-jLQM93r0)

Read, enjoy and review if you liked the story! Please let me know if you want to read more.

- AxleMC131

Full Summary (It was too long to put in the story summary)

Axle's a veteran in the apocalypse world called MineZ. For years he and his tough little sister Rodent, have been travelling the land, fighting back the hordes of zombies that plague it, as well as the bullying bandits who murder the defenceless for their own amusement. Surviving has become second nature.

But when the duo are suddenly 'kidnapped' by a group of people from the ancient Thieves Guild, and are told they need their help, the whole map is turned upside down and inside out. Axle and Rodent get thrown into an undercover – and exclusively underground – mission to discover a cure for the infection, taking them from the Thieves Guild under Grimdale, all the way to Aurora, Byesford Laboratories, and the whole world's tunnel system, uncovering the secrets of MineZ's past. Will brother and sister finally find the truth about the apocalypse when they go... BelowZ?

Chapter One – The Survivors

The man wasn't admitting it, but he was nervous. He glanced up at the moon, checking its position, then nodded back to his two henchman behind him. "We made good time guys. We'll be outta here and back to Romero before sun-up."

The second follower muttered something about getting enough sleep. The man whirled around and held an iron sword to his throat.

"Don't lemme here yer complain about yer duties again!" he hissed venomously. He was really just a teenager, only eighteen or nineteen, and his henchmen were younger still. In the light of the moon, his chainmail armour glinted and played the light onto the cobbled street of Grimdale. "We've killed four noobs tonight. Do yer want it to become five?"

The henchman shook his head furiously.

"Good." The leader of the trio stepped back, the sick smile on his face trembling. Even though he didn't admit it, the leader was jumpy. He turned and examined the length of the street that ran under the Inn, looking between the silent buildings towards Grimdale's front gate.

Once the capital city, Grimdale had done an astonishing job of avoiding complete ruin through the apocalypse. Almost every building was still in the same condition it had been in when the infection first started four years ago, and the walls were intact. The only way in or out was the main gateway.

The leader glanced left to right, checking the coast was clear, then began to quietly walk towards the gateway. "C'mon," he said. "We've got more than what we came for."

"A lot more, as a matter of fact."

The three bandits froze in surprise. The voice had belonged to a male, a very confident and in charge one, but they couldn't tell where it had come from. The leader whipped his sword around, while his henchman tentatively drew their stone blades and held them out before them.

"A whole pawful, you could say."

The leader spun the other way. The second voice was that of a young female, and sounded amused more than anything.

"Nice one sis," laughed the first voice from everywhere.

"Where are yer!?" growled the lead bandit, trying to clamp down on his fear. Was that a rustling in the shadows just outside the gate? "Show yerselves!"

There was a quiet twang, and in a moment there was an arrow embedded in the gravel path inches in front of the leader's feet.

The leader let out a small yelp and jumped back, crashing into one of his henchman. The two tripped backwards into the wall of the Grimdale Inn and fell to the ground.

"Idiot!" the leader yelled out of rage at his comrade. Quickly pulling himself up, he glanced out of the gateway, but could see nothing in the shadows of the forest. "Where the heck are yer?" he demanded again.

The thud was barely audible. The lead bandit glanced to his right to see his other henchman drop to the ground, unconscious after being hit in the back of the head by a large stone. The leader spun around and faced back into the town.

A single, darkened figure could be seen at the opposite end of the street, staring at them.

"There!" the leader yelled at his other henchman. "After them!" But as they ran towards the figure, it faded into the shadows.

The henchman was dumbfounded. "How... But... They was just here! Boss, where'd them go?"

"You think I know?" the leader cried. He was panicking; trying to catch these people was like trying to catch smoke. Turning back towards the exit, the leader saw it clear; his unconscious comrade was still lying face down in the path. Taking a quick glance to either side, the leader made a wild dash for the gateway. After a second of puzzled hesitation, his remaining henchman followed.

The leader sprinted down the street, focused on one thing: escape. He could deal with enemies, he'd dealt with dozens of them. And he'd dealt with even more noobs who had no idea what they were doing. But he'd never known an enemy so slick as these... Shadows.

The bandit gulped. Whoever they were, they were a lot more clever than he was. If he could just reach the gates and get out of the city...

The sword blade appeared out of nowhere from behind a building. It was turned flat on and caught the remaining henchman in the forehead. He did a backflip and hit the gravel, knocked out. The leader glanced back for just a second then kept running. The gateway was just a few blocks ahead -

The figure stepped out from behind the gates. The bandit skidded to a halt a block away, but their face was still in shadow. Looking over his shoulder, the bandit gasped as a second shadowy figure stepped up behind him. He was trapped.

"Wh-who are y-you?" he stuttered. "Wh-what do y-you w-want?"

The second figure looked towards the first figure and spoke in an almost casual tone. "How many did he say they'd killed? Four survivors?"

The first figure nodded. "Yep, I heard loud and clear, Axle. Four murders. What an absolute fool..."

"How should we punish him do you think, Rodent?"

The bandit was unable to speak.

The first figure considered. "Hmm... Four murders? Sounds pretty naughty... How about on top of the church?"

"What -" the bandit began, but he said no further because the second figure had hit them on the back of the head with their sword hilt and everything had gone black.

When the bandit awoke at last, the first thing he noticed was it was still night.

The second thing he noticed was that everything he had on him had been stolen, even his armour. He had nothing.

The third thing he noticed, as he woozily lifted his head, was that he was tied to the cross at the very top of the Grimdale church. And as he came fully awake and began struggling with the ropes, he heard two resounding laughs, and the faint clap of a hi-five.