"Arix, stop! I'm in better condition than you—aah!" Steve dropped his pitchfork and hacked at a zombie that had jumped at him from behind. Arix ignored him. He'd be fine. Zombies kept following them, especially since Steve wasn't moving very quickly, but it looked like these would be the last—they were finally far enough away from the spawner that new zombies weren't showing up. Arix didn't know what was wrong with Steve: as far as he was concerned, he felt exhausted, but he was able to keep moving. He ducked under a swipe from a zombie and stabbed into its abdomen, ripping out putrid intestine. The zombie shrieked and he danced around it, grinning. "Arix!?" shouted Steve. Arix realized with surprise that he seemed to be losing his fight with the other zombie. He quickly finished off the partially-disemboweled zombie and sprinted over, head-butting the zombie's head away from Steve, then ripping his knife across its throat. It staggered back and fell to the floor twitching. Steve leaned against the wall, feeling his shoulder. "OK?" said Arix.
"I think my shoulder's dislocated. If you could—" Arix shoved it back into place. Steve gasped and gritted his teeth, then flexed his fingers and experimented with moving his arm. "Well... that worked. Thanks." he looked up and smiled. He seemed so tired. "You're a mess," he said, wiping zombie slime off of Arix's forehead. Steve's breath smelled of blood. The smell was comforting. Human. And surprisingly appealing. Arix stepped closer. Steve was looking at his eyes. "Arix—" he said, frowning. Arix kissed him and he froze. Arix tasted blood, sweet, fresh blood. He'd never really thought about how good it tasted. He moved closer, knotting his fingers in Steve's hair. Blood trickled into his mouth from a cut on Steve's lip. He gently licked it clean. Then it occurred to him that it would bleed more if he bit down.
Steve screamed. This, and the fact that he'd just been struck across the face, snapped Arix back to his senses. Steve was gasping in pain, one hand pressed to his bleeding lip, one interposed between himself and Arix. The palm of his hand was wet with blood. Arix resisted the urge to lick it. "Bloodlust kicking in?" said Steve in a casual tone, recovering.
Arix wiped blood from his mouth and looked at it. The sweet taste was still in his mouth. He wanted more. "Oh God," he breathed. "Oh my God."
Steve carefully felt his mangled lip. "I'm afraid we can't do anything about the fact that I'm covered in blood. Do you think you could warn me next time?"
Arix turned and stumbled down the passage towards the faint glow of lava. They were almost back to the ravine. "Oh God oh God oh God…" he'd been a fool. Or had it been the Corruption, keeping him from realizing the truth? No, it was his own fault. He should have noticed when his wounds stopped hurting. He knew what that meant, but he had ignored it. Next his mind would start to slip away from him, and his skin would darken and decay, and his eyes would go black. Steve was calling after him. He kept going until he was standing on the edge of the ravine. The thread of fire that was the lava fall hung in the darkness on his right. He couldn't see the bottom of the ravine when he looked straight down, but where the lava spilled over the floor he could see that it was dizzyingly far down. More than enough to break all his bones. Maybe, just maybe, if he was crushed badly enough, he wouldn't come back. At least he wouldn't remember anything. He swayed forwards and caught himself. Damned survival instincts. He backed up and got a running start. Again he caught himself just at the edge. He fumed. Steve was shouting from somewhere behind him. Alright, so he wasn't going to jump off. He couldn't even manage that. But he could fall. He shut his eyes and inched his toes over the edge, feeling the precariousness of his balance. If he just leaned forwards… he swayed in place again and cursed himself for his lack of resolve. Alright, one more time. But suddenly Steve had his arms wrapped around him and was dragging him backwards.
"Don't you dare!"
"Please kill me."
"No no no no no. Listen. I won't let you give up like this. Do you realize how surprising it is that you're still alive, after all this time?"
"I just tried to eat your face!"
"Yes. How about we both try to forget that experience?"
"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."
"It's not your fault. We need to get out of here so I can treat you. Let's start walking."
"Oh God I'm a terrible person."
"Stop that. The corruption works faster if you give in, you need to keep enough faith in yourself to resist." Arix hid his face in his hand and whimpered. Steve shook him. "Arix, I didn't give you permission to give up on me. Come on."
"Promise you'll kill me if I give in."
"You're not going to."
"Promise."
"No. You're going to have to do better than that." Steve guided him back into the cave. "We'll try this way next." Arix was silent. Steve wasn't going to help him. Knowing Steve, he was going to be an idiot and stick around, trying to help, even if he lost his mind and tried to attack him. So that wasn't an option. He could last this out. He'd heard of people fighting the Corruption. He'd didn't have much trust in himself at the moment, but he didn't see any other option. He wasn't going to turn while Steve was there to suffer for it. If it came down to it he would kill himself. He would. "Arix," said Steve, pausing. "Mind if I take that knife?" dammit. So much for one method of suicide. But no, that was a good idea. He didn't trust himself with a knife now, either. "Good idea." he handed it over.
From the far side of the ravine, Herobrine watched his brother pull the infected human away from the edge. So. The human was no longer in denial, now it was Steve's turn. What was he thinking? Perhaps he thought he could save him, although Herobrine didn't know why he put so much effort into it. What was special about this human? Well, it was turning out rather entertaining after all, so it wasn't a waste. At least not for Herobrine. He waited until they were out of earshot to teleport across the ravine and walk quietly after them.
A/N: appropriate reactions to this chapter include: "wait wat" "No" "DAMMIT ARIX" and "YEY HEROBRINE!"… if you're Convenient-Alias, who apparently likes Herobrine. She's the reason that he's appearing more in the story, I was just going to kind of let him disappear. Which is lame. Hurrah for Convenient-Alias knowing what is up with good writing. Also thanks for the continued reviews! Yay reviews! They encourage me to keep working on this.
Also, setting a dislocated shoulder *should* not work like this, especially if the subject doesn't have inhuman healing superpowers. Don't try this at home!
Also, I've just realized, fun with the word "bloodlust."
Arix's brain in this chapter is like "So you're NOT turning into a zombie. You're SURE you're not turning into a zombie? Because we're getting that you want to go lick the blood off Steve's face and maybe bite him. And that's definitely zombie-ish behavior. You're DEFINITELY not turning into a zombie? OK, I guess we're suddenly attracted to Steve now, because if you're sure you're not a zombie, then that sounds vaguely sexual in a creepy way. Yeah. We're just going to interpret it like that I guess. Go lick his face. Oh dear God why are you trying to eat him. Are you ABSOLUTELY SURE you're not turning into a zombie? No? Finally? Good. Please don't keep making me second-guess myself, I can't stand it." Poor Arix's brain. It's been through a lot and it's still trying to interpret things logically, even when Arix is having none of it. I wonder how long it will remain in a functional condition.