As I slowly opened my eyes, sunlight began to bleed into the room. It was early into the morning. Looking ahead of me, Erik was still asleep, snoring quietly. I could hear Walter White in the main area, probably making himself something to eat. As my motor skills began to restart, I fully opened my eyes. I began to sit up but realized there was something holding me in place. Confused, I folded the covers over, only to find…
Jamie was spooning me.
My heart began to race.
"Oh shit…" I thought to myself. "This is bad…"
Jamie was still fast asleep, so I figured I could just break free of her grip and get out of bed. To my dismay, the more I moved around, the more she tightened her grip. Her blocky hands on my chest were a warming sensation that I did not ask for. I struggled to turn around, in hopes that it would break her grip, or I could push her off of me, but as I was turning, her arms squeezed so tight I swear I could hear my spine snapping, and here I was, staring directly into her unconscious face.
"Please don't go yet…" I heard her whisper in her sleep. My mind was scrambling to try and come up with some way to get out of this, I got another idea. I was going to try and slip under her grip.
Slowly sliding down towards the end of the bed, my plan was working. Surprisingly, Jamie started to loosen her grip. As my legs were about to reach the end of the bed, something horrific happened.
Jamie put her hand on my head, and buried me into her chest.
"OH SHIT, SHIT, FUCK!" I whispered to myself in a panic. "I CAN'T BREATHE!"
Jamie used her other hand to pull my ass back into the bed, undoing all of my progress, and now my face was getting dangerously close to her titties.
"What kind of anime protagonist bullshit is this?" I whispered to myself, now fully focused on getting her off me. I was trying my best to shove her to the side. I didn't even care about accidentally waking her up now.
"Are you guys up yet?" I heard Walter from outside, walking up the stairs. I was about to have a heart attack. I positioned both of my hands in front of me to push into Jamie's chest as a last resort, as the sound of stairs kept getting louder.
"I got food for you guys if you want some before you head out!" I heard Walter.
As I positioned my hands just right, I was ready to full send them, when Jamie moved to the side and I accidentally pushed her completely off the bed and she fell face flat onto the floor.
"What was that?" I heard Erik's half awake voice as he began to sit up. Panicking, I laid back down on the bed and pretended I was still asleep. I could hear the door open.
"M-morning Walter!" I heard Erik say, yawning.
"What happened to her?" Walter followed up.
My heart stopped.
"Uh… looks to me like she rolled off the bed in her sleep." Erik replied. I let out a quiet sigh of relief.
"How the hell is she still asleep after that?" he asked.
I could hear Jamie yawning.
"You slept pretty well didn't you?" I heard Walter say, approaching what I assumed to be Jamie.
"Uh, yeah, yeah I did." I heard Jamie say, getting up. "Actually, that was my best night's sleep in a while, even though I unexpectedly woke up on the floor…"
"And I guess you're still asleep?" I heard Walter continue, coming up to me.
"Hey Mike, wake up…" I heard Jamie say.
I didn't know what to do.
"Does she know?" I thought to myself. "Is she gonna kill me or something?"
"Get up or I'm pouring water on you." I heard Erik say. I immediately sprung out of bed to him laughing.
"Not funny." I said, throwing the covers off of me and getting up.
"Food's downstairs if you want any." Walter said, exiting the room.
I didn't say another word as we were walking down the stairs to grab some food. There were some extra pork chops in the furnaces. Grabbing some, each of us sat down at the table in the center of the room.
"So do you know your way home now?" Erik asked Jamie.
"Yea, we can head out as soon as we're done eating." Jamie replied. I couldn't even look at her without feeling embarrassed.
"Well, I hope you all get back home safe." Walter added. "Try and stop by every now and then?"
"Sure!" Erik replied. Jamie on the other hand didn't say a word.
As we finished eating, we made our way towards the desert temple exit.
"Hey by the way…" Walter White got our attention. "If you are looking for a place to mine, there's a pretty decent place a little ways to the west."
"Thank you." Jamie said, being the first to leave the temple.
"Thank you for letting us stay the night here." Erik said.
"Thanks." I said, being the last to leave. As we were walking, I took a look around. Sure enough, all the skeletons had already burned to death.
"When we get back to the base, we need to stop by the storage closet and drop the wood planks off…" Jamie said. I tried my best to avoid eye contact with her.
"After we drop those off, I need to tend to the gardens, you two can rest in the house if you want."
"Nah, we'll come with you." Erik said. I looked at him and waved my hand across my throat.
"Huh?" Erik said. "What's wrong?"
I could feel my face warming up.
"Are you sick or something?" Jamie said, turning around. I looked down to the grass.
"Nope! Perfectly fine. I'll help you with the crops." I replied.
"Did I push you over in my sleep or something?" Jamie asked. I completely shut down, stopping in my tracks.
"Uuhhhh…" I stuttered.
"I tend to move a lot in my sleep so… If I pulled the covers over, or almost pushed you off the bed or some shit, I'm sorry." Jamie apologized. "Sleep well?"
"I… yeah. Yeah I did." I replied, calming down a bit. "Let's keep going."
As we trekked through the desert, the village came into view in the distance.
"There it is! Home sweet home." Erik said, pointing towards it. As we came near the village, I tossed the diamond sword back to Jamie.
"You may need it later, you'll be better off hanging on to it for now." She said, tossing it back.
"Later?" I said. "What are we doing later?"
"Nothing, just keep it to defend yourself." Jamie replied.
"I have a stone sword and a bow, I don't need your sword." I said, trying to hand it back.
"That stone sword almost got you killed, and it's on its last leg." Jamie explained. "And you only have 2 arrows for that bow. Keep the damn sword."
As we entered the village, Jamie started towards the storage shed.
"How about we get a head start on the crops?" I suggested. "You want us to snatch all of them right?"
"Actually, that would be great." Jamie replied. "All the crops in the village that are grown should be farmed and re-planted."
"Say less." Erik said, passing over his wood planks. I did the same.
"I'll see you two in a bit." Jamie said, taking the planks. "Oh, and you'll need these."
She passed 2 iron hoes to us, then made her way to the storage closet.
As we moved towards the first set of crops, I began punching the carrots on the right, while Erik got the wheat on the left.
"Have you met anyone on this server other than us?" I asked Erik.
"Not in particular." Erik said. "I've come across a lot of players, but I never actually stopped to have a word with them."
"Hmm, alright…" I said, continuing to farm the crops.
"Well, I guess I can trust Jamie after all." Erik started. "She's helped us a lot with a place to stay and protecting us and whatnot, and even though she doesn't seem like she wants to admit it, I think we're slowly becoming her friends."
That statement brought back the flashback of this morning. I dropped my hoe in the water.
"What?" Erik said, as I bent over to pick up the hoe.
"Something about this morning?" He guessed. I took a giant gulp.
"Y… you could say that, yes." I replied.
"What happened…?" Erik asked. "Was it between you and her?"
I tried to focus back on the crops. "Let's just try and farm this stuff…"
"Oh don't you fuckin try and change the topic on me." Erik said. "OOOOH, I KNOW WHAT YOU DID!"
"What?" I looked at him, slightly concerned.
"YOU TWO GOT BUSY, DIDN'T YOU!" He guessed. My face turned bright red.
"FUCK NO!" I yelled. "WHAT KIND OF ANIMAL DO YOU TAKE ME FOR? NO, I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING TO HER…"
"Then tell me what actually happened." Erik said.
"She uh…"
"Yes?"
"Kinda…"
"Quit stalling and tell me."
"Are you gonna tell her?"
"Pfft. Is that what you've been worrying about?" Erik asked. "I have no reason to tell her shit."
"Well…" I started. "She was uh… spooning me in her sleep."
Erik busted out in laughter.
"Damn, she's into you already?"
"I don't think so…" I said. "I tried to escape but…"
"Ah… so THAT'S why she was on the floor this morning." Erik inferred. I came up to him and raised my iron hoe an inch from his face.
"If you tell her anything, I swear to god…"
"Relax dude… I won't say anything. You have my word." Erik replied.
"Good. Now let's mine these damn crops."
We were just about done when Jamie joined us, offering to mine the rest.
"Woah, I'm impressed." She said, picking the last of the wheat up. "I was expecting you two to slack off like Mordecai and Rigby from Regular Show…"
"Odd reference, but okay…" I commented.
As we were walking back to Jamie's house, we came across Miles again.
"Morning Jamie!" He greeted her. "Good to see your new friends are helping you with your chores around the village."
"Yea, I guess they're pretty reliable." Jamie answered. "We had a few hiccups but they seem like they're pretty good help."
"Why were you out the whole day and throughout the night?" He asked.
"We got lost while mining trees and we had to spend the night somewhere because of the number of mobs surrounding the area." Jamie explained.
"I see…" Miles said.
"Why is this any of your business?" I asked. "We still got your wood, we still mined your crops, that's all that should matter…"
"As the housemaster of this village, I am responsible for the lives of everyone that lives here." Miles explained.
"I appreciate your concern but we can take care of ourselves. We don't need a guardian angel watching over us." I added.
Miles left with no comment.
"What's with this guy…" I said as Jamie opened the door to the house.
"He's really controlling of the people here." Jamie explained. "He acts like an overprotective parent, but you'll get used to him eventually."
"Wow…" Erik commented.
"Also…" Jamie said, shutting the door. "Nobody speaks of that base. If anyone asks, you don't know it exists. I don't want to stir up speculation."
I went upstairs to unload my inventory into the chest in my room, and so did Erik. As we came down stairs, Jamie was sitting at the table in the middle of the room.
"Why don't you guys sit down for a minute and chill out…" She suggested.
As we sat down to relax, I could notice someone far in the distance through a window, running.
"Hey guys, who's that?" I said, pointing to the player. Jamie took a closer look.
"I don't know, but he looks like he's in distress."
"Should we check it out?" Erik said.
"I suppose." Jamie said, pulling out her iron sword. "Have your weapons ready in case he brought enemies with him." She opened the door. As we all came out and started towards the running player, he stopped running and went walking. I could tell the player was exhausted, probably starving.
"HELP!" I could hear him yelling in a raspy voice. We began to run towards him.
"What happened to you?" I asked as we approached the player, he stumbled to his knees, breathing heavily.
"The… incur-" He groaned, clenching his stomach, gasping for air.
"What?"
"The incurs-" he started coughing.
"Dammit, someone get him some food!" I said, grabbing his arm and wrapping it around me. Erik wrapped his other arm and we began to carry him back towards the house while Jamie rushed ahead a little.
"I'll get Miles. You two take him to the house." She said.
As we opened the door, we laid him across the table.
"Get some apples or some shit…" I asked Erik. "he's dying of starvation!"
"On it…" Erik said, starting to search the chests.
"Okay, stay with me man…" I said. The player's body flashed red, as he groaned louder.
"I…"
"Yes?"
"I'm sorry."
"What?"
"Tell Mark I'm sorry…"
"What happened to you?"
"The…"
His body flashed red again.
"The incursion…"
"Incursion?"
"It's coming… they've already hit us…"
Erik rushed up the stairs.
"QUICK!" I yelled.
"Coming where?" I asked the player.
"They're invading the spawn area… leave while you still can…" His body flashed red once more.
"Y-you don't have much time. Tell the others in this village…"
I could see Jamie in the distance running towards the house with Miles behind him.
"Tell them what?" I asked.
"They can't fight back… they w-will lose…" his eyelids began to close.
"Dammit, STAY WITH ME!" I yelled, as Jamie entered the house with Miles.
"The incursion is coming…" The player spat out his last words, as he closed his eyes. Turning into a puff of smoke, he left behind an empty glass bottle, some sticks, and a wooden pickaxe.
"Shit…" I said to myself.
"What happened?" Miles asked, looking at the items on the table.
"We saw him just outside the village running." Jamie explained.
"He was mentioning something about an incursion…" I said. "We need to warn the other occupa–"
"There still has yet to be an incursion here." Miles explained. "The spawn has been known to be the safest place on this server to live in, and it's been that way since it has opened."
Erik rushed down the stairs with steak.
"Too late…" I looked at Erik. "He's already gone."
"How did he die?" Miles asked. "Was he wounded?"
"There were no signs of sword wounds or arrows sticking out of him, but his hunger was dangerously low." I explained.
"Hmm." Miles said. "Well, I don't know what the hell he said to you, or why he was running here, but it seems to me like he just didn't keep his stamina in check properly."
"Yeah… maybe because he was running? Away from an attack?" I said sarcastically.
"What happens in other villages is none of my business." Miles explained. "He decided to flee here thinking he would be safe. We can't just cater to everyone. It's his mistake."
Miles turned towards the door.
"Did you hear a word of what he just said?" Jamie asked. "The guy was talking about an Incursion!"
"I heard him the first time." Miles said, opening the door. "There will be no incursion. I'm sure of it. There is no need to warn anyone here and invoke unnecessary fear." he stepped out of the house.
"And what if this guy was telling the truth…" I said, as he was about to shut the door.
"Trust me. An incursion will not happen near the spawn. But if for some reason it does, we will be ready."
Jamie looked at the two of us.
"What the hell did he say about an incursion…" Jamie asked, looking at the floating items.
"His village was hit nearby apparently." I explained. "He just said the incursion is coming and then died."
"Shit…" Jamie replied. "I think that's what one of the books you found was talking about. We need to prepare."
"Prepare? For what?" Erik asked.
"If that player's village was just hit, and it's nearby, then we're next." Jamie said, heading up the stairs.
"You heard Miles…" I said. "He didn't heed the guy's warning."
"I couldn't give less of a shit if Miles doesn't heed the warning." Jamie said. "We still need to get ready, because I know damn well that they're going to hit us next. We need to warn the others ourselves."
"But Miles sa–"
"All the lives in this village are in jeopardy now. You really think I'm going to let that slide because the housemaster dismissed the threat?" Jamie began walking up the stairs.
"What are we going to do?" I asked.
"We need at least 2 sets of armor each. Preferably iron, minimum leather. We need 2 close range and 2 long range weapons and something to deal with health."
"Do we have that?" I asked.
"No." Jamie replied. "We need to stock up now. Get ready, we're heading back to the mine. All three of us."
I got an uneasy feeling. "Should we be worried?" I asked.
"You absolutely should…" Jamie replied. "The leaders of the incursion are unstoppable… if they can't beat us through player versus player or get us to surrender, they'll just send a minecart nuke our way and kill us all."
Just thinking about death in this game was gut wrenching.
"Is there any iron left in the storage room?" I asked. "We can use those to craft swords."
"Miles won't let us." Jamie replied. "He'd only let us use it if there was danger, and he believed it."
I rushed up the stairs to my room to get some mining supplies. Erik followed me.
"Are we going to die?" Erik asked.
"No." I replied. "We have each other's backs. We'll pull through this."
