Waking up, I was greeted with Jamie, peeking into one of the chests.
"Well, finally you're up…" She said, as I heard Miles barking from the corner.
"When did you get up?" I asked.
"As soon as the sun began to rise." Jamie answered. "Anyways, the villagers are all gathered outside of the temple already, and they're expecting you to give a speech or something."
"Wait, speech?" I asked. "Nobody told me about no speech?"
"Well…" Jamie started. "The villagers don't know where to go, or what to do from here, so you could least explain that to them."
"Jamie, I failed public speaking class, what makes you think I ca–"
"I believe in you. Now get your ass outside, everyone's waiting for you!" Jamie said, closing the chest.
I let out a sigh. "Alright… but you're coming with me."
"Fine then."
As I made my way downstairs with Jamie, I opened the piston door, and sure enough, all the villagers were gathered in front of the temple along with Walter, Erik, and Josh.
"Ah, here he is!" Walter said, motioning for me to come by his side.
"Alright folks, this is the guy you give credit for for saving your asses."
Everyone cheered at me, only making me more nervous.
"So Mike, what do you have to say?" Walter said.
"Well, uh…" I gulped. "First thing is first, I'm very glad that this mission didn't go as south as the invasion, there was basically no loss of life, and that is great. But now we are all faced with a question, and that is "what now?"
I paused.
"And to be quite frank with you all, I don't really know."
The players started talking amongst themselves.
"Look, the important thing now, is that every one of you is okay and safe. I'd prefer to keep it that way, so, for the meantime, we can show you to a much safer town far into the server."
"What if they attack us again?" Someone spitted out.
"The town I'm talking about is completely surrounded by a 8 block tall and 3 block thick blast-proof cobblestone wall. There's no way anyone can get into the town that isn't supposed to. You don't need to worry."
"What do we do about a leader?"
"What?" I asked.
"Since Miles is dead, we no longer have a leader."
"Why don't we just make him the leader?"
"Actually, that doesn't sound like a bad idea"
"Yeah. he saved our asses after all."
"Yeah! Mike's our new leader!"
"Mike!"
"Mike!"
Everyone started chanting my name like I was the embodiment of christ.
"HEY!" I yelled to get everyone to shut up.
"Look, these pumpkin heads are leading a spawn incursion, and they're only going to spread out more and more. My main concern now is getting all of you guys to a safe spot in the meantime while I discuss with my buddies what we're going to do." I explained.
"Are we going to go attack them?" Another random person asked.
"I– I don't know yet. That's still a blur for me." I answered.
"Are we safe?"
"Where is this town anyways?"
"Can I use the restroom?"
I sighed, looking at Walter. "Can you lead them to the town, please?"
"And what are you and the others going to do?" Walter asked.
"Follow behind." I answered. "Maybe fall a little far back because I want to hit up a nearby mine on the way."
"Okay, I understand." Walter replied. "Just note that they do not open the town gate for anyone past sundown. If you don't make it here in time, you better have some building blocks on you or you're going to have a restless fun-filled night."
"Cool, thanks for letting me know." I answered, taking a look at the crowd.
"Walter will take care of you all for now. I will meet you all in the town tonight."
As Walter approached the crowd of people, he began walking in the direction of the town. Looking at Jamie, Erik, and Josh, they were confused.
"You want to hit up a mine?" Erik asked. "Why on earth…"
"That was an alibi." I replied. "I don't want to be with all those people at once. Too much to account for."
"Mike, you're no babysitter…" Jamie answered. "Those villagers can take ca–"
"Those villagers are alive now thanks to us, and now they just elected me as their leader." I interrupted. "I just need a minute alone, or with you guys, to process it." I said, heading back into the temple and back upstairs to feed Miles and grab my things out of the chest..
As I took my belongings, along with some food out of the chest to feed to my dog, Jamie entered the room, hugging me from behind.
"You gonna be okay?" Jamie asked me, as Miles came up to me and wagged his tail.
"What? Oh, I mean… yeah. I'll be okay." I said. "I just…"
"I don't know what to do with this new responsibility." I said. "First I was dealing with you and the other three, now I have an entire damn village to account for. I can't help everyone."
"No, you can't." Jamie said. "But you sure as hell can try."
"I know, I just… I don't want to let anyone down." I said. "This whole "fighting back" thing is a big ass responsibility that I'm not quite ready for."
"Well, it isn't just yours."
"What?" I said, turning around.
"It's mine too. And Erik's. And Josh's, as well as Walter's. You ain't alone in this. We're all in this together." Jamie replied, letting go of me.
I smiled a bit. "Thank you." I pet Miles for a few seconds, and started going down the stairs, him following behind me. "I guess we should head out now."
As we came outside, Erik and Josh were waiting for us, and all the villagers, along with Walter, were already far into the distance.
"Alright, let's head out now." I said, walking forward into the desert. In the distance, I could see a pack of husks retrieving to one of the cave systems.
"Well, there's a cave if you want to get some resources." Josh pointed out.
"Eh, I've decided to just buy some when we get to the town." I replied. "For now, let's just keep walking and talking."
"About what?" Erik said. "Your plan or something?"
"Well…" I started. "I kind of don't have one."
"That's understandable." Josh replied.
"For starters, we need to take into account where they could be hitting next…" Jamie said.
"Hitting next? I just killed their leader!" I said. "How could they possibly attack more bases?"
"That wasn't the only group." Jamie responded. "I can guarantee you there's more."
I sighed. "Well shit… there goes my break period."
Erik laughed.
"Well, what do you know about these groups?" I asked.
"I don't know how many are near the spawn, but I know for sure there will be more groups, especially once they figure out what happened to the one we just took out." Jamie answered. "We need to prepare to deal with an angry mob."
"Great. That's the last thing I want to do." I replied. In the distance I could see a colony of slimes. Miles barked at them.
"Shhh…" I told him.
"Well, now you have more players that can help…" Josh pointed out.
"What? You mean the villagers?" I asked.
"Uh, no shit…" Josh replied.
"You're assuming they are all capable of fighting." I added. "I'm sure half of them just joined this server with the intent on living a peaceful life, not fighting a Minecraft civil war…"
"Not everyone has to be able to fight…" Jamie pointed out. "Some can help with other things, like materials and medics."
"I guess you're right." I pointed out. "I suppose the first thing that we should do once we all reach the town and get all rested, we'll assess everyone's abilities."
"There we go, now you're making a real plan." Erik said.
"Barely…" I replied. "I still don't know what to do in terms of the next incursion attack. I don't even have a prediction of where it could be."
"Walter said something about them moving on to the desert to harvest glass…" Jamie suggested.
"Well, I think he was referring to the group we took out last night, but I guess that's on the drawing board for now." I replied. I noticed that we had wandered a little close to the slimes then I had felt comfortable with.
"Slimes…" Erik pointed out, as Miles began to bark at them again.
"I'm not blind, Erik…" I answered, pulling out my diamond sword and tossing it to Jamie.
"Wait, don't you…"
"I have two more, I'll be fine." I said, pulling out one of my iron swords. The slimes still had yet to notice us, despite Miles' continuous barking, but I wasn't taking any chances, especially since one of them was a large slime.
"If we do have to fight them, try not to kill the large one." I said. "Remember, these things spli–"
"We know how slimes die…" Jamie, Erik, and Josh all said in unison.
Just then, one of the smaller slimes started hopping towards me. I easily swung my sword at it, cutting directly through the middle of it, and it disappeared, leaving just a slime ball.
"These can be useful for sticky pistons…" I said. "I guess we might as well kill them all."
"Cool." Jamie said, going for the medium slime. Erik pulled out an iron sword and went for one of them, whereas Josh stood awkwardly without a weapon.
As I was attacking the smaller slimes and collecting the slimeballs, I noticed that Erik and Jamie were going for the large one, as Miles was approaching one of the nearby slimes to bite into it.
"Careful!" I said, as they continued swinging at it. Eventually, Jamie landed the kill shot, and the slime tipped over, disappeared, and quickly reappeared, splitting into four medium slimes and scattering. One of them knocked Erik over.
"Shit!" He yelled, taking damage as he grabbed his iron sword and started slicing into it. Another slime approached Jamie, as she had her diamond sword outstretched. I rushed over to sing my sword into its side to stop it from getting any closer, as Jamie delivered the final blow. When this slime split, one of the small slimes shot into the air, and landed right on Josh's head.
"AAAAAH, GET IT OFF ME!" He yelled, starting to run around in circles trying to pull it off of his head. Miles was jumping at it and barking, but that didn't do much to help the situation.
"Relax dude, small slimes don't inflict dama—"
"IT'S SUCKING ON MY FOREHEAD!" Josh screamed, we all laughed, as we approached him to assist in taking care of the slime. I used my sword and took a swing right above Josh's head, knocking the slime off and onto the ground, as it sank a little bit into the sand before disappearing, leaving behind another slime ball.
Josh was hyperventilating.
"Dude, you're gonna be fine." I reassured him. "I'll admit though, that was funny as hell."
Miles suddenly went into a panic and bolted away from us.
"What the… Hey! Miles! What the–"
We heard a skull crushing hissing sound coming from behind Josh.
"Mother f–"
As Josh turned around, there was a creeper a few blocks away from him, beginning to expand and glow white.
"GET AWAY!" I yelled.
as it exploded and left a giant crater in the sand that gradually began to spread out, as Miles kept running away from us..
"What the…" I said, as the hole got increasingly bigger and bigger, as well as deeper.
The ground began to shake violently, as the sand of the desert gradually began to cave in.
"RUN!" I yelled, grabbing Jamie's hand and rushing away from the falling sand.
"SHIT!" Erik screamed. "I HATE THAT CREEPER!"
Our running was not fast enough, the sinkhole was gaining on us. On the other hand, Miles was getting way far ahead.
"RUN FASTER DUMBASSES!" I yelled. "EVEN THE DOG IS QUICKER THAN US!"
"WE'RE TRYING!" Erik and Josh hollered in reply. Sure enough, the sinkhole caught up with us, and we all began our descent into darkness. All our screams echoed as we continued falling. As the sand started to slow down and we could see below us, all I could see was…
Stone bricks.
"Oh this is gonna hurt…" I said, as the bricks came closer and closer and…
Thud.
We all landed on the bricks at the same time, each of us probably taking around 3 quarters of our health in damage, groaning in pain.
"Oh fuck, I think something's broken…" Erik said, trying to push himself up, as I pulled out the last of my steak I had on me and ate it, regenerating my health.
"This is Minecraft, you don't break bones in this game, you just die." I replied, pushing myself up as well, along with Josh. Jamie, on the other hand, laid still on the stone, unconscious..
"Oh shit…" I said, kneeling back down to feel her hand to make sure she was still alive.
"Get me a healing potion, she's on like half a heart." I demanded.
"Does it look like I have a potion to you?" Erik asked.
"Golden apple?"
"Don't have that either…" Erik replied.
"Well, give me something!" I yelled. Erik took out a stack of steak and tossed them to me. Giving them to Jamie, she groaned and opened her eyes slowly.
I let out a long dramatic sigh of relief. "Fuck Jamie, I thought I lost you there…"
Jamie groaned. "E-everything… h–hurts…"
"Here, have some of this steak, you gotta regenerate your HP." I said, as Jamie took the steak and began munching on it.
"Can you get up?" Erik asked.
"I-I'll try…"
As Jamie tried to push herself up off the stone surface, her hands shook violently and she fell face flat on the ground.
"Shit…" She said, "I'm t-too weak…"
"Don't worry…" I said. "I can carry you until your HP regenerates enough."
"OOOOOOOOOOHHH, NOW WE'RE GETTING SOME ROMANTIC ACTION!" Erik yelled.
"Erik, I swear to fucking god, if another word escapes your mouth, you're going to wish you escaped this damn sinkhole when I'm done with your ass." I threatened, grabbing Jamie's hand, and pulling her up. Her eyes half closed as I held her in my arms. She groaned in agony, clenching onto her chest.
"Here, put this shit on…" I said, lending her my iron armor set.
"T-thank… you…" Jamie said, taking the armor and putting it on slowly.
Josh grabbed a pickaxe and mined out the floor, which revealed a large corridor with a ladder in the distance.
"Guys, I found something…" Josh said, pointing inside the tunnel.
"First time we stuck our noses where they didn't belong, we came across a bunch of endermen locked in a cell and a TNT minecart that could've killed us all. I don't think that's the be–"
"Well, it's better than pillaring our way back up to the surface, especially if you're going to be… carrying her." Erik replied.
I sighed. "Point made. What's down there?" I asked, as Miles teleported down to where we had fallen.
"Huh, I forgot about the whole teleporting thing with wolves…" I thought to myself.
"Uh, it seems to be like somebody's underground base…" Josh answered. "Whoever's base it is surely is good at redstone…"
"Oh great, a redstone base. That base is probably lathered with traps n shi–"
"Mike, what choice do we have?" Erik asked. "Maybe this guy can help your gir–"
I pulled my sword out and pointed it at him.
"...Acquaintance." Erik corrected himself.
I stood up, wrapping Jamie's arm around my neck and pulling her up with me.
"Fine." I said. "You two stay in the front."
"Roger that…" Erik said, heading down the tunnel along with Josh.
