Guess what? our school gave us laptops! hopefully I can use this to my advantage and update more often. P.S. please don't hate me for horrible cliffhangers ( i do not own Of Mice and men or Falling Up)

"You know what I just realized?"

"What?"

" I am currently living in a dirt house with a skeleton, a zombie, a chicken, and a dog. Huh. And I thought life couldn't get more interesting."

" Oh it could be much more interesting."

" How?"

" Ummm, spiders could rain from the sky and we could all be made of doughnuts."

We both laughed. Scree and I were talking as we cleaned up the contents of the chest Ben broke open. While I was gone, the rest of the team had collected up some food and had it all in a chest.

"So, what's the real world like?" Scree asked.

"Huh? Where did that come from?" I asked.

"I don't know, I guess I've just always wondered about it." he said.

"No one's ever asked me to describe the world before." I said

"Well, start with the day you got stuck here."

"Okay, umm, the summer after eighth grade had just started. Since next year I'm going to be in Honors English, we were supposed to read Of Mice and Men."

"What's that?" he asked.

"It's a book about two guys, George and Lennie, who go to work on a farm. I was only on Chapter 3 though, so I'm not sure how it ends."

"How many books are there?"

"In the entire world?"

Scree nodded.

"Oh, too many to count." I replied.

"Which is your favorite?"

"Hmmm, I'm not sure. I've never picked a favorite, but I'll say Shel Silverstein's Falling Up."

We talked about the world for who knows how long - poetry, novels, novellas, fiction, non-fiction, mangas, animes, cartoons, drama series, crime series, everything - we probably would've talked forever if a scream hadn't interrupted us.

"KATE! SCREE! HELP!"

We ran outside to find our base surrounded by wither skeletons. One was holding Ben with another aiming an arrow at him. Temperance was standing, bow drawn, trying to figure out how to get out of this. Doug was holding back Frank, who was trying to go at the wither skeleton holding Ben.

As soon as we stepped outside, the wither skeleton asked, "Which of you blew up our last ambush?"

"Why do you care?" I asked.

"The master is angry. he wants us to bring him the Enderman. We'll make a trade. The zombie for the Enderman. Come on."

I looked over at Scree, but his eyes were closed.

"They mean you." he said in my mind.

"We have to get Ben somehow. If we all attack at once…."

"That won't work; there's too many. We're only going to get Ben back if they get an Enderman."

I knew what he was doing. "Scree, don't-"

He opened his eyes and the connection broke.

"It's me. I'm the one you want. Just let Ben go and take me instead." Scree said.

"Scree, you don't have to do this." I said.

"Yes I do." he replied.

The wither skeleton laughed. "See? That wasn't so hard." Out of nowhere a nether portal appeared. Two of the wither skeletons grabbed Scree and led him to the portal. "Such a noble sacrifice." The lead wither skeleton said, "Too bad it won't change anything." Scree was forced through the portal with the wither skeleton. The portal closed. Temperance's arrow hit the wither skeleton holding Ben. After that, it was a huge blur.

I drew a sword and slashed in every direction. Where are Ben and Temperance? Are they okay? And what about Scree? As I fought, I replayed the last minute over and over in my mind. Each time I did, it just made me more angry. He's in the nether. They could be doing anything to him right now. He could be dead for all I know. The air grew purple around me, but this time my vision got clearer. My sword seemed to radiate a strange purple glow. The wither skeletons were out in just one hit. I could feel it coming. The same thing that happened last time. Everything started glowing, except this time my anger made me strong, not weak.

The explosion of purple light came. It hurt, but in a good way. I could aim it this time, and I aimed it at the nether mobs. They all dropped at once. The purple light faded, and I was in front of the base again, as if nothing had changed. But everything had changed. Unimaginable cruelty had stolen my friend away. This wasn't some small uprising anymore.

This was war.