I kept waiting. Getting progressively more worried, I decided to look for Jeff. I took my pickaxe in my hand, and began to dig through one of the dirt walls. I made a large opening, and looked through. It was very dark, too dark to see. As I started to step outside, I heard a strange growling. "Oh, geez..." I mumbled to myself, starting to rethink my decision. I backed into the cave, and sighed. After another moment of nothing, I mustered up my bravery, grabbed the doll, and stepped outside. I wasn't quite sure, something about it just seemed... important. I started to walk out into the darkness, barely able to see. "Jeff?" I called out nervously. I heard another growl, and began to walk a bit faster. Clutching my sword tight with both hands, I found myself moving faster and faster. I called out his name again, and stopped. No response. I sighed and turned around, and found myself face to face with a person. I wasn't able to see their features through the lack of light, and took a step back. "Oh... hello" I said, a bit nervous. It stared at me for a moment, then growled loudly before lurching forward at me. "Oh, jesus christ!" I said startled as I jumped out of the way. It made another loud growl, and forcefully pushed me over. I stumbled to the ground and just as the thing tried to attack me, a long, thin, blue blade stabbed through it from behind, and it fell limp.
"What the hell are you doing?" Jeff shouted as he put down a torch on the side of a tree. "I-I was... I mean- I just wanted to-" he took my hand and started to walk back toward the cave. "I told you to stay at the cave, you'll get yourself killed!" He kept pulling me forward. "I'm sorry..." I said quietly. He sighed, and stopped. "It's fine. I should have come back sooner. Just, be careful if you're gonna go out on your own" I nodded, and we began again. We eventually got back to the cave and I patched up the hole I had dug. He sat down, and I sat next to him. "Okay, I got some wood. Still want to make some armor, or was all that for nothing?" I nodded. "Yeah, okay. Let's do that." I put down the workbench I had made, and he handed me some wood. "Okay, how do I... oh, wait" he looked up at me "what?" I handed him the doll. "Here. I assume you'd want this back." He quickly snatched it from my hand, and stuffed it into his bag "where did you get that?!" He shouted. I was a bit taken back by his tone. "It fell out of your bag, when you left..." he put a hand on his face "oh, okay. Sorry, just... don't touch that. Anyway, lets make you a helmet first." I nodded, slowly.
He started to put together some bits of wood, in a kind of a bucket shape, and put it on his head. "Okay, think you can make something like that?" He asked. "Yeah, I suppose I could try" I nodded. I started to piece together some wood, and made a crude looking helmet. I looked up at Jeff, and held it up. "What do you think?" He had been carving the top of his helmet into a kind of crown shape with his sword. He looked up at mine, and smiled a bit "Well, it's not awful" he said with a small chuckle. I crossed my arms and scowled at him. "Alright, alright. Why don't we make chest-plates now?" He said, handing me more wood. "Okay" I nodded. I then watched as he made himself a very smooth looking wooden shirt. "Just try to make something like this" It definitely looked harder, but I tried anyway. I attempted to copy what he had done, but mine ended up a lot less... good. A few cracks and dents in it, but it fit. "Well, what do you think?" I asked as I slid it on. It was kind of uncomfortable, but I definitely felt safer in it. He smiled at me, and nodded "you look good... and safe, I guess" I smiled a bit. For some reason his praise made me feel a lot more confident in myself then Most people. We finished up by putting together a pair of boots each. I smiled looking down at myself as I slid on the helmet, just as the sun began to rise.
"Woah, were we up all night?" I asked, shocked. Jeff chuckled a bit. "Trust me Rena, that's not the first time that'll happen. Now, why don't we go get some work done?" He said as he stood up and chopped a hole in the wooden wall. "Alright, sounds good" I smiled as I followed him out. Interestingly enough, I didn't feel tired at all. It was as if I didn't spend the night worrying, building armor, wandering through the dark, and getting attacked by zombies. I was snapped out of thought by Jeff's voice. "Okay, so, I recommend we get to work gathering wood, and build us a shelter. "We're supposed to build a house?" I turned to him. "That sounds... difficult. How?" He smiled at me. "Trust me, it's easier then you'd think. Now, lets get chopping" he gave me the orange-tipped axe, and took out a shiny, gold tipped axe, before starting to chop at a tree trunk, and I began to do the same