Chapter 13: Infestation
The mountain ranges were less than helpful.
Continuing their journey, the group had stumbled upon an extreme hills biome. From their perspective, the name fit quite well. The mountains were dangerously huge; if someone fell off, they could possibly die. Not a very good scenario. Madison was on edge the entire time. "Stupid silverfish show up in this biome. You can never tell if you're mining stone or a monster egg. Ugggh…" She looked like she was going to be sick. Naturally, Texik and his parrot were on the opposite side of the spectrum. "Emeralds...gold...diamonds...many treasures lurk beneath. I WANT THEM ALL." His eyes looked glazed over with greed. "Uh, no…" retorted Pickaxe, "shutting down" any plans he had for this biome. "We're gonna build a shelter, then we're gonna find the quickest way out of here."
"That's what you think," Texik whispered under his breath.
When the time came, the group found themselves atop one of the mountains. Jewel was laying down additional basis with dirt blocks, while Pickaxe began building the exterior of the shelter. Madison was working on the interior. Texik occasionally provided materials for the group. He needed to find a way to get those sweet riches! The fate of his pockets depended on it! But how? Hmmm… During his brainstorm, an idea manifested in his head. He rubbed his hands together evilly, formulating a plan no one would suspect.
Under the cover of darkness, when everyone was asleep, Texik made a new addition to the house.
The next morning, Pickaxe made an observation deck on the roof. He and Jewel were observing the area, trying to figure out how to get past the biome. The direction they were heading according to the compass was too dangerous, with too many potential death experiences. The safest route was in the OPPOSITE direction; they couldn't afford to lose that much time. Going around the biome was too time consuming a task as well. What would the best route be?
Pickaxe then remembered what Texik had done when they crossed the canyon.
After heading back into the shelter, the two stated that they were going to dig up dirt from the mountains to Madison. "Why not stone bl- oh, right. Silverfish," Madison recalled. "Yup," confirmed Jewel, also adding, "What's Texik doing?" "He claims to be working on organizing his room. Who knows?" Madison bluntly stated. "So long as he's not mining, I'm at ease," Pickaxe remarked. While he and Jewel went out to get the dirt from nearby mountains, Madison left to kill any "daywalker" monsters.
This was, of course, the perfect opportunity for Texik to sneak out of the house unnoticed.
His secret addition to the house was a trapdoor and ladder setup, hidden away from the rest of the group by a secret wall only he knew about. He carefully made his way down the ladder, a pickaxe and TNT in his hands. He scurried down the mountains, until finally reaching a new one a good distance away. He placed the TNT all along the outside of the mountain. It was perfect. He placed a TNT block at the top, and pulled out his trusty flint and steel. This was going to be glorious!
He lit the top of mountain, and ran for cover.
Pickaxe and Jewel could've sworn they heard the sound of a gigantic explosion. "Maybe Madison ran into a ton of creepers?" Jewel guessed. Pickaxe shrugged, "She's strong enough to survive it." Jewel nodded her head, and the two continued digging. They were almost at the base of the first mountain, with the entire structure's stone layer uncovered for all to see. A few more mountain layers should be enough to create the crazy bridge they planned to make to get over the biome. The group had collected plenty of sand and gravel pieces, so getting down wouldn't be too much of a hassle. The process would be a breeze.
Meanwhile, at the now decimated mountain, Texik was marveling at the destruction he had created.
The entire mountain had been reduced to stone-exposed flatland. Silverfish? Hah! The little pests were nowhere in sight! Madison was off her rocker; this plan was brilliant. All he had to do now was dig until he found those precious ores. Maybe even enough to convert them into blocks! He drooled over the possibility… *Squak!* His parrot snapped him back to reality. He had to mine first.
Unfortunately, he neglected to notice the fact that blurs in the distance scurried off into the mountainside…
Madison had returned home with some swanky new mismatched armor. "Plenty of daywalkers wear this stuff to prevent burning in the sunlight, but it can't protect them from me!" she boasted. Clearly she had a good night. "So where's… Texik…" she reluctantly asked, the thought of him rather unpleasant. "He should still be in his room…" Pickaxe suggested. At the door, said reformed griefer and his yet to be named parrot waltzed into the house. "Well, now we know!" Jewel exclaimed. But Pickaxe and Madison were on edge.
Texik was holding a pickaxe and TNT in his hands.
The next morning, despite his worries, Pickaxe decided to accompany Jewel with making the dirt bridge. However, he did tell Madison to keep an eye on Texik. After the duo left, Madison went to check on the little rodent. "Hey, Texik! You in there?" she yelled, banging on his door. No response. "Texik!?" she continued, pounding her fist against the wood. Eventually, after the silence, she simply opened the door, and found Texik… missing. She then heard the faint sound of a door closing behind a wall.
"What is he up to?" she wondered.
She walked down to the bottom floor. The sound had come from there, but there was no indication that he left from the front door. She turned to one of the walls in the house. Hmmm… Could it really be that simple? She broke one of the wall's blocks. A torched chamber was within. That conniving little snake…, thought Madison. Oooh, she was going to strangle him when she got the chance!
After going through the trapdoor and climbing down the ladders, she simply followed the sound of exploding TNT.
There he was. Half the time he was mining, the other half he was blowing up blocks to make it easier. He seemed to be getting a bit… insane. His parrot kept his distance; a wise choice. But for some reason, Madison skin felt… cold. Like any time she was scared, which she rarely was. Then she noticed the shapes, darting around Texik's operation. Moving. Hidding. Planning. And unfortunately, she knew exactly what they were…
When Texik finally looked up, he was surrounded by silverfish.
He had many options. He could building a pillar and sniping them, or even try killing them with one of his stolen weapons. But no. His answer to this situation was a few TNT blocks. "Sayonara, suckers!" he yelled, lighting the TNT on fire. But then he remembered that their levels of elevation varied greatly. Too late, he tried getting away from the TNT, as it exploded in all of its destructive glory. He was alive, thank heavens! But he wondered if karma decided to pay him an overdue visit…
...because he had hit a part of the rock where silverfish blocks were concentrated.
He was a dead man. These silverfish looked like they wanted to kill him, and rightfully so. After all, he did disobey orders AND used TNT of all things to remove them from their blocks. The silverfish began to enclose him within a circle, getting closer and closer. Surely this was the end. There was no way he could possibly survive this. Not in a million- an arrow struck one of the silverfish.
Texik turned his head to the top, where Madison was holding a bow, looking scared out of her mind.
The silverfish were occupied with the new threat, giving Texik the time he needed to pull out a glowing arrow. He fired at one of the silverfish, who caught on fire, and began spreading it to the others. Soon enough, all of them were consumed in the flames. They tried attacking Texik, but he had already built a two block tall pillar, which they could not reach. Madison darted to the ground below, slashing at the silverfish whenever she could. By the time they were finished, it was nearly nightfall.
The two returned to the shelter, but Madison wasn't done with Texik yet.
"WHAT IN THE NETHER WERE YOU THINKING!?" she yelled, effectively causing Texik to clasp his ears to avoid them bleeding. "I was thinking about getting rich, for your information…" he managed to mutter. "GET RICH WHEN YOU WON'T DIE!" Madison retorted. "Hey, come on, I'm not dead," assured Texik. His parrot shook its head in dismay. "Only because I saved your sorry behind!" Madison growled. "Well, you didn't have to. Unless…" A potential possibility dawned on Texik. He gave Madison a mischievous smile. "Unless you… like me?"
Texik went to bed with a throbbing headache that night.