[Chapter II]

The Mobs

It didn't take long for Steve to be shown his room and get settled in. After paying the charge and thanking them once again, he shut his door and locked it. 'Habit...' He thought to himself with a frown.

Though no one ever seemed to have messed with him while he slept, and it seemed the Mobs weren't quite smart enough to understand the mechanics of a doorknob, his past still clung to him; causing a foul sense of paranoia.

With a tired sigh and shake of his head, he turned towards the single bed in the rather small and plain looking room.

Placing his bag of belongings on top the wooden table, he made his way towards the bathroom where he washed up before retiring for the night.

Morning came all too fast for his exhausted and worn body's liking as he pushed himself to his feet to start yet another early day.

Jumping slightly upon the soft knock against his door, Steve reached for his bag, about ready to arm himself until Glorenda's gentle voice filtered through the thick wood. "Dearie, I've made some breakfast if you're hungry?" she asked, her tone soft and concerning.

Forcing his nerves to relax, Steve smiled at the thought of food, his stomach growling in agreement. With a groan as his body ached, he got to his feet, slowly making his way towards the door and unlocking it.

He was surprised when he opened it to see Glorenda right outside his door; holding a covered bowl with a warm smile on her face. "Good morning! I went ahead and prepared you a dish. I do hope you don't mind."

With a nod of thanks, Steve took the offered bowl. "Not at all. Thank you very much, but you didn't need to trouble yourself with bringing it to me." He began before the aroma reached his nose. "Mmm. It smells amazing!"

She chuckled, "Oh it's nothing special, dear. Just an old mushroom soup I learned from my mother when I was a little girl!" she waved him off, turning and heading back down the hall. "Once you're done eating just set the bowl outside your door. I'll pick it up later." she called out to him over his her.

Waiting until she vanished behind the corner, Steve retreated back into his room, only this time not locking the door behind him.

After finishing his meal, he did as she instructed and sat the empty bowl right outside his room. With a rejuvenating stretch, he gathered his belongings and went through his inventory, making notes of what he was running low on, and what he had already run out of.

Taking up a much smaller bag that held his recently mined emeralds, he headed for the door, planning on stopping by Melz's stand to replenish as much of his stock that the man had available. With the kindness he and his wife have shown him, he would be more than happy to give them all of his business.

As he walked down the path, he took notice of many of the villagers still giving him weary looks, causing him to wonder if something had happened to this village in the past to warrant their untrusting of visitors.

Arriving at Melz's stand, he smiled as the man waved to him. "Ah! Good morning, Steve! Did you get a good night's sleep?" he asked with a laugh.

Steve smiled more and nodded, "Best sleep I've had in a few nights actually."

"That's good. You looked really rough the other day. Glad to see you're looking better." He then noticed Steve looking over his items, a glimmer of excitement bubbling up inside him, "Are you looking for anything particular?"

"A lot of my supplies have begun running low. I usually get my own resources and craft my own items… but I haven't been able to find any good mines in these parts yet." He mused, almost sounding as if to himself, violet eyes still skimming over Melz's wares.

Melz blinked upon Steve's words, "Your own? Mines? Are you… by chance, a miner?"

Steve froze; instantly tensing up as only then did he notice his slip up. Body remained still, only his eyes lifting from the table to glance up at the man, hesitating. He remembered from past villages that miners in certain parts were considered highly valuable... Many things could take place right now-ranging from the villagers bombarding him for help to bring more resources to the town. Or, though he has yet to have this happen, be followed and robbed for any potential goods he could be carrying.

Upon both seeing and sensing the other's tension, Melz laughed with a shake of his head, "Nothing to fear, Steve! We have two of our own miners living in our village! It just amazes me to see someone so… so young being a miner! And you seem very experienced…"

Instant relief washed over him as he relaxed, eyes once more falling to the many items strewn across the table in no particular order. He did, however, take note of a few villagers whispering amongst themselves after it was revealed out loud his occupation, their eyes never once leaving Steve.

Ignoring them for the time being, he spotted an item of interest and was about to ask about it, but before he was able to, a sudden sharp pain stung the back of his head, a low hiss coming from him while rubbing the sore spot where a pebble had struck.

Before he was able to investigate, Melz glared while slamming his hands against the wooden table, his eyes locked onto someone behind Steve. "Hugo! What is the meaning of this!? That was very rude of you, boy!"

Steve turned his body half way to see a young man, not a child like Melz made it out to be. He was younger than himself, probably about late-teens from the looks of him. He looked just like the others, his green eyes set in a hard glare directed at Steve, another pebble tightly clenched in his trembling hand.

Seeming to ignore Melz, Hugo snapped at Steve, "You shouldn't be here."

"Hugo-!" Melz began, but the teen interrupted him, his voice louder.

"You're not welcome here!"

Steve kept his eyes trained on the younger man, soon sighing in annoyance while turning away. "I am just replenishing my stock and then I'll be on my way. I'll be gone by morning. I apologize that my presence is a disturbance."

The teen's glare softened a little, his body relaxing minutely at Steve's calmly spoken words. However, before allowing himself to fall into a sense of security, Hugo tensed up once again, baring his teeth while he growled out, "You should leave NOW! And NOT wait for tomorrow…"

Turning his head to face Hugo once more, Steve just stared at him, his annoyance very evident in his eyes now. After a brief stare down between the two, Steve gave up with a loud sigh through his nose, turning his back fully towards Hugo to face Melz. "I'm sorry. But I don't seem to see what I'm looking for. Thank you." He nodded before turning to leave, giving Hugo a sideways glance of a glare of his own as he walked past the teen.

Hugo watched as Steve made his way back towards the Inn, about to have a triumphant grin spread over his face until Melz yelled at him, his face red with anger, "Boy, what is your problem!? Steve has done no harm to this place nor to any of us! The lot of you needs to get over the past and move on!" he then shouted at everyone around them who had witnessed the entire exchange and yet did nothing.

Hugo simply glared at Melz before turning on his heel and running in the opposite direction Steve had gone in. Turning a corner, he nearly jumped out of his skin when someone suddenly grabbed his arm.

Whipping his head around, he sighed with relief upon seeing a young girl, younger than himself, glaring at him. "Geeze, Kelsa… You nearly killed me!"

She let his arm go in favor now of crossing both her arms over her chest, hardening her glare at him. When he asked what was wrong with her, she scoffed, "Really, Hugo? You seriously just asked me that?"

"Well how else am I supposed to know what's wrong with you?" he tried to defend himself.

"I saw what you did to that traveler." she finally said, earning a wince from the other. When he said nothing more, she sighed, dropping her arms to her sides, "Brother, why? Why did you act that way towards man?"

He glared at the question, turning slightly away from her, "Because he's an outsider, Kelsa. Our parents were killed by one."

"I understand that, Hugo. But that doesn't label every single stranger as bad! Mom and dad would be ashamed if they saw what you did…" she whispered, eyes falling towards the sand at her feet.

Feeling renewed anger rising, Hugo simply huffed at her before walking away, no longer wanting to speak of the matter.

Kelsa watched her brother leave without another word, her lips pulled in a frown as all she could do was whisper his name to the wind.

A little saddened at the fact that he was more or less driven away from Melz's tent, Steve was at least able to find others willing to trade with him. Though they acted friendly towards him, he was still able to pick up their tension while he was around.

And yet even though they were weary of him… that wasn't about to stop them when he revealed beautifully polished emeralds to use as currency.

At first, he was looking forward to spending some time in this village, like the others, getting to know the people and relaxing before moving on.

But now he really did think he would just pack up and leave by morning. His curiosity about what had transpired with these people was driving him wild. What could have possibly happened for them to act the way they were? Though annoyed, he felt they had their reasons. He wouldn't push or provoke them. Having the name of the village, maybe he could get some info from neighboring towns as to what had happened?

The day took longer than he had originally thought, glancing up to see the sun already beginning to crawl downwards behind the mountains in the distance.

With a yawn and stretch, he packed up his newly traded belongings and headed back towards the Inn, politely brushing off Glorenda when she questioned if he were alright and wished for anything to eat.

Relaxing while organizing his belongings, he gave a quick glance outside to see the sun had already set. He would go to bed soon, but first he needed to repair his damaged armor. Now having the proper materials and correct quantity, he could complete the task. Sitting down at the table, he looked over the broken pieces of his Iron chest plate, frowning while brushing his fingertips across the damage.

Just as he was about to begin his work, a sudden commotion downstairs alerted him. Jumping to his feet, he cracked open his door, leaning against the frame and listened. He was able to make out the voices of Melz, Glorenda and… Hugo?

"Hugo! What happened? What were you doing outside after dark?!" Glorenda's frantic voice carried upstairs. He could hear the deep worry and concern and just imagined her having the poor boy in a death grip.

Hugo's voice, shaky and scared, responded. "K-Kelsa hasn't come home yet. I-I went out looking for her!"

Steve's eyes widened slightly at the absolute horror coating the boy's tone. Whoever this Kelsa was had to be important. Sibling perhaps?

Melz's voice could be heard next, confirming Steve's suspicions, "Hugo, your sister is a smart girl. I'm sure she's found someplace safe to hide."

However, as if just to prove them wrong, a sudden shriek pierced the quiet night sky, alarming everyone and causing Hugo to panic, "KELSA!"

He made for the door, but Melz took hold of his arms, holding him still as he thrashed around.

Without a second thought, Steve approached his bag, reached in and pulled out his Iron sword, a quick glance over its white blade showing it bore very little damage. It would survive a night against the Mobs. He also pulled out three unused torches. Reaching the door, he paused for only a moment, gaze flickering towards his armor for just a fleeting second.

It would be dangerous without the protection of his Iron armor. But he had no time to repair it or enough materials to craft new. Making a dangerous decision, he opened the door and ran downstairs, ignoring the cries of surprise and questions shouted to him as he pushed through the Inn's front door, shivering in the coolness of the night.

Training his ears, he was able to make out a girl crying not far from his current location. He was also able to quickly pick up the shuffling of two zombies approaching him from his right.

Lifting his sword up, he side-stepped out of their reach as they swung for him, bringing his blade up to amputate one of their right arms, before bringing it across the monster's chest, the creature gurgling while falling backwards, no longer moving.

Without hesitating, he quickly brought his sword back around against the second zombie, managing to decapitate it in one swing.

Hearing the girl scream again, Steve lit his first torch while running towards where it was coming from, cursing as when he rounded a corner, he nearly bumped into about half a dozen zombies; all walking towards him.

Holding his sword tightly in his right hand, the torch in his left, he began taking them out one by one, the light from his torch helping to keep the Mobs mostly at bay to enable it as a one-on-one.

Too caught up with the fight on his hands, he failed to notice the skeleton on the rooftop about two houses away-

Taking aim, it released an arrow, the projectile flying silently through the night and making home in Steve's back by his left shoulder blade, earning a cry of pain and surprise from the human, as well as him dropping the torch, the light flickering before dying out against the sand. Eyes stinging, Steve thrust his sword into the chest of the zombie directly before him, pushing until the hilt was pressed flush against the undead's chest. Reaching up with his left hand, he took a firm grip of the torn and dirty material of the zombie's shirt, pulling and holding the creature in place while twisting them around.

With his hold on the front of its shirt and the blade of his sword still embedded within its chest, he held it in place facing the direction the arrow had come in, using the zombie's body as a makeshift shield while slowly walking backwards towards a corner where he could make the skeleton lose its sight on him.

Despite knowing the Mobs cared nothing for each other, a cold chill still ran down his spine upon feeling the zombie jerking in his hold, pushing the creature away from both his blade and himself once safely around the corner and seeing about sixteen arrows sticking out of its back as it fell onto its stomach unmoving.

Shoulder throbbing, he ignored the remaining zombies while running towards where the screaming was still coming from. Turning a corner, he sighed with relief as he saw a young girl looking to be not even in her teens yet running from two zombies. She looked untouched from a distance.

Tightening his hold on his weapon, he ran up to her, reaching out when she tripped on her own feet out of fear. Quickly looking her over for any injuries, he began tugging on her arm, trying to encourage her to her feet and start running.

She was quick to stand and obediently began following, but cried out suddenly and gave a hard tug on Steve's already sore arm. Grunting in pain, he turned to see what had caused her to stop, cursing while seeing three spiders running at them with great speed.

Putting himself between the girl and the Mobs, he held his sword up in a defensive pose, quickly lighting up his second torch before swinging his blade sideways and cutting the first spider's chest open as it lunged at them first, ducking to avoid the second one's jump and impaling the third through its abdomen as it too jumped, lifting it higher in the air before bringing his sword around quickly to the side, the force causing the dead spider's body to slide off the blade and across the sand.

Recovering from its miss, the second spider lunged, managing to tackle Steve to the ground on his stomach, his sword sliding away from his hand.

The girl cried out as she was separated from her savior, tear-stained face becoming covered in sand as the impact also knocked her to the ground. Pushing herself up, she watched with wide eyes as Steve struggled against the hold on him while managing to keep his grip on the torch.

With great difficulty, Steve brought his arm across his throat and dug the burning end of the torch into the spider's many eyes as it reached down to bite at his neck, the creature screeching and rearing back in pain.

Lighting his final torch, Steve pushed himself to his feet only to be tackled back down onto his stomach yet again by a forth spider that had joined in, the girl crying out with Steve as one of the monster's eight legs broke the arrow off, the arrowhead still being embedded in his flesh as another of its legs clawed at his back until it found purchase against the remains of the snapped wood, digging the sharp object even deeper into the man's body.

The injured spider shook itself and hissed, screeching while running up and body slamming into the pinned human, causing the torch to roll away from his hand.

Managing to thrash around enough to allow himself enough space to roll onto his back, Steve groaned while catching the spider that was on top of him by its head and holding it just mere inches away from his face as it snapped at him, the second spider digging it's clawed feet into Steve's beaten body, bruising and cutting his flesh and shredding his clothes.

Blood soon began staining his clothing and smearing on the sound beneath him the more he struggled, the spiders grinding him into the ground causing the sand's sharpness to slice his skin even further.

Feeling his strength quickly leaving him, Steve attempted to bring his right leg against his chest to press his foot against the spider to kick it off, but just as he was nearly in position, the second creature saw the movement and grabbed his ankle, yanking on his leg hard and holding it down, it's claws biting into his body.

The girl whimpered at the pain filled cry that came from Steve at the spider's motion, her green tear-filled eyes soon falling on the barely lit torch not far from her.

With jittery movements, she crawled over to it, taking it up in trembling hands and holding it out in front of her. The instant it was lifted from the ground, life came back to it, lighting up the entire area.

With a terror-filled war cry, she ran at Steve, swinging the torch back and forth with as much strength as she could muster, the flame hissing in the air.

Steve gasped as the spiders suddenly jumped away from him, hissing while stepping away from the girl and offending light. Feeling a small amount of courage warming her, she stood by Steve's side, keeping the torch trained on the Mobs.

Taking advantage of the moment, Steve pushed himself to his feet, jumping for his sword and bringing it up just in time as the spider he had already injured with the second torch jumped at the girl, cutting it down out of the air.

Body battered and beaten, Steve held his sword while grabbing the girl's shoulder, pulling her closer against his leg in a last ditch effort to protect her. His breaths were ragged and labored as he stood his ground, slightly surprised to see the remaining spider retreating.

About to sigh in relief, the instant that all too familiar hssss reached his ears; his blood ran cold. Without hesitation or any thought of his own well-being, he scooped the girl up in his arms, sprinting to the best of his abilities just before the Creeper had gotten close enough to detonate itself.

The creature took to following them, however was unable to keep up due to its short legs.

Releasing a shaky breath, he collapsed against the side of a house with a low grunt of pain, allowing the girl to slowly slide down his front from his arms and land feet first on the ground. He frowned as some of his blood smeared off onto her tan colored dress and a little on her right cheek bone, but at least she was safe and unharmed.

Though still unfamiliar with this village, he was able to make out Melz's Inn close by, pushing himself away from the wall and taking the girl's hand into his own, he led her towards the Inn with a heavy limp to his steps, managing to avoid any more Mobs.

As soon as they reached the door however, a few straggler zombies approached, earning a tired sigh of annoyance from Steve as he released the girl's hand and held his sword up, the weapon unsteady in his weakened grasp. "You Kelsa…?" he breathed, tone low and quivering slightly from pain.

The girl blinked while jumping, soon speaking a very timid yes accompanied with a small nod.

Swallowing thickly, Steve sighed, "Your brother… is worried about you. He's inside…"

"Hugo?" she asked, eyes tearing up once again as the zombies neared them.

Steve nodded, holding his sword up higher. "Listen. I want you… to tell him…. I'm sorry for upsetting him so much. I… I never meant any harm by coming here. Tell him… I'm leaving… now… I won't wait until the morning."

Kelsa gasped, taking a firm hold of the hem of his dirtied blue shirt, "B-but you're badly hurt, Mister."

He ignored her. "Do me a favor. Second floor… third… third door on the right. It's unlocked. Go inside, gather the stuff on the table into the brown bag next to it… and bring it just outside the door. Can you do that… for me, Kelsa?"

Wanting to argue more, the fear of the zombies closing in on them made her nod her head instead; running towards the door the instant Steve shoved her away with a shouted "Go!"

She ignored everyone's outbursts and dashed up the stairs, busting through the door he described being his. Seeing the strange looking items on the table, she found the bag he explained to her and shoved everything unceremoniously inside, grunting at the weight as she began dragging it out the hall and down the stairs.

Glorenda seized the girl and held her up, "Kelsa! Child are you alright?! Oh, my Notch… Melz! There's blood!" she cried, holding a struggling Kelsa against her chest.

"Kelsa!" Hugo cried, taking his sister's hand into his own and squeezing, "A-are you alright?! I'm-I'm so sorry I wasn't there to protect you!" he began crying, heart breaking as Kelsa tried to free herself from both him and Glorenda.

Melz approached with a bowl of warm water and a wash cloth. Kneeling before the girl, he gently began cleaning away the blood and was expecting to see deep gashes and horrible scratches. Surprise and confusion bounced back and forth across his face at discovering absolutely no injuries anywhere on her small body. "This blood- It's… it's not hers..." Green gaze then trailing down and to his left, he raised a brow. Seeing the bag that belonged to Steve on the ground, he turned to the girl once again, a serious look on his face. "Kelsa… where were you taking this bag? It doesn't belong to you."

Hugo spotted Steve's bag and glared, running over to it and kicking it hard, falling to his knees and beginning to tear into it, ripping one end of the strap off in his haste to open it.

"Hugo!?" Melz shouted, running over and grabbing the boy by his shoulders and yanking him away from the now damaged bag roughly. "What the hell are you doing?!"

"There must be something in there that has attracted the Mobs! We've never had this kind of attack before! They had to have followed him! That traveler brought them to us!" he yelled, pure loathing coating his tone heavily.

It was at this Kelsa spoke up, managing to free herself from Glorenda's grasp, "No, Hugo! Stop! He asked me to bring it and set it right outside the door! He came out looking for me and saved me from the monsters!"

Everyone gasped, staring at the girl as she gathered everything back into the bag and proceeded to drag it to the door, pure determination on her features. "He… he needs it. He's hurt so badly." she grunted.

Both adults gasped before Melz took a firm hold of Kelsa's shoulder, "Kelsa! This blood… where did this blood that got all over you come from?!"

New tears began falling from her eyes as she struggled, "He's hurt!"

As the dawning realization began settling in on just who was hurt and putting two and two together to figure out where the blood had come from, Melz released the girl and stood to his feet. "Oh no…" he whispered under his breath while quickly moving over towards the front desk, reaching over the flat surface and feeling around for the hilt of his stone sword, cursing as he was unable to find it.

As if unable to believe even the words of his own sister, Hugo glared, bolting for the door and throwing it open with a growl. Eyes grew wide in pure shock as he watched the traveler drive a white sword stained red into the chest of a zombie, before drawing it back by twisting his body to face behind him, bringing the weapon around almost fluently to smack a spider down mid-jump. He remained frozen in place, even after Kelsa pushed past him with the heavy bag.

Dragging it down the three steps from the Inn's doorway to the ground, she stopped, panting from the effort of bringing it to him and called out, "Hey, Mister!"

Steve paused; a quick glance had him finding Kelsa outside with his bag. "Thank you, Kelsa… Now get back inside and wait until morning!" he shouted, striking down another zombie that tried to grab him from behind.

Before Kelsa could respond, she was roughly dragged back inside by Melz before the man reappeared, gasping upon seeing Steve's poor condition. "Steve! Get inside, boy! Hurry!" he waved his arm to him, desperately beckoning him to come.

But Steve shook his head, reaching for his bag and cursing to find the strap was broken. That was going to make it harder to carry until he could fix it.

Lifting it up and throwing it over his shoulder without thinking, he let out a yelp of pain as the bag smacked into his wound caused by the still embedded arrowhead.

The others flinched at his cry; even Hugo.

Straightening himself upright, one eye closed in concentration, Steve hissed out to them, "Listen. Go back inside. Have as much light as possible… it… it keeps them at bay."

"What are you going to do?!" Melz shouted angrily, managing to finally drag a still shocked Hugo back into the house.

Steve hesitated for a second, looking over his bleeding shoulder to see more zombies approaching. "I'll lure them away… Th-they'll follow me… out of town. I want to thank you… for all your kindness." He groaned, forcing a weak smile while turning away, calling out to the Mobs and gaining their interest.

"STEVE!" Melz cried out, but he was already gone behind a corner, the Mob following close behind him.

To Be Continued….

AN: I'm So sorry for the cliff hanger! D,: And I hate to say it... but you can expect a lot of horrible, horrible cliffies in this story.

*Again, a huge special thanks to slingading for the fantastic cover art for this story! Thank you so much and much love to you!*