The Minecraft Story: The Beginning: Chapter 34

Thomas moved slowly and carefully, being careful not to fall from the tree. Luckily, the thick leaves had cushioned his fall, but his body still aches in pain. Specifically, his left leg was screaming at him as it rested on the branch. He tried to put some weight on it and a pain shot through him like lightning.

"Ah, damnit," Thomas yelled out without thinking.

Then suddenly, to Thomas's surprise, someone answered his cry of pain, "Are you okay?" The voice came from above him. Thomas looked up and saw a thin, older man, maybe in his fifties, resting on another branch.

"I uh, I don't know," Thomas stammered out, "I think my leg might be sprained or broken or, I'm not sure, but somethings wrong."

"Don't worry, we'll get you down from the tree," the old man responded in a comforting tone.

"Thank you, sir," Thomas thanked.

"Oh you don't have to thank us, we should be thanking you for getting us out of that deathtrap," the old man replied while putting a single hand up.

"Us?" Thomas asked.

A new voice to the right of Thomas answered, "Yeah man, if it wasn't for you, we would've all been blown to hell." Thomas looked over to a young man who couldn't have been much older than twenty.

Suddenly, more voices started to thank him and congratulate him. He looked around and there were dozens of carrier slaves who had been saved by the trees. Everyone banded together and slowly started to descend from the tree. Some, like Thomas, were injured and needed assistance to get down, which the other carrier slaves were more than happy to help.

As Thomas was helped down to the base of the tree, he saw bodies of carrier slaves who were not as fortunate to be caught by the trees. Their bodies were mangled by the explosion and the impact. I'm sorry I couldn't help you. Thomas thought. As if in response to his thought, Thomas heard the older man from earlier begin to give a prayer to the dead. It was a traditional prayer given at funerals for Notch to watch over their wandering souls. Thomas joined in.

…

"So you are alive brother," said Marcus in a blank tone.

It took almost a full minute to shake Franz awake. Marcus was starting to believe Franz was killed by the falling rubble when he finally opened his eyes.

"No, I still have to watch you," Franz responded to Marcus's blank expression.

"We could've stopped this you know," Marcus accused, "But you just had to save me."

Franz gave an angry look at Marcus, "Yes I did,"

"Of course you don't ca-" Marcus was cut off.

"No, I don't care," Franz said, his voice raising, "I don't care about this empire surviving, I don't care about protecting are high off his ass general, I don't care about the army that sent me to die in so many battles, that sent me to massacre innocent people." Franz scoffed. "Besides, if nearly the entirety of the Holy Notch Army couldn't stop that beast, do you really think our two little squads of scouts would've been able to?" Franz raised hand and placed it onto Marcus. "You are the only person in this world that I care about. I don't regret saving you and I never will. Even if it means this empire will burn to the ground, I will always save you."

Marcus didn't know how to respond. He simply got up and helped Franz to his feet.

"I'm still going to fight to save people, just letting you know," Marcus said.

"I figured, I will do the same to make sure you live through this," Franz replied.

Marcus's eyes lit up, "Speaking of which, we need to find the General, I know where they are attacking next."

…

Under the trees, the other carrier slaves set up a make-shift medical tent with the contents of their packs to treat the more severely wounded. Thomas found out he did have a broken leg. The older man, whose name he learned was Zacharius, put his leg in a splint. All the able-bodied slaves who were not medically trained gathered the bodies and were digging holes to bury them. Those who hadn't gone with Thomas during the initial battle had been killed by the explosion. As for those who did, most of them were saved by the trees. After taking a headcount, thirty-eight carrier slaves had survived.

There had been a brief argument about burying the bodies at Fort Deepslate. Many didn't want to bury them in a place where so many of them had suffered. It was Thomas that made the final decision to bury the bodies here. He didn't like it, but they couldn't carry all the bodies back to the Southern Territories. He reasoned that they would've wanted them to be able to make it home and not have to be burdened with carrying them. especially when they didn't even know what towns the dead originated from.

As the last body was buried, Thomas noticed someone walking over to them. The figure looked almost deformed, possible from being burnt. When they got closer, he saw it wasn't one person, it was two. One was carrying an unconscious man on their back. There was something else about these two Thomas had noticed, they were dressed in armor, they were knights.

Thomas hobbled over to the dismay of Zacharius, "Please don't come any closer, we just want to heal our wounded."

The conscious knight burst out, "No wait, I'm not here to hurt you, I just want to find help for Carlo." The knight nodded his head up at the man on his back. "He's badly hurt, can you help him, please?"

Thomas was reluctant. He could feel the other carrier slaves looking at him, waiting for his response. If this knight turns us into the main force, we'd be killed on the spot. He thought. They're knights too, it's not like they would help us if we were dying. None of them wou- Suddenly, images of Marcus played back in his mind. Oh crap, is he alright? Is he still out in the forest searching for Herobrine and the pigmen? I hope he's safe, he would help us. And if he would help us, maybe they would too. If they truly hated us, wouldn't this knight be attacking us right now? Thomas looked at the soft, pleading eyes of the knight and then to his sheathed sword. Maybe we can help them. Maybe there are others like Marcus. Maybe, even if it is just for this brief time, we can call a truce.

"Alright, we'll help your friend," Thomas called out, "Consider it a truce."

The knight's eyes began to tear up, "Thank you, thank you so much."

…

The destruction was the most beautiful sight Herobrine had ever seen. This mighty fortress of humanity was almost completely destroyed in just twenty minutes by his mutant zombie and creeper. They were even better than Herobrine had envisioned them. They were a force of nature that humanity would be powerless against.

And now that he destroyed a military fortress, he was eager to turn them loose on the civilian population. This large town called Redwater was the perfect target. Hundreds of people lived there with a large set of walls and many soldiers to guard it. The battle would be legendary. He could already see the look of anguish and defeat in the soldiers eyes when his mutant zombie broke through their wall and begin to tear them apart. The looks of terror and fear when the civilians realize their soldiers failed them. The cries and screams all being snuffed out in an instant by the mutant creeper. Herobrine felt nothing but euphoria.

All that would be left soon is to rub it all in Notch's face. When was he going to show up?