The Minecraft Story: The Beginning: Chapter 40

Anthony stood near the zombie, panting and clearly exhausted. Blood slowly dripped from his bite wound onto the floor.

Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip. Drip.

Thomas couldn't believe his eyes. The knight who had ratted them out and almost got them killed by General Ausmin had just saved his life.

It doesn't make any sense. He thought. I thought he would've left with the others. What the hell is he even doing here?

As if Anthony could read his thoughts, he said, "I'm sorry, it slipped past us."

Thomas paused for a moment before he responded, "N-No, there's no need to apologize. T-Thank you for helping me back there."

"It's no problem," Anthony replied while looking down at his fresh bite mark.

Suddenly, a group of three knights burst in, "Anthony what are you doing?"

"We need your help out there!"

"Why did you just leave?"

They stopped when they saw the dead zombie.

"Shit, I can't believe we missed one."

"Since you're done here, we need you back out on the field."

The door slammed shut as they left.

"I have to go, I'll see you in the morning," said Anthony.

"Wait," Thomas called out, "Why did you save me?"

Anthony stood there not speaking for a moment, then he opened his mouth, "When you said there wasn't a need to apologize, you were wrong. I'm sorry I told the General where you were. I was scared of what might happen to me if I didn't tell. I know that sounds like a lousy explanation, but that's the truth. I was terrified of the General and what he might do to me if he found out I knew where you were and kept my mouth shut. Truthfully, I didn't think he'd actually kill you given the circumstances, but I guess I underestimated how much of a scumbag he was." Anthony turned to Thomas. "So…there was no way in hell I was just going to stand by and let you all get eaten."

Thomas didn't know how to respond.

"You don't have to say anything," said Anthony, "I'm looking for any forgiveness. I just wanted to say I was sorry, but I need to get going. I'll do better to keep an eye out this time."

And just like that, he was gone.

Thank you Anthony. Thomas thought.

…

The Sun felt amazing on Marcus's face when it finally came up. Him and all the knights were exhausted after the fighting, but they pulled through. With Notch's help, they survived the night.

The mobs began to burn. All around them, the zombies and skeletons were set ablaze. The smell of burning corpses was both repulsive and exhilarating. It was the smell of victory. They had done it. They had proven themselves as worthy soldiers in the future campaign against Herobrine. They were worthy of being Notch's true army. Marcus stared at the burning mobs and retreating spiders and creepers and for the first time in a while, he smiled.

First, we survive the monsters of the night. Then, we chase that damned pigmen army back to hell where they belong. And then we take Herobrine's head. Soon, we'll save the world from that monster and afterward, we can build a better society. We can do this, we can win this war.

It was about ten hours of constant fighting before the Sun finally began to rise. By then, the corpse wall had doubled to its original size. Hundreds of mobs were slain. However, a dozen knights were killed as well, leaving the knights with only about fifty knights left. Luckily, none of the southerners were killed in the fighting. This left them with a total of a little over seventy men left.

It was just what they needed to make the journey to Redwater.