Taken || Book 2 of 2 in the Sam's Back series

4

Xisuma watched with worry as the usually happy and playful hermit left the Barge with nothing but fear and grief written across his face. All he knew was that there was a person called Sam who was probably a threat, and Scar and Mumbo were in danger because Grian told them about Sam? And Grian was now looking for them, alone.

He pulled out his communicator to check the chat for any more information, but the last message was;

MumboJumbo died

Where were the messages supposedly from Sam that he'd seen on Grian's communicator moments before? There were no private chats or ways to delete messages for precisely the reason of what had just happened; so that if there were any threats or uncalled for messages, everyone would see. Sam, whoever he was, knew how to hack. That was a bad sign.

***

It took a few hours for Grian to get to where he was going, but eventually, he arrived. He mined out the blocks next to the metal hatch and climbed down the all too familiar ladder.
Sam clearly wanted him to find them, so it wouldn't be too difficult. Hopefully.

The nicely decorated room he came into was gathering dust, where was Sam? This was the only place he could think of to look, yet there was nothing there. It was dark and shadowy, the only sources of light being the small windows and his entrance. He glanced around, spotting a light switch. He flicked it on and three lights turned on while another exploded and a few pieces of glass fell to the ground.

It was abandoned.

He walked towards the lab door and gently pushed the door open. It creaked loudly. He looked to the opposite corner where Sam's body had been last time he was here, but there was nothing there.

If he needed it, which he didn't, then that was even more confirmation that it was Sam.

Then he saw a shadow behind where Sam had 'died'. It was slightly hidden by a cupboard, and it could've been caused by the said cupboard, but it looked too dark for that. It looked like some of the wall was missing and darkness was in place of the light grey concrete wall.

Taking a last glance around for danger, Grian stepped forwards slowly, making his way towards the shadow. He could hear his heart beating, screaming at him to leave and get to safety, but he ignored it. He couldn't let Scar and Mumbo die.

When he'd crossed the short distance of the room, he saw what the shadow was: a tunnel. It was one block wide and two blocks tall, and it lead down. There were torches placed on the right hand side every once in a while from about fifteen blocks down (which was why it looked so dark from the other side of the room), but they supplied very little light.

Not knowing what else to do, Grian made his way down through it.

The dark was watching him and he was constantly convincing himself to keep going, although it scared him knowing who was waiting for him at the end of the tunnel. Usually he was running from Sam, but now he was walking towards him. He could just run away, leave the server, start again, try and forget Hermitcraft and have a new life. Leave Scar and Mumbo to die.

But he couldn't do that. Even if he did leave, Sam would find him again, it was only a matter of time. Sam always found him, wherever he went, wherever he ran.

He grabbed his sword out of his inventory, holding it with a shaking hand. Then he wondered if it was worth putting up a fight; the eventual result would be the same anyway. Sam would hurt him and kill Mumbo and Scar.

If he was going to kill them anyway, then why was he here? He stopped walking, realising the impossibility of his mission. Maybe he could convince Sam to kill him instead, but who was to say then that he wouldn't just kill them all anyway?

He would kill them all anyway, even if he ran away now, so it was worth a try to see what Sam wanted just in case he could stop him somehow, although he doubted it.

He gripped his sword and continued, the light at the end of the tunnel was in sight, and nearing with an unsettling rate of speed. Grian drew in a shaky breath as he went down the last steps, walking into the brighter light.

It was a small room, a similar size to the living room up through the tunnel, but this one wasn't nicely decorated. The walls were stone and plain, a leak dripping in in one corner. The ground was made of spruce wood planks, and there was a small hall in the middle of the wall perpendicular to the one the tunnel lead to. It was chilly, and quiet, but reasonably well lit with a few lanterns scattered across the floor. There were three double chests against another wall and a crafting table in the ground in place of some of the wooden planks.

"Gree-on!" He flinched at the voice as Sam came out of the hall and into the room. He took a step back and gripped his sword even tighter. "Took you long enough. Check your communicator." He pulled the small device out of his pocket with his free hand, glancing unsurely at Sam.

MumboJumbo was set to hardcore mode

GoodTimesWithScar was set to hardcore mode

He read the messages and tried to keep his face neutral, he didn't want to give Sam the pleasure of seeing him scared. He'd been expecting the messages. He wondered for a moment why no one had questioned the switched settings in chat, but let it go quickly; he didn't have time. He looked back up at Sam, who was grinning widely at him.

"Aren't you going to say something? You could at least apologise for getting your friend to try and kill me!" He yelled.

"H-how did you survive?" Grian asked, putting his communicator away and putting his sword in a more defensive position.

"Simple hacking, set my respawn to only take effect after an hour. That way you thought you were safe, didn't you Gree-on?" Sam took a step forward imposingly, and Grian felt defenceless despite the fact he was in full netherite and was holding a sharpness five blade.

"Why did you... why did you take Mumbo and Scar?" He already knew the answer, but the only other question he had was 'when are you going to kill me?' and that didn't seem like a good thing to ask.

"I warned you not to tell anyone who I was, but you did it anyway. You'll never learn to keep your mouth shut, will you?" Sam was walking towards Grian now, and he had already run out of space to back away into. "Give me your stuff and make it easier for both of us," he said. Grian froze, his hands shaking.

Sam punched him in the face, missing his helmet with thought-out precision. His lips and cheek seemed to go numb where he'd been hit and within seconds he felt warm liquid dripping down his cheek. Blood.

"Give me your things or I'll take them with force, and you know you won't enjoy that." Sam said, his eyes staring coldly into Grian's. Grian lifted his right hand suddenly to try and cut him with his sword, but a hand grabbed his wrist before he could do anything. He brought up his left hand and punched Sam in the ribs as hard as he could. He was running on adrenaline, if he was thinking straight he never would've dared to do it. He knew the consequences.

Sam let out a yell, but not one of pain. One of anger.

"I gave you a chance, Gree-on!" He yelled, punching Grian ten times harder in the stomach. Damn the world mechanics that didn't allow him to wear a chest plate and elytra at the same time.

He wasn't sure exactly what happened next, it was a mess of pain and quick movement. He dropped his sword and Sam slipped off his helmet at some point, before probably knocking him out with something.

Then he woke up in a dark, damp room, alone, with his possessions gone and mining fatigue making his arms heavy.