Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 38

Tash's POV

"Are they catching up to us?" I yelled over the rush of wind, glancing over my shoulder at the Ocelot Mage. "Or have we lost them?"
She looked over her shoulder in turn. "Not yet, but we're losing 'em."

We'd been going like this for the past hour or two, checking over our shoulders for the monsters chasing us; all of them most likely with the orders to kill on sight. None of us had dared take to the skies to escape; those skeletons looked like they knew how to use a bow. While the others stayed a few steps ahead, the Ocelot Mage and I had stayed further back, as a kind of scout. There'd been a brief argument about whether Amber should be the second scout, but I'd said she needed to be up the front looking for a place to hide.

So we'd been weaving in and out of trees, jumping over small puddles and running for our lives. My legs felt like they were on fire - I'd checked several times to make sure they actually weren't - and my arms seemed to be made of bedrock. I was in good shape - fighting mobs both daily and nightly kept you fit - but sprinting for a long time really taxes anybody. I kept looking over my shoulder, able to make out a large group of skeletons, zombies and witches - but the Giant was lumbering behind them, the only distinct feature from here his hulking great size.

"We can't keep running forever," I gasped out, those few words sapping far too much energy. I stumbled over a rock, but the Ocelot Mage righted me. "Either we get away, or we stand and fight. We could take them."

"You have to know your enemy," she told me, not as winded as the rest of us. Superspeed helped with long-endurance running, I guess. "I've heard of average mobs with twice the power, and if pigmen can shoot fireballs, like you've told me," she glanced at Hercules, legs moving like pistons, "Then I'm guessing there are more of these mutants."

"Mutants?" The word felt strange on my tongue.
"An Earth term," she explained. "If we survive this, I'm getting you all to watch X-men."

"If you say so," I huffed. "But at the moment, survival doesn't look so great."
Suddenly the Chicken Mage was at my side, a smile upon her face. "Chin up!" She said brightly, ducking neatly under a branch that just about took me out instead. "We've faced worse than this!"
The Chicken Mage looked over her shoulder and remembered the Giant lumbering after us. "O.k, maybe not."

"Thanks for that reassurance," I grumbled, then concentrated on my breathing.
Ahead of me, a disgruntled Horse Mage, now in horse form, was carrying the Bat Mage upon her back. If the poor guy tried to run too fast, his wings opened up on muscle memory. So now he was clinging to the neck of his friend, looking nauseous.

The Ocelot Mage rolled her golden eyes, then turned her head to see what was going on.
Her face turned white a split second before she screamed "Duck!" And bowled both me and the Chicken Mage over with a spectacular tackle.

To my left, the ground exploded in a mess of dirt and stone shards that went whizzing past us like arrows, and I automatically brought my hand up to shield my face. A stray stone caught me on the back of my hand, but other than that I felt fine.

My body told me to get up slowly, to sit up carefully and examine myself for injuries. But the Ocelot Mage seized both of us around the neck, propelling us forwards as she yelled, "There are more coming, so watch out!"

"What is it?" I shouted back, clinging to her shoulder as we sprinted towards the others.
"Explosive arrows!" The Ocelot Mage growled, eyes flashing angrily. "It looks like a Skeleton melded with a Creeper."

Another arrow shot past with a zing, then a rumbling boom and an explosion of wood and leaves as it struck a tree. I raised my hand, and a jet of fire carved a burning, fiery hole through the huge chunk of wood that was falling out of the sky towards us.