Withering World 1 [MCSM Fanfiction]

INFLAMMATION: Chapter 16

Lukas

I wield a second chance. It's safe to say that my ankle has been restored to its original state and I can pace again. Although that's the case, we use the first part of the day planning on how we get the skull. We all know Petra's the one getting it hence her looting enchantment, that's a given.

The spare page in my journal thirsts for the ink of my quill. Maybe later, I think to myself, when something eventful happens. No one will want to read my accounts of the time I spend confined in a dull quarantine doing nothing, anyway. And let's be honest, a journal is a journal. People like hero stories; the book I hold will sadly never be published for the world to see.

All I can do is write the date down before Jesse calls me to attention.

We sit closer together, cross-legged on the floor. "Do we wanna think of a stable formation?" I ask.

"Ring of swords with the archer in the middle seems like the safest option to me," says Jesse, "though this time, we'll be careful not to break the ring."

Petra suggests a triangle chain: Jesse protects her, she protects me and I'd protect Jesse.

"That's too confusing. Plus, we'll need to maximize your looting enchantment, so you should do the most fighting. Me and Lukas should just be there to defend you."

There are only three of us. Thank goodness I could come otherwise, my isolation in QZ would invite me to the murky depths of anxiety. Suspenseful waiting surely wouldn't do me any good if I knew the two girls were detached from quarantine and out here alone without a plan.

"How about we just have no formation and protect Petra?" I quiz. "Or because Jesse and I are both archers, we can craft another bow and-"

"Shoot 'em from the treehouse while I stay on the ground? Geez, Lukas, I thought you were above leaving me alone."

"Okay, okay, it was just a suggestion." My pitch raises. Gingerly, I fumble with my hands as if to rub off Petra's accusations like the inky residue on my palms from writing.

Jesse scratches her head thoughtfully. "We could try the arrow formation. Petra's at the front, luring the mobs, and us two are behind with bows. We'd only advance now and then to draw away the mobs that corner her, so she still gets the most loot."

"That doesn't sound too bad as long as we stay in our posts. And I trust you guys not to shoot me dead," Petra says before firing a jokey wink at both of us.

"We'll do thirty minutes and then a break?"

"Sure thing," I reply to Jesse, who now tightens the kneepads and pouldrons on the set of armor she wears.

"I just hope everyone's okay in QZ."

"We gotta do this quick, then. Without a proper leader, Beacontown is bound to fall out of order." Meanwhile, Petra also makes it obvious that she still resents me for joining them, giving me a mothering stare.

"Hey! Are you trying to attack me?" I protest, making her recoil apologetically. "I get it, okay. I left on short notice-"

"No! No!" She immediately replies. "It's just- I would've one hundred percent taken you with me on this mission, Lukas. Honest." Petra falters, slowly bringing her hand to her face to peel scabs off her lips. The auburn-haired girl gushes her sorry, and indecisively reverts her gaze everywhere else in the treehouse before explaining. "I shouldn't have gotten so angry. I was just thinking- about Radar. He would've been leading Beacontown as of now if he didn't... wither."

For a few moments, we restrain from movement, from noise, hit by the realization of the last words spoken. There's that giant rock in my heart again. The air grows colder and our solemnity orchestrates the symphony of silence. I've never had to experience losing someone that close to me in a way like that before. Radar completes the picture, but now that he's gone...

"I didn't mean to darken the mood-"

"No, it's okay. He deserves more than just our remembrance," Jesse says with a dangerously weak smile.

"Could you imagine if he were with us?"

I chuckle, knowing the type he was: bubbly and energetic, not too far from the aura of a parrot with a jukebox. "QZ would not be the place for him. I swear he said he was claustrophobic. But I don't think he'd do any good out here either since shields are practically the only weapon he can use decently."

"And how would he take the blood test," Jesse continues with a bittersweet grin, "that needle would've freaked him out."

As much as I miss him, I want out of this talk. One more statement and I'll shatter like glass shot by a bullet. "You guys tested negative for your results right?"

"Course we did." The response comes from Jesse.

And only Jesse.

"I didn't get my results back," Petra says with a frown.

Me and Jesse both exchange the sort of look that reads 'something peculiar is going on'. "That's weird - everyone in QZ should have. You sure anything wasn't posted the day before we left?"

Petra gives a more than sure nod.

"I checked the computer in my office earlier in the morning yesterday. My database said everyone got theirs."

"I'm affirmative I didn't get mine. I wouldn't lie to you, Jesse."

"It's fine, I believe you. I just find it weird. The envelope couldn't have gotten lost on the way."

"Maybe it's an anomaly and they need to retest," I say. "You hit the surface to fight those monsters every day and you could've gotten some of their DNA somehow. I wouldn't be surprised if you got a false positive."

"Lukas is right."

"Wither DNA in my blood? Harper was careful, though. Even if it was the case, shouldn't they have told me about it, anyway?"

Everything is supposed to stay precisely ordered in Beacontown, especially now that we're living in QZ though it might not look like it. It's unlike the research team to drop one's results, especially Petra's, and I'd know since I was supposed to lead it if it weren't for that mystical, prestige Ivor- ugh. I practically run it, but he still acts as if I were under him. "Like I said, false positive. Whether you have the DNA or not, you seem fine, so let's not worry about it until we get back."

But I do worry and internally panic at the slightest possibility that Petra could be positive for Wither, which she may be keeping in secrecy. Does she not trust us?

"Alright, I'll take your word for it," she says bluntly, "let's just go get that skull."

This could all be overanalyzed and she could completely stand in the light of the truth. Either way, I'll still have my suspicions that the research team is hiding something from us. One little slip-up can't be an anomaly. How do I know?

I infer, predict, conspire. I theorize, judge, conclude. Why?

Because I'm an author of course.

And authors are almost always correct.

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