Tales of Minecraft: The Curse (Remake)

4: A survival cave?

Zip's POV

As soon as the redstone lantern flickered to life, my breathing steadied. I could see my friends around me and I quickly rearranged my facial features. I would never show my fear. It was childish anyway. I looked around the cave, my mind immediately jumping to the survival lessons that my dad gave me.

The cave seemed to have been inhabited at one point. There were four bedrolls on the floor, as well as several shelves filled with unlit torches, sticks, flint and steel, some cooking utensils and a health potion. There was a map on one wall and a fireplace with wood stacked up next to it. On the same wall, a small axe, two knives, a quiver of arrows and a sword stood in a rack and on the opposite wall, a small water spring trickled merrily.

"It's a survival cave," I murmured, walking further into the cave.

"Pretty old though," Tim said, wiping some dust off one of the shelves.

"Probably hasn't been used in a long time."

"I think it's pretty sweet!" Luke said, taking his sword off and putting it in the rack.

"Same here bro," Jade echoed, dumping his sword on a bedroll and taking off his jacket.

I followed Luke's example, putting my bow and quiver in the rack but kept my iron sword. My hands shook slightly and I clenched them into fists. Just calm down Zip. You're over-reacting. It's just darkness, nothing else.

Tim had walked to the fireplace and was building a fire using the stacked wood. The dry wood flared up quickly when he lit it, making the cave seem a lot more homely than it did a moment ago. He took a frying pan from the shelf and started cooking the cow meat and the beautiful aroma soon filled the cave. I sat on one of the bedrolls, laying my sword down next to me. Luke was sitting next to his brother and had also taken his jacket off. Both of their shirts were black, and I noticed that Jade had a green slime face on the back of his shirt while Luke had a creeper face. They were talking about the various good and bad points of slimes, which I thought was a strange conversation. Alex was sitting by the weapon rack, sharpening his arrow heads.

I sighed and lay back on the bedroll. My thoughts drifted to home, where mum and dad were. They were probably freaking out by now, although neither of them would let it show. Undoubtedly, my friends' parents would also be freaking out, and my parents would probably be saying "They're big kids now, they can look after themselves, I'm sure they're just fine". My hand unconsciously brushed the blade of my sword. It was a gift from my dad for my 16th birthday last year, marking the 6th completed year of my sword training. He was the best sword fighter in the village, and now I was almost as good as he was. He had a diamond sword that I would get when I completed my training on my 17th birthday in three months. As well as the sword training lessons, he also gave me lessons on survival, leadership, strategy and a bunch of other things too.

"Dinner's ready!"

I sat up as Tim brought around the cooked cow meat on plates. I thanked him as I took it. There were no knives or forks so I just ate with my hands. The meat was pretty well cooked, not burnt but not too undercooked either.

"Where did you learn to cook so well Tim?" I asked.

Tim shrugged. "Mum's taught me a few things. Comes in handy every now and then."

We finished the meat fairly quickly and washed the plates in the small spring. I looked around the cave one more time. I suddenly realised a small problem.

"There's only four bedrolls guys," I pointed out.

"Oh yeah," Tim said, realising the problem.

"Either two of us will have to share or one of us will have to sleep on the floor."

"I volunteer Jade and Luke to share a bedroll."

"WHAT?"

"DUDE, COME ON!"

I turned to them. "Out of everyone here, you two are the most logical to share. Either that or one of you sleep on the floor."

"I will rather sleep in the floor than sharing a bed with him," Luke said, pointing to Jade.

"Hey, come on bro, I'm not that bad!" Jade protested.

"I know, but you keep tossing and turning and I will not get to sleep if I share with you."

I held up my hands. "Okay, okay, whatever. We'll keep the fire banked for the night, so it doesn't get too cold. We'll get up early tomorrow and head home in time for breakfast. Deal?"

There were nods all round and we went to our bedrolls. Luke picked out the most comfortable place on the floor and lay down, his jacket rolled up as a makeshift pillow. We all settled down and I heard the breathing of my friends steady. I stayed awake, my eyes flicking everywhere. The lights had turned off and the fire was making shadows dance on the walls. I felt my breath come faster and I tried to slow it down.

"You're scared of the dark."

I jumped as Luke's voice whispered on the night. "Am not."

"Are too."

"Oh shut up."

He shifted, sitting up so he could look at me. "It's not a bad thing to be scared of the dark Zip."

I huffed. "Do you want to say something significant or are you going to let me go to sleep?" I was probably being a bit harsh, but I didn't care. Luke stood up and fiddled with something on one of the shelves. "What are you doing?"

"I saw this earlier," he said. I heard something click and a soft blue light came from something he was holding in his hands. He put it down next to me. "I used to have something when I was younger, although the light was green, not blue. It helps. Night Zip." He went back to his spot on the floor and lay down.

I adjusted the blue light a bit, so it didn't shine directly in my eyes. Luke was right, it did help. I slowly drifted off to sleep, my hand resting near the light.

Chapter in original book: 5