Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 11

Amber's POV

I was not having a good time. After a long argument with Roran, I got onto the minecart and headed for the place Virus (Sura, whatever) had been held. I wondered how Ana and the IMIZ were doing. It was chaos up here. Mobs were changing, and Roran was trying to hold our village together. He always looked stressed now, and his smile had turned into a frown. I was worried about him. He was my good friend, and I didn't like seeing him stressed. There had been two more attacks on the village; a troop of skeletons had attacked us, their arrows forming a wave of death, blocking out the sky. We'd barely survived. A villager had died to save his family - we found his body a few hours later. Then, endermen attacked, with skeletons sitting upon their shoulders. We would've all died, if the villagers hadn't woken up, to find themselves changed... I ducked low into the minecart as I passed a creeper, then got ready to run as the temple got closer and closer. It was magnificent, built all from quartz, the door fashioned from diamond. There was no sign of wreckage, of course. But on the inside, it was carnage. As the minecart stopped, I leapt out, as agile as an ocelot, and sprinted for the door. I almost made it unnoticed, too. An arrow whizzed past my head, and I cursed. Skeletons were bad. OP bows, armour made from themselves, and reassemblance. I lunged for the door, saw it swing open and hit the floor, rolling a couple of times. I leapt to my feet, saw the skeleton reassemble. I threw myself forward, and slammed the door shut just as the 'wolf' reached the temple. I heard it snarling outside, looking for a way in. I wiped my forehead shakily, and looked behind me. The three dead villagers were lying on their backs, eyes glazed over. One was clutching his sword, blood spattering his chest. I didn't want to look any closer, to see if he was a friend of mine. There were scorch marks on the walls, and all the windows were shattered. I made my way across the floor, and began to inspect the cage. It looked worryingly fragile, but was secretly infused with bedrock. The gaps through the bars were barely wide enough to stick a sword through. It seemed indestructible, but the damage said otherwise. The part I was facing was black and burnt, the metal slightly bent but not broken, still no way to squeeze through. Yet Virus was gone, his guards dead. It made no sense whatsoever. As I stepped towards the cage, to get a better look, I slipped on the floor, almost landing on my butt. I silently cursed the temple cleaner, crouching on all fours. He was a clean freak, and he'd probably overwashed the floor. Then I looked closer at the floor, and noticed a slightly black tinge to it. I touched it gingerly, to find it sticky. My fingers tingled, so I wiped it on my pants. I followed the trail of gunk with my eyes, but couldn't see it properly. Dismissing it, and an uneasy feeling in my gut, I got up and came closer to the cage. I looked at the cage carefully, feeling like I was missing something. On an impulse, I reached out and touched it. I reeled backwards quickly, shocked. I stared at my fingers, then at the cage. They were covered in the same black goop as the stuff on the floor. This cage wasn't burnt - it was covered in ooze. Pieces fell into place, and I spun around, looking at the bodies of the villagers. Now my eyes had been opened, I saw they were soaked in black, and the trail of black had stopped in the middle of the floor. I scrambled away, and ran for the cage. I jumped over it, and ran for the emergency exit. To my horror, it was locked. There was a dull groan, and I looked behind me. The villagers were getting to their feet, black ooze dripping from their mouths. One of the villagers looked at me with blank red eyes, and I felt my heart plummet. I went through my pocket, desperate to get away. "Come on..." I hissed under my breath, frantic. As the villagers began to take wobbly, uncertain steps, my hand closed around an object. I pulled it out and looked at it. A long, thin flute was in my hand, carved from glass. I had a vague memory of it being given to me by Gale, telling me to use it when I was in trouble. I glanced at the Virus villagers, and wondered if my axes could stop them. Then one of them bit into one of the cage's bars, which bubbled with black ooze, then disappeared in a flash of those strange letters. I swore under my breath, raised the flute to my lips and blew. A sound like a horn blasted through the air, making the floor shake. The Virus villagers froze for a second, confused. Then the doors blasted open, and Gale was there, swords in hand, eyes narrowed. He strode into the room like there weren't three undead Virus minions there, and said casually, "There you are. You wanna get out of here, or are you happy hanging around?" I stared at him. "Umm..." He rolled his eyes. "Fine. Have it your way." And he lashed out, slicing one of the villagers heads clean off. Black ooze trickled down his neck, his chest, and wrapped around his torso. It formed bubbling tentacles like squid's, which it used to attack Gale. He leapt aside nimbly, and slashed at another villager, cutting off its arm. I climbed up the cage and jumped down, throwing one of my axes. It buried itself into its forehead, but it simply leered at me, pulling it out and throwing it away. That made me mad. "You're a monster!" I yelled at it, and punched it in the face. Its face bubbled, and formed a bunch of flailing tentacles that tried to wrap around my fist. I jumped back, startled. "How do we kill them?" I shouted to Gale, who was trying to avoid the Virus Minion with a tentacled torso. "If I knew, I would've killed them by now!" He yelled, and dodged. I stumbled backwards as the villager lunged, but I was too slow. It hit me back, against the wall, and my breath left me. "No!" Gale yelled, and ran towards me. The villager he'd been fighting slithered after him, hissing. Gale had left his weapons when he'd run to me, and he grabbed the closest thing to him. He swung the torch wildly, but the villager gave a gurgling laugh as he reached for Gale. He threw the torch; and the monster squealed in pain as the flames burned its flesh. It retreated rapidly, and as Gale approached me, the monster trying to kill me backed away, unsure what to do. Gale grabbed my arm and started herding me out. I snatched my axes and a torch, standing on my feet and flicking the torch whenever they got too close. We walked out the door, and Gale threw down a few scraps of wood in the doorway. He dropped the torch, and flames burst into life, roaring and spitting like a wild animal. "It won't hold them for long." He murmured, and we ran for the minecart. "Looks like that flute works." I commented, and he smiled. Then he became serious, and he said, "You need to come back to the village. Something's happening to the unchanged villagers, and Roran seems really worried..." I climbed into the minecart with him, and we shot off. "So, what were you doing there?" I turned around to face him, and a new fear surfaced. "I know how Virus escaped. And I also know some things he can do, and it's not good." He frowned. "What is it?" I looked him in the eyes. "The only thing I can say; Virus could be any of us, waiting to kill us all." I looked at him. "And I think Virus is you."