Virus (A Minecraft Story)

Chapter 31

Tash's POV

We were moving as fast as we could possibly go, desperate to get back and desperate to leave that place of nightmares behind. It was ruins now, but those ruins would forever haunt me.

I could still see the rage on those worshippers' faces, the earth rising up and destroying everything, and those monsters of stone clawing at each other, trying to escape.

I glanced over at Amber, who was clinging tightly to Buddy, her face pale. Normally I would've cracked jokes about how the tough one was a big baby, but this time I was silent. Thoughts ate away at my brain like a pack of ravenous zombies, as the fire I posessed burned and singed me.

They thought my fire was my gift, my talent. The proof that I was the Fire of the Four Elementals. That I could put it to good use, like I'd told Dax to.

They had no idea how wrong they were.

Blinking back a burning tear, I swooped low to the ground, pulling up alongside Ana who, despite our worries, was doing her grass-wave trick. She turned to face me, while still going twice as fast as a galloping horse. "Yes?"

"Wasn't this supposed to take a week?" I asked her conversationally, like we did this everyday. Ana shrugged. "It was, but I underestimated the speed of Elemental travelling." She glanced up at the sky. "Or dog-travelling."

I shrugged. "What can I say? My dog's amazing like that." She rolled her eyes. "I still think you should get a cat. Seriously, have you seen Cha? She's so cute!" I waved a dismissive hand, which almost sent me csreering into Lyta's water wave. "Meh. They're annoying. Leaving hair all over the place, making you catch fish for them. They don't even fight! Plus I'm allergic, remember?"

"Well, my dear friend, we're just going to have to wrap you in carpet so you can pat one!" Ana informed me cheerfully. I cringed. "That would make them think I'm a ball of wool..." She gave me a sly grin. "Maybe that's the whole point."

I shoved her playfully, then took to the skies before she could retaliate. The moment the casual banter stopped, the worry came seeping back in like water through cracked stone.

I couldn't stop thinking about Loca, Hercules and Dax. The last we'd seen of them, they were being beaten up by Andre, and now I was left in the dark, uncertain about how things had played out.

It had taken two days for the others to get to the Temple on horseback, and was now taking us only half a day to get back. But that was too much time.

By the looks of things, the transmission had been delayed until the others had stopped somewhere. So they'd been like that for three days now. If even one of them had serious injuries, which was very likely, they would've bled out for three long, miserable days and miserable nights - if they were lucky.

We could be coming home to dead bodies.

*

Someone yelled something, shaking me out of my gloomy, sinister thoughts. Glancing over, blinking rapidly to refocus my eyes, I saw Amber holding onto Buddy with one hand, and pointing with another. Her words were snatched away by the wind, so I flew closer.

"There!" She shouted to me. "The village is just over this hill!" "Thank god!" I yelled back. Despite the short breaks we'd taken, my arms and legs were stiff and sore. No matter how bad things were, I would be glad for a rest.

As I cleared the hill, I braced myself for the sight of a destroyed village, piles of rubble with crying, screaming villagers trapped underneath with Andre at the centre. This village had survived four attacks, but that was with the Changed protecting them. This was a Dark enderman hybrid on the warpath.