The Infection: Book 4

Chapter 4 – Cries in the Night

Earlier that night

Wonder stared up at the ceiling of her room. How on earth was she supposed to focus on sleep with all the excitement of the night? She hoped that they wouldn’t have to leave the village- despite her outburst during the meeting, the events had frightened her. She didn’t want to leave her new home! Well, Minecraft home. It was really cool here! And she didn’t want her new friends to have to go through leaving their home. Oh, well. It wasn’t like she really had to be worried. There was still plenty of time. She was sure Gameknight would figure everything out, since apparently he always had before. Of course, he would have to shape up first. The poor thing, up on that stage he looked ready to pass out. At least she knew the same thing always happened, according to Hunter. As soon as the momentum from the last big battle wore off and danger showed itself again he would clam up and get all modest, and be really depressing. Then at the very last moment he would get over his doubt and save everyone again. 

   Still, he was obviously suffering over the whole Crafter thing, and Hunter had definitely been trying to mask some of her fear. Wonder understood. From what she knew of Crafter, he was someone you wanted by your side and he and Gameknight had been practically joined at the hip.

 Still, she loved being here. Minecraft was her favorite- being in it? She couldn’t stop smiling. She hoped this whole thing would blow over and things would get peaceful again- fast. She loved the feeling of being in a community that was so strong and together, but she also wanted to know what it was like without a war. It must be… so beautiful. Ok, she had to sleep. It was, what? The clocks here were impossible to read. Yawn. Maybe…

    A strange mist swirled round her ankles- her entire body. She was sinking, sinking towards a strange, alien ground. Her surroundings became more clear, or, at least, as clear as they would get. She was in the village- no, she was in the forest. She was in the freshly planted forest right next to the village, staring up at the high walls and looming watchtower. How did she get there? Wasn’t she in bed? And… wait! Of course! How could she be so stupid? She was dreaming! It was a very strange dream, but a dream it was. A very strange dream. Her mind was perfectly clear, not very normal for a dream. Was she sick? Maybe she was stressed out. Yes, she was stress sick…

  “Hello,” Said a voice behind her. Wonder yelped and spun around. A figure stood behind her, the man just visible in the mist. “Well, well,” He said, a hint of amusement in his voice. “Who do we have here?” Wonder frowned at the figure. She couldn’t place the voice, which annoyed her. Obviously she had to dream about somebody. And yet she didn’t know the figure. It wasn’t all that surprising, seeing how bad she was with names anyhow. Still, maybe the voice was made up for the dream. Did brains work that way?

  “Who are you? Gameknight?” The figure froze. Then a slow sound came from him, and just got louder. “Ha ha. Ha ha ha. Ha ha!” Wonder stared at him with her arms crossed, annoyed, as the man doubled over. “You just made my night!” He finally gasped. “No, I’m no user. I wish I was.” Wonder scowled. “Come closer!” She ordered. “I can’t see you.” The man shrugged and stepped closer. He had black hair and a tall figure. It took Wonder only a second to see his eyes were shut. “What?” She snapped. “Are you blind?” The man raised his eyebrows, an unnerving sight without his eyes. “My, you’re quite the feisty one, aren’t you?” Wonder shrugged. “It’s my dream,” She explained. “I can do what I like.” The man faked looking taken aback. “Your dream,” He mocked. “I had no idea.” Then he cocked his head and grinned. “Now, how do you know it isn’t my dream?” 

   Wonder glared at him. “Just open your eyes,” She growled. The man sighed. “It’s just… I’m afraid you won’t like it if I open my eyes. You won’t like what you see, I mean.” Wonder smirked. She was ready. “Try me.” The man grinned, and Wonder felt a single twinge of fear course through her. The cold mist clung tightly to her skin, filling her auburn hair with dew drops and making the air hard to breathe. 

   His eyes opened, and a brilliant flash of white light overwhelmed her. Despite the fact that she had known who it was for a while, she felt herself give a small sharp gasp. 

  Despite the fact that she was going completely off of villager descriptions (which tended to add a whole lot of extra angry adjectives) and Internet photos (which mostly consisted of him drooling or with, say, devils horns), and a brief flash of his face in a dark cave, WonderWriter2000 was no fool. She had suspected him immediately, since the voice she definitely knew but obviously hadn’t heard much of in its own body and because it made perfect sense to have a nightmare about Herobrine, even back in the physical world without all this fighting. What had really pushed her over the top was how hard he laughed when she had knowingly offered the absurd notion he was Gameknight. If it had been her friend, he wouldn’t have been creepily hiding in the woods with an unrecognizable voice. 

  “You are smarter than you appear,” Herobrine said. Wonder huffed angrily. “What on earth is that supposed to mean?” Herobrine just smiled. Wonder suddenly realized that he was close enough to be easy to see- had he been like that before? “I always thought you were a bit reckless,” The virus’s voice had a teasing tone and was oozing with fake sincerity. “Blowing up Dragon’s Teeth, dropping in at the very worst moment of a battle- isn’t exactly the safest thing to do.” Wonder watched him nervously. The mist around them was lit up by his white eyes, causing her surroundings past the damp barrier to be invisible. Herobrine sighed. “It’s a shame.” Wonder stiffened. “What’s the shame? Why’s it shameful?” She asked nervously, tripping over her words. Herobrine chuckled. “Void is still useful to me, as long as she uses her… abilities to assist me. I’m not even going to try with the User-that-is-not-a-user. I’ve learned that lesson.” His face darkened, losing some of its evil mirth. “But you… you are still weak, an amateur to how Minecraft works. A rogue piece most likely of no use in this game. I was not able to get to your little boyfriend fast enough, and toyed with him too long… you are a threat I am not willing to take. Unneeded and disposable. And with another friend gone, he really will be broken. There will be no coming back for him, the ground under his feet gone. And I am tired of waiting to kill a User-that-is-not-a-user. I want to do it NOW!” He took a shuddering, calming breath. “And then no one will be able to stop me. I will spread across this landscape until I take my revenge on them, for causing my defeat… and no potion, person, or power will take me from ruling all.” Wonder was ruled by fear. She knew now why Gameknight was always so shaken- no one knew what it was like, being this beast’s target. She would never be the same. 

  “What are you gonna do?” She whispered, the air ice. Her lips were numb, she could barely feel her body. Oh no. Herobrine laughed then, laughed at her suffering, because he could, and he was evil, and oh god, help me, please…

The virus drew his sword. She felt a tear slide down her face and fall onto the ground. I don’t want to die! She had nothing. She was weak, insignificant, and no one would have anything to remember her by. She had done nothing, been nothing, and caused nothing upon the world- just more empty dreams to be thrown from eternity? Right?

A bit of color leaked in from somewhere else, by the village, like a scene from a movie. A sound.

Where was Gameknight?

This was a nightmare. Why was she so scared?

The sword bit into her flesh, the flash and hit bruising her forehead and cheekbone. Her HP sank. Then dozens, seemingly hundreds, of other white lights appeared in the mist. More swords. More blows. But they were glancing, the pain drawing out criminally. He was playing with her, his laughter coming from so many places. A young blond face, white eyes gleaming and a vicious grin on his otherwise calm face. Madness. The boy attacked, cutting deep in her side with a sparkling iron sword, then disappearing with a cackle.

Oh no, my parents… by siblings. 

She had told them she was going to a friend’s house, and they had been happy for her. Her dad wanted her to make more friends, to play outside with the neighbors like he did as a kid. Did they even know the Feynman’s? They would think she had been murdered, her physical body going still. She could see the headlines- FAMILY’S OLDEST DAUGHTER MURDERED BY CRAZED INVENTOR AND SON- WEAPON OF CHOICE UNKNOWN

Flash– red. 

Her friends… who would tell her friends?

Flash. Her HP dropped to deadly levels. And then she was screaming, the laughter and taunts of her executioners ringing in her ears like a giant’s bellow in her ears. She was on the ground, pleading for her parents and Gameknight and mercy and, and nothing… nothing… red took over her vision. Was this death?

“GET BACK!!!” 

The monsters retreated as magenta exploded, a pair of hands grabbing her. Her savior was coursing with dangerous energy, ready to blow this nightmare for good.

And then the mist was fading and still Herobrine’s yells attacked her.

Nothing.

 

WonderWriter2000 awoke, still screaming. Her loudness shocked her, and her cries intensified. Sky was next to her, her small hands suddenly on her face, trying to calm and soothe her, like the elder had done earlier that day. 

The door flew open, and Gameknight charged inside with his sword drawn. His eyes were wild with rage as he looked fiercely for something to attack. His gaze changed as he saw Wonders state. She was gasping, still terrified for her life as her stomach churned with the fact of being alive. And then she was crying, every nerve shot. She pressed her palms against her eyes, multicolored sparks bulging across her vision. But the stream continued, she was shaking. “What happened?” Gameknight said, agitated, still prying the dark corners with his vision as he sheathed his blade. “He wa-was k-k-killing me,” She moaned. “It- oh, forget it. Sorry I woke you up… some dream. I thought Herobrine was trying to g-get me. And there was this mist and laughing and I didn’t have anything and I want to go home!” She broke into sobs. Her face ached. Reaching up, she gingerly touched a section of immense swelling. How did that get there?

Gameknight and Sky shared a look. Gameknight was the first to speak. “Did you see Crafter?” He asked, stepping forward. Sky whipped around to face him. “Gameknight999!” Recognition flashed in Wonder’s eyes. The boy. “Yes!” Gameknight shot forward, his eyes shining with hope and fear. “Where? Is he okay?” Wonder frowned as she remembered. “No…” Gameknight’s face fell, and he sat down quickly. “What happened?” He said hoarsely. Wonder shook slightly, fear kneading her soul. “Herobrine had him… his eyes… he hit me, and he laughed like- like him.” She shook her head. “But it’s just a dream, a nightmare. Why is it so important? And why are you looking at me like that?” Sky and Gameknight were indeed looking at her. “Wonder,” Gameknight said gently, placing his hand on her knee, “What did Herobrine say? Just attack you?” Wonder felt her throat tighten as more tears began to sneak in. “He- he said that I was disposable, and a threat, and he toyed with you too long. And that Void was still useful.” Sky took in a small breath. “And then all of the others appeared, all of his bodies… so many. He must have had at least thirty others, it was awful.” 

   Gameknight looked her in the eyes, seriousness evident in her face. “Wonder, this is important. Did Herobrine say anything else, anything at all? Any plans or information?” Wonder thought hard. The memory had been obscured by her fear. Something about power, and a landscape , but that was about it. “No, I don’t think so. But he did say one other thing.” Sky looked at her curiously. Wonder swallowed. “Herobrine said that with another friend gone, Gameknight wouldn’t come back, with the ground under his feet gone.” She looked at her friend apologetically. Gameknight was looking down at the floor, his stomach churning. She’s right, he thought. He’s right. I really am about to fall apart.

   “Gameknight?” Wonder said tentatively. “Are you… okay?” She didn’t mean just then, and all three of them knew it. Gameknight shook his head. “No, I’m really not. I’m going to bed. See you in the morning.” He got up and started walking to the door, the hinges complaining with a creak. “Wait! But you haven’t told me why this is making you so scared!” Gameknight hesitated. “Remember… remember when I told you about the Land of Dreams?” Wonder froze. One of the first things she had ever heard coming into Minecraft was this- If you die in the Land of Dreams, you die for real.

“He’s gonna kill me,” She mumbled.

But her brain was still working, just like it always seemed to do, figuring something out that she could not yet see. Potion?

And as Sky moved forward to comfort her petrified friend, the door clicked shut behind them.

Hey guys! Just like in my last chapter, I apologize for making you wait so long (since September) on these last two chapters! I have been busy with the WEIRDEST (sheep) things, and now I feel very strange with all this free time I’ve had since two Tuesday’s ago. Hope you liked the chapter! Please comment on what you thought about Wonders emotions and stuff because I have never written about those kinds of feelings and I am kind of in over my head. Rereading it, it just seemed to flat, like most of my stories seem. Any ideas?