My third Minecraft themed story is based on the zombie siege mechanics that trigger when a player is too close to a village at night. It's intended to be the first in a series of stories following the same story arc and character. I sincerely hope you enjoy and I look forward to getting more of these stories out to you as I'm able.
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It was just supposed to be a trip to the village, like so
many before it. A relatively carefree day of trading with the villagers for the
goods they were so eager to share, for a small fee of course. Of course I
should have known that in this
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strange and rugged land you can never become complacent and
expect everything to be just fine. It was the kind of mistake every player
makes at some point. The kind of mistake a player doesn't make twice, assuming
they live through it that is.
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When I first arrived in this world I assumed I was alone,
but after weeks of scouting out my surroundings I found a small village out on
the plains not far to the east. Naturally I was excited about this find,
especially when I learned that
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these villagers were friendly, unlike so many of the other
creatures in this strange place. For the most part I found their demands to be
fair. Wheat was plentiful enough, and I was happy to publish my journals for a
few extra emeralds here
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and there. What I earned however didn't last long as I found
that they had much to offer that I needed. In particular the priest with access
to a sizable glowstone supply was a welcome surprise. While I could always get
some myself, it's nice to
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be able to grab some now and then without having to dodge
fireballs or hang precariously over enormous lakes of lava. I found myself
spending more and more time at the village and I think it's fair to say I even
regarded many of the villagers
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as friends. Still I had never spent the night in the town. I
had my home and it was both secure and familiar making it a perfect retreat to
weather the often turbulent evenings outside it's durable stone walls. As you
can imagine this constant
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back and forth become rather tiresome and so I decided I'd
make my next trip; this trip an over-night venture. I'd leave early from my
home riding my fastest horse with a pack mule in tow, spend the whole day
trading with the villagers. Rest
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in the village overnight, finalize some trading the next
day, and finally head home pack and mule heavy laden with the spoils acquired
over the course of the trip. "Who knows," I had said to myself
"perhaps I'll even kick back and share a
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meal with the townsfolk before bed. Looking back, I see now
that I had become complacent, assuming nothing bad could or would happen... Was
I ever wrong. To say the evening hadn't gone quite as I'd imagined would be
doing the term
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"understatement" a gross injustice. There was no
warm meal and no soft bed this evening. Tonight was a night of cold iron,
unsettling moans, and realized fears. Tonight was the first night of the siege,
an event I had never heard of, nor
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ever even imagined possible, and one I fervently hoped would
end sooner than it looked to. The first sign of trouble was a very loud banging
on the door of the building I was spending the evening in, startling me so
badly that I literally jump,
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turning a full 180 degrees in mid-air and bringing my sword
down hard on the table that had snuck up behind me, only to realize as my panic
subsided that the banging was in fact coming from outside the door. "I
guess I owe the table an
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apology," I said to no one in particular as I collected
myself and moved to the door to assess the real threat. A zombie, very similar
to the dozens I'd killed since finding myself in this strange land could be
seen standing outside the door,
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occasionally shifting from one side to the other and somehow
weakening the integrity of the wooden barrier between myself and him as he did
so. I turn back to the villagers in the building with me, a priest and a
farmer, to warn them that the
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door is about to break only to have my warnings rendered
moot by the loud cracking sound of the door finally losing its battle to the
zombie outside. "I'm still standing in front of the door," I think
suddenly to myself. I have only moments
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to react. Too late! I feel the zombies hand claw at my back
scratching furrows into my iron breastplate until finally it finds the joint
where my breastplate and greaves meet and scores a small chunk of my flesh. It
takes only seconds for
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this event to register in my mind and for my thoughts to
coalesce into a single statement to sum up the emotions and thoughts suddenly
coursing through my mind; "it's going to be a long night." Having
little choice I spin quickly around as
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I back away from the door avoiding loosing anymore of myself
to the zombie ambling in after me. raising my sword I take a swing at the
zombie, then another, each blow knocking the foul smelling creature off balance
and back toward the door. A
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final swing drops the zombie to the floor as it lets out a
cry signaling the end of its existence and alerting other zombies in the area
that someone is fighting back. It takes only moments for reinforcements to
arrive. All too suddenly a
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knee high zombie jumps through the doorway and latches onto
my chest with a speed that you wouldn't expect from a zombie. This poor
creature stands at not even half my height and is so obviously one of the lost
children from the village that
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I find myself struggling to justify killing the creature.
The moral dilemma quickly resolves itself however as this miniature zombie
starts gnawing right through the material under the breastplate scoring a few
small bites of fresh flesh.
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with a sudden cry of pain as the zombie's teeth find soft
tissue I bring my sword around catching the thing by surprise, the sheer weight
of the blade launching it across the room. It hits a wall and comes right back
at me, seemingly
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un-phased. Another well placed swing atop its bulbous skull
ends the threat of the baby zombie as three more come ambling through the door,
their attention locked on the two terrified villagers huddling in the corner
behind me. I raise my sword
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in a defensive stance, the effort of holding aloft the iron
blade causing blood to trickle from my wounds. It's only then that I realize
that my wounds aren't healing... I am hungry. I had been planning to get a hot
meal before grabbing a room
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and getting some sleep, but the sudden zombie attack
prevented me from getting that far. I quickly glance into my pack for
something, anything to eat... naturally I had only packed enough for the trip
here, assuming I could get food in the
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village. "Hopefully that's a mistake I'll live to
regret," I think to myself as I mentally prepare myself to take on these
three zombies all alone... Suddenly an idea strikes me. "The zombies are
so focused on the villagers I could probably
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slip out of the house and away from the village largely
unnoticed." I look back at the two cowering villagers hiding behind me in
earnest as I contemplate leaving them to their fate. "This isn't my home
and I'm not really that close to
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any of them. Why should I risk my life to save those I
hardly know... Those who aren't even brave enough to stand and fight in defense
of themselves?" The priest suddenly lets out a typical "hmmm," a
common enough thing amongst the
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villagers. This time however the sound comes off a bit
plaintiff, arguable the closest thing I had ever heard to a villager begging
for their life. As the priest looked at me and I back at him it became clear
what must be done. I swung around
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quickly, swinging as I did so and managed to catch the first
zombie squarely in the chest with my iron blade causing him to stumble back,
shifting his focus to me as he did so. Knowing that in order to save the
villagers I had to get the
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attention of all three zombies I lunged headlong in-between
the second and third zombies slicing wildly through the air with my sword as I
did so and managing to score modest blows on each in turn. "Eat that
zombie!" I shout as I make a move
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for the door, the two freshly struck zombies following as
fervently as a new puppy does its owner. As I back towards the door I'm
suddenly given a painful reminder that there's a third zombie in the form of a
fresh pair of teeth marks on my
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left arm, one of the few exposed regions on my body. In
shock I tear my arm away from the zombie's grasp loosing flesh to the beast's
teeth as I do so. I spin around, still slightly off balance and sprint out the
door. the zombies quickly
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follow me out, leaving the villagers behind to continue cowering
in the building. As I turn to make sure the zombies followed me I hit something
hard and solid, stopping me in my tracks and knocking me down. As I stare up
waiting for my
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vision to clear a figure, clearly made in the image of a
villager comes into focus. Whatever it is stands a full block taller than
myself or any of the villagers and is much larger and more intimidating. It
glances down then up to the three
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zombies still heading my way. It seems to realize instantly
that the zombies are a threat and begins to stride directly toward them. I
slowly get to my feet and watch in stunned awe as what I can only describe as
some sort of golem threw up
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its long metallic arms with a level of force that instantly
cracked bones as it made contact with the walking corpses, the sound making me
cringe. The zombies were no match, made to look as little more than ragdolls
fighting an iron giant.
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"whatever this thing is," I thought to myself
"I'm glad it's on our side." I turned to look at the building I'd
been in not moments ago to see the farmer peeking out of the gaping hole left
in the shattered door. Looking around I see more
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zombies on the horizon... many more. I quickly jog over to
the building. "There are more coming. I'll seal you inside so you'll be
safe." I begin to pile stones up in the doorway to create a more solid
barrier, but the priest stops me. With a
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looks that at once said "thank you for saving us"
and "give me your sword" the villager grabbed my blade and a few
emeralds that had fallen from my pack. With a look to the heavens and a quick
prayer over the sword the priest returned my
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sword, now glowing slightly and warm to the touch. I took it
in my hands; it felt lighter than before. With a look I nodded my thanks to the
priest and finished sealing them inside. As I turn to seek out my newly
enchanted swords first
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prey I realize that there's little need to seek them out as
there's at least a dozen close enough that I can taste their foul breath. I
take my first swing with the new blade striking the closest zombie on the left
side of its skull, the
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blade burrowing so deeply that the top of the skull flipped
open like a soup can lid as the zombie fell to the ground. "Now that's
more like it!" I shouted in triumph lunging at the next closest zombie
with equally devastating results. As
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The night wore on the golem and I racked up an impressive
number of zombie kills. Rotten flesh littered the ground and the aggressive
growling of the zombies was at times drowned out by the moans of so many being
killed all at once. But
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something was terribly wrong. For every zombie that was
killed three more took its place. It was like a never ending stream of them
pouring over the hills and blotting out the horizon. As their numbers grew I
moved to stay close to the
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golem, protecting it from the rear and allowing it to return
the favor, but eventually there were just too many. As I sliced chaotically
cleaving through rotten flesh with every wild swing I hazard a glance back at the
golem and I watch in
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silent horror as it's finally overwhelmed. Three baby
zombies crawl along the shoulders tearing at joints with their tiny claws as an
army of zombies press up against the metallic creation knocking it on its back
and bringing its function to an
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end. It hits the ground hard, its torso covered with
spattered blood from hundreds of zombies. As it does the golems one remaining
arm rolls limply to the side revealing a single red flower held loosely in its
lifeless metallic fingers. As I
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finally realized what had happened I looked up from the
flower to see the rising sun finally cresting, setting the encroaching hoard
ablaze. It was finally over and I had survived, but at what cost?
