Minecraft: The Outsider/3CHP

Chapter 21

The skeleton fires its bow, and the arrow strikes Jeremy in his arm, making him bellow in pain and shock. He swings his stone sword to attempt to block the arrows, but they have no effect. Valda overhears the commotion and hits the skeleton multiple times with her diamond sword, killing it. A spider then notices the two, but Valda quickly kills it with her crossbow. Zombies then notice the two, followed by another skeleton attacking Jeremy with its bow. Jeremy ducks to avoid being hit by the skeleton a second time as he slices one of the zombie’s legs. Valda and Scraps kill off the zombies and the skeleton, and she and Jeremy run toward her house just as another skeleton prepares to attack them, followed by a creeper. Valda fends off the skeleton, while Jeremy kills off the creeper carefully. Another creeper sneaks up behind him, and he leaps out of the way just as it explodes.

Chapter 22

Jeremy hits the ground hard, but gets up and starts to run in the direction he knows he has to go. Valda asks him as to where he is going, and he says that he is going to her house. Valda exclaims that he’ll get himself killed, and Jeremy believes they won’t get ahead if they continue to fight. A chicken jockey then appears, followed by an enderman, and Jeremy quickly averts his eyes so as to not look at it. He then attacks the baby zombie on the chicken jockey, killing it, and the chicken wanders off. The enderman then teleports closer to Jeremy, and he averts his eyes once more. Three skeletons then pop out, but are quickly killed as it starts to rain just as they arrive at Valda’s community. Valda says that her home is the first on the right, and Jeremy heads toward it just as a zombie steps out and grabs him, wondering if he’d be able to make it in time.

Chapter 23

Jeremy hits the zombie, but more skeletons start attacking him. Valda shoots at them and kills them. Another spider then appears, and Jeremy frantically kills it. The two eventually make it to her house, and Jeremy sits for a few minutes to get his bearings on his surroundings. Valda gives him some beef to eat so he can heal, and Jeremy says that he gets healed with a healing potion at home, noting a brewing stand by the wall cluttered with bottles. Valda says that she and the people in her community only brew in case of emergency, because blaze powder is needed from blaze rods, which drop from blazes, which spawn in the Nether. Jeremy then gives Valda the stone sword back, and is shown the guest room, which is just a bed with a red blanket on top of it. The house that Valda is in has rooms that are mostly bare, except for essentials and a little extra. Jeremy asks if hostile mobs can get in here, and Valda says that they probably can’t. Jeremy then says that he’ll sit for a moment, but then falls asleep. When he opens his eyes, he notices sunlight streaming in through the window.

Chapter 24

Jeremy jumps out of bed, wondering how long he had been asleep, but he also feels relieved at hearing cows and pigs outside. He slowly wanders through the house, noticing a bed that belongs to Valda’s parents, Valda’s bedroom, and a den area. Jeremy then wonders as to where Valda is, and soon notices her taking care of the animals in a pen. He then steps out of the house carefully, taking note that the door was wooden instead of iron, squinting his eyes to avoid the sunlight. Valda then notices him, saying that she’ll finish feeding the animals and then get some breakfast, adding that she already let some of her neighbors know about what is going on with her parents in The City. Jeremy then says that he never fell asleep so quickly before, and Valda says that it is what living in a community like hers is about. She then points out the chicken, saying that it was the same one that had the baby zombie on it that followed her here. Jeremy is doubtful that it is the same chicken, but Valda insists that it is, adding that animals just like her. Jeremy then looks out at what Valda and her family refers to as their community, consisting of just five houses, and then asks her as to what they are having for breakfast. Valda says that they will be having fish, and then Jeremy heads back toward the house, expecting for her to cook it, but he then notices Valda going back in the barn. He asks her if they are going inside to eat, and she hands him a fishing rod, saying that they are going in after they catch their breakfast.

Valda brings Jeremy on a short walk to the ocean, with the latter recognizing some sugar cane. The two then get on a boat and row into the ocean, with Jeremy noticing some turtle eggs on the shore, with Valda saying that the fence is around the eggs as to avoid them from being trampled by zombies, adding that the turtles that hatch from the eggs will go straight into the ocean. Going further into the ocean, Jeremy notices something huge under the waves, and Valda points out that it is just a squid. The two then get to their spot, with Valda flinging her fishing line into the water. Jeremy is glad that it isn’t raining, but Valda says that it’s easier to fish in the rain. He then asks her if she goes fishing much, and she says that she does, adding that she doesn’t have to worry about taking too many fish because of the population of her community. As Valda continues to fish, quipping about building a beehive for her pet bees, Jeremy asks about her neighbors talking about her parents in The City, and she says that they are going to talk about it, but would rather wait until her parents get back before making any further plans, hoping that the fact that City Hall wanted to talk with them was a good sign. Valda then finishes fishing before offering the fishing rod to Jeremy to try out. He flings it into the water and soon feels a pull of something heavy. Reeling it in, the heavy object turns out to be a boot, making Valda burst out laughing, and Jeremy’s face falling in disappointment.

Chapter 25

Back at the house, Valda puts the fish in the furnace and cooks them as quickly as she could, and then serves herself and Jeremy some fish. Jeremy takes a bite, exclaiming that it is delicious. Valda thanks him for the remark before asking if it tastes a lot better than the boot he fished up, making her burst out laughing once more. Jeremy frowns at that remark, but he feels better when he realizes that he doesn’t say mean things to people. After eating, Valda has Jeremy attempt to craft a beehive for her pet bees, but Jeremy admits that he doesn’t remember how to craft one, adding that at his school, they are only allowed to write down the ingredients and that they are only allowed to craft the item depending on the career they choose. Valda then asks him if he watches his parents make stuff, and Jeremy says that he doesn’t have a crafting table at home; his mom’s job doesn’t require one, but his dad does have one at his work. Valda then decides to teach him how to use a crafting table, telling him to get some planks from the nearby trees. Jeremy goes for the nearest one and begins punching it with his bare fist. Valda then gives him a stone axe so he can cut it down faster. Jeremy then gives the logs to Valda who crafts them into planks, and uses the planks and the honeycomb to craft the beehive, setting it up in a nearby trees. Valda then brings Jeremy to the crop farm, consisting of wheat, pumpkins, carrots, and other foods.

She works on the farm as Jeremy notices some kids around their age laughing and running around outside their houses. Valda then quips that twenty-nine people, including herself and her parents, live here, much to Jeremy’s surprise. Jeremy then crafts a fishing rod by himself in Valda’s home, with a little advice from her, but he still feels triumphant about it because he crafted it with his own two hands. Just then, Jeremy notices the kids from earlier sneering at Valda and making fun of her, and he decides to step in, telling the, to knock it off. The girl asks Jeremy as to who he is, and he says that he is from The City, noting that Valda’s parents are there to discuss about what is going on. The kids then joke about Jeremy’s accent, crime rate, and apparent laziness in The City, but he shoots it all down as falsehoods. The kids then argue with one another about redstone mechanics in The City, making Jeremy quip that redstone is important there as his dad works as an engineer, and asks the kids if they use redstone out here. The girl says that her family doesn’t as they think that redstone is unnecessary. Jeremy tries to explain about the benefits of redstone, but the kids think that he as just as crazy as Valda. The girl even accuses Valda of chopping down the trees and stealing the ores, causing her to hide her face even more. The four kids then run off as Jeremy checks on Valda. She turns and runs into the house, slamming the door behind him, and Jeremy could hear her crying inside.

Chapter 26

Jeremy sits outside the house, not knowing what to do, as he didn’t want to talk to Valda when she is emotional. Realizing that he is the only person that Valda has right now, he says to himself to get this over with and walks into the house. Jeremy soon finds Valda sitting in her room, petting her fox. Ally, Lloyd, and Scraps sit around her, and Jeremy asks her if she is okay. She says that she is, attempting to talk about the kids, but trails off. Jeremy then asks Valda if she doesn’t have any friends, which makes her scowl at him, exclaiming that the pet mobs she has are her friends, and that the other kids ignore or torment her. Jeremy then asks if the other kids have always been like this, and Valda says that they do as long as they can get away with it, noting that they behave when the grown-ups are here, acting like she doesn’t exist. She then gets up and continues to work on her farm, with Jeremy helping as the hours pass by in silence. Jeremy is so exhausted by the time they finish that he could just flop in bed, but Valda says that they would need to forage in case new food sources pop up. The two soon find some brown mushrooms, with Valda saying that they could be used for stew later. Back at the house, the two eat more fish for dinner and pumpkin pie for dessert. After eating, Jeremy asks Valda as to what her family usually does around this time, and she says that they hang out in the living room, sometimes reading books that are caught from their fishing rods. Valda also says that she loves to sit down outside and look at the stars, but Jeremy decides to stay inside as an armored skeleton and a spider walk down the main path. Just then, the two hear a long, terrified scream.

Chapter 27

Jeremy and Valda get on their feet quickly. The former picks up the stone sword that he had used earlier, and the latter picks up their diamond sword. They head outside and notice multiple zombies making their way into someone’s house, and the door leading inside it was broken. The parents inside were fending off the zombies the best they could, and the kids were cowering away. Jeremy and Valda recognized the kids as the ones that bullied them earlier, and they kill off the zombies with ease. Valda then shouts at the family to head back to her place, and they quickly do so, with Valda slamming the door shut behind them. Jeremy asks as to how the zombies got in, and the mother of the family exclaims that they just broke open the door, with Valda adding that some zombies know how to do that. She then says to the family that they can spend the night here until daybreak, and the dad of the family thanks her as Jeremy peers out the window, noticing an enderman and an armed skeleton, before turning back to the others and realizing the full reality of the situation. The mom of the family then exclaims that this is the second time this has happened in a year, and that she can’t sleep at night thinking about zombies breaking in. Jeremy then suggests to place down an iron door, mentioning that zombies can’t break them, and they could be opened with a button press, but the mom of the family says that they don’t use redstone because it makes someone "soft and lazy", but Jeremy insists on making it. Valda is intrigued, and Jeremy says they can make one in the morning. Valda then gets the family settled in her parent’s room before returning to Jeremy, wanting to show him where she likes to look at the stars. Jeremy thinks it’s outside, but Valda softly replies that it isn’t.

Chapter 28

Valda leads Jeremy to her bedroom and points up at the ceiling, which is made out of glass. Jeremy is surprised that he hadn’t noticed it before, and he felt like he could see the entire universe overhead. The two laid down on the floor to look up at the night sky, along with Scraps, Ally, and the pet fox laying down beside them. Valda quips that she had a normal ceiling before, but she wanted to see the stars without dealing with hostile mobs, hence the glass in the ceiling. Jeremy wonders if hostile mobs can get in here, but moments pass with no sign of a door being broken into, so he gradually relaxes and focuses on the stars. He then asks Valda about what she thinks about when she looks at the stars, including any mysteries she thinks about. Valda says that she sometimes thinks about something she wants to build, or nature, or what she wants to do tomorrow, and wonders if there are other words that are either like the one she is in or not like the one she is in, adding that she herself might be a part of someone’s dream in another world. Jeremy believes those thoughts are strange, but says that he likes them.

Chapter 29

The next morning, the family rushes back to their home to fix up the door, and the rest of the neighbors come out to assess the damage and check on the family. Jeremy brings up the iron door again, but is ignored and decides to give up on it. The rest of the day goes just like the previous day: eating breakfast, checking the animals, and tending to the crops. Jeremy was ready to call it a day after tending to the crops, but Valda declares that she wants an iron door, picking up an iron pickaxe for herself and tossing one to Jeremy, who points out that he doesn’t need a pickaxe to make a door. Valda then says that they get their iron from a cave, and she leads Jeremy to one beside the ocean. She starts mining, and then leaps down into a torch-lit hole, followed by Jeremy. The two go down deeper into the cave to find some iron, but Jeremy starts digging straight down. Valda warns him not to, but by then, it was too late. Jeremy mines out the block directly underneath him, and he falls down into darkness.

Chapter 30

In that instant, Jeremy had a horrible vision of his parents being told that he was never coming home, but that vision went away quickly as he safely landed in water and pulled himself out. Valda calls to Jeremy from above, and he yells out that he is okay. Valda says that she'll head down there as fast as she can and then runs off. Jeremy looks up to see the hole that he had fallen through, and strains his eyes to adjust to the darkness. He notices diamonds and redstone ore in the distance, but soon notices the glowing eyes of a spider.