Minecraft: Zombies!/5CHP
Chapter 25
The next morning, Bobbie and Ben get straight to mining for gold, but after hours of doing so, they could only come up with raw copper, iron, and coal, much to Ben’s disappointment. Bobbie soon finds an amethyst geode, with Ben mentioning that clusters of gems should’ve been here, but they aren’t. Bobbie then shows him an amethyst shard that she had mined and then points to a torch that she is 100% sure she didn’t place down, making them realize that somebody else had been through this cave system already. Nonetheless, Ben is still optimistic in finding gold, noting that they would have to travel farther to find some. He then asks Bobbie for the amethyst shard to craft a spyglass, and she reluctantly gives it to him. Ben also mentions about heading up to the surface to climb a mountain in the badlands for some gold, so Bobbie decides to put the carved pumpkin on Johnny’s head. Eventually, after building a staircase for what seemed like days, Ben and Bobbie break the surface and begin climbing a nearby mountain. As they eventually reach the top, Ben begins crafting the spyglass only to get hit with a snowball by Bobbie, who had never seen snow before in her life. Ben eventually crafts the spyglass and looks through it for a bit before handing it to Bobbie, who points out a village. She then hands the spyglass back to Ben, who points out a gray monolith just beyond it. The two decide to head to the village, with Bobbie noting that the villagers who live there might need help.
Chapter 26
On the way to the village, Ben ask Bobbie if she notices the gray monolith in the back of the village, and she says that she does. Upon arriving at the village, the two notice a fence had been made around the village, with no gates leading in or out. Bobbie cuts through the fence without hesitation, allowing Ben to come through before putting one back in its place. The first house that they come across feels familiar at first: no villagers or loot, but the only difference in this house and each house thereafter is that there is no bed in any of them. The two decide to go inside the gray monolith, and soon notice themselves on a stone platform above a deep chasm with lava far below. Torches had been plentiful all over the place, and there were two zombies, albeit blocked off by the fence. There are also four glass cells in the corners of the structure, hosting five villagers and five beds each. Ben and Bobbie, at first, consider making walkways to the cells, but instead decide to cut into them from the exterior of the monolith, and the villagers honk in gratitude. Ben, realizing that he can’t talk to the villagers, heads back inside and descends the interior staircase, soon noticing an iron golem burning up and dying in the lava below. Going deeper down the stairs reveals a series of hoppers which funnel into a chest. Ben opens the chest out of curiosity and finds thousands of iron ingots, making him realize that the gray monolith was set up as an iron golem farm. Bobbie soon appears on the staircase and explains to Ben that the villagers attempted to flee the village due to a zombie siege, but because the fence was placed around the village, they were lured to the monolith and placed inside the glass cels. Ben then adds that because the villagers constantly felt threatened because of the zombies, they were willing to make iron golems, which were melted to ingots and funneled into the chest. Bobbie understands that the people who did this were adventurers who exploited the villagers for their own good, and Ben asks if the villagers know who did it. Bobbie then says that she knows that there are two adventurers who come here to collect the iron every few days, and then says that they are expected to arrive tonight. Ben then takes some of the iron ingots out of the chest and asks Bobbie if they are overdue for upgraded gear.
Chapter 27
By nightfall, Ben and Bobbie had already perched themselves on top of the roof of the house closest to the monolith, with Johnny already secured in a house a bit farther away so his growls wouldn’t draw attention. Two figures soon appear, with one checking inside the monolith. Ben creeps over to the edge of the roof to get a better look at the one that stayed outside, which is a girl wielding a diamond axe named Hatchet. The other figure then emerges from the monolith and informs Hatchet that they have been robbed, but decide to bring the zombies that are still inside the monolith back with them anyway. Hatchet and Flip, the other figure, then head back into the monolith, but quickly re-emerge with the zombies and lure them to a trapdoor, making them fall through it, and Hatchet and Flip go through the trapdoor immediately after. Ben and Bobbie breathe a sigh of relief, as the trapdoor had brought Hatchet and Flip close to their hiding spot. Ben then opens the trapdoor and notices a cobblestone tunnel with torches placed at intervals, as well as a minecart rail. Ben says that the tunnel seems very familiar, and Bobbie begins to think that the zombie siege that destroyed her village was caused by Hatchet and Flip, and Ben agrees that it was.
Chapter 28
Ben and Bobbie decide to follow the minecart rail. As they walk along it, Bobbie and Ben both feel like that they should’ve checked beneath Savannaton and the woodland mansion to see if the minecart rail was underneath those areas as well. At one point, Bobbie rummages through her inventory and soon realizes that she had left the emeralds behind in a chest when they had been digging for gold, making her heart sink. She decides not to tell Ben about it, thinking that it would risk him leaving altogether. Ben then asks as to what is going on, making Bobbie realize that she had stopped walking. She quickly focuses on the nautilus shell, saying that it is pretty. Ben asks if he can see the shell for a second, and Bobbie gives it to him. Ben then places the shell up to her ear, hearing a calming sound that rose and fell. He then says that others say that it’s the sound of an ocean that was put in there by a witch. Bobbie then asks Ben if he had seen an ocean before saying that she had hoped to have caught a glimpse of one when they were on the mountain. Ben then explains to Bobbie about oceans in general, as well as a rumor about a mushroom island, and even one time when he and Logan befriended a dolphin, named Squeaklebeak, which brought them to a shipwreck. Bobbie then explains that she generally never went anywhere outside of Plaintown, and basically helped whoever needed help while still finding time to play with Johnny. This helps them understand that they were two complete opposites, with Ben having total freedom, and Bobbie generally staying in one place her whole life. The two are soon interrupted by someone heading down the minecart rail, and Ben and Bobbie clear the way for the person. The two are only able to recognize two things: a boy with a leather helmet in the first cart, and some turtle eggs in the second cart. As the minecarts speed off, Johnny begins to growl, and soon Ben and Bobbie notice a horde of zombies charging straight for them.
Chapter 29
Ben then asks Bobbie if they should either fight them or try to run away, and Bobbie says that they can’t fight them. Just then, Johnny shakes loose from Bobbie’s grip and lunges toward the horde of zombies, eventually climbing on top of one. Ben and Bobbie are able to keep a hold of the zombies at first, creating a rhythm, but Bobbie getting hit through the rhythm out of place, causing them to be surrounded. Ben then decides to take a risk by placing the carved pumpkin over Johnny’s head, which causes Johnny to fall off the zombie and make the other zombies turn to attack him. Bobbie screams at Ben, asking as to what he is thinking, but Ben is busy making holes in the dirt ceiling. Fortunately, it was daytime, and sunlight began pouring into the narrow railway, causing the other zombies to burn up and eventually die. Bobbie then grabs Johnny among the horde and ties him at a nearby fence post, and soon; the rest of the zombies die, either by burning up, or at the hands of Bobbie and Ben. The latter collapses afterward, realizing how close they had come to dying. The former, on the other hand, was fully energized, saying that what Ben did was amazing, and asked him how he knew it was daytime, and he says that it was a very lucky guess.
Chapter 30
Ben then decides to make a wall right across the railway, knocking a few rails loose for good measure, with him saying that it would make it harder for Hatchet and Flip to sneak up on them. As they walk along the railway, Bobbie thinks to herself about Ben, realizing that he had been braze in the horde of zombies and determined to protect Johnny. She then says to Ben that he was brave back there, but Ben let’s the compliment go straight to his head. Bobbie then says to Ben that he is useless around spiders and afraid of llamas, and although he tries to explain why, Bobbie says that regarding the llamas, Ben has an irrational fear of them, mentioning that zombies are scary due to being relentless, and that enderman are scary because they are unpredictable. She then asks Ben as to what makes a spider scary to him, but Ben changes the subject to pigs, noting that they are scary because something happens to a pig when it is struck by lighting, and reminds Bobbie to tell her about it when they set up camp. Eventually, the two make it to the end of the railway and tie Johnny to a fence post just before the exit. Heading through it, Ben notices a large space that is a cube filled with hundreds of zombies, along with a balcony above it. Bobbie wonders as to why the cube is full of zombies, and although Ben wants to know as well, he decides to mine up to the surface.