Ｆａｌｌｉｎｇ [MCSM: Season One, Ep. 1-4]

2. Banded Together

"Ack—!"

A startled squeak flew from your lips as you stumbled to the side to avoid the zombie's delayed attack, kicking it in the stomach to put some distance between the two of you. You didn't wish to stick around simply to put an end to its life; rather, you greedily took the given opportunity and raced up a small hill, out of the monster's reach, and used a tree to maintain your balance. There, you came face-to-face with a skeleton that was in the process of drawing its bow back, preparing to strike you with an arrow. You drove the blade of your sword through its bone, hooking it between the ribcage and summoning every ounce of energy you had at your disposal to pivot your body, swinging the skeleton around you and forcing it to trip over its footing.

This sent it collapsing down the slope you had just climbed, bringing with it the zombie that was working on staggering upward. Your breath hitched as you continued running in the opposite direction, knowing that if you were to come across any more mobs, your chances of getting away unscathed would become lesser and lesser. Hurriedly, you shimmied up a tree, your eyes scanning the environment to make sense of everything. You hoped Jesse had found Reuben because you certainly weren't staying out here any longer and risking your survival for his sake. You loved Reuben, you really did, but getting yourself killed because he decided to recklessly venture into the woods and end up lost was not on your bucket list.

It was then that you realized where you were: in a tree, multiple feet up off the ground.

Your breath hitched as you spotted the lights of Ender Con a fair distance away, concluding that was where you needed to go, and fast. But the deathly moans of the undead caught your attention, and you looked below, seeing what you expected; a group of several zombies shuffling by the base of the tree. If you jumped down, you would have to be quick and not get hit, which would be challenging. But you couldn't stay up here.

You were trapped.

Unless I hopped across the tops of the trees until I was away from any monsters.

With an unsteady exhale, you rose to your feet, locating the nearest evergreen and bracing yourself to leap across. It couldn't be too difficult, right? Compared to the close calls you just had, it would be a piece of cake...as long as you didn't lose your cool and fall.

You shoved your sword back into your inventory so you wouldn't accidentally stab out your eye should this scheme of yours fail, leveled out your footing, and vaulted forward. It wasn't a perfect landing, but at least you weren't at the mercy of the cannibalistic dead people beneath you so you considered it a win. The only thing that could possibly have been an immediate danger to you up here was if a giant arachnid were to crawl up one of the trees you were bounding across like a lazier version of Tarzan and make it its goal to give you trouble.

Yet you didn't see any spiders nearby, so you soldiered on, eventually managing to observe the familiar town in detail as you, at last, left the forest. It was a reasonably short drop; one you handled with something akin to grace before you made haste in darting through the alleyways to meet up with your friends. It felt nice to be surrounded by civilization again.

Your heart was racing from the adrenaline of fear as you weaved between the accumulating crowds, and soon, you were in the center of town; your team's build standing tall and proud, shooting colorful fireworks through the sky. It brought a crooked smile to your face; you knew how much they wanted this victory. After how hard they tried, after all the discouragement they faced, they deserved it. "Congratulations on the win."

A voice erupted from beside you, and you glanced at the source, meeting the cyan-blue eyes of Lukas, the leader of The Ocelots himself. The other members were nowhere to be found. Once you processed what he said, you nodded meekly in gratitude. "They did a good job. They earned it."