Stonebrook High School

Chapter 31

Axel was shoving some sticks into a small backpack while Jesse sat on the floor and watched, his own backpack by his side.

"Maybe we should've grabbed some food before leaving Stonebrook," Jesse moaned, holding his stomach as a rumble erupted.

"Yeah, that would've been nice," Axel mumbled as his own stomach growled. "You think we could scavenge for berries in the woods before we go?"

"I wish, but we don't have time." Jesse sighed. "That Witherstorm is so close to us. We need to go back to the Nether right now."

"As much as I want to chew on some wild food, I agree with you." Axel zipped up his bag and they walked back to the obsidian barrier.

That strange force field-like wall was still there. Jesse stuck his hand through and felt nothing burning off or disintegrating.

"We're good," Jesse nodded, and they walked through.

Upon entering, Jesse felt his crutch lose hold of the ground and he slipped, yelping. Axel dropped his backpack and grabbed Jesse's arm with quick reflexes.

"Jesse!" Axel cried out, gripping his arm tightly. "Jeez, are you okay? You almost gave me a heart attack!"

Jesse recomposed himself and made sure his crutch was firm this time. "Y-yeah, I'm fine. Thanks for catching me, Axel."

The burly male ran his hand through his curly bangs in worry. "Don't do that again, man. You scared the crap out of me."

The smaller male smiled. "Don't worry, I won't do it again. I promise."

Axel wiped his forehead, sighing.

They made their way over to the minecart tracks, getting in a couple of carts. With a small spark, the carts started moving and they shot forward, both of them having to hold on to the edges to keep themselves in.

"I wonder if the Witherstorm—" Jesse stopped mid-sentence as a ghast flew right over him and spat a fireball at the two, blowing up the track and sending them flying.

With a painful grunt as both Jesse and Axel landed and rolled, they hopped back up and gasped when they saw the carts about to roll off the track.

"NO!" Jesse screamed, outstretching his arm. "Grab the carts!"

"I can't!" Axel yelled. "The ghast!"

"Damn it," the cripple cursed under his breath. He had to think of a plan quick or else they would lose precious time or even die.

He had the other stuff in his bag that he could use, albeit the bag was starting to singe from the heat. There was some string, another rock he picked up, a chunk of flint...

"Axel, go get the cart while I distract it!"

Axel was caught off guard and faltered. "Wha- Jesse, you can't even wa—"

"Just go!"

With a stumble, the large male got up and ran after the carts. Jesse turned around and backed up a few steps, waiting.

The ghast screeched and spat a fireball out, a little too insanely close to his face. Jesse brought up one of his crutches and struck it as hard as he could, returning it to its sender. The ghast was launched back by the fireball and cried one last time before starting to dissipate.

To make sure it didn't get back up, Jesse stabbed it with his crutch in the middle of its face and took it back out. The ghast evaporated, disappearing, leaving behind a single ghast tear in its place.

"I got the carts!" Axel hollered from behind. Jesse turned around and panted, staring at the ghast tear on the floor. "I... don't know how I killed it, but I did." Axel just smiled and gave him a thumbs up. "You still did it. That's pretty cool in my book. I've only heard of the Order killing ghasts."

"Speaking of the Order, we need to get going," he exhaled, picking up the tear. "No time to lose."

They went back into their carts and continued on, surveying the Nether as they rode by.

"Hey Axel," coughed Jesse.

"Yeah?"

"Do you think Lukas and Olivia are okay?"

"I'm pretty sure they are," Axel said, crossing his arms. "Olivia is tough, she can handle it. I don't know about Lukas, and I don't really care about him, but she's probably protecting him, too. Making some redstone thingamadoohickey like she always does."

"Probably. I'm just kind of worried. The Witherstorm was really close when we left. What if it caught up with them? What if they had to leave the temple? What if Gabriel couldn't—"

"Jesse, you're scaring me, too, man. I was just as worried about Olivia. Then you started saying a bunch of 'what if's' and my head started hurting. At this rate, maybe we should have just gone and looked for those wild berries."

"Yeah, you're right. I gotta focus on the task at hand. Can't think about failure now." Jesse sighed, exhaling thoroughly. "We can do this."

"Alright!" Axel smiled. "Man, I can't wait 'till we get to Boomtown. It's gonna be so exciting!"

"Wait, did you just say... 'Boomtown'?"

"Of course I did! What else did you think I said?"

A flash of a sign flew by Jesse's eyes and he buried his face in his hands. "Oh no."

The sign had the name 'Boomtown' on it written with different inks and had numbers as letters. There were also excessive exclamation marks after it.

"This place is not going to be good," he dwelled in his cart. "Did I really make the right decision?"

"Yes!" shouted Axel as they flew through the barrier, loud squeals coming from Jesse's mouth.

They fell from a sign in the air also with the name 'Boomtown' and landed on their faces. Getting up and patting the dust off, Jesse looked around in horror.

"What have I done to myself?"

~*Ω*~

Sorry for the long time to post this! (Again... As always...)

Only 950+ words compared to the 1500+ words I normally write since this was kind of a filler chapter ;^^

However, if you like the story so far, leave a star and a comment? <3

Thanks guys for reading SBHS! ^0^

Edit: ALSO THANK YOU FOR 4k READS AHHHHHH