A Fault in the Code

Chapter 3

I close my eyes in hopes of sleeping. I don't know if I did sleep or not, but I am awakened by a bright light. So I must have slept. The sun is up. But when I look at the window, the sun is still far from rising. Instead I see the same thing I saw before.

It's the face. It's accompanied by a body. It looks block-like, kind of like mine, but its outfit is different. It has a teal blue shirt and indigo colored pants. And I realize that what's making that blinding light is his eyes. And they are staring right at me.

A sudden pain explodes through my head, and it causes me to fall down. I clutch my head and clench my teeth, as if it'll make the pain go away. As the pain starts to subside, I am able to sit up again, and once again look out the window at the man.

But he's not where he was before.

His face is inches away from the window, and his arms are reaching inside the house. I press myself against the opposite wall and once again close my eyes. That seems to always work. But as soon as my eyelids connect, I start to hear and see a jumble of letters that make absolutely no sense.

.EniRBoreH mA I

The words float across my vision and I can hear them being whispered to me by what sounds like a million voices that are trying to make my eardrums pop. Over and over again, for what feels like hours, the words are repeated to me. Then they are suddenly cut short, and are replaced my more gibberish.

.uOy yORTsEd Ot eREh mI

This repeats to me a thousand times, getting louder and louder with each repeated phrase, like the other one. And I can't bare it. I scream and scream until my hearing is only my own voice, and afterwards, I stop and open my eyes. The man is no longer there, and my eyes are wet.

My insides have gathered to the bottom of my stomach, and I feel like I'm about to vomit, but instead I just lay down and try to listen to the birds, even though there are none.

+++

I am awake until the sun rises, and I break a doorway into the dirt wall. Every monster I saw last night is on fire, some running to get covered by a tree, some running toward water. But most just burn and fall to the ground.

After about five minutes, the only monsters left are the ones who have run for cover. They don't dare come out in the sun to attack me. They're smarter than that.

I set my workbench out in the grass and start to try things. I craft some of my leftover wood and sticks into a pickaxe and search to find some stone.

After walking a while, I am at the foot of a giant mountain, it's top covered with snow. And in the side is a large, gaping hole that leads inside a cave.

I stare at the cave for a moment. What could go wrong in a cave? With my pickaxe in hand, I start walking in, unsure of what I'll find. I will say, stone in here is pretty abundant. I get lots, and then go deeper into the cave, knowing I'll find something more valuable.

As I walk through twists and turns, I can no longer see the openeing of the cave. I can't really see anything, for that matter.

And that's when I hear the growls.