Against all odds (The Pack)

Chapter 6

Warnings: Slight blood

~Jerome's P.O.V.~

     "Rob! I'm back!" I call, jogging towards the wooden structure.

     The shelter Rob built is by no means big, but it's large enough they the three of us won't be cramped sleeping inside of it. It's a simple box shape, built of acacia wood, with a single door on the front. Two torches light the way, placed on either side of the door. And from this door, pops out the head of Rob.

     "Did you get everything?" He questions, stepping away from the door to let me in.
"Yeah, I had a bit of trouble finding a carrot, but I found a zombie in a cave and it dropped one." I explain, handing him the sugar from the sugar cane, and the carrot.
     "By the way have you seen Preston?" Rob checks, moving to set up his brewing stand on a single, raised block.
"No, why?"
"I'm just worried he hasn't come back yet. Something could have happened to him... And we would have no way of knowing." Rob mumbles, stuffing the netherwart into the tube sticking up from the stand. A small puff of steak roses from the tube as the netherwart starts to fuse with the water contained in three round bottles.
"I'm sure he'll be back, we still have..." I peek out the doorway, "a good hour left until sundown. And if he's in a cave he won't have a way to tell the time, so give him a few hours." I reassure him, pulling out a dirt block, placing it, and plopping down to rest.
"Yeah, I guess you're right." Rob mumbles, though I can tell he's thinking otherwise.

     But Preston doesn't come back. Not after half an hour. Not after one hour. Not even after two. And by that time, both Rob and I are nervously pacing around the room, wondering where on earth Preston could be. Because there's no way it's taking this long to find a single gold ore, spider eye, and brown mushroom.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going out to find him." Rob huffs, waltzing up to the door, and throwing it open.
"Wait!" I call in alarm, before he can just dive out and go try to find him.

Rob raises an eyebrow.

"I'm coming with you, and, we should probably put some armour on first. The sun is down, and I don't feel like being shot by a skeleton tonight."
Rob comes to his senses when he turns to look out the door, and sees the hordes of mobs roaming around. "I see your point."

     So we quickly equip ourselves. Rob slides on his iron armour, slings a bow and quiver across his back, and carries an iron sword in his hand. I pull on my full set of diamond armour, and latch my favourite diamond axe, Betty, in a loop on my belt. Then I grab a bow and quiver, slinging those over my back. Finally, I give myself about twenty pieces of raw fish to keep me form starving, before tossing the rest of my items in a chest Rob put in the corner of the room. Rob looks at me with wide eyes as I crunch into a raw fish, bone and all.

     "Is... Is that a raw fish?" He questions, nodding at the fish in my paw.
     "Yeah?" I reply, as if it's completely normal to be eating a raw fish, which it is. I take another big bite.
     "Ew gross. How can you eat that?!" Rob exclaims, digest evident on his face.
     "Ish relshy gud. Fou shful trfy sum." I mumble through a mouthful of fish.
     "What?"
     I sigh, swallowing, "I said, it's really good. You should try some. Besides, cooked stuff is nasty." I state, scrunching up my nose at the thought of the vile creature called 'cooked' fish.
     "You keep telling yourself that." Rob scoffs, rolling his eyes. "Now let's go!"

~~~

     "Duck!"

     Acting without thought, I immediately tuck my head in, and crouch slightly. Not two seconds later an arrow is whizzing mere inches above my head, and plunging into a creeper I hadn't noticed behind me. The creeper falls back, blood leaking from where the arrow is lodged into its green face, and gunpowder flying out from its now dead corpse.

     "Thanks, Rob!" I call, while at the same time hacking Betty into the shoulder of a zombie.

     The zombie gurgles in pain, and I heave Betty out, kicking the zombie to the ground where it lies motionless. My head then quickly snaps up as I catch sight, of what I believe, to be the shine of a spiders eyes. But something is off about the shine. It's not red... It's orange. And it's small, distant, and flickering. It's a torch, placed on the ground in front of... Is that a cave? And as far as I know nobody is living in this biome... And we haven't seen any small villages or houses... So that means...

    "Rob!" I holler, drawing his attention from a spider trying to lunge at him.
     "Yeah!?" He shouts back, stabbing the spider in the face without looking.
     "Look over there!"

Rob follows my pointed finger to the torch, flickering a good four chunks away. We exchange one quick glance, before immediately taking off in that direction, cutting down mobs as we go. We reach the mouth of the cave, pausing momentarily to survey the area and catch our breaths. Then, without hesitation, we dive into the cave system. There's a neat little path of torches laid out for us, and random intervals, no doubt placed by Preston so he could find his way back up. Guess that plan failed. I joke darkly to myself, tailing after Rob who has taken the lead.

We bound through the seemingly endless cave system, darting around twists and bends, darting past mobs, and hurdling over any blocks that happen to be in our path. Up ahead, there's yet another turn in the path. Rob, skidding and turning, rounds the corner at breakneck speed. I follow the shine of his iron armour, pivoting around the ninety degree turn at an equally quick speed. And instantly, I see the drop. The drop into the gaping ravine that Rob is bolting head on to, unaware of the danger. With a start I realize he's not paying attention to his surroundings, only the path of torches in front of him.

"ROB STOP!" I bellow, skidding to a halt, pulling out my bow, and firing a low arrow.

The arrow flies low to the ground, skimming through the space between Rob's pumping legs, and sending him to the ground in a flash. He lets out a small shout of surprise, curling in his head and tumbling like a barrel, finally coming to a stop only blocks before the cliff. A small stream of dust flies up from behind him, which is swished away in my tailwind as I rush to Rob's side.

"Rob, are you okay?!" I yell, kneeling by his side and helping him sit up.
He groans, rubbing his head and readjusting his helmet, "Yeah I'm fine... But what was that all about?"
"Oh, Nothing much... Just kinda y'know, saved you from falling to your death." I state, sarcasm dripping from my voice as I jerk my head towards the ravine.
Rob looks behind himself, eyes widening in shock. "That's... A big drop."
"Yep."
"Thanks... And smart tactic by the way, aiming an arrow between my legs to trip me."
I smile, "Something I learned in the Mutant kingdom. It's a great way to catch up from someone trying to run away from you."

Rob pushes himself to his feet, dusting off his armour, and turning to where the ravine begins. Our eyes then follow a narrow, one wide cobble stone bridge, only stretching halfway across the ravine before stopping abruptly. My stomach does a somersault as I realize what this very well could mean.

"Jerome... Do you think..." Rob trails off, speaking quietly and fearfully.
"That Preston fell?"

Rob nods uneasily.

"No. Preston didn't accidentally fall..."

Before Rob can question my logic, I grab the torch placed by our feet, inch my way onto the bridge, and hold the flame to cobble. I have great night vision, which is why I managed to spot the dark, dried liquid splattered on the cobblestone. But now, in the torchlight, Rob can see the blood too. Preston's blood.

"...he was knocked off by a mob."

~~~

Question of the chapter:

What are Rob and Jerome going to do now?

My answer: 🤐