Chapter four: The First Night

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We all got to work, collecting what we would need to survive the first night. Most of us collected wood. Some of us gathered dirt or other soft blocks to make some shelters out of. And I helped out where I could. I felt like a teacher at school, as I was telling people how to do stuff, what to do and what not to do and so on. After maybe a few hours in Minecraft time, (Minecraft time progressed very much differently than the real world. About every 1.4 minutes of real world was about an hour of Minecraft time, so what feels like days to people in the game it was probably only a few hours in the real world.) we had gathered a lot of wood, made some crafting tables and started making tools and weapons for everyone who wanted them.
I collected some seeds from some tall grass. "It's good for farming." I told Dom and said he should help me as he was a farmer in the real world. "It's a LOT easier here than in real life." I said, trying to persuade him.
He agreed and we both have some seeds in our inventories now (Inventories are like a backpack but you can't see it.).

After all the gathering, I taught people how to build a decent first night shelter. It didn't have to be pretty, but it should protect you. After it all our houses were made of dirt, grass, wood blocks and wood planks. There were 5 houses and about 15 of us, which meant that every house could have 3-5 people in it.
It would do.
As everyone else was building the houses, I went to a crafting table and built five chests, one for each house. Once the houses were done I placed a chest in every house and told everyone that whatever you don't really need you can put in the chest. What none of of us realized is the sun was starting to go down. That wasn't good as night time in Minecraft was monster time. "Alright everyone, get in groups and grab a house. We're packing in for the night!" I announced.
We got into groups of our 'close' friends and got inside a few minutes before the sun just set. I was thinking of building my own house real quick but London had other ideas.
"Oh no you don't. You're sticking with us." So I was dragged into the house that London chose. Surprise surprise Kelly, Petra and Allison were there too. It was one of the bigger houses but it makes sense they chose it as there was five people in it.
"Now what do we do?" Petra asked. That was an easy one. "We either get some rest, or wait the night out by keeping ourselves occupied." I responded, fairly sure five people could come to an answer.
The others started talking about stuff, but I was mainly quiet, waiting for something I could actually relate to and talk about with them. As the last of the sun winked away behind the horizon it got dark in the house which is when I realized something. "Torches." I said aloud.
"What?" Allison said.
"We need Torches. Monsters can spawn anywhere dark enough as long as a user isn't in the immediate area." I added, expanding on my idea.
"And how do we get those?" Petra asked.
"You guys wait here. I'll go get what we need to make them."
I moved to the door and checked that I had what I needed.
Sword? Check.
Pickaxe? Check.
Adrenaline in my blood? Definitely.
I was ready.
"I'll be back in a few minutes." I said as I opened the door and made my way out. I started to walk around and see if there were any small caves nearby. As luck would have it, there was a small depression in the ground and I could see stone as well as what I needed. Coal ore. 
I pulled out my pick (although it was only a wooden one, it could get stone and coal) and went down there. I hacked at some stone first, wanting to get better tools soon. After collecting 20 blocks I turned to get some coal. The black speckled blocks were a bit  tougher than plain stone blocks but with a little effort I was hacking away at the blocks without mercy.

That is, until I smelled something awfully foul and heard a loud moan.

Like with the cow earlier, by reflexes I dropped my pick and drew my sword in an almost fluid motion, as if I had done it a million times before, and spun around and store right at what was behind me. A zombie.
It shambled toward me in a offensive manner, which after playing Minecraft a lot, I knew would happen. I wasn't scared as all you really needed to defeat a lowly zombie was superior footwork, a weapon or tool of any kind, and decent reflexes. All of which I had. "Bring it on!" I challenged as I lunged at the zombie and quickly hit it with an over-hand strike which knocked it back a block or two.
It was momentarily stunned but I gave it no respite. I charged at it again and hit it with another over-hand hit, then swept my sword to the right catching him in the side and knocked him down and then I plunged my sword into the zombie forcefully. He let out a dying moan then disappeared in a small puff of smoke. The only evidence he ever existed was a few balls of experience points and a piece of rotten flesh. I had done it.
I had killed my first hostile mob.

I let the experience points flow into me and I felt myself get stronger somehow, but I left the rotting flesh where it lay. No way I'm lugging THAT around. I thought. I went back to mining, mined ten more blocks of stone then used the rest of my pick's durability on coal ore. It eventually broke with a Snap! and I called it quits and went back to the shelter. After letting myself in the door I announced, "I'm back."
"About time. I was beginning to think you had completely left us alone out here." Kelly responded sarcastically, but also with a slight chuckle.
"Nah. If I did, all of you guys would be hooped. Big time." I responded. I then added, "Anyway, I got what we need."
I then moved to the crafting table centered on a wall. I started to place wood planks in the positions to make sticks: two blocks, one on top of each other. After making some sticks I made some torches by placing one coal piece in the grid above a stick. We now had Torches.

[  ][  ][  ]      [  ][  ][  ]
[  ][□][  ]      [  ][●][  ]
[  ][□][  ]      [  ][|][  ]
  Sticks         Torches

I took them and placed one above the door and one on the far wall. As soon as I placed the first one the room was bathed in light but the other one was for insurance. "There we go. Let there be light!" I said enthusiastically.
"Nice job Jace. Now we can see each other well." Petra thanked.
"Speaking of, I should go give the other houses some light too."
"Makes sense." Allison said.

"Alright. I'll be back in a minute. Again." I said and went outside again, but this time to the houses. After a full tour I gave everyone torches and made sure everyone was safe and comfortable, then made my way back to my shelter. But on my way back, I saw London outside the door, looking at the moon. I was about to call out and ask what she was doing when I saw the unmistakable body of a skeleton, it's bow trained right on her.

"London! Look out! Skeleton!" I screamed as I drew my sword again.
Fortunately for London, but sort of unfortunately for me, when I yelled to warn her the skeleton noticed me instead and went to shoot me. As I rushed the skeleton he fired the arrow in his bow, but I dodged by spinning to my right. The skeleton was faster to the draw than I thought and fired a second shot and this shot was luckier, and it hit me in my right shoulder.
I yelled in pain but didn't falter and continued to rush him until I was within reach, which is when I leapt into the air and brought my wooden blade down on HIS shoulder. A critical strike to be sure, which dealt 50% more damage than a regular hit.
An eye for an eye, a shoulder for shoulder. I thought.
"Chew on that, Boney!" I half yelled at the skeleton, who was just recovering from the deadly attack it just experienced. Like the zombie earlier, I attacked relentlessly until all that was left was two arrows, a bone and a used bow. All of which I collected.

"Jace are you OK?" London asked.
"What?" I said, remembering that London was right there.
"Your shoulder. Are you OK?"
"Oh. That." I said looking down at the arrow which protruded from my shoulder.
I added, "Dont worry. It's -- I'm fine."
I then moved to pull the arrow out of me, and as I did so I winced at the momentary pain. It was out now and I put it in my inventory. I can use that later. London didn't say anything so I did. "Come on. Lets get inside... before anything else decides to jump us."
"Good idea." She said, glancing around the surrounding area almost fearfully.

Almost as soon as we got inside I felt tired all of a sudden. My adrenaline was wearing off. London must have noticed and acted accordingly.  She turned to everyone else and said, "We should get some sleep."
"Yeah. I'm tired." Allison said.
"Me too." Kelly added.
"Ditto." Petra said.
"I know we don't have any beds... so just try to get comfortable." I said, trying to sound sincere.
Everyone then found a comfortable resting position and started to doze off. I removed one of the torches to dim the room slightly, too.
As I was about to doze off I heard London say, "Hey, Jace?"
I responded, "Yeah?"
"Good night."
I chuckled slightly. "Good night, London."
And then I fell into a fitful sleep.

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