Alex readied her bow, lodging the smooth arrow into the tiny little indent of the wood where it fit nicely. She drew back, her muscles straining from the pressure, her arms shaking. Her chest held tight, she held her breath. She released the arrow and watched as it flew good ways above the target, missing it by an elephant's stride. She groaned, smacking herself in the face and shaking her head. She shielded her eyes from the sun and squinted at the target. She refused to move any closer than she already was, which wasn't that far, and still seemed to be making no headway.
She clicked her tongue, noticing then that her mouth was quite dry. Alex reached to her inventory and took a great swig from her flask, feeling slightly refreshed. Sometimes she wished the sun would just disappear. She exhaled once releasing the bottle from her lips, wiping the excess with her sleeve. Steve walked up from behind her, analyzing the shot she had just made.
"You know I'll never make a good archer," Alex sighed. Steve shrugged. "I think that one was at least a little closer than the last." Alex rolled her eyes, reaching into the canister that held all of her newly-fashioned arrows and taking aim again. Steve watched her, jiggling his leg.
"Try angling it a bit farther down than usual," he offered. She did so and fired the arrow. It went straight into the dirt. She turned around and shot him a glare. Steve held up his hands in defense. "I never said it would work." Alex opened her mouth to retort something that would have earned her an R rating but stopped when she saw a looming figure lingering by the trees.
"You can stop pretending to hide," she said. Luke came closer to the archery range, taking a glance at the cartoonish figure that resembled a target. It was shaped as a person, with the standard coloured lines showing key points of the body; heart, brain, knees, the pinky toe.
"I hope you're not practicing to hit me," he smirked.
"Don't tempt me," Alex said, tone unwavering. Luke clicked his tongue and took a breath. The leaves crunched against his shoes, and very loudly at that. Alex tried to ignore them, taking aim again, and - crunch crunch snap. She lowered her weapon and faced him. "Can you go be revolting somewhere else?"
He was unfazed. "I only came to help you out." Alex scoffed, taking aim at the target again. Luke frowned. "I'm serious. Call it, uh, my way of apologizing." She fired, the head of the arrow lodging itself over the target's head again, though this time it grazed the figurative hairs on its head. She exhaled and spoke, "You're doing a pretty poor job so far." Steve took this opportunity to glance at his wrist and cough, tapping his foot impatiently.
"Ah, it seems like it's about time to check on the, uh, animals. Yes, animals." He spun around and trotted away with more swish in his hips than a dancer. Alex made a noise that sounded like a drowning snake. Thanks, she thought bitterly. She tried to disregard it and aimed again. This time, she was interrupted by the same buffoon as before.
"No, no, no." Luke shook his head. "Your stance is all wrong. Look, if you want to actually shoot something worthwhile you have to have the right posture."
"Oh, yeah?" Alex narrowed her eyes into slits at him. "How about you try? I've never once seen you use a bow before." He lifted his eyebrows up a little and took Alex's bow with a firm stub. He slipped one of her arrows and took his stance. Alex crossed her arms, praying that he would miss. He breathed, pulled back and launched the arrow right beside where the supposed heart would be. He turned around, smirking. Alex's lips were thinned into a chalk line. She took the bow back from him without a word, gently slipped out another arrow, the sound akin to that of sharpening a blade, and took aim again. Luke watched her intently, instantly tutting and telling her to straighten up, look forward, keep your body in a horizontal line. Don't rotate your elbow like that - and for heaven's sake I'd better not see you move that toe up any further.
"What do you think they're doing?" Cadence asked Ace as they walked by, bundles of wheat in both arms. Ace squinted into the distance, huffing a bit of a laugh. He pulled Cadence along and grinned. "Maybe they're finally getting along."
Cadence frowned. "I doubt it."
"Oh, for the love of - Steve, we can't just plan something like this out yet! Alex barely has a grasp on the bow yet, and she won't settle for a new sword!" Lucas followed him around the house, pressing the matter at hand earnestly.
"Herobrine isn't going to wait, Lucas." Steve paled. "We have to make a plan, get a move on, something. Anything! I can't stand just sitting by and waiting for him to come and - "
"What good will it do if we're down one of our best fighters?" Lucas stared Steve hard in the eye. Steve pursed his lips, brow kneading together, as he sharply turned to the armour chest. He fumbled through it, counting the amounts of what they had. Clearly, he was going to have to make more. Lucas kept pestering him. "Steve, I know how worried you are, how we all are, but we'll all be killed if we run out there blindly! Let's at least take a couple days to plan this out."
"A couple days?" Steve looked at him, bewildered. "In less than half that time he could be here, ripping our door right out the ground. We can't stick around for that." He slammed the chest shut, strutting to the next.
"You're being unreasonable," Lucas stepped in front of him, and the two did a doe-c-doe around each other for a moment. Steve sighed, running a stub through his hair. "Please let me through," he said. Lucas stayed firm in his stance. Steve glowered at him, sending sparks that threatened to light the place on fire his way. Lucas clenched his fist, motionless. Steve finally yelled out in frustration, pushing Lucas out of the way and moving along himself. Lucas fell to the ground with a defining thud, and within moments another face popped in from the bedroom, curious.
"Everything alright?" Ace glanced from Lucas to Steve.
"If I can't talk some sense into this blasted arse, maybe you can." Lucas rubbed his tailbone. Steve ignored the comment and continued filtering through chests, this time doing a count of the weapons they had. Still not enough. Ace took a breath and sauntered into the room uncertainly.
"Steve?" he approached him cautiously. "What are you doing?"
"Taking inventory," he said quickly. "we need a lot more than I initially thought, and I don't think we have quite enough armour to spread around to all of us for the journey."
"What journey?"
"Defeating Herobrine, of course. Or at least getting ourselves as far away as we can from him. We'll need as much protection and food as we can carry to last us." He muttered something unintelligible to himself and closed the chest rapidly. He rubbed his stubs together, tapping his foot against the wooden floor. He was like a rabbit with all the constant movement.
"Steve, when was the last time you slept?" Ace noted the bags under his eyes.
"If I can get all this prepared, we can surely leave tonight, or tomorrow morning if we want to be safe...but who can be safe, in these times? We may be safer at night than any closer to him..." Lucas and Ace exchanged expressions. They both more or less had the same thought.
Before any of them could act, a noisy duo burst through the front door. Alex was looking rightfully pissed, Luke trailing her like an unpleasant smell. He was going on about something relating to treating a string like a cradle when he stopped mid-sentence and saw the scene that had unfolded. "Ah," was all that came out of his mouth. Alex passed out of her anger and gazed at Ace, then Lucas, and finally her eyes rested on Steve, who was currently pacing the room as though he were running a marathon.
She approached him, acting as though this were a regular occurrence. "Steve," she said curtly. He paid her no mind. She exhaled and spoke again. "So, you didn't just leave us for the sake of spiting me after all." She paused, then continued. "It's no use, we don't have enough material to work with at the moment."
"Then we'll just mine for more. Use stone if we have to, leather in the worst case - "
"Steve," Alex said firmly.
"We have to get a move-on. If we don't then he'll - "
"Steve!" Alex thundered, her voice commanding the attention of any who were so unlucky to fall victim to it. He stopped. She touched his shoulder gently. "Come on, you desperately need some sleep." He was immobile. She tugged him along, but he refused.
"You don't understand," he said. "he'll kill us all, tear up the ground..."
"No, he won't. Trust me, it'll - "
"YOU DIDN'T SEE HIM!" Steve shouted, looking more disheveled than ever. Alex flinched, releasing his arm. He trembled. "YOU WEREN'T THERE, YOU DIDN'T LOSE YOUR BEST FRIEND, YOU DIDN'T SEE HIS EYES - his glowing eyes..." He faltered, falling to the ground and holding his head. Alex caught her breath and knelt down beside him.
"You're right," she said. "You're right. I wasn't there. But Steve, if we ever want a chance against this thing, this supernatural force, then we all need to be at our best, right?" He nodded. She went on. "I'll keep working on my archery if you promise to take a nap. Just a teensy one, alright? An hour, just an hour. Let us handle getting ready for a journey of any kind from now on. You get some rest, make sure you're all strong and ready, and then we'll head out, okay? Yeah, that's it...come on, right through here." She lead him into the bedroom, taking small steps. No one else dared to speak a word. They stood in awe and watched as Steve and Alex disappeared around the corner. After a few minutes of glancing at each other and waiting, Alex came back out, looking relieved.
"He's asleep," she said. "Crashed as soon as he hit the pillow." A steady exhale from everyone in the room.
"What caused him to go like that?" Lucas asked. "He wasn't even making sense."
"That was mostly the lack of sleep, I think." Alex reasoned. "Don't forget the entire ordeal he went through to get here. I think it would give anyone nightmares. Not to mention, he had to leave Rufus behind. They were close after we came back."
"He will be okay, right?" Ace gazed concernedly to the room beside him. Alex was silent for a moment.
"I hope so," she said. A grim haze lingered in the atmosphere, stifling the already stuffy room. One by one, each of them dispersed to their own tasks, unsettling thoughts poking at their minds.
Rufus had his nose pressed against the dirt, pushing out the grass and snorting a good chunk or two of muck while he was at it. His back leg hovered in the air, a throbbing pain coursing through him, steady as a heartbeat. He had gotten used to this by now. What was more interesting was the smell he had just discovered. Smell? It didn't smell anything itself, but it was something that could be smelled with a big snoof of his nose. Smelled like...mud? He loved mud! Mud was troublesome to get off, but it usually meant...water!
Rufus' tongue dangled out of his mouth as he panted, trotting over to the little pond he had found. He drank in great slurps, the cool water soothing on his throat. Once he had quenched his thirst, he looked around. Nothing but the quiet and trees. He got in the water, whimpering as he soaked his back leg. Maybe this would help. Maybe just until he got home, found his owner. He missed his owner, his Papa. He never did come back from that shadowy place. Rufus placed his head on the ground sadly. That other man had taken care of him since he and the red-haired girl came back. He called them Dirtman and Strawberrywoman. That's what they both smelled like, anyway. He thought they were adequately named.
The water was cooling on his body, unfortunately not warm to his comfort level, but enough so that his leg was starting to go numb. Maybe that was bad. The sun was dropping from the sky again. Rufus wasn't concerned, though, since it always bounced back up a while later. But when the sun was gone, monsters came out, like Deadman and Porkman with the arrows that really hurt. Rufus didn't have anywhere to go to be safe - even the top of the tree wasn't always safe! He sighed and licked his nose. There was a low rumbling in his head. He lifted it and shook. No, not just his head. Noises don't like to stay in your head.
Rufus climbed out of the water, ears lowering and fur standing on end. He growled, the rumbling getting louder. When suddenly - crash! A tree exploded right in front of him! He flinched, deciding it was better to keep quiet. He limped away behind a set of trees as others sprung up little ways away. He sniffed, instantly recoiling. It was Badman. He didn't really smell like something he knew, but Rufus knew that stench had to be him. He hurt Dirtman! He growled lowly again at the very thought. He watched from his hiding place as the figure came through the trees, sucking them up into a hole that seemed to exist only around his body.
Rufus whimpered. Even the dirt and stone was being sucked up, disappearing into the black void around Badman. Rufus looked behind Badman, only to see that what he left behind was fire. A liquid fire that spurted hot sparks that burned his nose from time to time. He had to move. Rufus quickly trotted away, following his nose, the smell of dirt, strawberries, and a little bit of B.O. his homing beacon.
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