by Zack Zombie
I was in a panic. I left the desk and ran around the shop trying to find Mr. Windup, but it was no use. The shop was so busy I could hardly make my way through the swelling crowd.
I decided I had to manage this order on my own. I ran back to my desk, put a sign on the top that said ‘CLOSED’ and made my way towards the workshop door at the back of the store. There was a small glass window in the top of the door. I could see that inside it was pitch black.
I pushed the door open and it clattered shut behind me. I flicked the light switch on the wall and the rows of lights flickered on, illuminating a hundred workbenches, each equipped with basic tools and a lamp. I pulled up a stool to the nearest bench, climbed up and put the piece of paper on the workbench. I clicked on the lamp and positioned it over the paper. I re-read the order as best I could, but the pencil had faded with the juice and my writing was really hard to read.
“100 robot soldiers. Each one 6 feet high,” I said out loud.
100 soldiers? That’s not so bad. It was only 10 am, so I knew with my building skills, I could get it done in no time.
I decided the first thing I was going to need would be the materials. I jumped down from the workbench and spotted the material rooms. I could feel my heart beating faster in my chest. The pressure was on. There was no way I was going to disappoint 100 poor kids. I knew there and then, I had to get the job done. Robot soldiers, here we come!
Chapter 5
Robot Soldiers Complete!
I threw open the door of the material storeroom as quickly as I could. The moment the door opened the lights came on inside and I dashed into the room.
In front of me were rows and rows of metal shelves, each containing sheets of plastic, wood and metal. Against the wall were trays of nails and screws. There was even a bench with some strange equipment.
The materials were pretty heavy, so I dragged them through the workshop and leaned them up against my workbench. Then, the real work began.
I thought I’d start off by making one and then, if that went well, I could use that as a model for the other ninety-nine.
The lady didn’t say what she wanted them to look like, so I had a hard time deciding how to start. I looked in the full length mirror on the wall and started talking to myself about what to do. All of a sudden, I got the really good idea of what they should look like. Then I started working.
I looked at the clock and finished my first robot soldier by almost 11am. The robot looked awesome. It towered into the air, almost hitting the ceiling.
“Okay!” I whispered to myself. “Now the production line begins!”
I cut out loads of body parts, heads, legs and arms and lay them out on every spare workbench surface I could find. Then, I ran around with the glue, fixing all the parts together. Then, I connected the eyes and the battery packs to power them. Finally, I had to glue on the hands and feet.
By the time I was finished, I had so much glue on me that my fingers were practically stuck together. I stood back to observe my work. It looked like at a Minecraft Army!
I ran to the sink, washed the glue from my hands and checked the time—it was just after 4pm. I ran out of the workshop, back into the toy shop and headed towards my desk. The shop was due to close at any moment and I was sure that the large, scary woman would be hovering there, waiting to collect her order. Sure enough, the woman was there and as impatient as ever!
“Ah! There’s the square young man!” the woman thundered to Mr. Windup who was standing beside her. “This is the boy who took my order. Are they ready for collection?”
I was out of breath, but nodded.
“Wonderful!” the woman boomed, looking around. “Where are they? Are they boxed up and ready to go?”
“Uh…they’re too big for boxes,” I said.
“What do you mean too big? Haven’t you got boxes large enough to take them?”
“I don’t think they make boxes that big,” I said.
The lady and Mr. Windup both gave me a really strange look. Did they have boxes that big? I thought. Well, there was only one way to find out.
“I’ll bring one out so you can take a look.”
I went to the back workshop and prepared one of the soldiers. I pushed the button on the robot’s back and its eyes glowed red.
She’s going to be so excited when she sees these!
It started marching through the workshop doors in front of me. As we got through the workshop doors, the lady gasped.
“What is this?!!” she yelled, “I said 600 soldiers, one foot tall!”
I pulled out the crumpled piece of paper from my back pocket and read out the order. “100 robot soldiers. Each six feet tall.”
“What? Stupid boy! Why would I want one hundred, six foot tall soldiers? They’re bigger than me! No, no! I ordered 600 robot soldiers that are one foot tall. Come on! Where are they?”
I turned and glanced back at the workshop.
“Out of the way!” the woman boomed. “I’ll come and collect them myself.”
The woman pushed past me and headed towards the workshop with Mr. Windup flapping after her.
I stood where I was and just watched as the woman pushed the door open and then almost fainted.
“My goodness! What a disaster!” she screamed. “This is terrible, absolutely terrible! The poor children of the town can’t have these. They’re useless!”
The woman thundered from the shop with Mr. Windup groveling behind her every step of the way. She pushed through the double door, becoming momentarily lodged, and then cannoned out into the street and out of sight.
Mr. Windup locked the doors behind her. All of the staff on the shop floor were just standing and staring at me.
“What have you done?” Mr. Windup asked.
“I did what she ordered. I’m sure I did.”
“Why would she order robots that were so large? Kids can’t play with those,” Mr. Windup said, disappointed.
After Mr. Windup mentioned it, the idea of six foot tall toy robot soldiers did seem a bit strange.
Mr. Windup took off his top hat, wiped his big forehead and sighed.
“Well, let’s get these useless robot soldiers to the dump at the back of the store. They can get picked up on Monday,” he said, signaling to his staff to help him carry them. I stepped forwards to help.
“Ah! I think you’ve helped enough for today,” Mr. Windup said, looking slightly upset. “Head home, Herobrine.”
I collected my scarf and made my way to the doors. I felt really bad.
I opened the door and prepared to close it behind me, but before I did, Mr. Windup called out to me.
“Hey, Herobrine. Merry Christmas.”
He smiled, trying to cheer me up after obviously seeing how upset I was. Then, he disappeared into the workshop with the rest of his staff and began lifting out the robot soldiers.
I hung my head and trudged off down the street towards the Lurker’s house. I couldn’t believe it. It was my first Christmas and it seemed that I’d ruined it for everyone.
Chapter 6
Kidnapped!
I stood outside the Lurker’s house as the sun set. I could see Lucy and her parents laughing and joking inside. I knew the moment I stepped into the house they’d ask me how my day was. I didn’t want to spoil the mood. They seemed so happy. I took a deep breath, walked up the steps to the porch and opened the front door.
“Hey! It’s Herobrine!” cried Lucy. “Come on in and join the fun!”
Lucy was dancing with her mom and dad to some Christmas songs in front of the Christmas tree.
“I’m okay, thanks. I think I’ll just head upstairs for a bit.”
“Don’t be silly!” said Mrs. Lurker, grabbing my arm and pulling me in for a hug. “It’s Christmas Eve. It’s time to relax a
nd enjoy yourself.”
I took off my scarf and threw it onto the couch.
“So, how did it go at the toy shop today?” Lucy asked with a big smile on her face.
“Okay.” I replied, trying my best to lie. “It was busy. I just want some time alone.”
I wandered through to the kitchen and out through the back door to the yard. I hung my head and sat on the bench. A few minutes later the door opened again and Lucy stepped out.
“What’s wrong?” she asked as she sat beside me and put her arm on my rectangular shoulders. “Bad day?”
I nodded. “I messed up a huge order for 600 poor kids. Now, they won’t get any Christmas presents and it’s all because of me.”
“Come on,” Lucy said. “It can’t be that bad!”
“I took an order that should have been for six hundred, one foot tall robot soldiers, but I made one hundred, six foot tall robot soldiers!”
“Oh boy. Yeah, that is pretty bad.”
I hung my head further. Lucy obviously didn’t know what to say next, so we both sat in silence.
I could feel my feet getting colder by the minute as they rested in the thin layer of snow on the paving.
Suddenly, Lucy sat upright beside me.
“You okay, Lucy?” I asked, seeing a strange, concerned look upon her face.
“No,” she replied. “What is that?”
I turned to see where Lucy was pointing. She was pointing at the weird pig-faced gnome statue in the yard. Except this time it was closer to the bench.
“I think it was some sort of weird Christmas tradition. Maybe your dad put it out here last night.”
Lucy got up from bench to take a closer look. She crouched down and stared into its eyes.
“I’ve never seen it before in my life,” Lucy said, looking over the object. “It looks a bit like you, Herobrine… all square and weird.”
“Gee, thanks,” I said.
Lucy sighed and then sat back on the bench beside me. “Guess Dad must have brought it. Creepy statue though. Don’t think Mom would approve.”
Lucy went to put her hand on my shoulder again, but before she could the bench suddenly tipped backwards. I climbed to my feet and shook my head. It was then that I noticed that the gnome statue was gone!
I looked around for it quickly, assuming we had knocked it over as we fell, but it wasn’t there. Then, something appeared behind me. It grabbed my arm, pulling me sideways, and it did the same to Lucy before she even had the chance to fully steady herself.
Next thing we know we’re being stuffed into a large sack.
“What’s going on?!!” Lucy cried.
“No idea.” I replied. “But I think that gnome has come to life and it’s attacking us!”
As the gnome creature dragged us through the garden towards the back gate I knew I needed to get a better look at our kidnapper.
I was able to cut a hole in the sack with my cold finger, and when I looked through it, to my amazement, I was staring straight into the face of a Zombie Pigman.
Before I had the chance to ask what it was doing here, it dragged us both through the back gate and into the dark passageway beyond. It moved behind the houses, pulling me and Lucy in the sack with him.
“It’s a Zombie Pigman!” I cried out.
“A Zombie what?”
“Pigman! It’s from my world. It must have been disguising itself as a gnome. That’s why it looked to weird.”
“What does it want with us and how did it get here?”
“I have no idea!”
The Zombie Pigman began to move faster. It looked over its shoulder to be sure we weren’t being followed. It appeared the Minecraft mob had a plan.
Suddenly, it stopped in front of a gate. It kicked the gate with its leg and pulled us up the stairs of a house. Then it kicked open a large door.
I was about to cry out for help when I couldn’t believe my eyes. As I looked through the hole in the sack, I could see that there, in the middle of the library of this house was a gigantic Minecraft Portal.
“We’re at the house again!” I whispered. “The one I came to on Halloween. The one with the portal… We’re in Herobrine’s Mansion!”
“Wait… You have a mansion?” Lucy asked.
“No, it’s not my mansion. It’s Herobrine’s Mansion.”
“But you are Herobrine,” Lucy said.
“Not me. The other Herobrine,” I said.
“There’s another Herobrine?” she asked.
But before I could answer, the Zombie Pigman dropped the sack on the floor. Then it grabbed it tightly again and moved with calm determination towards the glowing portal.
“The Zombie Pigman must have found a way of getting into your world,” I said.
“So what do we do now?” Lucy panicked.
At that moment I had two thoughts going around in my head. First, I was actually quite looking forward to going home again. And second, I was worried for Lucy. If we went through that portal she might never get home.
But before I could ponder my thoughts any longer, the Zombie Pigman jumped into the portal, taking me and Lucy with him.
“AAAAAHHHH!!!!” was all we could say as we went through the portal.
Everything was fuzzy, then it all went black. We had left the human world behind and what lay waiting for us on the other side filled me with complete dread and excitement at the same time.
Chapter 7
Into the Nether
My vision began to come back as we leapt out of the portal and into the Nether. The moment we hit the ground the Zombie Pigman let go of us and we tumbled out of the sack and onto the floor.
I looked across at Lucy. She had transformed into a box-shaped figure like me. I decided not to draw her attention to it. Being kidnapped by a Zombie Pigman and transported into the Nether was serious enough without alerting her to the fact that her body shape had completely altered.
“What do you want?” Lucy yelled, taking a step back from the Zombie Pigman. “Why have you kidnapped us and brought us here?”
The Zombie Pigman looked worried. I could instantly see now that he meant us no harm.
“My name is Piggers Swinely,” it said quietly. “But you can call me Piglet. Everybody else does. I didn’t mean to frighten you, but I had no choice but to do what I did.”
“What? You mean hiding in my parent’s garden pretending to be a creepy gnome, knocking us off a bench, putting us in a sack, dragging us into a weird house and pulling us into another world?” Lucy screamed.
“Uh…Yes, that!”
“Try to keep your voice down,” I said. “There could be some seriously hostile mobs around here. We don’t want to let them know we’re here.”
Lucy grunted. She now seemed as annoyed at me as she was at Piglet.
“I need your help,” Piglet continued. “We have a serious problem. Santa Claus has been captured by a Wither.”
The moment he said those words, Lucy’s mouth dropped open. I knew she had no idea what a Wither was, but if Santa had been captured and brought to the Nether on Christmas Eve then she knew things were serious.
“The Wither took him from your world while he was going over his list of naughty and nice kids. It dragged him through a portal and is holding him in a prison in the Nether Fortress.”
Lucy was in a panic. “If we don’t get Santa back to my world then he won’t be able to deliver everyone’s presents tonight! Christmas will be ruined!”
Lucy and I agreed there and then that we had to track down the Wither as quickly as we could. I knew the Nether well, because I used to live here with my parents. So I took the lead with Lucy and Piglet following behind.
The Nether was a treacherous place, with dark caverns and bubbling lav
a rivers. I took Lucy’s hand to keep her safe as the temperature in this dark world began to rise.
Then, in the distance I saw the Nether Fortress. I couldn’t see anyone near it, but as we looked up, flying above the Nether Fortress was a really big Wither. It looked really mad and appeared to have someone or something captured inside a prison.
“Santa must be in there,” I said.
“What is that thing?” Lucy asked.
“That’s a Wither,” I said. “It’s deadly, menacing and has really bad breath.”
“It has three heads!” Lucy cried.
“All Withers do,” I said.
“Where are its legs?”
“It doesn’t have any. It kinda just bobs around,” I added.
We began to move towards it slowly, hiding behind any rocks we could find. We finally entered the Nether Fortress and made our way to the prison. The Wither was hovering next to the prison really excited about its prize prisoner.
“How can we get a good look inside?” Lucy asked.
“We’ll have to distract the Wither,” I said.
“Squeak! I’m afraid!” Piglet squealed.
“Lucy, you wait here with Piglet. I’ll go over there and try to lure the three-headed mob away.”
I left Lucy and Piglet behind the prison and dashed off down another corridor in the Fortress. Then, I began making noises that echoed throughout the Fortress.
The Wither looked toward my direction. The noises got its attention and it decided to come and check them out.
As the Wither moved towards me, I peered carefully around the edge of the corridor. The Wither had moved away from the front of the prison and Lucy made her move. She crept quietly to the front of the prison and gazed in through the barred window in the door.