by Mark Mulle
Oh, man…A man bowled into me a few seconds later and I was dragged away in handcuffs. Just perfect. All of the people gathered around stared at me with fear and I looked down at the floor as I was taken out through a back door. The security guard shoved me out into the narrow alleyway behind the building and closed the door behind us. As I began to feel suspicion about this situation, the man spoke.
“You even survived the beating and the zombies? You’re something else.” He pulled something out from a hidden sheath and I took a few steps back. A knife. “Our organization is sick of you. Time to finish you off.” I looked at his belt then and saw the baton hanging there. No weapon and my hands cuffed behind my back…this fight couldn’t be more unbalanced, I thought, as the enemy began to corner me against the far wall of the alley. He threw himself forward at me and slammed me against the cold stone. My head hit the wall and I felt myself seeing stars as my hands fought to loosen themselves from the cuffs. It was useless. “Yeah, don’t bother. Time to die.”
The knife came whistling forward toward my gut and I knew it was now or never.
Lifting my knee as sharply as I could, I kicked the attacker’s wrist and knocked the blade to one side before stretching my leg and catching him in the chest. The blow made him stumble backwards and I ran, escaping from the alley in seconds and bumping into some people which led me to fall to the ground. The fear and shock of seeing a dirty and hurt man in handcuffs running from a dark and lonely alley seemed to be enough to cause some chaos: before long there was noise all around as people stared and pointed.
He’s not done, though.
The man roared as he smashed past two bystanders and came at me with the blade, slashing.
“I will not fail like the others, you shall fall!” Shouting turned to screams as everyone ran at the sight of the blade. I dodged each attack by inches and rolled out of the way of a particularly vicious strike. Still, he was faster and in better condition than me. The man knocked my legs from under me with a swift kick and pushed me back to the floor as put me in a chokehold. “Oh, this is going to be fun.”
I fought for air but it was useless and I realized that with each passing second, a horrible fate was approaching: I was dying. The thought of never finding out who these men were and why they had assassinated the King was terrible as I lay there, each breath becoming harder and harder to take. My field of vision began to darken and fade, and I felt my last breaths escaping me. It’s all over.
The last thing I heard was shouting and screaming, and my attacker shuddered once, twice and his grip failed. Somehow, I knew something good had happened but I was too dizzy and weak to realize what. My eyes closed all of a sudden and I just let the world go.
Chapter Six
“Commander,” a voice said, and my eyes opened slowly.
“What’s going on? Why are you calling me Commander?” I felt terrible, as if I had just come back from death. I was in a hospital room and a black-haired woman stood near the window. “Is that you, Mary?”
She turned and nodded with a smile. “You should be dead. Very dead. Yet here you are. Please, tell me how you did it?”
I felt something similar to suspicion in her words and it felt uncomfortable. To come so far and survive so much, and now they think I was somehow involved?
“Watch yourself,” I said aggressively, “Almost sounds like an accusation.” My head hurt and I felt paranoia taking control. What if she’s in on it as well? Maybe she’s here to finish me off?!
She stared at me then with a funny face, and I felt embarrassed at my thoughts. We had known each other for so long, it was practically impossible that she’d do something like that.
“Don’t be stupid, Will. I’ll forgive you because you’ve been through a lot and you probably hurt your head. We might have a lead on our enemies soon; something awesome happened thanks to your sacrifice.” I shrugged exhaustedly and waited for her to continue. “That guy who was attacking you, we put some arrows in him…but he’s still alive. We’re waiting to question him.”
Before anyone could stop me, I sat up and began removing the medical equipment from my body. I turned and put my feet on the cold floor dizzily.
“I must be there,” I said, and Mary cried out for a doctor.
Whatever the doctor thinks, I don’t care. I must be there to hear what the criminal has to say. We must stop them, whatever it takes.
With one last useless shout, Mary tried to make me stop. Then she realized it was a better idea to just help me out of the place.
“Look, this idea is pathetic. But I won’t leave you alone like this. Come on, I’ll take you to where he’s being held.” She stopped all of a sudden. “There’s something you haven’t asked.”
“Hmmm,” I thought, my mind still hazy from the previous events, “Oh, The King!”
Mary nodded. “He’s…he’s alive. He made it, somehow. Apparently your sudden pounce warned him and he was able to move a few inches to the right. The arrow lodged into his back but didn’t pierce his heart. It seems that you’re a hero, Commander. Let’s talk about that afterwards anyway, time to interrogate our guy.”
With a triumphant smile on my face, we left the hospital and made our way to the Police Department.
As I entered the Police Department, I wondered if I was going to get applauded like last time I had saved the King and Queen. It had been an excellent feeling, though a bit embarrassing.
Nothing of the sort happened.
Some officers glanced over at us as we entered but there was a different mood to the air. The city was getting very tense and dangerous, a place full of enemies that could easily be our neighbors, our co-workers and the people who we called ‘friends’. Trust was falling apart in the Royal City, and I knew that the enemy was enjoying himself watching us turn on each other.
That could end today, I thought as I headed to the very back of the building where the holding cells were. I called one of the cell guards over and asked him to give me the prisoner’s files before I went into the interrogation room.
“Here you go, boss,” he said as he came back. It felt strange to be their superior now, after having worked with many of them on assignments and inside the building. The King had made a big decision and I could begin to imagine there might be some who weren’t happy about it. I’ll find out later, anyway. The criminal record on the man waiting to be interrogated was quite short, since he was something of a ghost. There was, however, an interesting detail. “Okay Mary, let’s go inside.”
The assassin who had been posing as a security guard looked up from the table he was handcuffed to as the both of us entered. He had an amused expression on his face. Let’s see how funny you find this when we’re done, I thought.
“Well, hello! Chief ‘Three-times-lucky’ is here in the flesh!” The man’s dark eyes shone as he looked at me and he flashed a smile. His powerful frame was intimidating but I wasn’t about to back down. “Tell me, how does it feel to be so fortunate?”
“Excellent,” I replied with a grin, “I mean, who’d have said we’d capture you so easily?” The man’s slimy grin was wiped right off as I allowed myself to chuckle in his face.
“You’re going to prison for a long time,” Mary said with a soft voice. “You should consider helping us with the investigation; it might help you have a shortened sentence.”
“I’ve been to prison, I’m not afraid. As long as I can keep you from finding out the truth, I don’t mind at all.” George, his name was. He had been a security guard for a decade, and had been well-behaved except for an incident in which he got into a fight. Overall, he didn’t fit the profile for someone who would kidnap and beat up a police officer. He didn’t fit the evil cult member profile at all.
He could be easily exploited. “Oh, Mary. If only he knew.”
Mary nodded and smiled sadly. “He’s clueless. ‘I don’t mind at all.’ Should we tell him what happens apart from him getting locked up?
“We start to watch your fam
ily,” I said immediately. “First it’s just a ‘keep watch’ sort of thing but it’ll get worse as more time passes. We’ll follow them home; make sure the children aren’t going anywhere they shouldn’t. We might feel the need to bring one or more of your family members in for another interrogation…” I winked at him then.
“You stay away from—”
I got really close to him and interrupted him with a whisper, “Maybe I could even ask one of my criminal friends to pay your family a visit and see if they know anything.” George’s eyes widened at the sound of that. “You know, force an answer out of them.”
“No, please…”
“You better start talking,” Mary said thoughtfully. The guy cracked then.
“Fine, don’t hurt my loved ones!” He sat back, looking depressed. I kept an eye on his body language and he was telling the truth. I had known from the beginning that the man had a weakness. We had just dedicated ourselves to exploiting it. “What do you want to know?”
I nodded slowly; this was just what I needed. “Tell us who you work for.”
The man in front of me became tense as he wondered how to reply to that, but then I blurted a name out. Jessica.
“Please,” he shouted softly, “Leave my loved ones alone. I…”
“Your plans involved many loved ones and innocents. Why should I listen to your begging? You’re going to get it just like everyone else your people have hurt have…Unless you can give me your leader’s identity.”
The man tensed slightly and looked away. He was sweating and trembling slightly. I asked if he was okay and he nodded, looking at me with thought.
“I…They’ll hurt me. They’ll hurt me bad.”
“We can protect you,” I said.
“You cannot protect anyone. Not from them.”
I slammed the knife down on the table before he could even move and both he and Mary cried out in shock. The blade was inches away from his cuffed hands.
“I’m not playing games here. Think about what you’re saying next.” I pulled out another blade and spun it in my hand. The universal sign of warning, a shining piece of metal being brandished.
George crumbled then. It was all over, his resistance was gone. “You thought you’d defeated him so easily. The Champions, they did their part…but you can’t believe it ended so easily, right?” Mary and I glanced at each other in confusion. He couldn’t be talking about…“What’s with those faces? You know exactly what I mean.”
“Herobrine…”
“Of course. He’s coming back. We made sure of that.”
I did not know what to make of it. He couldn’t be lying about it…
“Please, tell us more.” Mary looked deeply worried about George’s words. This meant terrible things for the Minecraft World if it was true. George looked away at a wall. He seemed to feel uncomfortable all of a sudden.
“I’ve said too much. Your threats are nothing compared to what will happen to me now. Let me tell you something before it’s over: you will never succeed. Herobrine will only come back stronger and accomplish his desires. Forget about the army of slaves, he has new plans this time. He will succeed. If you are given the chance to surrender, please do so.” He looked at me then and managed a nervous smile. “Please take care of my family and loved ones, at least do it because I helped you with this investigation. Good luck.”
Mary and I stood there, clueless as to why he spoke with such finality.
Suddenly the roof came crashing down, Mary screamed, George closed his eyes, and the flash of a blade ended it all.
Chapter Seven
The doctor came out of the emergency unit and shook his head.
He’s gone.
The assassin had been sent with one job and one job alone. Eliminate George. The savage slash had killed the prisoner before he could even take a breath, and his killer had thrown his weapon aside right after. I knocked him to the ground and arrested him but it was unnecessary, he had completed his task. Mary had slumped to the ground in shock.
“One second we were talking to him, the next…” she said from beside me looking very confuse. “I don’t understand, that assassin didn’t even care about creating an escape route. It was just get in and kill him, wow…”
I stood up and walked away from her, running my hands through my hair. This was insane. Herobrine, back? Impossible, my mind said. But it was what George had died for. I didn’t doubt his words for a single second, he had been telling the truth.
“We have to speed this investigation up. Everyone in the city has to be seen as a possible suspect of the enemy’s cult. Everyone. The King and Queen have to be properly guarded, especially after the attack. Herobrine won’t be stupid and attack head-on this time. Also, we must find out everything about his new form and strategy.” I paused and shook my head. “I still can’t believe this.”
Though my police force awaited me back at the station, I needed these few minutes out here in the hospital. We weren’t safe anywhere really. Rumors were spreading that soon the Queen would bring our armies back from where they were, so that they could guard the city from…from itself. Mary placed a hand on my back and shook her head.
“When you leave this corridor, don’t show anyone else that face. Many want to see you weakened and full of doubts. It’s your job to show them that you’re much stronger than what they thought. Especially if we’re going to regard them all as possible suspects.”
The King had done something very risky in appointing me Head of the Police Force but I was starting to feel that he had made the right choice. If there was something I wanted to do, it was protect our people. If Herobrine was truly coming back or already here, well, I would just need to plan and act on how to stop him and his soldiers before everything got much, much worse.
The worst news was still to come though.
The officer came running down the corridor to where I stood and Mary sat. He was young and afraid; it was clear on his face. He was panting from the exertion and I felt nervous at the fact that he was here, so far from the Police Department.
With a nervous look at us both, his eyes went wide and he trembled as he began to speak.
“Sir, ma’am. There have been attacks…”
“Yes, we know. Something big is happening in this city.”
“No,” the young man said, “You don’t understand.” I shrugged and felt my nerves getting tense.“It wasn’t just in this city. There have been murders…all around the world and affected every single race.”
“What do you mean? Is there any other information?”
“Yes but I don’t think either of you will like it.”
“Just talk!” Mary snapped and the police officer shrugged.
“Forty minutes ago, we began to experience issues on our screens within the city. Quick contact with the Villagers in their capital city told us that we weren’t the only ones. By twenty minutes, we had communicated with other races and they, too, were receiving strange interference.” He looked away nervously, “Thing is, fifteen minutes later, just after hearing of our case, the communication system restarted and I was able to catch a flash of something just as the screens turned on.”
“What?” I asked.
The police officer threw a picture of the screens onto the table and I picked it up nervously. Only then did I realize how bad it was.
The shining, white eyes looked back at me and I could almost feel as if Herobrine was right there, inside the picture. My skin chilled and I knew that something enormous was coming, whether from the outside or the in.
“Let us do what we need to do to stop our enemy. We are the force the people need right now. Let’s see what happens next. Herobrine vs. the World, part 2.”
Mary made a nervous face.
“Time to find out if we have hopes left for a future.”
My burn scars itched, and I looked away from her at a window.
Very soon, I thought, we will definitely find that out.
TO BE CONTINUED
About the Author
Mark Mulle is a passionate Minecraft gamer who writes game guides, short stories, and novels about the Minecraft universe. He has been exploring, building, and fighting in the game ever since its launch, and he often uses in-game experiences for inspiration on creating the best fiction for fellow fans of the game. He works as a professional writer and splits his time between gaming, reading, and storytelling, three hobbies and lifelong passions that he attributes to a love of roleplaying, a pursuit of challenging new perspectives, and a visceral enjoyment the vast worlds that imagination has to offer. His favorite thing to do, after a long day of creating worlds both on and off the online gaming community, is to relax with his dog, Herobrine, and to unwind with a good book. His favorite authors include Stephen King, Richard A. Knaak, George R. R. Martin, and R. A. Salvatore, whose fantasy works he grew up reading or is currently reading. Just like in Minecraft, Mark always strives to level up, so to speak, so that he can improve his skills and continue to surprise his audience. He prefers to play massive multiplayer online games but often spends time in those games fighting monsters one on one and going solo against the toughest mobs and bosses he can manage to topple. In every game, his signature character build is a male who focuses mostly on crafting weapons and enchanting, and in every battle, he always brings a one hander sword and a shield with as much magical attributes as he can pour into them. Because he always plays alone, he likes to use his game guides to share all the secrets and knowledge he gains, and who know—he may have snuck some information into his fiction as well. Keep an eye out for his next book!
Other books by this author
Please visit your favorite eBook retailer to discover other books by Mark Mulle
Diary of a Brave Iron Golem
Book 1: The Village Protector
Book 2: Attacked by the Wither