System Overload

by Mark Cheverton

  Suddenly, a loud sorrowful wail floated out of the tunnel before them. Terrible moans filled the chamber and echoed off the stone walls over and over, making it sound like it was coming at them from all sides. Soon it became clear that angry zombie-growls were coming out of another tunnel. Then another sounded with the scratching of claws against stone.

  Finally, as if on command, all the tunnels were filled with zombie moans, and they seemed to be growing louder. The smell of decaying flesh grew more intense and hit them all. It was overwhelming and made Gameknight gag. They stepped back from the opening as the moaning growls continued to increase in volume.

  Then the first of the monsters emerged from a tunnel near the portal room. It was a huge zombie that jingled like the sound of broken glass clinking together as it stepped out from the shadows.

  “The Fool has come to join us … how nice,” a bombastic voice said, filling the chamber with thunder.

  “Xa-Tul,” Gameknight growled, immediately recognizing the zombie king.

  Suddenly, huge numbers of zombies began to emerge from every tunnel, a hundred from each dark passage.

  “IT’S A TRAP!” the User-that-is-a-user yelled. “Everyone, back the way we came in.”

  Zombies charged out of the tunnel before them, their angry growls filling the air. Gameknight sprang forward and attacked. His dual swords were a blur as he threw himself into battle, his body moving purely by instinct, without thought or fear. Many monsters succumbed to his rage as he fought, but the passage was just too wide for him to stop the overwhelming flow of the mob. Zombies slipped past him and tried to attack from behind.

  Crafter, leading a set of troops, surged forward and blocked the passage in response. Those that had slipped behind Gameknight were overtaken and quickly destroyed.

  “Gameknight, we need to get out of here,” Crafter said. “All of the tunnels are flooded with zombies. We have to get back to the entrance before we’re all trapped in this zombie-town.”

  But Gameknight couldn’t hear; he was lost in the heat of battle. Slashing with his iron sword, he destroyed a monster on his left, then quickly shifted his attack to the monster on his right. Moving from zombie to zombie, the User-that-is-not-a-user had turned into a whirling machine of destruction.

  Suddenly, something thumped him on the back of the head. Turning, he found Hunter standing there with her bow held high, ready to whack him again.

  “We need to get out of here, you idiot,” she said. “Now quit playing with your zombie friends and RUN!”

  She reached out and pulled him away from the monsters, pushing him across the zombie-town, toward the tunnel they had used to enter the cavern. Thankfully, there were no monsters coming out of that passage, but the ones closest to it had realized it was the NPCs’ only chance of escape and were now trying to cut them off. Hunter and Stitcher’s flaming arrows streaked through the air and struck the green monsters.

  Strangely, the flaming arrows stuck out of their bodies for a moment, then, only after a few seconds, the zombies flashed red with damage, and finally caught fire. They should have instantly gone up in flames, Gameknight thought as he watched. Why was there a delay? More warriors pulled out their bows and added their arrows to the sisters’ attack, everyone still running back toward the exit. Many other NPCs had noticed the delay their weapons had in causing damage as well. It was as if the Minecraft server couldn’t keep up.

  As he ran, Gameknight suddenly realized they didn’t have everyone with them that they’d come with. Herder! He turned around to look back at the warriors that had gone on to investigate the portal room. He spotted Herder, warriors, and wolves, climbing the hill at the center of the chamber. The zombies, directed by their king, were flowing into the cavern and circling the hill, cutting those NPCs off from the rest of the army.

  Gameknight could see Herder standing on the obsidian platform that sat atop the central hill, looking toward his friend with sad eyes. His wolves formed a protective ring around the villagers, but even with his “friends,” the warriors had no chance of victory. They were outnumbered fifty-to-one.

  The User-that-is-not-a-user charged back toward Herder. But before he had taken more than a few steps, a strong hand grabbed the back of his chest plate and pulled him to a halt.

  “Gameknight, there’s nothing we can do,” Digger said in a solemn voice. “They’re surrounded by maybe five hundred monsters, not to mention Xa-Tul. If you go out there and try to save them, you’ll be killed.” Digger turned him around and stared into Gameknight’s eyes. “Listen to me. We cannot save them. We have to leave now.”

  “But it’s Herder … my friend,” Gameknight said, pleading.

  “I know, but he knows we can’t help him,” Hunter said. “We have to focus on the people we can save, not the ones we can’t. Now get it together and help us get out of here.”

  “Gameknight, we must get back to the tunnel and get out of here before we are all caught,” Crafter said. “Come on.”

  The User that-is-not-a-user looked one last time toward the top of the hill. The NPCs were now completely surrounded, with the zombies getting closer and closer. Many of the warriors had already dropped their weapons, realizing their fate was sealed. With tears streaming down his face, Gameknight999 knew that his friends were right. With sorrow in his heart, he turned and fled.

  CHAPTER 18

  BATTLE TO THE SURFACE

  Gameknight charged toward the exit, his eyes stinging as tears blurred his vision. Spinning like a dual-bladed pinwheel, he carved his way through the monsters that were trying to cut them off from their escape route. But every time he destroyed one zombie, two more quickly stepped up to take its place. They were coming at them from all sides, and there were too many of them.

  As he fought, he glanced about the cavern and was shocked to see the floor of the chamber nearly covered with green monsters. Pain erupted along his arm. Spinning, Gameknight slashed at a monster just as a flaming arrow struck the creature in the shoulder. Gameknight continued to hit the creature with his swords, but it didn’t seem to take damage … it just stood there. And then, after a delay, it was suddenly gone, disappearing with a pop.

  What the heck was that? he thought.

  Jumping over a crater, Gameknight finally reached the tunnel entrance, slashing and chopping at a few zombies directly in his path, keeping the monsters away from their escape route. Digger popped up at his side, smashing the creatures with his dual pickaxes. Hunter joined them, quickly placing two blocks under her to gave her a height advantage. She then fired down upon the creatures, protecting the NPCs who were most in need of her help. Stitcher then followed suit on the other side of the opening, her arrows adding to the storm of barbed rain coming from her sister.

  As a result, more of the villagers were able to make it to the entrance and help set up a defense. Some were placing blocks of cobblestone on the ground as a makeshift wall to keep the monsters back, as others fired their bows into decaying bodies. Every arrow seemed to strike, but the damage increasingly seemed to arrive later than it should have, giving the monsters the opportunity for one final attack before their HP was extinguished.

  “Hurry, everyone behind the barricade!” Gameknight shouted.

  He ran out and pushed his way through the crowd of monsters, placing blocks of stone and dirt around the opening, creating a wider defensive wall. Some of the villagers were now climbing on top of the makeshift fortification, firing down upon the monster horde. There were so many monsters charging toward them now, they simply could not miss.

  “I hope we don’t run out of arrows,” Stitcher said. “There are too many monsters here to take care of with bows.”

  Gameknight shoved a monster aside as he slashed out with his diamond blade. He ran back behind the stone wall and sealed it behind him. They could now hear the zombie’s claws scratching away at their defenses. Blocks of dirt shattered under the onslaught, but hopefully the stone would last a little longer.

  “Conse
rve your ammunition!” Gameknight shouted. “We won’t stop them with just those arrows.”

  He then peered up at the cave wall above the tunnel entrance and smiled. Blocks and blocks of gravel sat just above the entrance. With some carefully-placed TNT, they’d be able to bring the whole roof down onto the opening.

  “Everyone get ready to retreat,” Gameknight shouted.

  “But our friends are still out there!” someone shouted.

  “We can’t help them now,” Gameknight forced himself to reply, the words catching in his throat like poison.

  Gameknight scanned the sea of faces until he found the one he needed. “Crafter!” he shouted.

  The young NPC turned and looked at the User-that-is-not-a-user. Gameknight pointed up at the gravel-laden ceiling and walls.

  “Remember what your Great Uncle Weaver taught you?” he asked.

  Crafter nodded his head.

  Gameknight placed a cube of stone under him, then positioned a block of TNT in a hole in the wall. Crafter worked on the other side of the passage, placing blocks of TNT where they could do the most damage. Digger started carving holes in the ground with his pickaxe, filling each with the red-and-white striped cubes. From this height, Gameknight could see Herder and the other villagers surrounded by zombies. Slowly, the monsters were moving closer to the ring of wolves that surrounded the NPCs. The User-that-is-not-a-user knew the animals would not last long under all those zombie claws.

  Herder looked across the chamber at the User-that-is-not-a-user and waved one last time, then said something to the wolves. The animals gave off a sorrowful howl, then ran from the hill and headed toward the escape tunnel. Gameknight knew that Herder had just saved the animals’ lives, but the majestic wolves did not look happy about it.

  Without the ring of fangs, the zombies moved up to the captured villagers and grabbed weapons from blocky hands. Xa-Tul then stepped onto the platform and grabbed Herder by the scruff of the neck. The zombie king pulled him off the obsidian platform on which he was standing and dragged him off the hill.

  “Gameknight …” Herder wailed, then became silent.

  Suddenly, a wave of furry white shapes jumped over the barricade and into the tunnel. Herder’s wolves darted into the tunnel, with the pack leader moving to Gameknight’s side. They growled at the zombies that were trying to claw their way through the stone wall, their fur sticking straight up. A block shattered. Cracks appeared on another, then shattered into dust. More blocks began to fail as the zombies pushed forward.

  “We have to get out of here … now!” Digger shouted. “Everyone, back into the tunnel.”

  The villagers left the wall and ran up into the passageway, Stitcher in the lead. Gameknight backed up to the blocks of TNT, then pulled out flint and steel. Hunter solemnly watched as he made his preparations.

  “You ready?” she asked.

  Gameknight nodded his head. She pulled out her own flint and steel.

  “Now!” she said, then set the explosive blocks to blinking. Gameknight did the same.

  “Let’s get out of here, quick!” she cried and raced up the sloping ground into the darkness of the tunnel.

  “Come on!” she shouted, her voice already fading in the distance.

  Gameknight backed away, glancing toward the NPC prisoners being ushered off the hill. He felt helpless, unable to do anything for them. He couldn’t avoid feeling like he was abandoning them all. Reluctantly, he began to turn and join the rest of the NPCs up the tunnel.

  But suddenly, to his shock, a group of endermen appeared out of nowhere on the opposite side of the zombie-town. At least twenty of them materialized in a sputtering purple mist, as well as a single dark red one, the color of dried blood. It was Feyd, the king of the endermen. Gameknight’s throat went dry with fear; his limbs were frozen, like he no longer had control over his own body. He brought his eyes slowly back to the cobblestone barrier just as the remaining blocks holding the zombies back shattered, and the monsters finally broke through the defenses.

  Gameknight grimaced, then suddenly remembered the blocks of TNT they’d set to explode. The cubes were blinking faster and faster … they were about to go off! Feeling returned to his limbs. He’d waited too long, and was too close to the impending blast radius. The cubes had turned bright white, and there was nothing Gameknight could do but close his eyes and wait to suffer the consequences of his fatal mistake.

  But the cubes did not explode, when they clearly should have. It was as if the TNT was delayed, just like when the zombies took longer for their XP to expire!

  Whatever was causing these glitches in Minecraft, luck was on Gameknight’s side. The monsters continued to pour over what was left of the barricade, towards the tunnel. He turned and ran as fast as he could, away from the zombie horde as their clawed feet clicked on the hard stone ground. After Gameknight had sprinted a half-dozen blocks, an explosion shook the walls around him as a blast of heat pushed him forward. Gravel began to fall from the walls and ceiling as the tunnel collapsed. The detonations continued, echoing for a moment or two until the tunnel behind him finally became quiet.

  Gameknight turned to look back where he’d come from, well aware of how close he’d come to being destroyed. All he saw was a huge mountain of gravel. The monsters had been caught in the blast and avalanche; the tunnel was sealed, and Herder and the other NPCs were gone.

  Gameknight sat down on the ground and began to weep.

  “Herder …” he moaned. “All those NPCs, taken prisoner because of me.”

  He shook as his sobs of grief and guilt filled the tunnel.

  “Gameknight, we have to go,” Crafter said into his ear. “It’s important to mourn those we lost, but we have to keep moving or we’ll all meet the same fate.”

  He glanced up into Crafter’s bright blue eyes and nodded.

  “You’re right,” Gameknight said as he stood.

  Turning, he walked up through the passage with his head hung low.

  I caused the loss of all those villagers … and Herder, one of my dearest friends, Gameknight thought. I can’t do any good in Minecraft. This proves that I’m a failure.

  And as he wept, the User-that-is-not-a-user followed those in front of him, his mind numb to the outside world. He didn’t see anything, or hear, or even know where he was. All he could feel were the waves of grief and guilt that smashed down upon his soul.

  “Herder, I’ve failed you again,” Gameknight mumbled as he stumbled through the tunnel.

  CHAPTER 19

  THE MONSTER KINGS MEET

  Feyd stood in the shadows and watched as the zombie king ushered the prisoners back down into the portal room. The Endermen were off to the side, far away from any of the fighting. Feyd glanced at a ledge perched high up on the cavern wall. His teleportation powers sputtered for just an instant, then he materialized on the outcropping and looked down to survey the scene below. His endermen appeared at his side and stared down with him at the decaying green monsters.

  “Move faster!” Xa-Tul bellowed from across the cavern. “All zombies must leave this zombie-town. The User-that-is-not-a-user now knows of this location as well and will be back with more forces. The zombies must be gone before they arrive.”

  “Why are the zombies afraid of the villagers?” one of Feyd’s commanders asked in a soft, screechy voice. “They have five hundred zombies here, maybe more. The villagers could never defeat that many. Are they just going to run away every time Gameknight999 finds them?”

  “I don’t know,” growled the king of the endermen. “There is something going on here that I do not understand, and that makes me mad.”

  The dark red leader glanced at the twenty endermen there with him, then turned and glared back at the zombie king.

  “Endermen … with me.”

  He disappeared in a cloud of purple mist, then reappeared directly in front of Xa-Tul. It took a moment for the teleportation particles to appear, but after a second, he was surrounded by the energized
particles.

  “Xa-Tul did not order the endermen to come here,” the zombie king grumbled. “None of your kind are wanted. Or needed.”

  “I saw your battle with the villagers. That was impressive,” Feyd said.

  The zombie king stopped for a moment, then beamed with pride as the words reached the ears of his subordinates.

  “Those NPCs didn’t stand a chance against you and your forces,” the dark monster continued. “It was a well-executed plan and now you have all these prisoners. What will you do with them?”

  It made him slightly sick to his stomach to pretend to flatter a giant oaf like Xa-Tul, but Feyd knew he could get the zombie king talking just by appealing to his overinflated ego. Giving him a few compliments in front of his subordinates would surely loosen his tongue.

  “The king of the endermen likes Xa-Tul’s plan?” the zombie king inquired. “It is not surprising, given how great of a king and warrior Xa-Tul is. Xa-Tul knew Gameknight999 was coming and made sure he felt the sting of my warriors’ claws.”

  And yet you let him get away, you idiot, Feyd thought.

  “You are quite right, as usual. But tell me, Xa-Tul, what will you do with the prisoners?” he queried.

  The zombie king chuckled; it sounded like something between a laugh and a moan.

  “They will dig for me,” Xa-Tul said. “We must make room for more zombies, and these villagers will be happy to help out the zombie king … if they wish to live.”

  He laughed again, this time louder. Feyd could see the prisoners cringe, all except one. A tall, skinny villager seemed to stand tall and brave. He was facing away from their conversation, but Feyd could tell he was listening in. No matter, he would never escape to give away anything he heard. Villagers were quite pathetic creatures, especially when they didn’t have the User-that-is-not-a-user to lead them.

  Feyd was about to ask another question and draw some more information from the foolish zombie king when Xa-Tul abruptly turned away and headed down the flight of stairs that led to the portal chamber. Feyd followed close behind, his own dark warriors right on his heels. The endermen king wanted to see what was happening. When he reached the small room, he found three tall obsidian rings, each sparkling with a different color of light. The zombies were moving in a single file to the green portal, traveling to the next ancient zombie-town.