Monday – Day 10
I opened my mouth, “Hello…” My parents opened their mouths, my father was the first to attempt the word, “H…” he made a long ‘h’ sound, expelling all his air then he growled and punched the ground just hard enough to leave a bruise. I placed my hand on him as I remembered how patient Alex had been with me, “it’s… okay…” then looked over to my mother, who gave the word a try, “Hel…” she started the word perfectly, but held the ‘e’ for too long and the ‘l’ rolled off her tongue - the full word just escaping her. She huffed which made me hug her; my father was one to let out his frustration when he felt it whereas mother let it build up until she exploded.
I tried a couple more times with them, resulting in some improvement, then wrote the word down on paper and gave it to them, so they could keep practicing whilst I went outside. I made my way into the human household, via the tunnel, to see the two other humans eating and laughing. They fell silent when they saw me. I nodded, which resulted in nods back, and then I left to the sound of more laughing (I hope it wasn’t at my expense). I passed Jonah who was merging more metal to the spacecraft in order to widen it. “Where’s… Alex?” I asked as he continued to wield a fresh piece of metal to the rest of the ship, without looking up, “as far as I know he’s still underground collecting the resources to get this thing running.”
I walked further away from the human base, further away from Jonah, as I called back, “okay,” and then disappeared into the few trees which had started growing. Emerging on the other side of the trees, I moved towards the sight of Bones’ wooden home. I stopped at the door and lifted my hand to knock it against the wood. The door opened just as I swung my hand forward so I ended up hitting Bones in the face. He cackled and then gestured me in as I apologized over and over. “It’s okay Brains. It was probably my fault for opening the door, but I don’t like being unsure of what, or who, is approaching my home.”
I collapsed into one of the chairs, crimson in color and woven together with wool. “You’ve… already… made this… place… look like… home.” He sat opposite me and leaned back, “Yes, I wanted it to feel like we had never left,” he paused and looked up through the piece of glass he had installed in his ceiling, “your speech really is coming along; you never used to be able to say more than one word in one breath.” I smiled into a laugh, “hopefully… I’ll be… speaking… in full… sentences… soon.” His spider rose onto its legs, from sleeping in the corner, and then darted up the chair and onto Bones’ arm, who stroked his boney fingers over his spider’s body. It purred as it settled into Bones’ lap. I couldn’t help but smile at my friend’s new found comfort.
My eyes travelled above Bone’s head to see a painting which I knew I had seen before. “You… were… able to… save that… painting?” He looked to me then turned his head around almost without needing to turn his body, “oh, that. I have her imprinted in here.” He tapped his skull which I found funny because he didn’t have a brain, but I didn’t mention it. “Who is… that if… I may… ask?” I looked to my lap as his head jerked back, seeming as though my words were a punch to the face, “I’ll tell you one day, when I’m strong enough, all about my past life.”
I smiled and nodded then rose, “I should… get back… to my… parents.” Bones rose, pushing his spider off his lap, “would you like to build a smaller house, before you leave, next to mine?” I looked up to him, “of course, it can be just like old times.”
Tuesday – Day 11
I threw my fishing rod over the side of the boat, almost dropping it in the water as my fingers struggled to handle the momentum. Bones grabbed me with one hand, as he used the other to hold his rod, which was still in the water even after twenty minutes of being left out, to stop me from falling. “This is taking forever. We used to be able to catch fish almost instantly.” I pulled my rod back slightly and tightened my grip on the pole, “I… remember… the days… when my… father… would just… use his… hands.” Bones nodded at my words. Alex turned the wheel of his rod fast enough to rock the boat back and forth, “Hey, this is supposed to be a relaxing outing,” he lifted his rod to reveal a block of black sludge on the hook, “but that isn’t normal,” his previous sentence was overtaken by his surprise.
“What is… that?” It smelled foul even by a zombie’s standards. Bones pulled his rod in and stood. “It’s the waste from the sky squids. Hmm… it could even be a chunk out of its body. They did collapse into our seas after all.” I pulled my rod into the boat and stood also, “is that… why it’s… harder… to find… fish… away… from our… home?” Alex threw his line out once more, after picking the waste from it, “we’ll find some fish eventually. If we don’t we can at least enjoy the remaining hours of the sun being out.” Alex looked out across the small sea, the sun hitting the ripples where his hook landed. Bones and I sat and dropped our rods to the bottom of the boat. I sat with my head in hands whilst Bones leaned back and rested his legs over the side of the boat. Alex turned to us, opened his mouth to speak, but then something splashed out of the water.
It was an ordinary squid, of our world, but it burst from the sea and into our boat. Its tentacles latched around my leg and it spewed its ink everywhere. I didn’t have the strength to pull my leg free, so Bones held the squid down whilst Alex pried it off. Alex held it up to his face. “Its eyes are red and foam is oozing out of the thing.” He tossed it back into the sea. “Maybe it isn’t safe to fish here after all.” Alex pulled his rod into the boat, took his seat, and started to row us back to shore. Bones took his feet off the side of the boat and helped to row, “That squid may have acted weird but that’s no reason to end our trip early.” Alex laughed, “I thought you wanted to leave?”
“I want everyone to be happy. If you wanted to stay I was willing to.” I looked at Bones, who came across as sincere, then to Alex, “Me… too…” Alex looked out to sea. I looked to the shore. Bones dipped his head toward the floor of the boat and let out a groan. “My arms are aching.” I heard Alex reply, “But you don’t have muscles.” Bones cackled, “It’s complicated …”
“Guys… take a… look to… shore.” I pointed. I knew when they had seen what I had seen because they both gasped. What must have been around eight monsters were waiting for us at shore, aggressively moving with red eyes and ooze covered faces and bodies. Alex and Bones turned the boat to land somewhere else without exchanging a word.
Wednesday – Day 12
The group formulated in the main human building. All of us: Me, Bones, Alex, Jonah, my parents, and the other two humans. Jonah was the first to speak, “It’s lovely to see you all. As you may know we seem to be the last sane creatures on this planet, apart from the cattle and the fish closer to us.” He looked to me and smiled then looked to Bones, Alex, and the others one by one, smiling at us all individually. “We shouldn’t travel too far out. As stubborn as I was to fish, I don’t think it’s safe to leave our settlement or the surrounding area.” Alex looked only to Jonah when he spoke. The room feel silent as the two other humans looked at each other and nodded, my parents hugged each other, and Bones and I observed Alex and Jonah talking quietly. Bones turned to me, “what do you think about that?” I turned to the sound of his voice and looked through the holes in his skull, where his eyes should have been, “it’s a… good… measure… to have… in place… but I… feel like… I’ll get… bored.” I allowed my shoulders to drop from the weight of my arms.
“Jonah,” Bones croaked, “can we go underground?” Jonah stopped speaking with Alex, “I don’t see why not… just don’t go too deep.” Bones nodded then grabbed my hand and pulled me out of the room. I saw my parents disappear down the small door on the floor, presumably to go home, whereas Alex stayed speaking with Jonah as the other two humans sat and had a conversation of their own. “Where… are we… going?” I thought I’d ask Bones even though I had no choice in the matter. “I’m going to find you a pet spider.” He released me as if he knew
I wouldn’t protest the idea. “That… would be… wonderful… my own… pet.” I wondered if my parents would allow it, but I figured we may not find one so there was no point crushing Bones’ excitement.
Bones walked ahead until we came to a crater in the ground, not far from our main base. I walked to be level with Bones and looked down. The ladder on the side of the brick was cut off by the blackness of the hole. “Why… not… just… take the… safe way?” Bones lowered himself onto the ladder and then I did the same. We slowly shuffled toward ground level. “I didn’t want your parents to ask questions before we found you a spider.” I stopped to look down at Bones who stopped once he noticed I wasn’t moving, “what’s wrong?” I smiled and continued to move down, “are you… in my… head?” He cackled then jumped from the ladder, his bones making a crunching noise against the ground of the cave. I lowered myself onto the floor slowly.
We quickly came to the place where I had found my parents and where we had come before to find Bones’ spider. Bones mined through some rock on the side of the stream of lava. The muffled sound of running water became clear once the first piece of cobblestone was removed. Bones moved through the gap, which was a little raised from the ground, and then helped me up through it. I stopped. I fell back against the wall. “Mum… Dad…” I yelled to my parents who were surrounded by a swarm of monsters (just like the swarm on the shore from yesterday). Bones turned, spotted the swarm, and my parents amidst, and then took out his bow to immediately start firing arrows.
He moved faster than I had ever seen a skeleton move. Each arrow connected, without fail, with a monster’s head or body (either pinning them to the ground or dropping them to floor where they failed to rise again). It was quite a beautiful sight actually. I marveled at Bones wiping out the threat of the rouge monsters whilst saving my parents in the process. I kind of felt bad for the rouge zombies, as they are part of my species, but I cared more about my parent’s safety because they weren’t trying to harm anyone.
Bones cleared a path for my parents. He waved his hand to tell them to move and then half a second later he was releasing another arrow into a creeper’s feet – so it stopped instead of exploding. It appeared to be the smart thing at the time… until Bones became trapped. He had just landed after jumping in the air and firing three arrows before his feet hit the ground. This gave my parents time to hobble over to me.
They were safe.
Unfortunately when Bones landed, the remaining monsters swarmed all around him. He swung his bow, knocking some back, and used an arrow to pierce their skulls. He was pulling the arrow out from the head of a zombie when it became stuck. This is when the remaining monsters pounced on him. I gasped in horror, limped closer to him, and then stopped. What could we do? My parents and I weren’t strong enough to help him. I simply stood still and stared in the direction of where Bones had been overrun.
After a minute or so, a bright blue light released from his body. The monsters instantly turned and started chasing us. We easily escaped through the hole. However, it took the three of us to seal the gap back up with the cobblestone. We had to crush a zombie hand which clawed at us through the gap.
Bones was gone …
I didn’t think of it at the time but that blue light must have been how he was able to talk, walk, and everything else. He dissolved into the air and I was powerless to save him.
If I had been less useless, Bones would still be here.
Thursday – Day 13
As my head rested on my rock, I saw Alex in a sideways view as he walked through the gap to the side of the ladder, coming from the main human house. “Jonah told me to come get you… He said you’d want to see the special ingredient.” I raised my head, looked at him in portrait, and then allowed my head to hit back down onto the rock. It hurt enough for droll to fall from my mouth. Alex’s face jumped, his hands reached out, and he came running over. “Are you okay Brains?” He pushed a hand between my head and the rock, lifted my head up, and looked at the rock. He lowered it back down gently and then sat on the floor to be eye level. “What’s wrong?”
My eyes darted anywhere but Alex’s eyes as I said: “He’s…” I took a death breath, “dead,” and then let it all out in one long sigh. Alex’s face jumped again but slower this time and his expression rose for longer. “What…” he was the one taking breaths between his words now, “…what happened?” I sat up on my rock. I looked over to my parents, who were still resting on theirs, and then looked to Alex, who didn’t look away from my vacant stare. “He… saved us,” a tear hit the floor, “he… saved us,” more tears poured from my eyes and onto the floor, “he… saved us!” I yelled, making my lip wobble. Alex rushed in to hug me. I tried to wriggle out of it and started to slap him on the back.
“I know,” he breathed, “I know it’s hard but don’t you go rejecting me at a time like this.” I pushed my face onto his shoulder and sobbed. I had never lost anyone before. Bones was a parent figure to me. Amongst the crying I thought about the good times with Bones: He had been the first person I met when I first ventured out into the world; he had shown me how to build a house; he made me laugh and always had my back. I thought about my parents being gone and couldn’t for the life of me imagine it hurting more than this (maybe the same but not more so).
I truly loved Bones as a friend. “I can’t… believe… he’s gone.” Alex held me tighter. “He was loyal… and I wish he was still with us.” I felt Alex’s head on my shoulder now. I heard him sniff back tears but eventually he let them flow. We sat there for some time weeping until my face and stomach hurt. I coughed out the last remaining tears then let Alex go and pulled away to lay my head on my rock.
He stood. I stared past him at the wall. He turned his back to me, “Come up when you’re able. Jonah says he needs to speak with the entire group.” I let his words swim into my ear without truly hearing them.
My focus engaged, “What?” By the time I replied to Alex he was already gone. I don’t want to know how long I was unaware of my surroundings for.
Bones …
Friday – Day 14
Jonah paced back and forth as he rubbed his chin and looked out the windows and to the hatch on the floor. We had placed a chest over the hatch and in front of the door. Jonah stopped pacing. “We have to leave.” I limped toward him. He put his arm out, aiming for my shoulder, but I slapped it away, upon which he backed up and crossed his arms with a frown. “Bones is… dead and… I don’t… want to… just leave… his body.” I felt a hand on my shoulder from behind so turned to see Alex staring past me, at Jonah. “We can’t just leave his body to rot. We need to give him a proper burial.” Jonah unfolded his arms as his head turned to the other two humans. “His body has probably been demolished by the rouge monsters…” The other two humans nodded at him then continued to talk amongst themselves.
“That’s… not true… they… killed him… then left… his body… on the… floor.” I limped closer to Jonah who kept his arms crossed and moved his eyes to the floor. I felt like he was trying to avoid the situation, “Bones… was my… friend… our friend.” He looked up to me, after resting his arms to his sides, and then spoke, all the while blinking. “I’m sorry it happened but we will end up the same if we don’t leave this planet. The spacecraft is ready; we can leave right now.” Jonah turned to the other two humans and nodded, which resulted in them moving the chest from the front door and manning the spacecraft.
“What are they doing?” - Alex was in his face now too. Jonah’s blinking stopped when he turned to Alex, “relax, they are doing a full test. We will leave tomorrow or as soon as the monsters start to overrun us. We would very much like you to join us.” Jonah turned toward the door, after staring Alex down, who didn’t reply, and saluted us before closing the door to the house.
I limped to my parents. “What… do you… want to do?” They pointed to the hatch and both said: “Hello…” the best they could. I forced a smile, “that’s not… what that… wor
d means… but I… understand.” Alex pushed the chest away from the hatch. We made our way down to our cave. Alex placed his armor on and held his sword. I picked up a bag and flung it over my shoulder (it wasn’t the nicest way to retrieve Bones’ body but it’s all we could do).
“You ready to go?” Alex called, standing at the exit of our cave. I turned around to see my parents placing their possessions in sacks. “What are… you doing?” They dragged their bags past me and through Alex, who moved out of their way, and started to climb the ladder back to the surface. I dropped my sack and told Alex to wait.
Back in the main human house, I caught up with my parents. “Where… are you… going?” They turned, pointed to the spacecraft, through the open door, and said: “Hello…” again, the best they could. “Is that… what you… want?” I clenched my teeth and fists at the same time, “after Bones… died… saving you.” My parents weren’t acting their usual selves. They walked out of the door before I could say any more. I saw Jonah welcome them into the spacecraft. Jonah saw me from a distance, pointed to the sun, as to say it was getting late, and then jumped into the spacecraft.
Diary of a Minecraft Zombie (Book 2) Page 3