Descent Into Overworld: An Unofficial Minecraft Adventure Read Free Page B

Hamid had heard a million times during his dungeon delves at home. And home was where this thing in front of him belonged. Home on his computer. In his server. A cartoon of pixels and programming, not a fully formed monster standing in front of the librarian’s book return cart. There was no doubt about it. From the square skull and blocky rib cage, this was a Minecraft skeleton. And it was in his school library. If this was one of Ant’s jokes, that guy was banned from their server for all eternity.
    The skeleton reached out its bony hand again.
    “Give it to me. The four must be made one!”
    Hamid had no words. All he had was fear. This skeleton, which looked very real to him, was going to turn him into a pile of floating inventory items.
    Hamid’s heart was a rock in the pit of his stomach. There was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. He raised his foam sword before him. Foam versus bone. No competition there, but it was all he had.
    The library doors swung open. Jaina’s voice cut through the dark.
    “Hamid! You in here?”
    He’d never been so glad to see his friends. Jaina stood in the doorway, Ant at her side.
    “Watch out for —!”
    “Me!” The skeleton stood to its full height, towering over the three friends.
    Jaina fell back, her eyes as big as ender pearls. Ant stood in shocked silence. For once.
    Hamid saw his chance for escape.
    “Run!” he shouted as he charged past the skeleton and through the doors.
    Ant and Jaina were right behind him. Unfortunately, so was Mr. Big and Bony.
    “Give them to me!” the skeleton wailed. The rattle of bones echoed along the lockers lining the hallway.
    “Where did you find your friend?” Ant asked when he had caught up with Hamid. Ant had always been a faster runner. And more sarcastic.
    “He found me!” Hamid said.
    “He better unfind us, quick!” Jaina said.
    The three friends rounded another corner, bringing them near the front of the school. Hamid slid to a stop outside Ms. Thalwick’s music room.
    “In here!” he said.
    “What are we going to do? Teach it how to play the ukulele?” Ant said.
    “He’s right,” Jaina said. “We’ll be trapped in there.”
    Ant jumped up and down on the spot, like he always did when he got frustrated with a boring math lesson. “We have to do something!”
    The music door exploded in a shower of paint and wood chips. A thick arrow shaft stuck out from the middle door. At the far end of the hallway, the skeleton pulled back on its bow, another arrow notched and ready to fly.
    “This way!” Jaina said. She ran down the hall before Ant or Hamid could argue.
    Another arrow thudded into the door between the boys, missing them by a hair.
    “Wait for us!” Ant shouted and took off after Jaina. Hamid was only a step behind.
    The front doors to the school appeared at the end of the corridor. They were close to escaping. Only a few more steps and he would be outside and free to run all the way home and hide under his bed and never play Minecraft again.
    But Jaina didn’t run outside. She pushed open the door to the Main Office and disappeared inside.
    “She’s got the right idea,” Ant said. He ran down the hallway to catch up to her. “It’s raining.”
    “Thanks for the weather report,” Hamid snapped. “I’m more worried about becoming a skeleton pincushion than getting my hair wet.”
    An arrow thunked into the floor beside him, cracking the tiles like a broken mirror. Mr. K was not going to be happy about that.
    “Dude, have you ever played Minecraft before?” Ant opened the door to the office. “The sun is behind the clouds. We run outside in the rain and Bony the Wonder Archer will just chase us. At least there’s a door and a phone in here!”
    Ant pulled Hamid into the office and slammed the door shut. His friend had a point. The time for dealing with things on their own was long gone. It was time to call for back-up. The police, the fire department, the parent council, anyone.
    The room was