Let's hope I edited this well.

•    •    •

~ Sky ~

I'm never good at playing nurse. Healing was never my thing, and never will be.

However, after I woke up, I thought had to take care of my own wounds, and a passed-out Amber. Which scared me.

I woke up from a fish to the face. A slimy salmon slapped itself solely on my scalp.

"Gah!" I spurted out the water in my mouth. I realized my entire body was soaking wet. And half of me was floating in water.

I fully opened my eyes and looked around at my surrounding. I was on the sandy shore of a wide river. In front of me was a Savannah, and behind me was a mountain biome. A flopping fish was to my right on the sand. I stared at it, and reached out and grabbed it. Tossing it back into the water, I tried to remember what happened.

Amber and I. We were running. I got shot. We... jumped? Into the water...

I looked around for Amber. My heart leapt and dropped as I saw her lying on the shore about ten blocks away. Completely still. She had a tear in her shirt, at the shoulder, which showed that the surrounding skin was a sickly green color.

I huffed, and heaved myself onto the dry ground. My clothes were soaked, and my arms and face were covered in sand.

I spit out some, and staggered over to Amber. My mind was groggy, and my limbs hurt, but I knew that it was still night, and we had to get somewhere safe. It was a miracle we weren't killed already.

I collapsed to my knees next to her. Luckily, she was breathing, but it was heavy and shaky.

"Amber." I croaked out. I cleared my throat, and called her name again. However, she was completely knocked out.

I grunted, and looked around. The nearest mob was a zombie about forty blocks away.

I looked in my inventory, and found some oak planks. I pulled them out, and started building around Amber and I in a six by six square.

After I filled in the roof, I lit up the place with a torch on the wall. I then sat down against the wall, and looked at my leg for the first time. The puncture wound didn't look infected yet, but it would be soon if I didn't take care of it. I would wash it, but that would involve going outside.  As I looked at Amber's shoulder, I realized that she needed it to be cleaned out too. I didn't see how she got injured, but from the green tint around it, and the two puncture wounds, I was guessing she got bit by a spider. I wasn't sure it was poisoned or not— the color could be from an infection. Which was still bad.

I covered my face with my hands. I was extremely exhausted from the lack of sleep. Honestly, how do people literally not sleep for days and somehow manage to look fine? That's not natural.

Nevertheless, I got up, and broke a block out of the wall. I peeked my head out, and looked around for some sign that it would be day soon. I sighed in relief as I saw a sliver of pink appear on the horizon.

"Uuuuungh."

I looked behind me, expecting a zombie. However, Amber was just waking up.

"Hey." I knelt at her side, which was painful. "You okay?"

It took her a few seconds to speak. "Did I just jump off a cliff into a river with a spider?" She muttered.

"Yes..." I wanted to add, And me, but I decided against it.

She groaned. "I'm never doing that again." She managed to sit up. "How long was I out?"

I shrugged. "I just woke up maybe five or ten minutes ago. We're along the riverbank. Next to the Savannah."

She looked at the ground, where the grass met the sand. Then, she noticed my leg. "Hey, we need to clean that out before it gets infected."

"I could say the same thing about that." I pointed to her wound.

Her eyes widened. "Why is it green? Aw man, my shirt..."

"I was going to wait until the sun rose, so we didn't get attacked by mobs. It's starting to rise now."

Amber exhaled. "Gods, that jump was a stupid idea." She winced as she moved her shoulder accidentally.

"Hey, we're alive. Plus we were caught up in the moment. Our lives were already at risk; a deadly escape just seemed like the best option at the time."

"I guess." She frowned. "Do you still have your sword?"

I nodded, and pulled it out.

"Good. We're just gonna go out now. I can watch your back."

I thought about it for a second, then nodded again. "Okay. Let's go."

• • •

Amber found my axe in the water. I offered to switch weapons with her, but she kept it. Oh well.

About fifteen minutes later, we were already walking. Amber agreed we were knocked out for about a few hours, which was enough rest. I agreed, even though I really didn't consider it rest since I still felt sore and tired. But I didn't argue.

I had thought the daylight would make everything better, but it just made everything hotter. My shirt was sticking to my skin. The sun beat down on us. I was glad I had a sleeveless shirt on. Amber, however, didn't.

As we walked, I thought about our conversation the day before.

Amber had a boyfriend.

It didn't shock me that she did, but it surprised me that she didn't tell me about it. There were plenty of opportunities to do it. And she seemed so causal when she mentioned him (what was his name? Zach?), so I didn't think she was too scared to tell me. Also, she didn't want her boyfriend to go on an adventure with her and some other dude. You'd think that she would want to be with him.

Ugh. Girls are confusing.

• • •

~ Cole ~

A few hours later, I was still in the plains biome. It was just the same terrain as before. Same rolling hills, same farm animals grazing, same horse galloping on the grass. The only difference was the sun moving across the sky. If I weren't going in a straight line, I would be worried that I was going in circles.

It was going to get dark soon, but I was luckily heading toward a town. It was on the other side of a sliver of a forest, a little bit away from the ocean. Once I made it to the forest, I'd just need to turn left and get to the shore, and go around the woods. It would be dangerous to ride a horse through them if I wasn't going to make it to the village before dark.

Going into town was risky. It would take time out of my journey, and I was racing against the clock. Plus, there could be more of those guys in the town. But I needed to restock on food, and I wanted to see if anyone had any diamond armor.

After a few minutes of random thoughts, I finally saw the forest in the distance. It was still daytime, so I could've cut through the trees, but that was still a time waster. So I pulled my left rein gently, and Shoelace turned with it (Okay maybe I got used to the name). We started to head toward the ocean.

•    •    •

I reached the town about an hour before the sun set. It was small, but bigger than the western themed one I escaped from. Houses were mostly made of wood and stone. There was a cobblestone road with glowstone lamps along the sides. It was a complete waste to have them in the day, but these people probably didn't know how to work a redstone lamp and daylight sensor.

I was planning on walking Shoelace into town, but I saw a few fence posts making a little railing near the edge of the town to tie a horse up to. There was already one there, which made it seem safer, but I still narrowed my eyes in suspicion. However, I dismounted Shoelace and tied him up there.

"If anyone tries to steal you..." I looked into his eye. "Kick them."

The horse neighed as if saying, will do.

Great. I was talking to a horse. And the horse was talking back.

I eyed everyone before I moved from my spot. They all seemed to be busy with their own day, walking to their destination or conversing with others. No one gave me a look out of the corner of their eye; it was like I was just another ordinary person.

I sighed, and started walking on the side of the street. I passed a furry creature in a suit and a guy in a checkered hoodie talking with each other about axes; not giving me one glance. The sight of an anihuman hybrid and a regular human together as friends made me have hope for humanity.

I turned a left at the corner, and stopped right in front of a busy marketplace. There were stalls on the left and right of the street, with people everywhere, either buying or conversing.

Making my way down the road, I glanced at all the stalls, looking for some food. Then, with a slap to my forehead, I realized I didn't have any actual money. I looked through my inventory, and found nothing that wasn't valuable to me that I could sell.

"Hello there, good sir!"

I whipped around to the source of the voice. It was coming from a middle aged guy running a stall near me. He looked like one of those mini game owners at a fair that would scam you for your money and steal your wallet if they could. It seemed like he was selling crops like carrots, potatoes, mushrooms, and more.

"Yes, you!" He pointed at me, grinning. "You seem lost. Need ole Jerry's help?"

I assumed he was Jerry. "Um, I'm not really lost..."

"Really?" Jerry asked. "You have that look on your face."

At that moment, I had an idea. It was a horrible thing that would make me feel guilty afterward, but I decided to play the scared and helpless teenager.

"Well..." I looked down shamefully as I walked over. "I actually am a little lost... mentally. I came here to get food for my family, but I completely forgot the money at home."

"And you can't go back to get it?" He frowned, leaning against the wooden counter.

I shook my head. "It's an hour away. By the time I'd get back here, it would be night. And the thing is, we don't have anything to eat tonight. We had a wheat farm, but a fence got knocked down and animals trampled them all and ate what was left." I sped up my voice a little as if I were panicking, but stopped at the end. I sniffled a little, and added, "I just don't know what to do."

Jerry stared at me with pity. Then, he sighed. "Kid, you're lucky." He bent down, and pulled out what seemed to be half a stack of baked potatoes. "Here. Just take them."

I stared at the food on the counter. I couldn't believe that worked. It seemed too easy. Me, the person who was horrible at socializing, just duped a man.

But thinking about it like that made me feel a little guilty, so I gave him an innocent smile, and took off my diamond helmet. I set it on the counter.

His eyes widened. "Seriously? I'm giving the potatoes to you for free, you know."

"Here." I copied his tone from before. "Just take them. I mean, it."

He tilted his head at it, then smiled and grabbed the helmet. "You're alright, kid."

Part of me regretted giving him the helmet, but I would've felt guilty if I lied to him and took part of what he had for free.

"Thanks, Jerry." I said to him.

He was about to respond, but his eyes swept from mine to something behind me. His mouth closed, then opened again to say, "Hello, Jess."

•    •    •

I turned around, and saw who he was talking to. A middle aged lady had snuck up on us. She had short black hair, and brown eyes. She wore a plain white t shirt and jeans, and carried a half full basket of... redstone?

"Hello Jerry." She said. Her eyes were sharp, and her smile seemed fake. "Who's your friend here?"

"Just a customer." He replied, giving me a look to leave. However, I stayed to watch the showdown.

Jess took a quick, deep breath. "Okay. I assume you have heard the news?"

"What news?" He frowned.

"Do you see anything different?" She gestured around her as if it were obvious.

"Oh... yeah. Where's that Lily girl? The spawn?"

"Gone."

"Gone?"

Gone? Lily? Spawn? Hey, that rhymed.

"She ran away in the middle of the night." Jess glanced at me. "I don't know why, but it deeply upsets me. There's a possibility she could've been kidnapped, so I plan to put up posters later."

"Well." Jerry straightened. "I don't know where she went, but I'll keep an eye out."

"Thank you." Jess said with an indifferent face. Without a goodbye, she left.

Jerry exhaled. "That woman, man..."

"Who's this Lily?" I asked.

"Jess took her in a few days ago when she first spawned in. They were getting along quite well, but I guess Lily couldn't take it and left."

I frowned. Spawns... that one guy, Ernie, questioned me about that. It was a small possibility, but maybe Lily's spawning in had to do with the people Ernie were working for. The same people that were going after me. "You really don't know where she is, do you?"

"Well." He looked up at the roof of his stall in thought. "I mentioned this one guy to her. Harold. Lives in a tree over yonder." He jabbed a hand to the side. "Some people don't believe he's real, but maybe Lily went looking for him. Maybe she found him."

"How long will it take to get there?" I asked.

"Walking? Maybe an hour or so. I've never been there before, so I wouldn't know. You should talk with this one guy I know-"

"No offense, but I need to get back to my family." I realized I still needed to keep up the lie. Plus, I didn't feel like talking to any more people. "Again, thanks for the food, and thanks for the information." I grabbed the potatoes and stashed them.

"No problem...?" Jerry furrowed his eyebrows, but said nothing else.

I walked away down the marketplace until I turned the corner. Then, I ran for my horse.

I had to choose one of two paths to go down. I could either continue my journey and go home, and beat the bad guys to my base. Or, I could go find this Lily and connect the dots to what is happening.

I reached Shoelace, and untied him. I hopped back onto him, took a few seconds to decide on what I was doing, and took off.

•    •    •

Wrote 2100 of the words in this chapter in the last few hours. Lmao what am I doing with my life.

Nothing really happened in Sky's PoV tbh. Um. Oh. When will they reach the City of Redstone?

Some decent stuff happened in Cole's PoV. He met Jess and Jerry, and learned about Lily and Harold. Which path with he go down? Will Jess and/or Jerry ever be seen again?

Rock on, my little rebels.

Wait

I had homework that I was supposed to do tonight.

Sigh