Chapter 7

Chapter 7 MOES! MOBS! MOBS! AND THINGS HAD BEEN GOING SO HELL UNTIL NOW... "Back to the houses!" Morgan said. "Quick!" But the monsters were already closing the distance. "We'll never make it," said Ash. "We have to fight." "You're both right," said Harper. She held her iron sword up. "Let's fight our way back to the houses."

They heard a familiar twang sound. Morgan knew what that meant. "THEY'RE SHOOTING ARROWS AT US," he said. "Run!" They ran. Morgan didn't run at top speed, though. He didn't want to lose sight of Jodi. He didn't want to leave anyone behind. So he was the first one to have to fight. A zombie caught up to him, and he slashed it with his sword. It flared red, then turned its full attention on him. It reached for him with rotten hands. It groaned its eerie groan. But it couldn't touch him. He knew just

how to time his attacks, and each swing of his sword knocked the monster back. He'd soon defeated it, reducing it to a puff of digital dust and a shred of rotten flesh. Morgan felt a thrill of triumph, but it didn't last long. In the time it had taken him to defeat one zombie, three more had caught up to him. He was surrounded. "Leave my brother alone!" Jodi shouted. She came up beside him and slashed at one of the zombies. Morgan was impressed. For someone who mostly played in Creative mode, his little sister was a natural with a sword.

The others were busy with their own fights, but everyone seemed to be holding up. They just might survive this. "WE'LL GIVE YOU SOMETHING TO MOAN ABOUT," said Harper.

"I'm just glad we can't smell anything here," said Po. "Even with this huge red nose!" "You came back for me," Morgan said. "We're in this together," said Ash. She worked quickly to take out a skeleton armed with a bow. She huffed. "So how do we get out of this together?" "We can do it," Morgan said. "We're winning." Then he heard a new sound. A low, sibilant ssssss. His eyes went wide. "Stop fighting!" he cried. "Everyone get back! Get back now!" He could just barely see the creeper through the line of zombies. It was flashing white.

He couldn't reach it in time. Couldn't stop it from— The creeper exploded. It made Morgan's ears ring. And more than that…it hurt. They could actually be hurt here. "Are you okay?" asked Jodi. "Yeah," he said. "Yeah, I think so. You?" "We all got clear in time," Ash said. "Thanks to your warning." "Our undead friends weren't so lucky," said Harper. She was right. The creeper had been good for one thing. It had totally cleared out the remaining zombies and skeletons. There was a crater in the ground where they'd just been. There was also a lot of random loot left behind—flesh and bones and pieces of the landscape.