Chapter 2: Alliances

Jack meets a couple new allies. Tomfoolery ensues.

(Hate reading? Check out the audiobook ---> www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQZ9IBZcVpQ&t=5s )

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Jack opened his eyes to an oak ceiling. That couldn't be right. He lifted his head and gazed around, noting the presence of three other beds in the room with him, each with its own crimson sheet and white pillow. Jack took a deep breath and reeled back his mind. He should be dead, as nine out of ten doctors would agree. And though he never saw the wound on his back, it was surely fatal. The wound! He swiftly turned his head to check his back but was instead met with a slobbery tongue that felt like a wet mop on his face.

"Aaagh!" Jack recoiled, wiping his face with his hoodie and gazing at the creature before him. Well, it wasn't a giant tongue, after all. It was a silver wolf pup, with rather large black eyes that looked up at him expectantly. The pup cocked its head at him as if to question the half-scared look on Jack's face. It wagged its tail alarmingly fast for a pup and pawed at Jack's bedside.

"Rufus! Down boy, down." A man in black spectacles called the wolf. Upon hearing its name, the wolf scrambled to the stranger in an instant, any thought of Jack gone. The man smiled, petting the dog as it licked his palms. His eyes shimmered a cool brown, his tousled oak hair falling just above his eyes. He wore a pair of beige pants along with a forest-green button up shirt with the collar neatly flattened. "He's harmless, really," he said, patting the dog on the head and standing to his full height. "I'm Michael." He wiped his stub on his shirt and offered it to Jack.

"Jack." He took his stub, still a little unsure of the situation. "Say, have you seen a girl with red hair around here by any chance?" Michael smiled. "She's in the kitchen raiding my food supply. You're lucky that you two stumbled across my house when you did. I came when I heard the explosion. I was able to patch you up since I had some extra potions laying around, but you should still rest for today."

"Thanks." Jack breathed a sigh of relief. Oh! The wound. Jack flipped off his sweatshirt and was amazed when he saw nothing but a long, white scar left. "What was in that potion?" Michael grinned, opening his mouth to answer, but was cut off by a loud crash that came from another room. Ami's voice rang loud and clear, as well as the cursing that came with it.

"I wonder what that was," Michael mused, not sounding concerned in the slightest. He sauntered through the hallway on the other side of the room, out of Jack's line of sight. Jack could only hear muffled voices and splashing in the distance. Obviously, he had to investigate. So he stood up, stumbled only once, and shuffled through a small, wooden hallway. He wondered why Michael had made the hallway so small. It was making him slightly claustrophobic.

It seemed that Michael's entire house was made of wood, that is, until Jack stepped into what he assumed was the kitchen. An ocean blue block coated the entirety of the room, gleaming in the light. Everything was blue! The table, the chair, even a little island that was placed near the fridge (which was unexpectedly blue). It all would have been more wonderful if it wasn't flooding. What seemed like a wave had stumbled through the house and already had gotten at least waist-height. Jack waded next to Michael, who didn't seem shocked that he had followed him. He was watching Ami, who was caught in the bulk of it, holding a loaf of bread over her head and yelling loudly.

"I can't get the bread wet!" she repeated over and over. "It'll be soggy! Who wants soggy bread?!" Michael casually called out to her. "Don't worry, normal physics don't work here. You can drop the bread, it won't get wet. Just come over here so I can patch up the hole." The hole? Jack was exceptionally confused. He looked a little closer and saw that part of the wall was missing, large globs of water gushing out of it. Ah, that would explain it. It was as if he was watching this scene on a television, the way it was playing out between these two. Ami absolutely refused to drop the bread - her reasons were still rather unclear - no matter how many times Michael told her nothing would happen to the bread. Jack could sympathize with her, though. Soggy bread was the worst.

"Would you rather stay in there and drown?" Michael looked over his glasses, making a serious face at Ami. She gulped, sighed, and slowly stepped out of the water, the loaf of bread falling out of her hands. A look of shame had crossed her face, making Ami seem gloomier than a rain cloud. Her pale face and dead eyes stared at the spot where she had dropped the bread. The tragedy must have been far more scarring than they thought. Pushing his glasses up, Michael took out one of the blue blocks from his pocket (or inventory, as Ami had called it) and patched up the lingering hole. The water flow stopped and somehow evaporated into the air, leaving the smell of rain and damp wood in its wake. The bread was left on the floor, untouched, yet perfectly fine.

"How did this happen?" Michael asked Ami coolly, crossing his arms. She shrugged and stared at the ground. "I finally made something I was proud of and then I think I accidentally hit something when I celebrated, and then this happened, and then I knew I had to save the bread - I mean who wouldn't - and then I realized the water just kept rising and -"

"Hey, hey, it's alright. I mean, we are slightly underwater, so it's understandable that something like this would happen." He observed his work, subtly nodding to himself with a faint smile. Then he turned to face Jack and Ami, who's clothes had tried in record time. "I'm sure you two have realized where we are by now?"

"Not home. Hey, what do you mean by slightly underwater?" Jack's mind was still trying to process what he had just witnessed.

"We might be directly beside a lake. It wasn't my idea to build here, I'll have you know." He put the blue block back into his inventory then caught Jack's eye and continued. "These are called Lapiz Lazuli. But looking closer at you two...neither of you have the faintest idea what this world is, do you?" He waited only a moment before answering his own question. "Lady and gent, we've somehow landed ourselves inside of a video game, I like to think. And not just any game, mind, but Minecraft. The Minecraft. An incredible sandbox game with endless possibilities, and not an end in sight! Needless to say, it's popular."

"So you're a fan of this game, then," Ami smirked. Michael cleared his throat and adjusted his collar. "I may or may not have beaten the game several times, in technical terms, and know just about all the details you can think of. That kind of fan."

"So you're a shut-in, I see." Ami closed her eyes and nodded, humming to herself. "I think you need to learn to have a little fun." Michael's lip twitched, but he said nothing, him and Jack exchanging doubtful glances.

"Why don't we build a column of lava right there?" She pointed to the centre of the room. "It would make a great centrepiece! Think of crowding around the lava column after a long days work."

"That," Michael started. "Is the worst idea I have ever heard in my life. We're not doing that. It's my house, Ami. You don't get to add 'death by faulty architecture' to my to-do list." He walked over to a chest and started to dig through it. Ami seemed shocked at the outright 'no' she had been given, her stub gingerly placed over her heart. "Come on, Michael!"

"I'm not stupid," he said. "Here." He passed a loaf of bread, milk, and a pork chop to Jack. Astonished by the sudden presence food, Jack did what anyone would do. He ate it all as fast as humanly possible. At least, that's what he thought most people should do. This vanquishing of meat proved to be fairly fast, as in a matter of seconds the food was gone. Michael smiled. "You must have been hungry. I have steak cooking for later too if you'd like some."

Jack swallowed and looked at him. "Thanks, yeah. So, back to the entire, 'we're in a video game' thing... what?"

"I told you already," Michael chuckled. "I'm an advanced player, everything in this world is more or less the exact same to the game, as I've found. I already have a surplus of diamond armour for when we eventually have to mine, if you two are sticking around. Relax, I'm sure we'll find out how we got here eventually. I'm still searching too, aren't I? Anyway, there isn't anything we can really do besides..." he stopped himself, pursing his lips.

"Besides what?" Ami asked impatiently.

"Huh, that could be a little problematic. Perhaps to be freed of this world we would have to, say, beat the game. And in Minecraft, the boss is named the Ender Dragon. It's a bit sketchy because it's more of an option to beat it, but maybe still an end in itself. But we could go about slaying it, which could...oh, but, hmm..." Michael rubbed his chin with his stub, deep in thought. He was more talking to himself than anything, so Jack left him to it. He seemed like the kind of guy who could talk to himself for hours.

"What a weirdo," Ami cocked her head. "He seems a little...well, weird."

"Are you just saying that because he won't let you build a giant lava lamp?" Jack raised an eyebrow. Ami snorted with laughter, giggling maniacally.

"What did I say?!" Jack asked, bewildered.

"You...haha...lava lamp," she finished and fell to her knees. Jack's eye twitched. That was it? She was laughing because of a joke that wasn't even that good. Jack shook his head. He felt like he was surrounded by aliens.

"But I think for the time being we should stick together, you and me." Ami had suddenly gotten up, startling him.

"Wha - what?" Jack breathed in and out. "You mean an alliance?" Ami gave him a look. "Duh. Just until we know he's okay. I mean, he seems okay." She watched as Michael paced around the room, muttering nonsense to himself. "But in case something happens, we're bros."

"You're a girl."

"Thanks for noticing." Jack chuckled at her words. And just like that, Jack had somehow survived through more than a day with the odd duo he had met. It was far longer than he expected, considering the absolute ridiculousness of these characters. His eyes trailed to Ami, her red hair braided down her back, smirking as she observed Michael as he paced around. What had he gotten himself into?

Author's Note

I like where this story is going. I really do. At least, it's going somewhere in my head. Yep. Stay tuned for whatever in the next chapter. Author, out!