The explosion blew apart the surrounding area and shot Steve and Alex further away from each other. Separating them, a barrage of gravel fell to the ground creating a wall that would take some time to clear out.

The zombie that had attempted to strike him laid on the ground in front of Steve, groaning and attempting to get back on its feet. Steve quickly stood up and equipped an iron sword, gripping it tightly between his palms.

“Stay back!” He shouted. The zombie rose from the stone floor and walked toward Steve as he cornered himself against the gravel wall behind him.

The zombie lacked eyes so Steve’s attempts at a threat didn’t get through.

“Steve!” Alex shouted from the other side of the wall. Her voice was muffled yet the desperate cries reached him. Without taking his eyes off of the zombie, Steve replied.

“What happened?!”

“A Creeper came out of nowhere!” Alex began picking at the wall of gravel, attempting to move the tiny rocks to reach her partner in need of help.

Steve thought back to the list of monsters Alex told him about, and the dynamite monster came to mind. Associating an explosive monster to one coated in moss and moving on four legs was difficult for Steve. He also wondered how it managed to get between him and Alex without making a single noise. However, the monster that blew itself into pieces was the last of his worries, as at the moment, he was busy with a brainless pile of meat.

“This isn’t working!” Alex shouted back in frustration. She had spent the last several minutes trying to dig out the gravel with her hands, then her pickaxe only to fail time and time again. “I need a shovel!”

“Then make one!” The zombie reached for Steve, forcing him to step back into the pile of rocks. He could hear his heartbeat through the chaos.

“You have all of the wood!” Another zombie snuck in from behind the wooden frames. As soon as Steve noticed, he let out a gasp. “Break down the wall!” Alex finished.

“More of them are coming! I’m not risking it!”

“I’ll look for another path! Don’t die on me!” Alex stormed off further into the shaft in search of paths that could lead her to Steve.

The mineshaft was full of random twists and turns, drops and rises, and identical halls that led Alex off the path almost instantly. Like a complex mine, she lost her way as soon as she left. She couldn’t have recognized where she had come from had there not been a gaping hole in the floor. While running around, she came across a path that had an even further drop into the cave with stalagmites peering over the darkness and stalactites hanging over her. She gripped the steel chains in fear and slowly continued her track.

Meanwhile, the zombies were slowly approaching Steve. With a tight grip on his iron sword, Steve put one foot forward and prepared to strike. Everything he learned from the training he had done before had completely passed over his mind and nothing but pure fear was driving him. The coarse groans from the zombies, their squelchy footsteps echoing around the stone walls around them, and the dead-eyed expressions they carried as they approached him, Steve’s fear only continued to build.

The zombies made the first strike, pouncing toward Steve when he least expected it. It opened its jaw wide and attempted to get a bite of Steve’s arm, but he quickly stuck the blade through the beast’s mouth and its skull and listened to the squidgy tear of its skin and muscles as the blade moved. The dark green blood of the zombie slid down the silver blade and made its way to the hilt.

Steve swiftly pulled his sword back and stepped away from the second zombie that was slowly making its way toward him. The zombie in front of him collapsed and stopped moving. The rotting corpse, much like the Enderman, slowly began to fizzle out of existence and leave nothing behind. He continued to shake uncontrollably but regained his control over the blade and footing on his surroundings.

He wanted to believe that everything he could see was in his control. The creeping zombies, the fluttering bats, the hole in the ground, the rotting corpse, and even his breaths were all things he had taken into consideration before wanting to make another strike. The brainless monster heading his way had nothing in mind but Steve’s death and the feeling was mutual.

Steve tightened his grip and clenched his teeth. If he had any other chance to strike, this was it. He stuck on foot forward, and with his heart racing, he lunged toward the zombie in front of him. Sword over his shoulder and shouting out of the top of his lungs, he swung through the zombie’s throat with the stained sword and watched as the zombie's head flew from its neck and collided with the wall, splattering the green blood all over the place.

Alex had heard his cry while still searching. She turned the other way and started running faster to the rescue. The caves weren’t favorable to the solo adventurers, and she knew that.

Steve dropped his sword and looked at his own hands in fear. Still trembling, he couldn’t believe he had taken the lives of two zombies. A part of him felt like he had done something wrong. Their resemblance to him made him feel guilt even though they had already been dead. He fell to his knees and began to contemplate what he had done. When suddenly more soulless groans came from the same wooden frame. Steve rose his head to four more zombies cripplingly walking toward him. He turned to his sword, and with his shaking hands, struggled to lift it.

The zombies’ slow walk felt ever-so hastened through the fear. Steve would occasionally glance while trying to get his grip and notice they were closer than before, every single time. His breaths began to run out of control with every passing second, his mind slowly went hazy, and he quickly lost track of where he was.

There was nothing but himself and the four zombies walking toward him. He backed himself into a corner, tripped into the hole from the explosion, and watched as the zombies looked down at him with their soulless eyes and coarse groan, slowly approaching with their arms out.

“LOOK OUT!” He heard a shout from afar.

Suddenly a stick of red peaked over the heads of the zombies, and a light following line attached to the stick let out a silent hiss.

“DUCK!” The light reached the stick, and with a flash of white--

BOOM!

Steve opened his eyes to a ring in his ear and dust covering the path. He couldn’t make sight of any zombies, nor could he hear anything through the noise. With his eyes narrowed and ears in constant pain, he reached for his sword. Through the dust, he could see a figure running toward him with a pickaxe in hand. He smiled in relief as Alex peered through the dust and reached for his hand.

“We have to hurry!” She shouted and pulled him out of the hole. He looked around and saw the body parts of the zombies slowly fizzing away. “There isn’t much time before more of them spawn. Give me your torches!” He pulled half of them out of his inventory and handed them to her.

They ran into the room where the zombies were sprawling from, and in the center of the mossy room was a cage-like cube with a really small zombie rotating like they were in a zero-gravity chamber. The cube had a face in the center with dark purple eyes that instantly freaked Steve out, as well as a skull shaped like a keyhole. Alex rushed to the cube and threw one of the torches on the top hole of the cage and scoured around. There were chests on all sides of the room that Alex didn’t hesitate to search.

“What is that thing?” Steve asked with a shake in his voice.

“It’s where those zombies were coming from,” Alex answered after a moment of silence.

“Are there more?”

“Who can tell?”

“You mean you don’t know?” Alex raised her head from within the chest and looked at him with a raised brow. “You brought us here and you don’t know?!”

“I didn’t build the place!”

“Then who did?!”

“Let’s calm down, Steve. We need to get our bearing and access our situation.”

“There won’t be more monsters?”

“Not from the spawner, I can guarantee that.” She pulled out a golden apple from the chest and tossed it at Steve. “We are in a mineshaft, and the things that were attacking you are Zombies. They aren’t very tough, but one bite on your skin can prove to be vital. The thing that exploded was a Creeper, and there are plenty more of them where that came from. Now, this mineshaft is large and hard to navigate, but there are a lot of resources we could use to get stronger.”

“Resources? Really? We almost died back there, and you still only think about getting stronger?” Steve rested an arm on the wall and sighed. Alex’s dedication was beginning to become too much for him to bear, and after experiencing what the zombie fights, he wanted nothing but to go back above ground. “We were about to leave before we found this place. It isn’t too late to turn back.”

“Steve…” Alex reached into her inventory and stared her partner in the eyes. She caught his attention and opened her palm to the ceiling. A pearlescent blue light shined from her palm and a clear rock hovered over her palm, reflecting the blue from Steve’s clothes and the green from Alex. Steve was instantly captivated by the shine and glow and couldn’t take his eyes off the rock.

“I found it in this chest. The villagers called it a diamond, and it’s the toughest, no strongest material in the world.” She closed her palm, and with it, the diamond disappeared. Steve looked back at his partner, then back at his sword. “I say we continue looking for more, but the decision is yours.”

With a look at Alex’s eyes, Steve could tell how serious she was about continuing. There was no hint of relapse in her eyes. Even though she gave him the option, she was going to continue with or without him. Their promise meant nothing to her now that she knew what was possible, and Steve knew that. But he couldn’t leave her down here alone.

“How much stronger?” As much as he was against the idea, seeing Alex’s eyes light up as soon as he answered the question filled him with joy.

“Almost twice as strong.” She walked up to her partner and rested her hands on his shoulder, leaning closer to his face with a smirk on hers. “We will be unstoppable with it.”

~

The two ran further into the mineshaft with their swords in one hand and their shields in the other. Their only goal was to find more diamonds and get out in one piece. Steve placed torches while Alex blocked explored paths. The mines came with plenty of dead ends that if left open could only lead to more problems. The shafts were boisterous and untamed. Everything about them read like a man-made structure, and once they got used to the layout, was simple to read.

There was a single extended line, the main road, that branched off into miniature paths that all lead to dead ends. Most of the time the branches had nothing to offer, but on the off chance that something was waiting for them, they took their chances. By random, there would be chests with loot hiding within the branches. None of them offered goods like the first chest, but there was something to be taken.

There were plenty of zombies that spawned on the main path, delaying their trip ever slightly, but they made quick work of whatever crossed their path. Eventually, they decided to continue down the main path and ignore the branches as they never had anything of value. They wanted nothing but diamonds, and in case there was anything they would’ve needed in the future, they marked the branch with several torches. The number of cobwebs down the main path was drastically increasing by the second, but neither of them noticed.

As they were walking, Alex was telling Steve some stories from her childhood. Her first fight with frogs, the time she defended turtle eggs overnight, and a tale of a forgotten monster, neither of which Steve believed. As she attempted to get him on her side, Steve heard ominous shuffling coming from the ceiling in a branching path. He suddenly stopped in his step and turned toward the noise. There was nothing but darkness greeting him, and the noise came to a halt.

“We’re not taking the branches, remember?” Alex chuckled and continued down the path. Steve stayed back with all of his attention on the branching path. Alex stopped and turned, curious about what could’ve stolen him. “Steve?” She walked up to him and stared into the blackness in front of them.

“There’s something in there,” Steve whispered. “and it isn’t a zombie.”

“You don’t think that-”

“No.” He immediately interrupted. “This sounds different. Way different.”

Alex equipped her sword and shield and slowly walked into the darkness. Steve watched as her silhouette disappeared in the dark and followed making sure his steps were as quiet as he could make them. The stone beneath them went silent, not making a single sound from their footsteps, but they could hear brush-like steps on the ceilings and the floors. Their ignorance of their surroundings left them anxious and fearful. There wasn’t a single light source in sight, and the shuffling around them grew louder.

“Alex…” Steve whispered. Alex came to a halt and turned to her partner, only to see nothing but darkness.

“What?” She whispered back.

“Do you have any torches?” Alex reached into her inventory and switched her shield out for a singular torch that illuminated the room as soon as it left her inventory. As soon as the light bounced around the walls, a wince from multiple creatures followed, and the shuffling against the walls repeated.

The two froze in the center of the narrow path as four hairy, eight-legged, cat-sized spiders surrounded them with their six glaring red eyes and dark blue hairs that were in complete contrast with the light. Two hung from the ceilings behind Alex while two crawled on the walls, directly looking at the two in silence. They weren’t hostile at sight like the zombies, but Steve and Alex couldn’t help but tremble in their presence.

They took heavy, shaken breaths as one of the spiders crawled off the wall and approached Alex. Steve watched as her frightened eyes followed the cat-sized spider brushing a leg against her boots.

“Steve…” She whispered in a panic. The spider suddenly stopped and raised its head at her. Steve slowly raised his shield and extended his sword. As soon as the metal brushed his cloth, all the spiders instantly turned to him. He froze.

Alex took the opportunity and immediately jabbed her sword through the spider’s skull and froze. The spider let out a cry that caught the attention of the others.

“Run!” She shouted, and they sprinted through the narrow path. The remaining spiders chased after them using the narrow terrain to their advantage.

They were quick. No matter how fast the two ran, the spiders managed to keep up. Their efforts to lose them through the treacherous shafts were pointless and only served to get them even more lost. The two made sure to keep on the main path despite its single-lane nature. The risk of taking a branch and getting cornered wasn’t a risk they were willing to take.

The spider’s clicking footsteps followed the two through the caves without end. The builders attempted placing objects to obstruct the spiders’ path, but they were quickly avoided like nothing was there. They were running to an open path where the walls of the cave expanded and natural light was being let in. Alex recognized the path.

“On three we jump!” She shouted as soon as she got on an idea.

“What?!” Steve shouted back.

“One…” The two crossed the walls that separated the mineshaft from the ravine. “Two…” She quickly turned around and blocked the path with dirt. A single spider’s leg stabbed through her defenses.

“Three!” She shouted and leaped from the wooden path down into the deep ravine below them. Steve watched for a moment until the dirt wall broke down and the spiders came dashing at him. He jumped into the dark like his partner before him and hoped for the best.

Falling at an insane speed without any sight of what was below them, Steve spread his arms and legs in an attempt to glide, but the pressure of gravity continued to force him down. The sharp winds brushed against his skin as he dove, and his armor pressed against his chest further limiting his breath.

Suddenly a light appeared at the bottom of the ravine revealing a lake of water and Alex standing on a patch of land. She signaled at the water and shouted, but Steve couldn’t hear passed the raging wind. Alex stepped back as Steve plummeted head-first into the small patch of water. Lifting her torch, she helped Steve out of the water and watched him dry off.

“We survived.” She sighed and sat on the block, letting her boots soak in the shallow waters. Steve raised his head and looked into the darkness from which they jumped. No sign of the spiders was anywhere, to which he sighed in relief.

“Yeah… somehow.” Alex reached into her pocket and pulled out the only diamond she had. “Maybe we should head back.” Steve continued. “I don’t think we’ll find anything down here.”

“I can’t believe we didn’t find any more.” She threw the diamond back in her inventory and groaned. “I had a good feeling about it! Stupid spiders.”

“Well, on the bright side, we have more iron than we know what to do with and enough resources to keep us afloat for a while.”

“You’re right.” She stood up and looked around the bottom of the ravine. Surrounding them were large spikes from the ceiling of the cave and the floors, like enormous icicles made of rock ready to cut through a bystander. “I don’t think there’s an easy way back from here.”

“What are those things?” Steve stood beside her and stared at the path passed the water ahead.

“I have no idea,” She answered. “I’ve never seen anything like them.”

“Do you think it’s safe?” Alex turned to him with a raised brow. “Right… let’s pray we get out alive.”