The Creeper Invasion Read online

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  Copyright © 2018 by Hollan Publishing, Inc.

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  Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

  Cover design by Brian Peterson

  Cover photo by Megan Miller

  Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-3736-5

  Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-3741-9

  Printed in Canada

  TABLE OF CONTENTS

  Chapter 1: The Invitation

  Chapter 2: Creatures of the Swamp

  Chapter 3: Madness in the Mine

  Chapter 4: Ice Castles

  Chapter 5: Alone in the Future

  Chapter 6: You Look the Same

  Chapter 7: Truth or Dare

  Chapter 8: The Nitwit

  Chapter 9: Caught Up with the Creepers

  Chapter 10: Finding Yourself

  Chapter 11: A Believer

  Chapter 12: Nether Leave

  Chapter 13: Explosions

  Chapter 14: Feeling Green

  Chapter 15: Hidden Treasure

  Chapter 16: Cold Stares

  Chapter 17: Warriors

  Chapter 18: See You Soon

  1

  THE INVITATION

  “I have big news.” Brett and Joe stood in the entrance to Poppy’s house. They were breathless because they had sprinted all the way to her door. Both of them were eager to tell Poppy their good news.

  Poppy smiled. “I have something to tell you, too!”

  Brett blurted out, “Really? That’s great. We can’t wait to hear. Tell us.”

  “No, you first,” said Poppy.

  “We’re going to the cold taiga to build a farm,” Brett exclaimed.

  “That’s amazing, and it also makes my news even better,” said Poppy.

  “What’s your news?” asked Joe.

  “I am going to the taiga to build a large igloo and a castle. I was commissioned by the town to build those two buildings.” Poppy asked, “When do you guys have to go to the taiga? I have to leave tomorrow.”

  “So do we,” said Brett.

  “This is great. Let’s craft an igloo, and then we can be roommates,” suggested Poppy.

  “Sounds like a plan,” Brett said.

  Poppy looked up at the sky. It was getting dark, and she caught a glance of two vacant-eyed zombies lumbering toward her house. “Oh no! Zombies! You guys have to head home. It’s not safe out.”

  “Where?” Joe pulled armor and a diamond sword from his inventory, caught sight of the zombies, and raced toward them.

  Brett put on his armor and joined Joe in the battle against the undead beasts that spawned when the sun began to set. They slammed their swords into the zombies, piercing the oozing flesh and weakening the creatures until they were destroyed. Brett and Joe leaned down to pick up the rotten flesh from the ground, but both let out a collective gasp when they spotted an army of zombies marching into the town.

  “I can help!” Poppy rushed toward them dressed in armor. She fearlessly lunged at the smelly beasts, trying to destroy as many as she could. Brett splashed potions on the zombies while Joe ripped into the creatures with his diamond sword. Poppy was down to one heart when the final zombie was destroyed.

  “Take this.” Joe handed her a potion to restore her energy.

  Poppy sipped the potion as she checked out the area for any other hostile mobs that spawned in the dark. “I think we’re safe,” she said. “You guys should stay at my house tonight. It’s not safe for you to travel home.”

  Brett and Joe followed Poppy back to her house. As they reached her door, Brett felt a stinging pain radiate down his arm.

  “A spider jockey!” screamed Joe.

  Poppy put away her sword and grabbed a bow and arrow, and with perfect aim, she struck the skeleton that rode atop the red-eyed spider. Her second arrow destroyed the bony beast. Brett ripped into the spider while Poppy picked up the dropped bones on the grass. It took three precise hits from Brett’s sword, but he destroyed the deadly arachnoid.

  “We have to get inside,” Poppy said.

  The gang hurried into the house and closed the door. “We need to get up early,” said Brett. “We should get to sleep.”

  Poppy led them to the extra bedroom. Joe thanked Poppy for letting them stay at her house. Joe and Brett wearily climbed into their beds. Brett pulled the wool blanket over his tired body. As he drifted off to sleep, he thought about the challenges of building a farm in the ice biome. He needed to figure out a way to melt the snow. When he realized the best method was using a torch, he scanned his inventory for torches, but he had only a couple in his inventory.

  “We need torches,” he called out, but Joe was already fast asleep. Brett could hear him snoring.

  Brett tossed and turned and couldn’t fall asleep. He was anxious about the trip to the taiga. He didn’t want to show up unprepared, but they weren’t given a lot of time to prepare for the journey. Brett wondered why all of them were invited to the taiga at the same time. He started to think these offers might be slightly suspicious, but then he told himself that he was just overtired and his mind was wandering. Brett focused on the beauty of the taiga and the snowmen he would build during his time off. He rarely traveled outside of Meadow Mews, and he wanted to be excited for this opportunity rather than suspicious of the town’s people and their motives for inviting this trio.

  Brett didn’t even remember falling asleep. He awoke and looked over at Joe, but his friend was missing.

  “Joe,” Brett called out, but there was no response.

  He jumped out of the bed as he heard Poppy’s ocelot meow. “Sam,” Brett said to the ocelot, “where is everyone?” He knew asking the ocelot was pointless; the small animal couldn’t speak. The ocelot stared at him, meowed, and rubbed against his legs, leading Brett to assume the animal was hungry. He pulled some fish from his inventory and fed Poppy’s pet while he called out for his two friends. “Poppy! Joe!”

  “Brett,” Poppy raced into the house, “we were just filling our inventories with apples and other treats from the farm.”

  Joe handed Brett a bunch of apples. “This is for you.”

  “Thanks,” said Brett as he placed the apples in his inventory.

  “Well, now that we have food,” said Poppy, “we should get going. The trip to the taiga takes about a day, and I don’t want us to get stuck outside at night.”

  “Good idea,” said Joe as he looked through his inventory, making sure he had all the supplies he planned to bring wi
th him.

  “There’s just one problem: we need torches to melt the snow, or we won’t be able to farm. Do you have any torches, Joe?” asked Brett.

  “I have three,” he replied after searching through his inventory.

  “We’re going to need more than that,” explained Brett. “We won’t be able to find coal in that biome. We must mine on the way there so we have enough coal to craft torches when we need them. I have a bunch of sticks in my inventory, so we don’t need to get those.”

  Poppy studied the map. “No problem, there’s a mountain biome on the way there. If we make a quick trip to a cave, we can find a bunch of coal. I’ll help you get some.”

  The gang looked through their inventories as they set off on their one-day journey to the cold biome.

  As they walked through the meadow and into the forest, Poppy said, “Do you find anything strange about the timing of these invitations?”

  “What do you mean?” asked Joe.

  Brett asked, “Do you think it’s strange because we were all asked to go to the taiga and we weren’t given a lot of advance notice?”

  “Yes,” said Poppy. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

  “You guys only think that way because you’re both pranksters and you always believe someone is going to trick you. I don’t think there is anything strange about the invitation,” said Joe.

  “Then why do you think they asked us to come right away, Joe?” Poppy questioned.

  “Perhaps somebody canceled,” suggested Joe.

  “Makes sense,” Brett said with a chuckle. “Maybe Joe’s right. We just always think everyone wants to trick us because we always trick people.”

  “It’s been awhile since we’ve tricked anyone,” Poppy said. “We should plan a good prank soon.”

  “You better not pull a prank on me,” said Joe.

  “Let’s plan a prank on the folks in the taiga,” suggested Poppy.

  “What would you do?” asked Joe.

  Poppy giggled. “I don’t know. But we have an advantage there because nobody knows us, and they aren’t expecting to be tricked.”

  Joe reminded Poppy, “You guys have a reputation. I had heard about your pranking before I came to Meadow Mews. You’ve pulled off some pretty large-scale pranks. I think you guys should stop pranking people. It’s not very nice.”

  “Oh come on. We only do it to be funny,” Poppy defended them. “Right, Brett?”

  Brett wasn’t paying attention to their conversation. He was too fixated on the fact that they were all invited to the taiga. Although he was glad to be with Poppy, the more he thought about it, the more he felt there was something unsettling about the invitation. As the trio walked deeper into the forest, Brett stayed close to his friends because he didn’t want to get lost in the thick leaves. He hoped Joe was right and that he was invited to the taiga simply because they wanted him to build a farm and that nothing sinister was in the works.

  2

  CREATURES OF THE SWAMP

  Poppy paused and pulled out the map. “I think we’re lost,” she said as she stared at the swamp biome in the distance. “I don’t see the swamp biome on this map.”

  Brett and Joe leaned over Poppy to see the map. “You’re right,” said Brett. “There isn’t a swamp on the map. Who gave you this map?”

  “They sent it with the invitation,” replied Poppy.

  “That’s strange,” said Brett. “We didn’t receive a map with our invitation.”

  “Really?” Poppy looked at the map again. “Look at this. We are supposed to be in the jungle. I have no idea why we’re by the swamp.”

  A thunderous boom shook the Overworld. As rain fell from the sky, it made noise when it fell against the lush green leaves of the trees. Brett said, “We should stay here. I don’t think it’s a good idea to be in the swamp during the rainstorm. There are enough hostile mobs that are able to spawn here, and we don’t want to have to battle the ones that are spawning in the swamp, too.”

  “Ouch!” Poppy screamed as an arrow hit her back. She turned around to find two skeletons standing in her path.

  She lunged toward the bony beasts with her diamond sword, ripping into the skeletons and instantly destroying one. She struck the second skeleton. As its bones clanged, she saw an arrow strike the beast and obliterate it. Poppy turned around and saw Brett aiming his bow and arrow. He called out, “Have you seen Joe?”

  “No,” said Poppy as the rain drenched her hair and raindrops ran down her face, clouding her vision.

  “Joe!” Brett hollered, but there was no response. He couldn’t find his friend.

  “He couldn’t have gone very far.” Poppy looked around, trying to catch sight of Joe in the dense forest.

  “Maybe he went to the swamp,” suggested Brett.

  “Or maybe he was destroyed and respawned in Meadow Mews,” Poppy said. She didn’t want to search through the swamp in a rainstorm. She didn’t want to look for trouble.

  “He could have respawned in Meadow Mews, but I think it’s more likely that he ran from a hostile mob and made his way into the swamp.”

  “I don’t think we should venture into the swamp. You know how I get around witches.” Poppy shuddered. “And slimes.”

  Brett knew Poppy disliked the swamp and tried to avoid it at all costs, but today they had to go. They had to find Joe.

  “Brett! Poppy!” Joe called out, but they couldn’t see him.

  “Where are you?” screamed Brett.

  “Help!” Joe hollered.

  “We don’t know where you are!” Poppy called out as she looked for Joe in the trees but didn’t see him.

  “A witch!” Joe cried.

  “I knew it,” Brett said. “He’s in the swamp. We have to go.”

  Poppy’s heart felt like it was pounding out of her body as she followed behind Brett and into the rainy swamp biome. Before they could see Joe, Poppy heard a familiar noise that made her cringe.

  Boing! Boing! Boing!

  “Oh no,” Poppy cried as three slimes surrounded them.

  Brett pulled out his diamond sword and struck one of the slimes, which broke into smaller cubes. Poppy stood frozen in terror as she heard a shrill laugh from a witch.

  “I think Joe is over there.” She pointed to the direction where she had heard the witch’s laughter.

  “Help me!” Brett was irritated. “You need to destroy some of these slimes. I can’t do it on my own.”

  Poppy took a deep breath as she ripped into the slimy creatures and then struck the smaller slimes. When the final slime was destroyed, the rain stopped.

  “Thankfully, the rain is over,” Poppy said with relief.

  Joe raced toward his friends. “The witch. I destroyed the witch,” he said between sips at a bottle of milk, which he offered to his friends.

  Poppy declared, “I want to get out of the swamp right now. I don’t want to spend any time here.”

  “I agree,” said Brett, “but let’s look at the map.”

  Poppy took out the map. “This is useless. It doesn’t have the swamp on it at all. I have no idea how to get to the cold biome.”

  Joe said, “I actually went to the biome before, and I think I have an idea of how to get there. We should rush through the rest of the swamp, and then we should be in the mountainous biome.”

  “We must stop in that biome. Don’t forget that we have to mine for coal or we won’t be able to melt the ice,” said Brett.

  “Of course I didn’t forget,” said Joe.

  The gang bolted through the swamp biome. As they got deeper into the swampy biome, the group collectively hoped that the mountainous biome was close, but it seemed as if they were in the swamp a lot longer than they had expected. Poppy looked up at the sky.

  “Guys,” her voice cracked, “I see a full moon.”

  “We have to pick up the speed,” Brett said as two bats flew past them.

  “I think it’s too late,” Joe hollered as a witch clutching a vial of pot
ion hurtled toward him. The witch splashed it on Joe, and he couldn’t move. His body was exhausted.

  Poppy stared at the witch. She had to overcome her fear of this purple-robed monster. If she didn’t lunge at the witch alongside Brett, they might be trapped in the swamp.

  With a renewed energy, Poppy slammed her sword deep into the witch’s belly. The witch was able to sprinkle a few drops of potion on Poppy, weakening her. Poppy had enough energy to grab a potion from her inventory to help her regain strength as she watched Brett destroy the witch.

  “Take this.” Brett raced to Joe, handing him a potion to regain his strength. Joe drank it.

  The sun was beginning to set, and Poppy said, “We have to keep moving. We can’t get stuck here.”

  The trio jogged alongside the murky swamp water and didn’t stop until they saw the peak of a mountain.

  “It’s the mountainous biome,” Poppy called out gleefully.

  “We have to find shelter,” said Joe as he saw two skeletons racing toward them. The skeletons shot arrows as the gang rushed with their swords and attacked the beasts. As they picked up the dropped bones, Poppy said, “Look! There’s an opening to a cave.”

  Brett followed Poppy into the cave. He hoped nobody was hiding in it, waiting to attack them.

  3

  MADNESS IN THE MINE

  The first thing they saw in the cave was a pair of red eyes staring at them. Brett raced over to the cave spider and slammed his sword into the creepy eight-legged creature.

  Poppy jumped back as she pointed toward the ground. “Look at the silverfish.”

  The ground was covered in silverfish bugs. They hit the bugs, obliterating the insects that blanketed the cave’s dirt floor.

  When they had destroyed the final silverfish, Brett said, “We have to start mining for coal.”

  “Don’t you think we should get some sleep?” asked Joe with a yawn.

  “Not now. We’re in the cave. This is the time we should get some coal. If we don’t have coal, we shouldn’t even bother heading to the cold biome,” Brett said as he banged his pickaxe into the ground. But he didn’t see any coal.

  “Maybe we shouldn’t go to the cold biome,” suggested Joe. This was the first time he started to believe there might be trouble in the cold biome. Why was the map wrong? He had been attacked in the swamp, and he wondered if his friends were right about their being set up. “Maybe you guys were right and we will be tricked. Look at what happened with the map. I just think that’s a bad sign.”