Chapter Text
It’s midday and everyone’s doing their own thing. Evbo and Tabi are off slaying mobs in the nearby caves, as Seawatt tags along to toy with them—and get killed by a zombie or two. Another pair, Joll and Conk, are gathering food for the town. However, Joofy, as the village’s main leader, is beginning to regret that for Conk’s well-known habit of eating an unhealthily amount of food…somehow.
Following the order, Grox and Jackswano are doing their part too, just by themselves. They’re off chopping the Spruce trees that litter the surrounding area. With this, everyone stays satisfied. Their small area of living continues to thrive under the community’s hard work, and there’s no annoying voice, like Gamerboi123’s, to bug anyone, Joofy thinks.
Though, he can’t help but feel…off. There’s a chill in the air that Joofy can’t manage to shake off, not even if he was wearing two sweaters and a long-sleeve underneath. For the Autumn season, it’s not way too out of place, but it’s still weird.
Alongside with that, chills often crawl upward Joofy’s neck. Maybe it’s just paranoia, but he always swears there’s a pair of eyes that stare at him for short periods of time. It’s random, except for the fact that it mainly happens at night—where the only light illuminating comes from the torches inside their houses and the moon itself.
The village soon fills up again as everyone comes back from their trip. They all gather near the campfire that marks the center of their little abode. The raw meat Joll collected—and kept away from Conk—is now settled by the fire to roast. The rest of the food, like the bread and vegetables Conk found, is passed around from member to member. Lucky them that Conk doesn’t eat his vegetables.
Night sets quickly; white, tiny stars fill the dark sky, and the smoke from the campfire becomes clearer to see. Seawatt and Grox are giggling amongst each other and running around with massive piles of food on their plates. Where they got all that food is undeniably from Tabi and Evbo’s share, for the two are angrily chasing after the foolish boys.
Jackswano and Joll are chatting with each other. They discuss their days, and Joll complains about his struggle with food-collecting because of Conk. Speaking of the devil, the stone fellow sneakily steals little bits of food off from Joll’s platter, to which Jackswano discreetly chuckles at.
Which, of course, leaves us to Joofy. He who sits alone and watches over everyone else. Already done with his food, Joofy grows tired and even a bit bored, so he silently leaves and follows an old trail that leads to the nearby lake.
The trail is accompanied with little pebbles and larger, mossy rocks. The trees grow thicker and taller the further he walks, making it harder to see the moon. Slightly torn fences, though, with lanterns help light up the path. To Joofy, the scenery is pretty.
It doesn’t take him too long to find the lake. It’s a peaceful spot; he can no longer hear the screeches of Seawatt nor the voices of Joll and Jackswano as they chatted. The ground is soft against his feet as he comes to a halt. He sits down, not worried about getting moss on his pants. He almost forgot how nice this could be and lets out a sigh of relaxation.
Until, he feels that chill again.
The wind isn’t blowing, so he’s absolutely sure this is something completely astray from weather, which worries him. Plus, there are light sources around, so hostile mobs can’t have spawned in. Slowly standing up, he looks around the area as his right hand slowly moves to his side pocket where his dagger is kept, just in case. Nothing seems out of place, besides the now eerily lack of noise.
“Lack of noise” suddenly the wrong term to use as someone horridly screams from their town.
JoofyLooby hurriedly rushes back to the village, almost tripping on a rough rock. His eyes are wide, and his breath is unsteady. Worry fills his mind and body as he runs. His hand takes the dagger out completely as he finally stumbles back into the hamlet.
No one is able to be spotted; the campfire is blown out, no longer emitting heat nor light—and worst of all, it’s practically dead silent. He literally just heard someone scream. How could there be nothing??
Joofy carefully treads further along. He notices splattered food and dirty plates on the ground, along with harsh footprints. It almost looks like there was a fight that broke out when he left. He’s about to walk to the closest house but is quickly interrupted.
A shaky but tough pair of hands pull Joofy down to the ground and an iron axe is swiftly aimed over his neck. Tabi has him pinned to the dirt floor. Her face screams of pure terror, but it’s clear she’s trying to hide that fact.
“Joofy?!” She loudly whispers. “What are you doing?!”
She quickly apologizes and gets up even quicker, offering her hand for him to grab. He does grab it and is pulled up to stand on his feet. Before he can get a word out, though, she’s tugging on his arm and running back to her home. There’s a tension in the air that no one dares to break yet.
Tabi frantically looks around as they continue to dash home. The way she’s running, how she’s slightly crouched, makes it look like she’s just got bad posture. The whole time as they make it to her house, she never once loosens her grip on her axe.
Joofy catches his breath as he’s pushed into Tabi’s home. She’s rushing to close the door, even placing a random block of cobblestone from her inventory down in front to block anyone from entering. She doesn’t turn to face him, not yet, and instead just looks down.
Nothing but their breathing can be heard—that is, until Joofy mutters, “Tabi…? What’s going on?”