Word Count: 2500

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"We need to find it now!"

"Look at how few of us are left! We'd be better off leaving this world and the undead with it."

"We are running out of time!"

"Why are the undead here?"

BDubs shifted uncomfortably in his seat. The alive were having a meeting, well argument, and Xisuma and Scar had joined them. They were the only undead who had escaped the virus code in a sense. BDubs had had enough. He stood and slammed his hands on the table.

"Enough!" All the heads swiveled towards him. "Listen to yourself! You want to leave all your friends behind so that they can be erased? You think that by arguing louder and louder, we'll accomplish more?" Shamed faces lowered themselves slightly. "The more we sit here and argue about who can do it and why, we lose more time!"

Xisuma stood up, one of the only people not arguing. "I agree with you Bubbles. I don't think we should leave anyone behind." He glanced at Doc who had suggested that in the first place. The mutant shrugged and crossed his arms.

BDubs glanced around the small room. So few of them were left. Mumbo and Iskall waited patiently for him to continue. The doctor was unyielding in his stare, challenging Bubbles to oppose him. Xisuma and Scar had shifted their skin to be colored, but they could not find or destroy the cube because their code was written as dead.

"Look," Bubbles took a calmer tone. "I know that there are only four of us that can find this thing." Doc huffed still staring. "I know that it seems like there is no hope."

"You got that right." Iskall half said to himself.

"I know it seems like the world is going to end. But we have Xisuma and Scar-" Doc huffed again still not impressed.

"- we have X and Scar, and most importantly we have each other." False clapping sounded from Doc. Mumbo glared at him.

"Oh this is all very patronizing. Hope blah blah each other blah blah." The doctor was not giving any leeway. His voice hardened as he delivered the last part. "Hope does not change the fact that there are four of us to defeat this thing. And none of us are admins!" He threw his arms out. "What are we going to do? Sooner or later we will fall one by one, killed by the traps these guys have set!"

Neither Xisuma or Scar flinched at the accusing finger pointed their way. Mumbo partially stood, his patience hitting its breaking point. "Doc, I know you've never been the most optimistic guy." He stood up completely his head brushing the low ceiling. "But that doesn't mean you give up all hope! We need everyone for us to find this cube, even if it takes a year."

Xisuma pulled out a strange device. "Scar and I will accompany you to make sure you don't fall into any traps. As we get farther away, the traps will become non-existent. This device tracks command cubes. As I am dead, I cannot operate it."

Doc rolled his eyes, obviously thinking what the others were. Why didn't X use the device sooner? Xisuma seemed to read their thoughts. "I didn't know quite the extent of what was going on until later. And you all know I died rather quickly."

Scar brought out backpacks, five in total. "Another thing too. As we will be journeying very far away, we will have no way of repairing anything. That means no flying and only use your sword in emergencies. I suggest that before we leave, we repair all of our gear. Only bring the essentials."

Iskall's mouth hung agape. "No flying? We might be walking thousands of miles!"

"It is absolutely necessary." Scar affirmed. "We need to be able to fly in case of emergency. We don't need anyone falling out of the sky because their wings broke."

BDubs opened his backpack. He would need better gear, the gear he had was almost broken. "Let's all separate, grab the supplies, and meet at the pigmen farm. That way we can repair everything quicker."

Xisuma raised his eyebrows. He had his helmet off for this meeting. "That will be a bit of a tight fit. That farm isn't exactly designed for a party of five."

With that, the alive hermits scattered to their various bases and the dead lost their color before they went to theirs. BDubs stayed where he was, as the meeting had taken place beneath his castle.

He managed to find some dusty armor buried deep in a chest. Bubbles scurried around, gathering tools, food, potions, fuel, and rockets. He also grabbed some xp bottles and stored them in a shulker. BDubs found some fabric and stitched it into multiple tents. A visit to the enchanting table later, BDubs strapped on his wings and put on his armor. It half melded with his body, a process that was painless but still very weird. The melding was so that it wouldn't be heavy but it would still protect him.

His elytra and tools were almost broken, so BDubs walked to the Pigmen farm. All the others were there already.

"Took you long enough." Doc mumbled, promptly elbowed in the ribs by Scar. Xisuma stepped forwards making sure the others followed him to the farm. It was indeed a tight fit as all of them held everything that needed to be fixed. Mumbo's elytra stabbed into his side and Scar's pickaxe was laying on his foot. 

After the gear was repaired everyone took heavy breaths staying a fair distance away from each other. After all they had a whole trip where they would be in close proximity to each other. Bubbles heard the clanking of heavy metal against the floor. He turned towards the others to warn them, to no avail. A figure cloaked in heavy armor turned the corner.

"Wels?" Xisuma stepped forward, reaching out to see if he was real or not.

"I am he." Wels nodded stepping back. "I am sorry my friend, I am a projection from another world."

Xisuma lowered his hand and stepped back. "Why are you here?"

Wels pulled out a hologram. "I was sent by the Master Coder to deliver a message."

BDubs knew Wels was taken in to be an apprentice coder, but under the Master Coder?

The hologram lit up with the customary Coder symbol, the rings wrapping around themselves. A voice that had a heavy distortion started speaking.

"Admin 6532, Xisuma Void son of the End Voyagers, Mr. and Mrs. Void. My apprentice, Wels Knight, has been tasked with giving you this message. The hacker under the code name Breaker has broken into your world and placed a virus inside it. He has blocked any entry into your world."

Xisuma stared intently at the hologram. The mechanical voice continued, "If the virus has successfully corrupted the code of every person, then it will create a wormhole. That wormhole will delete your world and possibly many others. Therefore it is your highest priority to find and destroy that command block. Do you understand 6532?"

"I understand Master Coder." Xisuma lowered his gaze. "My code has been compromised. There are four left to do the task at hand."

The voice garbled as if the person was coughing. "Your code has been compromised? This is very bad 6532."

Xisuma flinched at the number. BDubs wasn't going to let his friend be called a number. "I'm sorry Master Coder but his name is Xisuma."

"Who is that?" The voice took an accusing tone.

Xisuma sighed, sending an 'it's okay' look to Bubbles. "That was my friend BDoubleO. He is one of the remaining alive."

A mechanical sigh. "You have interesting friends... Xisuma. My apprentice and I must get back to work. Let us hope that you complete your mission."

The hologram flickered out leaving Wels, theillusion of Wels, on his own. Wels tucked the emitter back in his pocket."I am sorry that I had to leave this world. I would have loved to staylonger." A sigh escaped his lips. "I have faith in you Xisuma."Wels flickered out of the world.

Sweat beaded on BDubs face, both from the insufferable heat of the nether and the weight of the world and possibly the galaxy on their shoulders. The group of five started heading towards the nether hub when they heard an audible crash and a groan. Mumbo and Iskall looked at each other with a look of 'Is that who we think it is?'. Doc ventured out first, hand on the hilt of his sword as always.

Grian was lying on the floor, having crashed into the trapdoor on the side of the tunnel. Mumbo shook him gently. "Grian, Grian?"

Xisuma padded up and placed a hand on his wrist. Mumbo spoke first then Xisuma followed up with affirmation.

"He's not breathing."

"He doesn't have a pulse either."

A collective gasp rose from the group with Scar saying what they all dreaded to hear. "Shouldn't he have respawned?"

Xisuma stepped back from the limp Grian. "Yes, he should have. This must have something to do with the virus." 

BDubs looked around his shaken group. They had changed for the mission, savoring workable clothes over their usual ones. Doc was wearing slightly camouflaged armor, that clinked when he walked. Mumbo was wearing some sort of bandit clothing, all black of course. Iskall had gone for a functional vest over a T-Shirt, the colors darker than his cheerful green. Scar hadn't changed much, except that he was wearing armor for once and he had put a shirt on. BDubs had gone for grey trousers and his usual shirt.

Xisuma led the way, wearing some sort of special Admin armor. "We need to go as quickly as possible."

Mumbo glanced back at the body that was left behind. Something had really gone wrong.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Iskall had been given the task of holding the virus finder. It led them due west at the moment so the group decided to camp out at Grian's base. Mumbo seemed to be sniffling a little bit as they entered the all too familiar base with the sun setting behind it. BDubs looked at the mess of shulkers and chests. "He wasn't very tidy, was he?"

Iskall shook his head a tiny bit. "He has a bit of a chestmonster problem." Scar winced slightly, as he had the same problem. Mumbo spoke from where he was looking through one shulker. "If you want, you can look through these. There might be something useful."

Doc looked up from where he was studying his sword. "Grian won't mind?"

Mumbo closed the shulker. "He probably won't notice-" His voice cracked. The group decided not to revisit the subject of Grian.

Iskall and Mumbo took up the task of finding useful stuff in the mess. Scar made dinner, as he was a chef, and Doc took inventory of everything. BDubs stared at the night sky. He was tasked with keeping watch, which meant staying on the very top of the building in the cold. His elytra were strapped on for safety as the height was quite a ways up. Bubbles wrapped his wings around himself to block out the piercing wind.

"A bit cold isn't it?"

"Who is that?" BDubs whipped around drawing his sword, to nothing. "Show yourself!" He commanded.

"I'm afraid I can't do that. I can however do something else." The air got suddenly warmer.

BDubs lowered his sword ever so slightly. "Are you an Admin?"

A chuckle sounded from the air. "I was once one."

"If you aren't an admin then what are you? And how did you get into this world?"

"Very good questions young one."

BDubs gritted his teeth. "Don't call me young one." He raised his sword a tiny bit more.

"Perhaps if you knew my name you would be a little more at peace?"

BDubs circled the tiny tower, eyes flicking back and forth. "That all depends."

"Hmmm, you are right. You can call me Mr. Continue."

BDubs eyes widened. He pulled out his hermit phone.

"Oh was it something I said? I guess you know who I am then." The voice paused as if just noticing what he was doing. "I'm afraid I can't let you do that."

BDubs instantly blacked out.

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When BDubs woke up again, his whole body ached. His hands were tied above him, in shackles. A shadow passed across the bars in front of him. He tensed his body up. A rather handsome man appeared. 

"You." BDubs growled.

"Yes, me." The man had glowing red eyes. "I am the hacker, Breaker."

"Oh, you think I don't know that already?" BDubs sneered.

"You are in no position to bargain. Look at yourself."

He wasn't referring to the cell. BDubs saw that his whole body had greyed out. He was the undead now.

"Oh poor you. Only three of you left." The man snapped his fingers.

"Why are you doing this? Don't you know that all code will be eaten up?"

The man glowered. "I am not apart of the code. I am separate from your puny world. Once I have control of your world..."

"Let me guess, ultimate control. Is that why you killed Grian?"

"I didn't kill the red shirted man for control. He knew to much and was going to warn you of me. So I turned off the respawn for him."

"You despicable person!!" BDubs shouted thrashing against his bonds.

"Oh don't worry. His code is still intact, for now." The man turned so that BDubs could only hear the laugh. "Your friends will never get to the virus in time. You as well as the other dead will hunt them down. Do you understand?"

BDubs tried to argue, but something inside of him wouldn't let him. His body slowly escaped from his control, pushing his conscious to the back of his mind.

"Nooooo!" He shouted inside his mind. The shackles were undone and his body followed the hacker, along with all the other undead. Except Grian.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

It was Mumbo who found the items on the ground on top of the base. BDubs had somehow died. It was like someone had just taken him away. This left a mood of urgency for them to leave. So the others left the base in a boat despite the fact it was night. Things were getting more dire by the second.

Will they reach the command block in time?

-Buurn