PoV: Bdubs

The alarm comes out of nowhere.

One moment I'm running through Frogger, and the next my communicator is blaring and buzzing a warning to the server of a huge incoming glitch in the world code. Large enough that we need to abandon the world immediately. And we can't just leave the world via our communicators, we need to find one of the safety portals or it'll dump us somewhere random, the or, worst case scenario, the void. And if we die, we're at huge risking get badly hurt, or even permakilled.

And I'm in the middle of a game, full of running redstone that's at extra risk of causing danger, where the only exit is through dying.

My first response is screaming, bounding for the relative safety of Snake's area. Instantly, the zombie approaches and I back away, all the way to the wall. I have no tools or blocks to break out of here either. I can't risk continuing across the water where it's more dangerous. Even if I did, I'd have 2 blocks of space. And the redstone might break and cause more danger. I need to go back to the start before I die.

By the time I've made my choice, Snake's already far too close to me. There's no time to see if the road is safe. All I can do is let one ravager past before I sprint for safety.

For half the way, I manage to dodge and avoid ravagers, finding spaces to pause, telling myself this is just a normal game to stop myself from panicking and dying.

Until a ravager races into my view.

Right in front of me.

I scream again. Its teeth catch the edge of my leg, as I stumble just out of death's way and to the ground. There's another coming already. I barely scramble to my feet in time, and make the final jump to the start of the game.

I try to catch my breath, turning to chat in the hope of there being someone's still around and close enough to rescue me. But we've practiced this. A lot. They're going to be fast on it. We've been told to get to a portal, and get out.

Sure enough, it's full of messages of my fellow Hermits leaving. I scan the list... Tango, Doc, Scar, Ren...

Etho.

My breaths turn to sobs. The only person who could've known the way out. He's gone. I fail to find a next step. The alarm's still pulsing in time with my racing heart and cutting fear into any rational thought. I try to type fast enough for someone to see.

Bdoubleo100: INF RIGGERE HELL

Bdoubleo100: HELP

Bdoubleo100: DOZE

No one replies, not even to my emergency word. I check the tab list.

There's no one else left in the world.

I'm trapped.

'Fuck... fuck fuck fuck...' I mutter as I start looking around for any exit Etho put in. Any buttons on the walls? Any gaps to go through? 'Ok. Ok I'm in danger. I might die here.' A glance at the scoreboard, the timer running down towards zero. It glitches, lights flashing on, then off, flickering positions. The hope of escape fizzles to nothing with my ability to use redstone safely. 'Correction, I am, going to die here.' I struggle to breathe. 'I'm dead. I'm actually dead.' I back away, swallowing a scream that won't help me. The ravagers' movement stutters with lag. Each of my steps backwards is laboured. The first physical sign of the glitch. It's too late.

I hit the wall, spooked by that alone. What was the advice Xisuma gave about getting trapped? Hide? Be near blocks? Be away from blocks? All I remember was 'get above ground, in case chunks get reset. Get somewhere with space to run. Don't touch glitching blocks or players without proper protection'. I don't have space to run wherever I go. I don't know what's going to happen. I've never seen a glitched world before. Not severely glitched or-

The world disappears.

I scream as I'm left on the edge between blinding sunlight or a drop to the void as the chunk next to me erases into nothing. I stumble away, tripping, and crash to the ground. It appears again, partially, in a shifting, misaligned state, blocks glitched into other blocks. The redstone dies. I hear ravagers suffocating. I taste the metallic tang of electricity in the air. The walls start flickering, changing between different blocks. Movement turns nigh impossible; my attempt to stand leaves me stuck on the ground, then jolted to my feet, almost blacking out. I lay a hand on the wall to keep balance.

Before I remember Xisuma's words.

DON'T TOUCH THE GLITCH

A sharp prickle through my fingers and I flinch away, letting out a yelp. For a moment, I'm just left with an unpleasant tingling. Until one finger appears to shift position. Glitching. I'm glitching. My whole hand starts glitching out in numb agony. I let out a choking cry of terror as I hold it, shaking, up. The broken world behind is clear through the stuttered movement. I can't breathe, heart hammering, backing away until I'm pressed as close to the corner as I can. A faintness fills me at the thought of dying like this, until I can't stand a moment longer and just sink to the ground, my legs hugged close to my chest, tears running down my cheeks. All I can do is pray for rescue. One of the hermits noticing that I'm gone. I'm first alphabetically if Xisuma's doing a register. My gaze can't leave my glitching hand, nor miss the fact it's spreading. It hurts. A lot. But somehow not that much at all.

A crack.

Sparks.

My communicator.

Pain shoots, burning, from it, through every nerve.

And I start dying.

I can't move, but my body distorts and twists. The world is turned to void. I see code, ones and zeros pass my eyelids. All I hear is a buzz of static. Burning, stinging, needles of agony stab through every part of me. I feel like I'm being torn to pieces, as chunks of flesh and bone shift and disappear and change. I'm being eaten alive by broken code and computer virus. My lungs burn, choking on the nothingness crushing them. I want to die. My eyes don't close. My mouth is stuck open in a silent scream.

And everything disappears to black.