XIV

Cleo

The end looks different to how it looked before. The enderman farm is gone, and there's a small obsidian tower with a window in the corner where I assume the zombies are going to watch.

Gem is standing in the middle of the island next to the open portal, end crystals in her hand.
I'm dropped onto the floor, like Grian and Scott. Gem immediately places the 4 end crystals in a rhombus shape.

White bars shoot up into the sky and I watch as the dragon is reincarnated. The obsidian pillars create end crystals out of nothing and the dragon immediately begins to start flying. Gem has run into the watchtower and all the zombies stand in view, except Joel who is in the overworld with Martyn.
"We're not actually going to kill it," I say, "Are we?"
"Not right now," Scott replies.

Grian takes out the plate of stone I collected and pierces it with a blaze rod. It makes a good brewing stand. He brings out an empty bottle and says:
"How do we get water?"
Well, it's not water but it'll do the trick. I spit in the bottle.
"Close enough," I say.
Once the bottle is filled a little, Grian snaps a blaze rod again and again until it makes some powder. He places it underneath and holds the bottle over the powder. It starts to bubble.
Scott adds the rotten flesh and Grian gives the bottle a little shake.

I check at the status of the dragon, and he's flying around nowhere near us. We're safe for now.

Grian stamps on the catalyst, and it splits in half. He adds each half into the potion. The potion bubbles then it sort of explodes into a light green liquid.

That's it. That's the antidote. Now to give it to the zombies.

Martyn

I struggle against Joel. His arm is pressing me to his chest and I'm trying to move but it's proving very difficult. He can't kill me because then Gem will punish him, so I hold all the cards.

Except for the fact that I have no armour.

I need to get into the portal. If they make the antidote, I need to help give it to the zombies. I move over to the portal, Joel trying to hold me back. He pulls out his sword and gives my neck a slight slice. I can feel blood dripping down and it hurts a lot, but I continue to try and get over the portal. He finally trips me up and I tumble into the portal.

I have bad memories of this place. Not only is it dark and weird, it's where I died.
Joel appears right after me, so I quickly run across the dirt bridge in front of me. I have got further than last time. I get up to the main island, and spot the dragon and I also see Cleo, Scott and Grian in a corner, holding a bottle.

"Guys!" I yell, and that gets their attention. I run over to them and Scott points behind me. I turn to see an obsidian tower, filled with zombies, and they're all looking at me.

Joel runs over to us.
"You're all defenseless!" he shouts, "I'll take out every single one of you!"
Scott grabs his arm and he pulls him so we can surround him. Joel is about to pull out his sword when Grian pours a tiny bit of liquid out of the bottle onto his hand and presses it onto Joel's mouth.
After a few seconds, Joel passes out.

His face turns from a green to his pale skin colour. This continues through his whole body. His eyes open and they are a regular brown.
"Where am I?" he asks to no one in particular.

Joel

"Is this the End?" I ask.
I'm so confused. Last thing I remember there's Etho convincing me that he's good and then all the zombie surrounding me and attacking me and- oh.
I'm on my last life.

"Yes," Scott replies to my previous question, "You were a zombie, and did some things. We have an antidote."
"Thank god," I say, "So who else is infected?"
"Everyone except us," Cleo says.
"Ah."
Grian says:
"Wait, Joel! What do you have in your pockets?"
I check my pockets.
"A lot of dirt, and my weapons."
"Give me the dirt," he says.
I pass him the pile of dirt from my pocket and he rushes over to the obsidian tower. He builds up with the dirt to the window and breaks in. The zombies immediately crowd on the broken window and Grian gets knocked off the tower.

I have to do something. Quickly, I run over to under the pile and throw a water bucket down. The water spreads across the end stone, and Grian lands in it.
"Joel, thank you!" he says, moving away from the water
"That was a stupid move," I say.
"No it wasn't. Look,"
All the zombies start jumping into the water below the tower.

Grian runs back to the others and I follow. He doles out drops of the antidote onto everyone's hands. The zombies approach.
"Hey Joel and Martyn," Gem says, "Do you feel like joining our team so we don't have to kill you?"
I say:
"No thanks. I'd rather die."
Martyn gives a small smile and nods.
"Same."

I charge at Gem, who dodges, so I crash into Etho. I put my hand against his mouth and I feel the liquid pour down my hand. Etho swallows before passing out.

"Grian, can you put some more on my other hand?" Cleo asks. Grian pours some more of the antidote onto her left hand. Cleo immediately takes off and puts her hands over Bdubs and Scar's mouths. They both faint and she looks satisfied.

By now, Etho is back to normal and he's fighting off Gem who is constantly trying to kill him again. Some people say Etho is washed up in PVP. I think he's pretty good though.

Etho runs away from Gem and joins us. Grian quickly pours the antidote onto Etho's hand. Etho goes to Skizz.

Bdubs and Scar have woken up. Grian immediately gives them drops of the antidote and explains what is happening. Bdubs immediately goes to save Pearl.

Gem shouts to the remaining zombies:
"Keep your mouth shut! Try to focus on killing them!"
After putting more antidote on my hand, I run to defend Etho who is being attacked by Skizz and Tango. Tango gives a wild swing which slashes Etho's eye. Skizz suddenly switches to me and slices at my chestplate. It holds strong and I cut his wrist. He winces in pain and backs off. I take that as my chance to put my hand over his mouth and he swallows and passes out.

A lot of people are humans now, but there are still zombies: Tango, Impulse, Gem, Pearl and BigB are still green. They seem to notice that they are on the outnumbered side and they run away.

We run after them.

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