When All Hope Is Lost . . .

It's your choice.

When one feels closer to death then ever . . .

She never gives in.

She never stops fighting.

This is Tak's story of life and death.

Tak POV

For the first time in my life I felt as if I truly belong. Our mission was nearly over. I was running through the Massive with Zim trying to escape. Just as we were about to succeed with our mission, there wasn't enough time for us to get out.

I ran to the control terminal and tried to get more time but I only got us about three seconds. We stared at each other, silently saying goodbye, until I saw there was only one second left. I knew Zim would want to go with me but that would make everything that we accomplished worthless.

We would die in vain. So without haste, I shoved him through the door. I smiled at him while he just gave me a look that made me actually feel bad for him, despite the fact that I was probably about to die. Why did I let myself fall in love with him? Well I have to admit that I really did enjoy our time together, back then all I wanted was just a little more time with him.

Not long after, the door slammed shut and group of elites holding assault rifles ran up and captured me. They dragged me through the ship, after about 15 minutes I arrived in a room where I was sarcastically greeted by the tallest.

The first thing I asked them was: Are you going to kill me? "Kill you? No. We have much worse plans for you." said tallest Red with a chuckle. "But for now, we need to get ready to leave. Zim could be exposing the data box as we speak. We are going to leave here soon. The elites will escort you to the ship."

It seems like I was out of there as soon as I arrived. The elites brought me to a ship that reminded me of The Red Avenger. I saw what looked like an army gathering outside the ship. The elites just stood and waited for the order to board. They stood about 13 feet away from tallest Red. That was close enough for me to overhear what he was saying. Luckily for me, the elites never spoke once.

I looked and saw tallest Red talking with someone who looked like a scientist. "Red listen to me. I know how much you want to torture her but please, let me run the tests. If you don't, you may kill her sooner then you want. If you really want to be amused then we need to see what she can handle."

"Alright fine. But make sure it's done quickly." And that was the last I heard of them. After a few hours I heard tallest Purple give the order for everyone to board. The elites brought me onto the ship. It was the same design as The Red Avenger. This will make it easier to escape, I thought. They brought me into a cold cramped cell, completely isolated.

After about a day, a few people came into my cell and escorted me to some sort of laboratory. The guards brought me to a machine and signaled me to enter. I wasn't sure what it was. It was like a room, a bit smaller than my cell. I stood there for about 10 minutes until I heard an alarm like noise and saw the door open back up.

I walked out and the guards just stood in front of me. What were they waiting for? I thought. "What? It can't be." Said the scientist that I overheard before. "Red. The tests show that she is carrying a smeet. If you try and administer any form of torture not only will she die, but so will the smeet. Plus think of what we could learn from studying her."

"Ugh . . . fine then. We won't torture her. But as soon as the smeet is born I won't hesitate to kill her." I was shocked. I was actually carrying a smeet. I was fearful for the smeet. I wasn't going to let these people raise it. I had to get out of there.

Later that night when I was alone in my cell I heard someone speaking to me. I couldn't tell who it was but it sounded eerily familiar. I looked around trying to see who it was. Finally I gave up and turned around. But when I did, that's when I saw him. Immediately I knew who he was.

"Hello Tak. It's good we can finally meet. Well I bet you're confused about why I'm here but it's actually pretty simple. The smeet you're carrying, it's father is Zim. The reason I'm able to speak and interact with Zim is because of our DNA connection. And with you carrying his smeet, I can speak to you as well. I can't interact with you though." Said Unit 387.

"Please. Help me get out of here. I don't want them to raise this smeet." I pleaded. "I can escape a place like this in my sleep. If you do everything I say, you'll get out of here." He responded. Unit 387 gave me a lot of good ideas but unfortunately, I was caught every time. Finally, we planned one last escape attempt.

This one was better than all the rest. When the elite that escorts me to the lab walks into my cell I snap his neck and steal his assault rifle. I knew this ship so well I could easily take the quickest and stealthiest path to the escape pods.

And so the next day, I did just that. So far so good, I thought. I was running through the halls when I bumped into someone. It was tallest Purple. He looked down at me, puzzled. He whispered to me so quickly I could barely tell what he said. "Tak, I can help you. As long as you don't try anything else, I'll try to convince Red to keep you alive." Whispered tallest Purple.

It felt good having an ally but, was he lying? But I did what he said and didn't try anything else. Just then a large group of elites surrounded me and brought me before tallest Red. It seems he already knew what had happened. "That's It! carrying a smeet or not I'm not going to put up with you anymore!" shouted tallest Red.

"Red wait. You don't have to kill her. I mean we could always try that brainwashing thingy, whatever it was called." Said tallest Purple. "What, you mean that possibly lethal test we used on Resisty soldiers? I really don't care, as long as I don't have to deal with her."

Now I was worried. This procedure could very well kill me. Even if it didn't, I would blindly follow them. Well I guess this life is better than no life for my smeet. Maybe I will survive. In my last moments of consciousness, I had to think positive.

All Characters In this story belong to Jhonen Vasquez.

So, what do you think will happen?