Red. There was so much red.
Why did it have to be red?
Zim felt the muscles in his hand tighten; his green knuckles almost turning white from the pressure. However, this did not affect the long even stroke of the knife cutting through flesh. He almost felt like closing his eyes when the red once again oozed from underneath the blade and splashed onto his clawed hands. Instead he just continued to tighten his grip on the handle.
The beast struggled beneath his fingers; its sides heaving shallow breaths in an almost hypnotic beat.
The young invader slowly took the blade away after he ran out of space. He leaned back slowly, still gripping the blade with momentous pressure.
Oh irk why was it so red?
Zim let out a deep breath and grabbed the metal table in front of him feeling a bit dizzy. This might have been because he had been holding his breath for an entire minute now.
He had half a mind to stop. Just let the poor creature bleed out on his table. His hands were already starting to develop blisters and he had only been working for about ten long minutes.
As if sensing the hesitation from the irken, the beast suddenly let out a long sorrowful tune and thrashed against its bounds.
Zim flattened his antennae against his sweaty scalp in an attempt to block out the noise.
"Silence." He hissed slowly at the struggling beast. "You have already tried that. There is no way out. You will meet your fate."
A loud snap echoed through the room. The invader's eyes widened for a second. Did the creature snap another bone in its struggle?
Zim looked down at his hand. The handle of the scalpel he had been using was disconnected from the blade. Oh…
Heaving out another deep breath mixed with a few curses, the invader turned away from the metallic table. He half-heartedly threw the two bloody pieces of knife at the hazardous waste trash can near the lab's computer.
"That's the fifth one." A voice boomed from over his head.
"Eh." Zim muttered, not really in the mood to think of a comeback to his computer.
"And you're not even half way done." The AI continued.
"Hey, it's harder than it looks." Zim growled defensively and approached the other table that housed an array of tools.
The computer scoffed, which is pretty impressive because computers usually aren't able to scoff. "Ever think of not gripping it so hard? I mean, it's not like we have millions of these tools just lying around."
"Why do you care? It isn't affecting you! Leave Zim be." The alien whipped his hands on a white towel and grimaced at how much red soaked into the fabric. He felt his squeedilyspooch gurgled and swished around inside of him.
"Whatever, but when you have to rip that thing apart with your bare hands, don't come crying to me." The computer retorted and then fell silent.
Zim just muttered something under his breath and reached for the book on the other side of the table.
He brushed his claws delicately against the print, reading the next step in the directions.
Ugh, did he really have to do this? It was so sloppy. He would much rather just go out and start disintegrating people. It was fast and clean. All that was left would be a neat pile of ashes. But no…he had to endure the constant red blood dripping off of the table onto his sterile floor.
Zim shook his head a bit, grimacing at the thought of having to continue.
He glared down at the tools in front of him and absent mindedly grabbed his chest in disgust.
It was just so…
"If you're so against it then why are you proceeding?" The computer's sudden voice made the young alien jump in surprise.
"What did Zim tell you about doing that!" The alien screeched towards the ceiling.
"To not to." The computer almost sounded like it was pouting.
"That's right! So silence your noises and let Zim work!" The alien grabbed a brand new scalpel and, with much gusto, marched over to the dying beast. However, the beast let out another heaving sigh of pain, causing the alien to stop dead in its tracks.
"I'm sure you could get extra credit some other way." The computer suggested. "That thing smells like it has been dead for weeks!"
"You have no smell receptors so shut up!" Zim said, flattening his antennae even more in order to disregard the smell. He had been successfully ignoring it but the stench seemed worse when his AI brought it up. "And all the normal skool human worm babies are doing this for extra credit! The Dib-stink wouldn't shut up about it! But Zim will do it much better! For my tools are much superior!"
"Yeah, so superior you keep breaking them…" The computer muttered.
"Do you not understand the meaning of silence!" Zim barked upwards. "This takes concentration!" He turned back to the animal and held up his scalpel. "Alright moose…Prepare to be skinned."
The moose could only watch as the magenta eyed alien cut into his hide, pain and disgust plastered on his face with every stroke.
Blood misted in the air around the two, leaving a coppery taste in the cool depths of the irken's lab.