Hello! Blackfuzzdevil here with my first Invader Zim fanfiction!
Disclaimer: I do not own Zim, yadda-yadda. If I did, you think I'd be here? If you really want to sue, all you'll get are student loans.
He had no idea it was going to rain. The earth weather forecaster never said anything about the sudden spring storm that popped up, rolling black clouds over the city with impossible speeds. Zim barley had time to look up at the first sound of thunder before the down pour began. He dropped to the soaked ground and writhed, screaming. Slowly, agonizingly he dragged his smoldering body to a relatively covered alleyway. There he lay, smoking and sizzling every time the rain blew in from the street. He couldn't even muster the strength to call the incapable SIR he called a minion. Not that GIR would be any help. He was always clubbing with the female meat-sacks when Zim needed him most.
He couldn't tell how much time had passed before he heard voices at the front of the alley. "That's it, deal off." It was a light voice, female-human. Zim couldn't see from his angle.
"No, you can't…" Deeper, definitely a dirt-male. The wind blocked part of his sentence. "I need the money."
"You promised me the goods. You have only have half the goods, thus you only receive half the payment. I can get…" The wind picked up again.
There was some grumbling before heavy footsteps splashed out into the soaked streets. Zim breathed a sigh of relief. The earth-monkeys were gone.
The last thing I need is to be found by the stink-beasts in this condition.
"Hullo, what's this?" Oh, Irk. The female never left. Zim growled deep in his throat. The human just barely stifled a gasp, but Zim's antenna picked it up. The invader couldn't see well—rain must have hit his eye—but he could feel the human lean over him, smelly wetness wafting from her clothes.
Zim snarled again, but instead of frightening the human away, she moved closer. The invader squinted at her from one good eye, just making out brown eyes framed by fizzy hair. He followed her eyes and realized she was watching his skin smoke as water dripped from her hair onto his arm. Funny, he didn't even feel it. The human looked at the alley's opening where the sky was draining buckets of water into the streets. She turned back to Zim and frowned. Standing, she moved away from the injured alien, took off her coat, and shook it out. Satisfied, she moved back to the limp form and tucked the jacket around him, covering every bit of skin.
"There we go, friend. We'll get you out of the rain and safe in no time." She grunted as she hefted the bundle.
"Not…friend," Zim tried to struggle, really he did. He was just too tired and he burned all over. The couple of words he got out was pained and came between gasps.
She grunted. "Should have told me that after I got you out of the rain." Zim hissed at the threat, but the female never acted on it. Pulling the jacket hood over Zim's face, she slipped from the alley, trying to be inconspicuous despite her burden.
Karis tried to keep to the shadows, but she still managed to attract a few suspicious stares. It didn't help that she tripped every few steps, unbalanced by the alien. He…she… it, she wasn't really sure what to call it, but it was heavy considering its stick-thin limbs. It probably had something to do with the metal backpack it wore. It looked kind of like an Easter egg, round with purple dots.
Hurrying across the street, Karis came to a small apartment complex nestled between two office buildings. She shouldered open the door, moving quickly to the third floor and laid the bundle on the floor. It stirred, groaning as the creature inside tried to uncover its face. Karis did it for him. She cringed.
One eye was shriveled, blackish-green liquid oozing into the vacant space around it. The other wasn't much better. There was a wrinkled, white glob bunched at the bottom of the eye but the rest of the eye was a glossy red. It looked healthy enough, she supposed. If it really supposed to look like that. A door slammed above them, clacking footsteps echoing down the stairwell. Karis hurried to open the door and drag her burden through the door. She almost had the door closed when a foot jammed through the crack, forcing it back open. Karis looked up, leaning half over her jacket. Staring back was the landlady.
"Where's the rent?" The old woman had a sour face, cheeks sagging like a pitbull.
Karis pulled the bundle farther into the room. "I'll get paid by Friday. I can have it to you then."
"Always same story. 'I have it soon,' she says. Then soon comes and still no rent. Good for nothing. Why I keep you here, I donno." She moved away.
Karis sighed in relief and tried to close the door. It pushed back open.
"Oh, one more thing," Karis jumped as the landlady stuck her head back in. "Clean up mess in hallway. I don't want lawsuit because someone slip on puddle. Oh, and if that bag is dead body, get rid of it. Don't need more problems from tenants." With that she left. Karis quickly shut and locked the door behind her and flicking the light switch nearby. She allowed herself one more sigh before stepping over the lump on the floor and walking further into the apartment, turning on lights as she went. Rain battered against the windows. Soon she had a makeshift bed made, complete with clean sheets, pillows, towels, and a heap of medical gauze.
Grunting, she picked the bundle up and placed it on the bed. Gently she removed the coat, but no matter how carefully she peeled, the creature whimpered in pain. Karis jerked back when chunks of green skin clung to the coat and she could feel bile rising to the back of her throat. Swallowing hard, she pulled the jacket out from under the body. It screamed and rolled away from her, fisting the blankets in gloved hands.
He was in bad shape. Thousands of raindrop wounds scattered across his body, melting clothing into flesh, flesh into a liquid mess. It wasn't human, that was for sure. It probably wasn't even from earth, but Karis knew it would die if she didn't stop the liquid from leaking on to her sheets. As morning closed in and the rain continued to drop, Karis slowly cut the creature's melted clothes away, then cleaning and dressed its wounds. The only sign it was alive was the gentle rise and fall of its chest. It barely even twitched as she wrapped it head to toe in gauze. That done, she settled back and resigned herself to waiting for it to wake.
She studied it to pass the time. Green skin, where it could be seen through the gauze, red eyes, one patched, the other closed, black…sticks poking out from the gauze. Antenna, Karis guessed, since it didn't have ears. They were the only thing that didn't appear to be injured. It didn't have a nose, either. Small hands and feet were tipped with three claw-like fingers. It was…completely foreign, alien. Karis leaned back in her chair.
So what now?
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A few notes on this story. Don't expect updates faster than once a month. I'm sorry, but between classes, work, and social commitments, I don't have a lot of time for personal writing. Please bare with me. Also the chapters will continue to be fairly short.
If people actually end up liking the story, please review. It will give me the encouragement needed to update faster. And, plus, happy authors make for good stories. Helpful critisisim is also welcome. It makes authors write good stories, too. So, really, it's in your best interest.