Please note this is going to be a slight AU, because much like the Walking Dead, in this fic, nobody has seen or heard of a zombie before, so these nightmare creatures will not go by the term 'zombie', but by other names to describe them. So, these creatures are completely new to them.
Based off of the Walking Dead pilot, "Days Gone By", but with some twists...
My friend Nikki and I were talking about our favorite shows; Invader Zim and The Walking Dead. So Nikki said to me: "I wonder what would have happened if it was Dib in that hospital bed instead of Rick Grimes?" Since Dib is constantly defending Earth, and is a hero-type figure, we thought it would be interesting if he took on a role similar to Rick Grimes...We thought about it...And this is the result. I haven't decided if I'll leave this as a one shot and leave the rest up to your imaginations, or if it will eventually be a complex story...who knows...
Request complete for Nikki :) I hope you like it :)
Chapter 1: Space junk
18 year old Dib found himself on a chase...
It started out as a typical day, defending Earth from an alien psychopath...Dib chased down said alien psycho down a small road, which was leading toward a rural area. He was on foot, and quickly running out of breath. This was it; it was now or never, so the large headed boy had to act fast.
He began firing his laser gun at the alien scum, who was also firing a similar weapon back at him...
"Drop that box! NOW!" Dib commanded.
But the otherworldly being clutched the metal box in his arms greedily, unwilling to give it up. Instead, he chuckled darkly at the boy's command.
Dib didn't hesitate to close in on him. Whatever this psycho space monster was up to, he needed to be stopped...So he fired more shots.
One of the shots ended up hitting the fiend, who immediately fumbled to the ground in a patch of dead grass. Dib saw some blood, or what was supposed to be blood now pooling onto the grass. The large headed boy ran over to him.
Big mistake. The alien was fully alive and fired his weapon at Earth's defender...
BLAM!
Dib dropped to the ground, as the shot hit him in the left side of his abdomen.
The alien wearing what resembled a gas mask opened the metal box, chucking on the ground as he quickly departed.
Dib layed helpless on the ground as a man came by his side.
"HEY! I THINK HE WAS SHOT!" The man's voice screamed as he checked on Dib. The police officer ripped part of his uniform, and used the cloth to apply pressure to the wound.
More people gathered around, as they quickly called for an ambulance.
"Hey, you're gonna be okay! Stay with me! Stay with me, kid!" The officer told Dib, who was now filled with crippling fear and breathing shakily...
The guy in the trench coat soon passed out, overcome from the horrible pain.
...
He didn't know if he was dreaming or awake. Dead or alive. All he could see was a few flashes...looking around and seeing a hospital room briefly...seeing some flowers in a vase aside of him...his glasses near the vase...seeing flashes of his father and sister in the room, looking rather panicked, trying talk to him and wish him well...it all seemed so...surreal.
GASP!
Dib woke up, taking a deep breath through his mouth, as he found himself laying in a hospital bed. Everything felt like a bad dream; a nightmare to be more precise. He looked around the room...He immediately grabbed his glasses and put them on. His eyes were greeted by a vase of dead, withered flowers...along with a note...
"Get well soon, Dib.
Love Gaz and Dad."
Dib smiled as he moved his arm...he realized he was hooked up to an IV. He groaned in pain as he sat up in bed. His abdomen hurt. He lifted his white shirt, only to see that the burning wound on his side had been bandaged.
"Heh heh...let me guess? Gaz picked the flowers...I can tell..." He mumbled to himself as a weak smile formed on his face, and he started chuckling...which soon turned into a dry, hacking cough...
He looked at his new surroundings, his room at the hospital. His room seemed so desolate, and the hospital itself was eerily quiet...
"Gaz?...Dad?" He barely choked out.
"Nurse?" He barely managed to call out...his throat was parched.
"NURSE!" He called out again. No response. "DAD!?...GAZ!?" He was getting worried now, and he took the oxygen tube out of his nose.
No answer. Growing weary of his surroundings, he forced himself to get out of the bed. His side still ached from the pain, but managed to stumble towards the door...and slip and fall.
"Nurse? HELP!" He called out as he tried to help himself off of the floor, his limbs feeling stiff and tired.
Still no response...
He managed to help himself up off of the floor, feeling rather weak. He felt light headed, and hungry. His stomach felt like it was eating itself. He trudged toward the door, realizing that the I.V. hook up was still attached to his arm...knowing that it was holding him back, he hesitantly ripped it out.
"Ouch!" He mumbled to himself. He soon approached the empty bathroom, gulping water from the faucet for quite a few minutes. He felt like he was dying of thirst. After some moments passed, he stopped, taking a look at himself in the mirror. His normal attire was gone. He was now wearing a white shirt, blue baggy pants, and had no shoes. His appearance was a bit disheveled, his scythe like hair now a little longer, and he was growing a small beard. He was shocked...just how long was he here?!
Dib left the bathroom and stumbled toward his room's door. He tried to open up the door, but something was wedged tight up against it. Giving it several hard pushes, he managed to get the door open and move the obstruction...which was a heavy table and even a chair? He carefully stepped outside the door.
"What the?" He muttered to himself...it looked as if the place had been trashed!
What's happening? He nervously thought to himself.
As he walked down the corridor, he saw spots of dried blood, which had even turned brown in color...which turned into trails, staining the cold white floor. He saw some broken glass, and furniture that was overthrown and destroyed. He saw a dead nurse laying on the floor...by the looks of it, she had been dead for awhile. He noted a barrage of bullet holes littering the walls...there were no lights on; the building was only dimly lit by sunlight. No signs of electricity or power...His nervousness turned into pure anxiety now, especially as he stepped around the corner...
He came face to face with a pair of the hospital's doors. A sign that read 'CAFETERIA' hung above the thick double doors, which were barricaded with strong wood and some padlocks and chains. There was also another a message on the door, which read:
"DON'T OPEN, DEAD INSIDE." Dib said aloud to himself in disbelief. "Oh no." He whispered.
He began shaking in fear as he tried to figure out what had happened...until he heard raspy breathing coming from the other side of the barricaded doors.
He listened carefully, as the two doors started to rattle and shake lightly. Before he knew it, he saw a pair of withered hands with long yellowed fingernails coming out, desperately trying to claw its way out of confinement. Within seconds, more lightly decayed hands appeared, wriggling to get out of the doors...
The large headed boy cringed as he realized what must have happened.
"W-what is this? A plague or something?!" He quietly said to himself in disbelief.
"No. No! This can't be happening! Maybe I'm still asleep. Hopefully I'm still asleep! Am I even alive?! IS THIS REAL?! Is any of this real?!" He quietly yelled to himself, as he actually began to question his own sanity for the first time in his life, and some tears escaped his stinging eyes. For once, he actually wished he was insane or hallucinating it all. But he wasn't. "Wait...if this is real, if I'm not actually crazy or dead...that means Gaz and Dad are out there in this!"
Growing determined to find his family, he stumbled down some stairs in a rather dark hallway...his nose was greeted by a horrible smell...the smell of old decaying flesh rotting in the heat...Trying not to throw up from the overpowering foul odor, he quickly found his way out of the hospital.
He walked out the exit doors, gasping for fresh air as the bright sun shined in his eyes...and when he did, he was shocked with what he saw.
"Oh my god!" He said in disgust.
Hundreds of white body bags, splattered with blood, each of which had a corpse wrapped up in...they line the hospital's parking lot neatly...He also observed a crashed helicopter...not to mention the place not only looked deserted, but it looked as if everything was in complete disorder and upheaval. There was glass and debris everywhere, smashed, overturned cars. Madness...
"I have to find my family..." He mumbled to himself, determined as he marched over to some of the cars that weren't overturned.
He found the keys sticking in the ignition of a few of them, with the doors left open. After trying to start a number of cars, no luck. Frustrated and afraid, he now had no choice but to walk on foot...
After walking up the road for awhile, he sees a bicycle laying in the grass next to some tall weeds. Dib walked toward the bicycle...and that's when he noticed a dead woman lying right next to it...
The woman is desiccated, thin dried hair, and it looked as if she was torn in half or eaten by animals. The lower half of her body is gone, leaving her torso and arms in tact.
Dib cringes at the sight, but carefully takes the bicycle and turns it upright...Upon doing this, he could have sworn he heard a faint growl. He looked down at the ground, and the 'woman' turned her head and looked right at him.
"AAAAAAAAAH!" Dib cried out in shock as he stumbled backward. He was appalled!
The woman stretched her hands and arms out toward him, letting out a raspy growl.
Dib, although completely horrified and disturbed by the sight, wasted no time. He sat on the bicycle, finding it hard to take his eyes off of the writhing, struggling corpse in the grass, and pedaled away...He is mind was in upheaval; all his years of studying the paranormal, and he never came across something like...whatever the hell that was...He never felt so chilled to the bone. He felt like he could just throw up. For once, he was hoping that he was actually crazy...because at least being crazy meant that none of this was real...and to Dib, even that was an improvement.
After awhile, Dib pedaled the bicycle all the way to his home...
Only to find that his house looked like it was ransacked...
He staggered toward the broken looking door, flinging it open and running inside...
"DAD!?...GAZ?!" He desperately called out. It was too quiet.
The inside of the house was a disaster...everything was either broken or apparently taken. Furniture was overturned and broken throughout the house as he inspected what was left of the damage. From what he could tell, it looked like some of Gaz's clothing was taken, and her motorcycle was gone. His Dad's car was gone as well. He checked the secret compartment in his room to see if any of his weapons were stolen...thankfully, at least half remained there. He gathered his remaining laser guns and threw them in a duffel bag, and came back down the stairs with them. This alien menace had to go. Some more tears escape Dib's bloodshot eyes. He felt sick to his stomach, and he really didn't know what to do. He went outside to survey the damage on the street once more. It looked like a freaking apocalypse hit. He couldn't believe it. He tried his absolute best to stop him...but he failed. Dib sat down on the front step of his home. He had his hands on his lowered head, and he never felt so frustrated. So depressed. So defeated. He needed a few minutes to himself to try and process everything he had just witnessed. His body felt exhausted and he was breathing heavily. Just how long was he in that hospital bed?...And how come he survived? Dib looked up at the empty street once more...and actually saw a man with long dark colored hair wearing a black suit casually walking down the road. The sun was shining so brightly, and Dib tried to use his hand to shield his eyes from the sun and focus on this man walking down the road. He motioned to the guy with a wave...
The man in the suit changed his direction, coming over toward him from the distance.
Dib stood up, soon staggering over to the man in the suit, oblivious to the obvious danger approaching behind him. A figure of a skinny, tall man with short black hair, dressed in all black clothing.
WHACK!
"WHAT THE HELL!? ITS HEAD IS SO FREAKING HUGE!" A man quietly shouted.
Dib fell to the ground with a thud as he was about to pass out from something metallic hitting him. "Dad?" He obliviously called out, suffering from some head trauma.
"SHIT!" The skinny guy yelled to himself, upon hearing the young man actually speak instead of growl! Hearing Dib's voice saying the word 'Dad', well, it reminded him of someone important he knew. "...SQUEE?!" He uttered in some form of distorted realization as he stared at the back of Dib's head. This kid had black hair, although styled differently, and was about the same height as him.
The other man wearing the suit approaches, about to attack Dib...that is until the tall skinny man pulled out a small hand gun and shot it in the head.
"Dad..." Dib barely uttered, as he was face turned the opposite direction.
Upon closer inspection, the taller man realized it was not Squee...but for some reason, he reminded him of him just a little bit...
"Hey, mister, what's the bandage for?" The taller man asked, noticing Dib's shirt was crinkled up, revealing gauze wrapped around his abdomen.
"W-wha?" Dib barely responded, trying to move his head to see the figure.
"What's your wound?!" The man angrily questioned. "Tell me or I'll kill you!"
"Dad, I'm here. I found you..." He weakly groaned before he slipped into unconsciousness.
Some time later...
Dib woke up in a dark room dimly lit by a candle. He realized he was in a bed...well, strapped to a bed was more like it...he tried to get up, but his hands were secured to the posts with bungee cords...Dib looked at the tall, skinny man who was in front of him.
"Got your bandage changed out. It was pretty rank." The man said to him.
A worried Dib looked down at his abdomen and realized he was now wearing a large bandage with a smiley face on it.
"What's your wound?" The man demanded to know.
My, m-my wound?" Dib shakily asked.
"What's your wound? Tell me or I'll kill you..." The man threatened in a serious tone.
"Shot. I was shot...by an alien." Dib immediately replied.
A look of temporary amusement spread across the man's face. "Heh, heh... Aliens, those fuckers....Anything else?"
"What, getting shot by an alien wasn't enough?" Dib sarcastically replied.
The man doesn't take this lightly, as he came closer to Dib's face and gave him an intense glare. "Look. I ask. You answer. Common courtesy, no?"
Dib stared at him, a bit frightened by this crazy looking man.
"Did. You. Get. Bit?...ANSWER ME, DAMN YOU!" The man angrily asked.
"B-bit?" Dib repeated in near disbelief.
"Bit, chewed, scratched, anything like that?" The man inquired once more.
"N-no. No. Just shot, as far as I know." Dib responded shakily.
The man relaxed, only just a bit though.
The large headed boy spoke again. "Uh...Are you gonna keep me tied up or..."
"We'll see." The man responded in a serious tone, disappearing into the shadows.
Oh great. I'm stuck at some lunatic's house...And...ARE THOSE DEAD BODIES OVER IN THE CORNER?! Dib thought to himself as he tried to plot an escape in his head.
Some more time later...
The man arrived in the room once more, staring a hole through Dib. He placed his hand on Dib's forehead, and the large headed boy flinched.
"Hmm...You seem cool enough. Fever would have killed you by now, heh." The man said to him, removing his hand from his head.
"I don't have one." Dib stated.
"No. Otherwise, I would have killed you." He casually replied. "I still might."
Dib grew really nervous after hearing this. That's when the tall man pulled out a large butcher knife, bringing it close to Dib's face.
"Take a good look." Nny said as he held his knife close to Dib's face. "It's nice and sharp. If you try anything stupid, I'll kill you with it." He said in a sinister tone.
Dib is left speechless, and merely nods.
The man however, gets the knife out of his face, and uses it to cut Dib's restraints, freeing him.
Dib immediately got out of the bed.
"There. Take a seat. I'm making some food." The tall man explained as he pointed to a living room couch. He appeared to have food simmering on a gas stove. He noticed some empty cans of food.
Dib reluctantly sat down on the couch, confused and scared.
"This is my neighbors' house..." Dib began to say in realization. He noticed how the windows were boarded up, and covered with blankets.
"Heh, not anymore." The man casually replied.
"Did you...did you kill them?" Dib hesitantly asked.
"HA! No. I've never met them. It was empty when I got here." He responded.
Dib tried to move the blanket to look out the window...
"DON'T. They'll see the light. They're much like insects in that sense... attracted to the tiniest bit of light." He informed him, watching him warily.
Dib nodded, still feeling uncomfortable.
"There's more of them out there than usual. I probably shouldn't have fired that shot today. The sound draws them. Now they're all over the fucking street." The man told him.
Dib didn't say a word...he just observed this guy.
"That was stupid, using a gun. I hate guns. It happened so fast, I didn't think." The man told him as he poured soup into a bowl and gave it to Dib.
"You didn't think." Dib tried to say.
"No, I should have used the baseball bat. Or bashed a hammer in his skull. My mistake." He told Dib, shrugging his shoulders and pouring himself a bowl of soup.
Dib just stared at him, mortified of this man who coldly killed a human being.
"What?" The man asked, raising an eyebrow as he noticed Dib's stare.
"Y-you just shot that man today." Dib pointed out to him.
"Man? You need a new pair of glasses, my friend. That wasn't a man. That was a walker." He explained. "That's why I hit you in the head with a shovel. The way you were staggering around, I thought you were one of them."
The large headed boy just sat there in shock, trying to take all of this in. He didn't respond, but rather analyzed the serious look on this crazy man's face.
"Hey, mister, what's wrong with you? Do you even have a clue as to what's going on?" The tall man asked him as he began to eat some soup.
"I...I woke up today. I was in the hospital. I came home. That's all I know." Dib explained.
The man stared at him in disbelief, but was nonetheless intrigued. "But you know about the dead people...don't you?" He asked.
"Yeah. I saw they were lined up in body bags...thrown down a stairwell. Hell, there was even a few in this house!" Dib responded.
"I'm not talking about the ones that are put down. I'm talking about the ones that aren't. The walkers." He tried to explain.
Dib stared at him once more, unsure of what to think. "A walker?" He repeated.
"Like the one I shot. He would have bit you. Tried to eat you. Gnawed on your flesh like a bad Christmas ham...That's kind of what they do...I know how it must sound to you." He explained.
"Insane..." Dib quietly replied.
"Pretty much." He said. "You should eat."
"They're out there...right now...in the street?" Dib asked, barely lifting his spoon.
"Yeah. As long as we stay quiet and don't let them see us, we should be fine. They'll probably leave by morning." He said.
"Walkers..." Dib said to himself once more, trying to match it to any other paranormal creature that came to mind. "You mean like a type of vampire or something? They drink blood?" He asked the man.
"No. Walker is short for the walking dead...if you get bit, you get sick. The fever, it burns you out. You die...but then you come back...not all together there of course. You come back hungry for flesh. A reanimated walking corpse, a shell of your former self doomed to walk Earth for all eternity until someone has the decency to kill your brain meats. They were saying a virus or something caused this. All of those so called experts on TV looking scared shitless. Then the broadcasts stopped. But that was a few weeks ago." He informed him.
Dib felt stunned. His Dad. He's a great scientist. Where was he? Where was Gaz? Why did they leave him in the hospital? Were they even alive? He couldn't believe that's how long he was stuck in that hospital. That's how long he was in a coma. Weeks!
"That's how long I was in a coma...Weeks..." He quietly responded.
"You should eat...uh, I don't even know your name." The man said as he pointed to Dib's bowl of soup.
"My name's Dib. Dib Membrane. What's yours?" He asked.
"Johnny C. But you can call me Nny." The man said as he gave him a twisted smile.
"Uh, nice to meet you, Nny." Dib told him somewhat nervously.
"You know, you're probably the first person to ever say that to me." Nny replied with a wicked smile.
Dib nodded. He could understand why...
"It's kinda funny. You actually remind me of my old neighbor. He was a good kid. When I heard you speak, I almost thought you were him." Nny told him.
Dib stared at him for a moment, contemplating this man's sanity. "Well, what happened that you had to leave your house?"
"Well, smearing blood on the wall did nothing to keep corpses from coming back to life...I ended up having to leave once a hoard of dead corpses risen from the floor and tried to feast upon my flesh...long story short, I've been living here for about a week or two." Nny explained.
"Uh, not to sound crazy or crazier, but whatever happened here, the thing that made the dead walk, the alien scumbag that I was chasing must have caused ALL of this!" The large headed guy informed him.
While most people would have scoffed or laughed at the idea, Johnny didn't. "I can believe it. Probably an attempt to rid the world of assholes."
Dib looked at him in astonishment. "You- you believe me?" He asked.
"Why wouldn't I? I used to see aliens sometimes when I would go to the gas station and buy brain freezies. The cherry kind is the best. Anyways, I used to see them abduct people." He responded, shrugging his shoulders.
"A box...I remember he was carrying a box or something. Whatever he had in the box, I can guarantee you that's what caused this!" Dib said, remembering back to that fateful day... "Oh no...Gaz! I have to find my sister! And my Dad!"
"You can't leave now! You haven't even tasted the beans! And it's dark out! They're still swarming out there!"
"N-no. I have to find them! My Dad, he's a scientist! He could cure this! And poor Gaz! Out in this mess somewhere all by herself!"
"Gaz...That's a funny name...and wait...you woke up today in a hospital, all by yourself...your family left you behind!"
"No. My Dad was probably too busy trying to find a cure, and as for my sister...she wouldn't leave me behind. Trust me, she's had plenty of opportunities to do that before, and she didn't. She could be hurt or dead or-"
"Alive...I heard there was a refugee center downtown near the Center City mall. You can probably find her there." Nny suggested.
"Tomorrow. When it's light out. I-I have to go. I have to try and find them." Dib insisted as his determination grew.
"This canned ham isn't half bad..." Nny randomly said as he stabbed it with a knife.
"Hmm...it is actually pretty good." Dib said as he tried some, oblivious to the fact he was dining with a serial killer. "Wait. If you knew about the refugee center, why didn't you try to go there?"
"Eh...I really don't think it's the best idea for someone like myself to go..."
"Oh come on. You can't mean to tell me that you would be better off here? You could come with me. We could escape, head to the refugee center. My Dad could be there working to cure the world as we speak! If not, maybe I could find a cure...Things could get back to normal...I just have to head to my house tomorrow, grab some supplies, and leave." The large headed boy told him, feeling a glimmer of hope for the first time since he woke up in that hospital bed.
"These canned weenies are AWFUL!" Nny complained. "Oh. No wonder. Fucking Expired!"
Next Morning...
Dib had barely gotten any sleep, especially after learning that a plague caused those infected by it to have an insatiable appetite for human flesh. He was nonetheless determined to find his family, and try to save the world if he could.
Nny didn't sleep at all. He was already insane before this plague hit, and after experiencing his dead murdered victims turn into walking corpses...well, let's just say it did nothing to improve his mental state. Dib was the first person he had come across in at least two weeks...and for some reason, the large headed kid reminded him of Squee. So he decided to try to help him out.
The looked out the window...the street seemed to be relatively clear. Only one or two staggering around.
The two of them exited the boarded up house...only to see a walker approaching them. Johnny swung his hammer at the corpse, piercing its skull and ultimately killing it.
"It's always has to be the brain. Remember that, kid." Nny informed Dib.
Another walker slowly approached them. Nny motioned for Dib to kill this one.
Dib, with a crow bar in his hand, very reluctantly stepped toward the walker, whacking the corpse in the head.
The walker fell to the ground with a sick thud as blood splattered on the grass. Dib stared in shock at what he had done.
Johnny chuckled. "Oh, don't worry. You'll get used to it. I take it this is your first time killing well...anything?"
"Uh...yeah..." Dib warily responded, raising an eyebrow. He noticed a blue car with the driver's side door hanging open. He cautiously approached the vehicle, and entering it. Within a matter of minutes, he was able to hot wire the car, getting it to start. Luckily, it had more than enough gas to get to the refugee center.
The two of them made their way into Dib's house, staying vigilant for any walkers in the area.
The large headed boy gathered numerous supplies to undertake his journey to the refugee center...He gathered any guns and weapons he had stashed in his room, throwing them into a duffel bag. He took the opportunity to clean himself up, and put on some fresh clothes; his usual blue tee shirt with a ghost on it, black jeans and his iconic black trench coat. He also decided to pack some food he could take with him into a back pack...he gave the rest to Johnny for helping him out.
Johnny found himself staring at the photos of Dib and his family...pictures of Dib, an angry purple haired girl, and a man wearing a white lab coat and goggles. Dib entered the living room and noticed this.
"I hope they're alright..." Dib mumbled as he took with him a scrapbook filled with photos of himself and his family. He placed the photo book in his back pack. "Are you sure you don't want to come with me?" He once again asked Nny as they exited the house.
"I'm sure. I need to stay behind..." He told him. As weird as it sounded, Nny preferred to deal with the mindless corpses rather than miserable, rude humans. Humans were WAY worse hands down.
"Here." Dib said as he handed the man a walkie talkie. "It's got one battery. I'll turn mine on when it's dawn. That's how you can still communicate with me. If you change your mind about coming with, you can let me know."
"You think ahead." Nny said as he accepted the walkie talkie.
"Eh, I have to...Thanks for the help, Johnny. Take care of yourself." He told the man, smiling at him.
Nny smiled. "Heh, I always do. Just remember, one or two of them might seem like nothing...but when they're together in large groups...well, just watch your ass." Nny told him.
"Watch yours." Dib responded.
"You're a good person Dib. I hope you find your Dad and your sister." Nny said.
"Bye, Nny." Dib said with a smile, as he threw the back pack and the duffle bag of weapons in the back seat. He kept the crow bar by his side, along with a type of alien gun he had stolen from his nemesis not too long ago. He got in the car and departed.
Nny waved to him, leaving to retreat to his new boarded up home...but not before killing a few walkers along the way.
...
Dib was driving down the road... something was bothering him...it never stopped bothering him. He slowed down as he approached the spot where he found the bicycle...and more importantly, that shell of a person that was reaching out to him.
Gone. She was gone from that spot...His eyes searched the street...where he saw her crawling in another location.
Dib, with the gun in his hand, walked over to the crawling half a corpse...who turned her head when she realized he was there. She started reaching out for him, unable to move from her spot, uttering a weak growl.
A look of sadness was apparent on Dib's face, feeling sympathy for the infected woman.
"I'm sorry this happened to you." He whispered, pulling the trigger and shooting her in the head.
BLAM!
The corpse went limp, and Dib walked away, and back into his car.
...
Dib continued to drive down the stretch of road, with his walkie talkie in hand. He started to have flashbacks of what had happened prior to all this...of the alien who ruined his life, and more importantly, his world.
"Broadcasting on emergency band...Traveling down the highway towards Center City refugee center...anyone hear me, come in...Hello, can anyone hear my voice? Hello?" Dib said, trying to contact well...anyone else who might be alive.
"Hello? Anyone out there who can hear my voice?" He repeated...
Unbeknownst to him, his message traveled...and was cutting in and out on a police scanner...which was located in a wooded area, with some tents set up, and a small campfire smoldering.
"Anyone hear me? Please answer me...I'm going to towards the Center City Mall. There's a nearby refugee center set up. Over" Dib voice crackled through the old device.
And someone did indeed hear him...
Torque Smackey grabbed the handset. "Yes! I can hear you! You're coming through. Don't go into the city! It's not safe! Over." He loudly said.
A bunch of other people began to surround him, members of the little camp they had set up.
"Broadcasting on emergency channel...Anyone hear me? Come in." Dib's voice crackled.
Torque tried to communicate again. "This is Torque! We're just outside of-"
Suddenly, the transmission cut to nothing but static, losing the person's voice. Torque tried to tweak the signal, but it was now gone.
"Damn it!" He shouted in frustration.
He tried several more times to raise him, but failed.
"Allow for me to try!" A familiar man said to him, exiting his tent.
Torque reluctantly complied, moving out of the way so he could try. The guy in the red striped shirt tweaked the signal, which cleared out the static.
"HELLO?! Is the filthy human who called still on the air?! ANSWER ZIM!" The green man shouted, unaware it was Dib's voice. "Filthy human? ARE YOU STILL THERE?! RESPOND TO ZIM!"
A moment had passed, and still no response.
"Yep. He's gone." Zim informed the others in the group, who fell silent...
Zim marched away from the group, sitting outside his small makeshift tent he had set up. He held his hands in his head, feeling nothing but anger and frustration...that is, until he heard some bushes rustling. Arming himself with a machete, he jumped into a defensive stance, waiting for the culprit of the noise to emerge...
And surely enough she did.
An angry 17 year old girl with purple hair emerged, wearing a grey bunny skull tee shirt, black pants, boots, and a black vest with bat wigs on the back. She had a crossbow pointed, which she now lowered upon seeing the green guy.
Zim lowered his machete upon seeing her, feeling a little more relaxed.
"What's happening?" She asked him, after hearing the chatter of the others in the camp.
"Someone attempted to communicate with us. Then he stopped." Zim informed her.
"Oh." Gaz said, not really knowing what else to say.
"Hey, where did you get that neat arrow-weapon thingy?" Zim asked, noticing her new weapon. Even admiring it.
"Found it." Gaz grunted, shrugging her shoulders as she looked down at the crossbow to her side.
"Can I try?" Zim asked.
"Pff...the kickback's a bitch...you probably couldn't handle it. I think you'd do better with the baseball bat." She said in her usual surly tone of voice.
"Zim can handle anything!" The disguised alien angrily protested.
"Not really." She said to him. Lately he had been a mess. They both have been.
"Oh, and like you can?" Zim retorted, earning himself a glare from the goth girl.
"Better than you, at least. I caught dinner." Gaz said as she held up a few dead squirrels in front of his face.
"You expect me to eat that?! DEAD SQUIRRELS?!" Zim quietly shouted sitting down on a fabric fold out chair.
"Eat or starve. Choice is yours. If I were you, I'd take the first one." She angrily muttered, throwing down the squirrels and taking a seat beside the alien.
"Ew..." Zim complained as he looked at them.
"Whiner..." She mumbled as she pulled a wrapped protein bar out of her pocket, and shoving it toward the defeated looking Irken.
"Thank you, Gaz-human." He said in sincerity, accepting it and placing it in his pocket.
Before she knew it, for some reason Zim felt comfortable enough that he decided to rest his head on her shoulder...
Gaz was slightly surprised by his action, but she didn't complain. She hesitantly placed her hand on top of his, to Zim's surprise.
Maybe the world really was ending...
The two of them sat there by themselves for quite awhile, in complete silence surrounded by nature and a small fire...They were outcasts in this group, which was composed of a few strangers, as well as some people from there Skool. Needless to say, Zim and Gaz had been through a lot in the past few weeks...
...
Elsewhere, Dib finally approached the city...which was seemingly empty. The streets were in ruins...vehicles were overturned and broken down. Debris was scattered everywhere, and dead remains littered the streets. He noticed a huge maroon colored battle tank with an Irken insignia painted on it.
Zim. He thought to himself.
He drove his car along the corner...only to find the street crowded with a least a hundred dead people.
"Oh no!" He mumbled to himself as he quickly turned the car around. He headed the opposite direction...where yet about another hundred dead corpses began to swarm. Dib panicked, stepping on the gas and heading in a different direction towards a smaller alley nearby...which was also surrounded by walkers, as Nny called them.
Suddenly, in the midst of all his panic, he started to smell smoke...and his car began to sputter...
"OH NO! COME ON! COME ON! SHIT!" He screamed to himself.
Dead. His car died. And the dead were coming from different directions.
The large headed boy anxiously tried to restart it...only for the vehicle to catch fire!
The walkers were slowly encroaching, but they were far enough away so that maybe he could make a get away. Dib grabbed his bags and made a quick escape from the car, shooting down any nearby walker's with Zim's gun.
BLAM!
BANG!
BLAM!
Dib desperately fired more shots as he tried to find a place to escape the crowd...unfortunately, the shots were loud, and would probably draw even more of them.
BOOM!
The last sound was of Dib's only mode of transportation exploding, bursting into large flames...which managed to capture some of the walkers' attention, drawing them away...But others were too preoccupied with the human attempting to escape.
Dib sprinted down the street, anxiously looking for a quick escape as the dead were hot on his trail...
He quickly tried to make an escape...only to trip over a dead body on the ground and fall...and lose his duffel bag.
Dib scrambled on the ground as the undead snarled and growled in a guttural voice, lunging at him.
Trying to get away from the dead, he quickly crawled under Zim's abandoned battle tank. But it did nothing to stop the walkers from wanting to tear at his flesh, as they soon appeared from all sides of the tank, crawling underneath it and trying to claw and bite at the terrified boy.
Dib was now on his back, feeling consumed by absolute fear, shaking and trembling. He pulled out the gun that was once Zim's and put it to his head.
"Gaz, Dad, I'm sorry." A teary eyed Dib uttered before he could be eaten alive...until he noticed an escape hatch at the bottom of the tank. Going as fast as he could, he pushed open the small door, climbing inside and shutting it.
He flopped to the floor of the tank, gasping for air, and his heart was racing. He felt like he could have a heart attack. He turned his head to the side...only to see a dead human soldier lying next to him...
Except it's not fully dead. It's now a walker. The soldier opened its eyes, staring right into Dib's and giving off a snarl.
On instinct, Dib quickly fired a shot from the gun, shooting it right in the head.
BANG!
Dib held his ears, as the sound of the loud gun echoed in the confines of the metal tank. His hearing became muffled, and all he could hear was a ringing sound.
CRAP! He thought to himself.
And if that wasn't bad enough, he realized that the top of the tank was left open. Thinking quickly, he scrambled to his feet, trying to close the hatch...only to be met with the snarling faces of the dead. He quickly fired shots at the walkers that made it up there, and shut the tank's hatch.
Exhausted, poor Dib slid his back down the cold wall of the tank, and placed his head in his hands, frustrated and scared.
He waited there awhile, his hearing slowly returning to him...
Meanwhile, some satellites passed by Earth, orbiting the planet.
The first one zoomed in on Zim's tank, which was being currently swarmed by hundreds of walkers...they also surrounded the burning car, walking stupidly right into the fire...
Another satellite zoomed in on an image of Zim's Base...which was completely obliterated...
And a third one zoomed in on Zim, who was stuck residing with a group of humans in some backwoods area...his weary head currently resting on Gaz's shoulder.
The satellites transmit the videos to a very large screen...located on none other than the Massive...
Where the Tallest watch the horrific chaos ensue, as they eat some snacks. They smile, as they are clearly pleased with what they see...A dying Earth, and a defeated Zim who is stuck on it.
Meanwhile, Dib, who was still stuck in the tank, contemplated what had happened to him before going into a coma...the alien scum who shot him and caused this whole mess...Zim's Base being destroyed by the alien attacker...Gaz, who had tried to help stop the menace as well...and even Zim himself, who fought as hard as he possibly could to try and stop the maniac...they all tried to prevent the lunatic from carrying out his plans...
But they failed. And now this...this was his world. His only world... This is what he was left with. This is what Gaz was left with if she was even alive...and hell, maybe even Zim too, if he was still out there.
Dib was jolted out of his thoughts when he suddenly heard the sound of static...
Then a brief, strange 'squee' sound...followed by...
"Hey you! You in the tank! Are you cozy in there?" A young guy's voice sounded.
Dib looked in astonishment as he heard the voice come through over the radio Zim had in there...
Someone else knew he was stuck in the tank...but the real question is, what did that mean for Dib?
No, the alien in the beginning was not Zim or Tak...this is someone very...messed up...that caused this.
Dib's in a horrible situation right now, but someone actually decided to communicate with him while he's in the tank...someone who wants to help (Squee)
Also, I thought it would be pretty neat if Nny coined the term 'walker'.
Dib and Rick do have a lot in common. They're both two people who try to help others, and both have been called crazy a number of times :) And they do have leadership qualities, so it's interesting to see this story told through Dib's eyes when he wakes up.
If you can guess, Gaz's role is a tiny bit similar to a certain someone with a crossbow and a motorcycle. I think she and Daryl can be similar in a sense (they're both tough, surly, stubborn, practical, dark and moody people) and I think she's bad ass enough to take this similar role. On a side note, I not only made her vest similar to Daryl's angel wing one, but similar to the bat wings on her pajamas when she was a kid.
As for Zim...he's a victim of this apocalyptic attack as well and is forced to reside with the humans at the camp. In other words, he's stranded on Earth.
There's a reason Dib got separated from his family. Gaz certainly wouldn't leave him behind like that in a zombie apocalypse...
This chapter is named 'Space Junk' after the song that plays at the end of the Walking Dead pilot episode...also, I think this is the perfect title to reflect on what had caused this outbreak.
Poor Dib...shot by an alien, managed to wake up from a coma in an abandoned hospital, only to be saved by a homicidal maniac...and end up taking refuge in Zim's battle tank to get away from a mob of zombies...
Nikki, I hope you enjoyed! I tried to incorporate your ideas, but still wanted to keep other things a surprise :)