A/N: Guys I gotta say, I was blow away by the number of people that left a review asking for this story to continue. Rarely do I ever get more than 3 reviews on a chapter. But having over 70 people read the story in the first 48 hours, and 8 Reveiws... There's no way that this story won't continue now.

I'm excited to be able to write a story that moves people! This is the first I've ever written like it. I'll do my best (with some help from Invader Pinn of course)!

Hoping for more Reviews! Here's Chapter 2!

Chapter 2 – In Space No One Can Hear You Scream

The first few hours floating through space, Zim stood by the exit hatch in shock. What just happened...? It was the only thought that that he could comprehend, and even that wasn't entirely making it through. Only when he noticed his squeedlyspooch growling from hunger did his mind return to his current predicament.

As if in a daze, Zim calmly walked over to the control panels. Communications. I know how to work these. He pressed in the correct sequence of buttons to activate the long-range transmissions. Nothing happened. He typed it in again. Still nothing.

Okay, if I can't call for help I'll just fly it back. He turned to the steering, only to find it locked out the same as the communications.

Zim stared at the view screen for a moment. Someone's bound to notice I'm missing, he decided. I'll just have to wait. I'm sure the technicians will notice that the escape pod is missing. My teachers will see that I'm missing and they'll figure it out. This logic reassured him somehow, but as hours turned into days, it was clear that no one was coming for him.

When this realization hit, Zim began to panic. He ran circles around his tiny enclosure, yelling non-stop. He pounded his fists on the control panels, as if they would suddenly start responding to his commands. To escape the confines of the ship, he even went as far as to push on the door; the thought of what would happen if he managed to escape into the vacuum of space, never even occurring to him.

Two weeks passed before his energy levels grew so low that his PAK forced him to calm down. His fists, as well as a few other parts of his body, were badly bruised from his attempts to escape. His voice was all but gone from constant yelling. As his PAK worked to force him into Hibernation mode, Zim stared around; his vision began to fade.

This is it… I'm going to die here. He fought against the encroaching darkness. NO! No…. no….

XXX

Zim's PAK did not allow him to awaken for three full days, not until all his self-inflicted injuries were completely healed, and when it did it kept a heavy sedative running through his veins. It had somehow automatically linked up with the escape pod's life-support systems and was filtering nutrients down through a tube.

When Zim first awoke, he did nothing. He simply lay there thinking. How could this happen? Am I ever going to make it home? Why would Skoodge do this to me?

His thoughts raced. After a long while, Skoodge's last words came to the front of his mind. 'With you around Red and Purple act like they rule the planet' 'You never stand up for yourself!'
Red's voice filtered in to join it. 'Give it up Zim! You're a weakling that will never amount to anything!'
'You're a weakling.'
'A loser!'
'You'll never be anything.'
'No one cares about you!'
'Defective!'

It's all my fault…

Zim remained on the floor. He pulled his legs and arms in, hugging himself. As if he feared he would disappear. And yet… part of him wished that he would.

It's all my fault. Everything.

The name-calling, the beatings, the constant emotional abuse by Red and Purple, the lack of friends. All of it was because Zim had never stood up for himself. True or not, once this thought had entered his mind, he was unable to get rid of it.

It's my fault.

It's my fault.

It's my fault.

It's My Fault.

Like a skipping record, that one solitary thought repeated in his mind. It was the only thing that his brain could understand. Hours passed like this, till Zim was once again forced by his PAK to sleep.

XXX

Weeks turned into months. Zim hardly ever moved. Occasionally, when he was too tired to think, the voices would disappear for a while, giving him a short breath of sanity. He would get up and stretch his weary muscles, try the controls again, anything to keep his mind busy. These times never lasted long. A few minutes at the most. Then the voices would return and Zim would find himself clawing deep gashes into his own skin just to prove to himself that he was still alive.

I'm going to die in here, aren't I…

Sometimes the idea of death didn't seem so bad to him. It was in those moments when he would disconnect himself from the nutrition tubes, but when his hunger grew again, he would ultimately plug himself back in. Each time he would wonder what was the point of keeping himself alive? He would consider leaving his body to starve, but again, each time his natural feelings of self-preservation would kick in and he would wake up with the tube attached to his PAK again.

Whenever he slept, Zim's dreams were filled with the torments he had suffered by Red and Purple. He would remember with horrifying clarity the life-goo oozing down the side of his face from the time Red and smashed his head into a locker then closed the door on his neck. His body would shake as fear overwhelmed him, exactly as it had when Purple had "pretended" to try and push him into the zoo exhibit with a meat-thirsty Hogulus.

WEAK!

DEFECTIVE!

The voices screamed in his audio-receptors. Once, in attempt to shut them out, Zim pulled on his antennae so hard that one of them snapped in his grip. His PAK shut him down once again for repairs.

XXX

"Proximity Warning." The deep voice of the computer woke him from another forced Hibernation.

Zim opened his eyes slowly.

"Planet ahead." It informed him.

XXX

"Gaz! I'm leaving for work!"

"whatever..." Dib waited at the door for two seconds till he heard his sister's amended response, "come home safe..." she said. Dib smiled and promised he would. After their dad had died last year in a horrible lab accident involving a weasel and a giant astronaut helmet, Gaz had made a point of always telling him to be safe. Her dour attitude had changed only toward her family though; Dib heard her swearing loudly at her online gaming opponent as he closed the door.

XXX

Dib's walk home was peaceful. It was late, and the sun was down, but the sky was still lit a ghostly yellow from the lights of the city reflecting on the clouds. Cars drove past him at their usual hurried paces. The shops in the city seemed to be perpetually open for business, which might explain the poor attitudes of the workers.

There were two stops Dib had to make before going home. First he needed a new shirt for his job; second he had to hit up Bloaty's Pizza for their dinner.

The clothing store was small and grungey looking. Much of the clothes seemed second hand and in dire need of washing. Overall it was not a place Dib would normally shop but it was cheap and since the shirts would be ruined at work anyway there was no point in going all out. In around 5 minutes Dib had found three shirts and a pair of slacks; he headed to the checkout.

On the way to the front of the store Dib saw a blast from his past. An old black trenchcoat; sized for a child between 12 and 15 years of age. Dib smiled and looked at the price tag. With it going for $1.53 he considered buying it for old times sake but in the end walked away without it. The patents in their Dad's name only gave them so much; enough to keep the house. All of the money Dib made at work was needed for other things.

"Oh well..." He went up to the register, paid, then headed off for Bloaty's.

XXX

"So did work suck?" In her own way, Gaz really was trying to be nice.

"Nah. It wasn't too bad." The two of them sat in silence as they ate their pizza. "Oh yeah!" Dib said after taking a sip from his soda, "I forgot to tell you what I saw at ThredBaren when I went to get shirts for work. It was a black trenchcoat " Gaz gave him her classic dubious expression, which wasn't much of an expression at all since she was so focused on her pizza. "No really. It was just there on the discount rack. Kinda brings back old memories huh?"

"If you mean of when you were crazy and alien obsessed? Then yes." Gaz sighed and lowered her pizza. "Sorry... I didn't mean that."

Dib smiled. "I know." He was only 2 years older than her but since she was only 16 when their Dad died, Dib had taken on the role of caretaker, doing whatever he had to to keep what they had left of a family together. "So what have you got going on tomorrow?"

"I'm going to that gamers convention remember? I've only reminded you about it 23 times already. What to I have to do? Tape the calander to your head?"

"Sorry just forgot again." Dib took another slice of pizza. "There's a tournament right? So you'll end up out late?"

Gaz sighed. "Not just late. The tournament goes all night. I won't be back till Sunday afternoon if I'm lucky." Gaz had been practicing for this tournament for weeks. She looked over at her Game Slave 5, deciding whether or not to start playing it. She glanced at Dib. "So what will you be doing all weekend?" Even though Dib had given up his paranormal exploits after their father's death, Gaz always seemed worried he might get back into it and end up in another stupid and dangerous situation.

"I'll probably hang out at the library in the morning and go jogging later. After that... Who knows?" He shrugged. They ate in silence again. When they were full the leftovers went to the fridge and the plates into the dishwasher. They said their good nights and went to bed. When Dib walked past Gaz's room on the way to his own, he heard the same muffled sobs that he heard every night. Gaz hadn't cried at their Dad's funeral.

XXX

Saturday morning came and went. The library was uninteresting as usual, the jog in the park left him feeling hot and sweaty, yet oddly refreshed. He said hi to a few people he knew, including Zita, and old classmate and long time friend, who was out shopping for an anniversary gift for her boyfriend. Dib graciously gave her his opinion on two ties as she held them up in front of that small specialty store.

"Thanks Dib! You were a huge help. M is going to love it!" She gave him a quick hug then hurried off; Dib waved stupidly after her. He thought about how he had missed his chance to ask her out back in high school.

Shaking his head he walked back through the park.

With nothing else to accomplish, Dib took a break and sat down on a bench. The fresh air and the warm sun on his face made him feel drowsy. Before long, Dib was fast asleep.

XXX

Memories from his past training flooded Zim's mind as his tiny pod hit the planet's upper atmosphere. Luck was on his side as the landing controls were not locked liked steering and communications. From his training back on Irk, Zim was able to go through the atmospheric approach without really having to think about it. Had he thought about it, he might have decided to simply crash into the planet and end his existance.

The outer casing of the tiny escape pod heated as it passed through the stratosphere. Shaking from the turbulence, it became painfully obvious that the little ship was never meant for planetary landings.

XXX

Back in the park, a squirrel scurried over the branches of a tree, bringing a nut back to his hideyhole for his illegitimate chipmunk. Unfortunately he stumbled on a lose piece of bark and dropped his acorn, right onto Dib's head.

Dib awoke with a start. Sitting up, he rubbed his eyes as his brain tried to fully process where he was. Oh right the park… His watch showed that it was 5:56. What!? He jumped off the bench. "How did I sleep so long?" he wasn't really talking to anyone in particular as he said this. The sky was dark with cumuli nimbus clouds. It was likely to begin raining any second. Dib turned on his heal and headed for home.

On his way past Thredbaren Clothing Store, he noticed a worker walking out with a pile of clothing. On the very top of the pile was the little black trench coat he had seen earlier. Dib ran up to the guy who's nametag read 'McFelon' and asked what was being done with that clothing.

"Oh this junk?" McFelon spoke in a monotone voice. "Well no one has bought it for so long that we're just throwing it out."

"Throwing it out? All of it?"

"That's what my boss told me to do." McFelon continued on his trek to the dumpster.

"Hang on a second!" Dib dug his hand into his pocket. "If it's just going to be thrown out, can you let me buy that trench coat first?" He switched hands and checked his other pocket for his wallet.

McFelon shrugged, "Sure whatever." He set the pile down beside the dumpster and picked the trench coat off the top. "There a problem?"

Dib was digging through his pockets. "Umm… I may have lost my wallet. Can you hold it for me while I go back to the park to look for it?"

"We close in 15 minutes dude. If you want it so bad just take it."

Dib rubbed the back of his neck nervously, "I don't know… I'd really rather pay for it." McFelon raised an eyebrow; he really didn't care if this guy took the trench coat or not. "It's fine. I'll run to the park and find my wallet then come back and buy it." Dib took off running. "Just hold it for me until then!" He yelled.

McFelon shrugged then dumped the coat back onto the pile in front of the dumpster.

XXX

"Aww ComeOn!" Did swore as the rain changed from a drizzle to a downpour. He ran for shelter under a nearby tree. His wallet was nowhere in sight, and he had been searching for over an hour. "Just great… That had this week's paycheck in it…" He leaned back, resting his head on the smooth bark of the tree.

For a time, he closed his eyes and just listened to the sound of the rain. From overhead, a rushing sound similar to a plane, grew louder and louder. What is that? Dib opened his eyes in time to see the clouds above split; a fiery comet shooting out of their center.

"WHAT THE!?"

Dib dove to the ground as the comet shot over head. The ground rumbled and shook as the fireball came crashing down through the trees only a few hundred feet from Dib's position. The birds that had taken shelter from the rain burst out from the trees, fleeing from the dangerous new object.

Unlike the birds, Dib ran towards the fireball that was slowly being extinguished by the rain.

"What the heck is this?" he wondered aloud.

The outer coating of the ship had begun to melt but the main structure remained in its perfectly spherical shape. The metal groaned under the strain of rapid cooling caused by the rain. Dib pushed his soaking wet hair up out of his face trying to figure out what exactly he was looking at.

As the metal cooled, Dib could see the outer hull was dull pinky-grey. The object was almost perfectly spherical except for the giant chunk taken out of one side. Looking into the ship Dib couldn't keep his excitement from swelling up in his chest. Sparks flew, and everything looked damaged, but the technology Dib saw inside that ship would have even amazed his dad.

He was about to take a closer look when he heard a low moan coming from under the ship. Getting onto his hands and knees, Dib looked under one of the broken panels that had curled outward. A small figure lay beneath the metal; whatever it was looked to be unconscious. Dib carefully reached his dripping hand under the sheet, to try and free the creature.

Barely conscious, Zim yelped in pain as something seared his skin. It was like his hand was being held in a vat of acid; he couldn't pull away. The grip around his wrist tightened when he struggled.

"No!" He yelled. "Let me go! That hurts!" White hot pain blurred his vision.

Dib felt the creature struggling in his grip. "It's okay! I'm not going to hurt you." He spoke calmly, trying to communicate a feeling of safety through the tone of his voice. It yelled something at him that he realized might be a language. "We have to get you out of there. The rain might flood the ditch." Even as he spoke, a small stream was forming by his side and running down into the hole.

Zim yelled out as the acid flooded down by his feet. Make it stop…

The creature yelled out again, and this time Dib knew why. He could see the smoke rising and he could smell the burning flesh. I gotta get it out of there! Somehow the water must be hurting it! Quickly he laid flat on his stomach and reached in with both hands. The alien still fought him but its efforts became weak when it was pulled out and the full force of the rain hit it's face.

Irk… please just let me die! Make the pain go away! Zim's vision went black as the acid ran over his face.

Dib knew his coat was wet but for now it was better than just being right out in the rain. He tucked his new bundle under his shirt and zipped up his coat. Supporting it's body and head with his arms. Dib ran as fast as he could headed for home.