Day 1(and a half): The Toll
Dib hated walking home on hot days like these, especially when Gaz was there with her own water bottle, her hair somewhat shading her face. He knew that it would be a quiet ride home, which meant he would have to think about things, which usually ended up bad for him. He also couldn't get the way Ms. Bitters described the world ending out of his head…
"Ms. Bitters?" Dib asked with a raised hand.
"Make it quick Dib, I still have to teach about the nature of animal mating rituals." Ms. Bitters said, her expression somewhat souring.
"Well, I was reading ahead in the textbook, and it was talking about the apocalypse. What is that?" Dib asked, wanting to take attention away from the subject at hand. Of course he already knew what the apocalypse was, it was just that the idea of a lesson on animal mating rituals wasn't the most…intriguing idea of study at the moment.
"First off, if I ever catch you reading ahead in the textbook again, I will shave your head and make you run fifty laps around the school with thirty pounds of textbooks on your back. Second, the apocalypse is an event in which the entire Earth will destroy itself in a raging fit of fire, water, earth and many other elements. It was foretold by a man named Nostradamus that these events would occur, and so far his predictions have come true. We will eventually all perish in the ash of volcano or end up trapped in a massive tsunami. And that, you horrible children, is how one day, the world will end." Ms. Bitters concluded.
Dib shuddered for a moment as he continued to walk home. He wondered when these events would occur and how many people would survive. He supposed it would always remain a mystery until the day it actually happened.
"Dib, will you please quit talking to yourself?" Gaz growled, her head buried in her Game Slave.
"Wait, I wasn't talking though." Dib said, confused.
"Yes, you were, now leave me alone or I'll pull whatever brains you have out of your head and stuff it down your throat." the young girl threatened.
"But, I wasn't—ugh, never mind." Dib grunted in defeat. No point in arguing with someone who always kept their promises.
As the two siblings walked in a threatening silence, a strange thing happened. It turned dark. At 3:30 in the afternoon. Moments later, the ground beneath their feet began to move around in jagged movements. It caused both siblings to fall down. It took a bit of time to register in their minds what was going on, since the occurrence of this event was so rare in the area they lived in, but they knew it when they felt it. An earthquake.
Gaz put her video game away long enough to notice a building was crumbling, so she grabbed her brother's arm and pulled them both away before it collapsed on them. It was still dark, so it was hard to spot their home with all the confusion of the earthquake and people now running and screaming. The two continued on their way crawling, occasionally trying to walk, but to no avail. Dib could now see their home, which was no longer lit. Neither were any of the homes that he could see so far. He hoped his father was okay, though if he was, then he probably already left Earth's atmosphere hours ago, before the earthquake.
"OW, CRAP!" Dib was startled from his thoughts by his sister's scream from next to him. From what Dib could see, Gaz had spun around and was clutching her leg in pain. Something was on her foot, and she was trying to get her leg out from under it, and with each attempt, her screams getting louder and more profane. Then Dib saw that a lamppost had fallen on her foot. Surely every bone in her foot was broken now, which didn't help since the ground was still shaking. Dib crawled over and with all of his strength, rolled the light off of her foot, leaving behind a crushed foot under a boot drenched in blood. It made him physically ill to look at it, but knew it was for the best that he kept his lunch down and be the brave big brother he was supposed to be.
Then it dawned on him. He would have to carry Gaz all the way home with the ground still quaking, and with most of his neighbors already evacuated of the neighborhood, he had no one to help. So he summed up all of his strength and stood up, which was a challenge in itself. He reached down and held his sister—who had as of now passed out—bridal style and began to slowly walk home. It wasn't that far away, only one block, but it seemed like the distance of the Great Wall of China away to Dib. And it might as well have been, since he had to get Gaz home now before she lost too much blood.
OoOoOoOoOoOoOoOoO
Zim awoke a few minutes later, and as he got back his vision, he started to remember what had happened. But…what exactly had happened? He tried to get up, but when he did, he realized that his right arm hurt immensely. He looked down to see that his arm had been severed from the crash, and there was some shrapnel buried deep in his flesh. He then looked and saw that he was sitting in a pool of his own blood, which caused his facial features to contort into a look of disgust. He had to ignore the pain now, and deal with what had just happened. It looked as though the power had rebooted in his brief time of unconsciousness, and the computers of his lab were all turned on around him.
"Computer," Zim said, his voice extremely dry and hoarse from all the screaming. Though it also hurt to talk, he needed answers. "What…what is h-happening? Why did the base shake?"
"Cause of base to shake, an earthquake. An earthquake is when tremors under the surface of the earth cause the outer surface to shake violently, leaving behind destruction and chaos." Computer replied.
"Destruction and chaos among the humans? Yes, this is good!" Zim said to himself.
"No, master, it is not. Have you seen the upper level of the base yet? It is ruined and vulnerable to any human who wanted to come inside." The Computer replied in a serious down tone.
"The base was ruined before I got here! And aren't all of the other humans' homes like mine? As in, destroyed?" Zim yelled, his voice protesting immediately for abuse.
"Yes, and it seems as though there may be more tremors to come. I would suggest evacuating and leaving Earth before the entire mission is jeopardized." Computer suggested as a screen appeared, showing a map of the local area and where the tremors are and where they will be predicted to strike next.
"Zim does not pay you to make foolish suggestions! How could I abandon the mission at such a crucial time, while the humans are at their weakest? I would be labeled defective and be banished or even deactivated!" Zim replied stubbornly, thinking he needed to stop talking now, as his voice was raw and dying, which made him sound less in-control.
"Perhaps this will change you mind," Computer said as it kept the screen up, showing a live news feed from local television.
A tall, blonde news reporter stood in front of a camera, and the scene behind her showed a crumbled news station.
"Am I on? Oh, okay. Hello, field reporter Jenny Snow here with breaking historical news! Today in the local area, tremors could be felt throughout the city, causing massive earthquakes to trigger, which may cause tsunami damage to surrounding countries. Our scientists think that these things will continue to happen, and are calling a state of emergency for all of North America. If you are in Canada, the United States or Mexico, you should take cover from all buildings to a safe underground shelter for the next week or so.
In other countries, similar things are happening. In Russia, reports are flooding in about volcanoes that had been dormant for hundreds of years suddenly erupting, killing thousands, destroying many small towns and villages. On the coasts of Africa, several what scientists are calling "super tsunamis" have hit land over the past twenty-four hours, causing entire cities to be washed away. A few geographers in Berlin, Germany are calling this the end of all mankind. Oh, dear Lord, save us!" and with that, the transmission cut off.
(A/N: GASP! Two updates in one day? It must be the apocalypse! If you know my other works on here, you would know that I usually NEVER update ANY of my other stories, even though I mean to. But this one is different, since I actually have the story line written out and everything already. And I'm still searching for a name for a new name for this story, unless you like Doominess Earth Doom…But I don't, so I am still holding the contest! I already have a couple on entrees which are pretty good, but since the contest isn't over, I can't pick one…Also, if you felt I got anything wrong grammatically/character wise, please tell me. Or if I got any sort of geography thing wrong, tell me, it's not exactly my strong suit in school, so I could use help with that part. Don't forget to review nice things, coz I like nice things…It makes me feel all fluffy! And has anyone been to Hot Topic lately and been like "Why is there a major lack in Zim spirit in here?" That's how I was, though me and the cashier there had a nice long talk about how awesome Zim is…He seemed nice. ANYWAYS REVIEW!)