Hollow
Chapter 4

a/n Here you go…the next chapter for the three people that read this :)

EDIT: okay, so FF was being mean and wasn't putting in my line breaks so that is why I'm re-posing this chapter

"Should we wake it?"

"I'm not sure. It could be hostile."

"It seemed unwilling to hurt Den though. It even attempted to dress some of his wounds. He seems friendly."

"We do not know that for certain...hush...it is waking up."

"What should we do?"

"Leave them. They can not cause any harm out here. The irken is weaponless. And of course humans are just bags of water and flesh. Put a tracker on the irken for safety."

...,

It felt like I had just run a marathon.

Literally my legs felt like jello.

And I hadn't even stood up on them yet.

I let out a long groan on pain, opening my eyes.

I seemed to be lying on my back. Bright stars flickered above in the seemingly endless night sky. It really was quite beautiful.

I almost instinctively identified Orion's belt and the milky way as I had studied them through my telescope while looking for aliens. On clear summer nights, it was easy to see the stars above.

A slight cool breeze rustled the cool grass around me. I shivered, pulling my long trench coat tighter round me.

I yawned, sitting up slightly. I felt exhausted.

I rubbed my eyes a bit under my glasses to wake myself up a but. My mind still felt hazy. Almost as if not fully awake.

Ow! My hand suddenly brushed against something wet on the side of my face, giving off a sharp pain.

I hissed, drawing my hand back.

Blood.

I froze for a second. Questions started popping into my head at an alarmingly fast rate.

Why was my head bleeding? How did I get cut? Why do my feet hurt?

Where exactly AM I?

I quickly looked around, observing the layout of the land. I seemed to be lying next to some country dirt road near the edge of a forest. Okay then...

"Hello?" My voice was rough in the silent air.

All of a sudden, a sort of groan rose up from beside me. I quickly jumped, not expecting the sound.

"Who's there?" My voice rising in fear.

The moon light lit up the world around me but that still didn't mean it wasn't dark. It was sorta giving me the creeps.

I looked around, my eyes settling in the lump in the grass a few feet away.

"Gah." It murmured. "What happened?"

The figure sat up. I froze, not daring to move.

"Hrn...irk, my head again?" The voice sounded annoyed. And very familiar...

"Zim?"

The figure looked up at me. His magenta eyes were glowing. I couldn't tell if they were just reflecting the moonlight

"Dib-worm?" Geesh could he never just say Dib?

Suddenly, in a flash of black and green, Zim was on top of me.

"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" I screeched, trying to push him off of me.

Zim snarled. His eyes were narrowed into dark, glowing slits. His jagged teeth glinted maliciously in the moonlight. I could feel those stupid claws start to dig into my collar.

"Why did you bring us here!" He growled. "What on great mother IRK is going on!"

"I DON'T KNOW! GET OFF ME!"

"NEVER!"

I dug the heel of my boot into his chest and quickly pushed him off of me.

He stumbled backwards, seemingly surprised that I had been able to over power him. Well, it wasn't that hard. He WAS pretty small.

Zim growled and looked about ready to attack me again. "YOU DARE-"

"Look, calm DOWN for five seconds and we can figure out what is going on!" I said slowly.

Zim jutted his bottom lip out in a sort of pouting look. He still didn't seem very convinced but his stance looked less threatened and he straitened up a bit.

I stood up and brushed off the dirt on my jacket. "Geesh. You really need to cut down on your sugar intake or something."

Zim gave me a pointed look that was kinda unsettling with his eyes closed. "There is nothing wrong with Zim's sugar intake. Perhaps their is something wrong with YOUR intake."

I just ignored him and started to take in my surroundings. "Where are we anyway?"

"How should I know. It's your planet, you find out where we are." Zim said and started to walk around with his antennae flicking around. I had just now noticed that he wasn't wearing his disguise. Of course he had to be out of disguise when no one was here to witness it.

I scoffed. "We're in the middle of no where. I have no clue where we are."

Zim looked at me a little funny. "You do not know you're own planet?"

"What? Of course I know my planet...I just don't know, you know, all of it. It's too big to memorize."

Zim just rolled his eyes. "And you wonder why your species is inferior."

I laughed. "Come on, you don't expect me to believe that you know your WHOLE planet by memory."

"Like the back of my hand. All Irkens are supposed to memorize it at late smeethood." Zim said absentmindedly. He had taken off his pak a few seconds ago and was now rummaging through it. He look a bit frustrated.

"Oh wait! I could use the GPS in my cell phone!" I quickly dug deep into my trench coat pockets. "Hmm...let's see. A flash drive, pencil, um...small notebook, ham (why do I have ham in my pocket?), Uh...battery. No..."

After looking in every pocket in my trench coat and pants, I was still unable to find my phone. "Darn, I must've left it in my locker or something." I muttered.

Zim growled, putting his pak back on. "Gah, someone took all my weapons. And they disabled my communicator." He grumbled something inaudible and most likely in another language. "Someone must've taken them out. But it had to be someone who knew an irken system because no inferior living being knows how to access it..." He was talking more to himself at this point.

"So...you think we were attacked?" I asked, pulling my trench coat a bit closer. Man was it cold.

"Most likely. It would explain the cuts on both of our heads. And it is beyond question that we came here willingly. I mean, why on irk would I spend time with the likes of you?". He pointed at me accusingly.

I pushed his finger out of my face. "But that still doesn't explain why we are out here. I mean...we were at skool. You were following that noise. And...that's all I can remember. It's all blurry afterwards." I held my head. It had started to hurt a bit. "Do you remember anything besides that?"

Zim shook his head. "Nah nothing."

"Maybe it was ghosts!" I smiled excitedly. I had always wanted to be possessed by a ghost.

"Silly Dib-Beast, Ghosts don't exists." Zim chuckled.

"Yes they do!"

"No they don't. Get that stupid notion out of your head."

"Aliens don't exist either." I stuck out my tongue as to prove my point.

"I think whoever attacked you also knocked out a few brain cells." Zim retorted.

"Whatever Zim. Would you call your stupid robot to come get us now or something. I'm getting cold." I said, rubbing my arms together.

"Are you deaf as well as blind?" Zim said rather loudly. "My communicator has been sabotaged. I can't call anyone."

"So we're basically stuck out here?" I sighed. "Great, just great."

"I fail to see how this is great hyooman." Zim said, failing to pick up on the sarcasm. I just ignored him again.

"Well...er...maybe if we follow this street, we can find some street signs or at least a town or something." I suggested, looking down the dark road.

"It says we're on Maaaaple St." Zim said suddenly. He was also squinting down the road. His eyes seemed to have increased in their glowing.

"What? Where do you see that?" I tried to look where he was looking. All I could see was the dark blurred scenery.

Zim started up his trade mark laugh. "Inferior hyooman eyes. There is a sign a few triclicks down."

Triclicks? Stupid alien language. Why couldn't he learn English...

"Is there another sign under it? I know where Maple St. is, but it is a pretty long road." I asked.

"Uh...I can't read it from this angle." Zim squinted harder.

"Well, no point in just standing here then. Let's get walking before I freeze to death." I said, starting to walk down the road.

"Wait a minuet, who said I was going with you?" Zim huffed.

"Because I'm the only one who knows how to get home. If you want to just wander aimlessly around the woods for days, be my guest. But I am going this way." I retorted.

There was a moment's pause. Then came the slight patter of footsteps signaling that Zim was indeed following behind.

I held in a sigh of relief. It wasn't that I wanted to spend time with the alien. No, I would have paid money for him to just leave me alone. But in the current situation, I guess it was best if he tagged along. I had a feeling whoever had dragged us out here was still lurking around. Zim always bragged about how he was superior in fighting. I didn't believe it for a second, but he would make good bait if someone tried to jump us.

"You know, you're plans would help you more if you didn't say them out loud." Zim hissed. "And I have no intention of being bait."

Oh…had I said that out loud? Woops.

"And I see you doubt my military skillsss." The alien continued. "Be assured that Zim has been trained to be an elite militant and could kill you instantly."

I scoffed. "Sure Zim, whatever you say."

We continued to walk in silence. The area started to get a bit more wooded and tall trees towered above us, casting creepy shadows on the pavement.

I was now walking behind Zim, following his glowing eyes. The trees had blocked out the moonlight from the sky and left me virtually blind. It was reeaaally starting to freak me out.

"How far was this sign?" I asked, my voice quavering a bit.

"Not too far…" Zim said quietly. His antennae were almost positioned forward.

Suddenly he stopped and I almost ran into him. His antennae had risen a bit.

"I hear something…" He whispered.

"Oh God not this again." I groaned. "If you're trying to trick me or something, it's not going to work."

Zim was silent for a moment. After a few seconds of us standing there in the dark like morons, the invader shook his head and continued walking. "Must've been one of your filthy earth creatures." He muttered.

After a few more minutes of walking, we finally reached the cross road. Or so Zim said…I still couldn't see much of anything.

"What does the sign say?" I asked, rubbing my arms together.

"Petersburg R D." Zim sneered. "That's a stupid name."

My jaw dropped open in shock and disappointment. "OH COME ON! Ptersburg is like 20 miles away from home!"

"And that is…" Zim asked, confused.

"Pretty dang far! You live less than a mile away from me!"

"Oh." The alien said. "Well, I guess we should get walking."

My muscles ached with protest. I didn't know if I could walk 20 miles. My feet had been killing me ever since I had woken up.

"How about we set up camp for the night. Just until I am able to see again." I said, going to sit down on the grass by the side of the road.

"Why would we set up camp?" Zim retorted. "It would be better to keep walking."

"My feet hurt." I whined.

"Well suck it up. Let's keep walking." Zim insisted, looking a bit jumpy.

"I'm the only one who knows how to get home and I say that we shall wait until morning." I crossed my arms and sat down on the cool grass.

Zim glared at me, sending shivers up my arm.

Finally he scoffed and sat down next to me. "If I didn't need you Dib-stink, I would definitely abandon you here."

"Whatever Spaceboy."