Infection
Denying the lying
A million children fighting
For lives in strife
For hope beyond the horizon
- Planet Hell by Nightwish
Dib headed towards the back doors of the lab, trying to shove off that feeling of worry. He wasn't really having that feeling before talking to Tak, but now it wouldn't leave him. He reached the double doors, opened them and walked up to the front row of jeeps, finding his previous team of soldiers. Dib simply nodded at them, but received no sorts of reply from them, only a scoff from Darcy. Dib ignored the kind of treatment he was receiving and got up on the driver's seat before the soldiers followed his lead. They took off right after, driving straight to the coast and, in the middle of the way, Darcy turned to Dib and finally let out…
"So…" He started with a mocking smile on his face. "I heard you banged the alien girl we found, is that true?"
Dib gripped the wheel, his face contorting in anger. He really didn't need to bring that up, especially in the middle of the mortal silence they were buried in, after all, all the other soldiers in the vehicle heard him even though he didn't speak too loudly.
"I really don't wanna talk about it." Dib said, trying to control his tone.
"C'mon, boy." Darcy insisted. "I'm just asking. Did she do it good, at least?" He laughed, but Dib didn't reply. "Look, I'm just trying to make small talk here, okay? You don't need to PMS over that."
"I thought we weren't supposed to make small talk, John." Dib said daringly.
Darcy was about to give him a piece of his mind when Dib stopped the car.
"We're here." Dib said as he pulled the hand break.
The soldiers hopped off the car, aside from Darcy who kept in there for a moment only glaring at Dib before one of the soldiers called him and he ran into the hotels, as well. Dib simply kept staring straight forward, as they searched for supplies, Darcy knew exactly how to piss him off. Maybe he should ask his dad to change teams, but he guessed that he was going to receive the exact same kind of treatment, so it was better to just stop doing that risky job, maybe try working to find the cure, as well. Dib kept thinking about all that for so long that he barely noticed the soldiers hopping back into the jeep.
"Okay, boy." Darcy started roughly. "We need to go into the city."
"What?" Dib asked confused. "But I thought that we would just stay in less packed places."
"What are you complaining about? You're just driving!" Darcy said, daringly. "We couldn't find enough supplies in here, so we're going to the city, okay?"
Dib glared at Darcy. He really didn't like the guy, but did as he was told to all the same. Sighing, Dib started the engine, driving into the city where the scene wasn't very pretty: everything was starting to decay, blood on the ground and countless people missing from the streets that were now packed with zombies. The soldiers shoot every zombie that tried approaching the car until that Dib could find a place that was less packed and parked as the soldiers shot the zombies around them while heading into the buildings to find supplies. Dib waited there with the zombies laying around the car, fearing that some more might show up again and he didn't have a gun on him. But, if anything, he would actually be more than glad to leave those suckers behind if he had to. Several moments passed until the soldiers came back to the car and Dib was already starting the engine when they heard a scream coming from not too far. They looked up to see a young girl running from a zombie that was meters away from her for the fact of not being able to run so fast. She saw the car and started screaming for help, running up to them.
"What are you waiting for?!" Darcy asked Dib, who just kept staring at the girl, not doing anything. "Get us out of here!"
"Shoot it!" Dib ordered him.
"What?!" Darcy asked confused.
"Shoot the zombie! We can save her!" Dib exclaimed.
"You're kidding, right?" Darcy said.
Dib looked back at the girl, who was still running for her life when, suddenly, she tripped and fell. She tried getting up and continue, but was now limping. She must've twisted an ankle or broken a leg. Dib tried taking Darcy's gun and shoot the zombie himself, but Darcy yanked the gun away from him.
"Drive." Darcy spat.
Dib had about enough of him. He hopped off the car as the soldiers complained behind him, and ran up to the girl, picking her up in his arms and running back to the car.
"For fuck's sake!" Darcy said as he took a place on the driver's seat.
"What are you doing?!" Asked a female soldier.
"I'm getting us out here! What else?" Darcy replied as he started the engine.
The woman couldn't say anything else as Darcy took off as fast as he could.
"Hey!" Dib yelled after them, running faster to try and catch up to the car, which caused him to trip as well. Dib spun as he fell so that the girl in his arms would fall on top of him, losing his glasses in the process. He tried getting up, but the zombie threw himself at Dib and the girl as it caught up to them. The girl screamed while Dib kicked the zombie to try and get it away from them, but it grabbed Dib's leg, biting a large chunk of it. Dib screamed as he tried shaking off the zombie, kicking it with his free foot and making it release Dib. The zombie stumbled backwards, but wasn't able to go after them again as a gunshot coming from behind blew up its skull. Dib and the girl looked behind them to see the female soldier jumping from the moving jeep as it stopped abruptly when she did so. She rolled on the ground beneath her, got up and ran towards them. And that was the last thing Dib saw before his vision darkened.
Zim and Professor Membrane were still in the lab downstairs by now, leaving Gaz no other choice but to stay alone in her room. Sure, Tak was an option, but she really didn't want to hang out with her either. Gaz sat on her bed while writing in her diary when an alarm resonated through the lab.
"What the…?" Gaz thought as she got up, trying to find Zim and her father. She ran up to the entrance of the underground part of the lab as they were already climbing the stairs.
"Dad!" Gaz exclaimed. "What's going on?!"
"Bad news." Membrane said simply as he ran to another part of the lab, having Zim and Gaz following him.
They arrived at the parking lot alongside some paramedics who were summoned. Membrane ran up to Doctor Alexovich as the paramedics went to go get someone in one of the jeeps.
"Alexovich!" Membrane called. "Who got bitten?"
Doctor Alexovich looked up at Membrane, not really wanting to say it.
"I think you may want to see it for yourself, professor." The doctor replied.
Membrane, Zim and Gaz looked up to whom the paramedics were carrying, and were surprised to see Dib. It was like everything played in slow motion as they watched Dib being carried to the inside of the lab. Zim looked up worriedly at Gaz who was wide-eyed. She slowly turned to her father, staring up at him.
"Dad…" She started, not able to finish the sentence.
"Don't worry, daughter." Membrane said as he approached his hand to her shoulder. "Everything is gonna-."
"Cut the crap! Everything is not going to be fine!" Gaz slapped his hand away. Membrane looked down at her perplexed. "This is all your fault!" Gaz pointed an accusatory finger at him. "If you didn't send him on that stupid mission, this wouldn't have happened!"
"Gaz… Calm down." Membrane said nervously. "I-."
"Shut up!" Gaz yelled, silencing him. "You don't care about us! You never did! You were the only person who had to look after us, but not even that you could do! You were never there!"
"Gaz, please-." Membrane spoke again, not being able to finish his sentence.
"I hate you!" That was all Gaz said before running back into the building.
Membrane stared at her wide-eyed then looked down at Zim, who was quiet this whole time, and he looked at Professor Membrane with remorse on his face before running after Gaz, leaving the professor standing there alone with his thoughts.
