Dib woke up in the back of the ambulance, surrounded by EMT's. IV bags dripped fluid into his bloodstream, and he groaned as he felt the stabbing pain in his side. He clutched the wound, and a moan escaped his lips. He could still feel a mild stabbing pain, even though they had already given him morphine to help with that.

He looked around, dazed and confused, and wondered where Gaz was. He briefly recalled the events that had transpired just a short time ago, and through the hazy clouds of confusion and exhaustion, he found himself remembering that it was Zim who had done this to him, the one who had now, unbeknownst to him, killed his family and ripped his world asunder.

He looked over at the EMT who sat beside him, monitoring his vitals and heartbeats, and groggily asked her if she had seen his sister.

The woman shook her head and squeezed his hand sympathetically, not having the heart to tell him just yet of his entire family's grisly demise. It had been a horrific scene she had stumbled onto when she first arrived at the house, blood everywhere, and a dead dog lying half-eaten on the doorstep, missing its heart.

Dib gazed at the bandages covering his side, his eyes feeling heavy and tired. Refusing the comforting presence of sleep, he traced a hand over his covered wounds, the blood-soaked bandages doing little to stop the dull throbbing pain he still felt. His heart ached, and his mind could not seem to comprehend what was happening now.

He knew that he was in danger, and that was all he could focus on, though he could not find the strength to move his lips and form the words to say it. The drugs and painkillers being pumped into his body hindered his thinking, making it extremely difficult to form any kind of intelligent thought process.

The EMT told him gently that they were nearly at the hospital now, and that he was safe and would have armed policemen watching over him and ensuring his safety while the city's law enforcement sought after whoever had harmed him.

They arrived at the aforementioned hospital, and dib was brought out of the ambulance and wheeled in through the door in a hurry. They wasted no time in getting him into a room and secured to the proper equipment, breathing masks, monitors, ect. All of this passed him by quickly, and before Dib knew it, there were doctors surrounding him, asking him questions and cleaning his wounds while applying fresh bandages.

He was not yet coherent enough to answer them properly, but he knew the gist of what they were trying to get out of him, and he answered as much as he was able with his limited ability, and then they were gone, leaving him alone in his room to think.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zim shuffled onward, still tracking the fleeting ambulance. He knew that Dib was in the vehicle, he just had to reach him. Part of him hoped that the human would die before he arrived at the place of his salvation, but yet another part of him wished to see and physically be there to witness his passing.

Cars passed him by, and Zim growled at them. The headlights from the cars were making him angry, and he raised an arm to shield his face from the brightness. He continued shuffling alongside the road, dirt trudged up by his boots. The ground was still muddy from the rainstorm the day before, and it was now making his boots feel heavy and weighed down, severely slowing his speed. He snarled and tried to kick the footwear off, but the laces held fast and tight, preventing him from getting them off this way. So, he bent down and forcefully yanked off the shoes and threw them into the road.

One of the boots struck a passing car, a rather fancy one, and the driver slammed on his brakes, coming around to stop by Zim. The Irken watched, snarling with rage in his eyes. He was already riled up by the mud and the rain, and he didn't need any more distractions. Not now.

The car door opened, and a man got out. Big and overweight, the unfortunate human would soon find himself to be prey to an unrelenting monster.

Zim snarled loudly in warning, taking a step forward with his now bare feet. The man did not notice or care.

"What the fuck is your deal?!" The man screamed at him angrily, his face red with rage. His hands were balled into fists. "I just bought that car, and now it will cost me a fortune to fix the dent that you made in it!"

Zim did not care for this man's problems or concerns. He smelled his blood, and could hear his rapid heart beating, and though he was not yet starving, he decided that this man would do him good for the road, and the journey that he had yet to complete.

As the man drew closer, Zim readied himself to attack. He slowly and quietly slid a PAK leg from its port, keeping it hidden for the moment, not growing it to full length just yet.

This human continued to scream at him, demanding that Zim provide him with his contact information or else he would call the police to report him for vandalism and destruction of property.

Zim growled again, taking yet another step closer. The man was not intimidated by him at all, raising his hand to shove him back while still ranting about the cost of his car.

Deciding that he had been held up enough as it was, the now annoyed Irken proceeded to stab this stranger through the throat, causing him to stop mid-sentence as he began to choke on his blood.

His prey fell to the muddy ground as Zim yanked the metal appendage out of the man's throat, blood spewing forth. Gushing out in spurts as its heart worked fiercely to fix the damage. The Irken gripped the dying man under the arms, still clutching his bleeding throat as cars slowed to observe the scene before them, their lights still angering the alien. He began to slowly drag the now dead human towards the trees which stood a few feet from his position. A small wooded area that would conceal him while he feasted upon his food.

But he did not get away with the crime unnoticed. Several people passing by had seen him commit the murder, as well as the dozens of cars that had also passed by. Now, he was unknowingly in danger of being captured by the police. Witnesses meant trouble, and there were too many. Zim would not be getting away with it this time.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dib lay in his hospital bed, Awake and thinking. His wound still hurt, though the morphine and painkillers they had put him on were doing their job, so it was just a light barely noticeable feeling. The rest of him was numb all over.

The police had came in earlier and told him of his family's fate. Ripped apart, they had said. Savagely by some unknown assailant that they had yet to locate. They assured him that they were doing their best, but that the perpetrator had been quick to make a getaway, as described by a person who had witnessed the attacks on his family.

After they had questioned him and left, Dib lay there and cried, not caring if anyone saw him doing so. His whole family was now gone, the only thing worth fighting for had been taken from him in the blink of an eye, so suddenly and without warning.

He felt anger building up inside of his gut, and he tried to rise from his bed, but the action of sitting up made him feel dizzy, and lightheaded, so he was then forced to remain where he was, lying in the hospital bed, not being able to do anything to stop Zim from killing again.

He wondered if Zim even knew where he was. He doubted it. The alien was never very good at figuring out where he was hiding, even when he had been his normal self.

He was watching TV when yet another policeman waked in to question him. Dib groaned and turned off the television, knowing that it was gong to be a long night if this kept happening.

The policeman sat down beside him, staring at his wounds with a frown on his face. "Looks like they got you pretty good, son." He said in a sympathetic tone.

Dib turned to look at him. "Well, he could have killed me, so I guess there's that, too. Me being alive right now is what I would call sheer luck on my part."

The police chief nodded. "Well, at any rate, I have my men out there scouring the city, looking for the monster that most killed you, and tore a beloved dog to shreds. When we catch him, we will be sure to let you know."

Dib doubted that they would be able to catch Zim. Even if they did manage such a feat, the alien was already out of his mind and slipping even further with every passing second, and would more than likely just kill and eat his captors. He doubted that they would be able to bring him in alive, if at all. Zim was a fighter, that much he knew.

Then he remembered the disc he had put into his coat. "Wait, I know who did it! There's proof in my coat, over in that chair!" He exclaimed excitedly, pointing out the area where he had stashed his clothes.

The detective sighed, getting up from his seat to rummage through Dib's coat. He pulled out the disc, looking unimpressed by it. The object looked like any other normal disc, and aside from a few scratches, nothing seemed to be wrong with it.

"This little thing has everything you know about who attacked you and your family?" He asked, holding it up to the light to examine it more closely.

Dib nodded, feeling hopeful and confident now. "Yeah, that's right. Everything! But what's on that disc may be a bit… surprising for you. It's unreal. You need to know everything on there if you're gonna be able to catch him."

The policeman nodded slowly. "Uh-huh, right." He said as he slipped the disc into his coat pocket. "Well, we will keep you updated and informed so you'll know when we catch the sick fuck who attacked you and your family. Take care." He grabbed his things and left the room, leaving Dib alone again with his thoughts.

xxxxxxxxxxx

Zim dragged his catch into the trees and began to eat, using his PAK legs to help tear into the skin deeper and longer. The man had a lot of meat on him, so this would surely be a feast for the little starved Irken. Blood gushed out of the body, and the smell of it was so overpowering and sweet that Zim got on his knees and began eating right then, digging his hands into the man's belly, yanking out the intestines and devouring them hungrily.

He ate in peace, disturbed by no one and nothing except for the quiet chirping of birds that had yet to go to sleep for the night, and the gentle hooting of an owl that had only just awoken for its nightly hunt for a meal or two.

The deranged and still-starving alien feasted quickly and quietly, not wanting to attract any more attention to himself than was necessary. He had nearly reached the hospital, and therefore had only just a few short moments before he would hopefully have both his teeth and hands buried deep into Dib's body, as he was now doing with his current catch.

This man he had caught was surely more than enough for the little half-zombified Irken, and he had hit a goldmine with this one. But he knew that his PAK would exhaust what little energy he gained from this all in a matter of hours, so he had to be constantly eating every two hours or so, lest his body give out on him.

He was too far from his base to have himself a proper meal now, and this victim had almost run out of meat, and the body was skinned nearly to the bone.

He was about to take another bite out of the piece of meat that he was holding, when he heard a crackling noise coming from just a few feet away from his location. Pausing mid-bite, he dropped his food and rose to his feet on shaking legs as he put a hand on a nearby tree to steady himself.

He growled lowly and hissed while he began trudging slowly toward the noise he had heard, alert and on his guard now. He could not see vey well in this darkness, so he relied on his antennae and his hearing and sense of smell to locate the source of the interruption.

The sound came to him again, louder this time, and closer. He deployed a single PAK leg as a precaution while he hunted, trying his best to see through the inky blackness as well as he could with his damaged eyes.

Just as he reached the very edge of his temporary hiding spot, there was a rustling noise in one of the bushes immediately next to him. He quickly thrust his PAK leg into the shrubs, and heard a squeak, feeling something heavy and struggling.

He pulled it close to inspect what he had caught. It was a raccoon, and Zim had stabbed it straight through its chest and out the back of its body.

He grabbed its head and twisted, hearing the loud cracking sound as the raccoon's neck broke. The animal went limp and motionless then.

Before it had even stopped twitching in its death throes, Zim was tearing into it savagely and causing bodily fluids to spray messily around him while he ate his fill of the creature.

Once he had finished, he continued on his way forward and toward the hospital, this time using the trees as cover so he would not be seen so easily now. He could see his destination on the horizon, just up the hill in front of him. The lights coming from the building made it all the more easier to make out, and he could catch the faintest smell of dozens of people all just waiting to be converted into energy for his own use.

He did not know which floor or room Dib was currently recovering in, but he would soon find out, and when he did, then he would finally have what was rightfully his. For Dib, it would be the end of the line.

And this time, the human would not be able to escape him. Zim would make sure of that.

xxxxxxxxxxxxx

Dib called for a nurse, pressing the button on the side of his bed. He was starving, and he would have liked to have a good, juicy burger with a bucket of grease on it, but the hospital staff only allowed him liquids and small morsels of jello until his body was strong enough to handle real food, and keep said food down without throwing it back up again as he had done once or twice already.

One of his nurses, Dayna, came into the room. "Hey, Dib!" She greeted with a smile on her face. "What can I do for you, buddy?"

Dib sighed and grimaced at the painful hunger pangs in his stomach as he smiled back at her. "Hey, Dayna! I would like some food, if its not too much trouble at this hour? I'm kinda feeling a bit puckish. Actually, I'm starving."

"Sure thing, bud!" Dayna said as she flashed him another award-winning smile, "What can I get for you?"

"I'm feeling like trying to eat some chips today?" Dib said, hoping that he could have some. He missed eating actual, real food, instead of soft foods that didn't even really fill him up very good. "Do you think that would be fine?"

His nurse thought a moment. "Well, you have been doing a good job with keeping your food down today, so I guess we could try that."

Dib grinned. "Awesome! You're the best!"

Dayna laughed and left to get Dib his food.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxx

Zim was almost there. The journey had been taxing and strenuous on his body. It had only been half an hour since he had eaten that man, and his PAK was already screaming for more energy. Sometimes he did not like eating this often, but if his PAK demanded it, then who was he to refuse? It was the only thing that kept him alive and breathing, though he had recently discovered that he did not actually need to breathe much anymore.

The Irken had no clue if that was a good or bad thing that he was no longer required to continue breathing, but he continued to voluntarily draw breath only because he feared what would happen if he didn't.

His eyesight was also continuing to fail him, sometimes when he needed it most, like when he was in the forest earlier with the raccoon. He preferred the darkness, but even in daylight he occasionally failed to see things that were only a few feet away from, and even directly in front of him at times.

Maybe Dib was right, maybe he WAS going blind, and much quicker than he had anticipated. That would be very bad for the alien if that turned out to be the truth.

The thought that his enemy might actually be right made Zim stop in his tracks, staring blankly into space as his mind sorted through what Dib had told him. That he was dying, and that if he kept deteriorating at this current rate and speed, he wouldn't have much longer until his body gave out on him, even if he DID have all the food supplies that he needed.

If what Dib had said was in fact true, then there would be nothing that Zim could do to save himself from his fate.

He screamed out in frustration and rage, an animalistic screech erupting from his vocal cords. He stumbled around in a haze of rage and desperation, pulling at his now healed antennae and snarling with a ferocity that surprised even him, subconsciously.

Filled with a new sense of determination and fueled further by his rage, Zim resumed his track to the Hospital, resolving to now slaughter everyone and everything he came across until he found his target. He would win this fight, and he was prepared to even sacrifice himself, as long as it meant that he would accomplish his goal.

He reached the top of the hill, his bare feet now caked with mud and grime and dirt, but he did not notice or care. His destination was in sight now, only a few feet away. Mere footsteps.

It only took another minute, sixty seconds, for him to reach the entrance. The door opened automatically at his approach, and he went inside, his anger building inside of him with each passing second, and he could not contain himself any longer.

He went up to the first human he laid his gaze upon, the receptionist at the front desk, and deployed his PAK leg and slashed their throat open. Blood sprayed out as the human clutched their bleeding throat, collapsing to the ground and ceasing their movements as they breathed their last breath of life.

Zim continued on, heading down a nearby hallway as the blood pooled in the waiting room, and only a single thought persuaded him forward:

If he was going to die, then he would make damn sure that Dib died with him.

A/N: I think it's safe to say that Zim is pretty pissed off now, lol. I know I promised a bloodbath this chapter, and I did deliver, kind of. It's the start of one, so TECHNICALLY I didn't really lie. I'm sorry it took two months to get this chapter out, writer's block really is a bitch. I tried to include both Zim and Dib's POV in this chappter so that it didn't feel like filler, but this kinda feels like filler to me, honestly. I'm starting on the next chapter now, though, and if all goes as planned it should be done much sooner. I love you all.