Zim woke up in the heart of the church. Dank air filled the room making the wood soft and damp. A cast iron chandelier swung from the ceiling threatening to drown out the moonlight with its electric glow. A thin breeze trickled in from the outside with the light of the lunar eclipse at it's back. Smoke rose from the front of the room escaping through the missing bows of the ceiling. An intense heat came from the pit at the center of the room that was as deep as it was dark. Only the faint crackle of fire wood hinted to what lay at the bottom. The murmur of a hundred humans or so cut through the ambiance.
Zim lay on a moth eaten carpet as if a corpse. Unable to move his arms, he rocked back and forth in an effort to roll over. Someone was walking down the isle, and they had the power to silence every human in the room.
"Ladies and gentlemen!" Membrane called to his audience with audacious glee. "We have been presented with a unique opportunity." He grabbed Zim by the very ropes that held him. There was a clatter as Zim was dragged to the front. "This brave lad has offered himself as a sacrifice to our cause!" He lifted Zim for a moment, and then promptly dropped him on the floor. In that brief moment the red moonlight had reflected off an object near the first row of pews. He squinted from his place on the floor. His knife glimmered, mocking him from underneath the pews. It would have been with in arms reach were he not bound so tight.
Inching forward on his belly, Zim reach for the knife as far as his wrist could stretch. He could feel the cool blade of the knife brush his skin. A firm pressure landed on his hand. "Well, well, well, what do we have here?" Membrane picked up the daggers, examining it before tossing into the pit. He hoisted Zim off the ground by the back of his collar. "You weren't thinking of running away from your duties were you?" The alien spat in Membrane's face.
He was dropped by the scientist unceremoniously to the ground. The alien inched down the isle towards the door, inciting a panic from the humans, who scrambled to their feet to block his escape.
"Somebody get Zim out of this!" The humans stared at him blankly, like sheep, and refused to move out of his way. The psychotic scientist chuckled at Zim squirming on the dirty floor.
"You didn't think anyone would help you did you?" Zim was picked up again, this time forced to face away from the man. "You're just a simple pawn in a game far beyond your understanding." Zim kicked and writhed, but couldn't free himself from his captor.
"Shows what you know, Dib will come at any moment to save Zim!" He glared at the scientist as he twirled fruitlessly in mid air.
"Oh really." Membrane turned him to face the human he had been searching for the whole time. Dib was mounted vertically on a gurney that had been nailed to the wall. Four point restraints kept him chained to the bedposts. Along the walls and across his figure, red paint mixed with blood dripped in a red lotus pattern. His eyes were open, but he was too sedated to even speak. "I'm not sure you'd want him to save you, after all this is all his fault."
"No, you're lying!" Zim arched his back, trying to bite his hand.
"I think I would know my own son. Anyone who doesn't believe his ramblings are treated no better than livestock. Even I have suffered." Membrane pulled off his gloves to show long torn scars stretching all over his hands and disappearing into his sleeves, leaving the rest of his body to the imagination. "Everyone who exists here is a figment of his imagination, everyone except you."
"Then let me leave!" Zim barked. To hell with the humans here. If this wasn't real, than he hadn't been looking for the real Dib this whole time. Even if he was, no human was worth so much trouble.
"I can't do that little one." The scientist said with a hint of remorse. "I've lost what little power I had over this place. As long as you exist he will keep all of these hate filled visions of humanity inside. I've already cut you out of his memories, all that's left is to remove your influence." Membrane carried Zim over to the pit. "You've seen what he's done to us. I can't let him hurt anyone else. This is the only way."
Membrane was strangely calm as he tossed Zim was into the pit. As he plummeted, he could see the roof above collapse under the weight of the ash. The wind rushed past, his body felt heavy yet light at the same time. Smoke clogged his lungs as he continued to fall. Fire licked at his boots, climbing up the small invader's. He cried in anguish as white hot pain pierced every inch of flesh. His skin cracked, splitting at the joints as it sizzled. Laughter drifted in from above. He slammed into the embers and stone, his PAK shattering on impact.
Zim's eyes snapped open. He was still in intense pain, his stomach burned as well as him arms. He stung all over. A woman bustled around him, checking machines that were hooked up to him. He was in a clean white room in shadowed by dim florescent lights. On a metal tray, he could see his PAK had been detached and restrained. Standing next to it was a blond woman typing something into a rolling computer.
"Give me back my PAK" He mumbled. The nurse brightened at the sound of his voice.
"Oh thank the lord you're alright. You've been though quite an ordeal." The nurse rushed over to inspect him, he arms covered in small claw-like scratches. "We've been so busy with all these kids coming in, I was worried we'd have to send you up to the ICU with the others."
"Don't say that." Zim groaned, flashes of the hallucinations he endured threatened to take over once more. "My PAK ditzy human." He was strapped to the bed, probably for lashing out in his sleep.
"No tamogachi right now little man, you need your rest." The nurse giggled. "Your little medical alert thing fell off during the crash, and I wasn't sure how to turn it off. It kept screaming at us when we went to clean your wounds, but when the water touched your skin it caused an allergic reaction. We were starting to think you went into an anaphylactic coma."
"How long have I been out?"
"Three days." Zim sank into the bed. He didn't have enough energy to yell at her right now. Signing he heard the door open. "Oh it looks like you have a visitor. I'll leave you two alone." Zim looked up, there standing the doorway was Dib with a bouquet of flowers in a glass vase.
"Dib! You're not dead!" The alien almost smiled, but something about the human's demeanor was off.
"Yeah, I know, everyone's super disappointed about it." Dib rolled his eyes, he hovered in the doorway for a long while. "Is that all you're going to say?"
"Zim has acknowledged your existence puny stink-beast," the alien scoffed, "I don't know what else you were expecting."
"Me neither." Dib looked down at the flowers in hand with wide, vacant eyes. "I should have just let you die in the crash with the others. Why'd I think you were any different from other humans?"
"What nonsense are you blabbering on about?" Zim shook his head. "The other worm babies are in the ICU, the health drone said so." Dib smiled softly.
"That's where they send kids who are almost dead." He chuckled with a shake of his head. "It's amazing how easy it is for life support machines to break. A few plug guards and a pair of scissors is enough to kill half a class with these idiots in charge. And dad wonders why I hate hospitals." Zim shifted uncomfortably in his bed. "I even told them you were allergic to water and they still tried to bolus you. I came here to warn you, but..."
"Zim is your beloved nemesis." The alien spouted nervously. "You wouldn't dare eliminate me after everything we've been through. Now return my PAK Dib!" The human paid no attention to the alien technology lying within grasp.
"You always were are smart kid Zim, we could have been friends." Dib rolled the vase between his hands. "It's a shame you're just a rotten as the rest." He approached the bed with a blank expression and dumped the contents of the vase onto the invader. The water immediately burned a hole into the alien's stomach. "I'm so sorry." Dib shouted, though his face remained emotionally detached. Zim writhed as he watched Dib pulled out the call light from the wall. He calmly walked to the end of the room and pulled the fire alarm, causing a downpour from the sprinkler system. "I'll go get your nurse."
"My PAK!" Zim wailed. "I need my PAK!" Dib walked out of the room drenched, leaving the alien screaming and burning in the in water. The blond nurse, came running forward with evident concern.
"The crush has traumatized him; he's been spewing nonsense since I came." Dib shook off some of the water. "Even through the flowers at me. You should probably do something about that laptop thing of his. Security's looking for a bomb that got brought into the hospital."
"Oh my goodness, the poor thing!" The nurse practically shouted to be heard over Zim's screams.
"See? I think he could benefit from some mental help." The doctor nodded and went to call the doctor for a new set of orders. Dib waved at the alien through a window in the door.
"Bye crazy kid." He said and walked out of hospital with the trigger in hand.
AN: You got the worst ending ever! Yep, Dib will destroy the world and death will surround you. You'd probably have made mistakes, ran into monster and get killed.
Each ending is a little different and reveals a little more about the world that Zim was wandering through the first nine chapters so feel free to read the other endings. Like you weren't going to anyway. ^^
Below are the inspiration for the story and the tracks that go with each chapter.
Inspiration: 1408, Invader Zim: Halloween Spectacular of Spooky Doom, Evanescence: The Open Door, Silent Hill 1 and 3, The Suffering, and Resident Evil.