The Spawn

By Unknowner

Chapter Two

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

Zed sat shock upright in bed, squinting. "Stupid freakin...." He slammed down on the alarm clock's snooze button and lay back down. For about ten seconds, all was bliss and silence.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

Not even bothering to get up, he punched the top of the clock. There was some audible rattling from within the ancient clock's innards, then silence.

BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT!

"EYAAAAAARGH!" Zed promptly grabbed the clock and flung it across the room, ripping the plug out of the wall. The flimsy 1980's by-product wasn't meant for such abuse, and exploded into a pile of smoldering rubble. Squinting horribly, Zed wandered into his closet, pulling on the same thing he always wore- blue jeans and a sweatshirt with a "S?" logo on the front and the words "Question Sanity" on the back. He wandered down to the fridge (as usual) and plucked a note off the front. It was from his mom.

"Zed,

Yakamoto's in town. He wants to go over the specs for Zombie Hog Slayer Anthology. I'll be back around 3:00. Your dad should call before noon, be sure you get it.

-Mom."

Zed's eyes slowly opened. His mom's job as lead game designer for Gorsoft was time consuming, but it gave him access to top-secret stuff. He opened the fridge and pulled out a few slices of bread, some leftover chicken strips, and glopped Ranch dressing over the whole sandwich. The other good part was that when she was gone, he could eat things that would make her gag to see.

RINNNG!

"H'lo?"

"Hey Zed!"

"Dad! On your way home?"

"Yeah, I'll be there in a minute or so."

"...really?"

"Yeah. Hey, turn on CNN. The president's about to make an important announcement."

Zed blinked and flicked on the kitchen TV. Sure enough, President Gulianni was on, about to make a speech.

"My fellow Americans, I come before you with an announcement that many have waited years for. Ladies and gentlemen, we are NOT alone in the universe."

Zed's jaw scraped the ground- almost literally. "Dad... you knew about this?"

"You could say that."

"But... how?"

"Look outside."

Zed set down the phone and walked out onto the porch. It was pretty foggy, and hard to see... at first. Then, he saw it. Several brilliant turquoise beams of light shot out of the gray, coming from...

A spaceship.

A huge, longish transport, a peculiar blue in color, and dropping. Fast.

Zed screamed and dove into the house as the craft slammed into the sand nearby, sending up a cloud of grit. Cautiously, he poked his head out, in time to see a large, round portal open, and a ramp come down. From inside, two figures appeared. One was obviously human, clothed in a long black overcoat and amber sunglasses, pale and thin. The other wasn't like anything he'd seen before, a slim, tallish green being, clad in a strange blue armored outfit, with pure red eyes and antennae. He appeared to be holding... a cell phone?

"You know, Zim, you could've FIXED the gravity field BEFORE we took off."

"Aw, shaddap, Dib."

Dib? Zed slowly stood up and walked out onto the porch.

"Uncle Dib?"

"Hi, Zed. Um... I know this is kind of a shock... but... I'd like you to meet your dad." The alien waved sheepishly- and Zed promptly passed out.