THE SPAWN

By Unknowner

Chapter Five

(Yet Another Author's Note: I don't own any characters inside this fanfic except Zed and Gidj, nor do I have any ownership over the Linkin Park song "Crawling", 7-11 stores, Fun-Dip, Skittles, Mike&Ike Zours, or Finland. I WILL own Finland someday, though! THIS I SWEAR! Also, a HUUUUGE thank-you to all that reviewed, and to KardLark, who's helping me with the romantic aspect of the story. Yer all great! Coming soon, I'll have a glossary of Irken Slang and Language posted. The first Irken word I created is in this chapter... guess what it means?)

Zim's eyes slowly opened. The first thing he noticed was that he felt like he had been through a cuisinart. The second thing he noticed was that he LOOKED like he had been through a cuisinart. His skin was stretched thin, peeling, and generally coming off in a few places, revealing muscle and tendon beneath. Zim staggered to his feet, noticing that his pants were now more like shorts, and his shirt was missing. He shuddered.

"This... this isn't... natural."

"No kidding." Gaz had just walked in, carrying a bowl with some sort of thick, sweet-smelling fluid in it. "I brought you some soup... you might want to get back in bed."

"Yes." Zim slowly hunched over to the couch that served as his sick bed, gazing up at the pale angel before him.Her eyes were half-closed in that way that looked like she was squinting, and her hair was a wreck. His eyes traveled south to the floor, picking up a gray and black striped shirt that was rumpled from sleeping in it, black jeans and boots... a bit rough around the edges... and crunchy in the middle... but still, an angel to him. "How long have I been asleep?"

"Two days." Gaz straightened her shirt and set the bowl down beside him. "That makes six in all."

"Six? I only remember one..."

"You've been hysterical when you were awake. Delirious." She slowly picked up a spoonful of hot liquid and blew on it. "Come on, you have to eat."

"Er- I don't eat most human foods..."

"I asked the computer. It said you like Fun-Dip, so a made you a kind of dip-broth." She lowered the spoon to Zim's mouth, and he took a cautious sip.

"Mmm! Cherry!"

"I'm glad you like it." Gaz stood up, and was opening her mouth to speak when she was interrupted by a loud burst of static and a booming voice from behind her.

"PLEASE STAND FOR TRANSMISSION BY THE ALMIGHTY TAAAAAAALESTS!" The television was broadcasting the insignia of the Irken Empire, and had apparently grown a few cameras out of its sides.

"Gaz! You have to go!" Zim hurriedly sat up.

"What? I-"

"Greetings, Zim! You almost dead yet?" Red beamed at him through the glass.

"Wh-" Before Zim could speak, Purple interrupted.

"In case you can't tell, this is your `pink slip'. Or, should I say... the rogue DNA in your system is. There's a reason Red gave you that sandwich, Zim. At the Great Assigning. It was a DNA-destructo-wich, our latest tool for planetary conquest! Oh, you have a chance of surviving... about one in a billion. But even if you do, you're... how did you put it, Red?"

"Exiled until further notice. Which will not come. EVER. So don't bother waithing for it, loser-y looooser boy!"

"Yes, thank you. Well, sorry I didn't get to see your corpse, Zim... Oh, and in case you survive, you'll be obliterated by the Slaughter-Drone we're sending to harvest the proteins and bacteria from this planet. See you in heck!" The monitor bleeped out, then exploded, leaving a very stunned Irken and a very pissed-off human.

"Those... little..." With that Gaz roared a string of profanities damning the Tallest and all their nonexistent kin to an eternity wallowing in feces beneath the sewers of the underworld. After about twelve minutes, her voice faded into sobbing.

"Gaz... it's okay..."

"But they totally duped you! For all you know, you could be the laughingstock of the entire freakin' Irken empire!"

"... Gaz... I don't really care anymore."

"But-"

"I mean it. I figured out that they didn't expect me to conquer this filthball... but it just made me more determined."

"Why? What possible reason could you have?"

"I didn't keep this up for them, Gaz. I did it to convince myself that I was still worth something... at first... but... you humans have been so great to me these past few years..." That was the truth. In High Skool, Zim had actually developed friends that liked him for who he was, not for his ranking or caste. True friends.

Like Gaz.

And he wasn't about to let those friends die.

Not ever.

Zim's eyes narrowed slightly, and he stood up. "No matter what happens now, Gaz, I will not let the Tallest win." He jerked his head back, yelling to the heavens. "YOU HEAR ME, YOU T'LORGH? YOU WILL NEVER TAKE THIS PLANET! NEVEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAGHllllrggggh...." Again, Zim collapsed, shaking uncontrollably. "It's... the big one..." The last spurt, the dreaded growth that was so often fatal, and always hideous. The worst kind of pain known to his, or any, race. The growth that the Tallest had harnessed in their newest genetic nightmare.

"What can I do?"

"Hold... on... to me... Gaz... and whatever you do..." Gaz's eyes flickered dark for a moment, lined with fatigue and frustration.

"What, Zim, WHAT?" She shook him, trying to get a response.

"Don't... let... go..."

"...Zim..."



She didn't.

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