Thanks for reviewing, kind people. I didn't really expect anything. I was shocked. Thank
you. I just hope that you won't hate me for the story twist in this here chappy. You'll see
what I mean. Usual Warning: Violence.
Subject 0001
When the alarms started going off and red lights were flashing everywhere, Zim
knew he was in deep trouble. He looked up the flights of stairs he'd run down, and saw
Dib coming after him. Zim pushed his tired body to run faster.
A door swung open at his side, and a guard with his stunner set on level 5 rushed
out. He tried to grab Zim, but Zim jumped over the banister and fell half of a story to the
lower flight of stairs. The guard watched Zim force himself up and start running, then
called for more guards.
'Just keep running, running, RUN!' Zim thought in alarm, huffing. There were
only 3 more stories to go. 'You're almost out. You're almost out. Be careful with your
footing! Don't trip!' Something struck him on the back of the head. He fell the floor
heavily, and something jumped on his back, knocking the air out of him.
"Thought were getting away, didn't you, you filthy little Irken?" the guard said,
digging his knee into Zim's back. Zim moaned and grabbed his stunner, turning up the
voltage. He jabbed it at the guard on his back, who shrieked and twitched violently, and
felt the weight on his back lighten. He knocked the unconscious guard off of himself, then
continued running.
He saw that he was close to the first story, so he jumped over the banister and fell
the rest of the way. He landed on his back and had to lay there for a few seconds, but he
managed to get back up and run out the door.
"Free the Irkens!" a girl shouted.
"Biological differences should be ignored!" an older man yelled.
A riot was still going on, even though they had backed away from the building a
great deal. An Irken corpse was laying on the stairs to the entrance. Zim paused for a
second to fight off the wave of nausea that overcame him when his gaze locked onto it.
Hearing the guards catching up to him, Zim regained his composure and dashed from the
building. The rioters saw him and ran to meet him, then saw a group of guards run out the
building chasing after him.
"Stop those guards!" one of the rioters yelled, and the whole mob blocked the
guards' pursuit of him. Zim turned as he ran and laughed in triumph, seeing that he was
almost free. He felt the wind in his face and the warmth of the sun on him. He saw grass
and trees for the very first time in a few years. He wished he could stop to take it all in,
but knew he had to keep running.
A bullet whizzed by Zim, catching him in the arm. Zim stopped and grabbed at his
shoulder, feeling blood starting to trickle down his bicep. Another shot was fired, this
time nearly hitting Zim straight in the chest, but he managed to dive out of the way and
avoid it. He had heard that if there ever was an escape, the lab would put snipers on the
roof. He had never believed it. He thought that they were just stories made up to scare
rebellious Irkens, but now he saw that it was true.
Zim broke into a run, and a bullet chipped the concrete where he'd just been
standing. He was getting tired and his legs were going to give out soon, but he ignored his
exhaustion and pushed himself to the limit. The sniper was getting smarter. He was
shooting in front of Zim now, hoping that he would run into the bullet. Zim grew panicky,
zigzagging his movements and running faster. A bullet just missed his leg.
Soon Zim approached a street where many cars were passing through. There were
4 lanes to cross. Zim slowed his pace, trying to think of a way to cross. He had to think
fast, or he'd be shot. He got to the edge of the road, thinking he would just try and run
straight across, but he hesitated. It was enough for the sniper to get a good shot.
-------------
"...execute him?"
"Naw...to be...other Irkens..."
"...how?"
Zim whined in pain as he began to come to. He couldn't hear properly, and the
voices he was hearing sounded slurred. He tried to move, but realized he couldn't.
Nothing was restraining him, he was just paralyzed.
"Do you...subject awake?"
"Can't tell."
Zim was relieved that the humans didn't know if he was awake or not, but was a
little frightened too. What if they thought he was dead? Zim tried to talk, but he couldn't
do that either. He couldn't even open his eyes. He was very cold.
'What have I gotten myself into?' Zim thought weakly, regretting his actions. A
sharp stab of pain shot up through his spine. He shrieked in pain, but only he could hear
it. The pain didn't subside, and Zim had to use all of his energy to push it down.
"Hook...meds?"
"...later."
The conversation between the voices went into talk about football and how bad a
team was doing, and Zim was left aching wherever he was lying. He needed some type of
drug to get rid of the pain but he couldn't ask for it. He tried to shout at the guards, but
his body was frozen stiff, and not a word came out.
'Please...someone help..,' Zim thought desperately, knowing no one would come.
The pain got worse, and all he could do was cry out in his mind and take it.
Something slammed open, and a cold gust of air blew in. Zim's body shivered,
causing him a great deal of pain. Whatever had opened was closed quickly, and the cold
air went away. Zim still shivered. He felt somebody's presence over him and wished he
could see who it was.
"Is he awake?" The voices were clearer now, and Zim could feel his mind getting
less foggy.
"No, sir."
"Is he hooked up to anything? Like numbing drugs?"
"No, sir."
"Good."
Zim suddenly recognized the voice and a bubble of dread formed in his chest. It
was Dib, and he probably was here to punish him for trying to escape. Zim moaned in his
mind, remembering how one Irken was punished for attacking a guard. He'd been
whipped brutally, then thrown into salt water and held under for around 5 minutes
straight. He was then publicly executed in front of all the other Irkens.
'I nearly killed a guard and almost escaped..,' Zim thought, fear creeping up in
him. He wondered what his punishment would be like.
"How long has it been?" Dib asked the other men.
"Excuse me?" the guard said, for he hadn't been paying attention. Dib had been
staring at Zim the entire time while the guards were talking.
"How long has it been since we brought him here?"
"Uhm...I would guess a few hours, sir."
"He should be awake by now. I bet he is already," Dib said, getting close to Zim's
face. Zim felt his hot breath blow across his face. "Aren't you?" he whispered. Zim
couldn't respond, of course, but he hissed angrily in his mind.
"Guard, please shock him with your stunner. Level 3 please," Dib said after a
moment of silence. The guard nodded and twisted the knob on the stunner, then pointed it
toward Zim. "Near the bullet wound, please," Dib said with a high-pitched squeak of
glee.
"...A-are you sure, sir?" the guard asked, unsure if Dib was making a wise
decision.
"Do it," Dib replied, showing annoyance. The guard aimed at Zim's chest where
the bloody bullet wound was and jabbed it. Zim screamed, not just in his mind, and sat
up. He curled in a ball and hugged himself, trying to make the pain lessen.
"See? All he needed was a little shock," Dib said joyfully, watching Zim. Zim bit
his lower lip, trying to hide how much pain he was in, but it was no use. He cried out
again, and slumped to his side.
"You two may leave," Dib said to the guards. The guards nodded, saluted him,
then opened the back door of the van and hopped out. A rush of cold air came in as they
left, making Zim shiver once more.
"So..," Dib said slowly. "You decided to just...leave?" He glared at Zim, who was
laying in a heap and whining. "Did you think you'd actually make it? And if you did,
where would you go? How long would you be free until our guards found you?" Dib said,
and he pulled a stunner from his pocket and extended it to its full size. "Honestly, did you
even think your plan through? I highly doubt it." He struck Zim hard with the stunner.
Zim shrieked at the blow and coughed. He didn't know what he should do. He
was in a strange van he'd never seen before and had no idea where he was. It seemed cold
out, and he was wounded. There wasn't anything he could do to protect himself, so he
accepted his punishment the best he could.
Dib clapped his hands together, making Zim flinch. "So you want to run away.
That's what you want, isn't it?" Dib said angrily. Zim tried to look up at him, but another
rush of pain came over him. "Fine." Dib walked over to the van's doors and opened them
wide. The cold air rushed in again, blowing Dib's lab coat around his legs.
"Go." Dib pointed out the door. Zim put his pain aside and stared out the door.
There was a forest outside, and it was dark out. The van had been driving down a muddy
pathway that was barely visible. Zim glanced over at Dib, who was glaring at him, then
back at the forest.
'It's obviously some type of trick,' Zim thought angrily, unsure of Dib's plan. He
hugged at his chest again, gaining a little more control over his pain.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're frightened of the dark," Dib said with mock
sympathy. He slowly marched up to Zim and grabbed him by his identification collar,
nearly choking him. "You're going outside whether you want to or not."
Dib threw Zim to the floor with great force, then kicked him out of the van. Zim
landed on a rocky surface and moaned.
"Guards, strip 0001 of all clothes that are above his waist, and remove anything in
his pockets. Take his shoes away and socks if he is wearing any. Leave his collar on." The
guards obeyed, and the guard uniform Zim was still wearing was ripped off of him. He
was left with a pair of baggy pants and the identification collar around his neck.
Dib smiled down at him, his glasses shining in the moonlight. Zim sat up and
shivered in the cold, barely fighting off the urge to scream in pain and fright. The two
guards hopped into the van, one taking his place in the driver's seat. Dib cleared his
throat.
"We're going to play a little game with you, 0001. It's called 'Hunter'. We have
five miles of forest blocked off here that you're allowed to roam around in. You won't be
the only one here. A handful of people will be attempting to hunt you down. They all
have their own techniques, and they'll all be hunting you at once," Dib said calmly,
picking at his nails. "The hunter that kills you first gets to keep your body after we dissect
it. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
Zim stared up at him with wide eyes. "...You're insane," he whispered softly. Dib
struck him across the head, knocking him down to the ground.
"You know not to talk," Dib said coldly, glaring. "You have all of tonight to try
and hide. Good luck." Dib laughed, then closed the van's doors. The van sped off,
flinging dirt in Zim's face.
"This..is not....good," Zim said to himself. He shivered from cold, blood still
trickling out of his wounded chest. A gust of wind blew across his bare chest, stinging his
wound and making him shriek. He had to shield himself from the wind somehow. Zim
struggled to his knees, but fell down and moaned as dizziness and nausea swept over him.
He wished he had eaten a little more.
After a little while, Zim tried to get on all fours again and succeeded, but barely.
He held himself up like that for a while, then attempted to crawl over to the nearest tree.
At the slightest movement of his arm, the bullet wound started paining him to an
unbearable level. He sighed in defeat and let himself fall to the ground. Another gust of
wind blew by as he blacked out.
-------------
At this point, you either hate where the plot is going or you like it a lot. I
apologize to those who hate it. I, myself, love this type of story. I just hope I'm not the
only one. O.o; Anyways, the next chapter is two pages longer than this one(which means
it is 6 pages long), and I'm planning on posting it next Monday(March 22). It's a whole
lot more violent than the story has been so far. And there is *one* swear word. Other
chapters have a bit more. I don't go crazy though, so don't worry about it too much.
Zim will obviously get beaten up a lot. As if you already didn't know that. ;-)
Also, there are a lot of new, freakish characters that are going to pop up in the
next chappy. They're all a bit stereotypical, so they won't be that hard to remember. I
hope, anyway. O.O
One last thing before I go. The next set of chapters are all going to be set up so
that you'll know what time it is and how many days have passed. Like this:
-------------
8:34 a.m.
-------------
I slept in and missed the bus! Holy crap!
-------------
9:02 a.m.
-------------
I just got to school. Now I have detention for being late. YAY!
-------------
Next day, 4:15 p.m.
-------------
Detention hurts me. The kids here smell like corn chips. The stench burns! BURNS!
Got it? It's simple, right? 'kay, I'm done now.
-Crystal
you. I just hope that you won't hate me for the story twist in this here chappy. You'll see
what I mean. Usual Warning: Violence.
Subject 0001
When the alarms started going off and red lights were flashing everywhere, Zim
knew he was in deep trouble. He looked up the flights of stairs he'd run down, and saw
Dib coming after him. Zim pushed his tired body to run faster.
A door swung open at his side, and a guard with his stunner set on level 5 rushed
out. He tried to grab Zim, but Zim jumped over the banister and fell half of a story to the
lower flight of stairs. The guard watched Zim force himself up and start running, then
called for more guards.
'Just keep running, running, RUN!' Zim thought in alarm, huffing. There were
only 3 more stories to go. 'You're almost out. You're almost out. Be careful with your
footing! Don't trip!' Something struck him on the back of the head. He fell the floor
heavily, and something jumped on his back, knocking the air out of him.
"Thought were getting away, didn't you, you filthy little Irken?" the guard said,
digging his knee into Zim's back. Zim moaned and grabbed his stunner, turning up the
voltage. He jabbed it at the guard on his back, who shrieked and twitched violently, and
felt the weight on his back lighten. He knocked the unconscious guard off of himself, then
continued running.
He saw that he was close to the first story, so he jumped over the banister and fell
the rest of the way. He landed on his back and had to lay there for a few seconds, but he
managed to get back up and run out the door.
"Free the Irkens!" a girl shouted.
"Biological differences should be ignored!" an older man yelled.
A riot was still going on, even though they had backed away from the building a
great deal. An Irken corpse was laying on the stairs to the entrance. Zim paused for a
second to fight off the wave of nausea that overcame him when his gaze locked onto it.
Hearing the guards catching up to him, Zim regained his composure and dashed from the
building. The rioters saw him and ran to meet him, then saw a group of guards run out the
building chasing after him.
"Stop those guards!" one of the rioters yelled, and the whole mob blocked the
guards' pursuit of him. Zim turned as he ran and laughed in triumph, seeing that he was
almost free. He felt the wind in his face and the warmth of the sun on him. He saw grass
and trees for the very first time in a few years. He wished he could stop to take it all in,
but knew he had to keep running.
A bullet whizzed by Zim, catching him in the arm. Zim stopped and grabbed at his
shoulder, feeling blood starting to trickle down his bicep. Another shot was fired, this
time nearly hitting Zim straight in the chest, but he managed to dive out of the way and
avoid it. He had heard that if there ever was an escape, the lab would put snipers on the
roof. He had never believed it. He thought that they were just stories made up to scare
rebellious Irkens, but now he saw that it was true.
Zim broke into a run, and a bullet chipped the concrete where he'd just been
standing. He was getting tired and his legs were going to give out soon, but he ignored his
exhaustion and pushed himself to the limit. The sniper was getting smarter. He was
shooting in front of Zim now, hoping that he would run into the bullet. Zim grew panicky,
zigzagging his movements and running faster. A bullet just missed his leg.
Soon Zim approached a street where many cars were passing through. There were
4 lanes to cross. Zim slowed his pace, trying to think of a way to cross. He had to think
fast, or he'd be shot. He got to the edge of the road, thinking he would just try and run
straight across, but he hesitated. It was enough for the sniper to get a good shot.
-------------
"...execute him?"
"Naw...to be...other Irkens..."
"...how?"
Zim whined in pain as he began to come to. He couldn't hear properly, and the
voices he was hearing sounded slurred. He tried to move, but realized he couldn't.
Nothing was restraining him, he was just paralyzed.
"Do you...subject awake?"
"Can't tell."
Zim was relieved that the humans didn't know if he was awake or not, but was a
little frightened too. What if they thought he was dead? Zim tried to talk, but he couldn't
do that either. He couldn't even open his eyes. He was very cold.
'What have I gotten myself into?' Zim thought weakly, regretting his actions. A
sharp stab of pain shot up through his spine. He shrieked in pain, but only he could hear
it. The pain didn't subside, and Zim had to use all of his energy to push it down.
"Hook...meds?"
"...later."
The conversation between the voices went into talk about football and how bad a
team was doing, and Zim was left aching wherever he was lying. He needed some type of
drug to get rid of the pain but he couldn't ask for it. He tried to shout at the guards, but
his body was frozen stiff, and not a word came out.
'Please...someone help..,' Zim thought desperately, knowing no one would come.
The pain got worse, and all he could do was cry out in his mind and take it.
Something slammed open, and a cold gust of air blew in. Zim's body shivered,
causing him a great deal of pain. Whatever had opened was closed quickly, and the cold
air went away. Zim still shivered. He felt somebody's presence over him and wished he
could see who it was.
"Is he awake?" The voices were clearer now, and Zim could feel his mind getting
less foggy.
"No, sir."
"Is he hooked up to anything? Like numbing drugs?"
"No, sir."
"Good."
Zim suddenly recognized the voice and a bubble of dread formed in his chest. It
was Dib, and he probably was here to punish him for trying to escape. Zim moaned in his
mind, remembering how one Irken was punished for attacking a guard. He'd been
whipped brutally, then thrown into salt water and held under for around 5 minutes
straight. He was then publicly executed in front of all the other Irkens.
'I nearly killed a guard and almost escaped..,' Zim thought, fear creeping up in
him. He wondered what his punishment would be like.
"How long has it been?" Dib asked the other men.
"Excuse me?" the guard said, for he hadn't been paying attention. Dib had been
staring at Zim the entire time while the guards were talking.
"How long has it been since we brought him here?"
"Uhm...I would guess a few hours, sir."
"He should be awake by now. I bet he is already," Dib said, getting close to Zim's
face. Zim felt his hot breath blow across his face. "Aren't you?" he whispered. Zim
couldn't respond, of course, but he hissed angrily in his mind.
"Guard, please shock him with your stunner. Level 3 please," Dib said after a
moment of silence. The guard nodded and twisted the knob on the stunner, then pointed it
toward Zim. "Near the bullet wound, please," Dib said with a high-pitched squeak of
glee.
"...A-are you sure, sir?" the guard asked, unsure if Dib was making a wise
decision.
"Do it," Dib replied, showing annoyance. The guard aimed at Zim's chest where
the bloody bullet wound was and jabbed it. Zim screamed, not just in his mind, and sat
up. He curled in a ball and hugged himself, trying to make the pain lessen.
"See? All he needed was a little shock," Dib said joyfully, watching Zim. Zim bit
his lower lip, trying to hide how much pain he was in, but it was no use. He cried out
again, and slumped to his side.
"You two may leave," Dib said to the guards. The guards nodded, saluted him,
then opened the back door of the van and hopped out. A rush of cold air came in as they
left, making Zim shiver once more.
"So..," Dib said slowly. "You decided to just...leave?" He glared at Zim, who was
laying in a heap and whining. "Did you think you'd actually make it? And if you did,
where would you go? How long would you be free until our guards found you?" Dib said,
and he pulled a stunner from his pocket and extended it to its full size. "Honestly, did you
even think your plan through? I highly doubt it." He struck Zim hard with the stunner.
Zim shrieked at the blow and coughed. He didn't know what he should do. He
was in a strange van he'd never seen before and had no idea where he was. It seemed cold
out, and he was wounded. There wasn't anything he could do to protect himself, so he
accepted his punishment the best he could.
Dib clapped his hands together, making Zim flinch. "So you want to run away.
That's what you want, isn't it?" Dib said angrily. Zim tried to look up at him, but another
rush of pain came over him. "Fine." Dib walked over to the van's doors and opened them
wide. The cold air rushed in again, blowing Dib's lab coat around his legs.
"Go." Dib pointed out the door. Zim put his pain aside and stared out the door.
There was a forest outside, and it was dark out. The van had been driving down a muddy
pathway that was barely visible. Zim glanced over at Dib, who was glaring at him, then
back at the forest.
'It's obviously some type of trick,' Zim thought angrily, unsure of Dib's plan. He
hugged at his chest again, gaining a little more control over his pain.
"What's wrong? Don't tell me you're frightened of the dark," Dib said with mock
sympathy. He slowly marched up to Zim and grabbed him by his identification collar,
nearly choking him. "You're going outside whether you want to or not."
Dib threw Zim to the floor with great force, then kicked him out of the van. Zim
landed on a rocky surface and moaned.
"Guards, strip 0001 of all clothes that are above his waist, and remove anything in
his pockets. Take his shoes away and socks if he is wearing any. Leave his collar on." The
guards obeyed, and the guard uniform Zim was still wearing was ripped off of him. He
was left with a pair of baggy pants and the identification collar around his neck.
Dib smiled down at him, his glasses shining in the moonlight. Zim sat up and
shivered in the cold, barely fighting off the urge to scream in pain and fright. The two
guards hopped into the van, one taking his place in the driver's seat. Dib cleared his
throat.
"We're going to play a little game with you, 0001. It's called 'Hunter'. We have
five miles of forest blocked off here that you're allowed to roam around in. You won't be
the only one here. A handful of people will be attempting to hunt you down. They all
have their own techniques, and they'll all be hunting you at once," Dib said calmly,
picking at his nails. "The hunter that kills you first gets to keep your body after we dissect
it. Sounds fun, doesn't it?"
Zim stared up at him with wide eyes. "...You're insane," he whispered softly. Dib
struck him across the head, knocking him down to the ground.
"You know not to talk," Dib said coldly, glaring. "You have all of tonight to try
and hide. Good luck." Dib laughed, then closed the van's doors. The van sped off,
flinging dirt in Zim's face.
"This..is not....good," Zim said to himself. He shivered from cold, blood still
trickling out of his wounded chest. A gust of wind blew across his bare chest, stinging his
wound and making him shriek. He had to shield himself from the wind somehow. Zim
struggled to his knees, but fell down and moaned as dizziness and nausea swept over him.
He wished he had eaten a little more.
After a little while, Zim tried to get on all fours again and succeeded, but barely.
He held himself up like that for a while, then attempted to crawl over to the nearest tree.
At the slightest movement of his arm, the bullet wound started paining him to an
unbearable level. He sighed in defeat and let himself fall to the ground. Another gust of
wind blew by as he blacked out.
-------------
At this point, you either hate where the plot is going or you like it a lot. I
apologize to those who hate it. I, myself, love this type of story. I just hope I'm not the
only one. O.o; Anyways, the next chapter is two pages longer than this one(which means
it is 6 pages long), and I'm planning on posting it next Monday(March 22). It's a whole
lot more violent than the story has been so far. And there is *one* swear word. Other
chapters have a bit more. I don't go crazy though, so don't worry about it too much.
Zim will obviously get beaten up a lot. As if you already didn't know that. ;-)
Also, there are a lot of new, freakish characters that are going to pop up in the
next chappy. They're all a bit stereotypical, so they won't be that hard to remember. I
hope, anyway. O.O
One last thing before I go. The next set of chapters are all going to be set up so
that you'll know what time it is and how many days have passed. Like this:
-------------
8:34 a.m.
-------------
I slept in and missed the bus! Holy crap!
-------------
9:02 a.m.
-------------
I just got to school. Now I have detention for being late. YAY!
-------------
Next day, 4:15 p.m.
-------------
Detention hurts me. The kids here smell like corn chips. The stench burns! BURNS!
Got it? It's simple, right? 'kay, I'm done now.
-Crystal