I want to wish my Dad a Happy Father's Day! (Sorry, that was so random, LOL)
Now, on to Chapter 11.
They moved quietly through the halls. Their feet making a soft, silent tap as they stepped. Everything was silent and the boys had a plan. Dib was in front and Zim was behind, following towards the stairs that they walked up. Both held ray guns that were ready to fire with a pull of a trigger. There was a creak and the boys froze for a moment before realizing it was only the stairs which they walked up. Zim had finally agreed to check out the laundry room after a full twenty-four hours had passed. Once there, they stopped at the door of the laundry room. Blood was dried on the floor and the doorknob had a bloody handprint on it. Smeared, yet it was clear, the blood was in the shape of a hand grasping the knob. Dib looked to Zim then back to the handle.
THUD!
Dib jumped back, knocking into Zim who caught him. Something fell. Something heavy had fallen from somewhere in the house. What they had heard was an obvious echo. Dib swallowed and without hesitation he grasped the knob and turned it. The door seemed to open up itself revealing nothing but clean walls and floor. No blood anywhere. Dib looked back to the floor outside of the room and saw that all the blood was gone. It was almost like there hadn't even been any there.
THUD!
Both jumped. The room was cold and the noise was coming from inside the room. Both notice the dryer was on. Zim raised his silver gun up and pointed it straight at the dryer. Dib shivered and hit the stop button. The dyer shut down giving a final THUD. Dib threw the door opened and screamed, covering his face with his hands, dropping his ray gun to the floor. The gun activated and shot a laser at Zim who quickly jumped back and out of the way. Zim didn't scream, but he felt sick. Inside the beige dryer was a severed head. Blood filled the inside, wet blood. The head had purple hair. Zim didn't need to see more to realize whose head it belonged to. It was Gaz. Her severed head rolled a bit, causing her face to turn to them. Zim gasped and stepped back. Dib moaned before expelling his stomach all over the floor. Her eyes had been removed, only black sockets were seen; and her flesh was rough and burned. Her lips have been pulled right off, revealing nothing but white teeth and part of the purple gums.
"What kind of sick person would do this?" Dib asked after he finished puking.
This isn't a person. Its a thing…an it. An unknown. It did this." Zim spat.
Dib looked around the room, keeping his eyes away from the sight of his sister's decapitated head. He saw a rectangle on the ceiling. An attic.
"Zim! Look, an attic. Let's go up there and see if there is something there."
Zim nodded and, before Dib could say anything, Zim grabbed his arms and his spider legs shot out. The metal limbs climbed the walls and pushed the rectangle part of the ceiling, pushing it away. Dust spilled out of the ceiling, causing them to cough and a few gnats and flies flew out. Zim pushed Dib into the attic before climbing in himself. His spider legs disappeared into his pack with a few mechanical noises. Dib gaped and Zim stared around with surprised eyes. The attic was enormous about the entire length of the house itself. The attic had a low ceiling, so they would have to crawl, but still, they could not get over the size of the attic.
"Okay…ready?" Dib asked.
"Yes, lets go, human." Zim answered.
Dib lead the way, across the dusty wooden floors in the attic. Cobwebs hung at every corner and beetles crawled everywhere. Dib spat when a cobweb caught onto his face and a spider crawled into his mouth. He coughed and spat onto the floor. The spider was spit from his mouth onto the floor where it crawled away. Zim growled and pushed Dib forward, as he was tired of waiting for Dib to move. Dib gave Zim a kick form behind and smiled a bit. He stopped. The attic wasn't as big as they had thought. In fact, it was only covered with mirrors on all the sides, that's what made the attic look enormous.
"They're just mirrors." Dib stated.
"Now what, Dib-worm, where do we go?"
"Uh…I don't know. Hold on!" Dib said.
Dib saw a crack in a mirror in front of him and pulled it. The piece of mirror felt to the floor, but didn't shatter. The mirror had covered a hole, leading to something else. Dib smiled and crawled through with Zim behind him. His hand hit something sharp and he gasped as pain raced through his hand and up his entire arm.
"Dib? What's wrong?"
"I don't know. My arm really hurts." Dib whined.
Then he saw blood run down from his hand. Droplets of red landing onto the floor, creating a small puddle. Dib saw that he had hit a nail; it had gone right into his hand. Worst of all was that the nail was covered with an orange hue. It was a rusty nail. He bit his lip, but continued on after warning Zim of the nail.
Ring around the rosy…Dib stopped and Zim crashed into him.
"What? Why did you stop Dib-wo," Dib hushed him.
"Do you hear that? It sounds like little kids singing, but they sound so far away."
Pocket full of posy…
Zim looked around everywhere. The singing didn't seem like it should be happening. Something was with them. It was in there with them. Zim could just feel it watching them, waiting for them to do something before attacking. Zim shoved Dib forward after his heart began racing at the speed of light from fear. Dib had felt his fear growing. He too, could feel they were being watched. Dib crawled faster, his bloody hand screaming in pain with each movement. Then he stopped, Zim crashed into him again. Something was right in front of him. A dark shadow. It seemed as though the shadow was looking at them, but it had no eyes or face. Then it moved forward and disappeared as if it were never even there. Dib gaped, and then heard something. There was a creak in the wooden boards beneath them. Dib looked down, but saw nothing.
Ashes, Ashes we all fall down…
The children's voices continued to sing, an innocent song with innocent voices, but it tormented both of them. The voices and song together with no little kids with them was enough to cause Dib to move forward to try and escape the song. There was another creak and Dib looked down. Nothing was wrong. It's all in my head. Dib thought and he moved faster and faster.
We all fall down...
There was a jerk in the wooden boards beneath them. Dib panicked fearing the entire attic floor would collapse beneath their weight. Dib felt Zim pushing him forward from behind.
"Hurry up Dib. Something's happening." Zim said in a voice full of fear and panic.
Dib moved forward, his heart suddenly shot up into his throat. Nothing had even happened yet as he moved forward his fear grew. Sweat began to bead on his forehead and his muscles tightened as if awaiting an impact. His heart beat wildly and as fast as a cheetah. His eyes darted everywhere and his breathing began erratic and more frequent. The air around them chilled. The beetles that crawled around on the floors suddenly seemed to panic and fled away into their holes and cracks of the floors and walls.
We all fall DOWN!Suddenly Dib could feel the wood tremble beneath him, but it didn't break. He looked behind and his eyes widened in horror. The wood beneath Zim had collapsed. The alien's eyes widened and he screamed as he began falling fast into the depths of the darkness.
"ZIM!" Dib cried out.
Dib turned around and even though Zim was out of reach, he held his arms out for him. Then Zim disappeared into the darkness below. Dib was alone. Alone in the attic with it. It was watching, and waiting. Then the eerie silence was broken when a loud scream of pain and fear erupted throughout the house. It was Zim and Dib could do nothing to help. The scream died down and Dib shuddered at many grotesque thoughts and images that had fled into his mind of what was happening to Zim.
"…Zim…Gaz…" Dib whispered.
He hung his head; eyes clenched shut as salty tears began falling. Sliding down his cheeks down to his chin they fell onto the floor, leaving dark wet spots on the wood. How could this of happened? All because of field trip to a haunted house? His sister was now dead and Zim, his enemy/friend, was now dead. Jake and Cindy, he wasn't so upset about, but they were dead as well. No one deserved to die. Now he was next. He was the last one and he was the final stage of the game that this sick thing had set up. Dib wiped his eyes from the warm salty tears and glared around. He wouldn't give up. He would find a way to live. He would listen to what Zim had said yesterday, "Live for Gaz." But now, Dib wouldn't live just for Gaz, but for Zim as well. First he had to find a way out of here. A way to escape before the game was done.
"You are not going to win. I am." Dib said to the air.
Somewhere in the attic something moved, heading in the opposite direction of Dib.
No, the game was not over. Not yet.
Is Zim dead? Will Dib be next or will he live? Stay tuned for Chapter 12!
