Chapter 6:
A/N: This is the chapter for which I decided to give the 'T' rating! And so far, it's the longest chapter! You have been warned!
When Dib regained consciousness, he instantly wished he hadn't. Everything hurt, but especially his stomach. Despite the pain he forced himself to sit up, and looked at his blurry surroundings.
"Huh? WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED? ZIM!"
He felt around frantically for his glasses. "ZIM, YOU SCUM, WHERE ARE YOU?"
Finally finding his glasses, he put then on and saw he was in his own room. "...Was it a dream?"
He touched his stomach under his shirt and felt the stitches there. "It...wasn't a dream..." and then realization dawned on him. "...I BEAT ZIM!"
He ran out of his room, pain and stitches forgotten, "DAD, GAZ, I BEAT ZIM! OOF!" he'd bumped into someone again. He'd been doing a lot of that lately. Maybe he needed new glasses?
"Huh?"
"About time you got up, Dib," said Gaz, looking up from her gameslave. "You OK, bro?"
Dib nodded, "Uhh, I guess...How long was I out for?"
"Not too long, just a day. The stab wasn't that deep...and Dad wanted to test a new med system on you."
"...Oh," said Dib a little nervously. "Ok...ZIM!" he cried, suddenly remembering "ZIM GOT AWAY, DAMN IT!"
Gaz shook her head, "No, he hasn't."
"NANI?" cried Dib. "...I mean, WHAT?"
"They caught him when he tried to leave Earth," Gaz stated matter-of-factly. "Now, C'mon. Dad told me to get you ready as soon as you were up."
"Ready?" Dib blinked. "...For what?"
"For the live autopsy on Zim."
"WHAT? AUTOPSY?"
Gaz nodded. "Yes. Now get ready or we'll be late."
She turned and left him.
"Where's it at?" Dib asked, as he sped to the bathroom to comb his hair.
"Dad's lab."
(page break)
Membrane's TV studio lab was jam packed, and the moment Dib stepped inside there arose a loud and thunderous cheer, "YAAAAAY!"
Membrane came forward to greet him. "Hello, my son! Are you feeling better now?"
"Eh...yeah." Dib grinned a bit nervously. "Heh-heh...Is Zim..." He almost couldn't say it. The word was stuck in his throat; the idea too unbelievable to be true. He swallowed and tried again, "...dead?"
"HO HO HO!" Membrane laughed. "No, not yet, my son! First we want to study how his body works...Then we'll kill him!"
"Eww...Ok..." Dib looked around. The viewing room for his father's lab was constructed much the same way as the ones used in prisons to watch the executions of people on death row. He pressed his hands against the viewing glass and looked down into the pit of the lab to an empty little table that sat in the middle. "Is that where Zim will be?"
"Yup," his Dad nodded. "Oh!" he pointed towards one of the doors along the pit's wall. "There he is now."
Just then, Zim was dragged in, his pack screwed shut and a scientist latched on to each arm. He screamed defiantly, to no avail, and was strapped down to the table.
Dib winced at the sight, "Uhh...is that duck tape?"
Membrane cocked an eyebrow, "I think so..."
After a moment of quiet contemplation, he turned to his son, "I'm going to watch from down there. You can watch from up here in this special glass room, Ok?"
Without waiting for a reply, Membrane ran off.
"HELP ME!" Zim shrieked, bringing Dib's attention back to the main event. "I PROMISED I WOULD LEAVE! NOW LET ME GO!"
But the audience had no mercy, "NOOOOO!"
Zim continued to struggle, tried to angle his head closer to his wrist. "GIR, HELP ME!"
"GIR?" asked one of the scientists who'd helped tape him down.
"Oh, " said the other. "He probably means the little robot. We took him apart already."
Dib's eyes widened in shock, something like a knife twisting painfully in his stomach.
Zim's reaction was more vocal, "WHAT?"
"Yeah, and all we found inside was a penny, a paper clip, a broken marble, a bra...and a cupcake!"
The scientist pulled the pastry out of his pocket and ate it, "Yum!"
Zim shook his head, "NOOOOO! GIR!"
"NOW," the other scientist exclaimed. "LET'S GET THIS STARTED!"
Dib heard the people behind him cheer again, "YAAAAAY!"
"THIS ROCKS!" A guy behind him added.
Dib swallowed down the rising bile that threatened to spill from his throat, the knife in his stomach twisted harder, "...Oh god..."
The first scientist gave the signal, and a large assortment of scalpels, tweezers and other painful looking medical devices were brought forth, "OK!"
Without even any anesthetic, Zim was sliced down the middle and his skin peeled back to show his insides, the skin held back with pins.
Zim screamed and squirmed, clenching and unclenching his fists.
Dib screamed with him, banging his fists against the viewing glass, "ZIM! ZIIIM! NO, ZIM! STOP! YOU'RE GOING TO KILL HIM!"
Dib's cries were crushed under those of the audience, all indignant that this foreigner who meant them harm had walked undetected among them, all their fear turned into rage, and all thirsty for the alien's blood.
Why should I care? Dib asked himself, even as he continued assaulting the glass. I stopped him, so I should be happy. I should be cheering like everyone else is.
"...Dib."
Zim's voice sounded crystal clear in his mind. It was as though, despite the glass between them, Zim and Dib were in the same room, all alone, and nothing else existed. Maybe Dib had imagined it. Maybe he'd gone insane after all.
It didn't matter.
"Dib...please make it stop," said Zim as his organs were pulled out and labeled, as his tears streamed down his cheeks in an ever flowing river, as he coughed up blood in a wordless prayer for death. "I'm sorry I hurt you...but please..."
The scientists continued poking around inside him, unaware of the alien's pleas, conducting their work with cold, mechanical efficiency.
All they're doing is messing with his insides, Dib thought. That's not even science...
"Just make them stop..." Zim begged.
I should be happy, Dib thought again. But I'm not...I can't bear to see him in so much pain.
As if they'd heard him, the scientists hastily tossed everything back inside, sealing Zim's chest back up with more duck tape. Then they flipped him over like a pancake onto his front, and began unscrewing the outlets of his PAK, prodding and pulling out wires.
"Please..." Zim said, locking his eyes with Dib's. "MAKE THEM STOP!"
And all of a sudden, it was over. One of the scientists had removed his PAK completely, not even bothering to try and do it properly, and he yanked out a few extra wires that were still attached to Zim's organs along with it.
Then all the life in Zim left, his eyes flickering like a TV with a bad antennae and then they blipped out, glazing over in the cloud of death.
The illusion of their solitary existence lingered for a precious few more seconds "...N-no...Zim..."
Dib slammed his fists against the glass again, anger at the scientists, anger at the crowd, at himself, replacing his sorrow and giving him back his breath, "NOOOOO!" he cried louder. "ZIIIIIM!"
And then the illusion was shattered, pierced by an awful war cry, the one used to acknowledge victory over ones enemies.
"YAAAAAY" cheered the avenged crowd.
Dib bit his lip as the tears continued to fall and whispered more quietly to himself, "No...Zim...why? I'm sorry I couldn't help you..." he sniffled a bit, then hiccupped once or twice. "...I'm sorry...I'M SORRY, ZIM!"
Dib slammed the viewing glass again and this time it cracked just a little, "I DIDN'T WANT THIS TO HAPPEN TO YOU! I'M SORRY!"
And then Dib had no more time to be sorry, because the world chose that moment to want to share in his spoils.
"MR. DIB! MR. DIB!" the news crews called out, "THANK YOU FOR SAVING US! I BET AS A TRUE EARTHLING YOU MUST FEEL GREAT ABOUT THIS!"
A double dozen video cameras and microphones were thrust into his face, taking him aback. "RIGHT?"
"Uhh...heh-heh" Dib blushed. "Yeah...I'M JUST HAPPY I COULD STOP THE EARTH FROM BEING DOOMED!" he exclaimed, smiling for the camera. Just like he'd always dreamed that he would one day. "Heh-heh...But...I think what was done to the alien was inhuma-"
"THAT WAS MR. DIB MEMBRANE!" one of the reporters said to his camera. "THANKS TO HIM WE'RE SAFE! WE'LL BE BACK WITH AN INTERVIEW LATER! BYE-BYE!"
(6 hours and 12 media edited interviews later...)
Dib had finally escaped them. He'd escaped the fame and recognition he'd sought his entire life. All it did now was make him sick inside. Sick and empty. As empty as the space he was staring at where Zim's old house used to be.
"...Zim," he whispered to the air. "...I'm sorry...Why did this happen?"
He went to stand in the middle of the empty space, the middle of what he now considered Zim's unmarked grave.
"Why?" he asked again, tears starting to flow. Dib grabbed his face and fell to his knees. "WHY DID I LET THIS HAPPEN? I'M SORRY, ZIM! I'M SORRYYYYY!"
An old couple was passing by behind him, and the old man remarked to his wife, "Well, look at that..."
Dib hiccupped and sniffled watching his tears fall and water the loose soil, "I...loved...you...Zim."
His voice was shaky, and limbs felt weak. Dib fell over onto the grass, mumbling. "I'm so tired, Zim...I didn't want you to die..."
Too choked up to say anything more, Dib continued to sob and cried himself to sleep.
(End Chapter 6! So whatcha think?)
Ryu Forte: Oh, there IS another explanation! One which will be revealed to you all next chapter!
Mystery Reviewer: Definitely not your average ZADR! Which is a good thing, right?
SingerOfDoom: Fine. I will update and make YOU suffer, by abandoning you at a cliff hanger!
animeninjaNIPPON: Isn't it exciting? That's why I begged my friend to let me post this for her, if she couldn't do it herself!
Rioshu: She gave me permission to post up her other dreams too! I just gotta work on formatting them!
Aseret Kitsune: I could sorta believe she'd have a gun in class too, but on the whole it sounds OOC. Meh.
Chloe: Thanks! How do you like THIS ending?
Invader Peep: Yeah...good old Zim...HE DESERVED BETTER!
Invader Iza: Gawd, you too? Why can't I have dreams like that? Hehe, demon llamas...