Enter a foggy grave yard, midnight. Mist swirls around the crumbling
tombstones, and a lone raven caws in a dead peach tree. Suddenly, the earth
starts to crumble around a mossy grave, and the most HOOOORIBLE zombie in all
history of zombies arises! Good god! It's Rem! And she's holding a
keyboard!!
"Marrrr!! Yes, tremble, mortals, for I have arisen from my eternal sleep to… Wait… If it was eternal, I would still be sleeping… 6_6
No, I mean, MARRR!!! I have arisen to continue writing my fanfic!
BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!"
**Chapter 5**
**(House Call)**
I leaned against the pay phone, fumbling in my pocket for some spare change. So far all I could find were four soda pop-tops, 25 cents, and my lucky car wash token. I reached into my other pocket and looked over to Gir, still tethered to the jump-rope and gnawing on the metal pole of a nearby road sign. I hoped I had the change, since if I didn't, it would mean another three block's walk to get home. My fingers touched metal, and I pulled out two more quarters and a dime. I smiled in relief, plopping the needed change into the coin slot on the phone. I dialed in Dib's phone number, clutching the grubby plastic receiver to my ear. I waited a few moments, then the silence was broken by Gaz's harsh voice.
"Ugh. What?"
"Um… Can I talk to Dib?"
"DIB! PICK UP THE FRIGGIN' PHONE!"
I pulled my head back an inch or so from the receiver, startled by Gaz's sudden outburst. I heard Dib yell something to her from the background, but I couldn't make it out. Unexpectedly, Gaz jammed the phone down onto a table or desk with a loud clunk, followed by a few stomps away from the phone. Gaz growled menacingly.
"Dib… I am on level 24, and I intend to finish this game without any interruptions. Either you get down here NOW and pick up the phone, or I come upstairs and rip out your liver. Choose."
I heard a series of quick steps, lighter than the girl's, but with more speed. Dib picked up the receiver quickly, and sounded slightly out of breath.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi Dib. Um, do--"
"I really can't talk long, Rem, I've got some corrosive liquids I'm testing upstairs, and if I leave them alone for too long, they might eat through my desk."
"…Okay… Anyway, do you know where Zim lives?"
"…Zim?"
"Yes."
"Where he lives?"
"That's what I asked you."
"You're not going to his house, are you?"
"No, I'm sending him some gingerbread cookies I made for him. Of course I'm going to his house!"
"That's not… Smart…"
"Well, neither is leaving corrosive liquids lying on your desk. So ha."
"Oh, fine, but if he tries to… Test things on you, it's not my fault."
"Fair enough."
Dib recited Zim's address which I copied onto a scrap if paper I had been holding.
"Still, Rem..." He sighed. "Be careful… You have no idea what Zim is capable of…"
I said goodbye and hung up, sighing slightly. I had a good enough idea of what he was capable of… Just by what he was doing to me gave me clue enough. But still… The way Dib talked about him seemed like he was capable… Capable of…
I gulped back the thoughts that were rushing through my head, trying to clear away the horrible pictures I had created. I glanced at my watch and tugged on Gir's leash, then headed off in the direction of Zim's house. 3:27. That meant I had about two and a half hours before Mom got home. Mom… I wonder what she would think if I told her I was turning into an alien? Quite ironic, when I thought about it, since she was always telling me to "be unique" and "go against the flow."
You couldn't get much more "unique" than I was getting…
~*~
I walked down the path leading to Zim's not-so-perfectly-rectangular purple front door, staring at his house in awe. It was unlike any house I had ever seen; Standing as a testament at the entrance to the yard was a white sign, reading "I Love Earth." Florescent pink plastic flamingos loomed above me, and ceramic gnomes at tall as I was seemed to watch me with blank faces as I strolled down the path.
Once again, I was standing on an unfamiliar doorstep and staring at the doorbell, my hand inches from pressing it, but unwilling to do so. Gir scratched at the door and whined pathetically, mumbling about taquitoes. With one surge of bravery, my finger finally made it's way to the doorbell. I heard the two-note tone ring through the house, followed by a mechanical whirring.
Suddenly, two extremely abnormal looking people opened the door at once, twitching slightly. They chorused, "Welcome home, son!" I stared at them in confusion for a few moments, then gave them both a slightly closer inspection. Yep. They were robots as well.
A slight movement behind them caught my eye… A silhouette in the background, features masked by the dim light of the inside of the house. The robotic parents wheeled back to their original positions, and I could see the figure clearly now. The dimness of the room's lights still masked his face, so the only thing I could recognize… Were the eyes. And they were giving me the same blood-freezing glance I had received the day I met Zim.
"Rem…"
His voice hissed out the words as carefully as a serpent hissing at it's prey, hypnotizing it to it's demise. I stood there, unblinkingly watching him step closer to me, stepping into the light. By that time, I could see him perfectly, his violet-rimmed pupils locked onto my brown-rimmed ones. He stepped up to the doorway and grinned.
"Yes, I had a feeling you'd come for a visit today. Come inside…"
I obeyed, just as hypnotized as the serpent's prey. He closed the door behind me, and I couldn't help but think of the serpent again. He was luring my into his lair, just as the serpent would do, and I couldn't turn away.
Gir's leash slipped out of my hands, and he scampered off into another room, leaving me alone with Zim. I side-stepped over to a nearby couch and sat down, rigid as a board and as alert as a deer staring into headlights. Coincidentally, just like the deer, I was also having trouble moving. And breathing. Also, blinking. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take before I passed out.
"So, Rem," Zim looked directly at me. "Have a good sleep last night?" He smiled evilly, folding his arms in front of him.
I finally managed to gasp a breath, but the only words I could utter was "…Z… Zim… You…"
"Yes. Me." Zim looked me up and down triumphantly, nodding his head slowly. "So, I assume Gir gave you your little gift last night, am I right?"
I dug my nails into the couch cushions. "You… You horrible…Thhhing…" I glowered at him in disgust, my legs still not allowing me to get up.
He scoffed. "Horrible thing? Is that the best your pitifully squishy human mind can think up? But at least… Your mind won't be so pitiful after I'm done with it."
"So this thing… This thing you put on my back… I am changing?"
"Of course you are! At least you had the intelligence to figure that much out… Perhaps you won't be a wasted experiment, after all."
"An… experiment? I'm an experiment?!"
"Quit questioning my superiority!" He spat out at me, all of a sudden fuming. I leaned back into the couch, startled at his outburst. "Now listen, and maybe some of my supreme intelligence will seep into that substandard human skull of yours. You… Are a C.I.L."
"A--?"
"SHUT UP! You… Are a C.I.L. A Created Irken Life-form. Or at least, you will be, once that Pak's mutationisers start to take full affect."
"…Mutationisers?"
"I invented them." Zim stood proudly, looking down at me.
"…That's a really stupid name."
"Grrrrr… Who asked you?! Yes, mutationisers. Normally, when an Irken Pak affixes itself to a new host, all the host will inherit are the past owners traits and memories. Whenever an Irken dies, the Pak is recycled and given to a newly bio-hatched smeet. Once--"
"Wait, what's a smeet?"
"A…" Zim waved his hand trivially in the air, searching for the right translation. "baby Irken. Once the smeet is zapped to life, it has, in essence, the same spirit as the past Irken, only slightly clouded and unknown by the smeet. Yours, however…" Zim reached over for the back of my sweatshirt and I froze at his touch. He grabbed the hem and lifted the back up, revealing the metallic Pak and admiring his handiwork. "Wonderful, isn't it? Yours was hand-made by me. Since you already have your own traits and memories, I didn't encrypt any. Instead, I installed a vile of my mutationisers that would seep into your blood stream and make you… Irken."
He smiled a wicked Cheshire-cat grin at the word. I looked up to him, aghast. "…Irken? But what will I… Will I look…"
"You'll look Irken, of course. Here."
To my horror, I watched, riveted, as he reached for his hair and removed it, proving it to be nothing but a wig. Instead, he had a pair of obsidian-black antennae, gracefully curved at the tips. He handed the wig to Gir, who was standing at his ankles, slobbering on a taquito. Gir grabbed the wig and hugged it like a five-year-old would hug a teddy bear, staring up at me unblinkingly, that stupid grin pasted on his face once again. I looked back up at Zim and quickly leaned back in shock, lifted up my legs and crawled to the far end of the couch.
His eyes were blood red. They shone like a faceted ruby in the dim light of the room, and were suddenly ten times more terrifying than they were before. In his hands, he held two contacts, each own showing an image of the violet colored eyes he had a moment before. He smiled with a victorious evil, and I knew for a complete, concrete fact right then…
He was not lying. I was going to become what he was.
And there was no stopping it.
"Marrrr!! Yes, tremble, mortals, for I have arisen from my eternal sleep to… Wait… If it was eternal, I would still be sleeping… 6_6
No, I mean, MARRR!!! I have arisen to continue writing my fanfic!
BWAHAHAHAHAA!!!"
**Chapter 5**
**(House Call)**
I leaned against the pay phone, fumbling in my pocket for some spare change. So far all I could find were four soda pop-tops, 25 cents, and my lucky car wash token. I reached into my other pocket and looked over to Gir, still tethered to the jump-rope and gnawing on the metal pole of a nearby road sign. I hoped I had the change, since if I didn't, it would mean another three block's walk to get home. My fingers touched metal, and I pulled out two more quarters and a dime. I smiled in relief, plopping the needed change into the coin slot on the phone. I dialed in Dib's phone number, clutching the grubby plastic receiver to my ear. I waited a few moments, then the silence was broken by Gaz's harsh voice.
"Ugh. What?"
"Um… Can I talk to Dib?"
"DIB! PICK UP THE FRIGGIN' PHONE!"
I pulled my head back an inch or so from the receiver, startled by Gaz's sudden outburst. I heard Dib yell something to her from the background, but I couldn't make it out. Unexpectedly, Gaz jammed the phone down onto a table or desk with a loud clunk, followed by a few stomps away from the phone. Gaz growled menacingly.
"Dib… I am on level 24, and I intend to finish this game without any interruptions. Either you get down here NOW and pick up the phone, or I come upstairs and rip out your liver. Choose."
I heard a series of quick steps, lighter than the girl's, but with more speed. Dib picked up the receiver quickly, and sounded slightly out of breath.
"Hello?"
"Oh, hi Dib. Um, do--"
"I really can't talk long, Rem, I've got some corrosive liquids I'm testing upstairs, and if I leave them alone for too long, they might eat through my desk."
"…Okay… Anyway, do you know where Zim lives?"
"…Zim?"
"Yes."
"Where he lives?"
"That's what I asked you."
"You're not going to his house, are you?"
"No, I'm sending him some gingerbread cookies I made for him. Of course I'm going to his house!"
"That's not… Smart…"
"Well, neither is leaving corrosive liquids lying on your desk. So ha."
"Oh, fine, but if he tries to… Test things on you, it's not my fault."
"Fair enough."
Dib recited Zim's address which I copied onto a scrap if paper I had been holding.
"Still, Rem..." He sighed. "Be careful… You have no idea what Zim is capable of…"
I said goodbye and hung up, sighing slightly. I had a good enough idea of what he was capable of… Just by what he was doing to me gave me clue enough. But still… The way Dib talked about him seemed like he was capable… Capable of…
I gulped back the thoughts that were rushing through my head, trying to clear away the horrible pictures I had created. I glanced at my watch and tugged on Gir's leash, then headed off in the direction of Zim's house. 3:27. That meant I had about two and a half hours before Mom got home. Mom… I wonder what she would think if I told her I was turning into an alien? Quite ironic, when I thought about it, since she was always telling me to "be unique" and "go against the flow."
You couldn't get much more "unique" than I was getting…
I walked down the path leading to Zim's not-so-perfectly-rectangular purple front door, staring at his house in awe. It was unlike any house I had ever seen; Standing as a testament at the entrance to the yard was a white sign, reading "I Love Earth." Florescent pink plastic flamingos loomed above me, and ceramic gnomes at tall as I was seemed to watch me with blank faces as I strolled down the path.
Once again, I was standing on an unfamiliar doorstep and staring at the doorbell, my hand inches from pressing it, but unwilling to do so. Gir scratched at the door and whined pathetically, mumbling about taquitoes. With one surge of bravery, my finger finally made it's way to the doorbell. I heard the two-note tone ring through the house, followed by a mechanical whirring.
Suddenly, two extremely abnormal looking people opened the door at once, twitching slightly. They chorused, "Welcome home, son!" I stared at them in confusion for a few moments, then gave them both a slightly closer inspection. Yep. They were robots as well.
A slight movement behind them caught my eye… A silhouette in the background, features masked by the dim light of the inside of the house. The robotic parents wheeled back to their original positions, and I could see the figure clearly now. The dimness of the room's lights still masked his face, so the only thing I could recognize… Were the eyes. And they were giving me the same blood-freezing glance I had received the day I met Zim.
"Rem…"
His voice hissed out the words as carefully as a serpent hissing at it's prey, hypnotizing it to it's demise. I stood there, unblinkingly watching him step closer to me, stepping into the light. By that time, I could see him perfectly, his violet-rimmed pupils locked onto my brown-rimmed ones. He stepped up to the doorway and grinned.
"Yes, I had a feeling you'd come for a visit today. Come inside…"
I obeyed, just as hypnotized as the serpent's prey. He closed the door behind me, and I couldn't help but think of the serpent again. He was luring my into his lair, just as the serpent would do, and I couldn't turn away.
Gir's leash slipped out of my hands, and he scampered off into another room, leaving me alone with Zim. I side-stepped over to a nearby couch and sat down, rigid as a board and as alert as a deer staring into headlights. Coincidentally, just like the deer, I was also having trouble moving. And breathing. Also, blinking. I was beginning to wonder how long it would take before I passed out.
"So, Rem," Zim looked directly at me. "Have a good sleep last night?" He smiled evilly, folding his arms in front of him.
I finally managed to gasp a breath, but the only words I could utter was "…Z… Zim… You…"
"Yes. Me." Zim looked me up and down triumphantly, nodding his head slowly. "So, I assume Gir gave you your little gift last night, am I right?"
I dug my nails into the couch cushions. "You… You horrible…Thhhing…" I glowered at him in disgust, my legs still not allowing me to get up.
He scoffed. "Horrible thing? Is that the best your pitifully squishy human mind can think up? But at least… Your mind won't be so pitiful after I'm done with it."
"So this thing… This thing you put on my back… I am changing?"
"Of course you are! At least you had the intelligence to figure that much out… Perhaps you won't be a wasted experiment, after all."
"An… experiment? I'm an experiment?!"
"Quit questioning my superiority!" He spat out at me, all of a sudden fuming. I leaned back into the couch, startled at his outburst. "Now listen, and maybe some of my supreme intelligence will seep into that substandard human skull of yours. You… Are a C.I.L."
"A--?"
"SHUT UP! You… Are a C.I.L. A Created Irken Life-form. Or at least, you will be, once that Pak's mutationisers start to take full affect."
"…Mutationisers?"
"I invented them." Zim stood proudly, looking down at me.
"…That's a really stupid name."
"Grrrrr… Who asked you?! Yes, mutationisers. Normally, when an Irken Pak affixes itself to a new host, all the host will inherit are the past owners traits and memories. Whenever an Irken dies, the Pak is recycled and given to a newly bio-hatched smeet. Once--"
"Wait, what's a smeet?"
"A…" Zim waved his hand trivially in the air, searching for the right translation. "baby Irken. Once the smeet is zapped to life, it has, in essence, the same spirit as the past Irken, only slightly clouded and unknown by the smeet. Yours, however…" Zim reached over for the back of my sweatshirt and I froze at his touch. He grabbed the hem and lifted the back up, revealing the metallic Pak and admiring his handiwork. "Wonderful, isn't it? Yours was hand-made by me. Since you already have your own traits and memories, I didn't encrypt any. Instead, I installed a vile of my mutationisers that would seep into your blood stream and make you… Irken."
He smiled a wicked Cheshire-cat grin at the word. I looked up to him, aghast. "…Irken? But what will I… Will I look…"
"You'll look Irken, of course. Here."
To my horror, I watched, riveted, as he reached for his hair and removed it, proving it to be nothing but a wig. Instead, he had a pair of obsidian-black antennae, gracefully curved at the tips. He handed the wig to Gir, who was standing at his ankles, slobbering on a taquito. Gir grabbed the wig and hugged it like a five-year-old would hug a teddy bear, staring up at me unblinkingly, that stupid grin pasted on his face once again. I looked back up at Zim and quickly leaned back in shock, lifted up my legs and crawled to the far end of the couch.
His eyes were blood red. They shone like a faceted ruby in the dim light of the room, and were suddenly ten times more terrifying than they were before. In his hands, he held two contacts, each own showing an image of the violet colored eyes he had a moment before. He smiled with a victorious evil, and I knew for a complete, concrete fact right then…
He was not lying. I was going to become what he was.
And there was no stopping it.