A/N: I had an idea for this chapter and, as you can see, it has an intro by an author who is almost as talented as myself! lol

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… as men busied themselves about their various concerns they were scrutinized and studied, perhaps almost as narrowly as a man with a microscope might scrutinize the transient creatures that swarm and multiply in a drop of water. With infinite complacency men went to and fro over this globe about their little affairs, serene in their assurance of their empire over matter. It is possible that the infusoria under the microscope do the same.

… minds that are to our minds as ours are to those of the beasts that perish, intellects vast and cool and unsympathetic, regarded this earth with envious eyes, and slowly and surely drew their plans against us.

H. G. Well 'War of the Worlds'

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Chapter 8

THE BEGINNING OF THE END … FOR DIB

It had been a hell of a night. After their escapades in the stolen car, Zim and Byron had broken into a liquor store. Zim discovered that alcohol is one of the only human beverages that doesn't burn him and Byron got totally shit faced. The two had made it home around four in the morning and Zim had immediately fallen off to sleep. Byron, even through the haze of good liquor and spirits, could not sleep. He was far to excited about what the day held.

Dib, on the other hand, had had an extremely dull and uneventful night, that is, after he escaped the wrath of Byron and his swirlies of doom. He ran the entire way home. Something in the back of his mind telling him to keep going. Telling him it wasn't safe and Byron was still behind him. He'd only stopped when the front door had slammed shut behind him.

He'd gone into the kitchen and raided the fridge. Every few seconds, he'd look around the room, not for Gaz, but for Byron. He'd changed since the last time he'd seen him at skool. He carried himself differently. He seemed very tense and on edge. And he carried himself in an unnatural manner. Something was off. There was something in his eyes earlier that he'd never seen before. No one else seemed to notice it, but Dib obsereved that every few seconds, Byrons left eye would twitch uncontrollably. It gave him chills inside. "He's gone mad," he mumbled to himself. "That's the only reason he's sided with that alien scum. He's gone completely around the bend and is convinced that he must destroy us! I must …" he was interrupted by a voice from upstairs.

"Son, it's far too late at night to be yelling about the end of the world and your silly, big-headed notions of false sciences!" Professor Membrane called from the top of the stairs.

"Sorry, dad!" He called back. Then he whispered, "But I vow, I will destroy them both! For my sake and humanity's! Why am I talking to myself?" he asked himself and continued digging in the fridge.

It wasn't until he was upstairs, safely locked in his room with his slice of cold pizza and a can of Poop cola, that he relaxed. He ate his dinner and began his attempt at forming a plan.

He fell asleep on his desk and woke up the next morning in a puddle of pizza-flavored drool. When he opened his eyes, he looked over at his digital clock. It was twelve fifteen in the afternoon. Dib sighed. Being a complete and total loser with absolutely no friends, Dib didn't really have much to do on a Saturday, especially since he'd slept well past the time when the good cartoons would come on. He got up from his desk and went to use the bathroom. When he got back, he turned on his scanner and turned on his computer.

He wasted a good two-and-a-half hours browsing around UFO websites and participating in alien chartrooms, when something came over the scanner that caught his attention.

"Three Hal five, what's your twenty?" A female said.

"We are out at the old Higgins farm investigation a ten fifty-eight, over," a man responded.

"Copy that. What's the situation on that?"

"Looks like some kids pulling a prank. They swear they say Bigfoot. Little bastards said he was using their belt sander. We're bringing 'em in for reeducation, over."

"Huh!" Dib perked his head up. "A bigfoot! Finally! If I can't catch Zim because of his Irish robot bodyguard, then I'll catch Bigfoot. The Swollen Eyeballs will beg me to come back!" He cheered happily and ran to his closet. He dug around for a few minutes until he came out of the closet (Haha! Came out of the closet!) with an oversized fishing net and a trank gun.

He came barreling down the stairs and out the front door yelling, "I'll be back later. I'm going to catch Bigfoot!"

"Not again," Gaz said without looking up from her Game Slave.

A few minutes after the door slammed, Gaz got up and walked into the kitchen, still expertly playing her game. She opened the fridge and saw that, as usual, Dib had eaten her pizza and stolen her Poop cola. "That's it! Forces of darkness, hear my pledge! I'm not letting it go this time. No matter what it takes, Dib will pay for this dearly. I'll do anything! Please, send me a message or a sign! Send me a vessel of destruction and devastation!" As if on cue, there was a loud knock on the door. Gaz walked back into the living room and threw the door open with a sigh. "What did you forget, Dib?" She asked looking out the door, not to find Dib, but to see someone else. Someone she'd seen a few times before at skool. She looked up to see, in the stifling silence of the surrounding neighborhood, two narrow and beady eyes, one twitching, staring back at her from a face that was hideously contorted into what she thought was meant to be a smile. The thing just looked at her and she looked back. It was a mess. Its clothes were worn and stained as if they hadn't been change in a few days. And on the top of the thing's head was a twisted mass of greasy and stringy hair. The last thing she noticed about the thing's appearance was its complete and total lack of eyebrows. It was as if they'd been singed off. The thing's chest rose and fell in quivering, fevered breaths as it stood stiff as a board, but shaking like a leaf, at her doorstep.

"Hello, Gaz," said Byron with a wide and vicious grin as he ran a trembling hand through his filthy hair. "I'd like to discuss something with you." She grinned back with a look of understanding and a smile almost equal to Byron's. Without hesitation, Gaz stepped to the side of the doorway and allowed him entrance into the house. The door creaked shut behind him and the neighborhood was again plunged into silence.

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A/N: Ooh, I actually impressed myself! I think this is my best work of fiction to date. But I mean that in the most humble way possible! I am SO pleased with the second-to-last paragraph! I hope you all feel as I do. Please leave a review if you even slightly like it. I appreciate them so much, and if you ask those who have reviewed me in the past, I send them emails thanking them. How many people do you know who actually do that? And, a special message to DarkShadow1818, what I hope will be your favorite part is coming soon. I'm sure it'll happen within the next three chapters. And at the pace I'm going, that could be five minutes from now. lol