Chapter Four

Love declarations between two of the blackest of sheep's at school was just asking for the lions to come out of their dens. Zim's challenge of protection just poked the hornet's nest, Dib was their easy source of stress relief and fun, they weren't going to let Zim ruin that; boyfriend or not.

Dib and Zim were closer than before, their happiness was contagious, and they were almost the definition of lovebirds. If Zim noticed any disgusted glares that were meant for Dib, Zim coaxed Dib into kisses and embraces. He was a lion on guard, and separation was not easy. Torque and Chunk were the first to feel the pressure of Dib having a net; Torque held a grudge during the few times he got caught up in their rivalry. Dib was just an annoying rat, and it didn't feel right that he was no longer in their palms; the fact he and Zim had their hate blossoming into love made their skin crawl. Dib wasn't allowed such happiness, even from that green freak.

Torque smashed a trash can with his bat, imagining Dib inside, and making it look twisted and flat. He caught his breath, staring at the metal heap, all he could see was Dib kissing Zim like it was a goddamned ever after. That burning in his body grew with intensity, he saw red and he couldn't see past it. Chunk was trying not to laugh.

"Seeing green there, bro?" Chunk stifled giggles.

Torque paused, was this out of jealousy? His precious bag sack was taken, and he knew he had fun with Dib, pushing him against the wall and watching his body tremble. Torque never questioned his sexuality, he felt more attached to the pig skin than the ladies that wouldn't stop gawking.

"Don't get me confused, you piece of shit," Torque breathed.

"I mean it, Smackey, you've been salty ever since Dib hooked up with Zim a month ago," Chunk pointed out, "Is this really about just beating him up again, or did you really want to fuck that nerd?"

Torque smashed the bat in half, "You know the fuck what, I don't fucking know! M-maybe bring that weak son of a bitch to my house and I'll just find it out myself." Chunk looked nervous, and for good reason, Dib was almost perfectly protected by Zim, pulling him in plain sight meant invoking Zim's wrath. Torque was thinking it over too, his hands were clammy and sweaty from the stress, "Those two haven't moved in together yet?"

"No, but they're talking about it."

That meant a time limit, but that also meant if Zim and Dib were busy with homework and plans of their own; Dib could be lured, if not forced into Torque's car. Any sort of sharp weapon wasn't allowed on campus, and blackmail was out of the question, but Torque remembered Dib was somewhat physically weak, Torque could slip a drug into his lunch when the lovebirds left for a piss break. Torque used to watch Dib swallow pills in lunch before, good thing his father had stronger antidepressants that induced nausea and a slight fever. Zim would have no choice but to let Dib heal.

They had to threaten and bribe Gretchen to put the tablet in, but it worked, Dib almost collapsed and he had a hard time breathing. Zim's expression was priceless to the school, as they despised them both equally but Dib was the most loathed like an annoying tick; with Dib at home feeling the side effects, Zim was upset and deflated, but he knew something was off. He might've been an idiot, but he knew every human maggot was trying to devour Dib from the inside out. Zim was quick to notice Torque and Chunk were absent, and he slammed his fists on the table, a cable came out of his PAK with his communicator, "Gir...I got a job for you…"

Dib was too sick to notice his sick body being hauled over to the car, and since the door was kept unlocked, it was easy to get in without being interrupted; it was a twisted blessing that Gaz and him went to different schools so his little sister was nowhere in sight. Torque's home could have been in better condition, despite it having a laundry basket, whether it was out of pettiness towards his parents who were at work at the time, or their son was just lazy...there were thrown clothes on the ground along with crushed beer cans; yet the only thing neat and kept with care were sports magazines, all football editions and a couple of collectors editions. Torque's room did not fare any better, it smelled like a gym in summer, cologne and sweat wafted in the air and Torque had kept his room as clean as a meathead would and instead left a mess on the walls instead with a loving picture of Dib from their school album hanging, punctured with darts like a cartoony pin cushion. Chunk tossed Dib into Torque's bed like he was a garbage bag but due to his sick state, he didn't seem to notice. He must've taken some strong nausea meds to counteract the pill, but like some nausea medicine it induced sleepiness like a very mild melatonin.

Torque frowned at the heap that was Dib. The tablet was too strong even for one pill, Torque was grumbling to himself about these circumstances, the only silver lining was that Dib was quiet and vomiting yesterday made him even more of a weak fighter.

Chunk looked around, trying to find something on the shelves or drawers, "Got any bath salts?" He had seen bath salts have an effect on unconscious people and anthropomorphic cartoon animals on TV. It was the first thing that came to mind.

"No…"

"Then how are you gonna wake him the fuck up?"

Torque looked around before fishing out a cologne bottle, and he managed to unscrew the top. He made Dib sit up and shoved the cologne near his nose. Dib's body shivered and convulsed slightly at the intense smell, holding back his gag reflex, "Gaz…" he coughed, "This isn't funny!" Dib slowly opened his eyes and looked around in alarm that was not his bedroom, and it felt like an alien landscape. He glared at Torque with a boiling hate, "!Métetelo por el culo!" he spat.

Torque suddenly leaned over, smirking, "You know there's a word in your language that describes you best...chapero."

Dib chuckled, "Did you ask your grandma how to say that?" Torque was about ready to tackle him right there and beat him to a pulp, but he decided against it. Dib was just cocky that his knight in green skin would save his ass, but Zim had never been to his house.

"Zim ain't coming…" Chunk said.

Dib looked at him and then at Torque, "What the ever loving fuck do you want me for anyway?" he asked, more annoyed than angry, "Copy my homework, make me do your homework, or do you two bobbleheads want my lunch money like a bunch of petty children?"

Torque smacked his cheek, "You shut up, you bean. I blame you for making me feel this way; making me play for the other team all because you said you had a crush on me...I wanted nothing to do with you!" he yelled, "Now you're such a slut over your green weirdo and it pisses me off!"

Dib slowly came to the realization that Chunk did, "Torque...are you jealous of Zim and I? Are you like...mad that I'm with him now and not you?"

"What...what?"

"Jessica wanted me to have a romantic session with you, she tried blackmailing Zim and I. Did you ask-"

Torque's face reddened like a fresh ripe tomato and shoved his palm against his mouth, he covered so roughly that Dib almost gagged. Chunk was having second thoughts about this, he just wanted to have fun humiliating Dib but now things were slowly escalating, and the last thing he wanted was to wrap Dib in sleeping sheets as a cadaver and throwing him in the desert. "This. Is. Your. Fault," Torque said sternly, "Now drop your pants…"

Dib moved his hand away, coughing, his lips smelled like sweaty gym socks by now, "I'm not dropping anything for you."

"I said drop your pants, Dib!"

"Fuck you."

Torque was growing impatient, Dib deciding to fight back instead of cower was going against the plan of making sure this quick. "Chunk, pull his pants down, and get my umbrella handle. I wanna see how much of a bitch he is with something hard up his rear." Dib was positively seething, he did have a crush on Torque at one point in his life, but the Torque before him now was a warped creature. He apologized and tried giving compensation for the accidents involving Zim, but he never knew Torque had grown so wrathful; he doubted Torque even gave a lick anymore seeing Dib as a past classmate. Chunk was already raising his small hands up in a manner indicating that this wasn't his idea of a beat em up party.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa…! That's too much! C-c'mon bro, he might be a crazy dweeb but dude, an umbrella handle?" Chunk pointed out, "Just lube up your big rod and fuck him. I don't wanna be around when it goes down but I'm not helping shove a handle up him. Do you want us to go to jail?!"

Dib sighed, "So, you won't pull a physical ass shove because you're scared of charges, but its totally okay if you want Torque to use me as a freaking sex toy; you know there's an adult store not far from here?"

Torque scoffed, "Smartass...I guess this is why Zim likes to ask sex out of you almost every day."

"Zim and I have an agreement whether we both want it that day, something you never caught on to!"

Torque felt something snap inside like a slingshot pulled too far. It felt like a blur as Dib was knocked out and beaten, and placed into a sleeping bag and tossed in the trunk of the car and Torque drove with Chunk into the farthest part of the city where the forest was. They threw him down a steep hill where serial killers had been known to dump their bodies, but their body was never found. Torque felt this was best for Dib, if he didn't die on the way down, then he'd at least starve. Chunk was breaking down in the car, he was more feverish with guilt than Torque was, he was covered in snot and tears that one would think he killed Dib with bloody violence than a simple body toss. "Oh, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK!" Chunk moaned, "If Zim finds out…"

"Zim isn't going to find out buck shit if you just keep your jaw closed," Torque snapped, "Don't tell Jessica either, her dad's a cop."

Chunk's eyes widened as a round purple and pink alien vehicle with bright front lights were in there direction, it released two claws from its compartments and gripped the front hood with a firm clamp and spun the vehicle around before smashing it against a brick road wall. Chunk and Torque hastily crawled out of the wreckage before Zim knelt down and grabbed their collars with a look of towering rage.

Chunk looked at Torque with an expression of "I told you so" but Torque was biting his lip.

"Where is he?" Zim growled.

Chunk chuckled nervously, "Wh...who are you talking about, Zim?" he said attempting to play dumb, but that made Zim's patience grow short.

"You know who I'm talking about," Zim's hands were gripping into fists, "Now, where is he? Where is Dib?!" he repeated, much more loudly. Torque and Chunk kept their lips shut. Zim sighed, hating to resort to this, his PAK released two saws and claws holding pink liquid in jars, "If you won't tell me, I'll force you to tell me, I can extract your brains out and have my computer comb through your memories and find Dib myself in roughly an hour. Zim has no need for your brain garbage, but I can experiment with your brains after Dib comes back; but with you two unwilling to cooperate, I guess your brains are free games now." Zim had a murderous grin making the saws be loud as possible. Gir suddenly poked out his head from the Voot Cruiser.

"Ooh, can I eat one?!" Gir said excitedly.

"I can let you eat Chunk's, it's a rotten garbage brain anyway," Zim offered.

Chunk was sobbing, "Okay, okay, I'll talk!"

Zim gave a smug smirk as his weapons retreated back to his PAK. Chunk continued sobbing like a baby, as Torque leered at Zim, "Torque knocked him out...w-we wrapped him in a sleeping bag, and tossed him off the hill, okay? You know...that...that one curve where dead bodies get thrown by murders?!" Chunk was almost incomprehensible, "I didn't...I didn't want to be part of this in the first place...I just...just wanted to punch him a bit and that's all! Please don't take my brain! I like my brain!"

Zim's smirk had transformed into a snarl, he threw Chunk like a ball onto the road and the round boy waddled off like an upset piglet. He turned to Torque and shoved him into the wall with his spider limbs, and cracked his knuckles before pummeling Torque with punch after punch as if he was a sack at the gym. "I had a feeling it was you…" Zim growled, pulling back his punch just to have a good look at Torque's bloody face, "I swear on my home planet that if Dib was killed by you, I'm going to tear you apart while you're still breathing and I'll make you regret ever living second of being alive; you'll wish it was you dead and not Dib."

Torque spat out a wad of blood and mucus to the floor, "How did you ever find out it was me?"

Zim gripped Torque's cheeks to squeeze them tightly with his left hand and pulled out his pen that had a tiny red button on it, "See this? It's a bug. I ordered Gir to force open your locker and put this teeny border microscopic bug to everything in it since I didn't know where you lived. I wasn't surprised when you decided to leave home so suddenly while I was driving there...I see my mate is a better backtalker than I; however, you missed one part about me. Chunk was dragged into this so I show a slight bit of mercy...you…" he chuckled darkly, "I got plans for you, and I bet Dib won't even show you mercy."

"What are you going to do? Kill me?!" Torque yelled.

"Where's the fun in that?" Zim whipped him to the ground with his limbs and knelt down, pulling his curly hair up, "Now, show me where Dib is…!"

Dib slowly woke up from inside the sleeping bag, his clothes and hair were covered in leaves. He coughed and groaned, his body was aching and his head was bleeding, but he realized the large heap of leaves cushioned his fall somewhat; but his legs felt sprained. Dib felt around for something to use as a cane and found a pipe piece from an old sign. "Gotta...find the...road…" Dib said to himself as he painfully limped and moved with the makeshift cane. He was tired and dizzy, and he felt he desperately needed a doctor. He felt his walk slow to a crawl when he reached halfway through the forest, he slumped on the nearest tree and felt his stomach regurgitate from the hammering of the nausea.

"Fuck...how am I going to get home…I didn't even bring a phone with me! I'm...I'm just in my pajamas…!"

Dib hated himself for not pulling as hard in physical education, if he had more strength to spare this wouldn't feel like torture, but he was more quick on his feet. He was in too much of a daze of nausea and stomach pain, to think beyond that it was how his body was that was causing problems. Even when you got past the 13th lap, insecurities were the mad dogs of mankind, especially to little boys and Dib felt no different from years ago. A bright light came from the forest canopy and it was moving at a slow pace, Dib couldn't tell if it was Zim as the greens and browns blended, it could have been a helicopter or Zim's Voot Cruiser. Dib stumbled onto the closest tree, leaning into the bark of the tree and coughed, dropping his pipe into the leafy carpet.

"ZIM…! ZIM, I'M RIGHT HERE!" Dib cried out as long as his body could let him, "ZIM, PLEASE! I'M RIGHT HERE! I'M NOT DEAD!" his throat cracked and he was too tired to move. He had to find a cabin or camp somewhere to get Zim's attention. Dib felt sleepy, cursing himself to sleep, wishing he had a flare, "I'm not dead…"

Zim looked over the hillside as Gir had a flashlight in his mouth, Torque quietly lit a cigarette, his body still dirty and bloody with scratches. Zim was growing all the more frustrated with Torque's apathy, now wishing he left him brainless back then, and Zim felt ready to toss him over the same place he threw Dib. Zim looked at Torque with a piercing glare but the young man continued to look blase about the matter over his old classmates life. "You know…" Zim started, "You could have hated me instead of Dib...I took your brain in the first place."

"I don't care."

Zim gripped his fists, and pulled him again by the collar, "You goddamned hypocrite! If you didn't care about it in the first place than why did you toss Dib over this hill like he was nothing but garbage?! I'm the one who took your useless organ back in Skool, yet you act like Dib is the one who did that instead! I'm confessing it was me and you don't give a shit! What did Dib do to you that worse than me?!" Torque pushed him back, coughing on his cigarette smoke and Zim glared at him with his hands to his hips, "Tell me what he did...just freaking tell me so I know why you did this! I thought humans felt guilt or shame, yet you don't display those at all!"

Torque's body was shaking, Zim looked intimidating despite being shorter than Torque by two heads. Torque wanted to run away like Chunk did but he could tell Zim wasn't going to allow him to flee with his tail between his legs. Zim was going to strip his dignity and pride, making sure it was painful and slow like wax on skin.

"He...he admitted to having a crush on me, all right?" Torque wheezed.

That was worse than stealing someone's brain?! Zim thought in exasperation. "That was worth trying to murder him?!" Zim yelled, "He just told you how he felt...and that was enough...that it was worth trying to kill him?!"

Torque shook his now realizing how far Zim was willing to go for that one nerd, "He...uh, told me...about you, uh, b-being with him…" he was stuttering so much that his tongue was wagging, "S-so I just...g-got mad and…"

"You really are pathetic," Zim sighed, "Do you feel any better now after what you did?"

Torque was starting to fume, "Don't pull this psychological shit on me! You're not my doctor! F...f...fuck off!"

Zim slapped his cheek, "I'm asking because I'm trying to understand what motivated you to do this and all I'm seeing is a stupid human pig who just couldn't sort out how he felt, got angry at someone for a simple thing and tried to murder him!" Zim started to drag him to the Voot Cruiser and tossed him in the trunk and locked the door, before hopping in the driver's seat before Gir followed beside him. The Voot Cruiser rose up with lights on and followed the road to the forest. The trees were too high and their branches were grasping each other to just fly down and land; they would have to release observation drones at a point to find Dib.

"Master, your eyes are leaking!"

Zim didn't notice at first because he had been absorbed with planning and his heart and head were ringing with stress he hadn't felt in ages. Zim felt the hot tears in his eyes that dripped onto his pink uniform, "Master is...just crying…" Zim replied, "It'll go away on its own eventually."

"Master is sad?" Gir asked.

"Yes…"

"Mary is still alive?"

Zim couldn't answer, but he made the cruiser drive faster. His body felt frantic, like as though each limb can split apart from him in mere seconds in search of Dib but he instead drove into the Woopike Forest Reserve entrance and turned his lights on to be much brighter.

"Mary has to be alive," Zim said, Gir squealed.

Dib woke up with a jolt before coughing softly, he found his sprained leg to be wrapped in a brace and he was sleeping on a warm bed in someone's lodge or cabin. He looked at his clothes to see he was wrapped in someone's old tacky Christmas sweater and cotton pants and socks that were bigger than his feet but at least he felt somewhat better. Dib must have thought he was dreaming, a vision induced by pain or he was daydreaming vividly, but after pinching himself he realized someone must have found him in the forest. Dib slowly got off the bed and was relieved his leg had been healing while he was asleep, he still limped in between walks, but he could walk. Dib slowly walked into the kitchen only to find a stout old man with a doctor's coat, smoking a cigarette, Dib just instantly thought to Santa Claus as he saw the curly white beard and small round reading glasses looking over papers. He walked closer, to see he still had his card on that said: Dr. P Deacon MD PH.D.

Deacon noticed, lightly smacking the end of his cigarette, "Ah, you're awake. Good. I was afraid you were dead...my dog found ya." Dib blinked and looked around, letting out a small chuckle when he felt a wet snout sniff his socks and bite his pants, it was a black Scottish Terrier with a glow in the dark leash, it was green with an address, phone number, and sticker saying he had a chip in case he would run off, on the dog's bone shaped collar tag it said: Concha.

"Oh, I'm relieved you got a hypoallergenic dog…" Dib said, ruffling its head and petting it, as Concha's tail wagged.

"Allergies?" Deacon asked.

"Yeah…" Dib replied, chuckling, "Cats mostly. Is Concha a boy or girl dog?"

"A boy, got him from the shelter," Deacon got up, snuffing his cigarette in an ashtray, "How's your leg?"

"Stings and hurts like a bitch if I try putting my foot down, but better I guess," Dib sighed, "I'm Dib, son of Professor Membrane."

Deacon paused briefly, "Ah, I heard of you; in fact I saw you, your sister, and your father during one of the medical science seminars. I know Professor Membrane is traditionally into energy but he's helped the medical science field as well. You were small then."

"Yeah...I grew up…" Dib said sitting down on the nearest chair as Concha sat on his lap, "I grew up too quickly."

"In a good way, or bad way?"

"I took the strongest antidepressants in the GetWL Pharma for kids by the time I was fifteen."

"Bad, I take it?"

"It was Hell," Dib sighed, stroking Concha's ear, "How do I put this...I wasn't very sexually active growing up, but getting irritated, easily tired, and feeling like I had no sense of excitement...it wasn't very much as an antidepressant as it was more, you know, wearing me down."

"Zoloft has that...sensation to youth."

Dib felt exhausted talking about his medical history, but he felt Deacon was probably studying or did help those in mental health as he did with healing physical wounds, but chemical imbalance in the brain ran a different law than just sticking an IV or wrapping, anything beyond that was controversial. Dib winced a little remembering the snake oils spoon fed to those in the downtown area, suggesting bleach was a cure all for mental health and disorders. Dib hoped that salesman would rot, he hated liars. "Dib, do you want me to call your father?" Deacon asked. Dib flushed.

"Oh, no, he's...he's busy...in fact he's on a World Tour to help make the sky clearer, and cleaner; last I sorta heard, he's in Iceland," Dib replied, shrugging his shoulders.

"Who do I call then to take you home?"

Dib felt heat rush to his cheeks, "My boyfriend, but I'll call him...can I borrow your smartphone?" Deacon looked sheepish at the request, "Oh, uh, right...do you have a flip phone?" Dib changed his suggestion and was given a slightly dusty flip phone that looked like it shouldn't work anymore due to age, but Dib managed to leave a text message to Zim; the buffering after pressing send felt like hours before it went through. Dib could only guess one of the trees near him was a Wi-Fi tree, thank fuck. Deacon suddenly slid over a small 24 capsule OTC painkiller, Dib could only stare at it before looking at him.

"It's only for temporary relief, but it's better than feeling like you shot down your leg," Deacon said, "When you get back home, I suggest you go to a real hospital in the morning. If this were back in an ER I would have your leg treated, but we're out in the woods."

"Do you think Z...um, my boyfriend will find me?" Dib was growing nervous, "Trees don't block signals out here, right?"

"It's not the trees you should be worried about."

Zim kicked Torque to the side like he was a large tuna flopping over, after throwing him out of the trunk of the Voot Cruiser; Torque had kissed the ground so hard that dirt slipped into his teeth. Torque coughed and spat, not enjoying the harsh treatment, although he deserved it; in the back of his mind, Torque felt like Dib seduced him by his confession, but Zim was breaking his wall of denial. "You're helping me find him," Zim commanded. He didn't expect Torque to be as cooperative as Chunk under minimal pressure, so Zim had to tighten the screws. Torque got up, holding his knees and catching his breath as he spat and coughed. Torque didn't feel like pulling his weight into the search efforts, he didn't want to be involved at all; in his petty little world he was cheated, Zim could read that, as he felt cheated too, losing Dib meant losing a part of himself. Zim threw a spare flashlight to Torque that he didn't bother catching at first, it fell with a thunk and rolled just a few meters. Torque let out an exasperated groan and knelt down the pick it up.

Torque turned it on as Zim started calling out Dib's name, hoping his voice would echo through the forest. Torque just watched on, irritated. "Maybe Mary is up in the trees with dah monkey's!" Gir exclaimed. Zim rolled his eyes.

"There are no monkey's in the forest, Gir," Zim retorted, "Just bears and raccoons and whatever fuzzy creature lives in this...leafy cave."

"There are monkey bears?!" Gir replied. Zim sighed.

"Yes...monkey bears…"

"MMMMMM-!" Gir squealed.

"Why is your dog talking?" Torque asked.

Zim rose an eyebrow, "He's a...unique breed of dog, " he replied. Torque didn't want to question more and he left it at that. Gir was in charge of looking after the Cruiser as Zim and Torque went through the woods, Zim also brought a virtual monitor of a map of the area, preferring it over the folded paper. "Let's see…" Zim murmured to himself looking over the map, "My satellite tells me there are some housing structures inside of here, and this little area here is the curve where you threw Dib. We best check that sleeping bag first before we start questioning people…"

"Zim, I have a question," Torque started.

Zim gave an annoyed glance, "I'm perfectly normal," he replied automatically.

"You used to bully and humiliated that crazy bighead loser yourself," Torque pointed out and Zim stopped walking, "Do you think you're any better than me by a long shot just because you fuck him sideways after school now? I bet you, you're just loving him because of how he pleases you.

Dib's always been such a slut to athletic types-"

"Don't make me reconsider not killing you," Zim snarled, "I'm not a meat head like you, who sees Dib in that fashion; trying to even compare me to you amounts to nothing. You're just having a bitch fit because I caught you red-handed, does that answer your question, or are just begging me to toss you off the curve?!"

Torque flinched, "Forget I said anything."

Zim let out a frustrated huff and continued following the coordinates on the map, moving his flashlight around as they arrived at the steep hill, with tattered clothes and garbage and bags left about as a garbage pit. There was leftover yellow tape that said: Police Warning Keep Out left on branches and stones, Zim sighed, he saw these kinds of tape on mystery and murder dramas, but stepping on the ground where bodies presumably were decomposed and swallowed by the air felt like trespassing on tainted ground. Zim nervously shifted the leaves, to see a bone in the dirt, after studying about earth life and anatomy...he came to the grim realization, that this bone was recent, but it was not an animals. "Cool, you found a bone," Torque said, "Wonder if there's a Licky Chicken nearby…" Zim felt like he was going to hurl.

"Yeah...sure…" Zim wheezed, "Don't touch it."

"Why?"

"That's not chicken, don't pick it up, leave it to your law enforcement," Zim answered as if he answered a business question, before noticing a green sleeping bag that was opened covered in leaves. Zim felt it and let out a big sigh of relief that Dib wasn't inside. "Good...Dib's not dead…" Zim said to himself.