Chapter Five
Torque shined his flashlight on the empty sleeping bag, and looked at the hill from the railing where he and Chunk had tossed Dib. Dib must've had the most hardcore angels looking out for his ass or he had dumb luck, Torque noticed leftover bark stuck out like spikes and black trash bags being split open. Zim noticed his observation, if he did attempt to murder Dib, Torque had a lousy arm. "Your aim just sucks…" Zim said bluntly, "Be glad it did, I wasn't kidding about keeping you alive and having you maimed," Zim had added in a threatening tone. Torque let out an exasperated groan, his feelings being pulled in two different directions like it was on a rack and Zim was pulling them both with no consideration he might snap.
"You're kinda pushing it," Torque seethed. Zim just gave an expression of indifference, tired of reminding the jock that doing such behavior was petty and stupid. Zim reminded himself he was like this in the past, but since Dib had put up the white flag early after SasquatchET's accident, it only made it much harder to ignore that Zim was preaching to an empty choir.
"You're a big fucking whiner," Zim retorted, "Human worm pig."
Torque was getting frustrated with the backtalk. Zim was always like this, not to this extent; Torque was now wishing he was just a screeching little pest and not some bad boy who shut him down at every turn. Zim noticed the blood trail amongst the forest floor before it disappeared into the leafy carpet. Zim gestured him to follow, and Torque tagged from behind. They managed to reach one of the lodges until Zim felt his phone go off, it let out a synth electronic jingle. Zim pulled it out to find a number he didn't recognize:
its me dib
at dr deacons lodge
cabin 5144
leg is hurt ambulance asap
pls b careful in the woods there is a$ $#!
error20.2## $$!?#$$ ## $?.777?!
error. . .error
Zim rose an eyebrow at garbled mess, usually an indication of some sort of interference. Zim let out a startled yelp when Torque placed a palm to Zim's shoulder to get a good look at the phone message, "Whoa, that's not normal," Torque commented. Zim put his phone back in his pocket.
"What do you think it is?" Zim asked.
"Buffering glitch?" Torque shrugged.
Zim gave a look whether Torque was pulling his leg or being sincere was hard to tell. "I've had connection problems where text gets eaten or the conversation slows down but it was never like this. Nothing is wrong with my phone either," Zim said examining it. Torque rolled his eyes, not knowing how else to answer.
"Well, at least we now know where Dib is...I'm leaving," Torque said.
"Are you seriously considering going out into the pitch dark forest without a flashlight?!"
Torque shrugged again, "I got my phone," he replied.
Zim was flabbergasted, no signal and just a measly phone light could only last for so long in such a place. Zim started watching cheesy horror movies during the weekends with Dib and he had seen this scenario in similar berry ketchup blood death scenes, but Zim knew by now, you didn't have to watch horror films to know this was a bad idea; either you were walking blindly in the darkness, hitting into trees and stepping on traps, or at worst being caught in something's gaze that wasn't friendly. Zim felt conflicted watching Torque trying to follow the road he could barely see. He wanted to let Torque go, at the same time, he wanted Torque to feel extra humiliation, but Dib came first through Zim's mind first; Dib was at least okay despite his rough fall. "I'll just deal with you later!" Zim called but Torque ignored him as if he wasn't there at all. Fine by me, Zim thought, get caught in a bear trap while you're at it.
Deacon was surprised by Zim's visit, mostly surprised by Zim's odd appearance. Dib made no effort to point out he was an alien, as the old "It's a skin condition" rose from its grave and settled the old doctor down while Concha sniffed at Zim's knees and pawing at his uniform looking for treats. "Concha, it's getting late," Dib said chuckling at Concha's eagerness around Zim, "Doggies need sleep too."
"I thought pet dander made you get an allergic reaction-stop sniffing Zim's butt, dog beast!" Concha just barked and walked around circles around Zim, "No pissing!" Zim yelled when the terrier rode up it's hind leg. He moved aside and Concha left to his water bowl.
"Scottish terriers are hypoallergenic, so I won't break out again," Dib explained, "Uh, Concha is a sweet boy, really."
"Then why did he try to pee on Zim?!"
"I guess he likes you."
"Bleh…" Zim gagged.
Deacon walked over, observing Zim and handing him an address, "Here, get Dib to the nearest hospital. That leg of his isn't going to last long without treatment, there's still time until then…" he replied, Zim almost snatched the paper and read it over before Deacon poked his shoulder with the look of concern on his face, "Did you come alone?" Deacon said, Zim paused, his eyes shifting. Dib had a clear feeling who was brought along.
"You brought Torque?" Dib asked, it sounded more of a demand than a question. Zim winced.
"I forced him to come along…" Zim replied, "I wanted to get back at him for attempting to murder you."
Dib was slack jawed for a moment before rubbing his forehead; of course Zim would go extremely far for revenge whether it was over something small or not. Deacon briefly looked outside his window before looking back at Zim, closing the curtains, "Where is he now?"
"He left."
"He left?"
"He just wanted to leave after knowing where Dib was, and knowing he was alive…" Zim said sounding irritated by Torque's ditching, "He followed that road not far from this cabin with just his freaking phone to use as a flashlight." Deacon paled.
"Oh goddammit," It was the first time Dib had heard Deacon swear since he was rescued, Dib jumped a little at it, not expecting the kindly doctor to lose his calm demeanor, "That stretching of road leads to nowhere but an old barn...ain't nothing beyond that. That signal going to your phones? Can't go that far, the trees block the signal the farther you are; but that...that ain't the worst of it." Zim rose an eyebrow and looked at Dib.
"What's this old guy yapping on about?" He said, annoyed.
"Um, you're not going to believe me, Zim, but...uh…" Dib started.
"You boys went to Robin Hill? Correct?" Deacon interrupted, directing his question to Zim who just nodded, "There's two of them, one on the hill not far from the city, and the other is here in the road that leads to the deeper part of the forest; something is out there, that came from these farms...I don't know what, but they tamper with electronics."
Zim looked furious, "There are monsters out here too?!" he yelled, "Ah, for fucks sake! This means I have to go out and look for that stupid meat sack!"
"Since when did you care about Torque?" Dib asked.
"I don't! I just need his body preserved so I can experiment on him!"
Dib rolled his eyes, he saw that coming a mile away. "Oh, yes...of course, he's your new guinea pig. Did Nick die?"
"Don't use that tone on me, Dib!"
Dib just dismissively waved him off before deciding to speak, "So, what now Zim?" he asked, not expecting a direct answer. Zim checked his phone, they would need to head back to the cruiser soon; he needed to park in a secluded area not far from the hospital and then take Dib home after. If Zim didn't save Torque, he would never hear the end of it. Dib was much too kind hearted even to those that wanted him dead, but Dib wasn't going to get the medical treatment he needed here.
"You're coming with me, while I find that muscle head," Zim said, "I would have you wait with Gir at the Voot Cruiser but...you're safe with me." Dib followed Zim out, taking a couple of pain pills with water, before saying goodbye to Deacon and Concha. Zim held Dib close as he retraced his steps, following the same road Torque took lead them down a hill and onto another sets of road where leftovers from campers were thrown onto the ground. They both stayed quiet, having a deep fear any sudden noises could awaken an animal. Dib kept leaning on him, Zim was his only barrier for safety when his leg was hurt, and despite taking nausea medicine; Dib sometimes took a break to vomit into a bush or behind the tree.
"What the fuck Torque give you to make you this nauseous?!" Zim hissed.
"Some...some pill…" Dib wheezed.
"And here I am, having to save him. We should just have the monster eat him and call it a night," Zim felt awkward when Dib didn't give his regular dry humored reply, "Gah, you'll be okay, just drink more water."
"If I drink anymore I'm gonna piss…" Dib breathed, "I'd rather not pee in a creepy woodlands like this."
Zim chuckled, "I thought you did that often."
"Gee, how funny, I'll write that down when I can walk again."
"You really are grumpy tonight."
The conversation ended at that. Zim shined his flashlight to the muddy ground recognizing it as Torque's footprints. That muscle brain, Zim thought annoyed, did he really think there was going to be a road to the city from here?! Dib soon helped Zim find a barn in the forest, it wasn't the one Deacon had mentioned but it was a place to look, or Dib had became tired from walking with his bad leg and needed a break. Zim broke the front door handle and opened it, there wasn't any light source but the exhausted look on Dib's face just told Zim that this was the best option out of it. Zim dusted a leftover couch and laid him on it. "M' tired…" Dib could barely speak, it came out as a weak mumble.
Human bodies ran on clocks, Zim remembered something about that, they would reach a certain hour and their bodies gave in to sleep; Dib was a long way away from a hospital bed, and Zim figured homesickness didn't help. Zim really didn't want to leave Dib on his own, but he didn't want Torque to leave, if Torque was also resting here in the first place. Zim had seen horror movies with Gir, separating the party led to bad things, but those were just movies with dense protagonist weren't they? He sighed, releasing a blanket from his PAK for emergencies and wrapped it around Dib, tucking him in. Dib was half awake but could read Zim's pained expression.
"You're leaving?"
Zim winced, "I won't be leaving you. I need to look around the house for your idiot school bully and take you to the ER."
"You're right…" Dib murmured weakly, "Sorry, just thinking about…"
"Can we please save the pleasantries for later, Dib?" Zim laid him down again, and left a hasty kiss on his cheek, before picking up his flashlight to scan the darkness. The house section was run down to the point the floor was sagging from the wood, whenever Zim stepped on the unstable flooring it threatened to swallow and catch his leg. Zim felt more relieved Dib wasn't with him, barely any signal and with a bad leg...he didn't want to think about it. Zim decided to take his chances upstairs and not the barn itself, Torque was a pig to him, but he was still human. He opened each door, inspecting each one, even checking the closet and dirty bathroom tub. "Torque's not even here," Zim grumbled. He noticed a door leading up to an attic and sighed, he wanted to finish combing the area and move on. Zim turned the knob and peeked in, only for his eyes to widen that the stairs weren't pointing upwards but downwards to another floor section.
This...made no sense in the house's mapping; if this barn had a basement in back Zim would have traced it back to that, but he examined outside the windows and no basement door was indicated. Zim could only tell himself this was possibly storage, it just had to be a storage room, but the way below was too stretched out. Zim was arguing with himself mentally on whether to bring Dib over or not. Was this dimension that this barn presented itself was patiently waiting like a Venus fly trap?
Zim decided to do some experimenting before moving forward, he pulled out a tennis ball from his PAK and threw it down the stairs, nervously listening to each bounce against the wooden stairs. One...two...wait, how long did this go?
Zim soon heard the ball rolling to a stop, but it was too dark to see how far it went. He felt his body tense up when he heard the sound of wood creaking loudly from below, large footsteps echoed and they were getting closer. Zim slammed the door out of panic, and ran downstairs to Dib, he just picked him up in a bridal carry while being wrapped in the blanket and ran out the front door without even glancing back.
"Zim, what the fuck?!" Dib exclaimed, confused by the reaction, "Did you find T—"
"Trust me on this Dib, that was not Torque, and I don't give a rats ass what it is I found in that creepy house!"
Zim followed the road, while carrying Dib, allowing the other to borrow the flashlight. Dib sighed tiredly, rubbing his eyes, "Zim...I know this isn't exactly the right moment but what did you see?" Even though Zim got out of dodge before he could steal a glance, he kept himself tight lipped. Dib's curiosity of the paranormal was his death sentence in this place.
"Nothing you should worry about. Dib, you got better eyes than I do, do you see anything?"
Dib moved the light to the ground and observed the trees around them, "Ah, isn't that Smackey's converse shoe? It's leading up that road with a fence," Dib noticed the sign in to distance, "It says do not enter."
"Again, something you do on your silly bigfeets chases, always ignoring warnings."
"I don't...okay, sometimes," Dib grumbled, "Put me down, I can walk."
Zim shook his head, "You're in my arms for good reason," he said now tracking Torque's prints into the fenced area. Their eyes widened as they noticed the Robin Hill farm in the forest, looked exactly like the one on the hill not far from the city; even the sign on the metal gate said: NO TRESSPISSING. "Ohh, fuck this already!"
"No way...these two are nearly identical," Dib said, "This...this is just a coincidence; one big coincidence!"
"What kind of coincidences have you experienced with two barns from two separate areas looking like they mirror each other?!" Zim snapped, flabbergasted.
"Okay, maybe not locations per se, but there has been really weird occurrences of people almost living a similar life, looking exactly the same and having a mirrored life."
"Can it work on locations or not?"
Dib sighed, "It's a...difficult subject to discuss. The Swollen Eyeballs Network has yet to confirm whether it's supernatural or not, but yes, there can be locations that look the same to a T; but I never saw a case like this."
"So, what do you think?"
"Pocket dimensions?"
Zim shook his head giving a slight chuckle, he carried Dib into the farm; and they both noticed Torque's trail leading inside the farms doors, and not the house. Zim reluctantly put Dib down and used his phone light to see any details. Torque's prints mixed in with other footprints, and messy hand prints coated the dirt.
"I don't like the way this looks, Dib…" Zim said nervously.
"I-is it bad?" Dib asked, "Did a forest animal get him?"
"These look human; at least I think I think they're human."
Dib hesitantly walked over and looked over the prints himself. He and Zim exchanged glances but they both came to a similar conclusion, this had to be foul play, or at worst a kidnapping. They didn't want to think; anything other worldly was at play here. They were together in the forest with a looming darkness, and it was hard to tell if dawn was in the distance with the grays and browns mixed into a confusing blobs.
It was normal for animals to hide, but the same could be said about the humans who hide in these woods dragging anyone in like a boogeyman; to Dib these woods meant more than that...anything was hiding within, and the unknown made him slightly paranoid in this vulnerable position.