The Haunted Haunt Chapter Six
(In all my years of writing this is the first time I attempted a fight scene. I had no idea they were so difficult to do and I think I did an ok job.)
"YOU!"
Dib didn't realize how much hate could be put into a single word until he heard Zim utter it. He also realized he was in a lot of trouble!
"N-now Zim." He stuttered as he tried to back away from the furious alien and stumbling over the pile of rotted boards and plaster. "You said you w-wanted ghosts! I was just…just trying to help, th-that's all!"
"SILENCE!" Zim roared. He reared up on the robot legs until he was towering over Dib. "You think you could frighten the MIGHTY ZIM with YOUR SILLY HUMAN TRICKS! "
"Heh, it-it was all in fun, Zim! Y'know…an earth joke?" Dib still scrabbled back, blinking as Zim's palm light shone straight into his face.
"FUN! I'LL SHOW –YOU- WHAT'S FUN FOR AN INVADER! YOUR DESTRUCTION!"
Dib made out the movement of one of the robot legs coming straight for him and he threw himself to one side just in time. Else he would have been pinned to the floor like a butterfly in an entomologist's collection.
"N-now take it easy, Zim. We humans would PAY for an experience like that! Oof. You got it all for free! Think about…umph..that!" Not only was Dib trying to avoid the pile of decaying wood and plaster but he found himself getting tangled up in the wiring of his own controls. "N-no need to get all…excited! YEOW!"
A near miss, Zim's sharp robot leg had stabbed into the lapels of his coat. Dib tore it free and then flung himself out of the storage room into the old lobby. Zim quickly followed, the legs held at the ready for another strike.
"PAY? WE INVADERS DO NOT PAY FOR ANYTHING! WE TAKE!" Another stab, another miss. "BUT YOU WILL PAY! YES AND PAY DEARLY! WITH YOUR LIFE!"
Dib reached out and found a railing that had fallen from the stairs. He held it out like a baseball bat at home plate. "Then C'MON!" he shouted back. "YOU WANT MY LIFE? TRY AND TAKE IT!"
When the leg stabbed down again the boy whacked it with as much strength as he could manage. The railing split in two but it did manage to catch the leg on a weak spot and gave it a severe dent. Zim's eyes narrowed and he retrieved the legs back into his Pak.
"No, it would be so much more fun to deal with you hand to hand." he growled. "Then you can be a REAL ghost, to join your FALSE ONES!"
"Not if you get there first, alien scum!" Dib panted, his own fists up and at the ready. "I'll break your scrawny neck!"
"My neck is NOT scrawny! I shall BREAK YOUR HUGE BIG HEAD!"
The two beings then flung themselves at each other, punching, kicking, clawing, and biting. The dust of the old house was stirred up in such dense clouds that when Dib had managed to kick Zim off he could hardly make out where the alien had landed. The only light source now was the dim light he had tucked in the storage room.
A fit of coughing and spitting told him Zim was to his left and Dib reached out for any kind of weapon he could find. It was only a chunk of plaster but when he saw Zim's face suddenly lunge towards him through the dense cloud he held it up and swung out, aiming at the red eyes.
"AUUGHH!" More choking and spitting told him he had hit it right in Zim's mouth. "YOU'LL…ugh….PAY FOR THAT, HUMAN DIRTBALL! Pffft!"
Dib slowly got to his feet and spat out some dust himself. He set his glasses back on his face and noticed that one lens had been cracked. Ruefully he wondered how he was going to explain two pairs of broken glasses in one day to his dad. He also felt a trickle of warm blood from the corner of his mouth. So, the alien had drawn first blood, has he? Well, he won't be the only one bleeding soon!
Zim staggered into the slight glow of the storage room lights and Dib noted with no little satisfaction that he too, was cut and bleeding. One of the ruby red eyes was swelling up around its edges as well. They eyed each other for a moment, sizing up each other's damage and deciding what the next plan of attack would be.
"Filthy human!" Zim hissed loudly. "You think you can fool an Invader with your stupid ghost tricks? HAH!"
"Well, I did, didn't I?" Dib shot back. "Admit it, Zim! You were scared stiff! If you had a heart you probably would be lying up in that ball room dead from a cardiac arrest! Or at the very least wet yourself!"
Zim snarled and again the two leapt forward in a killing spree. Dib received several scratches on his face and neck before he remembered Zim's gloves hid rather vicious claws. Grabbing both of the alien's hands he swiftly delivered a couple of kicks into the Irken's midsection that would make a mule proud before they broke off once more.
They stood bent over, panting and glaring at each other. "I shall…I shall dissolve your…disgusting meat body….in acid and then….use your bones….as a coffee table!" Zim rubbed his belly but he still spat out hatred in his threats. "I shall…shall then use... your big head as….as a snack bowl!"
"Oh…oh yeah?" Dib retorted back, trying to get his saliva glands working enough to clear his throat of the dirt. "Well, I'M gonna…stuff you….and have you …on display….in a glass case…..next to….Bigfoot! Then I'll…charge tickets…to have anybody who ….wants to…come stroll through…your base to see…what a failed alien…you are! …were….whatever."
Again they clashed but after just a few blows they separated once more, gasping for breath. It was difficult to fight in a place where not only was it dark but dusty and rickety as well. Zim gave a quick glance down and noted angrily that his palm light had been lost in the scuffles. Yet another reason to smash this puny human to a pulp.
Dib's glasses were coming off the worse for wear, only one lens remained. His coat was torn and blood seeped through his tattered shirt. Zim's tunic was also torn and the boy gave a satisfied smile when he noted it was also stained with whatever passed for Irken blood. "Does it really….take so long…for a 'superior' species…to dispose of…a human?" he gasped. He felt something loose in his mouth and spat out a tooth. At least the blood helped clear some of the dirt out.
"I'm just….drawing it out…for the sport of it…filthy human…pig stink!" Zim wheezed. His left eye was almost swollen shut by now. "But I WILL…I WILL…finish you!"
They were just about to gather the strength to lash out again when they heard a low evil chuckling echoing all about them. "HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
They both froze, looking up in astonishment. Zim then snorted.
"Stop it, Dib-dirt. I'm…not falling…for that again."
Dib didn't move, but kept staring up and around. "Whu…what?"
The deep chuckle came again. "HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH! HOW SWEET! FRESH MEAT!" It was almost a purr, a loud resounding purr that seemed to vibrate right through their bodies.
"STOP IT, HUMAN WASTE PILE!"Zim snarled.
"I didn't….I didn't record that…" Dib said faintly. "And…I'm not in the control area…."
They both slowly looked to the hidden place with the control panels and switches. It was, of course, empty.
It was a few moments before Zim said slowly, "Then, if it isn't you doing that, who is?"
"I…don't know." Dib answered, rather faintly.
"HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH. YOU DON'T KNOW?" The voice, low and powerful, gloated. "I THOUGHT YOU KNEW. AFTER ALL, WHAT DID YOU COME LOOKING FOR?"
"Ahhhh…..nothing!" Dib began backing away carefully, trying to remember just where the door was in the lobby. "Just…y'know…heh heh…nothing!"
Zim was also seeking the exit, moving as slowly back as Dib. "Nothing here too! I…wasn't looking….for ghosts! I was looking….for…some..…some souvenirs! Yes!" He reached down and snatched up the half of railing that Dib had broken on his robot leg. "And I have one. Now. Thanks."
"OH REALLLLLLLYYYYYYYYYYYY." The deep voice surrounded them, entered them and made their organs quiver uncomfortably. "IS THAT ALLLLLLLLLLL?"
"Ah..yeah! That's..that's it, all right!" Dib picked up a small chunk of plaster. "This place…it-it's a part of the past…y'know! Just…just wanted to….keep a piece of…history. See? Th-that's all!"
"HISSSSSSSTTTTOOOOOORRRYYYYYYY," Both human and alien winced at the volume. "WOULDN'T YOU RATHER BE A PART OF IT INSTEAD? HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH HEH!"
"Uh…no!" Dib broke first and bolted for the door, or at least where he remembered it would be. Zim was right behind him and they both scrabbled for the handle.
"Where's your stupid light? Use it!" Dib hissed between his teeth.
"You made me drop it!" Zim hissed back. "Open this zargraphin' door, will you?"
Somehow they managed to grab the handle and wrench the heavy door open, almost off its hinges. Seconds later they managed to race down the steps, the pathway and the hill without breaking either their necks or their limbs. At the bottom they split off but didn't slow down one fraction until they reached the safety of their own homes.
Dib burst in his front door and then slunk down it, gasping for breath. His glasses had been lost in the final rush but he didn't care to go out again to look for them. After he had regained enough strength to manage to stay upright he staggered into his bathroom to clean up.
Zim also burst in his house and also sagged to the floor in relief. Gir looked at him in surprise. "Awwwww, poor master's got owies!"
Zim just grunted, not wanting to bother using the energy to even give a reply. Gir was also silent for a moment, then he said brightly "I fix!"
Leaving the living room humming happily he soon returned with….duct tape and waffles. Zim didn't have the strength to protest as the little robot began to cheerfully treat his master by bandaging him with the unorthodox items.
Gaz gave her brother a long look when he came into the kitchen for breakfast the next day. "What happened to you? Get stuck in a bag full of cats?"
"I dunno. Maybe. Yeah." was his dull reply. He didn't offer any other explanation but ate his breakfast silently. The only time he made any other noise was when he winced on a couple of bites.
At skool the usual banter and challenging stares between Zim and Dib in the classroom was remarkably missing. The other kids glanced at them both, wondering what had happened that made them in such a rather disheveled state and so quiet. Dib kept holding his jaw with one hand as he wrote his work out and Zim used his free hand to constantly rub at his left eye. (The contact was having trouble staying on because of the swelling.) There was none of the alien accusations from Dib and Zim didn't even utter one single yell of protest when Ms Bitters gave him the extra chore of dusting the eraser boards.
It was almost creepy.
During the lunch recess period Zim stood once more at the fence line. To his surprise Dib joined him, although about ten feet apart. They were silent for a moment or so. Then.
"So." Zim grunted.
"Yeah," Dib answered in the same tone.
"If it –wasn't- you," Zim stated slowly. "Then who, or what was it?"
"I don't know." Dib's answer was also slow. "I can't think of any logical explanation."
"Was it a real ghost then?"
"I guess so."
Before anything else could be uttered Gail and her party once more made their way to the benches. Giggling happily, they turned their attention to the book, begging her to read more of the tale. Gail obliged them.
"Once more the haunted cries of the ghost came to her tormented ears. In the next second she was sure it would find her and drag her from her hiding place! And then!"
Zim turned a few shades paler green and slowly backed down and away from the story. Dib did likewise, his own face color draining away a bit. They made their way down to the benches where Gaz sat with her most recent game.
She looked up in annoyance. "Now what's the matter with you two? You look like you've seen a ghost!"
"Don't say that!" Dib hissed through his teeth and Zim nodded vigorously.
"Yes, Dib-worm-sibling! Do not say that!"
"Whatever." Gaz shrugged and turned her attention back to her game. Out of the corner of her eye she watched the two wander about the playground, anywhere to get out of earshot of the ghost tale being recited. She smiled a slow smile.
From her pocket she took a small object. With a quick flick it shone bright and clear and with another flick she turned it off. It was Zim's palm light. "This is pretty cool," she murmured. She glanced back up at the retreating backs of her brother and the alien, then shook her head in disgust.
"Boys!" she snorted. And she went back to her game.
~ finis ~