Chapter 3 Dreams

Zim sat in a dark room. No one was there besides him. How did I get here? He asked himself. A moment ago, he had been sleeping peacefully, now he was in this dark room. Something caught his eye. In his vision, we could see his life clock counting down. It was on 10 seconds. OH NO I MUST HAVE LOST MY PAK WHILE SLEEPING! He searched the dark floor frantically. He stopped when he heard a strange noise. Almost like laughing. 5 seconds. He turned around and saw the tallest. They had his PAK and were watching excited as his life drained away. 3 seconds. Zim jumped up to reach for his PAK but even though he was about the same height as them from being on Earth, he still couldn't reach it. 2 seconds. "NOOOOOOOOOO" Zim screamed, waking up.

Zim sat straight up on the couch. It was just a dream. I've never had a dream before…they're scary. He was breathing hard. He put a hand on his back to feel his PAK. It was still there like normal. Zim had been so tired from the night's occurrences that he had actually fallen asleep. Irkens didn't need to sleep because there PAK kept them up and running like a battery. But PAKs can only handle so much stress. Zim's PAK was still trying to heal his wounds so did not have the energy to keep him awake.

He looked around. It was about 3:00 am. Dib had gone back to bed. Zim sighed and settled down to sleep once again.

He woke up. It was very dark in the room. Darker than usual. Zim walked over to turn on the light but the light switch was broken. Hmmm that's odd. He thought. Suddenly something caught his eye. His life clock was counting down from a minute. He grabbed his back; his PAK was gone again. Something in the kitchen moved. Zim ran to the kitchen. The moon shined in through the window causing the figure's eyes to glow. In the figures hand, there was Zim's PAK. The figure smashed it on the ground and crushed it under his feet. Zim tried to move, but he felt like he was stuck to the ground. Lightning flashed outside, lighting up the room revealing the figure. Tak? Zim screamed.

"Zim wake up!" Dib yelled at Zim, shaking him. Zim open his eyes. It was morning. It was another dream… Zim looked around and saw that Dib was standing next to him. Zim was also covered in a soft blanket. Where did this come from?

"Sorry to wake you up, but you were screaming. Are you okay?" Dib asked.

Zim sighed, "Yeah…I'm fine." Zim broke off into a fit of coughing.

"Are you sure there isn't anything I can do to help?" Dib asked, wincing as Zim coughed.

"Yeah…I just need to rest; it will give my PAK time to heal my wounds." Zim answered in a raspy voice.

Zim tried to stand up, but his legs buckled underneath him and he fell back on the couch.

"Dang explosion." Zim said angrily.

"Wait, you can't walk?" Dib asked.

"ummm…no…The explosion flew me about a mile away. I landed in a tree. I had to drag myself here." Zim chuckled. "I think my leg is kinda broken, but it is healing."

Dib stared at Zim, "A mile away? Shouldn't you be dead?"

Zim laughed at Dib's expression. "You should see your face! Yeah, irkens are a superior race! We heal fast…" Zim broke off. His antennae twitched and he looked at the door.

"Someone's at the door."

Suddenly the front door opened.

"Oh shoot, DAD!" Dib screamed.

"I just came home to get one of my experiment files, I'll be right back." Prof. Membrane said walking down to his lab.

Once he was downstairs, Zim peaked over the couch. "Did he see me?" Zim whispered.

"No," Dib whispered, "But he might when he comes back. We got to get you out of sight."

Zim stood up but collapsed back on the couch again. "Firk, I can't. Broken leg, remember?"

"Hold on, I'll get you a cane or something." Dib said running up to his room.

Dib came back holding a weird looking stick and handed it over to Zim.

As soon as Zim touched the weird stick, it emitted a strange beeping sound, like a smoke alarm.

"SON, ARE YOU OKAY UP THERE?" Prof. Membrane yelled from his lab.

"I'M FINE DAD" Dib yelled pressing a button on the stick which turned it off. "Come on we don't have much time."

Zim limped upstairs and hid in Dib's closet. Dib shut the closet door just as his Dad walked in.

"I heard smoke alarms, is everything okay?"

"Yep Dad, everything is under control!" Dib said.

"Okay then, I'm going back to work…see ya later!" Prf. Membrane said as he left.

Dib opened the closet, releasing Zim.

"What on irk is this thing." Zim asked, limping out of the closet.

"It's an…alien tracker…hehe," Dib said, blushing. "It beeps when it gets close to an alien."

Zim sat on Dib's bed and rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you would have that Dib."

Dib sat down next to him. "Well, we have to figure out a disguise for you. We don't want my Dad finding out I'm hiding an alien."

Zim looked at his feet and gasped.

"What's wrong Zim?" Dib asked.

Zim picked up Gir's head that Dib had left there the night before.

"Oh yeah, I found him in a tree. That was all I could find of him though." Dib whispered.

Zim opened up Gir's head and took out a small chip which he stuffed in his pocket. (yes he has pockets now)

Then he set Gir's head back on the ground.

"I'll fix him when I get more parts."

"How? We don't have the advanced technology like Irk on Earth." Dib replied.

"I'm going back. I'm going to make those, irk awful, tallest pay."

"But how are you going to get there? You don't have a ship?" Dib said.

"What about Tak's ship?"

"Ummm…the thing is."

"You broke it didn't you?"

"NO…well kind of…I went out on a test drive but the controls are hard on that thing and it crashed. Into Lake Michigan actually…"

"Well isn't that perfect."

"HEY."

"Well your sister could fly that thing!"

"I know, but…I'm not that good with controls."

"Well, I don't know how on irk I'm going to get there…but I'll think of something."