Chapter 34: Aftermath

They were over the wall. Zim felt a great hope as he saw the first of Armistead's men swarm over the enemy positions. Armistead stood upon the wall and waved his hat on his sword as his men surged forward. He hopped down, and began leading his men onward. The blue-coated soldiers were retreating, and as Zim mounted the wall right behind his general, it seemed that the hill was theirs. He fired his pistol, killing a yankee, feeling only remorse for the poor man. Another union soldier began grappling with one of Armistead's men, and Zim shot him in the back, the guilt of such an act striking him like the bullet he had just fired.

"Take the cannons men!" General Armistead yelled. He reached out and grasped the wheel of one of the large guns. Suddenly the general jerked backward.

"General?" Zim cried out. Armistead gasped and took a step backwards. Zim could see a crimson stream of blood trickling from the commander's shoulder. "General Armistead!" He screamed. Another round hit Armistead, and the general grabbed the cannon and slumped to the ground. Zim Held Armistead and looked toward the fighting. A new group of yankee soldiers was coming up out of the trees, and the men of Armistead's brigade began to fall. Zim fired his revolver toward the line of blue troops. He fired again and again, tears running down his cheeks. As the last round left the gun, Zim was sobbing. It was over. The confederates were dying all around him, and the battle was lost. All was lost. General Lee's great army was destroyed, and the brave General Armistead lay dying in his arms. As an officer knelt beside the fallen commander, Zim seized a rifle with a long bayonet fixed to the end, and ran toward the line where the last of his comrades were fighting and falling.

…

Dib and Tak charged forward with the rest of the union soldiers, meeting the line of rebels head on. Dib swung his rifle like a club, and Tak thrust forward with her musket, using the bayonet like a spear. A rifle went off at close range, and a soldier fell right beside Dib. An enemy soldier prepared to skewer Dib with his bayonet, but a soldier behind him fired, and the rebel fell dead. The enemy was weakening, and there were fewer and fewer of them each second. A bayonet flashed striking toward Dib like a deadly viper, and Tak knocked it aside. Dib prepared to strike with the butt of his rifle, but stopped inches from his assailant's head. Tak grabbed the gun and looked into the eyes of the rebel soldier who had attacked, and her heart skipped a beat. Zim.

Zim had charged into the throng of confederate soldiers, and made for the first yankee he could find. The battle was lost, and there was nothing left for him but to die at the hands of the enemy. To die with honor fighting for his country. He plunged forward with his bayonet, but the weapon was knocked aside. A yankee raised his rifle. 'This is it.' Zim thought. 'Strike me, and at least try to kill me, you filthy blue-coated beast.' But there was no blow. Zim looked into the face of his enemy, and his eyes grew wide with disbelief.

"Dib…Tak?" He sputtered.

"Zim?" They asked in unison. For a moment, they all three stood staring. Zim dropped his rifle, and fell to his knees.

"You…you have no idea what I've seen…" Zim muttered. "Destroy me if you wish..."

"Zim…you bastard." Tak growled. She picked up a loaded pistol laying next to the hand of a dead officer, and coolly aimed it at Zim's head. She cocked the gun, and touched the trigger. Dib couldn't believe what he was seeing. He felt frozen there, watching with wide eyes as Tak pointed the muzzle of the gun at Zim's head. Zim stared up at her, his eyes full of pain and sadness. Tak lowered the pistol. She de-cocked it, and let it fall to the ground.

"No more killing." She whispered. Dib dropped his rifle, and the three of them drew close, feeling somewhat comforted just by each other's presences.

"It's…It's over, isn't it?" Zim asked. Dib looked out over the battlefield. The bodies of men in blue and grey littered the field like leaves in autumn. As far as the eye could see, the dead and wounded lay where they had fallen, and the living seemed to move in slow motion among them. An eerie silence now gripped the battlefield, and the smoke was lifting on the scene of sadness and destruction.

"Yeah…" Dib finally said. "It's over."

"And the Yankees won…" Zim spoke.

"Did anyone really win?" Dib replied. Tak nodded sadly. Zim looked downward. A tear fell from his face onto the dry dust. A slight breeze picked up, followed by a loud crack like lighting striking close by.

"What the…" Dib exclaimed. Everything went black for the three, and they felt themselves tumbling through a void, as if they had fallen off of a huge cliff. With a painful thud, they landed on the floor of Zim's base, beside the time machine. They lay motionless for a time, not out of pain or disorientation, but for another, deeper reason. Finally Zim sat up. He looked down at his body. His uniform was gone. In its stead, he was wearing his old Invader uniform. As they others finally began to compose themselves, they too noted that their uniforms and gear was missing.

"Ah…" Dib said sadly. Zim looked at him questioningly. "Well, it's obvious, isn't it?" He added somberly. "The uniforms we had…I guess through the passage of time, they aged as they would have naturally."

"Yes…yes, of course." Zim muttered.

"So…all we have are our memories." Tak added. "Wait though…how did we make it back to our time?" Zim rubbed the back of his neck nervously.

"Um…I had forgotten." They looked at him quizzically. "I put a three-day failsafe on the device."

"Zim, you idiot!" Tak sneered. She raised a hand to slug him. "Eh, whatever…" She sighed. Dib put his left arm around her shoulders, and they looked into each other's eyes a moment, then hugged each other tightly. Suddenly, there was a crash, and GIR materialized out of the air, and landed upside-down. His head popped open, and out flew a small chip, the behavioral chip Zim had installed.

"GIR!" Zim exclaimed happily. "I thought you were gone forever!"

"Awww…" The little robot said sadly. "That nice Taylor-Major guy was giving me pancakes." Zim smiled. GIR looked up at him. "Oh, and master, you know that nice man with the white beard that you liked sooooo much?"

"Yes, General Lee! What of him?" Zim asked.

"He was crying." GIR said. Zim's shoulders drooped. "He was saying he killed his own men. But I thought the Yankees killed all the confederate men." Tears filled Zim's eyes.

"Yes…thank you, GIR…" Zim said. "You can go…make waffles or…something."

"Yaaayyyy!" GIR shouted happily, before running off.

"I'm…I'm sorry, Zim." Dib said, putting a hand on Zim's shoulder.

"Yeah, me too." Tak added. Zim nodded forlornly.

"We must know!" He suddenly exclaimed.

"Know what?" Dib asked.

"We have to know what happened!" He stood. "Computer!"

"What?" The base computer's A.I. responded unenthusiastically.

"Bring up everything you have on the Civil War."

With that, the battle is over. But whatever became of General Armistead? Or Hancock? What will the three learn about the aftermath of the battle? Will they ever be the same? Patience my friends, much will be revealed in the next, fact-filled chapter! Until then, please send me your reviews. I'll try to get the next chapter or two up soon.