Disclaimer: Invader Zim and related characters do not belong to me.

Warning: Contains death and torture themes.

Our Invaders

Chapter 2

"Gaz? Gaz wake up!" Dib hissed with a panicked tone. He clenched his teeth and looked around the dark room, fear gripping his heart with a clawed hand. "Gaz!" She didn't move. "God damn it!" There was a sick feeling in the back of this throat as he stared at seemingly lifeless form of his sister, chained to the wall and covered in dry blood. He wanted to be angry at her for speaking out like she did, for being so strong willed, but how could he? She had spoken against the demons when he himself had remained quiet, any thought of rebellion simply nonexistent in his mind.

"Gaz…" He sighed and stood up, still planning out the end details of his escape. He had managed to unlock his cuffs and collar soon after finding out they were similar in design to his own alien sleep cuffs and begun to plan out an escape plan with Gaz's help, unfortunately he had to make a few last minutes adjustments to the plan after he had found her.

Taken and tortured, she had fallen into a deep unconscious state before he could get to her. Sadly it was probably for the best, the escape would be much simpler and less of a hassle without someone else to worry about. He didn't want leave her, he wouldn't if he could have it his way, but he couldn't carry her unconscious body all the way to the outside with out being caught.

Staying low, he hid in the shadows of the filthy room, filthy with mucky black goo that had once been warm human blood. The 'doctors' as many of the captured had come to call them always left the labs for a half houre after each experiment, though Dib wasn't sure why, he wasn't complaining. This was the chance he had been waiting for. He had to leave Gaz behind or risk death, then what hope did anyone have?

The boy took a deep breath uttered his farewells to his sister leaning crooked and limp against the wall, then ran to the door at the far end of the room, keeping low and wincing as his scuffed boots made nasty squishing sounds against the floor. More and more questions filled his head as the took one last look at his prison, his home for what seemed like so long, and began inputting the code to open the door. He had not wasted time here, he had paid close attention to everything the aliens did, he had even gained a small amount of knowledge about the black spears they held.

The door buzzed confirmation and clanked open with a short screech of metal, wasting no time he sprinted down the spotless hall, curved and glowing an unearthly blue at the small splits in the black metal. His boots slipped but made no noise as he came to his first turn. Panting, his heart beating much too fast, he looked at the floor on each side. Just as Gaz had said, the doctors left murky black foot prints whenever they left, thankfully it hadn't been cleaned yet. He ran down the hall to the right, away from the foot prints and passed every door on the way, praying to whatever god that would listen that no soldiers came out while he ran.

Another turn, avoid the footprints and run, just run. A strange sweet smell lingered in the widening halls. The blue glow got brighter as overhead lights began appear, he let out a nervous chuckle as hope filled his racing heart.

A strange series of throaty clicks and violent hisses suddenly filled his ears and his eyes widened. He slid to a stop and stared in terror at the next intersection. Strange shadows appeared and as he listened, the quiet clanks of the guards footsteps grew closer. "No!" He hissed to himself. There was not were to hide, the walls were solid and there were no doors nearby. He could risk running back the way he came but there was no guarantee he would make it. He looked all around him searching for a small crevice, a duct, a trash chute anything! He suddenly gasped as he looked up, huge metal wires and tubes were exposed and crisscrossing just a few feet above him.

LEFT RIGHT LEFT RIGHT

Even secluded and side by side the two soldiers kept in step, marching to an unheard chant. They passed and left, taking no notice of the small form just above them. Dib nearly squealed in joy as the threat passed and quickly made his way down from the hot rubbery wires that were squeezing him against the unseen ceiling. Landing with little grace, he let a small smile form on his dirty face and sped off down another hall.

Minutes later he arrived to the end of his plan, which was really the part where he had stopped thinking it through. He was at the far end of a wide and long hallway with large doors that bore strange colored markings against a black background. He frowned in confusion as he passed each door, making sure to keep low and say in the shadows. They all seemed strangely quiet despite the wicked looking markings. One was green colored and bore a symbol that looked like a pointed 'U' within a square with the tips of the 'U' sticking out at the top. Another was glowing red and had a symbol of an 'X' with a crescent shape curved around the right side of it. Curious, Dib tiptoed over and reached out a hand to the marking.

"EEEEEEEEEEEEOOOOOOOOWWWWWWWW!" he screamed, then gasped and clamped his hand over his mouth. His eyes were wide and watering in pain as he stared down at his palm, gasping once more when he saw the entire bottom of his hand had been terribly burned and was beginning to bleed freely down his arm. His heart was beating insanely fast within his small chest as he ran down the hall at speeds he was sure would make his miserable past track coach cry with pride at.

"No…" already guards had gathered around the spot he had just stood and were searching franticly for the source of the noise. Dib gripped his burned hand in the other and continued running down the hall until he reached a round corner. He could only go left, but this was were he and Gaz had decided to meet if they got separated during the escape. Had she been there they would have gone down the only hallway they could until they reached a larger fire vent that was being repaired, but since she could not take part he could climb up a smaller vent placed directly above him. Dib ran to the wall and began climbing up the wires that were welded to it and reached for the duct.

"Veckat! Veckat!" A guard shouted from below.

"No! No go away!" Dib let out a shrill scream as soon as he grabbed the inside of the vent. The small space was heated like and oven and emitted an irritating gas-like smell, but he kept climbing. He glanced below him in the near complete darkness and found the only things he could see anymore were the bright purple and green eyes of the guards and the eerie blue glow from the tips of their spears. They weren't firing but instead mumbling amongst themselves in what Dib assumed was an argument. He tore his eyes away from theirs and kept climbing, his shirt beginning to singe at the edges and the soles of his boots slowly melting.

It seemed like forever in that dark space until he could no longer see or hear the aliens below him and a bright light had began to shine from somewhere above. He smiled to himself and nearly cried with joy, it was the sun!

His abused heart sunk when he grasped the metal grate at the top of the vent.

"No. No, no! I've come too far! Why didn't I plan for this? How could I have not guessed THERE WOULD BE BARS AT THE TOP OF THIS VENT!" He screamed and wailed in frustration, then stopped and starred into space as he recalled a brief conversation with his sister.

"Their might be a grate at the top of one of the vents so remember to take a quarter with you." Gaz instructed silently.

"Why a quarter?" Dib whispered back.

"So you can unscrew the bolts, stupid." She glared at him.

"Oh."

Dib face palmed and clenched his teeth. "I'm so stupid." Then he reached into his pocket, pulled out the quarter, and began unscrewing the bolts on the outside of the grate.

Authors Notes

I added a bit of Invader Zim humor at the end there, heh heh. I hope you liked this second chapter as much as you did the first, and don't be afraid to tell me where I need improvement.

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