Final chapter!

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Zim managed to pull away after the spith ate his hand. It had relaxed while digesting its meal, and Zim fell to the floor, cradling his bleeding stump. "It would grow back", he told himself, while he edged towards the wall. Now was his time to get away from the nightmare creature.

He burnt a hole in the wall, watching the Spith the entire time. It looked like it was asleep, but Zim decided not to take any chances, and silently climbed down the lift shaft. He winced when his spiderleg grated against the wall and produced a harsh metallic noise. He sighed when he made it to the bottom of the shaft. He could turn the power back on, and then... and then... and then he would do something. He would kill the creature, though he didn't quite know how to do that.

He felt his way along the wall towards the power controls. He found it, and scrabbled around on the surface for the on/off button. He found it a pressed it, waiting to hear the sounds of everything booting up and powering on. The faint hum of electricity in the walls. After five minutes of waiting nothing happened.

Zim pressed the button again. Still nothing. Maybe something was wrong with the machine. Zim bent down and opened the inspection hatch, cursing at the lack of light. He sighed, there was only one thing he could do. He opened his PAK and brought out a box of matches GIR had given him. He lit one and looked inside the inspection hatch.

There was the problem; some of the wires had been cut. It would just be a simple matter to join them back together using the equipment and spare wire he had in his PAK. He then dropped the match as it was starting to burn his fingers.

He lit another match, then came across a problem. He would need one hand to hold the match, and another hand to hold the wires together. That was his normal amount of hands, but it was currently one more than he actually had. His PAK arms weren't delicate enough to hold the wire, or the match. He would have to sacrifice his light, but he was sure he could do it in the dark. Why wouldn't he be able to? He was Zim, so he could do anything.

He put the match out, and grabbed a piece of wire. If he looked hard enough, he could see the end of one loose strand. He held the wire next to the loose end he was going to attach it to, then put on his welding goggles. It wouldn't do to be blind when the lights finally came back on. His soldering iron then came out of his PAK, and he was delighted to see that the glow from the end was bright enough for him to be able to join the loose ends together accurately.

It was then a relatively quick and easy job to fix the machine. When it was done, Zim jumped up and happily slammed down the button. After a few minutes he heard a humming in the walls, and a few minutes after that the lights flickered back on.

Zim leaned against the control panel when the lights came on. Now he could see, all he had to do was try and find out how to kill that creature up in the hallway above him. He looked down at the floor and winced. There was a lot of green blood leading in a path from the hole he had made in the wall to where he was now. He looked down at his hand and winced. THis was the first time he had seen it, and though it was a clean cut, it still wasn't good to be able to see your own bones, nerves, veins, arteries, dermal layer... Zim ran over to a corner and vomited, then ripped a piece of lining from his shirt and used it to wrap over the wound, just so he wouldn't have to see it again. 'Computer.' He ordered hoarsly, 'clean that mess up.' A bucket came down from the ceiling but Zim didn't stop to watch.

He went back to the control panel and sat down in front of it, leaning his back against it. WHat killed those creatures, the Spith?

He tried to remember back to the tales whispered during free time when he was a smeet under Irk, and the threats yelled at him by higher ranking soldiers. From what he remembered they came out at night, and during the day they stayed in the shadows. A training captain had actually tied him up outside one night, just to teach him a lesson. It had been scary, but their hadn't been any Spith. There was also something about light in the stories. Wasn't it a smeet story that once-upon-a-time a little boy had killed one using a magnifying glass? Maybe he could kill it using a magnifying glass. But there was something else, too. A magnifying glass and...

Trying to remember was too hard. He'd just go and shoot it with the strongest laser he had.

-----

AFter Zim made the computer promise not to let anyone into the power core room (except for Zim, of course), he went up to weapons storage. He had to find the biggest laser he had. He remembered it being around there somewhere, in his locked cabinet.

He opened the cabinet door and looked in. There, at the very top, was his gun. It was almost as big as he was, and just a bit thinner than the thinnest part of his waist. He used his spider legs to reach up to the top to grab it, then held it very carefully. He then lowered himself to the floor and stroked it lovingly. The others at the academy had laughed when he got it, and said he was overcompensating because he was so short. He had ignored them and put a hole the size of a voot cruiser in the roof. They didn't laugh at his gun after that.

After Zim had stopped reminiscing about the past he set the levels. WIdest field of damage, highest damage. This would kill anything that got in his way, especially some shadow crawling myth beast.

'Computer!' he shouted, 'where is the Spith creature?'

'Spith is heading towards the power core. I will keep him out for as long as I can.'

'Good.' Zim said. He went to the lift. 'Take me down to him.' The computer followed his instructions and carried Zim and his laser down to meet the Spith.

-----

The door opened upp to an empty hall. Zim poked his head out and looked around. THe creature didn't seem to be there at all.

He left the lift and walked a few steps along the corridor. Where was that blob? 'Spith.' He shouted, 'Come here.'

He took a few more steps along the corridor, then turned around quickly. He had thought he was being followed, but there was nothing there. He held the gun up higher, and started walking backwards. He heard a slight noise behind him, so turned around and fired. All he managed to do with that was melt the walls.

'Where are you, Spith?' He called, taking a step backwards. He frowned; the piece of floor felt less level than the other parts. He then put the thought aside and took another step back. When he tried to take the third step he found that his foot wouldn't move. It seemed stuck. He looked down and saw that his boot was covered in a grey material. 'Spith.' He whispered.

He aimed his gun down and made the field of damage smaller, more precise. Then he fired just to the left of his boot. Nothing. He fired to the right of his boot. still nothing. He turned around and fired at the back of his boot. THis caused the Spith to emit a scream of pain, and leap further up Zims leg.

Zim stopped. If he shot the Spith, he would also be shooting his own foot, but if he didn't, it would eat him, or save him to be eaten later. Zim took a deep breath. There was only one thing he could do. He aimed downwards and shot his own foot off.

As Zim fell back with a scream of pain, he notoced he was blocked off by the wail emitted by the spith. He must have killed it. It wasn't there anymore; there was only a blackened piece of foot. He shook his leg to dislodge the rest of the creature, and it fell off into a heap on the ground.

'Computer.' Zim ordered, somewhat breathlessly, 'clean up the remains of it, and place it into a chicken cannon. Then take me to the infirmary.'

'Yes, sir.' The computer ordered, taking out a dustpan and brush and sweeping up the part of it that fell off Zims leg. Zim nodded and the computer sucked Zim up into a tube.

Then the computer sighed. It was easy enough cleaning off that part, but what about the rest of the corridor? It was coated in the creature.

'And computer!' Zim shouted from the infirmary, 'finish the assignment that I had to do. I want it to get me a B grade!'

Computer sighed again. He could clean off Torque easily enough, given time, but getting a B grade in Miss Bitters class would be impossible.