Chapter 3
Your Mission, Should You Choose to Accept It . . .
Zim stared at Bienvido as if waiting for the punchline. When he realized it was no joke Zim couldn't help but laugh. "I'm saving the world? I can barely survive on my own. I have a headache right now, and I'm afraid it might be a tumor."
"It's not a tumor," Bienvido said. "It's your spiritual awakening. This is a necessary pain, and it will lead to the salvation of the human race."
Zim scratched his head. "I don't follow."
"You don't need to. Not yet. I have instructions for you. Do you have a pen and paper?"
"I'll remember it." But not really, he failed to mention. The limit of his intentions was to get this guy out the door so he could go back to sleep, or maybe play some Mega Man on his phone.
"You must write it down," Bienvido said. "The fate of the world depends on this."
"All right, hold on." Zim dropped the cereal bowl off in the sink. He found a marker board on the fridge. "Shoot."
"There is a karaoke show tonight at Tailgators. It begins at about nine. You must be there no later than ten o'clock. You will meet a gentleman by the name of Lorne. It is very important that you approach him. You will need to sing for him. He will then receive a vision of you saving the world. He is green with red eyes and horns. He will be well dressed, and he will probably be drinking a martini. A gin martini, not one of those phony vodka martinis."
Zim wrote some of this down. No one but him would ever be able to read this, and even he would have a difficult time with it. "Then what?"
"Follow his lead. He will have a few friends with him. They are to be implicitly trusted, do you understand?"
"Sure." Zim dropped the marker board on the counter and looked back up at the stranger. There was a weird puddle at his feet, and Zim wondered if the guy had pissed himself and the rug. If Fitz saw that, he'd lose a gasket. "Look, you gotta get out of here."
Bienvido looked down to follow Zim's gaze. When he saw the dark puddle he screamed and tried to jump away.
No such luck. The puddle moved and grabbed him by the ankles, dragging him back. Shadowy tendrils shot out and grabbed Bienvido's arms and pulled him to the ground.
"Help!" he screamed. "God, it burns!"
Zim stared at him, wondering if maybe he had actually fallen asleep after Brandon left. He decided to sit this out, just to see what happened. While Bienvido writhed in pain Zim grabbed a Diet Coke from the fridge and watched.
There was a tearing sound, and Bienvido's screams stopped. His body came apart, and the pieces were wrapped up in the puddle. The darkness dissipated, and the parts were gone.
Zim pinched himself and yelped. So it hadn't been a dream. Which left only one explanation: he was suffering from the DT's. He didn't think he drank that much, but he could think of nothing else. There wasn't so much as a blood stain on the carpet. No evidence of Bienvido remained.
Then again, there were no other hallucinations. No bugs on the wall or under his skin. He made a mental note to call Bruni, who would probably know a thing or two about the DT's.
He knew he'd forget, though, so he erased the marker board and replaced Bienvido's message with a reminder to call Bruni later, when he knew his friend was no longer at work. With this done he sat down on the couch and turned on the TV, hoping to find something good to watch. By the time he realized that nothing was on, he'd completely forgotten about Bienvido. He'd forgotten that he was supposed to be the world's savior.
He did pick his nose, though.
