Decay
Chapter #5: External Complications.
The pain was great. So great that I blacked out at the guardhouse gates for what had to have been an hour. When I came to I saw him. "Y-you." I said.
He said nothing, but lifted me in a fireman's carry, which I doubted was difficult, considering his stature in comparison to mine. I stared at the sidewalk as I felt my blood seep onto his coat from my wound. I was delirious, rambling nonsense and weakly pounding his back with my fists. I gave up soon after, and slowly lost consciousness. The last thing I heard was the clicking of his boots upon the pavement.
I awoke for what I was certain to be the last time hours later, cracking my eyes open to the glare of an overhead light. I blinked a couple times, and as my eyes adjusted I saw I was in another white room, on what I assumed was a human hospital bed. I reached for my wound and winced. Whilst it was well-bandaged it burned with pain, and for a while I lay there, hoping for it to end. Soon I noticed more than my pain and the white of the walls.
On my left there was a black stain amongst the wash of white. My savior -or perhaps captor was a more appropriate term- had been sitting in a waiting chair, and now he was unconscious, his chest rising and falling as he inhaled and exhaled.
It was him. There was no doubt. His round rimmed glasses were the same, and I had seen his eyes the night before. His shirt and coat were stained with my blood, but they were just as I remembered them. Even his boots had been the same. All I could do was gape for a moment.
Dib.
The human would never die! My very insides boiled with the sour mixture of fear and hatred at the sight of him. He looked hale and hearty, even after our last encounter in the park so many years ago. The most striking thing of all was, Irk, his height. Even slouching in his seat he was a head taller than me, I could imagine standing he'd be at least twice my height, at least!
After a while of my inspection he cracked an eye open, revealing his amber eyes. "You're awake." he stated. His voice had changed, become a little deeper, but still easily identified as almost identical to his voice the last time I encountered hm.
"Yes I am, Dib. Still stating the obvious, I see."
He squinted at me and said, "Have we met?" It was then I realized I had beaten him. The impact must have damaged his memory! It was a great relief to me when I noticed he hadn't removed my contacts or wig. He had no idea who I was.
'Fantastic,' I thought to myself, 'Truly fantastic.' "Of course we have, Dib! Back when, uh... your father had that show! I sat next to you in the audience that one time."
He looked skeptical, but he didn't push the subject. "Right. What happened to you, uh..."
"Zed. I'm Zed, remember?"
"Yes, well. Can you tell me what happened to you? You were just passed out upon the sidewalk outside my dad's old lab with a bullet in your gut."
"I was visiting my guard friends for a game of..." I thought as hard as I could. And under the circumstances, it wasn't very fruitful. "A game of skee-ball! Yes, that was it. Deadly game is that skee-ball!"
Dib glared at me with a frown. "You've got to be kidding me. Skee-ball does not end up with someone getting shot."
"It does when you're playing with Danny. Danny and Greg, damn good skee-ballers. Damn good." I mumbled.
Dib sighed. "Whatever Zed, keep your secrets. I don't care."
"Where am I?" I queried.
"In my house. In the basement where dad used to work when he was at home."
"Hm." I hmm'd.
"What?" Dib asked.
"Oh nothing. Am I free to go?" I sat up and pulled the sticky-monitoring things from my arms, dropping them to the side.
"You shouldn't be moving around so much!" Dib exclaimed, standing up and attempting to push me back down.
"I appreciate the gesture, but I'm fine." I shrugged him off, pushing him back to his seat while I stood up.
"But-"
"-Silence, Dib-creature. I've got things to do." I burst through the door on the right of the bed and out into the dark gray of what I assumed was Membrane's lab. Concrete to my left and right, and a long hallway ahead of me. "Tired of underground corridors." I muttered.
After the treatment the Dib-human had given had set in, I had felt fresh, like a considerable weight had been lifted from my chest. It came as a surprise to me that I still had my remaining two guns in their holsters. I stripped off my back holster and put the pistol in it into my hip holster.
I navigated my way out of the basement through the all-too familiar living room of the Dib-rodent's base. I stood at the door, suddenly awash with memories of our past exploits. It had been a long, long time since I had seen the human. His growth was proof of that. It was a great deal of luck that he had lost his memory of me. I'm certain he would have snapped my neck on that sidewalk if he knew. I shuddered at the thought. I was totally caught by surprise when I felt a hand upon my shoulder, so surprised that I spun around and knocked him to the ground, pinning him face first to the carpet. "Zim, Zim stop!" he shouted into the floor.
He knew my name. He knew my name. 'He knows my name!' The thought kept running through my mind. I had him in my grasp, but I was in his debt for saving my life. I didn't think I could kill him twice and live with myself. "You're a worthy adversary, Dib. I'm letting you live for now, but come after me and I'll end you."
I released his head and burst through the door, running down the street as fast as I could with my wounds before I tripping and falling upon my face. Dib had caught up with me and offered a hand to me, which I pushed away. "Listen, Zim. I know what you are, and what you're doing, but not why you lied to me. Everything surrounding the time I went to the park that one snowy day is gone. I woke up what I was told a month after I walked into traffic. But I know that I wouldn't do that Zim. I just don't get it. When I woke up I was told by my dad that I'd been hallucinating for three years about your existence, that the hit to the head fixed whatever was wrong in my skull, and I believed him. He taught me how to forget and suppress the false memories and ridiculous ideas of aliens. When I saw you I couldn't..."
"Couldn't get past your own block." I said. "Once I left you finally got past it, didn't you?"
"Yeah, that's right. But the thing I really realized is that you were gone right after the accident and never saw you again. Until today. What happened, Zim, what happened on that day?"
"Don't dwell on it, meatbag. Drop it, and I can ensure that you'll live longer." I got to my feet and started walking, Dib standing behind me dumbfoundedly. "I've got business to take care of."
The business of Revenge.