"What did the responding officer say?" Dib asked, watching out the window as Steven drove them away from the city.
"Well you can imagine. He said to call if there were any other issues."
"What's our reason for going?"
Steven shrugged. "It's my day off, I said I'd head out, poke around, calm his nerves. I didn't mention you."
"Is that smart?"
"Is it stupid?"
Dib didn't say anything else.
The property owner approached quickly as they pulled into the address. Dib got out and looked around as Steve spoke with the man. He made his way over to them after a few minutes of poking about.
"Mr. Lassen is going to take us to the lake where he encountered the, ah, concerning being," Steven explained and Dib nodded. Mr. Lassen took the lead, talking the whole way as he guided them across the property and into the trees behind his house.
"It killed my damn dogs," he said, shaking his head. "I looked right at it and I swear it wasn't any animal. It just sliced them up like nothing."
"I'm sorry for your loss," Dib replied. "You say you shot it?"
"Yeah, I shot at it twice. Think I hit it but I don't know, it ran off so fast."
"Did you follow it?"
"Hell no, I got out of there."
He paused to point out an aging tree.
"I was looking for the fox that tore up my chickens and my dogs were sniffing around here. I saw this damn thing drop out of the tree and take off running and them dogs, well they just start tearing after it."
"Where did they go?" Steven looked around warily.
"Come on." He stepped over a fallen branch and led them on. Dib briefly wondered how he knew his way in the forest. The naked trees all looked the same to him.
They soon stopped at a small clearing and he pointed out a caved-in bank by the edge of the lake.
"It was down there when I came up on it. My dogs were standing up at the top and it was making a damn racket, snarling and such."
"What happened?" Steve asked as Dib approached the cave-in. The ground dropped away into a six-foot diameter hole, shallow water lapping gently at the bottom. A black and white Border Collie was dead at the bottom, fur matted with mud, water, and blood. Dib knelt down and strained to reach, taking the dog's collar and pulling it out of the hole. He laid it on the ground gently and looked up as the man approached.
"Tessa, girl.." He took a knee and smoothed the fur between her eyes. Dib stood and looked around. He spotted the other dog a few yards away, a black German Shepherd. Lassen followed his gaze.
"He was chasing it after it got out of this hole. Tess just jumped right down with it and it tore her up then took off and he chased it. He caught ahold of it about there where he's at and got it good but it just.. It just killed him, I don't know."
Dib stepped towards the black dog, scanning the ground as he did. The dog's throat was ripped out like it was nothing. He passed the body slowly and noticed a splash of dark green on the ground a few feet beyond it.
"Where did you shoot at it?" he called over his shoulder.
"Right about where you're standing," the man replied. "I yelled and it turned around a minute." Dib nodded and turned to him.
"Go back to the house, lock up, stay inside. We're going to look around a bit more and we'll come back and talk with you."
The man nodded and leaned down to scoop up the Collie before heading back the way they'd come. Steven approached Dib and looked down at the green.
"What is that?"
"I think it's blood," Dib replied, tracing the ground with his eyes. He spotted another splash and started a trail, following the color. Steve drew his gun and looked around as he stayed behind him.
Dib followed the drops and splashes to what looked like an overgrown, abandoned barn from the last century. He stopped and looked up at the old building, plant life growing through and around it as nature attempted to reclaim its space.
"You're not going in there," Steve said. Dib approached slowly, following the trail to a broken window. Green smeared on the wood of the sill. He glanced back at Steven.
"Stay out here, I'm just going to look."
"You have your sidearm?"
Dib patted his hip and carefully climbed in through the window. His shoes crunched in leaves and glass as he dropped to the rotted wooden floor of the stall. He brushed a vine aside and ducked into the center of the small barn, glancing around. The green trail led down to a small tackroom near the large, lopsided barn door. Dib slid a hand into his coat and touched his weapon but didn't draw it as he approached the room. Reaching out, he pushed the protesting door open and looked inside. The alien looked up at him and snarled, lips lifting to show pointed teeth. He was situated between two rotted barrels, knees up to his chest to hide his body. Dib stepped into the room slowly and crouched down a few feet in front of him. The alien growled again, red eyes gleaming.
"Zim," Dib said quietly. "I came to find you."
The alien glared and fell silent, antennae twitching. Dib shifted closer and pushed one of the barrels aside carefully, exposing the Irken more. He looked down at Zim's mauled arm wrapped around himself and Zim glanced down as well, lowering his arm slowly to show the bullet wound in his ribs. A fresh pump of blood flowed as he removed the pressure of his hand. Dib reached to help but the alien's antennae quivered and he looked up, tensing and cringing away as Steven appeared in the doorway. Zim bared his teeth and Dib looked over his shoulder. Steven stood staring, mouth open, weapon aimed at the alien.
"Put it down, Steven," Dib said quietly, not moving. Steve lowered it slowly, not taking his eyes from the creature.
Dib looked back to Zim but he was leaning his head against the barrel, eyes slipping shut. He quickly slipped his coat off and reached to pull the Irken forward, wrapping it around him. Steven knelt next to him cautiously and offered his knitted hat. Dib took him from him with silent thanks and pressed it to the wound. Zim flinched slightly, fingers twitching, and Dib moved his hand to hold it in place as he scooped the fading alien up carefully.
"We need to get him out of here," he said. Steven nodded. They maneuvered the alien through the broken window together and Dib carried him through the woods as they made their way back towards the man's house. Steven ran ahead to talk to the property owner inside so Dib could get Zim into the car without being seen.
Dib found a blanket roll in the trunk and spread it over the alien still wrapped in his coat, covering him from sight. He moved into the front and turned in his seat, reaching in the back to keep pressure on the wound. The hat had soaked with blood but it was better than nothing. Steven soon came out and got in quickly, starting the car and pulling out of the driveway.
"What did you tell him?" Dib glanced up at his friend, whom had yet to fully recover his color.
"I said we didn't find anything unusual and he should call us if he sees anything." His voice was tight, hands gripping the wheel as he drove without taking his eyes off the road.
Dib looked into the back again silently. By the time they reached Steven's house his arm was shaking from holding the pressure at such an uncomfortable angle. They quickly took Zim inside and Steve spread out some towels on his kitchen floor for Dib to lay him out on his side. Dib took his coat away and tossed it aside as Steven ran to the bathroom to grab his first aid kit. Dib removed the blood-soaked hat slowly and drew a folding knife from his pocket, pulling the alien's odd clothing up to cut away from the area. He looked down at the wound and sat back quickly. Tiny grey wires twisted and slithered inside the hole, curling over and around one another like writhing maggots. Dib covered his mouth a moment before leaning to get a closer look, wanting to confirm what he saw. Blood had stopped flowing now, and he could see clearly as the wires moved. Steven came up beside him and crouched down, making a disgusted sound.
"What the fuck is that?" he asked, setting the kit down and snapping it open.
"I think.." Dib recalled the mass of wires in the Irken's PAK. "He's mechanical. At least partially."
"That's fucked," Steve replied, taking a bottle of peroxide and some gauze pads from the kit. "That's.. I don't even know what that is man, what are we doing?"
Dib took the items from him, opening the bottle and dipping it against a pad before gently cleaning blood from the area. He kept his eyes off the writhing wires, creeped out and slightly nauseated by the sight as he cleaned the wound.
"Should we wrap it?" Steven asked. Dib glanced up at him, then took some gauze and bandaging from the kit. If for nothing else, so they wouldn't have to look at those wires. Steven helped roll the alien as Dib wrapped the bandaging around his ribs and tied it off. He cleaned and dressed the dog bites on the alien's arm as well. Thankfully those had no wires in them. Just nice, normal dark green blood and lacerated green flesh.
"Let's move him," Dib said quietly and Steve helped lift him carefully. They carried him to the guest bedroom and laid him on his side on the bed, then covered him with a blanket and left the room.
"Shit," Steven exhaled, lacing his hands behind his head as he paced into the living room and then through the kitchen. Dib followed, sighing before starting to gather up the towels.
"Leave them, I'll worry about it later," Steve said, washing his hands a little too vigorously.
"No, it's my problem I created, I'll clean up after it," Dib replied, bunching up the towels and carrying them to the laundry room. When he returned, Steven had emptied his coat pockets on the table and was soaking the blood-stained coat in one side of the sink. He'd tossed his hat in the garbage. Dib sat down at the table and reached to poke through the contents of his pockets. Some of this shit he didn't even know was in there, when had he last washed that coat? He pushed old mint wrappers and a movie stub around absently, enjoying the sounds of the bubbling coffee pot that had been turned on. Steven sat across from him and leaned back in his chair, reaching to pick up the movie stub.
"Ride Along was good," he commented, tossing it down again before getting up to check the coffee.
"Yeah." Dib crossed his arms on the table and leaned on them. "I'm too old for this shit, Steven."
"You're thirty-two, you'll live," he replied as he took down two mugs and a bottle of creamer.
"Might retire early."
Steve glanced at him, then smiled.
"Sure, go on. Want me to call Riverside Golden Home while you're at it?"
Dib touched his dark hair, frowning. "Are my greys showing?"
"Fuck off." Steven poured the coffee and set a mug in front of him, plopping down in his seat again and blowing steam off the top of his own.
"Why didn't you ever marry?" Dib asked, counting bubbles in his coffee mug. He always seemed to be having coffee here.
"Marriage is for grown-ups, that's not me."
"You're old, Steven. You're almost forty."
"Thirty-six isn't almost," he rebuked in mock offense. "Besides, then I'd be acknowledging that I ever grew up and that's not cool."
Dib smiled and sipped at the warmth.
"What're we going to do with him?"
He shook his head but didn't have to think of a response as a sound startled them both. Steven stood first, moving around the table and heading towards the guest room, grabbing his weapon as he went. Dib followed quickly.
The alien writhed on the bed, claws tearing holes in the bedsheets as he screeched again. Dib pushed past Steven through the doorway and sat on the edge of the bed next to him.
"Zim?" he called, touching his shoulder. The Irken's lips curled back from his teeth as he hissed, eyes fluttering. Dib noticed blood seeping through the bandaging and carefully pulled it away to see what was happening as Steve stepped closer warily. His stomach lurched at the sight of the wires pulsing from the wound. Blood spilled around the edges as they tore the skin further. Zim shivered, curling up tightly as his claws dug into the sheets. Steven slowly sat on the bed near his head and reached, touching one of his hands. Zim grabbed it, gripping his wrist tightly as he cried out again. Steve made a face, whistling through his teeth at the painful grasp but not moving.
Both men stared as a tight bundle of wires emerged from the insult and pushed outwards. They unfurled slowly and a bloody piece of metal dropped to the bed with a soft thump. Dib picked it up and wiped a thump across its surface before holding it up. A spent bullet, warped from it's travels. Dib glanced up at Steve.
The wires retreated gradually back into the wound and knitted together tightly. Dib replaced the bandages as the alien calmed down, grip slacking until his fingers fell away from the man's arm. Steven reclaimed his hand and rubbed his wrist sorely. Bruising was already forming.
"I'm going to stay with him awhile," Dib said, sitting back.
"I'll bring your coffee in," Steve replied, getting up and leaving the room. He returned to hand Dib his mug, then left them alone. Dib set the cup on the bedside table and moved to a chair across the room, making himself comfortable. He watched the alien silently.