Zim glared down at the alien on the grown and gritted his teeth. "I do not know," he said.

"What do you mean you don't know!" Dib said. "She's the only other alien here!" His voice was on the edge of tears, the reveal of Autumn leaving him feeling betrayed.

"Dib, he doesn't know. You don't know every human there is okay?" Gaz sighed. She dropped the heavy branch she was holding and put her hands on her hips, looking at Zim. "Okay, you don't know her. But do you know why she was here? Zim, she tried to kill you."

Zim clenched his teeth and looked down at Autumn.

"That is why she was here," he said.

"What? But why? Fuck- what do we do with her now!"

"I do not know why," his face darkened and he muttered, "but she say who sent her. I think she is…" He searched for the word in vain for a moment. "Zespaofí. Not right in her head."

"Well who did she say sent her?" Gaz said.

"Túr fívteteích."

Gaz looked at him in confusion at those words again. "The tall?" It was tall-something, but she didn't understand the rest of the word. "Who is that?"

"They are dead."

"Okay, okay, fine. She's crazy, I get it. What do we do with her now then?"

"We're not going to kill her, right?" Dib asked, concerned.

"No, we're not going to kill her!" Gaz snapped back at him. "We just need to figure out what to do and- What is that?"

Something was beeping, and it was coming from Autumn. The three of them leaned in to see what it was, Zim's antenna perking up to listen closer.

"Źaímovejie," he muttered as he reached forward to her wrist, undoing and pulling off what looked to be a small watch that was beeping loudly. Zim pressed a button on the side and a message popped up.

'Ak geeíeích yí míkínich, 'ak geeíeích yí míkínich, 'ak ge-

"What does that mean?" Dib asked as Zim gritted his teeth.

"Army is coming. We must go. Now."

"What?! How!"

"Ugh!" Gaz growled. "The fucking gunshot! Of course! Come on! We need to get the stuff and go!"

"How are we supposed to do that?!" Dib yelled after his sister as she ran towards the base. "We don't have our own car!"

Phil made tea, as usual, at 2pm. He did this every day as a break from his online work and to recharge from the day so far and be well energized into the night. Today, he made four cups of it, like he had been for the past week. It was… interesting to say the least to have guests like this. Especially guests like that. He never stared, and made a point to treat Zim the same as he did the others, but deep down it was incredibly nerve wracking to have an alien in his home- not to mention the definite proof that aliens existed in the first place.

Sure, he was unusual himself, but at least he was born and raised here on earth. The question of alien life was always a mystery to him, and it was one he never expected to get solved. Yet here he is, with an alien guest in some dire need of professional help. He was lucky to have wound up here, Phil thought. Perhaps he could get to the bottom of what happened with the poor man's parents.

"Phil!"

Phil turned around quickly at the panicked call of Gaz.

"Yes- Gaz? Are you alr-"

"No time to talk! The military is on the way! I-I need to get everything and get out of here, help me!"

Phil almost dropped his cup of tea. How did they even know… it didn't matter.

"What do you need?" he spoke in a low, serious tone.

"I need- I need bags, I need our bags packed, c-can you grab the laundry for me?"

"Yes, you go get your stuff from your room, I'll get that."

"Thank you." she breathed out. And off they went. Phil headed straight to the laundry room, his mind racing, trying to keep up with what was happening. The military was coming, somehow they knew everyone was here- did they know about this base? No. They couldn't possibly. He had worked too hard to keep it secret and for all they knew it was a dangerous abandoned bunker.

Worst case scenario, he did have the emergency exit tunnel. As he shoveled the clean laundry into a drawstring hamper bag, he thought to himself that after this, he should probably pack a bag as well. Just to be on the safe side.

When Phil emerged from the laundry room, he saw Gaz dragging the suitcase behind her while an excitable Gir tried to show her the drawings he made.

"Not now!" she yelled in frustration. "We have to go, Gir!"

"Go where?"

"Away!"

"How are you going to leave?" Phil spoke softly, holding out the bag for her to take.

"I… I don't know… Run, I suppose."

"You won't get far," he muttered.

"Well, what choice do we have!" she screamed at him. "It is this, or get caught! And I am NOT getting caught!"

Phil raised his hands in defense and spoke calmly. "You won't get caught, Gaz. I swear it. Listen…" he gestured at the coatrack behind her, hanging on one of the hooks, was his car keys. "Take the car. Drive as fast as you possibly can, and get the hell out of here."

Her jaw dropped open in shock, and she looked between him and the keys, all while Gir pulled on her pants to get her attention.

"Your car? But-"

"We don't have time, remember? Take the keys and go!"

His stern voice snapped her out of her thoughts and she grabbed the keys, pocketing them quickly, and then grabbed her suitcase and the bag of laundry.

"Come on Gir!"

"Will you look at my-"

"YES, but only if you come with me NOW!"

Gir's eyes flashed red for a second as he saluted. "Mi, búplul!" he said in a strangely deeper voice. Gaz nodded and took off up the stairs, running as fast as she could to safety and freedom. She could hear the pitter patter of the little robot running after her.

"Wait for me!" he squealed happily. She resisted the urge to roll her eyes, of course he thought it was a game.

Finally, they reached the top of the bunker stairs and she shoved open the door to see Dib and Zim… bickering.

"And you think this smart idea?" Zim yelled out.

"I thought I could trust her!"

"Bursa! You dumb!"

"Oh come on-"

"Idiots!" Gaz screamed out in fury. "Shut the fuck up both of you! We need to haul ass NOW! We're taking Phil's car, so you two- grab her and let's go!"

"What!?" Zim's jaw dropped. "We take her?"

"We can't leave her to be dissected! Take her, we'll tie her up in the car or something, I don't know, but we have to move!"

Finally, the two of them moved into action, Zim grabbing Autumn's arms, and Dib getting her legs. As they moved her to the car, Gaz hurriedly threw the suitcases in the trunk.

"Let's GO!" She screamed out, gesturing wildly to get them to hurry up, and put her in the back seat.

"How are we going to fit?" Dib asked.

"Just lean her against the back window, god! Figure it out, you're sitting in the back!" Gaz hopped into the driver's seat and quickly turned the car on, the engine roaring to life. She adjusted her mirrors quickly, right as Dib sat down in his seat, and Zim jumped into the front passenger seat.

"Do we have Gir? Where is he?"

"I'm here!" His little face popped up from behind Zim's seat.

"Great! Let's-"

"What about Phil?" Dib cried out.

"He said we need to go, I'm fucking listening to him!" And with that, she pressed the gas pedal to the floor of the car, and sped off. It was bumpy, the dirt road really wasn't conducive with speed, but Gaz didn't relent.

"Slow down!" Dib yelled, leaning forward between the seats.

"What, and let us get caught? No thank you- and put on your seatbelt!"

"If you don't slow down you'll blow the fucking suspension!"

"Since when were you a mechanic, Dib!"

"Since I've been traveling with a beat up old RV! Just a little bit okay? Plus we must be noisy as fuck right now…"

"Fine, but if I see a military vehicle, I don't care about the goddamn suspension." Begrudgingly, she slowed the car just a bit as she tried to figure out where to go.

"Which way was the slow way back to town?"

"Uh… Right," Dib said. "But don't we want to go-"

"The army will be going that way, asshole."

"Asshole!" Gir happily repeated.

"Don't have to be mean about it," Dib muttered.

"Silence," Zim ground out through clenched teeth. "All this fight, I can not hear."

"Right," Gaz said. "Everyone shut up."

They drove along the dirt road in tense silence, the beeping of Autumn's communicator thing thankfully growing further and further apart. Gaz assumed that this meant the military was getting farther away, but she wasn't taking any chances. The closer they got to the town, the more lights she could see on the distant roads. It wasn't clear if they were military or not, but they filled her with dread all the same.

This couldn't be it. She wouldn't allow it.

"Dib, Autumn's little… Tracker thingy. Do you have it?"

"Uh… Y-yeah, here, I have it here. Do you-"

"I'm driving, just- just tell me if the dots are getting closer or further away."

Dib glanced down at the little holo display, and after a few moments he confidently spoke.

"Away! Further away! Oh thank God."

"Now isn't the time to thank anyone." Gaz grumbled.

"God, god, god…" Gir sat in the middle seat sandwiched between Dib and Autumn, kicking his little feet. "I want tacos!"

"Gir, gep eg etho mipta. Enga, ngaol elaoptí." Zim grumbled.

"I don't wanna be quiet! I wanna partyyy!"

"Eíd 'party.' Eíd," Zim said firmly. Gaz knew a no when she heard it, because Gir began to whine incessantly.

"Can't you tell him he can party later?" Gaz hissed. "He's going to get so loud with that crying I won't be able to hear myself think!"

"Fine… Gir, eg party mipta gep. Yú?"

Immediately Gir cheered up and the little screen light grinned.

"YAY!"

"Shhhhhh…." Gaz hushed him.

"What is a party?" Zim asked.

"I'll tell you later, okay?"

"Okay."

Finally, she turned onto a paved road, and the bumpiness stopped. They drove in tense silence for a while, Gaz gripping the steering wheel tightly as she kept checking the rear view mirror. After a while they made it out of the town and onto the highway, heading vaguely southwest. But Gaz only released the steering wheel ever so slightly.

"Everyone alright?" she asked with a tense voice.

"Fine," Zim said.

"...Very guilty," Dib muttered.

"And you should be!" she snapped. "Honestly, what the fuck were you thinking bringing her!"

Dib looked down at the unconscious alien in the seat next to him and shrugged.

"I-I don't know… I just, I thought I could trust her."

"Clearly not," Gaz scoffed. "Is she alive at least?"

Dib glanced over at the alien and watched her chest for a moment to see if it rose.

"Yeah, she's alive."

"Well, that's good and that's bad," Gaz muttered.

"How is that bad?" Dib snapped at his sister.

"Because now we're going to have to deal with her when she wakes up!"

Dib slumped back in his seat.

"Oh."

"Exactly, idiot."

"Hey…" Dib whined, but Gaz cut him off.

"You don't get to do what you did and then complain. Got it?"

"Got it…"

The alien had a headache. She could feel it, in the back of her skull, a throbbing soreness as she came to. She groaned, struggling to sit up from whatever hard surface she was lying on before she opened her eyes. The world around her was dark and blurry, and for a moment she worried something was wrong with her eyesight before she realized it was just evening on this hostile planet.

She looked around herself. Those two humans were lying on the ground away from her, fast asleep. This was her chance to run. She moved to get up, but before she could-

"Don't move," a voice ordered her in her native language. She turned to her left, seeing her former target sitting there with a pistol trained on her.

"What the fuck are you doing?" she hissed at him.

"Holding you at bay, obviously," Zim responded calmly. "Don't want you waking up and killing all of us in our sleep."

"I'm only after you, you know. And your friends are asleep so I could-"

"You've been disarmed. Move without me telling you and I shoot. What's your name?"

She didn't say anything, just glared at him.

"Don't make me shoot you in the knee for an answer. What is your name?"

"Tak," she spat out at him.

"Good." To her confusion, he pocketed the gun swiftly. "You can leave if you want, but know that the government took your ship and your sir unit. I think, anyway. Your scanner at least said so."

"What?" Tak gasped in alarm and looked all around her for her scanner, but couldn't find it.

"I have it here." Zim gently tossed the little device to her and she caught it, opening it up to hastily check his claims.

It was true. The ship was gone. Mimi…

She gritted her teeth together in anger. She was stuck here.

"Why are you letting me go?" she growled. "I tried to kill you."

"Because you're insane. You claim the tallests hired you- the tallests are dead. So you're either lying or insane or both. And I feel bad for you."

"I'm not lying, here, I can fucking prove it," she lifted up her scanner, shaking it slightly as if mocking him, then placed a call.

Zim watched with a stoic expression as the little device rang and rang and rang… but nothing happened.

"So much for that."

"No listen! Purple he- he's probably just passed out but he told me that they-"

"I'll stop you right there. He never knows what's going on or what he's talking about. I wouldn't take his word for anything."

Zim leaned back in his chair and gestured at the dying fireplace.

"Warm yourself up. Don't try anything and maybe I'll let you come with us, since you have nowhere to go."

Tak looked at him in shock.

"Why would you do that?"

"Because I'm done with pain."