Episode 5-The Return of the Hideous New Girl (Part 3)
Their walk home had been a silent one.
Mark, and the others had managed to catch the last bus home, but Josh had decided to wait on his brother; swiping a staff key from a Janitory Drone as he walked by.
The blue-eyed Irken hadn't even noticed the swipe, and once Joseph finally emerged from the school the two brother's shared a look but said nothing as they began their walk.
Josh wanted to ask Joseph what his and Tak's private talk had been about, but he soon decided against it; after all something Told him Joseph wouldn't tell him anyway.
Of course, things didn't get better when they got home.
"I'm going to bed." Joseph snapped climbing up the stairs.
"What about dinner?" Josh dared to ask.
"You can cook can't you?!" was his brother's only reply.
Josh sighed; he could tell Joseph was ticked off about the news Tak had shared with him. He just wished he could help. He began to gather up some food for dinner, and that's when he spied the sleep aid on the counter. He knew Joseph only took it when he found it impossible to sleep, but he also knew that he needed him to sleep tonight more than ever!
He decided that he would have to spike his brother's food with a sleep aid in order to sneak out unnoticed. He didn't like the fact that he had to drug Zim, but he couldn't risk the chance that he'd wake up in the middle of the night and find him gone.
(Following Joseph)
Joseph paced his room back and forth as the anger surged threw him.
How could they! How could they kill their own people? And not just anyone, but Worthy Smeets: the future of Irk!
He wanted to scream, after all he had done to delay their fates, swearing that they could change. Red and Purple just had to go and commit the ultimate crime!
"This is unforgiveable" the Dome computer's voice erupted from his communicator. "You must put them down before they extinguish what is left of the Amon breed!" the computer demanded.
He knew the computer was right he had no choice, this was treason at its highest degree, but he also knew that he was not strong enough to fight them; not yet.
The Dome Computer seemed to read his mind. "You must stop resisting the change otherwise you will die before you can bring the Tallest to justice."
Joseph knew the computer was right, and even though he was afraid he nodded his agreement.
The time for running was over.
"Hey bro, dinner's ready." Josh's voice said coming from behind his close door. "I know you said you were going to bed, but I brought you some anyways."
Joseph was about to send him away when his stomach growled loudly.
"You should eat." The computer Brain told him. "You need the strength." He warned.
Joseph nodded and opened the door.
Josh held out a bowl of mac and cheese.
Joseph forced a smile and took the bowl. "Thanks." He said.
Josh nodded and watched as Joseph closed the door.
Joseph took a spoonful of the mac and cheese. It tasted off, but he ignored it and finished the bowl off in a matter of seconds. The room suddenly began to spin around him, and he stumbled to the bed. He almost doesn't make it but manages to hit the sheets before he passes out.
Josh opens the door slowly and walks over to him. He shakes the boy slightly but receives nothing but an annoyed moan. Josh nods to himself appearing satisfied with the results, and after tucking his brother in he turns off the lights. Then, after gathering some much-needed supplies; he leaves the house. Not knowing that what he has just done would have serious consequences.
Serious consequences indeed…
(Following Dib…)
Dib turned off his disguise, pulled on his invisibility jacket and race towards the school using the night vision on his glasses to make sure he didn't blindly run into an unsuspecting spry Drone. Part of Dib had been tempted to turn back the moment he had stepped out the door, the other… well if Dib was truly honest with himself he'd admit that the other part of him was terrified of what he might find. But Dib forced himself not to stop running until he reached the school. He swiped the key card he had stolen into the card reader at the front door and rushed in.
Dib didn't stop to catch his breath, but quickly made his way to the Library as fast as he could, he needed these answers, and he needed them now! He unlocked the library door with the staff key and opened the door slowly searching for spy drones, after he was sure that there wasn't any; Dib hurried in and closed the door. The Forbidden Section, Dib shivered as he walked up to the door. It looked like the door of a cell.
'Which is where you're gonna be if you get caught!' he warned himself.
Dib looked around one more time for drones, then he used the key once more to open the door. The bar door creaked open, and Dib froze, but nothing happened. He ran in and closed the door again; just in case! Dib looked around to find himself surrounded by shelves, and shelves of books. Dread washed over him; he had no idea what he was looking for. So how could he even begin to know where to look? Suddenly Dib remembered their meeting with Tak earlier that day.
"Why are you helping us?" Mark's demanding voice rang through his memory loud and clear.
"They are killing them Zim!"
Dib remembered how Tak's words had made his very bone marrow cringe in fear. He also remembered what he himself had asked her.
"Killing; Tak who are they Killing?"
"The Worthy Ones" Tak had answered "They are killing them all!"
Dib also remembered how Zim's eyes had glowed red with anger at her words. It may have nothing to do with whatever was going on with Zim, but it was all he had to go on. Dib knew little Irken, but luckily his communicator had a translator. He turned it on and scanned the titles on the books looking for anything about the Worthy Ones.
It was book number 5 on the eighth bookshelf from the door, it was titled.
"Irken History volume 12: The Worthy Ones"
Dib opened the book to the first page and ran the translator over it. Then he placed his headphones in his communicator and pressed play. Dib listen as his communicator played the words he just scanned in English.
"Since the Beginning of time The Irken race has always been divided by two different breeds;
The Amons and the Shews…
And from the beginning of time the difference is obvious to us all.
The Shews being a lesser breed then the Amons barely grew taller than three to four feet, and are lucky if they receive anything but a gutter job. For ten years they remain in a locked training room drilling away through training simulation after training simulation. Knowing all too well that even though they may spend their first ten years alongside the Amons of their class, it will not remain this way for long.
The Amons; being a purer breed of Irkens, and more superior then a Shew have been known to reach an astounding six to even seven feet tall! And soon break off from the lesser Shews of their class when they are chosen by a mentor to serve a greater purpose. Some of them became commanders of their own fleet, or the General of the entire Armada.
These Amons or 'Worthy Ones' as they are sometimes called, are superior for one reason and one alone.
They have the potential to become what most of us can only dream of…"
Dib paused his communicator, he thought he heard something. He listened harder… nothing. He sighed a sigh of relief and continued the play back.
"These Worthy Ones have the potential of becoming a Tallest!"
So that was it…
The Tallest were killing off Worthy Ones, meaning those who had the potential of replacing them, and that's why Tak wanted to stop them.
Dib froze as he heard the noise again; someone or something else was definitely in the room. He stuffed the book in the large pocket inside his jacket; he had no choice but to take it with him. Even if it turned out to have nothing to do with Zim, the enemy was murdering their own, and that had to count as some kind of crime…
Right?
'Maybe' Dib thought to himself hopefully. 'If we're lucky we could use this to gain more Irken allies'
Dib crept to the bar door slowly and looked around the room. He froze again as the source of the sound zoomed by; it was a Spy drone!
Dib ducked behind a shelf as the drone began to scan the books on the other side of the bars. He knew the drone couldn't get in here without a key, but if it scanned in his direction it would detect him and even if he got away, the Irken police would check to see if anything was taken.
'And once they saw that a book was missing…' He gulped at the thought. There would be nowhere he could hide. He'd be putting everyone at risk, and Zim would demand to know what was taken. And somehow Dib knew that if Zim and Tak wanted him to know about the Worthy Ones, then they would have told him when he asked, but instead Zim had said.
"There are some things about my kind you shouldn't know. Your kind would only fear us more, you wouldn't understand."
There was more to these Worthy Ones then the fact that they could become Tallest, and Dib was determined to figure out what.
Dib knew there was only one way to dodge the drone, but Zim had told him to only use it under extreme emergencies.
'I'm about to get caught!' he told himself. 'If that doesn't count as an extreme emergency then nothing would' he flipped the disguise dial on his communicator to the option labeled…Irken!
The Spy drone swept across the room to the farthest side away from The Forbidden Sector; it stops as it picks up the sound of a creaking door. It turns and its Light sweeps over an Irken Janitor Drone who was pushing a cart of books. "Stop… Identify yourself drone." The spy drone ordered.
The blue eye Irken blinked once, then twice, and then finally said "Sir Janitory Service Drone Number five, two, eight reporting for duty."
The spy drone scanned him, the Irken was clean. It then scanned the tray of books he had been pushing along. "What are you doing with these books?" it asked him.
"Sir, I am simply putting them in their rightful place, it is my job to finish restocking the shelves if the humans fail to do so." The Janitory Service Drone answered respectfully.
The spy drone felt no sense of alarm, after all this Janitory Service Drone did match the description of the one he claimed to be. And besides, what he was doing was a reasonable task for a Janitor Drone to perform. "Very well carry on!" The Spy drone spoke before zooming out of the Library and out of sight.
Dib waited until he was sure that he was alone before he turned off his disguise. He then took the book from the Forbidden section off the cart and made a run for it. He didn't slow down until he made it to his front door. He had dropped the staff key in the middle of the Math and Science wing which was on the opposite side of the school. It was also as far away as possible from the Library when it came to being on the second floor.
Dib rushed inside his house so fast that he missed it, and he was lucky that he did for the very sight of it would have made him pass out cold in fear...
For there on the roof of the house, right above the door that he just walked in. Was a muscular silhouette with two large glowing red eyes! The creature who had been hunched over on all fours forced itself to its feet and stood. Taking in the night air along with Dib's sent.
Dib's sent is familiar to him though he knows not why. The Red eyed beast growls and jumps off the roof of the house and runs into the darkness of the night.
(Back with Gaz)
She was running, running in a dark void and all she could see was red. She continued to run as she listened to her own staggered breathing, which she could barely register over the sound of her own heartbeat hammering in her ear drums.
'Where am I?' The words echoed around her. 'Who am I?'
Gaz froze as a metallic building appeared before her revealing her reflection.
Only it wasn't her, no it was a large muscular and green creature. Its clothes were ripped to shreds, pieces of what was left of the fabric hung around its body. But the one thing about it that made her heart stop, was the Monster's two large glowing red eyes!
'What am I?' the words echoed around her as the monster touched his hand to his reflection. It was as if it didn't understand, or perhaps it couldn't believe that this was him. As if it were seeing its own reflection for the first time.
Then suddenly his expression changed from confusion to anger as it took its large fist and shattered the metal turning his reflection into a thousand pieces.
A loud unearthly howl filled the air.
Gaz woke up with a start gasping for air. 'What was that?'
'A Dream?'
She wasn't so sure; it had felt so real, like she was actually there. But she wasn't there, so it had to be a dream.
'Right?'
Gaz shook her head unsure, her dreams had never been very vivid, but this one was. There was something different about this dream but what? She wasn't sure and she refused to stay up all night dwelling over it. Gaz forced herself to close her eyes again and try to get more sleep.
Another howl filled the air, and Gaz jumped to her feet. Had she dozed back off again, or was that real? She strained to hear; the howl had sounded distant. As distant as the sirens that she would sometimes hear from the town below.
Had it came from the streets of her own hometown? Or from the depths of her own imagination?
She listened harder, and just when she thought she was going crazy she heard it again.
A loud unearthly howl that made every one of her bones shake with fear.
Gaz pinched herself hard, she flinched in pain; she was a wake. Which meant that howl was real!
Gaz shivered as a since of fear that she had never known before washed over her and consumed her completely. She didn't know how, but she knew that it was the monster from her dream, and she knew what it wanted because she had felt it herself. And what she had felt under the creature's anger and confusion was one thing and one thing only.
The unmistakable hunger for raw flesh!
She shivered as the beast howled once more. This was bad, and she knew it. Somehow she knew this creature would be the end of them all!
(Back with the Beast!...)
He was running, running as fast as his feet could carry him, as a world as red as blood filled his vision. He didn't know why he was running or where he was running to, he just knew that he had to find it! He didn't know what it was, but he could smell it and whatever it was, it was dangerous!
As he continued to run he could hear his staggered breathing, which he could barely register over the sound of his own spooch beating.
'Where am I?' The words echoed around him. 'Who am I?'
He froze suddenly as a metallic building appeared before him revealing his reflection.
Only it wasn't him, no it was the beast, the monster that was trying to take over him! A large muscular and green creature with large red eyes! Its clothes were ripped to shreds, pieces of what was left of the fabric hung around its body.
'What am I?' the words echoed around him as the monster touched his hand to his reflection.
Then suddenly in a fit of rage the beast took its large fist and shattered the metal turning his reflection into a thousand pieces.
He turned as a loud unearthly howl filled the air but all he saw through his own red tented vision was two large glowing blue eyes! With one sniff of the air the red eyed beast knew it was the thing he had been tracking, the danger; he had found it!
The blue-eyed beast crawled on all fours towards him. Its own green body barely covered by its tattered clothes. He was obviously a male and around the same age as the red eyed beast before him.
The beast with the red eyes gave a low warning growl followed by a loud hiss. 'Don't come any closer.' He warned the other.
The blue-eyed beast chuckled darkly and charged!
(Back with Zim)
Zim jumped up screaming as he woke up with a start!
He half expected to find himself in bed waking up from a horrible nightmare; but to his shock, and utter surprise he was in a dark alley. And worse still he found that he was covered in Irken blood!
The blood was not his own…
-To Be Continued