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Two Of Us	By : endofoblivion Category: +G through L > Invader Zim > Slash - Male/Male Views: 5194 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Invader Zim, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
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Two of Us: Chapter 5 - Meltdown
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Time had its way of diluting events, blurring them as they happened into a mix of present and past. The future was a possibility born from the culmination of these things, each moment changing and transforming into a way of life. A thousand possible futures existed, a thousand possible interpretations of events. Dib knew a few, the government knew others; he considered his the truth.
After he had regained his sanity, deep inside a government complex they had brandished him a traitor. For quite some time he had been kept down there mad as a hatter, unable to process the sequence of events that would probably haunt him the rest of his life. Eventually things became clear and they knew what he had known all along, no one sacrifices a piece of themselves for something they hate. Zim had not been the enemy, he had been one of the victims and Dib had been his accomplice, no matter how little he managed to do in the end. They gave him freedom, a settlement and the strict order that if he wanted something akin to a normal life for his children, he’d never speak about the ordeal again. They were left in peace. Thankfully no one ever questioned the origin of his son or daughter, or their strange red coloured irises.
While Deen held little recognition towards the strange events that shaped her upbringing, Gurn still had some memories. For years he had nightmares and woke up screaming a name that pained Dib to hear.
“Don’t leave me,” was always the cry, “don’t leave me and daddy!”
Now the poor kid was aloof as ever. Almost the way Gaz had been when she and Dib had been kids. Of course, Dib blamed himself for this and all the time he spent trying to piece together a past that wouldn’t let him go. He felt a lot of guilt, for a long time he could barely stand to see his children, everything they did reminded him of that awful day.
One day. One second was all it took. The moment when reality breaks, cracks and thunders around, screaming then dead, covered in pain. Like blood in water. It dilutes and poisons everything. Such a thin line quivering, before snapping into hell, it had all been like a dream. A horrible evil nightmare.
~*~
The clock chimed. 4 Pm.
“Where’s Dad?” he wondered idly.
Dib sat restless. Gurn was sketching on the floor quite happily, for the first time in a while Gaz had taken Deen out with her, leaving Gurn to his own devices without his hyper sister to crawl all over him. Zim and GIR were at the base, minimoose followed Deen wherever she went squeaking happily, thus was with them at the school, where Gaz was doing a favour for Dib signing kindergarten papers.
He sighed. If he had an idea his dad would be this late, he would have taken Deen himself.
The phone rang, startling him.
“Hello?” he said, picking it up.
“Dib, where’s Deen and Gaz?” it was Zim.
“Out at the school signing papers. Why? What’s going on?” there was something not right about Zim’z voice. And odd kind of urgency. He sounded almost afraid.
“Take Gurn and meet me at the hidden voot in the woods,” he said.
“Zim, what the hell is happening? Why are you so scared?” Dib pressed.
“LEAVE RIGHT NOW!” he shrieked, then regained his composure, “please,” he finished, voice cracking.
The phone went dead. Dib stared at it for a few long moments before setting it down.
He didn’t’ bother to gather anything up, just picked up Gurn who protested loudly at being torn away from his picture. He still clutched the cute rendition of Dib and Zim holding hands to his chest.
“Daddy,” Gurn whimpered, “what’s happening?”
“It’s ok Gurn. Zim just wants to see us,” Dib lied.
“You sound scared daddy,” Gurn’s skeptic eyes broke his heart.
“It’s gonna be ok,” Dib said smiling, “we’re just going to go see Zim in the park.”
He left the house as a neighbour peeked his head out of the door.
“Hey Membrane,” the gruff large man spoke, “does your tv work?”
“I don’t know,” he said staring back at the man oddly.
“God damn cable company, my sister’s is shot too, same with all the neighbors. They better get on their asses and fix it this time,” the man grumbled as he wandered back into his house.
Dib had a sinking feeling in his stomach. Somehow he knew this had something to do with the weird events of the day.
“Look daddy,” Gurn had said pointing to a black car pulling up by Zim’s base.
Two men got out wearing black suits, ties and dark sunglasses. He recognized them from the government, sometimes his father got a lot of unwanted attention for what he did. They were goons for sure.
“C’mon Gurn we’ve got to high tail it,” he said, dragging the curious little boy away from their house.
They had no car, so the two walked to the park, Dib trying to hide his fear from Gurn who was obviously frightened by everything going on. Something strange caught his eye as he momentarily turned his head to look at the sky. The wind picked up around him, and he heard the hum of a ship as it flew above.
“What the-“ he said, noting the Irken symbol blazing across it’s bottom.
Suddenly, the sky turned dark, filled to the brim with Irken ships, corporate logos blazing filling the whole expanse like a swarm.
His jaw went slack from the shock, they flew high above bee-lining it for their neighborhood. He wasn’t prepared for the first explosion. It threw him and Gurn down the hill, rolling as smoke filled their lungs into the trees. He had managed to grab onto Gurn which was lucky, since debris was flying everywhere. Two strong arms picked him and Gurn up, clutching Gurn and the hands that saved him he ran.
Breathless, he let Gurn down staring at his savior.
“Zim what the hell is happening?” he said, never more glad to see him in his life.
“They came too soon!” he spoke harshly, gesturing towards the smoke that was rising from the neighborhood.
Dib stared at him aghast, “you KNEW?!”
“It’s not what you think! I had an idea, since when has the armada contacted me about anything? The Tallest wanted to make a deal, I declined. They said it would be years before they ever touched a dirtball like Earth,” he said helplessly.
“I guess they lied!” Dib said horrified.
“It’s not like I was the only one! Your father knew before I did, it was only because your father told me that I-”
“Dad told you and not me?! And you never said a thing?!” his voice was raised now, causing Gurn to hide behind his knees.
“It doesn’t matter. There is an ounce of hope left, I’m going to try and do the impossible. Stall the armada until your worthless human ‘armies’ can contain them!” he hissed bitterly.
Zim pointed at the ship, “you and Gurn will stay there until it’s safe to return.”
“What?! No! What the hell! You and dad were in cahoots? Why the hell wasn’t anyone warned?!” Dib screamed, anger and rage filling him to the brim, “people are DYING!”
“And we’d all be dead too if you’re idiot government did what they were planning! Your father talked them out of it! Nuclear holocaust Dib!” he screamed, “They were going to kill everyone to protect their ridiculous ‘assets’. They don’t understand! Earth has no assets that the Tallest care about, if they killed themselves all the better to them! They’re probably going to make this planet into a pile of rubble! Because they think it’s fun!! That’s what they do!!!”
Dib stood transfixed in his position, staring angrily at Zim. He had no words to describe the betrayal he felt by both parties, his father and his lover.
“I’m not leaving,” he said through gritted teeth.
“Fine,” Zim said, promptly grabbing him and throwing him into the voot.
“Zim!” Dib cried, as he was chucked in, “arg! Stop it! I want to help!”
Gurn was thrown in second on his chest, winding him momentarily. He scrabbled to get up, just able to press his hands against the glass dome that had just shut. The voot lifted as Dib and Zim’s eyes met for the last time. Dib face pressed to the glass could see the look on his face, it was tragic, it made him want to cry. In a few seconds Zim’s face faded, the grass became sky, the sky became space and the voot was adrift facing out into the cold blackness.
“Dammit!! Zim!!!” Dib screamed in frustration, slamming his hands against the comm panel.
Gurn had pressed his knees to his chest, sniffing, his eyes watering.
They were adrift above the Earth facing away from it, Dib couldn’t even tell what was going on down there if he wanted to. He tried each panel systematically; they were frozen. The code used on them was so foreign that Dib wouldn’t be able to move them for ages.
He sighed, “Gurn, we may be stuck here for a while.”
Sniffing, eyes growing wetter Gurn looked up pitiably from the floor, “did Zim abandon us?”
“No,” he replied, wrapping his arms around his son, “he was trying to protect us.”
They stayed wrapped up in each other’s arms, Dib trying to comfort Gurn the best he could, for a very long time.
Hours later, a bleeping sound was hear on the comm. panel.
Dib jumped up, and rushed over.
“What the-“ he said as the communicator came online.
“Dib!!” it was Gaz’s voice over the computer, “looks like you and Gurn need a lift!”
He looked up at the window and there was Gaz driving Tak’s ship with Deen beside her, pressing her face to the glass, minimoose bumping against her with glee.

“Daddy!!” he could hear Deen’s happy squeal through the communication device.
Never in his life had he been this happy to see Gaz in that crazy ship.
“I’m taking us back to Earth Dib. Prepare for a piggy back, it’s gonna be a little rough,” Gaz said triumphantly.
Though the comm. panels were locked and Dib couldn’t even hack enough code to send a message, Gaz had somehow rigged up her ship to chatter with theirs, allowing her ship to connect to his and cart them through space. The ride was bumpy and a bit rough but soon they were near Earth. What greeted them was a monstrous collection of Armada vessels all b-lining it towards their planet. Amongst these swarms of ships was a huge behemoth with an Irken logo proudly painted across the front.
“That’s the Massive isn’t it,” he whispered to himself, “the Irken leaders are here.”
“Daddy,” Gurn tugged on his jacket, eyes pleading, “are they going to hurt people?”
Dib swallowed, “maybe. But if they do we’ll just have to hurt them back until they leave.”
His son clung to him, trembling.
The landing was rocky, but everyone on board had made it back safely to Earth.
“Gaz,” Dib called as he exited the ship, “where are we?”
She ran out holding Deen’s hand towards him, minimoose following close behind.
“Dad knew all along Dib, “she said, “he told me to take Tak’s ship into space. The firm he was working for the last few years, they knew about Zim.”
Dib’ heart sunk to the bottom of his chest, “what did they know?” His thoughts were immediately concerning his children’s safety.
“Not a lot. But they figured out where he lived after a while. Lucky for us people are so fu- er bloody stupid,” she said while restraining Deen from tackling her brother.
“Let her go Gaz,” Dib said, smiling at her happy energy despite the situation.
“GURN!!” the little girl squealed, latching onto her older brother. He seemed to reluctantly allow the aggressive hug, if only because he was still nervous and trembling. Dib knew his oldest kid vaguely understood what was going on, he hoped for the most part he wouldn’t suffer trauma from these experiences. Beside the whole, “my other dad is an alien” thing.
Dib looked around. The area looked…familiar, but there was so much rubble lying around he couldn’t be sure.
“Where are we Gaz?” he asked.
She was looking around too, obviously noticing exactly where they were for the first time.
“Shit. I thought we were close to Dad’s lab I guess…wait,” her eyes scanned over the rubble to a point where black smoke was rising.
“You don’t think,” Dib started, his eyes going wide.
They both grabbed a kid and took off running towards the smoke afraid of what they might see. In fact they really wished they hadn’t brought the two kids when they got to the heap of smoldering rubble that once was their father’s lab.
Dib stared, jaw agape. The place was hardly there anymore. Just a pile of cement, still burning…and that smell. He clutched his hand to his nose.
“Oh no no no,” he shook his head, something in him slowly cracking, “you KNEW! You bastard!” Dib cried, dropping to the ground in frustration, “you kept me out because you knew!”
Gaz stared from him, to the rubble and back to where Deen and Gurn were clinging to each other with frightened expressions written over their faces.
“What are you talking about? Dib what the hell is that disgusting smell?” Gaz said, muffled through the sleeve of her sweater.
“It’s bodies,” he said hopelessly.
“What?!” she said, eyes growing larger by the minute.
“IT’S BODIES!!” he screamed, “fucking corpses! And dad’s one of them!” he hit his fists against the cement.
“Geez Dib be careful what you say,” she said quietly, glancing over at the two kids huddled together, “calm down. We don’t know Dad’s in there.”
“Membrane?” a voice called.
Dib and Gaz both looked up.
“Ah yes, Dib and Gaz. I’m so glad you’re alive!” the man who was wearing a slightly dirtied lab coat smiled at them warmly, “ he was so worried about you.”
“Dad?!” Gaz said, “where is he!”
“Oh, quit dead I’m afraid,” the man said still grinning stupidly looking over the rubble, “but at least I’ve found his children safe and sound.”
“What the hell is your problem you sicko!” Dib said, infuriated.
The man was obviously a little far gone, what with the whole grinning at utter destruction and loss of life thing. On top of that, what the hell was wrong with his arm? It hung limply at his side, oozing…something.
“Maybe you should go see a doctor about that,” he said, nodding at the infected appendage.
“Oh that,” the man said, seemingly dejected, “well there’s nothing I can do about that. Once that damn infection gets into you, you’re as good as dead.”
Dib just stared. He didn’t like where this was going. The man also had his hand in his other pocket, holding something. The situation was dangerous. He just wanted to get his kids and Gaz out of here as soon as possible. Not to mention they had minimoose with them, which was a little incriminating.
“You know it was his last dying wish,” he said, an eerie smile creeping up on his lips, “to die for you and your sister. Nothing else mattered, not fame not fortune, he could have been in cahoots with the government, gave away your little alien friend there. Oh yes, don’t look so frightened, we knew about him a long time ago. But doing something, oh no, not Membrane. Things had gotten very familiar between you and him, pity.”
The hand in the coat pocket twitched.
“Thus we are here, come to this. Because you got involved with the enemy, with those disgusting creatures that rain infecting death upon anyone that gets cut with their weapons. Have you been out lately Membrane children? The suffering being caused is stupendous. You’re entire neighbourhood died screaming in flames,” he laughed a low laugh.
“Shut up you lunatic!” Gaz screamed.
“Ah no, I won’t. Not until I’m dead and gone like you’re dear father. He died valiantly, he died famous. He died protecting you Dib and Gaz, just how he wanted. But I have nothing left now, because of him and his poisonous brood.”
The gun slid out, cocked initially at Dib, then wavering between him and Gaz.
“Or maybe,” it went towards his children, “I’ll get rid of the putrid half breeds first.”
His eyes cold as ice narrowed, infected arm glistening in the faint light from the clouds, but he would never shoot. Just as he was about to let loose, a piece of metal crashed from the sky, a ship came hurtling down from above crushing him instantly, bringing up all the wretched burnt cropses from the ground and heaving them and Dib over the rubble pile. He heard Gaz and his children screaming, then everything went black.
He woke up, in a small pool of his own blood with significant pain going through his arm. The place reeked, the cinnamon smell of the dead wrapping around his nostrils, while blackened tar replaced air. He had to move he knew. The fires would reach here soon, and there was all that kindling around him. He crawled to his knees, remaining so for some time, inching himself across the putrid groundcover until he could stand.
“Gaz!” he screamed as loud as he could, “Gurn!! Deen!! Where are you?” he began to sob, “Zim!! Where are you…” his voice petered out. There was no energy left in him to shout, whatever remained in his body he had to use to get away; that was becoming obvious as he saw the orange lights get closer. Tears ran down his face. Had everyone just died, to leave him alone?
He stumbled for hours in twilight, the sun streaking down. He didn’t know where he was or where he was going. There were bodies everywhere, stinking corpses, not a living soul to be found. It seemed to him the whole world was dead and only he was left to mourn it.
Then hope struck him.
In front of him, behind a great slab of concrete there was a hospital. It was recongisalbe as the main one that once was in the center of town. He must have walked to the city, which meant he had to have been trudging from his father’s lab for almost 45 minutes. Almost nightfall and he had found a haven to rest in. Or so it seemed.
The place was crowded. His ears were assailed immediately with screaming, moaning and pleading cries.
“Let me die!”
“Mommy!”
“Please I can’t take it!”
“She’s dead. I’m sorry.”
“I don’t want to die! Don’t let me die! Not like this!”
It overloaded his fragile mindset for a moment, but quickly he regained composure. He had an estimate of time now, a frail idea of where he was, and maybe in this place some help for his arm. Amazing how the little things meant so much in such dire situations.
“Dib..Oh my god it’s you!” A voice said separating itself from the crowd.
He stared at the man almost a head above him, who was covered in soot and had bandages over half his body.
“Torque?” he said tentatively.
“Yeah! Oh my god I didn’t think I’d ever see you alive!” a far too tight hug was given to him by his old classmate.
“Ouch,” he winced.
“Oh hey, you’re arm’s all fucked up. Hey nurse! This guy needs some help here!” Torque motioned to the bedraggled nurse.
She drug herself over to them, obviously very tired, with a lacklustre look in her eyes. She poked at his arm and he winced.
“No infection. Well have a seat. You’re the most hopeful case I’ve seen all day,” the once pretty woman managed a smile.
She bandaged him, while Torque prattled on about old times, apologizing once or twice about beating him up and being a general ass in high school.
“Yeah things all changed once I started going out with Zita,” he said, smiling at fond memories.
“Zita?! Is she here??” Dib said hopeful. They hadn’t spoken in ages, to think she was still alive was…
“Yeah.” Torque’s head bowed low, “yeah she came in here. I brought her. It was a mess. She died this morning. It was almost a relief. She suffered so much..”
“There all bandaged up, “ the nurse said proudly. She left to carry on other work, rushing to a moaning man, then to a burned child, then to someone who’s infected wounds almost covered their entire body.
“I’m..so sorry,” was all Dib could manage. He swallowed.
“Look Dib, you better leave. See they moved the hospital, all the people here are hopeless cases. They’re all going to die anyway, so when the armada comes to destroy it, it won’t matter. The only reason this place is still running is because of people like you, who end up in the middle of nowhere without medical help.”
“Torque,” he said staring at his classmate with a look of horror, “you don’t mean to tell me…”
“That’s right. We’re all gonna die. Children, mothers, siblings and lovers,” his eyes watered at the last statement, “but it’s ok. Because we’re all gonna die together.”
Dib shook his head, “no you can’t be, you’ve got to be wrong!”
“Dib,” Torque said taking him by the shoulders, “if you want, go upstairs and see Zita. She really liked you, always had good things to say even if she did think you were crazy sometimes. I think she’d want to say farewell.”
Dib shook his head, walking backwards, bumping into one person or the other. Wandering people, sick and dying.
They’re all going to die!
He couldn’t handle it. Rushing upstairs he knew he had to be wrong, he knew he had to have just dreamed up this whole thing. He’d wake up tomorrow, and Zim would be in his base working on something, his dad would be in the lab, same old same old. Gaz would have her gameslave and Deen and Gurn would be shoving and laughing with each other.
Running over into a part of the hospital that was relatively intact, he noticed the nameplate on the bedraggled door. Scrawled in wipe away marker the name simply read ‘Zita’. He guessed a nurse wrote it there on the wall, since there was no last name and the writing was barely there.
He opened the door. The room had a blue hue. It was dark, there were machines all around. No hum, no smell of sanitation, nothing but cool indigo bathing every part of her face. It was so serene. He almost asked if he could come in, but then he remembered. She wasn’t really there at all, this was just a shell. He went over next to her bed, looking down at her face, pretty features rounded out with age, she was almost model material now, with that cute spiky haircut and upturned nose. There was no pain written across her features, she looked only like she was sleeping. He reached out a hand to touch her, but faltered. Tears ran down his face.
“I’m…sorry. I’m so-so sorry.” was his whisper to the shadows across the wall, “ I meant for us to be friends, but I got so wrapped up in…other things. I really…I really wish things would have been different.”
He touched the blanket by her side.
“I think you’d understand if you were in my position,” he said quietly, “I really would like to know what happened to you.”
He turned back the sheet, then, promptly vomited.
Staggering from the room, hands shaking, wounds throbbing under the bandage, the distorted flesh he saw under that blanket would haunt him the rest of his life. Worse then the wretched corpse that had been Zita, was the knowledge that he had been too late. No words of farewell were spoken between them, no great rumination of their past friendship would ever be discussed, no revelation that for a long time he had crushed over her in the younger grades. Nothing. She was just dead.
Dead, dead, dead.
Like his dreams, like his soul, like everything.
People were screaming around him, hitting his arm, bumping past him.
“They’re coming!” was the cry that ran through the halls.
Gurney’s were knocked over, medical supplies strewn across the floor. He didn’t even know he was outside until he saw the stars on the horizon. Then another explosion happened, worse then the last he had survived through. This one was pure fire. He was thrown backwards by what he presumed was the butt end of a laser, his eyebrows were singed, the tips of his fingers burned however, fate was not merciful enough to let him expire. He rolled down the side of the hill smelling that fetid smell of all smells, while hearing the screams and cries of those unfortunates from the hospital. We’ll all die together he had said. What a beautifully idiotic sentiment. Bitterness creeped over him, until all that was left was his angry huddled self clutching at the concrete. He wanted to scream, he wanted to cry, above all he wanted to accuse the powers that be for being cold heartless bastards to let this happen. But he couldn’t. There wasn’t a speck of energy left in him, but to seeth on this slab, that he expected would be his tomb. He didn’t care anymore, everyone had left him. Where was Zim? He had left him trying to protect him just like his father. Gaz and the others, they could be dead. Hope was never his forte. He needed others to keep him focused and aware that everything was not bad or worth forgetting, but now there was nothing stopping him from sinking into the black hole called sleep and writhing in pain when his dreams only focused on the dead.
“Get up,” the voice aggressively spoke into his ear.
He twitched at the cold metal pressed against his face.
“I said, get up.”
He tried to stand but collapsed in a heap. He couldn’t see. What happened to his glasses?
“I said Membrane,” the arms that grabbed him were rough, “get up.”
He was supported by two dark blurs that gradually became recognizable as the suited men he had seen at Zim’s house earlier.
“You’re under arrest Dib Membrane for cavorting with the enemy,” he barely heard the words coming out of their mouths, “ for aiding and abaiting the enemy, for…” and the rest continued on as a warble in his head. He was deadpanning quite literally on the inside. Everything hurt he was burned and in pain, and…what had they just said about Zim?
“…in aiding the deceased Invader Zim in his invasion.”
Deceased.
“You’re wrong,” he gasped, “you’re so FUCKING WRONG!!” he screamed and thrashed only to have the blunt end of a revolver hit him on the back of the head.
It wasn’t enough to knock him out, so he got a few more along with some solid hits across the face. When he was broken and compliant enough they dragged him away, slowly from the slab of concrete that still showcased some of his blood.
For months he was in a dark government prison deep within the Earth. Interrogations, beatings, threats everything. At one point when they were dragging him down the hall, still bleeding, he heard a voice scream out, “daddy!” and that was the way he found out his children were still alive. What were they doing to them? It pained him to think. If they hurt them and he got out of this alive…but he couldn’t even defend himself. Not from the government goons, not from his nightmares, not from the horrible memories that haunted him. He was a broken man in the most literal of senses. And what about the infection that had started at the tips of his fingers? Would he die covered in it like Zita?
It would be weeks later when another government faction took over. The dark goons were dismissed, to be replaced by soft spoken gentlemen in suits.
“The war is over Dib.”
It came as a shock.
The other one spoke, “we also know about your story,” it was said in such a soothing manner, “ we know about your children. They’re safe, and in good hands.”
He remembered expelling a short demented laugh in relief.
“And we’ve found Gaz. She’s suffered some injuries but will be fine. Also, there’s something we’d like you to see before we let you go home.”
Home. Ha he had thought. What the hell was there to go home too?
“ It’s what cleared your name.”
And so he had been propped up in a dank cement room with three ‘bodygaurds’ of sorts, while he watched a tape that had been recovered out of the wreckage. It had been from his old video camera, the one he had used to tape footage of Zim ages ago, when they had been kids.
The video began to play.
“UGH! Stupid Stink technology.”
The video camera vaulted to the side, with a lovely close up of Gir’s face.
“AH LIKE CHEESE!”
“Arg! Out of the way GIR!! There!”
Ah it was definitely Zim.
“Now, Gir, CONCENTRATE. We must contact the other stinkbeast war machines.”

One of the men spoke, “your father had talked him into this. He said if anything happened this would clear his name and yours.”
Dib watched on, unfettered by their talking.
“It was a miracle the tape survived the crash,” the other man said, “but thankfully it did and our unfortunate…misconceptions were erased.”
The focus went back to the movie.
“ATTENTION Stink-beasts! This is the mighty ZIM!! Former Irken Invader. If you want your stupid stink civilization to exist you will listen to ZIM and his ingenious plan.”
Apparently the broadcast had been caught by stations all over the world, the radio communication system had been left intact despite Irkens wiping out almost everything else. Something that primitive they thought, could not be of any value. They had been wrong.
“H2O will burn Irkens on contact, Sonars will destroy their equipment. Follow my lead to win a glorious battle in the name of your home planet EARTH.”
A few other vainglorious speeches were made by the master himself, while Gir did a song and dance routine in the background. It was almost enough to put a smile back on Dib’s face. Almost…
Then something horrible happened.
The tape had been cut to this point. The cockpit looked different. What had Zim been in anyway? It appeared to be some kind of mech. Steam was rising from the floor and he was darting to and fro trying to fix things. Then a darker shadow loomed up from the front, and Zim shook his fist in its direction.
“Master??” Gir squealed.
“QUICK Gir!! Hit the eject auuUUUGGHH!”
“WE’RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!”
Crunching glass and static could be heard along with a few good Gir screams, the screen flickered a few times, but it when it became clear for the last and final moment, deadly shards of glass could be seen descending along with blood spattering the edges of the camera. It went dark after that. The tape cut. The room was now filled eerily with a static glow.
Dib did some intense screaming of his own.
“There, you’re pretty much recovered now,” the nurse said, patting his bandaged hand.
His last day at the government building. He had been absolved, apologies for his grief had been made, and they had given him wads of cash, a job if he so chose and a secluded house to call home, in a town where no one would ask questions. The clean-up was all too simple.
“Can you imagine, so many people dying when all they needed to do was douse the cuts in water. All the technology in the world and people never even thought,” she chattered.
It was true. Water got rid of the infection, like it did weaker Irkens, burning it away until clean skin and organs were left underneath. All those people had only needed one simple thing to survive but no one had even tried. The irony was almost painful.
He had gone to what he called home. Gaz had been with him. So had Deen and Gurn but he could barely register their presence. He couldn’t even speak, he lay like a mute on his bed, locked away upstairs for weeks. His sister being patient with him, knowing somehow he had gone through worse things then anxiety over two kids and a hospital stay, looked after Deen and Gurn for him while nursing her damaged leg. For the rest of her life, she would have a limp and walk with a cane. One didn’t come out unscathed when two tons of flying cement crushed your foot. Dib sometimes could hear Gurn and Deen crying. Deen especially a few days after they arrived.
“My moose!” she cried, “my moose was squished!”
Her sobs could be heard all the way upstairs. Gurn was always quiet, until night. Then he would scream a name Dib didn’t want to hear over and over until his throat grew hoarse or Gaz came from her room to comfort him. He couldn’t bear to leave his sanctuary, everything about them, everything they said, was a reminder of him. He didn’t want to get angry, he didn’t want to cry in front of his children. They deserved to come out of this with as few emotional scars as possible. He didn’t think him not being around for a little while would hurt them as much as it did.
Later, he took the offered job with a newspaper. The world had recovered, people went on. Everyone had a story, but soon they just stopped talking about it. It hurt to see how people could carry on with their everyday normal lives when he couldn’t even possibly think of doing the same. None the less he tried. He took a job. He tried to be a father. But so much for so long would remind him of those horrible days and send him right back to square one.
~*~
The car was parked on the side of the road. Its lights were out. Dib pressed his head to the steering wheel, sobbing. It was always so hard after remembering, it was always so hard to go on. Almost impossible, every time he came out there to go back home. The beautiful memories burned in his head along with the vapid smoldering ones, lighting up his vision, blurring it, making it wet with tears. He stared out at the sky. A shooting star went by, almost like a dream of happier times.
He cleared his throat, and wiped his eyes.
It was possible though. He could go home, he’d see Gurn and Deen and Gaz in the morning. They’d be happy and safe. It didn’t matter how hurt he was or what he had done in the past as long as that could be assured for the future. It was the only thing he had worth living for. It was all he had.
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