To Which Our Future Holds (A ZaDr Story)

Chapter 7

Zim was broken out of his horrific nightmare when he saw something move along the side of the road, a person. With all the adrenaline that had been pumped into his system Zim ran as fast as he could, the man's furious cry roared behind him but Zim didn't care "I might just be acting stupid and irrational" Zim thought stretching out his hand to the person "But please!" Zim felt himself colide with the persons side effectively knocking the wind out of himself, but he clutched onto thier shirt for dear life, fear having overridden any other sense he could have had. The man who Zim had clung to let out a surprised yelp "Uh hey there kiddo? Can I help you with something?"
Having not enough clarity within his mind to speak Zim fearfully looked back from where he came clutching tighter onto the man's shirt.
Following Zim's gaze the man spotted the stranger standing in the park, both hands raised defensively at his sides "Relax officer I jus saw that kid all by em'self an I jus was checking if they was awright thas all." He waved his arms and gave a worried smile trying to come across as polite "I jus spooked em cause they're shy thas all, Ain't that right Kid?" Zim jolted and hid behind the officer not at all wanting to engage with the stranger.
"Ok then" the officer dismissed "Don't worry I've got this taken care of" The stranger nodded and rushed off leaving Zim and the officer alone.
Making a mental note to look into the strange man later, the officer turned his immediate attention down to the small kid who was currently still griped onto his shirt.
"Hey kid are you alright? Did he hurt you or anything?" Zim turned his head and looked up at the officer. He was a shorter man, though compared to Zim he seemed rather tall, he had sandy blonde hair that was covered by a officers cap and light freckles over tanned skin, his hazel eyes seeming to look directly into Zim. As if suddenly noticing what was going on Zim released his grip on the officer and took a quick step backwards. Taking this as an opportunity the officer crouched down to Zim's level and put a gentle hand on his shoulder to try and reassure him "Hey would you mind telling me you're name Kiddo?" Looking over the officer for a while Zim seemed to gage on how trustworthy he would be before finnaly answering his question "Zim" he stated bluntly "I am Zim."
The officer gave a nod and a smile "It's nice to meet you Zim, my name is officer Staliz" Zim gave a nod, not really caring but he figured he should at least acknowledge the person who had saved his life, despite how ridiculous he thought they where. Trying to get some more information, the officer asked Zim some more questions. "Would you mind telling me what your doing out here by yourself?" Zim just stared at the officer both bored and annoyed with his pestering "Well do you know where your parents are?" Zim tensed slightly under this question, he didn't really have any parents or even a home here, having this officer digging around would not be good. Sensing Zim's fear the officer tightened his grip on his shoulder "Hey Zim how about you come with me ok?" Zim began to panic, he thought this officer had helped him, but he was just like the other humans, ready to drag Zim off to who knows where. Zim pulled away from the officer in an attempt to escape but the officer was too quick "Hey where are you going" the officer asked grabing hold of Zim's wrist "Don't run off like that." Zim grabbed at his arm and tried to pull away from the officer's tight grip "No! Release Zim!" He yelled tugging against the officers grip.
"Hey, you need some help?" Zim froze as he heard a voice call out from behind him, one that sounded eerily close to someone he knew, but at this point Zim didn't want to find out who it was. Zim slashed his claws across the officers hand getting him to pull back and release his grip with a shocked yelp. "Ouch!"
Zim turned and started to run towards the wooded area behind the park, if he could just make it there his pursuers would have no chance of catching him, as Zim's senses allowed him to be  much more maneuverable then humans when in tight or crowded spaces. "I can't get caught yet" Zim thought desperately "I just have to get a little farther!" Zim's momentum was halted as two firm hands lifted him up off the ground, effectively stopping his escape. "No no no no NO!" Zim thought as both the the ground and his escape route slipped further away from him. Zim began to thrash around in his captors arms "No please!" He shrieked before falling to the ground and knocking the wind out of himself. Zim curled up in a ball as the man stood over him. "Z-Zim is sorry! Zim won't run away anymore! Please don't hurt Zim.." He whimpered with his eyes squeezed shut and his arms over his head in a defensive posture. "Hey Zim we're not going to hurt you." He heard the officer say in a gentle voice. Zim opened one of his eyes and looked up at the two men who where standing over him, for a second Zim almost thought that his Almighty Tallest had come for him but that thought had been quickly replaced as the light shone over them revealing that it was just officer Staliz and another officer, taller than Staliz with dark hair and a stubbled beard, who Zim assumed was the owner of the voice he had heard behind him. Officer Staliz crouched down back to Zim's level and reached out a hand "Zim we are here to help you, is there someone who wants to hurt you?" Zim sat up slightly and looked at the officers trying to find a good solution to his new problem when a much worse one caught his attention.
Zim scrambled up to his feet causing officer Staliz to panic "Hold up! Don't run off again!" But luckily for him Zim wasn't planning on running off, instead he grabbed onto him again in an attempt to hide. Both officers found themselves puzzled with Zim's constantly changing and quite unpredictable behavior. Officer Staliz, who was more focused on Zim, wasn't as aware as his companion.
The other officer looked around trying to figure our what caused this change in behavior when he noticed two people walking past the park, one was a tall man with black hair and copper eyes the other a small boy who looked to be his son. The officer turned to Staliz when he heard him ask if something was up. "Yes actually" he replied. "This kid tries running off then suddenly changed his mind, I'm trying to find out why" the officer looked down at Zim then back over to the people making the connection in his mind "Are you afraid of them?" He asked gesturing to the two. Although The only response he got was a nervous looking Zim refusing to make eye contact, the officer nodded assuming that to mean it was true.
Officer Staliz looked up at his companion "And what is that suposed to mean?" The other officer shrugged "Social anxiety perhaps?" The two officers continued to talk with one another trying to figure out what to do despite Zim being right there, though Zim wasn't to worried with thier conversation itself as he had other things on his mind. "Curses this isn't good" Zim thought to himself  "All because of that stupid guy, how am I supposed to get out of This?" Zim tried bitting back his tears "I just want to go back to my ship" he whimpered in his mind "I never should have gone on this stupid walk!" Zim felt the tears he was unable to stop start burning in his eyes, the contacts making it all that more uncomfortable "This is so stupid, Zim doesn't want to cry, only smeets cry like this." Zim thought before he started sobbing uncontrollably all the fear from the past few moments seeming to catch up to him at once.
The officers exchanged worried expressions before Staliz scooped Zim up in his arms, slightly surprised at how light Zim was, before they turned and started walking off. Zim didn't know where they where going and he never bothered to ask, because in the end his Sobs began to slowly drown out the world around him transforming it into a still and quiet nothingness.

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