A Parade of Indignities

Chapter 25: Of Bitter Reunions and Having your Cake and Eating it too

Dib hardly had time to think before Zim gripped one claw around his bicep and hauled him out of the cell.

They walked down the hall, past the other cells, and towards the door at the far end. When they approached it, Zim nodded nonchalantly towards the other guards working the night shift and was thankfully met with nothing more than faint nods back as they continued to pore over their tablets.

As soon as Zim and Dib had made it out of the cell block and into the labyrinth of hallways, he let go of his arm. "Follow me."

Mechanically, Dib did as he was told, trailing close behind Zim. Keeping up with him was difficult. He continually took backways and disappeared into storage rooms, shooting glares at the boy as he plodded along ungracefully behind him with his heavy walking boot.

Dib could hardly see more than a few feet in front of him. Several times, guards and officers must have appeared, for Zim would sporadically quicken his pace or duck around hallways, yanking Dib along by the wrist.

As they went on, Zim began to breathe heavier. He caught himself a couple times, seeming to make an effort to quiet his wheezing with varying degrees of success.

At one point, he rushed around a corner, and held perfectly still. Out in the hall they had just been in, heavy footfalls arose. Dib held his breath and pressed himself as flat as possible against the wall.

He turned his neck to look at Zim, surprised to see that one of his antennae was bent out unnaturally. It hung limply down the back of his skull before pointing outwards at an almost 90-degree angle near the midway point.

More notably, though, was the fact that Zim's face had suddenly become flushed. He breathed in and out deliberately, eyes watering all the while.

At last, the footsteps faded down the hall and disappeared. They were off again. Zim finally turned a corner and pushed open a large door.

Moonlight spilled out over the two of them. They were outside, on the prison grounds.

Zim couldn't hold back his coughing fit any longer. As soon as the door closed behind them, he released a torrent of spluttery hacks. He bent over, holding his knees and taking deep breaths until his face returned to its normal color.

Dib remained silent, unsure of what to say or do. They still weren't in the clear. Several vast guard towers were placed at each end of the prison, and from them, large searchlights drifted over nearly every inch of the complex. Though he couldn't see them, he was sure there was at least one Irken guard occupying each tower and keenly looking out for escapees.

Dib remained in the shadows, trailing the searchlights with his eyes.

Zim made a few vague gestures with his hands, still trying to catch his breath. Dib looked down at him in confusion.

The Irken inhaled deeply and straightened up somewhat. "Get that off, stupid Earth monkey. Do you want to be a walking target?" He pointed at his bright orange jumpsuit.

Dib quickly obeyed, removing the jumpsuit and revealing the dark grey sweatpants and t-shirt that were on underneath.

Zim nodded curtly and began slinking along the edge of the building. Dib followed suit, and they crept onward in the shadows, ducking away from searchlights that lazily cast over the prison grounds in a rhythmic motion.

Up ahead, Dib saw where he was being led to. It was a tiny hole in the wall near the corner, just small enough for someone Zim's size to squeeze through.

I'm never going to make it through that, he thought to himself.

Just when he was about to voice this, though, Zim stopped at the wall and deployed his PAK legs.