The Fall of an Empire (invader zim fanfic)

Chapter 6: Sepsis

As Red and the others watched these once great irkens servents turn into unholy abominations, multiple other impacts had occurred around the ship. While some were nowhere near where Red was, the closest was not too far from the escape pods. The navigators who were still present activated the automated defense systems to ensure that any more things couldn't enter the ship as they handled the smaller clumps already here. Before getting Red's attention, he made sure to request a handful of security escorts to make sure he escaped in one piece.

"My Tallest!" One of the navigators shouted. "This is a state of emergency, and I believe it is necessary you are taken to safety for the time being."

Red was just about to refuse, but right before he did, one of the reanimated corpses in the footage behind him showed it ripping through the door leading to the hallway being torn open like it was tinfoil. As that section of the Massive slowly leaked atmosphere, hordes of those mutants began pouring out and killing every living thing they caught in their sights. It was a grizzly sight witnessing highly trained soldiers get ripped apart like they were nothing.

Upon seeing this, Red couldn't help but feel nauseous after witnessing something so grotesque. He placed his hand over his mouth after gagging a few times, attempting not to expel his stomach contents. After successfully keeping himself from vomiting, He took a deep breath before responding to the irken trying to help.

"P-Please make sure they get here," Red requested with a shakey voice. "Quickly."

Soon, the group of guard requested arrived with protective gear and weaponry at hand. With them, in the center of the group, was Purple. Despite everything going on, he didn't seem the slightest bit worried about his current situation. He was far too relaxed knowing the alarms that went off and one of The Navigators officially declaring a state of emergency to the whole ship. He was like this before, but red didn't understand why. Even now, he was still confused about why Purple was a lot more nonchalant than usual. Regardless, the guards collected Red and placed him beside Purple before making their way to a more secure location.

A few minutes passed by, and Red's device began relentlessly beeping and vibrating. When when he took it out to check what it was, he was receiving a surplus of messages from different workers as well as alerts of multiple system failures. They were not in a good position anymore, and, given enough time, the massive will soon be over run. They need to find a way out before that happens.

The group soldiers marched down the corridor as they guarded the pair of tallests in a tight circle. With the ship coming apart from the inside out and mutated irkens spreading across the ship at an accelerated rate, no chances can be taken. Every corner was checked,  every turn was monitored, and every darkened corridor scouted. As time went by, the beeping of Red's tablet increased tenfold, concerning the tall irken greatly.

"How in Irk's name will we even be able to kill this thing when we get home?" Red asked his co-leader, perturbed. "It has shown its ability to not only evade our attacks but also strategize during battle and adapt accordingly. It's one thing to battle a fleet of ships or even one the size of a planet, but even them -"

"Shush..." Purple interrupted, putting a finger to Red's lips. "I know this is a desperate time, but we'll get out alive."

"And how exactly do you know that?" Red asked with a nervous and frustrated expression.

"I don't know," he answered. "Maybe it isn't us specifically that it wants."

"...I'm sorry, what?" Red questioned, perplexed by his response. "What makes you think that?"

"Well..." Purple trailed off before taking a bite out of one of his donuts.

"Well, what?"

"If we were really its target, don't you think this would have happened a lot sooner?"

Red stood quiet as the soldiers guarding the two stopped for a moment to look at Purple.

"What?" He asked, wondering why everyone was staring at him.

Suddenly, the lights went out, and the group was completely surrounded by pitch Black darkness. The guards turned on their built-in lights to illuminate their surroundings as they continued walking through the halls. The sounds of grinding metal and screaming pipes that once filled the endless corridors of the massive fell silent once the lights went off. It was only a matter of time before this place became their coffin.

"We need to pick up the pace," one of the guards accompanying the tallests said. "With the power out, life support systems are more than likely offline."

Red was about to make a comment of the security personnel pointing out the obvious before Purple hushed him. He tried to oppose Purple because of his interruption but was never given the chance to speak. Eventually, Red gave in and stood silent as they wondered the errie, metallic halls of their dead ship. Interestingly, despite being nowhere close to the areas of impact, there was something watching them from the darkness. Something they would never escape from no matter how hard they tried.