Ancient Instincts

Chapter 5

"That's absurd!" Zim shouted, pressing a little harder on the wound on Dib's shoulder, causing him to flinch. Dib realized Zim was holding the ripped fabric which was now stained with blood to the bite on his shoulder. He was about to push the alien's hand away to hold it himself, but the irken dragged him over to where Zim kept some emergency care kit. He always kept one around in case the dumb human ever gotten himself hurt, which was quite often.

"It's not though," Dib explained as Zim proceeded to clean and patch up the wound, "you said it yourself, Zim, no irken has lived long enough to fully understand this disease. This could be a long term effect that no one's ever known before."

"Stop moving so much, Dib-thing."

"Right sorry. But that could explain why you acted out of character just now, getting so aggressive-"

"Stop. Just stop talking. Please, I really don't want to think about that..." Zim interrupted with a sigh then added, "This is exactly what I was afraid of... I said I didn't want to hurt you, but I did. If we continue this... I... I might kill you. I don't want to do that, not anymore at least."

"Hey.." the human laid his hand on the irken's reassuringly, "This is nothing... we both know you've given me worse injuries when we were rivals."

"Your lack of concern is concerning me. Which concerns me further because this is usually the other way around."

"Just listen alright. I get it, you don't want to hurt me, but I love you too much to just give up. I've nearly died so many times in my efforts to capture and expose you. I've got the scars to prove it!" He gestured towards the few faint scars left behind from his younger years of chasing Zim.

"That doesn't make me feel any better, Dib-shit."

"Got that one from Gaz, did you? Sorry, you're right. I should be more worried about my own health, but I can't seem to care when I'm worried about you."

The irken sighed as he finished patching up the human, "I suppose I'd do the same if it were you in my boots."

"Never thought I'd hear that coming from you."

"Says the one whose ass I hade to save multiple times."

Dib laughed in agreement that stopped abruptly when he heard the elevator doors whoosh open. Zim heard it too and both looked to the elevator to see a familiar face normally stuffed in a screen of a video game.

"Gaz?" Zim and Dib asked.

"Yeah, so what? Don't look so surprised. Since you haven't been home the last couple days, Dib, dad asked me to bring you some of your crap." Gaz tossed a bag to her brother, knocking him off his chair.

"Jeez, Gaz, what'd you put in here? A bunch of bricks!"

"Your clothes dumb ass. And some of those weird books you asked for."

"Alright, well that explains that. Some of those books might as well be bricks."

Dib sat up as he looked through the items in the bag, finding all the things he asked for; books on the paranormal, spare glasses, and some simple hygiene products (that was more of Zim's request.)

Gaz looked over at Dib, noticing the bandages around his shoulder, "What happened to you this time?"

"What?" Dib looked up at his little sister then to the fresh bandages on his wound, "Oh yeah, that... um, I'd rather not say."

"I bit him too hard," Zim interjected.

"Alright, I shouldn't have asked, I don't wanna know about your sex life."

Dib just rolled his eyes and in doing so, he saw Zim with a look of discomfort painted on his face. The alien's eyes were scrunched close and his lips were pulled into a frown. The human knew this look and hurriedly asked, "Hey uh... Gaz, what time is it?"

"I dunno, like six."

Before Gaz had any chance to question her brother, he shot up and plucked Zim from his seat. He ran towards the large cage with the irken in his arms. Zim's shifting body was difficult to hold and was growing heavier than the human could carry. They toppled over before they could get inside the cage.

The familiar sounds of cracking bones and terrible muffled screams signified that Zim was in full swing of his transformation. Dib looked up in near-complete horror as the fully transformed Zim-beast standing over him.

"What the hell..?" Gaz breathed. She always believed her brother, just never showed she cared. However it was one thing to hear about it, but it was a whole other thing to see it in person. She'd be lying to herself if she said she wasn't shaken up a bit.

Her voice alerted Zim-beast and his head snapped up to stare at the second human with a growl. Dib quickly realized that Gaz was in danger and pushed himself up to his feet just as Zim-beast charged at his sister who stood in place.

"Gaz," Dib yelled, "run, you have to run! Zim, please stop! Don't hurt her."

She either didn't listen or couldn't hear his brother's pleas as she stayed frozen in place. As for Zim-beast, he was still going towards her. A rush of adrenaline pumped through Dib's veins as he bolted forward faster than he thought he could and jumped between his little sister and the beast. Dib looked down the creature's jaws and tears had sprung into his eyes.

A painful shriek sounded through the alien's lab. Dib dropped to the floor in shock as Zim-beast pulled away. Blood gushed from the human's shoulder and more crimson dripped from his arm which remained in the beast's mouth. Gaz pulled her brother into her lap as he continued to lose blood. She took off her coat and held it to where his arm used to be.

Zim-beast's aggressiveness faded quickly and he dropped the arm as he took a few steps back. Dib couldn't tell if he was just woozy from blood loss or if Zim-beast was acting like the Zim he knew. He didn't have much time to think about it as Zim-beast ran off before Dib blacked out.