ZATR- A New Feeling: Chapter 1

Chapter 1


Zim sat silently on the bench outside his house, staring with a burning hatred at everything he saw. He hated the sky. He hated the buildings. He hated the birds in the tree. His eyes turned to a window. He was able to see his reflection in it, quite clearly. Zim sighed angrily and thought,
“Yup. Hate that to”
Suddenly, he felt that someone was close. He looked next to him and his anger turned to surprise.
Tak had seated herself next to him, but she was obviously not bent on being kind to him. Nor did she show any signs of about to kill him. In either case, it was obvious to Zim that they both had the same feeling right now. Hate.
“So…what happened to you?” Tak grumbled. Zim continued to stare, angrily and unblinkingly at the soil beneath him.
“Dib happened.” He said. Tak groaned.
“Same here.”
Zim kicked a rock back and forth, imagining that his feet were giant, spiked rocks, and the pebble was Dib.
“He tried killing me with a squirt gun.” Zim mumbled. Tak sighed.
“So, did you get em’ for it?” she asked, seemingly eager to find out. Zim, caught a bit off guard by her sudden interest in ANYTHING he said, looked at her with slightly widened eyes.
“I took one of the Irken Tasers I kept in my PAC and shocked him.” Zim replied, almost chuckling while he said it. It was funny, looking back on it. Zim had simply slouched over, with dry, bored eyes as Dib shot the water gun at him. Zim had ignored the pain, so Dib wouldn’t foresee the oncoming retaliation. Dib had slowly approached zim, looking at him in a confused manner. After a long, awkward silence, Zim had pulled the Taser seemingly out of nowhere, shoved into the boy’s face, and walked away as if nothing had happened.
Tak laughed slightly.
“So THAT’S why he had a burn mark on his face when he tried the same on me.” She said. Zim was suddenly filled with anger again. A stronger hatred of which he had never felt. This hatred was not caused by an urge to get even, or the need to conquer. It wasn’t about Zim, for some reason. It seemed…different to him. Almost a feeling of needing to protect. An emotion.
“Did he hurt you?” Zim asked. Tak flinched, surprised at his concern for her.
“He tried. Let’s just say that burn mark got doubled.” She said. Zim would have normally laughed, but he still felt the growing resentment… “Oh, dear God. Here he comes.” Tak said. Zim poked his head around the corner. Indeed, Dib was coming toward the base. He had one burn mark on his cheek, the other on his forehead. His hair was raised, giving a sign that many volts had traveled through his body. Dib walked in front of them, and stared angrily.
“You two really think you’ve won, don’t you?” he asked. He suddenly grabbed a small but full water balloon from his jacket pocket, held it tightly in his fist, and held it between the two Irkens. “One of you makes a move, and this water goes everywhere! Drop your weapons, aliens!” he demanded. Zim lunged at Dib, and fought with him. Dib threw a punch after Zim had cut his face, and as Zim stunbled back, he threw the water balloon at Zim.
Zim suddenly felt a surge of burning pain throughout him. It felt as though he was walking through acid, and it was pulling him down into it. Zim screamed in pain and fell to the ground. Dib sneered, walked over to Zim and kicked him.
“Poor Zim…trying to defend himself.” He mocked. Tak sat on the bench, amused.
Zim felt it again. It was a new emotion, an emotion of absolutely unforgiving, unmerciful, un-sympathetic HATE. He felt Dib’s leg move away from his body quickly, preparing for another kick.
“It’s not about me…” Zim said. Dib, who was about to deliver another kick, stopped suddenly.
“What did you say…?” he asked cautiously. Zim lifted himself onto all fours, then onto his feet. His head hung low. His skin was smoking from the water. But, he no longer felt the pain of it.
He felt only the new hatred.
Zim’s arm reached up and pinned Dib to the brick building by his throat. Not strong enough to choke him, but strong enough to keep him pinned there.
“IT’S ABOUT HER!” Zim yelled. He raised his other arm and slashed Dib across his face.
“OW!” Dib yelled and knelt to the groundd, clutching his three cuts. But Zim wasn’t done. He gripped Dib’s hair and pinned him to the wall again.
“Listen, Earth-filth! You touch her again…” he leaned in closer and whispered menacingly “…and you’ll know that I AM your Hell.” With that, he threw his arms off, releasing Dib’s neck. Frightened and confused, Dib stared at Zim for a moment, then ran off down the sidewalk again.
Zim stood there, staring at his shadow. He felt blood surge through his body. The hatred he felt had given him strength. He felt pain, still. The burning had slightly subsided, but there was a bruise on his face.
“Why did you say that?” Tak asked from behind him. Zim’s eyes widened and they darted away from his shadow. He turned around to look at her. Tak gasped slightly when she saw him.
Before, she had always looked upon him with hatred. She had seen an idiotic face, an oblivious face, not even ready to comprehend a gerbil. Now, his cheek was torn. His eyes, though behind lenses, glowed red. He bore his teeth. This wasn’t the face of an idiot. This was the face of someone who had only one thing lose now.
She walked over to him, and tried to get him to look at her. He was staring at the ground again. His eyes were fixed into hatred. They looked as if they had seen the real Hell, and had learned from it.
“Zim? C’mon Zim, talk to me.” Tak urged. Zim lifted his head to her. His eyes were half closed now, and more tired and weary then angry. His bruise had turned slightly into a cut, and a bit of blood flowed from it.
“Because I love y-“ before he could finish, Zim fell to the ground, and passed out.