VINDICATION

CHAPTER 5: Earth Syndrome


Zim bolted upright in the middle of the night, his chest heaving and his pale green skin coated in a fine sheen of sweat. He’d had another nightmare…

Damn it, he thought he’d put all of that behind him.


His fists clenched tightly and he tried to settle himself down, but after half an hour of tossing and turning, he finally gave up on sleep and went into his bathing room, filling the tub with warm gel. Zim looked at his reflection in the mirror, relieved that he didn’t look as shaken as he felt. He shuddered, then began to remove his clothing, setting it aside and then climbing into the tub. The warm purple gel was soothing, although it did little to quell his anger. But as the minutes passed, he found himself letting go of that as well, sinking down into the gel up to his chin, stretching and curling his antennae in pleasure. He sighed, purring and closing his eyes.

About an hour later he made his way down to the lab, stopping in front of the cage where Dib was curled up, sleeping soundly in the far corner. Zim’s red eyes narrowed in hatred, and he debated on whether or not to just pull Dib out right now and strangle him. But no, if he was going to kill the Dib, he wanted to make it long, and slow, and excruciating.

But what of this talk of an alliance? Zim certainly needed no ally. Yet there had been something so disturbingly…honest about Dib’s proposal. Zim shook his head and scowled again. It didn’t matter. He’d rather kill the human than have him as an ally…but Dib had also proposed to be a servant. No…no, he was a prisoner, damn it. The rotten human beast deserved to be a prisoner after the suffering he’d caused. Deserved to be humiliated, tortured, dissected, and forced to endure the most horrifying cruelties imaginable. Dib had shown him cruelty, and Zim would return it tenfold.

Then again, that had been several years ago…but what difference did that make? He still hated Dib. Could one consider someone they hated to be an ally? No.

A servant? Zim shook his head again.

A slave?

Yes…

Zim grinned, finally. If not a prisoner, then a slave. One he could be ruthless with, one he could viciously degrade at will and inflict various forms of torture upon, and still expect service from in return. And if the human was really so desperate for alliance, then he would be a very willing slave. Yes…that would be the test. He’d see just how badly the Dib wanted this alliance.

Zim laughed maniacally as he left the lab, leaving Dib to disturbing dreams of his own.