I'm back, baby! Enjoy. I'll be writing again tonight after work. :D

I opened my eyes slowly, feeling energy pump through my body along with my blood. The room no longer spun, my heart no longer pounded--I could breathe again.

"Gaz?"

"Go away," I said to whoever it was and rolled over.

"Gaz!"

"Dib, go away before I punch you," I murmured and opened my eyes, looking up. "Dib? Wait… Dib!" I sat up and threw my arms around his shoulders.

"It worked! The antidote worked!" he cried as he hugged me back.

"I guess it did." I said as he helped me up "When did you give it to me? How long was I out for?"

"As soon as you fell down; you've been out for about an hour. I'm not sure where Zim-"

"Oh my God, I forgot about Zim! We were there in the Tallests' room, we were there, Dib, and then… Then they took me away…" I looked around and was surprised to see Skooge, looking like he was in a state of thought. "Skooge… it's been forever since I've seen you!"

He looked up. "Yeah, they try and lock me up every time they get the chance. Obviously this time they'll regret it. You said Zim was with the Tallests?"

"Yeah, and I tried to stay, but they locked me up…" my eyes cast forward towards the ground. "We have to go back for him. We can't leave without him," I looked over at Dib with determination that I hadn't felt for a very long time. He looked determined as well.

"Gaz?" Dib said, cocking an eyebrow at me. "You're not gonna punch me first, then tell me what to do?"

I stopped, letting a smirk creep over my face as I punched him the shoulder. "Let's move."

"Let's not," a voice said from around the corner.

"Wha?" Dib gasped to himself, recognizing the voice immediately. He whirled around and faced the corner to which the voice belonged.

"This is the last straw, Dib. I've had enough of your childish games," Mira said, stepping into view. "No more hiding from me. If you all come with me, maybe we can get by with selling you as slaves instead of having to kill you." Her devilish smile was plastered on her lips while her gun pointed in our direction.

"Mira," I said, bringing my gun to level with hers.

"Gaz, how nice to see you well again," she gave a small pert smile and sarcastically let it fall. "Put down the gun or I shoot for your brother."

"Put down yours or I shoot at you." I looked her dead in the eyes.

"I'm afraid you won't-" Mira stopped in mid sentence, her eyes suddenly widening. "Who…?"

"Mira, put down the gun."

I looked up to see who had said it, and my heart jumped from deep down in my chest at the sight of Zim, standing there, his gun in Mira's back.

"Zim?!" she cried, her voice building up a wave of hate that spread through her face. "You're supposed to be dead!"

"Funny how things change, isn't it?"

"Get that off of me. I'll shoot both Dib and Gaz if you don't get that gun out of my back."

"Sorry, Mira, but I can't let you do that." And with that, Zim unexpectedly pulled the trigger, then casually put his gun away.

I stood there, thinking that he hadn't actually done it. The shot was so sudden, and I hadn't really expected him to go through with shooting her. After staring at Mira's unconscious body, I looked back up at Zim, seeing that he had a gunshot wound of his own planted in his shoulder. "Zim… what happened…?" was all I could actually get out.

"I'll have to explain later," he said as he grabbed my hand. "Dib, Skooge, we have to run. Whose ship are we taking out of here?"

"Uh… mine," Skooge said, a little flabbergasted at the way Zim had changed.

"Perfect, let's go," he said, starting to run.

...and so the race for home began.