Zim

Winner, 8-11 short story category

Once upon a time there was a boy called Zim who lived with his family in India. One day his mum told him about racism, pollution and animals dying. When Zim heard about this he said, “I want to save those people and animals” but his mum said, “No,”.

In the middle of the night, Zim packed for his adventure. As he walked through the dump to find his go-kart, he saw some bin bags move! He froze. Then he went a little closer and closer and then closer until he was next to it.

Then he lifted up the bin bag and to his surprise he saw a cute little puppy. He picked it up and said, “I will call you Zac.” Then he mumbled to himself, “Zim and Zac, Zac and Zim!”. “Where will I put you?”, whispered Zim as he put Zac down.

In the corner of Zim’s eye he saw a baby seat and some bolts, he picked it all up and brought it to the go-kart. He attached the seat to the go-kart with the bolts, put his bag at the back and off they went.

They travelled for hours on end in the desert until they saw a little house. They stopped outside and peered in the window. They saw an empty room so they jumped in and looked around. Just then they heard a person coming down the stairs. ‘Trud, trud, trud’ came the sound from the stairs.

They hid behind a chair so they wouldn’t get caught. Zim peered around the chair and to his surprise he saw an old man. The man sat on the carpet and started to meditate. Zim was scared that the man would hear him.

Zim waited for about half an hour, he thought the man would never move so he dashed for it and Plonk! He fell out of the window. The man heard and ran out of the house as well. Luckily, Zim got to his go-kart in time and drove off.

He drove until the crack of dawn. Then he stopped, opened his bag got two apples, a bowl, a marker and some water. First, he got the marker and wrote ‘Zac’ on the bowl. Then he poured water in the bowl and gave it to Zac. He also gave one of the apples to Zac and ate the other apple himself.

Together they set up the camp and parked their go-kart. In the morning, they packed up the tent and drove off until they saw a big jungle. Zac jumped off and ran into the jungle, Zim got off the go-kart after he’d parked it in some bushes, “That should keep it safe,” he whispered into Zac’s ear.

Zim got the bag of things he had packed and went into the jungle. As they walked along enjoying the birds tweeting, Zac seemed uncomfortable as he walked. Something was off. And it wasn’t that his pants were too tight. Also, Zac doesn’t wear pants, he’s a dog. What are you like, dear reader? So anyway, as I said, something was off. Zac beared his fangs.

Suddenly he heard something and ran behind a bush. Zac followed. Zim peaked through the bush and saw some animals being caged and some trees being chopped down. Zim knew he had to stop that so he got some mud, some leaves, rocks, some rope and some new pairs of pants for Zac. Just joking! He didn’t get any pair of pants for Zac, but he did get the rest of the stuff.

He smeared the mud on him and then stuck the leaves to the mud that was on him. His disguise was finished. With the rope, the rest of the leaves and the rocks at the ready, he waited until the people were gone for their lunch break. Then he set to work. He tied the rope around the rocks where the people were chopping, threw the rope around a branch above them and made a net at the other end, then he covered it with leaves.

He waited behind the tree for a few minutes. Finally, they came back. They all picked up their chainsaws and headed for the tree. Zip! Fweee! Thud! Zip! Chuh! Thud! He had captured them. Now he had to do the creepy act. Zim strode to the middle of the trees, looked around and headed for a tree-cutter.

In his creepiest voice, he said, “Give me your keys.” The man was so scared he gave him the keys immediately. As Zim strode to the middle of the cutters, again he stopped and said, “You must not capture animals again or destroy their homes or the dark spirit will arise on you and open the black hole!”.

After saying that he slowly walked over to the cages of animals. There were monkeys, spiders, panthers, frogs, bears, dragonflies and gorillas. He slowly turned the key and ‘Zip!’, in the blink of an eye they were all freed and gone.

Then he set off. When he was far enough he took off his disguise and went back to the go-kart. When he went to get it, it wasn’t there! He was devastated. He looked in every bush just in case he had put it in a different bush, but no, nothing. Then he remembered the old man before, so he sighed and walked on. It took him about nine hours to get them to the house but he did it.

He thought about talking to the man so that’s exactly what he did. He knocked on the door and waited, finally the door opened. There was the man. Zim said in his most polite voice, “Hello, I think you have my go-kart.” The man said, “Yes, I have it. Why?”. “Just asking if I could have it back.”, said Zim. “Hmmm, OK.”, said the man. “Er, thanks.” Zim replied. “Here you go,” said the old man. “Thanks, bye,” said Zim.

As Zim, drove home he saw some fumes coming from a factory. He drove towards it. He parked his go-kart behind some boxes and creeped up to the door but sadly it was locked. Then he spotted an open window and climbed through. He landed with a thud on the floor. He picked himself up and dusted himself down. Suddenly, he heard a person coming his way so he dived into a pile of boxes. He waited for a minute then peaked out. The person was gone so he looked around and saw the machine that was making the fumes. He sneaked out of it and got a splinter of wood from a smashed box and shoved it into the engine. There was a long whining noise and then silence. Everybody stared at him. Someone shouted, “Get him!”.

Suddenly everyone ran towards him, he ran for the window but he wouldn’t make it so he ran straight for the door and Crash! He got through, he jumped into his go-kart and drove home.

He drove for a day and when he got to the dump, he parked his go-kart. As he opened the door to his house, his mum jumped up and gave him a big hug. “You’re on the news, son!” “Really?” said Zim. “Yeah, look!”, said his little Brother. The TV screen had the headlines: “Boy stops biggest polluting factory in the World!” and “Nature devil stops tree cutters!”.

The end!

Oh, just before that, I have to introduce Zac to my family…