5 The Living Spaceship: Old Friends and Enemies

The demon slowly emerged from the hall, allowing the prisoners to get a good look at it, even in the dark. Kirsteen could see that it had the same face as the one on the wall she had seen earlier.

It stood about nine foot tall, had thick black plated skin, pointed ears like a bat, and large fangs. A row of spikes ran from its head all the way down its back. The spikes were made of fire along with the claws on it's hands. Finally there was a long thin tail. that ended in a purple spike of pure energy.

The Demon stared the petrified crowd down for a few minutes before its tail reached out at a lightening speed and wrapped around the little urchin like a snake.

The boy screamed as the monster shone its purple flame into his face. The old man instantly ran at the demon, but it slashed him with its flaming claws. Flames then started to appear in the claw marks in the old man's chest, and after just just a few more seconds he began to change into something else.

"Run all of you" he screamed in pain as with his final act, the old man rugby tackled the demon to the ground. The demon however overpowered him instantly and started slashing and biting him. The four others (including Kirsteen) realising there was nothing they could do for either of them took their chance and ran past the demon.

The old man writhed in agony on the floor as the flames consumed him, whilst the boy's face meanwhile hadn't been burned by the purple flames, but instead had been twisted into a hideous demonic form.

The old man soon rose up, his body now completely made of fire. All humanity had literally been burned out of him.

The child and the old man bowed to their new master Skovora, who said calmly "this ship is dead. We need to take the one its docked too. Gyster. I shall infect him and he will be my new servant. There is nothing I can't accomplish with the living time ship at my disposal."

The four survivors included Kirsteen, the soldier, whose real name was Luke, Jenna, and a woman from the far future named Alice, who came from a space station known as Eden, that had been created entirely by magic.

Gyster had chosen her for her knowledge of magic, whilst Jenna had been chosen because of her dealings with the paranormal too. (She had encountered vampires and demons in some of the bars she had played at over the years.)

Luke meanwhile was chosen simply because of his status as a soldier. Gyster would often pluck people from random wars, often not caring what side they were on (apart from a few circumstances) to use as foot soldiers. He also liked to pick people who were aware of the supernatural so it wouldn't be such a culture shock, though he also had a soft spot for artists.

"If only I had a gun" Luke said in frustration as they ran down the dark corridors.

"I don't think that would make a difference with that thing" Kirsteen responded as she looked back at the old man, now a hideous fire demon at the other end of the corridor chasing them.

The fire demon shot a ball of flame at the four time travellers, who only just managed to duck in time. Alice was the first to get back up and she ran down the other end, whilst Jenna tried to help Kirsteen up. Alice had lived a relatively sheltered life in a beautiful magical kingdom, so she wasn't exactly used to facing creatures like Skovora, though neither were Kirsteen, Jenna or even Luke either.

When Alice saw that her three companions weren't behind her, she did run back for them, though it was more out of fear of being alone on this ship than anything else.

The fire demon proved to be too fast and soon advanced on the four petrified travellers. As it raised its hand to hurl another fire ball in their direction, when suddenly the monster became distracted by a groaning sound at the other end of the corridor.

It was a zombie. The monsters had managed to make their way to the dock of Gyster, and without any magic protecting the Professor's vessel, they easily tore it down and were now swarming the Professor's ship.

"How tiny you seem to me now" the demon said as it laughed at the puny, shuffling zombie. Thinking quickly, Luke meanwhile pushed the zombie as it stumbled near into the fire Demon, who easily destroyed the undead, but Luke's actions gave the four time travellers enough time to flee down the corridor.

Skovora meanwhile had made his way to the bottom floor of the ship where Professor Fang kept his collection of art, literature, and films, gathered from planets all over the multiverse. Photograph's Lindsey had taken of all the planets they had visited all over the universe were also stored here.

The demon started to burn them all. It was a petty, childish act. It knew how much the vampire and Lindsey adored their collection. The demon didn't want to destroy the Professor's vessel for now. It may need it, if Gyster's will and magic proved to be too strong. Still for the time being it was taking a great pleasure in destroying everything the Professor and Lindsey had spent years gathering together. Many of the works of art and literature they had collected, represented the last known copies in the entire universe that would sadly now be lost forever.

Kirsteen, Alice, Jenna and Luke meanwhile had continued to evade the fire demon, that had become distracted by two more zombies who had jumped it in one of the corridors, thinking it was one of the humans in the dark.

The four soon made their way to the main room the Professor and Lindsey had brought them too in the first place. Unfortunately it was now filled with zombies.

They kept hidden just outside the room, watching the monsters shuffle and groan.

"We have no choice, we'll have to fight our way through those things up ahead." Luke said.

"Are you insane? Those zombies will rip us to piece." Alice replied

"We can fight them, but we can't fight the fire creature" Luke insisted.

"You don't know zombies." Alice said. " The way they'll kill you, it's the worse option."

Jenna meanwhile didn't say anything she was so scared, whilst Kirsteen who felt strangely protective of this young woman held her close.

Suddenly however the four prisoners argument was interrupted by a voice echoing in their heads. It was Gyster.

"I am sorry. I dragged you into this. All of you would have died anyway had I not abducted you. Please believe me I was only trying to help."

"Did you hear that?" Kirsteen said, wondering if she was going mad.

"It is I Gyster. The ship who abducted you. I only ever wanted you to be my new crew."

"I'm sorry did you say you were a ship?" Kirsteen asked.

"Yes, a living vessel, made from magic. I can help you escape from here, but only if you follow my instructions."

"It's a trick" Luke protested. "It's that demon"

"Trust me, if I was that demon I wouldn't waste time with tricks. You can get out of this, but you have to do exactly as I say." Gyster replied.

"Alright fine" Kirsteen said much to Luke, Jenna and Alice's surprise.

"Well, we're all dead anyway. What difference does it make?" Kirsteen responded.

"Okay now what I want you to do is imagine you are somewhere safe." Gyster said.

"What do you mean?" Luke asked.

"I'm still weak after the operation, but I might still have enough power to send you all weapons. It takes a lot of energy to transport weapons that can harm those zombies because of the dark magic in them, that's why I couldn't before and I'm not sure I can now. The weapons won't work on the demons however. If you see them run. "

"How are you going to send us the weapons." Alice asked.

"You have to think about somewhere safe, somewhere you want to be, and my magic will help make that a reality by sending the weapon to you."

"That's ridiculous" Luke shouted.

"No trust me I've lived my entire life with magic. It's plausible." Alice said.

Before Luke could protest, he was suddenly distracted by the sound of the fire demon roaring from down the corridor.

The four instantly started to think of their homes. Luke thought about his wife and child that he had left behind during the war, Lucy and Jonathan. Jonathan was just three when Luke had been drafted. He wanted nothing more than to see his little boy again, but he had prepared himself over the last few years for the possibility that would never happen. Still he thought hard about his family, and how he was determined that these loathsome monsters would not rob him of the chance to be with them one last time.

Jenna thought of her apartment that she shared with her friend and band mate, Sophie who was like a sister to her and all the good times they'd had writing songs together.

Alice meanwhile thought about her mother, Noella, who had raised Alice by herself, as her father had been killed in a tragic accident when she was young. Noella had been there when she saw Alice abducted by Gyster. Eden had detected the presence of Gyster arriving, but they thought their defences could take care of it. Sadly for Alice they were mistaken. Alice was determined to see Noella again, not just for her sake, but because she couldn't bare the thought of her mother losing her only daughter as well as her husband.

Kirsteen meanwhile didn't have anyone to think of back home. All she had was her dingy little house, and her old life of feeling rejected by her friends and the public. She tried to think of the fact that her music would be remembered, but ultimately it wasn't enough for Gysters magic to work.

Three weapons appeared in Alice, Jenna and Luke's hands. Luke shot into the air, alerting all of the zombies, who stared at Luke for a few seconds before all lurching towards him, but Luke, Alice and even Jenna mowed them all down in a matter of seconds, though they also completely destroyed the Professors living room in the process.

"What kind of an evil could turn men into these things" Luke said bitterly as he looked down at the burnt remains of the zombies.

"The kind of evil that just saved your life", Gyster replied in a somewhat angry tone.

"Listen to my instructions and you can make your way back to me."

"Aren't there hundreds of zombies on your ship." Kirsteen asked?

"Yes, but there I, and two other people can help you. Move now, that demon's on your tail!"

Back in Gyster, Lindsey and the Professor were still trapped behind a blue wall of energy that blocked off the corridor. Not all of Gysters wounds had healed yet.

"You can't wait for rip to close" Gyster said.

"Besides he's waiting for you on the other side."

"Ziakan" Lindsey said?

"Yes, he's been waiting for the last few minutes. You won't escape from him in here. He's even stronger than you Professor, and your little stick won't slow him down this time."

"Well I suggest you teleport us away like before." The Professor said indignantly.

"I can't, I just used the last of my energy to help my crew in your ship. You'll have to climb to the top of this room. There's a vent up there, but".

"But what." Lindsey asked.

"It only leads to my zoo."

"Zoo?"

"Yes where I collect animals from all over the entire universe. When you crashed into me, the power to the cages went down. Fortunately I was able to lock the door to stop those things from getting out, but."

"So it seems to escape from one monster, you want us to run through a room with hundreds?" Lindsey replied.

"Trust me you'll have a better chance up there. Most of my creatures will have probably killed each other by now, and there is more space to run. Hurry you don't have much time."

The Professor ran up the wall. He may have looked like a frail old man, but his vampiric powers meant he could move really fast. Lindsey meanwhile struggled behind him as the wall of blue light began to fade. The vampire jumped back down and pulled Lindsey to safety, just before the blue light vanished and the furious zombie below emerged, screaming impotently for revenge.

The Professor and Lindsey crawled through the vents into a large room that stunk even worse than the zombies.

In the pitch black they could see several empty cages as well as in the distance, what appeared to the remains of a gigantic four legged, blue creature! Its guts had been torn out and its head had been ripped clean off.

The two time travellers slowly crept through the room, careful not to draw attention to themselves. They could hear screams and moans of other animals in the distance.

"Just keep walking ahead, when you're near the door, I'll open it" Gyster said.

Suddenly however Lindsey and the Professor heard a thumping sound coming behind them. They slowly turned round to see what looked like a large, predatory Dinosaur in the distance.

It was an Allosaurus. Lindsey recognised it right away even in the dark. Lindsey had seen many Dinosaurs out in the wild on her journey's, but even before she had become a time traveller, Lindsey had been a huge Dinosaur fanatic.

The Allosaurus stood about fifteen feet tall and was over thirty feet long. It's body was positioned in a horizontal frame, whilst it stood on two kangeroo like legs, counterbalanced with a long stiff tail behind. Its forearms were long and thin, and each ended in three sharp claws, with both of its hands facing one another. Its neck was long and ended in a thin crocodile like head, with two large, red crests above its eyes. The monsters face was still smeared in the blood of its previous victims.

The Allosaurus had been the apex predator of its home era, the Jurassic, over 150 million years ago. Ironically this species had always been a big favourite of Lindsey growing up, but now it seemed to be focusing on Lindsey more than the Professor.

The Professor was a vampire and therefore dead to the Allosaur. Even though the Dinosaur could see him moving, he still smelled cold to it. Lindsey was alive and warm and so the animal viewed her as prey. The creature let out a roar and chased Lindsey, though the Professor ran too at first, it soon became apparent that it was after Lindsey more.

The Professor jumped out of the Allosaurus' way, and after it ran past him, he grabbed it by the tail.

He briefly held the Allosaurus in place for a few seconds with his vampiric strength, allowing Lindsey to get a good distance from it. The Allosaurus however simply flipped the Professor over twenty feet in the air with its tail before charging at him.

Lindsey paniced for a minute. She didn't know how to help the Professor, but she still grabbed the Professor's magic staff that he had dropped when dodging the Allosaur. If she could revive one of the larger fallen beasts, maybe it could distract the Allosaur long enough for the Professor to get away.

Lindsey ran back to the corpse of the giant four legged creature and fired the staff at its body, briefly reviving the beast which started to crash into some of the cages when it was revived.

The Allosaurus had cornered the Professor, but it hadn't attacked him yet. It was more curious about this strange smelling, small, yet strong creature. Still the giant headless behemoth managed to distract the Allosaurus, who again stared at the beast more out of curiosity than anything else when it approached. The Allosaurus had actually killed the giant just a few hours earlier!

Whilst the Allosaurus was distracted, Lindsey would revive another one of the creatures using the staff. Behind one of the cages, she saw several Raptors, feasting on the corpse of a gigantic, green bipedal, Wolf like creature.

As soon as Lindsey revived the monster, it scattered the Raptors, managing to grab one in its jaws and crush it.

The Wolf then instinctively went for the other giant predator in the room, the Allosaur. It was about as large as the Dinosaur. Once again however the Allosaur was more confused by the sight of the larger Wolf than anything else. The Wolf however struck the Allosaur, and it hit it so hard that its own, rotting, putrid arm came off!

The Allosaur in response rammed the Wolf, shoving it back into one of the cages, whilst Lindsey and the Professor ran ahead to the door Gyster had already opened for them.

Once they made their way out. Gyster closed the door before the Allosaurus, or anything else could follow them. (With both the Wolf and the giant having died again.)

Unfortunately however before Lindsey could get her breath back, the two time travellers suddenly heard a growling sound and looked up to see a Sabre Tooth Cat at the other end of the corridor. It had managed to sneak its way out in the short time the door was open and Lindsey and the Professor were distracted by the Allosaurus.

The prehistoric feline went for Lindsey again, much like the Allosaur, but the Professor managed to tackle the Cat to the ground just as it pounced on her, and with one strike to its face, knocked it out cold.

"I hope more didn't get out. The zombies were enough" the Professor said as he adjusted his suit.

Back on the Professor's ship, Luke, Kirsteen, Jenna and Alice had managed to make their way through more zombies, following Gysters directions to the dock of the ship.

Luke handed his gun to Kirsteen, telling her to fire at any zombie or demon she sees, whilst he and Alice tried to pull the door open.

Kirsteen didn't know how to use a gun, but she hoped she wouldn't have to.

Luke and Alice pulled and pulled at the massive door until it started to open a little bit.

Just then however a noxious substance from above splashed into Luke's face causing him to collapse in agony.

It was the young urchin child who had been turned into a demon. He had managed to make his way to the end of the ship first and had been waiting for the right moment to strike.

The boy, who was now completely unrecognizable. He had morphed into a hideous, horned, goblin like creature, jumped on top of Luke and started to bite and claw at him.

Knowing he was done for Alice pulled at the door which came open a lot more easily now. As soon as she opened it however, several zombies came pouring out!

To Be Continued.