Disclaimer: I do not own Star Trek or Doom

Chapter Ten

Ty walked along a deserted street. The colony around him was silent and still. The street was empty just like every other street he had walked down. There was nothing. The colony was completely empty, all that remained were the shells of decaying building, stained a rusty brown by the sandstorm which swept through the colony every week or so.

There were no bodies.

No skeletons.

No imps.

No monsters of any kind.

Ty was alone. He was the only one left. He couldn't remember what had happened, but he knew the others were gone. They were dead, just like everyone else. He was the last of his kind and he was trapped on a dying planet with no hope of ever escaping it… With no hope of ever seeing another living soul for the rest of his life.

He'd die here.

Alone and forgotten.

It'd only take a couple of days for the sand whipped up by the storms to cover his body, when he does eventually fall and pass from the world. No one would ever find him, because there was no one left to find him.

He wouldn't even have a gravestone to mark his finally resting place.

He just kept walking, until at long last he came to the edge of the colony and stopped. Before him, for a far as the eye could see, were thousands of gravestones. A shocking contrast to the rusty brown sand they stood in.

So many graves, so many lost souls.

And Ty kept on walking, passing the gravestones with names unreadable, having been washed away by the sandstorms. So many, just like him, were already forgotten. Part of a race doomed to destruction by the actions of one of their own. So many killed by the monsters their neighbours had mutated into.

It had been a planet wide genocide.

He just kept walking.

In the distance another sandstorm was forming and Ty paid it little attention. He couldn't out run it and he had nowhere left to hide. There wasn't a single place left on Mars where the sand hadn't reached. Not a single building could offer him shelter from the harshness of the sand storms and no matter where he walked, he couldn't not escape it.

Around him the sand was beginning to shift and move, but he hardly noticed as he kept walking.

In the distance, the furthest gravestones had already been consumed by the storm but Ty didn't turn and run, he just kept walking. As he passed a gravestone, a skeleton hand broke through the sandy surface.

It was only then Ty stopped.

All around him, the dead were rising.

)o(

Ty woke with a start and looked round. Hoshi was on watch and all the other were still asleep. Ty shut his eyes for a second and took a deep breath. He'd just had the weirdest dream. He opened his eyes and slowly got to his feet and stretched. There was no way he was going to get back to sleep now. He nodded to Hoshi as moved across the room and sat down beside her.

"Ty," She greeted.

"Hoshi," Ty answered.

"Nightmare?" She questioned.

"Yeah," Ty answered, rubbing a hand over his face.

"Want talk about it?" Hoshi asked.

"Nope," Ty replied with a shake of his head. "I just want to forget it."

Hoshi nodded in understanding. She knew exactly how Ty felt, all of them had been suffering from night terrors.

"Status?" Ty asked after a moment of silence.

"Relaxed," Hoshi answered. "I haven't seen or heard anything. Nothing has been seen or heard all night in fact."

Ty nodded and got to his feet and moved over to the window and picked up the night vision binoculars and looked out across the colony.

"Not even a Lost Soul?" Ty questioned.

"No," Hoshi replied. "Nothing. It's strange, we haven't encountered anything for days now."

"Tell me about it," Ty muttered. "Not that I'm complaining, but it's kind of unnerving. Everything been so quiet and we haven't encountered or seen anything… It makes me wonder why. Are they planning something? Have they caught scent of other survivors and decided they're easier to catch… Or have they left for a different reason?"

"What other reason could there be?" Hoshi asked.

"What if they know something's coming?" Ty turned to look at her. "What if they know something's about to happen and they've all left to escape it?"

"What would they fear, Ty?" Hoshi asked. "What would they run from? Those monsters have destroyed everything! They fear nothing! We have weapons and yet they still come after us!"

"I don't know," Ty answered, with a shake of his head. "Maybe there's something in Kodos' book which will give us the answer."

Ty quickly hurried across the room away from the window and as a result missed the creature heading towards the colony in the distance. He quickly knelt beside his bag and began looking for Kodos' note book.

)o(

"It could be one of two things," Ty said as he stood beside Hoshi, the following morning as they waited for the others to pack up their stuff. "It's either a Hell Knight or a Pinky Demon. According to Kodos' notes, they are the only to creatures which will attack the others. The will literally attack anything as long as it moves."

Hoshi glanced at him, "It doesn't by any chance tell is how to kill them, does it?"

Ty shook his head.

"If only it was that easy," Ty sighs. "They do have a couple of weakness though. The Hell Knight's have very sensitive eye sight, if you can get them out in the open and into the light, they're basically blinds… But in the dark, they are the apex predator. As for the Pinky Demons, they're slower moving then the imps, so we'll be able to outrun them easier…"

"But?" Hoshi questioned, sensing there was more to it than that.

"They are impossible to hide from," Ty replied. "Their sense of smell is far stronger than any of the other creatures. Not matter what we use to cover our scent with, it won't work, they'll still be able to smell us. And nothing can stop them, they can smash their way through anything. Stone, metal, anything! If a Pinky Demon picks up our scent, we'll never be able to shake it off and no matter where we hide it will find us and it'll be able to get to us."

Hoshi gulped, Ty was sure she was about to say something, but was stopped by Johan joining them. Ty glanced at Johan, who was glancing round nervously and his grip on his pack strap was so tight the skim over his knuckles had gone white.

"Johan," Ty greeted quietly, trying not to startle him.

"We need to go," Johan said, turning to stare at Ty. "Can't you feel it?"

"Feel what?" Ty asked.

"Death," Johan answered, shuddering slightly. "Death is coming."

Hoshi and Ty glance at each other, when a scream sounded from behind them. It was Malakai who had screamed and it didn't take Ty long to track down the source of Malakai's fear. Crawling down the far wall was a large creature with six legs.

"Move!" Ty yelled drawing his weapon and firing at the creature. "Get out of here run."

He killed the creature but more of them were appearing by the second. Soon the entire far wall was covered in the creatures. Slowly Ty backed up, still firing at the creatures and killing as any as he could. He reached the door the others had already left through and slammed the door shut as he exited the room.

He turned and run down the hallway after the others, when a noise from above him caught his attention. He looked up to see hundreds of the creatures descending down the walls of the stairwell from the upper-floors.

"Move faster!" Ty yelled ahead to the others. "Run!"

They made it out into the street and Ty looked back to see more of the creatures crawling down the side of the building.

"Keep going!" Ty yelled.

And the group ran as fast as they could, but every direction they turned there seemed to be more the creatures lying in wait for them. Until finally they group found themselves cornered, with the six legged creatures closing in from every direction.

They weren't going to get out of this alive.

When suddenly a figure dropped down in front of them from the roof of the building they were pressed up against and shot flames at the approaching creatures using a flamethrower like Ty had only ever seen in holo-videos, burning many of them and causing the ones who escaped the flames to flee.

The figure turned to face them and removed the scarf which had been covering his face. Ty couldn't believe it… It was another survivor. The man stared at them, his pale skin a strong contrast to his jet black hair and dark eyes. Ty cleared his throat and stared at the man nervously as he looked the small group over.

"Who are you?" Ty finally asked.

"My name is Khan."

)o(

Hey, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm sorry it has taken me so long to update this story. Until next time,

Blessed be,

TreeOfLife1997.