He floated in a void of cold black space.  His arms and legs felt limp and distant, though he knew they were attached to his body.  Everything felt heavy, even the air he breathed seemed to have an added weight.  Somewhere, far in the distance, was a twinkle of light.  A pinpoint of reality in a black void of dreams, so far away his eyes could barely make it out.  The light moved closer, ever growing in speed and size, seeming as though it would dash through him; a laser from a cannon.  He fought his heavy limbs to move in fear; blocking his face in a protective manner.  The light grew until it halted before him.  He slowly peered through his only protection so that he could see what or why this strange thing had occurred.  Memories from his past flashed in the light like scenes from a movie.  He saw himself graduating the military academy, and the night after.  He smiled to himself at the thought, a rare pleasant memory filled with debauchery.  Then the memories grew darker and more intense.  It showed the first time he faced the demons.  Adrenaline began to pump through his veins at the sight.  He watched himself battle with a beast from human myth.  It seemed that here in his dream he could still smell the death soaked breath.  He could see the intensity of the anger contained within this creature.  An intensity that drove it beyond feeling pain; beyond comprehension, an intensity focused on one goal, the destruction of mankind.  He remembered losing the battle, coming within an inch of death.  His hand unconsciously rubbed across his chest, moreover the scar beneath his shirt.  More horrifying memories began to show themselves.  He watched in terror as armies of the undead, led by shadow creatures, destroyed the great cities of mankind.  He screamed in anger at the memory of his friend, who died fighting the demons, only to rise again and attack his partners.  These visions culminated with the demon’s attack on mankind’s last hope of survival.  He fought valiantly and with everything he had, to insure that the space station launched with its delicate cargo of 500 living humans, whose destiny rested on a planet 300 years away.  Many men died that day to save mankind; fortunately he was not one of them.  He often regretted not losing his life, regretted the loss of those he used to lead, the men and women who gave all to save a few.  The light began to flicker and wane, it began to show a memory that he did not remember.  The dream of his troubled past turned to hellish nightmare.  The demons began to move out of the light, they attacked him relentlessly.  His limbs were to heavy to fight back, even adrenaline could not help him.  The light faded as he died slowly in a dream.

$$

His eyes shot wide open, he gasped for air but there was none to be had.  His body panicked though he struggled to keep in control.  His arms flailed wildly about through a dense greenish liquid.  As in the dream, everything felt heavy.  After a few moments he realized he could breath though it was difficult; the liquid was apparently full of oxygen.  He strained to focus his vision through the liquid, only to discover that clear sight was impossible.  His brain attempted to grasp the situation, not comprehending what was happening.  He was able to dimly recall being put into cryogenic sleep.  He focused as much as possible, while trying to get used to the breathable liquid, and slowly began to remember what was happening.  He was waking up after 300 hundred years of sleep.  Mankind must be near the planet they were headed for.  They were almost to their new home.  The thought excited him; he had to see this new world with his own eyes.  Perhaps this is where I will find that God exists, He thought, perhaps here we will be able to live again in peace.  He couldn’t wait.  He fumbled for the lever that would open the vertical cryogenic chamber and release him.  He felt it fall into his strong grasp and pushed. 

The glass slid upward and with a whooshing sound he and the green liquid tumbled onto the grated floor.  Taking a deep breath he began to cough and hack as his body fought the breathable liquid harbored within his lungs.  After many moments he was breathing normally.  Standing and looking around he noticed there were no technicians or medical personnel to greet him.  A sense of paranoia began to creep into him.  Something is wrong here, he thought to himself.  He walked to his open chamber and looked at the digital controls on the side.  His name, Conner McDonel, glowed in red right next to the date, which was ten days too early for awakening.  A little light flashed next to that displaying that there was an error.  Conner struggled to figure out what was happening.  His brain still reacted sluggishly, as if he had just awakened from a coma.  A sound snapped him out of his thoughts as the fifty other chambers in the room began to open one by one. Confusion set in as Conner realized that something was terribly wrong.

“God if you exist, I think we may need some help this time,” Conner whispered to himself.  People fell to the ground coughing and gasping, the same as he had done.  He took to the task of helping.

$$

He stood there looking out into the depths of space.  Far away a distant star exploded and became a nova.  It was one of the most beautiful things he had ever seen in his entire life.  He watched for moments wondering if all the energy released would create a god that man could pray to.  He had spent much of his life wondering things like this; he had spent centuries in frozen slumber wondering if god existed at all.  Of all the things he knew, only one thing he knew for sure.  God didn’t live here anymore.  He thought back to the days before he boarded the space station and was sent into the far reaches of the galaxy.  He remembered how Earth had become a corrupt and unnatural place.  Mankind’s darkest nightmares began to appear.  All of man’s demons appeared, slowly at first, and then over time with more frequency and terrifying power.  Over a hundred years passed as these creatures destroyed what had taken thousands of years to create.  God didn’t live on earth when the demons came, and he sure as hell didn’t live on the space station.  The demons worked much quicker on the five hundred or so people that woke up on the station.  Within days the numbers had dwindled to 15.  Twelve survivors were waiting at the escape pods for the time to flee.

He turned his gaze from the first beauty he had seen since waking, to the carnage of the hall.  Blood was splattered like graffiti on the wall and body parts were scattered around as if pieces of litter left in the street.  The scene had initially made him sick, but surviving the last three days he had grown used to it.  To the left his two companions stood gazing into space as he had been.

“Let’s go, we need to get off the station,” he stated blandly.  He didn’t know if his urge to leave was driven by his want to live or because he couldn’t handle seeing the last of humanity die. 

A girl with a voice like honey and hair as black as starless space answered his command with a question, “Conner, we need to make it to the control center.  Any ideas how?”  Conner gave the girl a casual glance.  When she wasn’t covered in blood from slaying the creatures, she was actually attractive.  Her clothes were bloodstained but clung to round firm breasts, and her hips had a nice curve.

“Your guess is as good as mine Maria,” he answered.  He had been trying to find the place since discovering that the escape pods were locked in place.  They needed a control code to be launched. Conner cursed his own humanity, for it’s tendency to be overly cautious.  The mission had originally been planned so that the pilots would wake up and land the station on mans new home, none of the passengers had any idea where the command center was on the massive ship.  It was considered unnecessary.  When the demons woke the passengers early, the mission crew was the first to be slain. 

That particular conversation had come up many times since they realized they were trapped.  Conner again reminded himself that God didn’t live here anymore, if ever.  Then he forced out something hopeful for the others, “We only have 2 more decks, and it must be on one of those.”  Connor had begun to believe that there was no hope.  That he would die in the middle of space, most likely at the hands of some nefarious demon.  He had decided that his soul would cease to exist at the time his breath did.

Ronin, a thin older man with glasses and graying hair, interrupted the conversation, “Why don’t we just go to the top?”  Conner and Maria had heard this idea before but had decided against it.  Their idea was to move deck by deck and recover as much of humanity as possible.  Two days passed as they struggled to save the lives of hundreds.  They were not quick enough.  Conner looked to Maria and nodded his approval.  Maria returned with a shrug. 

The three leveled the weapons they had recovered on previous decks, and moved to the closest elevator.  The door slid open and a large spider-like creature leapt into the hall.  Conner fired three shots from his pulse rifle into the creature, which only slowed it down and made him the first target.  Within seconds it had him pinned as he struggled with the creature, using the rifle to keep its fangs from piercing his chest.  A memory from a distant past flooded back to him like a tidal wave.  Maria and Ronin took careful aim; a single miss could spell the end of Conner’s life.  The weight of the creature and the struggle of days were beginning to take its toll.  Connor watched as inch by inch the fangs grew closer and closer.  His vision began to dim and focus on the threat.  More adrenaline pumped faster through his body than he could handle, and his only thought was to flee.  With every ounce of strength, he thrust upward with his legs and the giant spider went flying landing on it’s back.  Conner rolled onto his stomach and began to fire blindly.  He could barely hear Maria and Ronin in the background doing the same.  Within seconds, the beast was a smoldering piece of flesh.  Conner stumbled to his feet, his breath coming in gasps. He managed to pant out a few words, “Let’s not do that again.”

Maria smiled at Conner as she helped him to his feet.  He noticed that she always seemed hopeful.  Even in the face of death, she would not give up her strength of will.  He wished he could be like her.  He figured the only difference between them was that she believed God still existed.  She was always optimistic; Conner the complete opposite.  He liked that about her.  Perhaps in another time, if things were different.  “Shall we,” Maria asked, snapping Conner out of his thoughts.

Conner nodded and the modest group stepped aboard the elevator.  They rode in silence through the second deck to the first floor of the craft.  As the elevator slowed to a stop at deck one, the group prepared to fire.  It had become apparent that as the group moved from their freeze tanks on the bottom floor up toward the top, more creatures appeared.  The door slid open and what stood before them was terrifying.  Row upon row of creature turned, slowly eyeing the group.  Panic filled Conner, like ice through his veins.  He fired his first shot as adrenaline began to thaw him.  The sound of Maria and Ronin firing was heard as if they were a million miles away.  The pulse rounds sent shots of light screaming through the dimly lit control center.  Conner shouted for the group to hold their position in the elevator and keep firing.  Someone must survive, became his only thought. 

Conner charged as he fired at anything that moved and wasn’t human.  Here and there claws tore at his clothes and he became dimly aware of the cuts and gashes in his flesh.  He continued to fire.  Somewhere inside of him a glimmer of something flickered, hope maybe.  Something he had forgotten or lost along the way.  The rifle kept firing, clearing a path through which he ran.  He focused his vision as a panel of lights came into sight.  Conner kept squeezing the trigger.  Demons fell like rain during a thunderstorm, and Conner kept running.  Reaching the control panel he turned to see himself surrounded by the monsters from mankind’s nightmares.  He continued to fire as he scrambled for the button that would activate the emergency pods.  The momentary distraction of a glance gave him the location.  He slammed his hand down.

His dimly lit world erupted into red flashing lights and alarms.  Somewhere, far away, he thought he heard a voice announcing the time till launch.  The momentary glance toward the control panel gave the creatures a chance to charge.  Conner was growing weak from exhaustion and loss of blood.  He slumped against the control panel and kept firing.  Within seconds he would be overcome and torn to shreds.

As he began to lose consciousness he thought to himself, God doesn’t live here anymore; he never lived here at all.  His vision went black but he could feel his hand squeezing the trigger on the rifle.  He could hear the sound of bodies hitting the floor with a sickening thud.  Seconds passed like this until Conner finally lost total consciousness….

$$

He opened his eyes to tall, flowing fields.  The smell of grass and gentle flowers surrounded him.  The sky was an unusual shade of blue; it seemed to have more purple in it.  His heart no longer pounded profusely.  Instead, it pumped at a gentle and serene pace.  There was no adrenaline in his system and for a moment he felt something was wrong.  Suddenly he noticed a shadow looming over him, giving him a momentary fright.  His eyes began to adjust to Maria’s face.  The sun cast an odd halo around her as if she were an angel.  She was still blood covered and looked exhausted but her smile was bigger than ever.  Conner looked at her strangely and very confused.  His reaction made her smile even more.

“Are we dead,” he questioned through a dry scratchy throat.

“No Conner, welcome to our new life,” she whispered, “We made it thanks to you.”

Conner sat up slowly and looked around.  The emergency ships lay off in the distance along with Ronin and the other survivors. They all looked as though they were celebrating.  In the horizon a mountain range stood strung out for miles.  Its snow covered peaks breaking the distance into crisp earth and sky.  Conner stood and was overwhelmed with pain.  Maria came to his side and supported him.  The entire place seemed perfect; it was quiet, peaceful and most of all, demon free.  Conner knew there would be new challenges ahead and new things to overcome, but for the first time in his life he looked to the sky remembering the star that turned into a nova, and knew that in mankind’s soul, God is home.