I swam over closer to Tok as she was cutting away at the inner hull. At first I was going to try to to tell her to hurry up so we could get inside before the demon got down to meet us. But seeing how fast she was opening up a hole, I figured she was already going as fast as she could. I also doubted that she would have been able to hear me over the sound of the Branch tool cutting at the metal anyways.

With a last shriek of metal, a round metal plant with a still dully glowing red edge fell into the room beyond and Tok leaned forward to peer within. "That was a lot easier with something to brace against. Looks like a bedroom inside."

She sort of half rolled, half fell into the room before turning around and holding out her hand to help me out of the water. Behind me I could hear Chloe organizing people with a promise to Rill that "Yes, you can go in next."

The little Verco girl nearly pulled me back out as she scrambled over the top of me and through the hole. "No. Not ever again. I will live on this ship thing forever before I go back out there."

Tok yanked me in the rest of the way, and I pulled myself to my feet. Rather awkwardly after a long swim. As I started to taunt the lizard girl, I was interrupted by a heavy thudding at the door to what looked like a low rent two bed cabin.

Aside from some sort of boy band posters with writing on them in what may have been Korean.

Which made sense as the ship's captain had said cutting into the ship that close to the water level would put us down on the crew's quarter's. And from the sound of it, the demon had beat up down here.

As other people began getting pulled onboard behind me, I crept up to the door and glanced trough the peep hole. Only to see a wet all black eye looking back "Rector..."

I jerked my head away and turned around "Yeah. The demon beat us down here. Going out the door is going to put us right into the middle of a mob."

The room was rapidly filling up with our boarding party, with no sign of stopping regardless of what was waiting outside for us. People just wanted out the water.

Tok knocked the back of her hand against the wall behind her as she sprawled out on one of the two beds in the room. "We don't have to get out through the door." She help up her Branch tool.

I grinned, but on second thought, "That would just put us in another room with a door that would just lead us out into the same hall the goon squad is waiting for us in. We could keep cutting trough wall after wall until we got to something other then a cabin, or..."

I pointed up.

By the time Chloe was inside the crowded little cabin and trying to find out what was going on, Tok had half a circle cut out of the ceiling. The demon outside had to be able to hear we were cutting something, but hopefully it would assume we were going sideways.

Then the water began pouring down though the line Tok had cut into the ceiling. She stopped cutting and pulled the tool free. The hole she had started to cut poured down a thin curtain of water for only a second or two longer, then just dripped a bit. "Did you hit a water pipe or something?"

I could hear some muffled yelling from above. "Or maybe you hit a occupied cabin."

I climbed up on the bed and gave a "Shave and a hair cut." knock against the ceiling. I could see motion above me and then a voice calling down. "Is someone alive down there?"

"Yeah, hang on." I looked around the room. "Does anyone have a flash light, I need them to be able to see my face."

Some people patted at their pocket until one of the teens tilted his head back and sighed. "We were swimming, no one carried out anything electronic. Duh."

Tok whispered something then held the working end of the Branch tool out in front of my face, the symbols on the head shining with a semi bright light. She explained. "Diagnosis mode."

It lit up my hand pretty well as I held it up, so it should work for my face as well. I called up. "Okay, we got a light. You should be able to see me now. My name is Sean, we're here to rescue every one on board."

I could see by the light shining up a balding middle aged man, sort of skinny with glasses, and wild unwashed hair around his bald spot sticking up in all directions. As he looked down trying to get a good look at me without putting his face right up against the hole in his floor that someone had just been cutting with a power tool, I could hear someone asking him questions in a shrill tone.

After shooting a dark look at his questioner, he lowered himself down to peer through the narrow cut to get a good look at me. "You don't look like one of the sick people. Yeah I know, but I 'm calling them sick people rather then listen to my wife get upset again. I'm Lester. What's your plan."

Seems like a reasonable guy. "If I can get to the chapel on the upper deck, I can drive off the thing controlling the "Sick people" but right now it's waiting outside this cabin's door. We need to out maneuver it by skipping pass the door and getting up one level."

Lester's eye, the one I could see anyways, narrowed in suspicion. "Hand on, I need to think about that." then he pulled himself back out of view. Through the hole I could hear the beginning of a argument as a hard metallic clang that came from the outside of our cabin door.

One of the boys, Andre, looked out the peep hole and jerked his head back. "One of them has a fire axe. They're trying to get in."

"Crap." I looked at the door as another slam from outside impacted hard against the door... and did nothing. "Wait, why do they even have axes on a ship if the doors are too solid for them to do anything."

Everyone looked back and forth at each other, but no one had any idea. Even Tok just shrugged at me. Anyways, I yelled up through the hole. "We need to get a move on down here, I don't think they can get in, but they are going to wonder where we were trying to cut to sooner or later."

The argument up above got a little louder for a second, then I saw Lester lean over again. "Do it."

I switched places with Tok, then grabbed her by the hips with both hand and got my shoulder pressed up against her ribs to give her something to keep her balance against. Also, Huzk, or at least Tok ran a little warm compared to humans, and I had gotten a little bit of a chill from swimming over here.

That may also be why they can't run all that far. Overheating?

Tok paused in her cutting to call out. "Almost got it. Someone wrap your hands for the heat and jagged metal bits and catch it before it falls."

A few damp bodies pressed up against me as something got dropped to the floor in a clang of falling metal, then Tok was grabing me just under my arms and lifting me up waist high into the next room.

I looked around and saw Lester and a started looking middle aged blond woman holding a still damp plastic waste basket looking back at me. Huh, even below decks the staterooms was larger, nicer and had it's own bathroom.

Lester twitched, then stepped forward to help me up, while his wife folded up a blanket and laid it over the edge of the hole. "I'm Mary by the way. Everyone down there hold up a minute until I get all the edges covered up. The last thing I want is the smell of fresh blood coming from our room."

After letting Mary lay down a protective layer all around the edges of the hole, I saw her take a seat down on the side of the queen sized bed and begin to shake. Me and Lester took the arms of the next person, Andre again, before Lester stepped back to sit beside his wife and pull her into a full embrace. He looked up. "It's been a rough couple of days for her."

I nodded back to him. "We all know the feeling."

Rill came up last after Chloe, who herself headed over to ask Andre who stood at the door peeking out the looking hole thing. If "Anything going on out there?" But didn't hear his response as I lifted the lizard girl up.

I felt a tremor in her hands as I lifted her up, and noticed her whole body shakings. "Are you okay?" She gave me a narrow eyed look. "I'm cold, this stupid raincoat does nothing to hold in any warmth."

Tok tossed up a bed sheet from below. "Change to something warmer."

Rill caught the cloth and I pointed her towards the bathroom. Lester and Mary watched her with wide eyes as she crossed the room. Then both looked at me, as if for a explanation. I pointed to the bathroom door. "Verco." I pointed to Tok as she was lifted up into the room by four teenagers. "Huzk. They also come in big hairy versions, but they aren't as friendly. I've heard of some little guys that look like devils and met a sentient cloud of what looks like rose petal."

"All people, and pretty much the same as humans, just different. But still some good, some bad."

Mary glanced over at the door as Rill stepped out, huddling in her pale blue sheet pulled close around her still wet cloths. "I think one of Lester's tee shirts might fit her."

With that she was rolling over to the far side of the bed and nudging teens out of the way with hips and elbows to get to a set of dressers, before then working her way over to Rill. Rill then ened up getting pushed back into the bathroom with a bundle of cloths before Mary pulled the door shut behind her and began scanning everyone in the room to judge their sizes.

Chloe interrupted her plans. "Their are just a few stragglers in the hallway, and anymore cutting is just going to lead the demon along with us until we have to step outside some where. We'll split into two groups, one holds the stairs on this floor that are nearest towhere we last saw the demon. We'll hold him back and move upstairs slowly to try to keep him focused on us. The other group will try to get Sean to the church on time."

Rill stepped back out into the room in a Miami tee shirt and Bermuda shorts to get voluntold. "Rill take three of the guys and get Sean to the upper deck, if you got to leave any of them behind, leave all three so they have a chance. Everyone else follow me."

With a last look outside, Chloe whipped the door open and began to set off down the hall at a quick walk, the others beginning to follow along behind her except Broady and another guy, as well as Lester who pulled out a all metal golf club from a bag in the closet

His wife took out a bigger wooden one and pressed her fingers against his lips when he started to protest. "Hush. I know I would just slow all of you down. I just want to be ready if anything else try's to come up that hole."

Oh. Good point. As the last of Chloe's team shuffled out, I grabbed a little round table and flipped it over the hole. Tok quickly stepped up and began using the back side of the curved bit of the Branch tool to spot weld the metal rim to the floor.

Best we could do with the time. I glanced at Mary. "You two are awesome, and you might want to stack some heavy stuff on the table. Rill took that as her que to exit and dashed out the door, heading off in the opposite direction that Chloe had took.

I looked at Lester and glance at his golf club. "Onward my dear Lester, the game's afoot."