Separated Starlight (NightPiercer Book 2) by Merry Ravenell

Author:Merry Ravenell [Ravenell, Merry]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: 9 Swords
Published: 2020-05-09T05:00:00+00:00

My Future, Torn Asunder

Lachesis came to in complete darkness, ears ringing, plastered up against the main screen, ass up and staring at her ankles.

Dark, hot, quiet.

Am I dead?

The ringing in her ears ebbed, and other sounds happened: coughing, groaning, moaning, strange metallic creaking. Emergency lighting flickered to life, casting the bridge in dim, faint light. The stations flickered. It stank of blood, fire, sulfur.

She coughed, rolled over, and crawled to her feet.

“Clint.” She stumbled towards the man, dropped to her knees next to him. Blood poured from somewhere and spread under him in a glossy, sticky pool. “Clint, Clint.”

His eyes were closed. He was breathing, but he didn’t respond.

She felt along him for wherever he was bleeding, couldn’t find it in the dark. Marcus was shouting.

“Lil!” Dietrich shouted. He pulled her off her console, revealing two things:

The console had exploded.

And Lil was very dead. Shrapnel from the exploding console and panels had sawed her neck halfway through and removed most of her face.

Dietrich pawed at her. Malcom put a hand on Dietrich’s shoulder and pulled him away.

“No!” Dietrich’s voice cracked. “No—”

Jeremy was in a heap on the other side of the bridge. Lachesis tore herself away from Clint to go to him. She hooked her hand under his arm and tried to lift him.

“I’m okay,” he said. “I—”

“Malcom,” Lachesis said. “Give me a hand. Dietrich, look at Clint.”

Malcom hefted Jeremy to his feet. The man howled in pain. His lower left leg was badly broken above the ankle and below the knee. She ran her hands gently along it. No bones protruding, but just held together by skin.

“Did it during the first shake,” he said through gritted teeth. “Really fucked it now.”

“No bones through the skin,” she said, “but I can feel it’s broken under that.”

His leg felt like a sack of seeds: all little pieces shifting around.

“I can manage. Skin and muscle will hold it together,” he said, breathing hard. “Just get me to a station to lean on, Malcom.”

“What the hell happened?” Marcus shouted. “Someone tell me what happened?!”

“We got hit!” Belle shouted at Marcus over the noise. “With a moonlet!”

“What moonlet?” Marcus shouted, then spun around to Lachesis. “You didn’t tell me about a moonlet!”

Belle’s eyes widened. “Yes, she did.”

Marcus put his ass back into the big chair and started to bark orders. “Get the crew inside.”

Cold horror drowned her hot panic and urgency. What crew? The exterior crew was dead. The ship was damaged, the hull had been breeched. The Core itself might be breeched. The only reason they didn’t have anyone shouting in their ears over comms was the main computer had shut down.

Everything slowed down as drugs pushed into her system, giving her a surreal, strange rush. Or maybe it was the endorphins. She saw chaos: the pieces of Lil, blood puddling everywhere. Malcom slipped and fell on his ass in the blood. The burning and smoke coming through the vents. The darkness. The dim screens.

“The exterior crew is dead, Marcus.” Did her words sound cold? She was cold.

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