Shadows Bear No Names (The Blackened Prophecy Book 1) Read Online Free Page A

to the elevator at the back of the bridge. “Halle, contact the tower, get us a new clearance. Tell them we had a problem with our landing gear or something,” he said without looking back. One thing was certain; he and the kid had a nice chat coming.
    Alec rose from his seat. “Captain, the boy did what you asked. Perhaps—” but Ray stopped him with a firm gesture.
    As he reached for the button, the elevator doors opened.
    “Holy Mother!” Ray rushed into the cabin. “Rahul! Alec help me!”
    Rahul’s coveralls were soaked in blood, his right eye missing. His thin frame shook, mumbling inaudible words interrupted by the blood filling his mouth—he was more raving in a trance than communicating. It was a miracle he’d made it to the bridge, leaking blood like that.
    Ray held Rahul in his arms, trying to steer him to a chair. Alec was there in a flash, grabbing the poor kid. Rahul was a slight boy from Bangalore, but his uncontrollable trembling and injuries made him hard to carry.
    “Halle, get the trauma kit and find the doc!” Ray roared.
    “I—” The middle-aged communications officer stood paralyzed, staring at Rahul’s eye socket, covering her mouth to keep from screaming. The tears rolling down her cheeks reflected the small planet’s colors.
    “Lieutenant!” Alec barked at the mesmerized woman.
    Halle blinked as if coming out of hypnosis, and rushed toward the medical cabinet at the far end of the bridge, frantically repeating “Oh my God!” with every step.
    “Ray, we need to get him to the med bay.” Alec’s stare was grim. He intended for the elevator but the doors closed and the cabin left the deck before any of them could move a finger.
    “Damn, it better be Sanders!” Alec grimaced and looked at the closed doors.
    The elevator stopped at deck four, Engineering , and then it moved again.
    “All right, here it comes!” Ray nodded at the floor display. “Halle, where is that cursed trauma kit!”
    “Here!” Halle half staggered, half ran toward them, holding the red case with the white cross on it.
    “About time!” Alec was struggling to keep Rahul standing, “Give him a sedative shot!” he barked, having a hard time keeping the boy calm.
    “He’s in shock!” Ray repeated several times and grimaced, watching the boy’s remaining eye roll back, showing its white, dirtied with clothing blood. Ray firmed his grip, trying to still Rahul’s neck for Halle to make the shot with his one hand while holding Rahul’s arm with his other. He was using his shirt’s arm as gauze, trying to clean the soaking blood from the boy’s face and neck.
    Halle put the kit on the floor and picked a vial, only to drop it and shatter the small glass tube.
    “Halle!” Ray was giving everything to keep the boy steady. He and Alec had sweat and blood all over their faces.
    “All right, all right!” Halle took another morphine vial out and this time, she managed to prepare the sedative.
    If they could keep him somewhat stable in the next few minutes, Rahul had a chance.
    Then the elevator arrived and with it, something that looked like Dr. Sanders.
    The thing wore a doctor’s apron, half torn, all covered in blood. Ray noticed two missing fingers on its left hand. He was no doctor but they seemed to have been chewed off. The nightmare’s ears connected to its head from their tips, as if they were incomplete. The thing held a scalpel, waggling it to shake off a bloodied, ball-shaped object. None of them needed a medical degree to guess what it was.
    Half the abomination’s jaw was missing, making strange noises as if it was choking whenever it tried to speak. It twitched as it moved, missing that fluid feeling of a normal human. It pointed at Ray and the others, howling.
    The monster swung its scalpel. Halle screamed and jumped away, only to trip over the trauma kit. She fell down the stairs connecting the elevator platform to the stations, landing hard on the bridge floor. A gruesome cracking