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    Fractured Mind Episode One
    Fractured Mind Episode One
    Fractured Mind Episode One
    Ebook187 pages2 hours

    Fractured Mind Episode One

    By Odette C. Bell

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    About this ebook

    Dreams are just dreams, but not to this maligned cadet. They’re real, and they hold the power to destroy Earth and beyond.
    Everyone thinks Sarah’s mad – especially the strapping Lieutenant Karax. He wants her kicked out of the Academy. But Sarah holds the key to one of the most powerful technologies in the Milky Way. If Karax can't find out what's going on, Earth will fall. And if he can't find a way to save Sarah, he’ll lose her long before he’s ready.
    ...
    Fractured Mind follows a cadet plagued with nightmares and a disparaging lieutenant fighting to save Earth from an alien plot. If you love your space operas with action, heart, and a splash of romance, grab Fractured Mind Episode One today and soar free with an Odette C. Bell series.
    Fractured mind is the 5th Galactic Coalition Academy series. A sprawling, epic, and exciting sci-fi world where cadets become heroes and hearts are always won, each series can be read separately, so plunge in today.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherOdette C. Bell
    Release dateMay 4, 2016
    ISBN9781310574061
    Fractured Mind Episode One

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      Book preview

      Fractured Mind Episode One - Odette C. Bell

      Chapter 1

      She ran through the snow, her badly bleeding leg dragging through a drift.

      Her breath was stuck half-way up her throat, every pressured exhalation sending a new wave of pain and nausea washing through her broken body.

      She kept moving.

      She couldn’t stop.

      Above her, the twin suns of the planet slowly slipped behind the horizon. The purple and gold dusk shimmering in the star-studded sky quickly gave way to a dark night.

      She pushed up a rise, foot catching on a rock hidden under the thick white blanket of snow. She shunted forward and had to shove her hands out to break her fall. Her face slammed against the snow, and she sucked in a breath of powder. Choking and spluttering, a few droplets of bright red blood splattering over the drift, she shoved to her feet and powered on.

      Every few seconds, she checked behind her. Aching neck muscles sending spinning shafts of pain spiraling into her head, she ignored her agony and scanned the now dark horizon.

      Dusk did not last on this planet.

      Night would.

      … She couldn’t see it.

      Oh god, she couldn’t discern it against the never-ending mountains of white.

      By now, she was so cold she couldn’t feel her legs anymore, only the pain snaking up from the bad break in her left femur.

      How she could still walk, let alone run, she didn’t know.

      She couldn’t stop, though.

      Stop, and that thing would tear her limb-from-limb, bone-from-bone, cell-from-cell.

      She snapped her head around, every breath like a fire burning in her chest. A diffuse tingling sensation had pushed down her chest and sunk deep into her stomach.

      Clutching a hand over her middle, the ripped fabric of her snow jacket trailing over her wrist, she indulged in closing her eyes.

      … Shit. She could hear it now.

      As she shifted up a rise and paused, she picked up its even footfall.

      Not hurried, not frantic.

      Even. Steady. Always coming toward her.

      Fear pumped through her blood, ricocheting around her mind like a mag bullet.

      She shook her head desperately, several strands of bloody, sweaty, icy hair sticking to her flushed cheeks and neck.

      Come on, she begged herself with another choked wheeze.

      She snapped her head forward and stared down at the drift.

      It was steep, but she had no choice. She threw herself down it, her boots scampering through the fine snow. It was a battle to keep her balance. Her arms flailed at her sides as her boots sunk further into the drift with every treacherous step.

      More and more blood oozed from the injury to her left leg. It splattered over the snow, sinking a few millimeters down before it was robbed of its natural warmth and frozen – like everything else on this hell hole of a planet.

      Just as she heard its methodical footfall ascend the rise behind her, she stumbled. Again her foot snagged on something. This time, she couldn’t regain her balance.

      She fell to the side, her right arm plunging through the drift up to her elbow.

      Though she madly tried to clutch onto something – anything – to slow her rapid descent, she couldn’t.

      She started to roll, her body tumbling down the hill with all the grace and speed of a boulder free-falling down a cliff.

      Just as her heart threatened to slam out of her chest and plunge into the frozen snow, she reached the bottom of the rise.

      For a second, she did nothing. She lay there, face pressed up against a sheet of ice, one wide eye pressing further open as she realized two things.

      She was still alive.

      And it was still after her.

      She could hear the creaking of its joints, the pneumatic hiss of its breath.

      Oh god, she cried, tears streaking down her cheeks as she screwed her eyes tightly shut.

      Though her whole body felt like it was little more than a broken pane of glass, she grunted and somehow found the strength to push up. Her elbows shook as they tried to position her weight.

      But she did it.

      She staggered to her feet, more blood splattering from her wound and flicking over the white-blue snow and ice.

      Clutching a hand on her stomach and groaning, she twisted her head all the way around and stared with wide eyes at the top of the rise.

      She saw it.

      The night sky was so clear she could see the colored swathe of gas clouds studded with constellations beyond.

      That brilliant light was enough to outline her pursuer.

      Large, white metal body glinting, it inclined its head toward her.

      Then it moved.

      Violent fear exploded in her gut, sending a spike of adrenaline striking her body like a flame thrown onto a bed of dry wood.

      She found the last of her strength and powered to her feet.

      She twisted and sprinted forward.

      She ignored every stabbing pain, every wave of nausea.

      She locked her gaze on the horizon until she could see it pulling up in the distance.

      A shadow against the reflective snow and ice.

      The facility.

      She would reach it. Then she’d find a weapon.

      And then Sarah Sinclair would kill the hunter.

      …

      Cadet Sarah Sinclair

      She rocketed awake as if someone had attached a cruiser to her mind and pulled her out of sleep with all the speed of light.

      It took her too long to realize she was in bed. In her quarters. In the Academy grounds on Earth.

      Her hands were shaking, her body convulsing as sweat coated her brow and trailed down her back.

      Her pillow and covers were a tangled mess on the ground.

      At some point, she’d knocked most of the paraphernalia off her desk. Her lamp was broken, and her WD had popped its case.

      … It was… it was a dream. She clutched a hand to her chest and let her sweaty fingers anchor against her rumpled PJ top.

      She couldn’t calm her breathing. It raked through her throat, just like it had in her dream.

      She started to shake her head. She even closed her eyes.

      A mistake.

      As soon as she did, the vestiges of her nightmare climbed back into her consciousness. She saw vivid flashes of the snow below her, of her bright-red blood slicking down her body.

      Instinctively she grabbed a hand to her left leg.

      … It felt stiff.

      But as she pushed her searching fingers into the muscle, she couldn’t find a serious injury.

      Just to convince herself, she ducked her head down, rolled up her trousers, and stared at her flesh.

      … Nothing.

      No hole from a blaster.

      Just her leg.

      She clutched her face, her sweaty, shaking fingers dragging and digging over her skin. Her hair was tangled over her face and shoulders, so knotted it felt like a helmet.

      A second later, an alarm blared from her wall unit on the far side of the room.

      It was so sudden and unexpected, she screamed.

      You will be late for class unless you leave in the next five minutes, the programmed computer voice informed her in a toneless chirp.

      … Class, she repeated with an empty tone.

      Today, you will have engineering in the morning, followed by combat training in the afternoon, the computer informed her, erroneously thinking she’d asked a question.

      … She couldn’t push away her dream and snap back to reality.

      It seemed locked in her body. She could feel the desperation still pumping in her heart, the fear locking her limbs, the blood slicking down her leg.

      With a reverberating sigh, she clenched a shaking hand on her bed and pushed to her feet.

      Instantly she had to shove a hand out and lock it on the wall to steady herself.

      She hunched her shoulders, rounded her back, dropped her head, closed her eyes, and tried to wake up.

      The computer beeped again, startling her so badly she jolted, collected her mess of blankets and pillows, and fell over.

      Her left knee bashed into the floor, knocking against the lamp.

      The sharp metal base easily cut through the thin fabric of her PJ bottoms and sliced through the flesh above her knee.

      She stared at the injury in shock, mesmerized by the blood blossoming over her light blue trousers.

      Before she could stare at it for the next several minutes, her body still locked with the memory of her dream, her intercom beeped.

      You getting ready or what? You can’t afford to be late anymore, her roommate said over the intercom.

      Sarah didn’t answer. Couldn’t. Instead, she shook her head and tried, but failed, to wake up.

      … Sarah, you okay in there?

      When Sarah didn’t answer for a second time, her door beeped and opened.

      In strode her roommate and best friend, Nora. She took one look at Sarah’s disheveled room, then locked her gaze on Sarah’s injury.

      Rather than lurch down and check Sarah’s cut, Nora pressed her hands around her middle and shook her head. Another nightmare?

      Sarah managed a nod.

      Nora sighed. You should get that cut checked out before class. It looks pretty deep. Nora disappeared out into the main room beyond Sarah’s bedroom. A few seconds later, Nora came back with a medkit. She threw it at Sarah.

      Sarah tried to catch it, but she was too slow, and the kit bounced off her chest and fell against her bleeding leg.

      Nora sighed heavily. Come on, Sarah, snap out of it.

      Sorry, Sarah said in a small voice as she hesitantly plucked up the kit, unlocked it, and began rifling through the contents. She tried extremely hard to hide the shake in her hands as she clasped hold of a vial of spray-on-skin.

      Nora saw it and took it as a reason to shake her head once more. You didn’t take your meds last night, did you? In fact, you haven’t been taking them all week. Believe it or not, I can hear when you’re thrashing in your sleep. Even these double reinforced doors aren’t enough to dampen that cacophony. Nora reached out and rapped her knuckles against the wall. Just do us a favor – do what the doctors keep telling you to do. Take your medication. It will suppress your dreams.

      Nora turned and walked out the door.

      Just before the doors closed behind her, she appeared to change her mind.

      She strode back in, leaned down, plucked the spray-on-skin from Sarah, and helped her apply it.

      When she was done, Nora pushed to her feet and offered Sarah a hand. Sorry to be so hard on you, kid, but—

      But? Sarah looked up at her.

      Never mind, Nora insisted as she pushed forward, obviously tired of waiting, and plucked Sarah’s hand up.

      Nora was strong and agile, and it wasn’t a trial to pull Sarah to her feet.

      Okay, now get to the med bay, and I’ll cover for you in class. But whatever you do, be back in time for combat training. You can’t afford to put Lieutenant Karax offside anymore. Not considering what you said to him last time. Nora sighed heavily.

      Sarah couldn’t help but wince.

      Now she was standing, her cut semi-healed, and her best friend at her side, her dream was starting to fade.

      Her dream.

      No.

      That’s what other people called it.

      Sarah knew they weren’t dreams.

      They were too real, too tangible. When she was experiencing them, they felt like reality. Like she was walking through some distant memory.

      Maybe Nora could somehow guess what Sarah was thinking, because she leaned in close and shook her head, a warning look playing in her gaze. Sarah, no. They’re dreams. You’re getting past this, remember? You’ve been going to a counselor for half a year now. You know they’re dreams. Right? Nora challenged.

      Sarah looked at her best friend.

      There was only one thing she could say, even if it was a lie. So she gave a stiff nod, hooking her messy hair behind her ears as she did. Yeah, they’re dreams, she said in a dead, far-off voice. As soon as she said it, she winced. A violent, visceral memory of the hunt slammed into her mind.

      She may not know much about the context of her dream – who was chasing her, where she was, how she’d gotten there. But she knew one thing.

      It was called the hunt. And she was the quarry being hunted.

      She gave a cold shiver as a dark, sick feeling pushed through her gut.

      Rather than clutch a hand on her stomach and double over, she tried for a smile.

      Nora let out a sharp chuckle. You’re not going to win any friends with a smile like that.

      I don’t need other friends – I’ve got you, right?

      Nora didn’t answer. She moved toward the door, pulling her gaze off Sarah and locking it on the metal. Get dressed and get to the med bay. I’ll see you in class. With that, she walked through the door, and it closed behind her.

      There’d been a time when Nora had stood by her

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