A single word strikes fear into the hearts of even the most experienced starship crews...Aboard the freighter Blue Whale, a young girl's day begins like any other: texting her friends while her parents bicker about breakfast. Then, with a loud, sickening pop, their domestic tranquility is shattered.A single word goes out over the emergency warning system...The galaxy's shipping lanes are plagued by a gang of vicious pirates. Suffering from all manner of terminal diseases, they require zero gravity to live. They also need a constant influx of fresh blood and organs, so their victims also become their unwilling donors. The band is so ruthless, so violent, that its very name has become a synonym for terror.A single word that chills the blood, even in the utter cold of space...The little girl finds herself alone, lost, and trapped aboard the vessel she called home, praying it won't also become her tomb. She is about to learn there is nothing in the universe worse than being hunted by a SKINWRAPPER.This prequel novella shoves you screaming back into the world of "space horror masterpiece" (Daily Dead) THE HEMATOPHAGES.