Free Dream Chasers (Dystopian Scifi Series Book 1) by Logan Stark Page B

was
covered in a few strips of cloud. Puddles of last night’s rainfall were
scattered everywhere, some of them reflecting flickering streetlamps, a dim orange
that made shadows jump away as they flicked on.
    As Peter was escorted from the
gymnasium door, he thought: there are a lot more cars than when I arrived. Four
yellow Subaru cars were lined up behind a green one, kissing each other’s
bumper. The engines scratched softly at the night. Unknown shadows, shielded by
tinted windows, appeared and disappeared, trying to have a look at their latest
prize.
    ‘Where are you taking me?’
There was no response. They were ignoring him as if he was nothing, just a
walking no one. Lucky for him, he had gotten a total of thirty minutes’ sleep
before they came in and dragged him away, without telling him where he was
going. They were also kind enough to give him a bottle of water when he’d puked
all over the floor, thanks to Spotless who’d showed him a piece of skull that
looked like dripping-red candy. ‘I want to know where I’m going,’ Peter tried
again. A hand pushed his back, urging him to walk a little faster.
    ‘We no talk now,’ the Yaramati
gang member said. ‘You walk, we talk, later .’ His broken English carried
on: ‘You walk like sister, faster!’ He pushed Peter’s back with his machine gun.
    The lack of clouds made tonight
a cold one, and something just made the air colder. At first Peter didn’t want
to believe, thought it was his tired eyes and acidy throat that clouded his
mind, but as he approached the green Subaru car – the engine hissing – he saw
his mother’s face behind the windshield.
    The car doors opened in a
synchronized wave, first the ones behind and then the green Subaru. Midori climbed
from the green machine.
    ‘There, there he is!’ Midori
said. He had different clothes on, again, this time a black, long-sleeved
shirt, high boots, and a belt with a large skull in the middle. He clapped his
hands together and continued grinning as if he knew something Peter didn’t,
something big – big, big news. ‘I heard what’d happened, Peter.’ He waved his
hand in the air, a two-finger twirl, and walked over. ‘How you feeling now?’
    When Peter saw his mother climb
from the car, his heart squeezed into a flat line. Sweat broke across his
forehead. He felt dizzy all over again. Why? he thought, why oh why oh why?
This night couldn’t get any worse. Peter looked at his mother and saw what he’d
anticipated. Horror and confusion.
    His mother had lost weight. As
she approached the streetlight, her body swimming from darkness and into
urine-yellow light, Peter saw that he was wrong; she hadn’t lost weight – she’d
lost almost all her weight. For a few seconds her face looked like a
skull in some horror movie, a face rejuvenating its skin back as time went on.
    Felicity Steel, his mother, was
the only family Peter had left. She was a hardworking individual and still
pretty for her age, fifty-four. But, Peter thought, how come she lost so much
weight? Was she sick? Or did all this mess make her sick?
    ‘Oh, my child.’ Felicity
tiptoed toward her son, almost tripping over her shaky knees. ‘What’ve you
gotten yourself—’ Peter thought his mother was going to slap him across the
face, but she crashed into his body, both her hands sliding down his cheeks
‘—what’s going on? I’m so, so—’
    Tears welled in Peter’s eyes.
He hugged his mother the hardest he could, but there was no escaping the horror
they were in. ‘It’s okay, mother. It’s fine, really is.’ While his mother
sobbed in his arms, the Yaramati looked at them as if this was some kind of
reality TV show. They were enjoying this, he could tell. Even that fucking
cleaner – Spotless – was standing not far away with his cleaning utensils, his
one knee on the red bucket. He grinned at them, and the grin said A Happy
Family Reunion.
    Felicity pushed herself away,
but not too far away. ‘They told