Dream Chasers (Dystopian Scifi Series Book 1) Read Online Free PDF

thought. This couldn’t be
right. This wasn’t possible. A part of his brain could feel his facial
expression expanding: eyebrows up, mouth down. His chest felt hot. His eyebrows
began to twitch. He turned his neck and—
    ‘Now, look at that pretty
face,’ Ohko said. ‘You still wanna go see momma for the day? Or you wanna come
see your first Dream Chasing machine?’

-6-
     
     
    Too many questions ran through
his mind, some of them wanting – needing – to know how such a thing was
possible. Lower City was eerily quiet today. Maybe it was the early morning
that made it so, but Peter knew this wasn’t the case. Life in Tokyo would
usually start at three in the morning and end at two in the morning, giving the
streets an hour’s rest. The only reason it was this quiet was because of the
day off. People in Lower City were either sleeping their depression away or
wide-eyed awake, staring at the roof, fueling their depression.  
    Last night’s downpour had left
the streets a watery mess. Gutters were overflowing, spurting at some spots,
pushing the sewage from below out, making some areas smell of wet, soggy food.
    They were walking through a
market that was abandoned for the day, and the rain hadn’t been able to wash
the stench away. Yellow banners with red lettering hung from stalls, saying that
they were closed for the day, and some of them spray painted with vulgar words.
    ‘That one says, “Fuck the
government,”’ Ohko said, pointing at a banner hanging on for dear life. ‘I need
to meet that person.’ He laughed and slapped Peter on the back. ‘Why you so
quiet?’
    Peter looked at him and wanted
to say something, but looked away at all the rubbish on the floor. Trash bags
leaning against an electronics shop shook violently, and a cat jumped out and
chased something with a long wiry tail. ‘Where are we going? How far is it?’
    Ohko rubbed his hand along the
brick wall. ‘If I tell you, I kill you. Is that right?’
    ‘Yeah, something like that. But
I’m serious. Is that …’ Peter swallowed. ‘This isn’t legal, right?’
    A homeless man crawled out from
under torn blankets. His forehead was painted in soot and his eyes tired. His
arm stretched while he coughed. ‘Please,’ he said, and stared at the two
approaching young men.
    ‘How you doing this morning?’
Ohko asked, stopping. ‘You had a good time last night?’
    Homeless man coughed a reddish
liquid from his lips. He smeared it on his blanket, a filthy brown sheet with
black dots all over. ‘Please? I’m hungry.’
    Ohko doesn’t do charity, Peter
thought. ‘Just leave the man, and let’s go.’
    ‘I need to readjust my karma
levels,’ Ohko said. He gave the homeless man a pat on the head and asked him if
he was hungry, to which the man quickly responded with a nod. ‘You ever try
this?’ He pulled out a packet of white powder. ‘Won’t get any better quality,
my friend.’
    The man looked at them both, trying
to understand, his quivering eyebrows full of dirt. ‘Anything to … help me
survive, is good.’ His hand wriggled from under the blankets, revealing a wooly
glove with five holes, one for each poking finger. He begged for the white.
    Ohko threw the packet on the
man’s lap, his karma done for the day. ‘Merry New Year’s.’ Ohko patted Peter on
the back. ‘Let’s roll.’
    A part of Peter’s boyish side
had found that funny, but a deeper feeling, a sinking in the stomach, made him
question if that was actually funny.
    An hour later, they were in the
eastern part of the city, the old Langh Hai quarters or Time’s Graveyard, as
some of the locals called it. Derelict buildings were everywhere. Some abandoned
shopping centers homes to the homeless, doors made of no-entry tape. When Tokyo
started selling Dream Energy to third-world countries, not only did its economy
shoot up, but the riches of the wealthy. The nice areas in the city turned into
extravagant abodes while the poor areas turned into rat holes.