Dream Shatter (Dream Runners #1)

CHAPTER ONE

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CHAPTER ONE
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Capitol City, Suburbs.

Utopian Sects of Ameritus.

Wake up, Logan. Wake up. Now.

It's a voice I've heard a hundred times before, but I'm not sure whose. Sometimes I think it's my alarm clock, so I groan and roll over to smack it blindly. Except it hasn't gone off.

My parents are fighting again.

They work for the government; Mother during the day, and Dad on the night shift.. He's tired after his shift and his voice barely lifts over the clatter of breakfast dishes in the sink.

Their voices are muffled beyond my closed door, but I hear them all the same.

"He's only sixteen, Naressa. Let him be a kid."

"He's pushing seventeen. I was recruited much younger than that."

"He's not ready for the truth."

When will I get to decide what I'm ready for? I roll onto my side and squint at the clock. Realizing the bus will be here any minute, I swear aloud and leap from beneath my covers.

"When I was his age," Mother argues, "I was already being promoted through the ranks."

There is a hard, cold silence. Then Dad growls, "You have forgotten: I made a vow."

I trip over myself in search of a uniform I haven't already worn twice this week. My parents' voices crescendo to the music of my clumsiness.

"Just let him take the interview," she shoots back.

"What if he fails?"

I fall onto my backside while putting on my trousers and grunt. The humming of the school bus draws into hearing range. Beside me, I pluck a blazer from the floor that isn't too wrinkled and wrestle it on while I hunt for shoes.

"You have your life, your job, everything, because of me," Mother snaps. "It's past time he steps into his role, Kendall. He needs to earn his keep."

Another frigid pause between them. Dad shouts, "He's not—"

"He's not what?" she challenges with cold steel in her voice.

Just as I pull on my shoes, Dad howls in frustration. His heavy footsteps are followed by the slamming of their bedroom door.

Sometimes it's like walking on eggshells around here, but right now I have to crush all of them as I rush outside.

The bus passes my house without stopping like it should, if I was actually waiting for it. Even though it's pointless, I take off after it, screaming. But the bus is driverless and on a pre-programmed route. If only I could have triggered its sensors to stop. I can't be the only one who's a little late now and then. I brace against my knees, trying to catch my breath, and watch as the bus fades into the distance.