章 1: 1. The Sky is Raining Rats
Eric was running down a dark damp alleyway barely lit, if an onlooker squinted, they may be able to see something that looks like bread being held in his arms. Eric seemed to be an adolescent, not much older than 15. He wore ragged clothes; he was overly thin looking somewhat malnourished. He wore his hair in a messy mop, it was long enough to cover half of his eyes, but not long enough to go down his back.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Again, if you squinted, only fear could be seen on Erics pale skintight face.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
Suddenly a large figure came barreling out of the corner of the alleyway that Eric was dashing from. The man, looking somewhat akin to Hagbid from Barry Hotter but much meaner, shouted," Hey you rat, come back here with my bread before I skin you alive." 'I guess skin is all I'm worth, no meat on my bones, heh', Eric thought to himself.
Eric knew that he had to find a way to hide from this man because the Hagbid cosplay was catching up to him and Eric loved his skin. 'Sh**, Sh**, where can I lose Mullen…', Eric spoke in his head.
In the corner of his eye Eric saw a trash can, but this wouldn't work as Mullen would see him enter it, it was akin to suicide at this point. Eric dashed with all the little strength he had left; his frail legs didn't fail him this time. He had booked it around a corner and into a somewhat busy street. Left, right, left, right, where can I hide. Eric's eyes fleeted around looking for answers to that question.
Suddenly, Eric found the holy grail, the king of public porcelain, or maybe plastic that is. A Port-A-Potty stood blue and elegant, maybe not elegant. But, to Eric this was a refuge. Eric ran up to the Port-A-Potty trying to swing it open, but, God did not favor Eric. The little dial on the blue kingdom said (In Use). F***, I'm done for.
Eric felt his neck being grabbed and then his feet leaving the ground. 'Oh sh**', was all Eric could think about. This was not by choice that his train of thought stopped, but more from the train that is Mullens punch into his head.
Drip.
'What the hell is that?', Eric thought.
Drop.
'Don't tell me I slept outside of the homeless shelter again…'
Eric's eyes slowly opened to reveal that he was indeed not outside the homeless shelter, and the liquid wasn't rain. The liquid was blood dripping from Eric's head onto the pavement. Eric quickly came to his senses and realized that today was tomorrow, and Eric had been beaten into a pulp by Mullen.
'Brrrrrrrp'
Eric's stomach still loathed for the loaf that he never got to eat. Looking around him more, Eric saw that he was outside of one of the City of Brillia's many precincts. 'Cheap bastards', Eric though to himself realizing that the reason he was outside was because the precinct stopped giving city rats free meals since they used to commit crimes just to get a warm bed and a warm meal.
One of the digital billboards outside the precinct showed a group of attractive looking teenagers and read 'New Enhancers are Tomorrows Future, Register at the Brillia Enhancer Academy today!'. 'Oh Yeah, I forgot', Eric said to himself. Tomorrow was his 15th birthday, he forgot because nobody ever celebrated it with him. His parents had both died, and he had to leave his older sister behind because she was a liability with the amount of food she consumed.
Every human on their 15th birthday has a chance to become enhanced. The current statistics show that around 68% of humans are enhanced, leaving the other 32% unenhanced, that 32% mostly made up the homeless population that Eric was a part of. Eric was hoping that he'd gain some crazy enhancement that would make him rich, but alas that was just a pipe dream.
Eric picked himself up and walked towards the homeless shelter located in the 13th Ward of Old Brillia, it was run by a nice man named Leon. Walking around Eric was surrounded by a futuristic city that he called his home. Eric saw digital billboards on almost every surface, he saw junkies addicted to stimulants and downers on the streets. There were large flying vehicles called 'Public Transportation', real creative I know. There were also smaller sleeker flying vehicles that were just hover cars. The city also seemed to be built vertically not horizontally, so the city named sectors of vertical land wards, and the horizontal location of the land were named by the neighborhood's name.
In front of Eric stood his humble abode, Leon's Shelter. Entering the shelter, Eric was ushered into a waiting room. The room stunk of vomit and general uncleanliness. It was filled with other 'rats' like Eric, all of them just as sad as the next. The room was originally white, but now it seemed more yellow. It had stained white tiles, and a stained white wallpaper. The fans subtle hum was all that kept Eric sane in this room. Suddenly, Eric heard his name being called by someone at the door that lead to the main room of the shelter. The person calling his name was a young woman, probably around 18. She had pink hair and tattoos from her neck downward. She wore sweatpants and a tanktop, most likely because her work clothes had already been ruined by some drunkard's vomit. Following her through the door Eric saw what looked like a cafeteria. There was no smell of food, though. Eric sat down in the corner, knowing the drill pretty well. Every morning the shelter gave out free nutrient packs to the homeless population. It was a great deal, and they also offered job finding services, but Eric had gone through too many failed applications to use those.
The room was filled with around 400 other homeless people. It stunk of feces and vomit as well, but smelled like someone dropped a bunch of cheap cologne in with the smell as well. A bell from the front of the cafeteria rang, letting them know that food was ready, it was a signal for them to sit down and wait patiently. A volunteer worker came around and gave everyone a white package. After Eric received his white package he opened it, revealing a white paste inside. He squeezed the packet and allowed the white paste to enter his mouth. It tasted like chalk and chemicals, just the way Eric liked it. Gulping down the nutrition, Eric felt somewhat satisfied with his hunger situation.
All the homeless were then led to a bed where they could stay till the next morning where they'd receive another package of nutrition before being barred from the place for a one day cool down period. This period of time was to make sure they could spread their resources to everyone without going pretty much bankrupt in a couple of months.
Eric sat down on the bed that felt like a brick, it had stains of who knows what on it, and again didn't smell great. He grabbed a deflated pillow from the bottom of his bed and laid it behind his head knocking out, all he could hope for was some sort of luck tomorrow during his enhancement.
クリエイターの想い 
Cobruh
Cobruh My first book, please give any interaction to it to make me happy. Thank you so much for reading <3!