PHOTO PROMPT © Rochelle Wisoff-Fields
Cut rock and cement walls dominate, where blue sky feels almost like an afterthought. It’s a place that reason says is uninhabitable for humans – a perfect place for The Games.
Those who haven’t paid Lifetax by deadline are vaporized en mass each midnight. National lotteries choose contestants from those who have.
Lazy drone eyes watch today’s batch of contestants toddling down the chute, their images then broadcast on screens of casinos and other gambling establishments. Bets are placed and business is brisk.
Adversaries range from battle androids to enhanced zebras. It keeps things fresh.
Odds are slim, but some survive.
[100 words]
Rochelle Wisoff-Fields is the illuminating host of Friday Fictioneers.
Tao Talk 
A clinical iteration of some rather savage customs. Of course, it could never happen here… or… :) Good one.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sandra, thank you, the story wrote itself.
LikeLike
I remember The Running Man and I basically like every Arnold Schwarzenegger movie. Your story reminded me more of The Hunger Games movies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Jim. It’s kind of a hybrid of a lot of dystopic movies and I can see The Hunger Games in there as well.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ummmm… remind me of where this is so I can avoid it all costs!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
lol I don’t blame you, Dale.
LikeLiked by 1 person
;-)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ominous. (K)
LikeLiked by 1 person
If we don’t outright blow up or poison ourselves out of existence, overpopulation is going to effect drastic measures to cull us down. One of the stories in Margaret Atwood’s newest book discusses a way she thinks it could happen.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I was just telling David after he wrote about friends not wanting to have children in such a dark world, that Zero Population Growth was a very big issue when I was young, but you never hear about it any more. Had we bought into it 50 years ago (not just China, who went a little overboard), the world might not be in such dire straits today. We can’t support the amount of people on this planet now, and it will only get worse.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I can understand David’s friends conclusion and I wondered if I would ever have grandchildren. Then, in the middle of Covid no less, my younger son and his wife decided to conceive a child. The world dark, but who better to bring light than new life. If we could only convince each human to jump on board ZPG we might still have a chance to save our planet…
LikeLiked by 1 person
So many ifs…
LikeLiked by 1 person
That sounds like something real in todays world.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hesitate but agree with you :(
LikeLiked by 1 person
I love that movie by the way.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Me too. Have watched it many times. We may have had it on VHS.
LikeLike
Great way to take the prompt!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Iain, thanks much :)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Very interesting story
LikeLiked by 1 person
:) I tried to make light of the situation but also tell the truth. Thank you, Sadje.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s a sad reflection of our reality when our fiction so often takes us to dystopia. Well told.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Good point, Nobbin. It could have just as well been they were toddling down the chute to meet up with their sworn enemies for peace talks.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I immediately thought of The Squid Game. Hopefully, this will not become the Olympics of the future. A great take, Lisa.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Keith. I haven’t seen that but you’re the 2nd person in 2 days to mention it. Maybe I should?
LikeLike
Dear Lisa,
Chilling little story and too believable for comfort. Well done.
Shalom,
Rochelle
LikeLiked by 1 person
Rochelle, thanks much. Back with The Running Man was made, it was set in the future of 2017. It is chilling how much it predicted has come to pass.
Shalom,
Lisa
LikeLike
Oo. That’s an unexpected take on the prompt. Chilling. I note with interest Nobbin’s comment above, and your reply. I do love futuristic fiction, positive or negative. I think we all feel worried about what our own future might hold. I hope it doesn’t hold such events as your story suggests. Very good story, nonetheless.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Margaret, thank you for your thoughtful comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Weird how as humans we seem to like these ‘to the death’ challenges, but in reality and in fiction. There are many such stories.
Maybe in the end, this sort of thing is no less humane than the population crunches nature applies.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Agreed, Jen, survivalist themes draw us in. Is it because maybe we feel under attack from so many directions that we are hoping to see how others survive and it may trigger a way for us to? Just thinking out loud here. We like to think we are civilized but the leopard in the jungle has simply changed its spots.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Cold, calculating, ruthless …. much like life and the hell that’s going on in Israel.
Very well done, Lisa. As usual.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nancy, thank you. Writing is a safe way to vent.
LikeLiked by 1 person
A dystopian story reminiscent of roman times. Sadly this seems very plausible to me.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I see reality TV as part of that roman times mindset as well. We demand more and more outrageous battles between contestants just like they did.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Highlighting the separation of emotion from death and overcrowding. A scary proposition. Death games for entertainment and money. The hunger games of taxes
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks for reading and your comment, Laurie.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m with Keith, I too thought of Squid Games. I think that movie like your story, sadly, may be more realistic than we’d like. Good one, Jade.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Isadora.
LikeLiked by 1 person
An intriguing and different take on the prompt.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks much!
LikeLike