text: Competition is not all fun and games. A girl stood in a doorway, her long hair sat on her back. She had a long brown overcoat that went just below her knees. She wore a dark green shirt with black leggings. She leaned in the doorway and looked out at the town before her, this was the doorway out the front entrance to her home. It was a small home with only a few bedrooms; it barely fit her, her mother, and her three brothers but it was her home. She lived in a small town at the border of the safe lands. You see dear reader this is many hundred years in the future and cities have crumbled, places that had once looked familiar now we're mere ruins all that remained of humans were small colonies around the world. But they weren’t just on earth they also were on Mars living happily for life on earth was extremely tough with extreme weather, smog, and the one common enemy zombies. Yes this is the apocalypse, but zombies have been around for awhile now humans have learned to defend themselves from these half dead enemies. With their colonies protected by a thick iron wall, and guards armed along the wall waiting for an attack, there have been zombie attacks in the past but humans prevaled and learned to live inside their walls, farming and keeping livestock. The wall surrounds a big area which you know now as states and the group of states that are in this wall are North Carolina, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia and this is called the North colony and on the other side of the country is another colony including the states of Washington, Oregon, California, Utah, Nevada, and Arizona and this is the West colony. The colonies are separated and isolated from each other because everything in between the colonies belongs to the zombies. Within each colony there are towns separated by paths and remember dear reader that the states no longer exist and they are now one colony of humans trying to survive. Now the colony this takes place in is the North Colony and our story starts in a doorway where a is standing and that girls name is Octavia Robin. It was a brisk afternoon and Octavia stood in her doorway looking out at her town, she was from the town of Beckinsdale in the North Colony. She lived with her mother and three brothers and dog, she doesn’t really remember her father but she did know he fell victim to a zombie attack when she was young. Her older brother remembers a little about him but that is the past. Her older brother Paris was called to join the colony army and her two younger twin brothers (Leo and Charlie) when the time comes and they are old enough are going to be called to the army as well and that is why Octavia has chosen to enter the Fate Games. The Fate Games take place every other year because it goes back and forth between the colonies this year Octavia can enter. You must be between the ages of 17 and 27 and she is 18 now. The past year she couldn’t enter because it was for the West Colony. The game is simple there are twenty competitors that are chosen at random from the colony, once they are chosen they have five days to prepare and say goodbyes then they get a backpack, a sleeping bag, one lighter, five matches, one gallon of water, a gun, a little food, and a couple pairs of clothes. You have a number and they put a tracking device on you and let you out of the gates to the unknown. You have one month to survive, only one can win and by winning you survive and don’t die but there is a twist if more then one survives they are all left to die and no one wins. The prize is something very precious: a ticket for you and your immediate family to leave, yes leave. The ticket is a ticket to a rocket ship that will take you and your immediate family to the thriving human colony on Mars where you can forget about zombies and live happily and thrive and every year the rich colonies of Europe hold this competition to give people a chance to leave and escape this world. The reason why Octavia wants to get out so badly is because for one her town is right near the border and there are more towns like hers but their job was to draft people into the army to send them out beyond the walls to fight zombies and these were the reasons why she needed to get her family out of here. Her brothers would be called to the army to fight and had a high chance of death and she needed to look after her family and give her mother a happy life. She had to win. Octavia loved her town and her family. She stood in the doorway, her mother standing behind her and her brothers sitting on the stoop as they waited. They were waiting for the names of the next contestants to be announced for The Fate Games. The other town members stood or sat in front of their houses and waited and heads perked up at the sound of the loud speaker crackling. A voice came on and started listing the names of contestants. “Contestant number 17 is...” the voice said. Octavia’s heart pounded in her chest. It's all she could hear pounding inside her, thoughts flying through her head. At that moment time seemed to stop and thoughts swirled like a tornado in her mind. What will happen if I die? Will I even get chosen for the games? She started to sweat, her stomach ached with the feeling of anxiety. “Octavia Robin from Beckinsdale!” She snapped back to reality as her name was called, she had a look of shock stuck on her face. She didn't know how to feel happy, sad, scared, or a mix of all those things. Her brothers stood up and her family hugged her while she stared into space still trying to process the information that she will be in the games. They stayed in their family hug for a few minutes and the own was silent except for Octavia grabbed her coat and said goodbye to her family and set off for the training grounds. The training ground was in the center of the Colony and it took a couple days to get there but that my friends is unimportant. She arrived there to see all the other competitors there, some looked huge and strong and others small and stealthy. Most of them were talking with each other and they all uuj seemed to know each other but there was one girl sitting on the side just staring off into space. She had beautiful brown skin and her curly hair just sat upon shoulders with blond ends. Octavia was going to start to walk up to her when a man and Woman walked out of the building in front of the courtyard area where the contestants were waiting. The contestants got up and formed a half circle around the man and woman. They introduced themselves as “I am Rafferty Sherriden” the man said, “I am Verity Lockwood and we will bring your guides through your training for the games and provide you with all the information you need” said the woman.They both had accents that sounded British they had most likely come from Europe who created and lead the games each year. “If you have any questions you can just ask us now each of you will get a trainer. Your trainer will help you get into physical condition for the game and teach you how to fight. Over the week of your training the judges will be observing you.” Rafferty added. The judge observed the contestants and predicted who will so people can place bets. “Now contestants follow us into the training room and where you will be staying.” Verity said walking towards the building with Rafferty. The contestants started walking towards the building with their bags of stuff. This was just the beginning, it all started after this. The contestants waited in the training room, in an awkward silence they all had different expressions pasted across their faces, some looked serious and stood there strong and proud, some looked frightened and worried, quite meek and small, and some just stared at the floor trying not to make eye contact with anyone. My dear reader sometimes you can tell a whole lot about people by just noticing their expressions but that is besides the point. All the contests had the same uniform on but they all had different numbers on them like jerseys for a game. Rafferty and Verity reappeared after they had left some ten minutes ago. They appeared with twenty people behind them; those were the trainers who each year came out to train the next contestants for the game. “Contestants welcome to the training arena where you will be training in the course of a week with your trainer” Rafferty said with what seemed to be forced enthusiasm. “Here we have your personal trainers,” Verity said, gesturing to the people standing behind her. “Now contestant you each have a number, that is your number i want you to find your trainer with the same number on there uniform” Rafferty added. “Now find your trainer!” Verity said, smiling. Octavia waited for everyone else to find their trainers until there was one left, it was a woman she was quite tall and had broad shoulders, her hair was cut short and a silver purple color, she had tattoos on her arms and her arms were crossed as a stoic look was splattered across her face. She had an eyebrow piercing and her eyes were two two different colors one brown like earth and the other as blue as the ocean. “So your number seventeen. I’m Mavis welcome to the games seventeen.” She said, holding out her hand. Octavia hesitantly reached out her hand and Mavis pulled her into a hug. Her hug was hard and her muscles were like rocks in her arms, she released Octavia and started walking towards the training area. Mavis toward Ocatavia as she did push ups the sweat stinging her eyes and her hair stuck to her face, her arms burned as if they were on fire. She heard the ear piercing sound of the whistle and stood up and Mavis had a half smile across her face. “Nice job Seventeen. Now time to learn how to fire a gun.” Mavis said pointing to the firing range. They were at the firing range, the deafening sound of guns going off in their ears. Octavia went up, put in ear plugs and fired, she hit the target over and over. Mavis stood back tall and proud. It was the day of the games the contestants were lined up and their families watched from the top of the wall. Their trainers stood with them preparing them and hooking up their tracking devices. The tracking devices tracked your heart and let the hosts of the games know where you are so you don’t leave or cheat by going to the West Colony, they also tracked your heart beat so they know who is dead. The contestants also have a device telling you who is left. “Good luck Seventeen.” Mavis said. Seventeen was her nickname for Octavia. Mavis handed her the backpack filled with the supplies and said “I trained many other Seventeens and none of them have made it but I think you have a chance. Good luck.” She said and hugged her. The contestants lined up against the gate and the trainers stepped back. The horn blew and the gate slowly cranked open quite loudly. Mavis yelled something but Octavia only heard the second part “Don’t like water” and she didn’t focus on that too much her heart pounding thoughts swirling. Rafferty and Verity stood on the wall and yelled “Go!” Octavia ran out the gates into the unknown and she knew the rest was up to fate.