Elimination: The GAME, #1

By Tuff Gartin

In this initial installment of a short story serial from the world of The GAME, M13 anxiously goes to bed after his 18th birthday celebration. Later, like all members of the dystopian society of Ashen, he magically awakens at the headquarters of The GAME, the training arm of the magical government. Should he manage to survive all 12 weeks at The GAME, he will awaken back in his bedroom the morning after his 18th birthday as though he never left. All memories of the oppressive ordeal will have been erased, and he will continue the life The GAME programmed into him.

While at The GAME M13 befriends M7, and both are fighting for their lives during each training phase. After witnessing classmates being sent to their deaths, M13 is convinced by super-confident M7 that they can do the impossible and topple The GAME. Will M13's morality and uncertainty doom their plan? Can this super-intelligent duo defy the odds, or will they become victims of The GAME?

• Language: English
• Publisher: Tuff Gartin
• Release date: Aug 14, 2017
• ISBN: 9781370993321

Tuff Gartin

Tuff Gartin lives in the Nashville, Tennessee area. He has a wonderful and supporting family that encourages him always, despite what they may be thinking about crazy authorpreneurs. Tuff enjoys spending time with his family and, otherwise, writing for his Tuff Readers and watching sports. As long as there are Tuff Readers out there, Tuff will stay committed to giving his readers the best reading experiences he and his Muse can create. Are you a Tuff Reader? Visit www.tuffgartin.com/myreaders.html to find out. If you are, please sign up for Tuff’s email list to get the latest info on Tuff and his books. Author website: www.tuffgartin.com

Book preview

Elimination

The GAME Episode 1

TUFF GARTIN

Published by Tuff Gartin

Cover design: Tuff Gartin

Cover art: Tuff Gartin

Copyright © 2017 by Tuff Gartin

ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by United States of America copyright law. For permission requests, write to the publisher, addressed Attention: Permissions Coordinator, at the address below.

Tuff Gartin

P.O. Box 973

Brentwood, TN 37024-0973

PUBLISHER'S NOTICE

This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Elimination Title

Day 80 - 1pm

Day 1

Day 22

Day 36

Day 57

Day 78

Day 79

Day 80 - 3am

Day 80 - 5pm

Day 81 - 6am

Day 81 - 2pm

Day 82 - just after midnight

Day 82 - 3am

Day 82 - 10am

Day 82 - 11am

Day 83 - 7am

Episode 2 excerpt

Afterword

About the Author

DAY 80 - 1PM

Hello. I am M13. I am one of the lucky ones who have made it to the final phase of The GAME, the Extinction Phase. In a few hours I will discover my head-to-head opponent for a fight to the death. Prior to that, my mentor will ask for my final decision as to whether I will turn over information on my best friend in exchange for absolution for my part in the crimes which he claims to be aware of. I am currently struggling with an internal battle as to whether M7 is still my best friend. After he punched me in the jaw a couple of nights ago, I'm honestly not sure where we stand. He is the reason I started a journal. Early on he convinced me we are going to escape and take these journals back to Ashen so at least one of us will read it and become convinced the tragedies occurring in The GAME are very real. The hope is that when we read the accounts of what has occurred here, we will believe our accounts and become convicted to banish the oppression and elitism currently dominating the culture at The GAME. I am skeptical we will pull this off since they tell you at the very beginning The GAME will be wiped from your memories should you survive. But M7 is the smartest and most talented magician here, and he's confident with his claims. I wish I had his confidence. Frankly, right now I simply wish I could regain his trust.

On top of that, I'm struggling with some ethical issues regarding my head-to-head fight to the death. My mentor's words keep playing over and over in my head. You have to do whatever it takes to kill your opponent. Throw morals out the window or you are already a dead man, he had said.

It's not that simple K42! I can't dishonorably kill an innocent man, I had replied.

At that point K42 had gotten right in my face and said, Listen, M13, anything goes dude! This is kill or be killed! You do whatever it takes! This has nothing to do with being honorable. This is about survival. I have known you and your family my entire life. Your brother died here. You should do what it takes to avoid the same end. I know you're an ethical person and all that. I get that. I respect that. But, dude, only one of you is going to survive that final matchup. If it helps at all, don't forget your memories of The GAME will be erased if you live. They'll wipe out every single memory from your first moment before you entered The GAME to the instant you return to Ashen. So, while you are here, throw morals and ethics out the window. I beg this of you as a family friend, not your mentor. Your goal is simple -- live! Forget about ethics and morals for this final one-on-one battle! That is the mindset you need to have right now! You're one of the brightest magicians ever to come through here. You are on track to do great things in Ashen for your family and your society. But you must live first. You owe it to yourself. Then he had lightly punched my shoulder -- like he had done so many times while visiting my family's home -- and then he had walked away to give me some time to think about things.

Sitting here now, smelling the sweet aroma of my mom's favorite candle, I laugh at my mentor's attitude towards me now. My how times changed in a few short days. I wonder if I would do things differently if I had it to do all over again.

The candle gives me a pang in the pit of my stomach. It reminds me of home back in Ashen. My mom loves the smell of vanilla and always had a vanilla candle burning in the house. Back home I never had an opinion one way or the other about those candles. They were simply there. Here, those candles are about the only thing keeping me going, especially now that I'm this close to the end.

I wipe the tears away as I daydream about my family yet again. I miss them very much. I wish they were here to give me guidance. Better still, I wish I was back home with them. I need to go relax and clear my head. I haven't had much sleep. The best friend I've ever had no longer trusts me. And I've got a death match soon. I need to get my head screwed on straight and prepare myself to win that fight. It's my only ticket back to those who love me most.

DAY 1

I gravitated towards M7 the moment the Grouping Phase started on Day 1. His confidence was intoxicating to me and gave me comfort during this unnerving time. I longed for his self-assurance instead of