Z 2134

EPISODE 1
CHAPTER 1 — Jonah Lovecraft
    Outside The Walls — The Barrens
    J onah focused through the rifle scope, staring at the zombies swarming around the tunnel’s exit. He had one bullet, with four undead blocking his only way out.
    “Fuck,” he whispered to himself.
    The Darwin Games announcer, Kirk Kirkman, sounded practically orgasmic from the speakers in the floating orb behind Jonah.
    “Wow, Jonah’s really in a tight spot here. Should he take his chances with just one bullet and a machete, and make the mile-long trek back to the last exit? Tell us what you’re thinking as The Darwin Games continue, with Jonah Lovecraft, our second to last contestant!”
    Jonah turned, glaring into the orb’s main camera, “Keep it down,” he whispered. “Are you trying to get me killed?”
    He was aching, tired, and starving, not in the mood to play dancing monkey for the asshole on the other side of the camera nor the millions watching The Darwin Games from home. Jonah was still a half-day from the Mesa and the Final Battle. Whoever reaches the Mesa first gets dibs on the best equipment from the Bounty to use in the fight to the death. The first player to make it to the Bounty usually wins. Going head-to-head against Bear, assuming Bear was the other Darwin contestant still alive, meant Jonah had to get there first. He would need every ounce of help he could get — Bear was a walking tank of a man.
    Bear was more than four hundred pounds and seven feet; an absolute beast, pouring a countless number of his life’s hours into working the City 6 Quarry for most of his 40 years breathing. He’d been imprisoned for robbery, stealing a loaf of bread no less, to feed his wife and child when their rations ran dry earlier than they’d scheduled. Though Jonah hadn’t been a City Watch officer when Bear was jailed, Bear knew of Jonah’s former occupation. Bear had a score to settle, and even if that score wasn’t with Jonah personally, he’d serve as a fine proxy for the hardline authority that had wrongly punished him.
    When The Games first started, and there were 12 of them — two prisoners from each city — let loose into the wild, Bear made an immediate run for Jonah. Fortunately, Jonah managed to slip away when someone else decided to take a whack at Bear. It would’ve been a decent strategy — hitting the strongest guy, Bear, first — if it had worked. It didn’t, though it did slow Bear down long enough for Jonah to successfully make it into the woods, then over to one of the weapons caches. There, he managed to claim a machete before acquiring the rifle he earned by bringing down a pair of contestants who had wisely teamed together, then foolishly surrendered their guard long enough for Jonah to strike.
    There was one day of The Darwin Games remaining, and Jonah had to reach the far side of the tunnel, then make his way to the spot of the Final Battle before Bear, if he wanted a chance to win and start his life over in City 7.
    There were two boxes waiting at the Mesa. One was called The Bounty, which was a winner’s box, with winner’s weapons inside. The Bounty varied from game to game. Sometimes the TV network would stock it with something useful, like a bat, an axe, or even a pistol with a handful of bullets. The other box, however, was called the Joker’s Box, left for whoever made it to the Mesa last, usually containing something far less effective — a brick, a piece of wood, or on one occasion, a bag of children’s toys. It was the game’s way of adding what Kirkman called “the wow factor” to the show — a moment that would shock viewers and get discussed in City plazas.
    Jonah needed all the help he could get if he was going against Bear. Getting to the Bounty was non-negotiable.
    He stared into the scope again, weighing his options as the orb hummed and hovered behind him, turning simple focus into heavy labor. Though Kirkman had momentarily shut up, or maybe muted himself so his inane chatter was broadcast only to the audience at home, Jonah could still hear the orb buzzing like a swarm of bees behind him, the awareness of it enough to shatter his concentration.
    The orbs, which served as floating cameramen beyond The Wall, usually kept a decent distance behind or above their targeted players. But if the game was on the line, the orbs always hovered closer. The game was definitely on the line now. If Jonah died, then Bear, who he now figured had to be the last person left, would