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was pushed from the pack feasting on Bear. It looked up and saw Jonah standing on the other side of the bars.
    It shrieked, drawing the attention of the others.
    “Fuck!” Jonah screamed, as he was still 10 feet away from the crossbars and would have to pull himself up once there.
    He raced, his heart pounding against his chest as he went bar to bar, and finally reached the crossbar. Just as he reached it, a zombie’s face and wide-open rotting mouth greeted him with a scream — just inches away and reaching for Jonah.
    Jonah’s foot slipped and he fell, hitting his knee hard, as his hand slipped down the bar, and sent the bulk of his body over the ledge. Somehow he barely held onto the bar as the rest of his body slipped down, coming to a sudden wrenching stop as his shoulder exploded in fiery pain.
    But he held on, the rest of his body dangling off the Mesa platform.
    His relief was short-lived, however, as he felt the zombie clawing at his hand.
    Jonah brought his left hand up, grabbed the edge of the Mesa platform, then let his right hand release the bar and fall to the edge of the platform, where he held on for dear life by the tips of his fingers. Six zombies gathered, shoving themselves at the bars just above, moaning, screeching, and reaching through the bars, swiping at him.
    Jonah moved his hands repeatedly to avoid their swings as his fingers felt like they might fall off at any second.
    He looked down. The ground beneath him was soft with snow, but the snow wasn’t that deep. And there were more zombies gathering beneath him.
    He had nowhere to go.
    Just when Jonah figured the drop’s instant death might be better than getting grabbed and pulled into the cage, two orbs flew into sight and hovered above him, displaying a screen filled with people in the studio audience at City 1, cheering.
    “This might be the best finish on record, ladies and gentleman!” Kirkman proclaimed from the orb’s speakers. “WOW! We’ll be talking about this Darwin Final between Jonah Lovecraft and Dimitri “Bear” Aronofsky for years!”
    One of the zombie’s hands grabbed ahold of Jonah’s right hand, and he yanked it back, nearly losing his grip with his left hand in the process.
    He cried out, “Get me outta here!”
    Suddenly Jonah felt a harness threading itself around his chest, then a tightening pressure as he was slowly pulled toward a silent hovercopter above.
    Kirkman continued from both orbs on either side of Jonah as he floated up and away from the cage, looking down at the screaming zombies and the fleshy, bloody remains of Bear.
    “Any last words for the final few seconds of the Finish, Jonah?”
    The orb went silent, waiting.
    Jonah was too tired to say a word and had nothing to say even if he weren’t exhausted. He shook his head, trying to keep from passing out.
    “Oh no,” Kirkman chimed. “Looks like Jonah needs a nap!”
    The screen suddenly brightened and showed Jonah’s face in a live action shot. The words “WINNER” were written in bold blue beneath him.
    “Jonah Lovecraft is our newest Darwin Games winner!” Kirkman shouted. “He will now be cleaned up and rubbed down, and will get a reminder of what it means to be a man as he’s prepared by The Darwin Games producers for his first-class trip to the rest of his life in SUNNY City 7!”
    The screen suddenly lit with vibrant images of City 7, showing Jonah the same sight the crowds were seeing — in every bar, public square, dark alley, and private home in all the Cities.
    Kirkman then spoke the mantra that was spoken before the end of every broadcast: “All hail the one true leader, Geralt.”
    The audience said, “All hail!” and broke into a round of applause. Jonah was sure some of the applause was for Geralt, but he also knew at least some of the people — those who sought change in the system — were secretly applauding his win.
    Jonah stared at the screen and hope swelled in his chest, so intense he thought he might cry.
    Like every second of footage he had seen since he could remember, City 7 was gorgeous, so clean it shimmered, especially when compared to City 6’s all-too-lived-in streets and alleyways.
    The pixels of City 7 were every one of them Paradise: people either relaxing, or stuffing their faces with heaping plates of piled pasta and lean meats — the opposite of the packaged synthetics found behind the walls of City 6. There were tall glasses filled with richly colored wine and spirits, and beaches