The lights change again to show the three heads of government at the time. This time, they are addressing the country about going to war with the Fritts to keep what we worked so hard for.

The lights then move to show the fighting in different areas of our country, one being in Treegrass. Men hid behind the rubble of old buildings, only popping their heads out occasionally to fire their weapons.

One man shoots a Fritt, and the Fritt bursts into tiny white lights until he is no longer there. Some men have tiny lights pouring out of them as they walk by. It looks pretty, but I know this is just the government’s way of protecting us from seeing the actual blood and horror of the war.

The following image shows men and women cheering in the streets, “Today is a day of celebration. The New World has finally defeated its greatest enemy, the Fritts. We have fought every last one of them so that they shall never return to harm us anymore. Today, we are free of fear, we are free of starvation, and we are free to become the best we can hope to be,” says the familiar voice of Governor Joseph Johnson, one of the country’s favorite Governors at the time of the war.

Cheers and claps are heard in the tent once again before it quiets back down. The room goes dark for a few moments, and we are left waiting in anticipation. Then lights form to show the head of one of our current day governors, Governor Davies, in the center of the room.

“Dear people of Treegrass, I hope you had fun today here at the carnival. Setting up such an event was not easy, but we hope it was all worth it. My fellow Governors and I wanted to give you all a special night before delivering some unpleasant news.”

My heart sinks a little at the sound of that. What does he mean by unpleasant news? Has something happened in one of the other towns? Is there a new threat?

He takes a moment before speaking again, “As many of you know, the New World has been through a lot. We have seen famine, revolutions, wars and overall a lot of destruction. We have been able to overcome all of this and make the New World safe for everyone, or so we thought,” Governor Davies takes a deep breath and looks down for a moment before looking at us again.

“It is with deep sadness that I must inform you of our country’s struggles in recent years. For over a century, we have been able to avoid falling back into a shortage of food and resources, but we were informed two years ago that that would not be the case for long. Over those two years, your government has worked hard to find possible ways to avoid such a disaster, and we think we have found one.”

“It has come to our attention that it is not that we are short on our average yearly number of produce, but it is the number of people in the towns that are growing. This population growth has made us use valuable land for homes instead of crops. The building of homes has caused a shortage of valuable resources. The threat of outsiders has prevented us from expanding town borders, so your fellow Governors and I have had to think long and hard about our options.”

“Every day, we have asked ourselves, how do we fix this? One option is to risk our lives and expand our town borders to gain more land to grow food and housing. Unfortunately, even if this option were not dangerous, it would take years, and by then, hundreds or thousands of people could die a slow starving death.”

Governor Davis says this last part slowly as if to ensure that everyone understands that they do not wish for this to happen and that starving would be a terrible way to die.

“With much debate, we came up with another option. We go from town to town and give everyone a night to remember before reducing the population peacefully. Each person who walked into the carnival was handed a card with their name on it, and now you hold a box containing your card and the score of how well you did here tonight.”

People around us start looking at one another before quiet chatter starts up. What could scorecards have to do with helping the New World's problems, and what did he mean by reducing the population peacefully?

“We have averaged those scores to tell us the top fifty percent of the people in Treegrass. Some of the games you played here tonight tested your strength, while most tested your intelligence. Your scores were also weighted. If you are seventeen or younger, you get a twenty-point bonus. If you are older than fifty, then you get a twenty-point reduction. Anyone who did not play any games got zero points.”

“The people who are in the top fifty percent are safe and will live out the rest of their lives safely in Treegrass. To the people who do not make the top fifty, you will be given a moment with your family and loved ones. Then you will be instructed to follow the security guards to a separate room where you will not experience a slow death like the many who died in the famine.”

What? This can’t be real. It has to be some sort of twisted joke. One of our Governors did not just insinuate that they are going to kill half of our town. That can’t be right. Someone’s going to come out here any second and tell us that this is just a misunderstanding. This can’t be real.

Other people must start coming to the same conclusion as me because the chatter becomes louder, and people start looking panicked.

“Everyone’s score has been accounted for when you put your cards in the box, so we know who the top fifty percent of your town is. Those of you who are in the top fifty percent will see a green light in the corner of your box, while the ones who fell below the fifty percent mark will see a red light.”

I look down at my box, and sure enough, there is a small green light in the corner. I look at Devin’s and it’s the same. Then it hits me. Dad, he purposely lost the games. I look over at his box.

Red.

No. He lost the games on purpose. No, that’s not fair. It’s not fair. They can’t do that.

This is just a misunderstanding. They aren’t actually going to kill half the town. They can’t do that, right? They must have morals, too. There is no way the three heads of government felt that the solution to this problem would be murdering their own people.

My heart starts racing as I begin to think about it more. You will not experience a slow death like the many who died in the famine. Does that mean they plan on killing half the town quickly? Are they moving them somewhere else? What do they mean?

The Governor’s head disappears, and the lights are turned back on. A loud, demanding voice is heard, “If you have a box containing a red light in the corner, please come to the center of the room now.”

The people around us start to get up from their seats, but only a few move to the center of the room.

“Where are you bringing them?”

“Are you really going to kill off half the town?”

“Answer my question! Look at me! You can’t do this!”

My Dad grabs my hand and then reaches over to Devin to grab him as well. “We are leaving. Now,” he says. It is not a question, and my brother and I don’t fight him on the matter.

We walk down the now crowded stairs and try making our way to the exit. People start pushing and shoving to get to the front, so I hold onto my Dad’s hand tighter so we do not get separated. As we make little progress towards the front, we hear people shouting to open the doors.

“Let us out!”

“You can’t keep us in here. We have families!”

“Open the door, or you will regret it!” A loud angry man yells.

More people start shouting, “Let us out! Let us out!”

They locked us in.

People rush to the center of the room, where a number of armed guards are now standing, and try to demand they tell us what they are planning to do with the people with red lights on their boxes. The guards do not answer. All they do is stand there and ask for the people with red lights on their boxes to come to the center.

One man gets right up in a guard’s face and demands that he answer the questions, and when the guard does not, the man pushes the guard. The guard stumbles back but does not fall. Others join in and start getting up in other guards' faces and pushing and shoving them when they get no answer.

When this continues, the guards ask for everyone to calm down, but no one is listening anymore. Then, right when one guy is about to punch a guard, a gunshot is heard, and the guy falls to the ground, fist still in the air. It is dead silent for a second as everyone watches as the guy’s shirt becomes covered in blood.

That is when the real chaos erupts.

Chapter 7

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