The year 2050 was meant to symbolize progress. It was an era of artificial intelligence, quantum computing, and cities that reached into the clouds. But all the innovation in the world couldn't solve humanity's most primal problem: survival.
Earth was suffocating under its own weight. Overpopulation strained every resource, and the global military infrastructure had weakened. Desperate for a solution, world leaders turned to an unthinkable proposalâThe Survival Lottery.
It would be a spectacle, a test of human resilience, and a brutal reckoning. Each year, high school juniors and seniors would be thrust into a deadly game designed to eliminate the weak and cultivate the strong. The wealthy dictated the rules, spinning a wheel of potential games and leaving fate to decide which would be played.
The first Survival Lottery would begin in the spring of 2050, and Blake Callahanâpoor, invisible, and beaten down by lifeâwould be among the first to play.