(AUTHOR'S NOTE: If you've been reading my other Battle Royale fanfic The Program, fear not, I haven't forgotten about it. I will be working on both together. I'm doing this story however because it's a little bit more personal for me.)
The United States of America, January 4, 2002.
In the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the country was in total disarray. No one believed in the government to catch those responsible for it. People were rapidly losing all form of faith in the government.
It was a cold day in Washington, D.C. The new year had just begun. Suddenly, a call from the Middle East to Washington came in, claiming a nuclear missile strike had wiped out nearly 750,000 people in Saudi Arabia, Iraq, and Iran. While threats to the United States immediately came in, it turned out that the U.S. was not responsible for the strike.
It was the Republic Of Greater East Asia. The missile came from the country of Japan, which was under military law. The country sent an immediate message to the Americans saying that the 9/11 attacks were unacceptable and more needed to be done. While the American government was quick to denounce the attack, the American public was far more understanding.
Exactly as planned.
The attack was done in hopes that the American people would finally be fed up with their own government and would accept the Republic as their new government. And it worked.
Millions of Americans banded together, under RGEA recommendation, and successfully overthrew the American government on June 8, 2002, welcoming the RGEA days later.
Little did they suspect that they had been tricked.
Within a month, the military dictatorship imposed on East Asia had been replicated in America. When people attempted overthrow the new government as they did with the last one, they were shot dead by cops in riot gear. In the attempted overthrow, over 2,000 people were left dead.
Within two months of the new government, East Asia's notorious "Battle Royale" program was announced as being in production. But the American version had a twist: while in Japan, the program was played out by high school students, in America, it would include high school students as well as college students and co-workers and, in a highly rated season, celebrities. The first program started on October 20, 2002, and lasted until October 22. The winner of the first ever American program, a 19-year-old college student named Nolan Scott, killed twelve of his classmates and suffered a bullet wound to the face, leaving him horribly disfigured. He committed suicide three months after winning the program.
While the BR program in Japan was only done as a military exercise, under recommendation from a Hollywood producer, it was turned into a reality television program. The producer liked the idea purely for monetary reasons, while the government thought it would scare people into compliance more efficiently. Once again, the plan was a success.
Starting in October 2002, the program ran once a month. Once becoming televised in April 2003, it became a ratings bonanza, with an average number of viewers exceeding 50 million.
July 2010 was to be the eighty-eighth televised season of The Program (ninety-fourth overall). And it would be one to remember.
…
"So," Scott Whitley said, "is that really what you want to do?"
"I mean, it's your choice," Trish McGhee added, "but I hope that you've thought it through carefully."
"Yes I have", Nick Ellis responded. "I've thought it through a lot, and I do want to put in my two weeks notice."
Nick had worked at the SaveHouse, a nationwide chain store like Walmart, in Norwell, Massachusetts, for eight months. He enjoyed it at first, but lately the customers and several of his coworkers were getting to him. Oddly enough, he wasn't annoyed at the management; he was annoyed with a lot of people on his own employment level. Whether it was Rich Saldona's habit of acting like he was in charge; Steve Umanov, Larry Tasoni and Bill Shearer always being in an eerily good mood; or Mike MacMillan's constant stupid sexual remarks, Nick had grown to really hate SaveHouse.
He didn't hate everyone, however. He did respect the authority of both Scott and Trish. He had made two legitimate friends in his time at SaveHouse, John Carven and Jackie Berkley (ironically though, Jackie hated John) and also had somewhat of a crush on Grace Bulworth, who had only been working at SaveHouse for about two months. However, he backed off when coworker Rob Lallin told him that she had a boyfriend.
Nick put in his two weeks notice at SaveHouse on June 1, and left on June 14. He was planning to go to a local community college in September and see where his life went from there.
A few weeks after leaving, he ran into Steve at a local video game store, where he asked Steve if anything interesting had happened since he had left. Steve told him that Bill for some reason stopped showing up, and Scott fired him over the phone. He also said that Rich quit because he got a better job. After chatting for a while about a movie that had just come out in theaters, Steve said he had to get going, so Nick said goodbye and went about his day.
Nick spent the next few weeks of his summer at home playing video games, much to his mom's annoyance, who constantly told him to get outdoors. He did every once in a while.
On July 22, at SaveHouse, several meetings were scheduled for the workers. A man from corporate was coming to inspect the store and wanted everyone in the store to hear what he had to say. So the workers were broken up into three groups and each group was going to listen to what the man from corporate had to say. After the first two meetings went down, the third was called. Among those called were Scott, Trish, Steve, John, Jackie, Grace, Rob, Mike, and Larry. In total, thirty-eight people were at the meeting.
"Okay," the man from corporate said, "I'm going to go outside and get some packets for each of you, and I want you all to bring them home and read them. I'll be right back."
After that he walked out of the room. The people inside starting talking to each other, whether it was related to what the man from corporate was saying or not.
"Wow," John said to Rob, "this guy's boring as fuck isn't he?"
"Yeah," Rob replied. "I hope he makes a point soon..."
John looked to his right where Grace was sitting. "So whataya think Grace? This guy full of shit?"
Grace looked up, almost looking like she was jolted from her sleep. "What?'
John was confused. "You okay? Get too drunk last night or something?"
"I don't drink, I just got wicked tired okay?"
"Yeah," coworker Matt Bruck jumped in, "me too. I don't even get it. Just came outta nowhere."
At that point, John and Rob also started to feel a little tired. As John was nodding off, he was jolted by a THUD! Glancing over to the door of the conference room, he saw Scott trying to kick the door down and he was accompanied by Kyle Kneille screaming for help. They gave up quickly, though, as Kyle hit the floor and Scott followed a few seconds later.
Then, not long afterward, John drifted to sleep as well, the last one of the group to fall.
Meanwhile, Nick sat at home on the computer, aimlessly surfing the web. He left briefly to go to the bathroom, and while he was in there, he thought he heard a noise. He quickly shrugged it off though, as his air conditioner occasionally made weird sounds. As he left the bathroom, he was shot in the neck with a tranquilizer dart. He fell to the floor in shock, and passed out a few seconds later. The man, who was completely covered in black and wore a mask, picked up Nick's unconscious body, and threw him in the back of a government SUV. He was alongside another unconscious body, that of fellow former coworker Bill Shearer.
…
OFFICIAL BR88 FACT SHEET:
# - Name, Date Of Birth, Height, Weight
Men:
1 – Kyle Kneille, 10/24/81, 5'9, 197 lbs.
2 – Artie McPhee, 3/2/89, 6'1, 174 lbs.
3 – Larry Tasoni, 2/15/59, 5'6, 151 lbs.
4 – Matt Bruck, 9/19/87, 6'2, 181 lbs.
5 – Taylor Allister, 11/18/84, 5'8, 211 lbs.
6 – Scott Whitley, 7/5/61, 5'9, 190 lbs.
7 – Conor Grady, 10/2/91, 5'6, 149 lbs.
8 – Pete Wallace, 1/30/65, 5'7, 157 lbs.
9 – Mitch Grenier, 4/16/81, 6'5, 241 lbs.
10 – Justin Haggard, 5/25/80, 5'8, 170 lbs.
11 – Bill Shearer, 12/6/75, 5'7, 163 lbs.
12 – Mike MacMillan, 3/28/82, 5'11, 172 lbs.
13 – Steve Umanov, 6/13/83, 5'7, 166 lbs.
14 – Rich Saldona, 6/30/79, 5'7, 206 lbs.
15 – Casey Gould, 3/15/90, 5'6, 159 lbs.
16 – John Carven, 4/27/87, 5'9, 187 lbs.
17 – Joe Willard, 8/6/85, 5'8, 196 lbs.
18 – Nick Ellis, 5/8/91, 5'11, 194 lbs.
19 – Ian Lynley, 10/14/88, 5'9, 175 lbs.
20 – Jerry Coogan, 9/27/49, 5'7, 198 lbs.
21 – Rob Lallin, 5/21/89, 5'10, 159 lbs.
Women:
1 – Claire Hunter, 7/18/63, 5'7, 148 lbs.
2 – Trish McGhee, 11/29/62, 5'6, 152 lbs.
3 – Bella Fennic, 6/4/78, 5'6, 162 lbs.
4 – Grace Bulworth, 10/9/91, 5'8, 132 lbs.
5 – Joanna Karlemyer, 1/18/82, 5'4, 122 lbs.
6 – Donita Lensora, 8/31/51, 5'7, 182 lbs.
7 – Linda Arnett, 5/12/47, 5'6, 138 lbs.
8 – Danielle Campbell, 2/19/90, 5'5, 155 lbs.
9 – Sydney Rillamy, 6/27/91, 5'6, 135 lbs.
10 – Janelle Kinison, 2/25/86, 5'7, 145 lbs.
11 – Rhonda Worlan, 12/1/85, 5'6, 171 lbs.
12 – Geena Foreman,10/5/92, 5'5, 140 lbs.
13 – Karen Remiton, 3/20/55, 5'4, 136 lbs.
14 – Laini Sossamon, 2/15/92, 5'9, 128 lbs.
15 – Rose Hussen, 9/30/86, 5'3, 116 lbs.
16 – Katherine Hollis, 4/4/93, 5'6, 124 lbs.
17 – Jackie Berkley, 5/30/90, 5'7, 130 lbs.
18 – Sarah Gilbert, 6/11/90, 5'8, 133 lbs.
19 – Brittany Holden, 3/12/89, 5'6, 128 lbs.
20 – Jessica Hobbins, 7/9/84, 5'6, 141 lbs.
21 – Anna Sheldon, 10/26/85, 5'10, 145 lbs.
Game to begin on July 22, 2010. All forty-two (42) players are to be fitted with explosive collars, which will explode automatically if tampered with, and may be detonated by remote. Remote detonation allowed in extreme circumstances ONLY. Collars are shockproof and waterproof, but are not bulletproof and will detonate if shot. Collars also fitted with heartbeat monitor and microphone.
At least one player must die every twelve (12) hours, or all collars will detonate automatically.
Program Administrator to be referred to ONLY as "Wayne". Administrator's assistants to be referred to ONLY as "Pat" and "Jim".