“A brilliant maneuver by Mr. James dispatches Mr. Marne, once of Kansas. He’s now all alone at Agromarch Castle’s main arsenal.”
“Honestly Jim, I expected more from Mr. Marne. Two assault and manslaughter charges, I thought he stood a good chance this week.”
Lord Everly sipped his bourbon, Sunday Night Arena’s broadcast dancing in the glass’s crystal facets. This newcomer was a young, attractive, dare he say heroic, upstart. Utterly unexpected.
“Mr. James has to get the arsenal unlocked quickly. I’m seeing two competitors coming up from the dungeon.”
“Jim, really a great match. Fights all over the castle and perhaps a new hero. Outstanding.”
”That it is, Bob. Oh, here we go, looks like he’s removed enough of the blood from the keypad to enter the code. I expect he can make good use of the pistols.”
“Now here’s something. It looks like Mr. Samuelson and Mrs. Eves have teamed up and now approach Mr. James’s position.”
”Interesting play here if I’m being honest, Mrs. Eves’s sword from the dungeon is the only other weapon in play.”
“They’re approaching the arsenal’s corridor quickly, but this is a great ambush position here by Mr. James…and there it is! Mrs. Eves dispatched with three shots to the chest.”
“Not sure how he missed Mr. Samuelson there.”
”Let's see if…wait, is he? Yes, Mr. James is out of ammo.”
“And I’m getting word only these two remain.”
”He’s got to go Jim, if Mr. Samuelson gets that sword…”
“Mr. James must have heard you. A powerful charge…and…Yes, that’s it! The final dispatch! Daniel James from Illinois is our winner!”
“Tremendous.”
“While we await the interview, we’re with Medical Correspondent Dr. Harry Gunther, Harry—“
”Thanks Jim, really unorthodox final dispatch here. It’s hard to tell with so much detritus, but actually what dispatches Mr. Samuelson is not this orbital bone crush, but his jawbone actually piercing his windpipe. Even without ammo, those pistols whips…”
“Thank you Doctor, down to Samantha with the interview.”
“Mr. James, you are one step closer to two hundred thousand dollars, how does it feel?”
“It’s…it’s…Oh, God—“
”—Overcome with excitement. So very understandable. Back to you Jim.”
“Thanks Samantha. Well that’s it for Sunday Night Arena. We’ll see you back next week to see if Mr. James goes for the grand prize. Good night.”
Two hundred thousand dollars, enough to free him from slavery—no, voluntary compulsive living standards—words were important. They couldn’t risk trouble with the censorship board. Setting down his glass, he dialed up an old friend.
“Ah, Robert, great show, as always my friend. Well, see here’s the thing…get rid of him. Yes, you heard me. No, I own the damn program Robert, get rid of him. You’re smart, figure it out. Put a fucking alligator in the moat. Ratings will sky rocket…What do I pay you for?”
Lord Everly hung up and finished his bourbon. It was the right decision. Upstarts made people believe in things, like fairness.
And only fools thought the game was fair.
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A/N:
My submission into this Spring's 500 word writing battle. I ended up with 5/10 and not advancing. I thought I had gone a unique route with this, but there were a good amount of really strong entries that did what I did, only better. Congrats to all who advanced!
Normally, I'd be ecstatic about that score. Alas, once the feedback came out it was clear that two of the respondents utilized AI for their feedback. 7/10 wins would have been enough to advance. Now, I don't know if that feedback was tied to a win or loss, but it did sting a bit knowing how narrow the margins are. Still, going forward, I'm focusing on the really helpful feedback I received. If you were one of those people, THANK YOU.
If you've enjoyed this, please leave a like and an insight below. If you really enjoyed this, tips to fuel my coffee addiction are always appreciated. All formatting is designed for desktops. Want to read more? Below are the best of the very best of my works:
About the Creator
Matthew J. Fromm
Full-time nerd, history enthusiast, and proprietor of arcane knowledge.
Here there be dragons, knights, castles, and quests (plus the occasional dose of absurdity).
I can be reached at [email protected]
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More stories from Matthew J. Fromm and writers in Fiction and other communities.
Past Lives
War made for odd couples. To Private Jim Mclellan, Sepp seemed a good man; better at least than some of the monsters he heard stories of deeper into the Reich. Real monsters. This Sepp almost reminded Jim of his uncle; the one from Wisconsin he met a few times at Weddings.
By Matthew J. FrommExclusive • 10 months ago
On Aging well.
When you learn something new, your memory center lights up like a Christmas tree...stimulating it, creating a loop of new information. That stimulation is like a workout for the hippocampus. (The elongated ridges on the floor of each lateral ventricle of the brain, thought to be the centre of emotion, memory, and the autonomic nervous system).
By Novel Allena day ago in Fiction
Comments (10)
I was hooked from the beginning, too. So much talent you have. You should have advanced!
What? That's crap feedback... I'm mad about it because I was hooked on this immediately!! Unbelievable!! Well, at least you placed on the leaderboard this week! Congrats, btw!!
This was giving Mr Beast Hunger Games and then BAM Squid game with that TWIST! brilliant Matthew!
This was fkin solid. Dude. I am also a bit surprised this didn't progress and know you were gutted. But, you should be proud and hats off to you for telling the story in dialogue alone. It was a smooth as a smooth thing and I didn't lose interest or get confused with who was saying who about who. Bloody marvellous and twisted little end there. It felt like some kind of The Running Man, but with a medieval twist ha. Well done lado!
Dare I say, Mr. James was looking a little Mahomie there with that quick snap fade on the pistol whip option. Loved the idea of the narrative primarily told through the announcers. Clever way to get the story across, and does lean into the apocalyptic gameshow element quite well. Also, was the Content Warning provided to you as well? I think that's a cool added element to unify the theme. All in all, one of my favorite things I've read from your portfolio in recent memory. I think you got robbed. #StopTheSteal
Big fan of this and I'm really peeved to hear you had some AI feedback. With a margin that narrow to moving forward I'm sure that's hard to swallow. There's always so many good stories in this competition but definitely think this had more than enough merit to move on! Sound like my 5/10 puts me in some good company, but like you I can tell I had a couple judges who probably didn't do their due diligence. Not with using AI but just in actually reading the story. I'm signed up for the nano and fear, then will probably re-evaluate further participation at that point
Oh I enjoyed that!! There must have been some fierce competition for that not to go through.
I thought you created a pretty lived in world with how short this had to be. Good luck on the next one!
Welp... There's still the nano fiction coming up in a couple months. I know I need to infuse more description in these battle stories. I got 5/10 too. Thought for sure yours would go further.
This arena match was intense! Loved how James outsmarted his opponents even when out of ammo. Great read.