The Control Games

The control games

The control games were made in the year 2050, after the worldwide population reached 50 billion, the governments from each of the 5 largest countries, agreed on a population control tactic that would take place every year on the first of January. The tactic was called The Control Games. The control game was an event where 25,000 of the weakest men from each of the 5 countries would go through hell to see who would be worthy of surviving. Only 100 people will survive the games for each country.

“Jackson! Wake up, boy.”

Slowly waking up from my dream, I hear the footsteps of a big old man coming to my door. But can’t help from falling back into a slumber.

“Jackson. Wake up.”

I hear from my grandpa standing above my bed opening my eyes and checking my watch. I see it’s only 5 in the morning.

“Pa I don’t have school for 3 hours.”

Son, I need you to be downstairs in 5 minutes, there’s some people downstairs who are here to talk to you and me.

“Oh?”

Stepping out of my bed and getting dressed I hear a man with a deep raspy voice making small talk with my grandpa. As I left my room and made my way downstairs I heard him talking about the photo of my parents who passed away, when I was just a young boy. “ “Speak of the devil '' a man in a black tight-fitted suit says.

“Who are you?” I said in a confused frustration.

“Show some respect, Jackson, this is your new recruiter, his name is John. John stuck his hand out to shake my hand when I resisted.

“Recruiter?” “What are you talking about?”

“Jackson sat down for a second.” the man said, lowering his excited toan, and handing me a glass of water.

“I’m with the government of the United States of America, and we are making you part of the control games.” Before he could finish his words I dropped my glass, and my stomach dropped and my life flashed before me.

“Look Jackson I know it’s a lot to hear, especially since you just turned 18 a couple of months ago, but I’m confident that someone like yourself will do great in the control games, to be honest, I don’t even know why you're in something like this.” He said as he smirked towards my grandpa and then back at me.

“What are you talking about, what do you mean by that?”

“Well as I’m sure you know, the control games were started as a way to control the overall population of the world, but specifically we want to eliminate the people who are not quite as, let’s just say useful in society. We’re talking about people with obesity, mental disabilities, handicaps, you name it. But you. You’re different Jackson. You're a smart kid with a 3.8 GPA, and great shape. Back at the office, we all think you were chosen to be a sort of anti-hero. Showing people that they should strive to be like you, and not like the other filth that lives all over the world.”

My grandpa looked away shedding a tear from his eye

“We will be flying you out to the control games headquarters tomorrow morning along with the other contestants.”

“Any questions before I leave.” The man said with a douchey smile.

“No sir.” My grandpa said in a stern voice.

“Perfect, we will meet again tomorrow, it’s been nice to meet the two of you..” As the man walked out of the house I looked at my grandpa and couldn’t help but tear up.

“I don’t understand why this is happening, I’ve done everything in my power to make it so they don’t put you through those vicious games.”

“Everything.”

“It's okay Pa, I know.”

As I walked to my bed that night I felt a sense of anxiety, and impending doom, like life had lost all meaning. Laying in bed I was restless, unable to shut my mind off thinking of the horrific future that was in front of me. Before I knew it I was asleep, and having nightmares and dreams of what the control games might be like.

Waking up from my Grandpas yelling once again, I couldn't shake the vivid deja vu feeling from the nightmares, though it couldn't be described in explicit detail. All I could remember was the screaming and horrors, and then towards the end, it was me and other people standing with each other, as winners, but knowing there were known true winners in this game.

Driving to the airport, the car had a cold, quiet tone. My grandpa didn't even talk unless spoken to, and he was much more soft-spoken than usual. Getting into the car I decided it would be best to just put my head down and manifest how I would win the games. Looking at my grandpa occasionally to see how he was holding up I noticed he wasn't doing good, his jaw was clenched and his hands were shaking, whilst trying to grip the steering wheel. As I looked up at him once more, he said,

“I'm gonna miss you while you're gone boy, but I know you're gonna come back home.”

“Yes Pa, I'm going to win.”

“You're all I've left Jackson, I can't lose you too.” my Pa said as tears flowed down his cheeks.

“I won't let you down.”

Arriving at the airport, I looked around to see all of the men around me my age, being dropped off by their parents and loved ones, the whole airport had a sadness to it. “I love you son.” My pa said before hugging me tightly and being told to keep driving by the valet people.

“Jackson! So glad you could make it!”

“I have no choice,” I mumbled under my breath. As John guided me to my plane I couldn't help but watch the people around me.

“He wasn't kidding, these kids are out of shape.” I thought to myself, as he pointed out some of the people that were also attending the games with me, as I looked around the gigantic airport I heard a familiar voice in the distance.

“Jackson!, Jackson.” As I looked around to find the voice I saw a tall, pale hillbilly running towards me. Squinting my eyes to see who it might be, his voice clicked in my mind.

“Roy!”

“No way, you're on my plane too?”

“Yes, sir!” Roy said excitedly.

Hugging each other, our excitement slowly turned to sadness, when the realization hit.

“Damn man, I can't believe we got chosen. He said in a saddened tone.

“Ya man, it is what it is, I guess.”

“How long till our flight?” I asked John.”

“Be back here in 20 minutes,” he replied in a serious tone.

“Yes sir,” I said sarcastically, chuckling as I walked away with Roy.

“So how have you been bro, it's been so long.”

“I've been alright, times have changed though,” Roy said.

“How so?”

“Well ever since my mom went apeshit and sent me to boarding school, I lost pretty much all my friends, and everyone there is uptight and lame.

“Ya, I bet. Why'd she even take you out of school anyway? it's been so long, I forgot.”

“There were many reasons. She caught me sneaking in through my window though after my drunk self fell through the window and broke the curtain rod of the wall. I guess that's just the straw that broke the camel's back.”

“Shit man.”

As we walked around the airport we started to see some more familiar faces, but nobody that we were too close to, me and Roy, kept a pretty small circle around anyway though.

“I think we're gonna make it through man.”

“Me too,” I said back

“Do you remember when we used to talk about this in our what-if scenarios?” Roy said.

“Yeah, bro. I was just thinking about that, we always fantasized about the idea when we were younger but now it doesn't seem so exciting.” As we finished catching up we decided it would be best to head back and board our plane.

“You all set Jackson?”

“Yes sir.”

As I finished my sentence the airport intercom spoke

“Terminal A3 you will now be boarding your plane”

“Good, Well I wish you the best of luck, Hope to be drinking champagne with you when this is all over. John said in a confident voice.

As we got seated on our plane memories of me and my pa flooded into my mind, memories of flying with my grandpa and as a young boy, before The control games were even a thing.

“What's the matter, kid?”

“I'm scared of Grandpa.”

“Do you wanna know what I do before the plane takes off?”

“What?” I asked nervously as the plane started to take off.

“I just close my eyes and imagine that I'm Superman, taking off into the sky. Give it a try boy.” As the plane started to take off all of the fear washed away, and it became fun.

Snapping out of my daydream, we were suddenly in turbulence, and the fear of flying I had as a young boy came right back. Except this time my Pa wasn't here to help me overcome the fear. I closed my eyes waiting for the plane to land. As the turbulence started to slow, I fell asleep.

“Jackson help!’

“I can't see you where are you?”

“Jackson, I'm drowning, help.!”

“Roy?! Where are you?”

“Hello!” his voice muffled out, as I found myself looking around a sandy beach, with smoke all around me.

“Jackson,”

“Jackson!”

“Jackson woke up!”

I woke up to Roy hitting me on the shoulder.

“We're here.” Looking out the window of the plane I see a landing strip next to what looked to be a mile-long building. The building had no windows.

“Home sweet home,” Roy said as we looked out the window to see the control games facility.

Stepping out of the plane we felt a cold wintery breeze. As I stepped off the plane, I was greeted by a tall man with a suit on.

“Hello sir, welcome to the control games. Wait here till we get everyone off of the plane”

As everybody got off the plane, we all looked around in confusion until the man walked in front of us.

“Hello everyone, And welcome to the control games. Today you will be sent to your rooms, and in about 10 hours, the control games will begin,” he said looking down at his silver wristwatch.

“So. Any questions gentleman?” he asked the crowd.

“I have a question for you.” some shouted from the crowd.

“Yes?”

“Are there gonna be any babes joining us?”

The man did not laugh.

“Whoever said that, will you please step forward?”

As the 20-something-year-old stepped forward, he began chuckling nervously.

“You are all to remember this as an example, we are not here to joke around, you are here to survive.”

Upon finishing his sentence, he pulled out a phone and clicked a few buttons. Then pulled out a silenced pistol.

“Hey man, it was just a joke.”

The man with the pistol raised it calmly at the 20-year-old's face, gently squeezing the trigger like it was nothing. The boy fell to the ground in an instant, his soul leaving his lifeless body falling to the ground. Upon seeing this take place, I along with everyone beside me went into shock.

“This isn't happening.” I thought to myself.

“Now. Any real questions? No? Okay.”

My stomach by this point was dropped below my feet.

“Follow this way while I show you your rooms…”

Looking behind me I watched as people had to step over the lifeless body with a blood puddle on the ground next to it.

After we all got separated by alphabetical order, I was sent to my room. After entering I noticed it was lackluster of any substance. The walls were tall and the room was a cube, with nothing, besides a bed, the bed had one stained white pillow, alongside a thin gray blanket. The room smelled like nothing, and theirs was no windows, kitchen, or even a bathroom. Before we entered our rooms we were told that we would all be woken in the morning and the control games would begin. Nobody mentioned the fact that we had no bathrooms, kitchen, or basic human necessities. I looked down, checking my watch to see what time it was.

“6:30.” the watch read. I figured I might as well go to sleep and be well-rested for the games, especially not even knowing what time we would be woken up in the morning. After turning the room light off, I hopped into bed. The blanket had a vulgar used smell like it hadn't been washed at all. As I laid my head onto the pillow, I could feel my head fall right onto the mattress, like there was nothing in the pillow case at all. I closed my eyes hoping to fall asleep from sheer boredom, but this wasn't the case at all.

Lying in bed, tossing and turning, I could feel the weight of tomorrow's games, pressing down on my chest. The stress of uncertainty wouldn't leave my mind. My mind raced and replayed scenarios of what might occur during the control games, the thought of dying was something I don't enjoy thinking about. The last time I seriously contemplated my mortality was during the death of my mother. My mother died just months after being diagnosed with lung cancer. My mom's death was a slow and painful couple of months, but she never seemed to fear the thought of dying. I always wondered if she was as strong mentally, as she portrayed herself, or if she was just putting on an act to make me feel safer, but after my mom died I tried to shove the thought of dying away. As I lay in bed thinking about my mortality, memories of my mother came in. The laughter we shared before the diagnosis was unmatched, she came to every school event, and every baseball game. She was my biggest supporter.

“Jackson, are you ready for your big day?” my mother asked me as I brushed my teeth before the 1st day of 1st grade.

“I'm nervous,” I replied anxiously

“It's gonna be okay Jack Jack, I even packed you your favorite lunch.” She said as she showed me my lunch pale, with uncrustable chocolate inside.

“I love you mom.”

“I love you too,” she replied

As I lay in bed I noticed the heat in the room had begun to rise, causing me to stand up and get out from the blanket. Looking around the room for water I couldn't find any, so I checked my watch once again. 7:35 the watch read. As I looked up from my watch I noticed that there was smoke coming from the bottom of my door. touching the door handle only to burn myself.

“Fire!” I thought to myself as I looked for an escape from the room. I found nothing, as the heat only rose in the room.

“Fuck.”

“Think Jackson, think.”

Scanning the room I saw nothing but came up with the idea of looking under the bed as a last-ditch effort, I saw a metal crowbar. Quickly grabbing the crowbar I smashed the door handle as hard as I could, the first time hitting it, there was not much response, so I hit it as hard as I could, the handle started to come off, slamming the crowbar onto the handle once more the handle popped off, falling onto the floor, and I kicked the door open.

Walking out of the room I looked down the hallway to see a man standing next to a burning trash can. Making eye contact with the man he smiled and checked his watch.

“Go back into your room,” he said in a serious tone. After standing still in my room for a few moments I heard gunshots coming from down the hallway. I stood still and froze…

After the gunshots stopped, I heard the man speaking, “You may all come out now. I and some other people stepped out of our rooms, but not every door opened.

“Congratulations, you have all passed your entry-level test, I hope you are all mentally prepared for the next day. As he walked away, we all stared at each other silently. Unsure of what to do I decided it would be best to just go back to my room. As I walked into the room I scoffed, realizing I had no door handle. As I lay in bed I shut my eyes once again, escaping this time was different, I felt numb, I wasn't even having memories of anything, or stressing about the future, just existed, and slowly felt myself dozing off.

Waking up to a knock on the door, I sprung out of bed. As I stepped out of my bed three men in ski masks bursted into my door. One of the men pulled out a black eyeless ski mask and shoved it over my face, “DO NOT RESIST.” the man yelled into my ear. “I kept my mouth shut and walked with them as they pulled me alongside them. As we were walking out of the room, I heard screaming alongside gunshots all along the hallway. I had no idea where these men were taking me, but knowing where I was going wasn't going to change anything. As we kept walking I could tell we were in an elevator by the sounds of it. The men didn't even speak to each other, as I felt that we were going down in the elevator I heard two of the men murmuring to each other, I could hear the sound of one of them pulling out their pistol, but before I could react I was pistol-whipped in the side of my head.

As I woke up from being pistol-whipped unconscious I looked around to see my hands tied to a thick long rope. I saw about 20 people behind me and around 30 in front of me. The other side of the rope also looked to have had 50 people. I suddenly heard the voice of a woman from a large speaker at the top of the room we were placed in.

“Hello everybody, as you can see you are all tied to this rope, the objective of this game is to work with your team, and not get pulled forward. Whichever

unfortunate team loses, will be pulled into the pit in between both teams. This pit drops 50 feet, and if you manage to survive the fall, the pit's walls will close in crushing you, and the entirety of your team. Let the games begin in 30 seconds.” As she finished speaking, she played a ticking timer over the speaker. As the time ticked down, and grew more suspenseful, you could feel the anxiety fill the room. Half of us were going to die.

The air in the room grew thick with tension as the seconds continued to tick down. Everyone began to exchange hurried glances, sizing up both teammates and opponents. I tried to shuffle my feet into a firmer stance, though the rope around my wrists limited my movement. The sound of the timer seemed to synchronize with the escalating beat of my heart. As the final seconds approached, shouts and cries began to erupt. Some tried to rally their teams, barking strategies and encouragement. The noise swelled as the speaker beeped the last second away.

"Begin!" the voice over the speaker commanded.

Instantly, the room erupted into chaos. The floor beneath my feet felt like it might as well have been ice, as people struggled to gain traction. I gripped the rope as hard as I could, trying to pull back with everything I had. My mind raced. Survival instincts mingled with a desperate scan for any possible way out of this horrific scenario. The faces around me, strained and red, were masks of fear and determination. Among the chaos, a strategy began to form in my mind.

“Lean back!” I yelled at the top of my lungs.

“Use your weight, not just your arms!”

Slowly, my team began to shift their strategy. We leaned back, using our combined weight to anchor ourselves more firmly. The opposing team focused on brute pulling, and their coordination was breaking down under their force.

The rope inched toward our favor, and hope sparked within me. But just as quickly as it came, I saw the pit edge creeping ominously close to the other team's feet as I peeked my head to the right. The reality of what was about to happen hit me. We were pulling them to a gruesome end, but I had to change my mindset. These games are kill or be killed, there was no time for empathy.

“Keep pulling!” I heard from the opposing team's side as their rope quickly started to get lighter from our side.

“Pullll!” I yelled.

By this point both teams have borderline reached complete muscular fatigue. And in the blink of an eye, the rope was completely pulled to our side. I Peaked out my head and watched as these men fell into the pit, to meet their despise. Their screams were gut-wrenching, and from this point, I knew that if I survived, I would never be the same. As I stood still shaken in despair I watched as the rope was empty, and I heard the sound of the walls crushing these men, to nothing.

As I looked down at the pit, I heard the same loud voice speak on the speaker

“Congratulations, more than half of you have now survived the control games, You will now be sent to Chow Hall.”

After being unchained to the rope, and guided to the cafeteria, I looked around the room, looking for Roy, but I could not spot him anywhere. After seeing that he wasn't anywhere to be found I walked up to one of the guards.

“Hello, sir.”

The guard didn't reply.

“Have you seen a man named Roy Whittiker walking around by chance?”

The guard didn't reply, once again.

As I walked away in frustration I decided to grab lunch. The food was just beans and rice but I was just happy to be fed anything. As I sat down at the first table with a seat open, I heard an announcement from a speaker, then I looked behind me to see a large projector playing the same woman from before speaking.

“Congratulations on winning the first control game.” As she finished speaking, a video of the game showed all of us working together, and then the video showed every man who died. As it went through all of the men I felt saddened to the core, looking down to pretend it didn't happen, til I heard the name of one of the contestants.

“Roy Whittiker.”

As I heard the name I quickly looked up at the screen, my heart broke as I saw his face, for what would be the last time. My childhood best friend was gone forever.

Tears fell from my eyes as I visioned Roy, and all of our childhood memories, the times our parents would make us go to church and we would goof off and run around wild. Playing all of the Halo franchise on his Xbox together. He was a good soul, and he was taken away because of these sick games. This is the most cruel way to solve an increased population.

“I should've been the one that died.”

Roy actually had stuff to lose, he and his parents didn't always see eye to eye, but I didn't even have my parents, my grandpa would be gone soon from old age, but at least Roy had something to live for. He had a future ahead of him.” I thought to myself. After hearing the news, I couldn't stomach the rest of my food. I needed to find a way out of here. After lunch ended we were directed to our new rooms, which we would have to sit in until dinner. The room was essentially the exact same as the previous ones we had, but somehow even more depressing.

As I sat in my room I pondered the idea of leaving this place, before I ended up like Roy.

“I am not a killer.” I thought to myself.

I looked around the room when I saw a window. The window was a possibility, but I would have to break it and jump two stories. I don't know if I could run away with two broken legs.

“C'mon Jackson, think.”

As I spent hours thinking about ways to leave, a guard finally knocked on my door and walked in after I ignored him and laid still with my eyes closed pretending to be asleep.

“It's time for dinner.” He said as he opened my door. The guard walked towards me repeating himself. Before he could finish his sentence I got up quickly, attempting to put him into a rear naked choke from my bed. I had never attempted a rear naked choke in a serious situation but I had experience from early high school, from the few BJJ lessons I had.

As I choked him out he slumped quickly. Falling to the floor. I decided to steal his clothes and attempt my escape. As I walked out of the room, I looked around for a way out, while not looking suspicious. I walked to the end of the hallway to see an elevator. This was the perfect opportunity to escape. As I entered the elevator, I felt a sense of relief, this felt too good to be true. “Ding.” I found myself on the first floor, but when the doors opened, two guards were standing directly in front of me.

“Matt? Aren't you supposed to be watching in the chow hall?

I froze up.

“Uhh ya, I'm being covered right now, I needed a break,” I said, attempting to deepen my voice to sound like the guard.

“Oh okay,” they said cluelessly walking into the elevator.

As I walked out of the elevator I saw the exit door. This was the ultimate relief, but also I felt a sense of uncertainty. Approaching the door, I saw I needed a key card. My stomach dropped, but then I stuck my hand in the pocket of the pants to find it. When I walked outside I saw the landing strip for the planes but no roads or anything.

I had no choice but to run into the forest, this was my only chance of survival. As I started to book it toward the forest, I heard Sirens from the building, the sirens blared, but there was no stopping at this point. As I continued running I heard shouting from behind me, “Get him” one of the guards yelled from behind. My strides got longer, as I ran with all the stamina and strength I could muster. But it was hopeless, the sound of gunshots came from behind me, I wasn't going to escape. Bullets pierced through the skin on my back sending me to the ground where I would meet my demise. At least I would die knowing that I hopefully inspired people to not participate in these cruel games. As I lay on the ground I could see my life flash before my eyes, and I could finally see my parents from up above.