Live Free or Die

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No one had ever stood up to M Corp and made any progress. A number of times small groups would band together in an attempt to start a revolution, but these were thwarted easily by M Corps elite weapons, organized personnel, and limitless resources. It was never vocalized, but almost everyone would silently get excited when they heard about someone trying to fight back, and every report of it being stopped left the people disappointed that how they were living was never going to change. People had become so scared of death, that they had forgotten about all of their ancestors that had given their lives to stand up for what they believed was right. Millions of people across the history of humanity had given their lives in one war or another to further move forward the progress of civilizations. It used to be considered an honor to give your life in battle, fighting for whatever cause you believed was right and just. This honor, dedication and sacrifice had been beaten out of people over the generations. Everyone waited for someone else to do something, but no one was ever successful in their attempts in changing things. The peasants that M Corp controlled outnumbered them ten fold, but it would have taken a majority of them selflessly dedicating themselves to something greater for them to have a chance. A revolution against M Corp would be a slaughter to the people, but it could have worked if enough people were willing to join together. The thought of trying to stop M Corp was growing in Victor's mind and the rationalization that no one else was going to do anything was beginning to get to him. He had exhausted his last act of subordination by letting his coworker be brutally beaten in front of everyone.

While rehashing the day's events in his mind, Victor fell asleep. It was a deep slumber, but his mind was stuck in turmoil. In his dreams he subconsciously played out the scenarios of what would happen if he stayed and took part in the lottery, and also what his life might look like if he decided to try and run from it. Neither outcome led to the solution he was looking for, and this was proven by the pool of sweat he had woken up to. He was more panicked now than when he went to sleep the day before. All the stresses he was going through were overwhelming and Victor had slept right through dinner last night and he was now waking up the next day with a day's work for M Corp looming ahead.

The impact this decision was causing on his body and mental state was enough for Victor to know he had to be the one to do something. If he went along with all the other sheep and let them herd him to the slaughter, he would have no one to blame but himself. As much as he wanted to have the will power to stand up for what he believed was right, he doubted his ability to lead some sort of resistance. The internal debate continued as he was running out of time to make it to his work shift on time. After yesterday's ordeal, he knew that if he was late or missed work, he would be made an example of. This was his last chance to decide if he was going to live free, or die. Choosing freedom and running away would mean fighting for his life for months if not years, choosing to join the lottery wouldn't necessarily mean death immediately, but many would argue it wasn't truly living either. Feeling like he was running out of options and not enough time to clearly come to a decision, Victor tried to dream up any other scenario that might be possible. His thoughts raced as he looked down at his watch and saw the seconds ticking away turning into minutes.

The toughest decision of his life lay in front of him. He had been duped by the propaganda of how great the lottery was going to be for everyone. For a moment he briefly tried to rationalize how being naive to what was really going on would have made things easier. He could have blindly followed along with everyone else, led by a false hope that everyone was looking for. His eyes still fixated in a trance, Victor began to play with the idea of pretending to join the lottery. He was going to be signed up and drafted if he liked it or not, but maybe there was a chance that he could try and destroy it from within. He was well liked and trusted by his fellow employees at M Corp, and maybe he could help others open their eyes to what was going on. M Corp led by fear, but if he was able to get enough people to revolt, the limited security forces that were able to control people for now would never be able to stop a large uprising. Victor also theorized that over time more and more people would wake up to what was going on with M Corp and the lottery, but he knew that it could be too late to do anything by the time that happened. He thought that maybe he could help sway these people by planting little seeds of doubt that would theoretically sprout over time to let people see the truth. This plan allowed Victor the freedom to have time to mold his idea, while also still having a roof over his head and food in his belly. At any point he could try and run away and it would put him in the same situation he would be in if he ran away today. At some point a lot of the lottery participants would be trained for a new army and given weapons, but if enough people could buy into the long game of disrupting the lottery, there would be great benefits to having an internal uprising of armed M Corp slaves.

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