Surviving the S.T.R.I.P. (ON HOLD)

Prologue

Take a deep breath and prepare to enter our world. Does it feel the same? It might, because it's the same world you're living in now. Things have changed since your time, though. Why don't we take a closer look?

It's the year 2590, and right now, in your time, people are going through budget cuts and losing jobs and their homes and the like. The dollar is losing its value and it's only making the economy worse, right? Everything is making the economy worse.

You'll be relieved to know that we've found an ultimate way to solve this problem. But the solution isn't perfect. Do people like it? Some. Do people hate it? Some. But we all follow through with it because people know that if you live through it, your life will be a million times easier than it would be without our solution. What is this solution? Well, let us explain it to you.

Because of how the population of humans has increased by billions over the last few centuries, a group of people teamed up and decided to make life "easier" for future generations. As the population grew, the number of jobs decreased. Fewer and fewer people were employed, forcing everyone to live on the streets. It wasn't fair for people to study in college and graduate every year just to wait for any job the world might have to offer, whether it fit their degree or not. So the leaders of the land held a meeting. That meeting determined the final answer to the world's problems.

They decided that after getting into a college, your life shouldn't go downhill. You shouldn't have to wait years to even get a good job, or worry about losing your job. They decided people shouldn't have a perfectly good degree and still being unemployed.

The cause of it all? Overpopulation. But the solution? Death.

But they couldn't just kill people off for no reason; that would be cruel! So, after many ideas went around, they decided on the “perfect” idea that has been used since 2300. Not far from your time, right?

The summer after graduating high school, every member of the graduating class-whether they passed their classes or not- would be forced into their final exam, held by their state. This, however, would not be any ordinary exam.

The day of graduation, all graduates are to be sent off to the Student Testing Range for Intellectual Placement, otherwise known as the S.T.R.I.P. This would be where these kids will fight for their lives and their college degrees. They will have from the first day of June to the last day of August to earn their acceptance to any college. That is, without being killed by another student first.

In the long stretch of land in each state, appropriately called the Strip, there are supplies that the children will need to stay alive, but supplies are limited. People may die from lack of food, water, medicine, anything. However, the most common cause of death is at the hands of another person, be it stranger, enemy, or even best friend. The students have been learned to protect and care for only yourself. No one can be trusted in the Strip.

Despite all the killing within the Strip, only very few make their way into college safely. When kids realized the only way to make it out alive was to get into college, those who knew they'd never make it began to compete amongst each other. Soon, the S.T.R.I.P. decided to save a few people every year, just for their "hard work" and cooperation with the insane ideas of the organization.

Now, since killing each other is encouraged, kids will need some way to kill each other, will they not? There will be many weapons spread out around the strip. Bringing in weapons of your own, on the other hand, is completely forbidden and you will be killed on the spot should you try to sneak one in. Still, some succeeded without the S.T.R.I.P. authorities finding them out. Needless to say, most of them made it out alive. Although some people will go in with the strategy of killing anyone in their reach, others go in hoping not to hurt a single soul.

The students are not allowed to try and escape, because if they do, they will be killed. If they cheat in any way, they will be killed. If they are not accepted into college by the end of the summer, they too will be killed, with very few exceptions.

These exceptions include: If you have killed the most people, if you have killed the most college people, if you have killed the most non-college people, or if you have the most fans. Each of these groups has three winners, and those twelve people get to live, but have jobs like McDonalds manager or garbage man, etc. The things that don't require a college degree.

There is one common goal between all participants in the S.T.R.I.P.: Life.

For the last few hundred years, these exams have taken place. For you in the past, you may think this is insane, but we think of it as a way to reassure you- now you know what your future generations of kids will have to go through. Do not be worried or terrified; your future relatives will be safe in the open arms of the S.T.R.I.P.

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Hello readers! It's me!... Us! Well we just finished the prologue and gymnast66x made the cover earlier. Now we are VERY proud to present you with the prologue of our story! We know this sounds a ton like the Hunger Games, but it's not, so don't call it that. We have different plots (yes, plural... hehehe) planned out and it's not in any way the Hunger Games. We hope you have enjoyed this beginning of the story and the first chapter(s) should be out pretty soon! We're each working on them at the moment, so more reading is on the way :) Thanks so much for choosing to read this story and we hope you continue to read on! Keep on readin' :)

~Gymsta3434