THE ELIMINATION ARENA ( One Hundred Enter. One Survives)

DESPERATION

The fist cracked against Kade’s jaw, filling his mouth with blood. The crowd screamed, a wave of noise that felt like animals. He staggered, but his feet rooted.

The underground fight club stank of sweat and fear. Across the ring loomed a massive man they called Crusher. “That’s all you got, military boy?” Crusher sneered, spitting blood. “Heard you were tough. Looks like a bitch to me.” Kade said nothing. He wiped his lip.

Crusher charged like a bull. Kade ducked the wild swing and drove his fist into the man’s kidney once, twice, three times. The giant’s legs gave out. Kade swept a leg, sending the mountain crashing to the floor.

The crowd erupted. He dropped onto Crusher’s back and locked a chokehold. Ten seconds later Crusher slapped the concrete and surrendered.

Ricky, the fight organizer, grabbed Kade’s arm and raised it. “Winner, Kade Rivers!” Half the crowd was already leaving, angry they had lost.

Ricky counted out bills as if each one mattered. “Five hundred. As agreed.”

Five hundred dollars for three hours of getting his face smashed. Kade took the money and said nothing.

“You were in the military?” Ricky asked, lighting a cigarette.

“Was,” Kade replied.

“Your moves were different.” Ricky blew smoke. “Another fight next week. Double the pay.”

Kade walked away. “Maybe.” He didn’t intend to return. If things went right, he would never see this hellhole again.

The night air was cold. Kade pulled his jacket tighter and walked the empty streets. It was 2 a.m. just him and the darkness. His phone buzzed. Unknown number. He ignored it.

He had saved $47,500. Every fight, every job, every penny for six months, hidden in a shoebox under his floorboards. He needed $200,000 for Maya’s treatment of a rare blood disease that doctors could not fix. Three months left, maybe four if she was lucky.

Banks laughed at him. Credit cards were maxed out. The system didn’t care about people like them. No insurance, no family, just two foster kids with nothing but each other.

He thought about robbery, but that meant prison, and Maya needed him free. So he kept fighting, saving every cent. It still wasn’t enough.

Kade reached his building an abandoned warehouse the city had condemned years ago. He climbed the rusted fire escape, slipped through a broken window, and entered his one‑room home: a sleeping bag, a tiny stove, a battery lamp.

He pulled out tonight’s cash and counted it. Forty‑eight thousand now. He added it to the shoebox and shoved it back under the floor. One hundred fifty‑two thousand to go. Impossible.

Exhaustion crushed him, but sleep never came. Only Maya’s face and her smile before she got sick haunted him. He had visited her yesterday; she tried to be brave, but her eyes told the truth: she was terrified and dying.

On the floor near the window, a black card caught his eye. Heavy, expensive, gold letters:

*THE CULLING PROTOCOL*

Win $50,000,000

His heart skipped. He picked it up. A QR code glowed. He scanned it. A black screen with gold text appeared on the contract. The last line hit him hard: “The participant acknowledges the potential for serious injury or death.”

His phone buzzed again. Same unknown number. He answered.

“Kade Rivers.”

A woman’s voice, cold as ice, said, “You received our invitation.”

“Who the hell is this?”

“Come to the address tomorrow at noon. Alone.”

“What kind of scam—”

“The kind that saves your sister.” A pause. “We know about Maya. We know she’s dying. This is your only chance, Kade. Your only chance to be something other than a failure.”

The line died.

Kade stared at the card. They knew everything. Fifty million dollars could buy Maya’s cure. He scanned the contract again, his thumb hovering over the signature box.

He thought of Maya’s smile, her weak voice: “You always save me, Kade.”

He signed.

The screen flashed: *CONFIRMATION RECEIVED TOMORROW AT NOON. DON’T BE LATE.*

He set the phone down, lay back on his sleeping bag, and let the pain in his jaw and ribs wash over him. Hope flickered. Maybe this was real, maybe it would kill him, but if there was even a one‑percent chance to save Maya, he would take it.

Tomorrow everything will change.

Kade Rivers never backed down from a fight. Not even one he might not win.