Free The Park (Evenstad Media Presents Book 1) by Voss Foster Page B

Medallion's too strong for anyone to survive
the hit. Just can't miss. Missing would be bad. Can't run for shit. So I can't
miss.
     
    ENTRY END

JOURNAL 07JULIA
    ENTRY 005
    DATE: 3/13/2074
     
    It's time for things to change. I'm going to wear my
medallion again. I just can't keep ignoring reality like this. It's not healthy
and it's not working.
    And, as much as I don't like it, without this game, I would
never have found Christina. I'm not going to think too much about the
ramifications of all this. I know that accepting the game means that I have to
accept that one or both of us is going to die, but who knows how long it could
be before that happens. Christina won't kill me, I know that. If it's the two
of us, maybe we can just go until old age. Maybe we'll sit around long enough
that no one cares anymore. If there's no more excitement left in a TV show, it
gets cancelled, right?
    I'm pretending to be happy to impress… who? Myself? I hate
this whole thing, and I doubt I'll be the one who makes it to the end. I'm not
a fighter. I'm definitely the wrong person for this game. I know that,
Christina knows it, the people who put this whole thing together know it, I'm
sure. I'm a line cook, not one of those extremophiles, getting off on the
adrenaline of life. Every time I think about what's going on around me, I just
want to hide up in bed and rot away. It'd be easier.
    But I won't. I'm getting into this. I have to. For myself
and for Christina. I'm dead weight for her. She's still playing the game, after
all. If she wastes her time and energy trying to protect both of us, that's not
doing either one of us a favor. And I'd rather realize my own stupidity now
rather than when I get killed, or when I have to clean Christina's blood off
the carpet.
    But not today. Tomorrow. I want one more day to try and
ignore this all. Hamburgers for dinner.
     
    ENTRY END

THE PARK: WHAT ARE WE WATCHING?
    3/11/2074 at 2:08 a.m. EST
     
    Everyone's heard of it by now. It's controversial. People
love controversy, after all. Just eat it up. And what could be more
controversial than organized murder for entertainment? Just about nothing I
could think of.
    Well, it's all fake. I'd put money on it. People are stupid
enough to believe that this is all real? I wish I could say that I'm surprised.
But nope. I gave up on my hopes for the intelligence of the human race years
ago.
    But today, I'm here to tell you that it's all fake. Fiction.
Entertaining fiction, but fiction nonetheless. Aside from the big, glaring fact
that it's completely immoral and illegal to do what they claim to be doing,
let's look at the cast. A diverse enough spread to appeal to everyone. Six men,
six women, different socioeconomic levels, some racial diversity, and even a
Brit. Almost like it was planned.
    Sure, they could have put the 'contestants' together to get
all of that. But now we have the lesbian angle getting stronger and stronger in
every episode. Christina and Julia's relationship is increasingly prominent.
    See, the American public will eat up anything with lesbians.
With pretty lesbians, anyway. If they were real butch, I wouldn't even bring it
up. But Julia and Christina are both attractive women.
    But it's not even that. All that does is add more evidence
to the pile. Here's the real kicker for the lesbian=fiction argument: where are
the gay dudes? Not a one in sight. They managed two lesbians in their 'random'
selection, but no gays? Know why? Gays don't sell nearly as well. Gays are
generally much less popular. It's just a fact, not my personal feelings on the
matter.
    You would think, all things being equal, there might be some
gay guys running around here, too. Sure, maybe there are and we just aren't
privy to the information. I'm not claiming that I have a watertight case for
this whole thing. I don't. But I highly doubt we're watching a true reality
show with random Joe and Jill Schmoes. I just doubt it. It doesn't make it any
less entertaining,