WSF2023- The Heroes Lottery -Non-Writer

A knock roused Robert Thorn from his thoughts. 'Rob? It's Jacob,' came the voice from the other side of the 4th floor apartment door. 'Three black cars just pulled up downstairs.'

Rob opened the old battered door to see his neighbour swiftly retreating down the hallway. “Thanks bud,' he called out to Jacob who without turning raised an arm in acknowledgement before disappearing around the corner. Rob thanked Gaia that the elevator was still busted. They'd have to take the stairs.

He quickly closed the door and turned to face his family in the threadbare living area of the two room apartment. Rob looked first at his wife Shirley whose eyes were full of concern, then at Logan his ten year old and finally at Jessica who was only eight. He tried to convince himself that the cars weren't there for them but his gut knew the truth of it.

'Right everyone it's time for hide and seek...we've practised this...it's going to be OK.' Rob shared another look with his wife who got up from the couch and gently shook the armchair that the old man was asleep in. He awoke clearly confused. Shirley put a finger to her lips and mouthed 'shhh'. She hoped his confusion was from waking suddenly rather than from his Alzheimer's. If he made any kind of sound once hidden it could mean the end of everything.

Rob and Logan quickly passed under the archway into the apartment's only bedroom and proceeded to quietly lift the double bed away from the boarded up fireplace. They each had a screwdriver and began hastily unscrewing the board. They'd practised this charade countless times but had never had to do it for real until now.

'C'mon old man,' Rob said affectionately to his father as Shirley ushered him over to the fireplace. 'It's time for hide and seek again.' He was relieved to get a nod from his father and see realisation of the situation in his eyes. 'Remember, silence and no fidgeting. We'll come get you when the game is over.'

The old man ducked under the lintel, clambered into the fireplace, stepped up onto the narrow hidden platform and disappeared from view. He mumbled an 'I'm ready' once he'd settled on the small specially constructed stool. Within a minute the board was screwed back into place and the bed had been returned to it's usual spot in front of the fireplace.

There was just time for everyone else to return to the living area and for Shirley to warn Jessica to remain quiet. Then came a loud aggressive rap at the door. Rob walked over to it, paused with his hand on the knob for one last look at his family and then opened it.

Stood before him was a short bald stocky man in a black leather trench coat carrying a red briefcase. Behind him were two tall heavily built men in black military style uniforms with automatic rifles slung over their shoulders.

'Mr Thorn? Mr Robert Thorn?' said the stocky man.

'Yes, how can I help you?' he responded.

“I'm Francis Sandmann, I'm from The Lottery.” He pulled something from his inside coat pocket and showed Rob his Heroes Lottery Authority badge. “May we come in?'

'Certainly,' Rob replied as he stepped aside and waved the three men inside.

'We're here to see Logan,' he said. 'Is this Logan?' he gestured towards the child. Rob nodded. 'We have some great news for you.'

'Oh good what's that?' responded Rob.

Sandmann opened his briefcase, pulled out an envelope addressed to Logan Thorn and handed it to the boy. Logan looked hesitantly at his father who nodded at him to open the envelope.

'It says I've won The Lottery?' Logan said with some confusion.

'Yay!' exclaimed Jessica, 'Logan's won The Lottery Mommy! Isn't that great!' Jessica began jumping up and down on the spot happy and excited for her big brother.

'Jessica shush! But he's only ten,' said Shirley to Sandmann. 'You have to be forty to be entered into The Lottery,' the fear in her voice was rising with each word.

'Not any more Mrs Thorn,' Sandmann replied. 'Age exemptions were paused months ago. Don't you watch The Lottery?'

'No we don't. But you can't do this, he's only a child-,' she said.

'That's a serious infraction Mrs Thorn. Everyone is legally required to watch The Lottery. I'll have to site you both. It carries a minimum sentence of 100hrs of community service and attendance at the Re-education Seminar Progra-' Sandmann said.

Rob interrupted him, 'Read the letter out son.'

==

Heroes Lottery Authority
350 Madison Avenue
New York
NY 10017

Dear Logan Thorn,

Congratulations you have won this month's Heroes Lottery.

Following yesterday's confirmation of your Classical Seminoma status and as mandated under article 23.7 of The HLA Code you were entered into The 96th Heroes Lottery of May 2038. Of the 3.7 million people entered this month you are one of only 1000 winners.

What does this mean for you?

You will now be whisked away on an all inclusive luxury 7 day vacation to The Island. There you will be pampered, indulged, spoilt and waited on hand and foot. Your every whim will be catered for.

At the end of that week you will be transported in luxury to The Heroes Festival at The Heroes Bowl, Black Rock City, Nevada. There in front of 250,000 followers you will be hailed, heralded and celebrated for a full 48 hours with music and dance before giving yourself up to The Gaia Ceremony. At which time you and the other winners will join The Burning Man and be returned to the earth to save humanity and Gaia. Your soul in exaltation will go on to paradise and your name will be added to The Heroes Monument and be remembered for all eternity.

What does this mean for your family?

Your family will get all expenses paid tickets to The Heroes Festival and preferential Gaia Ceremony seating along with the families of all the other Lottery Winners. Upon your family's return they will receive a 12 month extension to their lease. Upon expiry of that extension they will have the opportunity to either move to a smaller apartment or take in a refugee to fulfil the occupancy requirements of your current apartment.

Thank you for your service.

Yours sincerely

Tony Blair
President
The Heroes Lottery Authority

==

The letter fell from Logan's hand and for a moment there was only silence. He looked at his father while trying to hold back the panic within him. Robert Thorn was stunned and stood statue-like in the middle of the room. Logan turned to his mother who quickly embraced him.

Jessica looked first at her father then her mother seemingly confused by their reaction. 'This is great news mommy!' she said. 'Logan gets to be a Hero and go to Jannah. He's so lucky.'

'Jannah? What the-' blurted out Shirley.

Paradise mommy! Logan gets to go to paradise. I wanna go too-'

'Shush Jessica,' said her mother sternly.

'But it's just testicular cancer,' pled Rob suddenly snapping out of his fugue. 'You can cure it now with a couple of pills!' He was doing his best to conceal the rage burning within him.

'But Daddy cancer isn't something that needs curing,' said Jessica. 'That's what teacher calls out-of-date thinking and it's not very inclusive. She says it's not a disease. She says it's just a normal part of who you are like having blue eyes or brown hair. She says it's a blessing from Gaia-'

'Shut up Jessica!' shouted her mother barely able to hold it together.

oops

'But mommy teacher says cancer is more like a gender than a disease, and Gaia decides before we are born who will be blessed enough to help save the world.' She couldn't understand why no one else was happy.

'Right Logan, it's time to say your goodbyes, you have a plane to catch,' informed Sandmann. The two uniformed men removed their guns from their shoulders in an obvious show of force. The scent of fear filled the room. Shirley wanted to shout and scream but instead tears flowed down her cheeks. Logan's face was sickly pale.

'You'll be able to say your final goodbyes at the ceremony next week, but we must leave now.' Sandmann said.

'What happens to the other 3 million diagnosed this month?' asked Rob.

'Oh they all return to Gaia as well they just don't get any of the benefits the winners get.'

'That's eugenics,' Rob replied angrily.

'Yes it is,' Sandmann agreed unable to hide a smirk.

'Can I come too?' asked Jessica.

'No miss, only Lottery winners can go to The Island. You'll get your chance one day.' replied Sandmann.

'What about gramps?' Jessica said. 'Can my gramps go to-'

'Shush,' Robert interrupted loudly.

'Maybe,' Mr Sandmann replied. 'Where's your gramps?'

'Oh he's in the chimney. We're playing hide and seek again.'

Sandmann punched Robert Thorn in the face so hard that he hit the floor with a loud thud. 'You traitors! You've just lost everything!'

The armed men pointed their guns at Shirley and Logan. Sandmann pulled out a pistol and aimed it at Rob. Jessica began crying and ran to her mother, who held on to both children tightly. 'NO! PLEASE YOU CAN'T DO THIS! PLEASE DON'T-' she pleaded.

'SILENCE!' he responded. 'Nobody move. This is treason!' Sandmann motioned to his colleagues to retrieve the old man from the fireplace.

The men pulled the bed back violently. One removed a large knife from his belt, slid it down between the board and the chimney breast and levered it enough to make a gap for his hand. He tore the board away from the fireplace, reached his arms up the chimney then aggressively and with malice yanked the old man out by his feet.

As the old man was being dragged screaming across the floor into the living area Robert Thorn took what he thought was his only chance. He mouthed something to Logan who nodded almost imperceptibly then launched himself at Sandmann and tried to wrestle the gun from him. It went off and Rob slumped back down to the floor. With Jessica and Shirley's screams filling the air Sandmann shot Rob in the head and then in the chest. Then he turned to the old man and did exactly the same to him. He nodded to his colleagues one of whom sprayed Shirley and Jessica with bullets until their screams stopped.

The other man looked around searching for Logan who was no longer in the room. Realising his failure and potential Court Martial later he ran for the open apartment door to find Logan sprinting down the hallway. The man fired two short bursts and Logan dropped to the floor motionless.

Sandmann sighed, pulled out his phone, pressed the screen and put it to his ear. After a few moments, 'Hi we need The Cleaner at the Thorn residence, four to go,' he said and waited. 'What?...Oh another runner and another undocumented senior. He has to have been at least 20 years past expiry. That bodged software upgrade was in '29. I can't believe the data guys still haven't tracked them all down yet.'

Sandmann returned the phone to his pocket turned on his heels and walked out the apartment door without a second glance. 'On to the next one,' he mumbled to himself as he strode down the hallway.

The End

Hope you enjoy it.

I like to sprinkle a few easy references in there. How many did you spot?

I liked that Tony Blair in being evil shocker haha.
Too many classic SF references to list them all, Logan's run was nice, Bit of Wicker man, Soylent green and the Sandman.
S+F anyway for a great read thanks

a reply to: merkins

Fantastic!

I hearty thank you from me... I really enjoyed that!

Thanks Sprocket and Maxmars I appreciate it and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

This was tough to write as I kid you not I have tennis elbow in both elbows at the moment going on 5 months now with no end in sight and no help from the NHS it's not a condition my GP will treat anymore.

Yes more Logan's run refs than any other movie. There's also a nod to a rather evil real world organisation in there too.

a reply to: merkins

I was afraid to answer with what I thought were the ... what's the word? Easter eggs?

I didn't want to embarrass myself... But the Logan's Run reference wasn't lost on me.

a reply to: merkins
You've probably had more "advice" than any one person can bear, but just in case you haven't, my tennis elbow years ago was cured by pushups, starting against the wall and moving down as the ligaments strengthened, took about 4 weeks as I recall.

a reply to: Maxmars

haha you didn't want to mention them for fear of embarrassment and I didn't want to call them easter eggs because I didn't think they were good enough for that title.

Tell you what though I can't get the image out of my head of a 1000 lottery winners inside a giant wicker man about to be set on fire.

a reply to: SprocketUK

Thanks for that, I'm definitely gonna try it. When you use sticks to get around it's really hard give your arms a rest.

a reply to: merkins


I agree, It suited me being able to get better with no pills too. just dont strain yourself, I would say no more than ten reps in any position

a reply to: SprocketUK

I haven't read the short story yet but I can attest that I had terrible tendinitis from drumming and all it really took was pushups and some weight training. Modern people place too much strain on their joints and tendons and not enough on their non existent muscles. I still get carpal tunnel but everything is much reduced.

a reply to: SprocketUK

Thanks, duly noted.



a reply to: chris_stibrany

Yeh I agree. I'm massively guilty in the atrophying muscles scenario and I'm going to try and make space in the house for some exercise equipment. Mine happened after four years of using a tilted A1 drawing board. I hold a pencil in one arm and a small ruler in the other. One day without warning both arms kicked off at the same time at the end of a day of sketching. Now it's spread down through both hands and up to my shoulder on one side.

originally posted by: merkins
Thanks Sprocket and Maxmars I appreciate it and I'm glad you enjoyed it.

This was tough to write as I kid you not I have tennis elbow in both elbows at the moment going on 5 months now with no end in sight and no help from the NHS it's not a condition my GP will treat anymore.

Yes more Logan's run refs than any other movie. There's also a nod to a rather evil real world organisation in there too.

I have always been active in sports in my younger days and like most when I strained or tore something I would go to a doctor. I pulled or tore something in my right forearm and it hurt so bad I could not even shake hands... I went to a SPORTS DOCTOR and was back playing tennis in less than two weeks. The Sports Doctors know how to get a very expensive athlete back on the playing field in short order.

My treatment was a cortisone patch placed on the injured area and and a hand held ultrasound (think looking at babies in the womb) and some gel. 3 treatments and I was as good as new. No pills no shots just the patch and the ultrasound..

Hope you get better and by the way great story..

Very entertaining read. Loved the Easter eggs. Good luck in the contest. DTOM or Johnny should be along shortly to remind you to link it to the contest page.

Edit: Nevermind, I just saw it there. Late night and all. Good luck again.

a reply to: merkins

A fantastic and compelling read.