The Culling — Charles Ray

It was the Apocalypse. By 2072, the civilizations of earth, great and small, rich and poor, had ceased to exist â€" replaced by small feudal landholdings ruled by vicious leaders who were little more than warlords. Communication and cooperation between communities had been replaced by mutual suspicion and hostility. This state of affairs had been caused by the perfect storm; a result of the unholy alliance between religious fundamentalists and political extremists, which had led to a decline in academic research and scientific enquiry. A veil of ignorance, fueled by self-righteousness and greed, descended over humanity, blinding it to the path Mother Nature was taking as a result of the unrelenting destruction of the environment in the blind pursuit of wealth. Mankind was, therefore, caught unawares when the polar icecaps finally melted, causing a cataclysmic rise in sea levels, wiping out the world's coastal cities. The loss of what had been the financial and transportation hubs for the world's economy was the final blow. The survivors pulled back into small, self-contained communities, often ruled by those who possessed what little knowledge that was left, and backed up with the guns they'd stockpiled before things fell apart. One such community was New Liberty, on the site of Washington, DC, once the capital of the most powerful nation on earth. Now, a few thousand people cling to a precarious existence under the brutal domination of The Committee of Citizens, ruled by Hector Cruz, a man who will do anything to hold onto power. He maintains control through periodic cullings of the lower levels of the population. His hold on power goes unchallenged until he decrees that a young prole, Hiroshi Jackson, is to be culled. Raised by his parents, rather than in a community institution, until the age of seven, Hiroshi is not the type to go meekly to his execution. He fights back, and is forced to flee into the wilds. But, Hiroshi also holds in his young head a secret that could change the course of history â€" provided he can survive long enough.