[ CW ] Start with `` Everyone knew trying to run was futile , yet so far all of them tried anyway '' , end with `` I do n't make the rules , I just enforce them . ''

Everyone knew trying to run was futile, yet so far all of them tried anyway. You would have to be a fool in the first place to believe there was a way out after your name had been strobed out on the thousands of holographic displays hovering throughout the gladiator compound. Because everyone knew, it was only a matter of time until their own name would show up on that roster, and the white plated guards would come to escort you to the arena. And then you made the choice - run or fight. 
 
 Today I was on the list. Sitting in the cafeteria at one of the countless identical tables arrayed in rows and columns, I heard the fuzzy tone of the day's roster announcement being broadcast and looked up to see my name, burned into the air among a dozen other men and women who I had never met. There were too many of us to know everyone, and most never spoke anyway. 
 
 Seeing myself on that death sentence should have stirred some kind of emotion in me, yet as I stared up at it all I could think about was the time I had spent on the other side of these walls, a man free to move through the world. My future had always seemed so mysterious, like some puzzle to be solved. I had spent my nights lying in bed, looking up through the glass ceiling of my apartment into the satellite lit night sky, planning and dreaming. 
 
 All that gone, here inside. There are no windows in the gladiator compound, except for the opaque sheets of one-way mirror through which the guard posts look out upon the training gyms and living quarters. At night i stare at a black plastic hemisphere glued to my ceiling hiding a surveillance camera. I do n't dream. 
 
 And now here I was inside the world's last great prison, with my future finally spelled out for me in the air above my head. I should have felt something, but all I could think was `` well, I guess it had to happen.'' 
 
 As the hologram faded, the doors of the guard posts slid open with a slick mechanical hiss and out stepped a fleet of escort guards. It was the same every morning: the names, the doors sliding open, and the inevitable chase. Just like every other time, a dozen others jumped up, screaming as the shock of seeing their names spelled out finally registered in their prison-dulled minds. As the faceless men in white advanced they all began to careen between the tables towards the edges of the room, desperately trying to escape. 
 
 `` Those idiots.'' The woman to my left muttered. `` They know the doors are magnetically sealed.'' She stabbed at the tasteless food on her plate with her fork. Across the cafeteria, one of the runners had reached the wall and futilely clawed at the exit hatch. An escort from the nearest guard post advanced, calmly retrieving his stunner from his belt. In another fifteen seconds the man was incapacitated. The same scene played out 11 more times. `` You'll do the same as them'' an older man across from me said to the woman who had spoken. `` You know it.'' 
 
 A hand pressed down on my shoulder. Though my shirt I could feel the gloved grip of a guard. Without looking at any of the others at the table I quietly stood to let him take me away. I was sick of seeing the fear, the animalistic flight. I turned to the guard. `` I'll go.'' I said. `` But if I'm going to die, can I at least finish my breakfast first?'' 
 
 The guard cocked his head inside his helmet. Nobody ever asked the guards questions. `` We leave now.'' The voice came from behind his face mask, with the same distorted tenor as every other guard. After a short pause, `` Im sorry. I do n't make the rules, I just enforce them.''
