The Human Race

Sam was excited. He was at the start line of the track, with his four limbs on the ground, ready for his first big race. He turned to his left and noticed Peter, the champion runner. Peter had won the last 24 races. This would be his silver jubilee if he won this race. But, Sam was determined to break Peter’s winning streak. On Sam’s right was another newbie, Mike. There were few other competitors as well in the race, but these 3 (Sam, Peter and Mike) were the favorites.

The countdown began… 3.. 2..1.. and the race started… Sam started to run as fast as he could. But, Peter was in the lead. Sam was close behind him, followed by Mike. Sam could hear the spectators clapping to cheer the participants. But, he was too focused not to look at them. His eyes were fixed on two things – the track.. and then Peter.

Sam continued to chase Peter, but was still lagging by couple of seconds. There were few hurdles placed on the track as part of the race. Peter and Sam jumped over the hurdles and were getting closer to the finish line. But, as Peter jumped over the last hurdle, he tripped over it and fell down. He was quick to recover and started running. But, he had lost precious time. Sam was in the lead now. Peter ran with all his might, but was not able to catch up. Sam finished the race as the winner.

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In the next few races, Sam continued to surpass Peter. Even though Peter didn’t trip on any hurdle in the following races, he was still not able to beat Sam. Slowly, Peter started to lose his charm. Soon, Mike took over the second place. From being a champion runner, Peter was now pushed to the third spot.

Word started spreading that Peter was getting old and was no longer good enough to race.

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Sam was standing on the start line for his 12th race. He had won 9 out of the last 11 races, and Mike had won two. Sam looked around to get a glimpse of rest of the participants. He could not find Peter. He was curious as to why Peter was missing. But, before he could ask anyone, the race started. Sam finished first again.

After the race, Sam asked Mike about Peter.

“Hi Mike… Did you notice that Peter didn’t race today? Where is he?”

“He is done. The aliens decided that he is too old to compete anymore. So, they took him”

“They took him? What does that mean?”

“Don’t you know the stuff here? These aliens feed you and keep you only till you are able to entertain them. If you can’t perform (i.e., run), then they don’t have any use with you. They take you to that dark place downhill and kill you. I heard that they eat your flesh after killing you”

“Are you serious”, Sam felt like throwing up when he heard about the killing and eating flesh.

“Yes. I have seen many of our guys go missing. And I came to know that they were murdered and fed to the aliens.”

“HOW CAN THE ALIENS DO THIS? This is our land. They came from some other place, and they are controlling us”, Sam started shouting.

“No use shouting Sam. We can’t do anything about this.”

“Why not? If we protest together, we can do something. We are not slaves to these aliens.”

“Listen to me. Don’t start creating a revolution here. At least now we are able to survive till we perform. If you do anything stupid, we could be killed immediately.”

“You are selfish just because you have won couple of races. Just think about the others…. See, everyone dies one day. But, that day should be determined by god and not by some aliens just because they are more powerful. And, just remember that if someone faster than us takes part in the race, then we will be in the same boat as Peter”

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Sam somehow convinced Mike and the other participants to have a meeting.

“So Sam, what is your plan?”, asked one of the guys

“The aliens are powerful. We cannot win them by fighting with violence. But, that doesn’t mean we cannot fight back. We will fight against them. Here is my plan – In the next race, when the whistle goes off, signaling the start of the race, we just won’t run. The aliens will try to push us to run. But, we should not budge. Remember that this will work only if we all do it together. Even if  one of us starts to run, then the efforts of others will go in vain”

“But, how will this help? If we don’t run, they will just dispose of us and choose other guys.”

“Yes, There is a risk that they can replace us with others. This is where we need to be united. We need to spread this plan to all our guys. None of us should take part in the race. If no one participates, then the aliens will have no choice but to stop the races.”

“But, our aim is not to stop the races. We do enjoy the competition. But, it is the killing we need to stop.”

“True. Stopping just the races is not going to stop the killing. But, it is the first step. We are going to spread this everywhere. One simple example is for all of us to be on a fast and stop eating. We may become thin and die. But, that is better than being murdered and fed to these aliens. They feed us only to make us plum so that they can have a feast with our flesh.

Initially the killing will increase. But, eventually, the aliens will be left with no choice but to stop it. It may take us long time before we succeed. Maybe months or even years. And we need to sacrifice the lives of our dear ones till then. Let us be the first ones to give up our lives for a good cause”

“But, I don’t want to die so young…”, cried someone. A few other joined him by shouting “Me too.. I don’t want to die..”

This continued, until someone shouted “Stop it guys. We all know that if we continue to lose the race, then we will be killed. And, how many of you think you can win the race and stay alive? Sam has been winning most of the races. He is in a safe place and won’t get killed soon. When he himself is ready to sacrifice his life, why can’t we do it? We are anyway going to be murdered soon. At least let the sound of our heart-beat stop for a good reason.”

There was silence among the crowd… After a few moments, everyone started shouting

“Yes, I am in…”

“Let’s show these aliens what we are capable of…”

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The big day arrived… Sam, Mike and the others were waiting on the start line of the track. The race was about to begin… 3… 2… 1… The crowd started cheering. But, there was no movement from the participants. No one moved even a little. The aliens looked surprised. One of them came next to Sam and hit his rear end with a thick rod. Sam didn’t budge. The alien continued to hit rest of the guys. No one moved.

The aliens tried again and again. They even replaced some of the participants with others. But, everyone was stubborn. This continue for a few days. The aliens started getting frustrated. They had to do something. They decided to start the first round of killing.

Sam, Mike and the first set of guys were taken to a dark place by a group of aliens. Two other giant aliens joined them. They had some weapons that neither Sam or anyone from his group had seen before. One of the aliens started shouting “@$GHQ#%H…”, in a language that Sam or the others couldn’t understand.

Without wasting much time, the two giant aliens used their weapons and butchered Sam, while the others were watching. Sam fell on the floor and screamed in pain. Within a few seconds, the others could hear no sound. The aliens then continued to murder the others. After a few minutes, the floor was completely filled with blood. The aliens ripped apart the body and packed those in containers.

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“Welcome sir. What would you like to have for dinner?”

“One slice of pepperoni pizza please”

“Here you go..”

The young man took the slice of pizza in his hand and opened his mouth. He slowly brought the pizza close to his mouth and started biting it. The first piece went into his mouth and he started chewing the meat – the meat from Sam, the pig. The young man, who belonged to the human race (‘race’ as in species) did not realize that the meat once belonged to another living species.

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Pig Racing (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pig_racing ): Pig-racing is a sport in which juvenile pigs race around a small enclosed dirt, fake grass or gravel track.

Pepperoni (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pepperoni ): Pepperoni, also known as pepperoni sausage, is an American variety of salami, usually made from cured pork (pig meat) and beef mashed together.

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