The Long Walk

In a dystopian future America is under military dictatorship. For entertainment the youth of America enter a lottery with 100 winners. These young conscripts are then the "lucky" entrants in a national phenomenon; a walking race in which the athletes must maintain a pace above 3 miles an hour, with no rests. Escorted by soldiers and live tv cameras the entrants have 3 warnings before a mobile firing squad removes them from the competition. The race winner is the last man walking. His prize is his heart's desire. The boys characters, friendships, hopes and terror are explored as one by one the field narrows. A forerunner of the hunger games, squid game and black mirror, this harrowing Stephen King vision was penned, alongside the Running Man as one of his 4 novellas in the collection of Richard "Bachman Books".