Live Free or Die

When the federal government collapsed, America's states began settling their debts in the National Fortune Arena, a televised gauntlet where game skill decides who gets medicine, power, and hope. New Hampshire, one loss from total collapse, sends its only asset: Cal Marsh, an unranked, underfunded gamer nobody in the Arena takes seriously. As California, Texas, and the rest of the country's best circle in, all Cal's got is nerve, a little bit of crazy, and a state motto to live up to: Live Free.