---

---

If you're unaware of this project, we have been building a story written by Steemit through community voting of submitted paragraphs. It has been very interesting and quite fun so far.

I'd like to thank everyone that has taken part so far by means of submitting an entry;

@meesterboom, @fisteganos, @sazbird, @spark, @aunt-deb, @cobceo, @riskdebonair, @catulhu, @richq11, @ericvancewalton, @ezzy, @marifa, @dreemit, @smalltalk, @nikflossus, @therealpaul, @richardjuckes, @writingamigo, @surpassinggoogle, @generikat, @countzero, @hexdek16, @jedau, @madlenfox, @skypal, @lauralemons and @scaredycatguide.

Without your participation this would never have worked, and certainly would not have been quite so exciting.

---

The winner of the last round was @writingamigo. Congratulations, The post did not have a payout but, I have sent you a small reward for taking part.

---

The Story So Far:

Who would have thought that earning three million dollars could cost me so much. I had gone from rags to riches in scarcely a year, but I'd have given it all back in a heartbeat if it meant regaining all I had lost. Let me tell you how it began.

His name was Arty, he had slid into the train seat beside me, smiling, gold tooth glinting. "Hey, Danny. You wanna get rich?."

What the hell? How'd this guy know my name? I froze as Arty's smile turned into a cold leer. Something metallic shoved into my side. "Because you see Danny... I ain't askin'."

Looking back now, there are so many other choices I could have made. But terror paralyzed me for crucial moments of time. It seems ironic that it was the inaction of a coward that put me on this path, when so many things that came after took absolute fearlessness to pull off.

It's hard to reminisce about your shortcomings with the barrel of a pistol rammed between your ribs, and I found my attention returned to the piercing stare that Arty was casting upon me. a painful jab from the barrel helped me in my refocusing effort.

"You're gonna do me a favor, Danny." He drawled with no hint of polite solicitation in his glacial tone.

He held my gaze as he reached inside his jacket and withdrew a manila envelope.

Something squished in the envelope as I took it.

"Ya don't wanna know Danny, you don't want to put your finger on it." Arty smirked at that and quickly stood. "Be seein' ya soon," he said and winked.

As he walked away I stared at the envelope in my hand. I knew that address...

It was Emerson's Biotech lab where I developed the virus. I began to sweat as I tore the corner and peered inside. Emerson always wore the same ring. This was his finger, there was no mistaking that. My heart began to palpitate. I searched the aisle but Arty was long gone.

Emerson was always a sneaky guy, but I never thought that he would get himself in so much trouble. He also said that my identity will be kept in secret... Yeah, right.

It was no coming back at that point. I had to look deeper into the envelope. After all, can it be anything worse than a finger?

---

The story is starting to get very interesting, but before proceeding to the next round, I would first like to hold an election of sorts.

ELECTION

I always anticipated that, due to the community collaborating on this, there would be some inconsistencies with writing styles, tenses and continuity. I was unsure of how this could be resolved, but I have come up with what I believe to be a solution.

I think that every now and again we should have one person review the last few rounds and revise the content to amend any continuity issues, as well as rewrite some sentences so that the story appears to be all in one style.

The context of the story must be maintained, so it is only the vocabulary and sentence structure that should be edited, as well as repairing any problems with past, present and future tense.

I do not want to do this myself without the community's permission as I don't feel it would be in keeping with the collaborative effort we are attempting here.

If you would like to be considered as the editor of the story, please leave a comment with your name below and allow the community to vote on who should do it. Optionally, you could add a small excerpt of your writing in the style that you intend to edit the story towards, giving voters more of an understanding of why you ought to be picked.

The editor will be consistent, meaning that throughout the rest of the story, every time we stop to revise it, it will be the same person who edits it.

Once selected, you will need to edit what we have produced so far and then post the revised version from your account-- keeping all the rewards.

In future, I will let you know when it is time for another edit and you can do the same, posting "the story so far" from your account and keeping all of the rewards.

THIS IS NO SMALL COMMITMENT SO PLEASE ONLY PUT YOUR NAME FORWARD IF YOU ARE COMMITTED TO THIS PROJECT AND INTEND TO REMAIN THE EDITOR UNTIL THE STORY IS COMPLETE.

---

With that said, I will also be putting my name forward but will also be voting for someone else.

Voting will close in 48 hours from the time of this post, which should give people enough time to put their names forward and still be able to garner votes. If you put yourself forth as a potential editor, please also resteem the post to give people the opportunity to vote for you. We need to maintain visibility if this election is to be successful.

---

Please be sure to vote for an editor even if you do not put your own name forward.

GOOD LUCK EVERYONE

---