GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

CHAPTER 31

AS THE fourth round ended with Hector’s victory, tying up the score with Denton of two to two, the dealer continued the game on the last round, expecting someone between the two win the last main match. She gave out the cards to Denton and Hector who was waiting for their cards to arrive in front of them. Both of them are with high hopes of winning the game for their own personal reasons. The dealer can, of course, sense the tension between the two. As she placed the last card on her front, she looked at the two of them on which she failed to do an eye contact with. Both of them are focused on winning the last round, which was reasonable enough, as losing will cost them their life. “You can now peek at your own cards.”

The two of them looked at their own cards. Hector, who has no number cards in him, looked at Denton who was busy looking at his own cards. He noticed that Denton was getting something from his card bags and grabbed a number card, in which he saw was five. “I will use my number card now,” Denton mumbled as he placed his number eight card on the table.

The dealer was taken aback but still acted professional, trying to follow Denton’s request. “In which card do you want this to be swapped for?” the dealer asked Denton who immediately responded with a sign that he wanted that number card to be exchanged to the one on the center. The dealer immediately changed the card on the middle with his number card. “Your number card has been added to your card collection. Does anyone want to use their special cards? You can still use your cards up until now.”

Hector placed his swap card on the table. “Do I still have time to use this?” The dealer was, again, taken aback after Denton placed his swap card in front of her. The dealer cannot help but to feel aware of the two which on her sight was like a lion and a crocodile, fighting, not just to vie for the victory, but to maintain their lives. Both of them has this intimidating gaze, which she was intimidated to. They have strong auras surrounding them which scared him more. “Isn’t it time to spice up the game? Isn’t it too lame to continue this game without this card?”

“The swap card is activated,” the dealer mumbled as she placed the swap card inside the card bin. What happened next was totally expected but Denton was still surprised to see. Hector’s cards were placed in front of him, after that was a scene where his cards was being placed in front of Hector. The dealer looked at Denton who was giving a hard look at Hector. She gulped at that time before she continued on talking. “Since you swapped cards, you can now look at your new cards. I will be giving you few minutes to figure out the strategy that you will be using.”

Denton looked at the cards that were given to him after the swap card was activated. It was a collection of average odd numbers: three, five, seven. He looked at Hector who was smiling on his own after he looked at the cards that were once Denton’s. “Hector saw my cards for sure,” he mumbled to himself. “The cards that I have there was three, five and eight. He, for sure, saw that I have higher-valued cards than him, so he used that chance to swap our cards…” The dealer looked at Denton who was, for sure, looking worried about his own cards. “Unfortunately, I do not have swap cards to use, so… I should just stay on this. I don’t know; a miracle might actually happen.”

“If no cards will be used after I said this statement, we are going to continue the game with me revealing the dealer cards,” the dealer mumbled. That was the moment that the last two standing was waiting for. Both the anxiety and the excitement to see who won the last round, who will actually win the game entitled Rule of Cards. “I will be revealing my cards in no time.” The dealer placed her hand on the first card and revealed the first card. It was a number two, in which both of them do not have. The dealer continued to reveal the second card on the line, which was a nine. Fortunately, Hector and Denton’s cards were not yet canceled. The dealer placed her hands on the third card, which was a six. She placed her hand on the last card and immediately placed the card opposite to its original position. “The last card is number eight…”

Hector stood up and showed a great disappointment. “How… how did this all happen? What the f**k is happening?” He looked at Denton who was still taken aback by the result. He immediately grabbed Denton’s collar and scowled at him. “You planned everything about this, right? You knew the cards all along, right? Tell me you cheated. You cheated, right, Denton? You cheated like how you used to do.” He looked at the dealer who was shocked to see such a situation happening in front of her. “He cheated. I actually won. Those are my cards. He did not win. I won.”

“You used the swap card, Player J-04, which means that these cards were once yours but is not Player M-22’s,” the dealer mumbled. Hector was about to throw tantrums like a kid but, fortunately, the guards were able to stop him from doing so. The dealer was surprised to see that attitude from Hector who was obviously older than Denton. On the other hand, Denton was still shocked while looking at the cards that he and the dealer has. “I have to make it real and announce what happened. For the first time in the history, someone was able to pull a rainbow card. The winner of this round is Player M-22. The score between the two players is two to three, in favor of Player M-22. I will have to exit and let the speaker announce the result of the game as a whole.”

As the dealer exited the scene, the monitor suddenly opened and there greeted the speaker who was there, on his usual position inside his office. “The eighth main match of the game Rule of Cards has now commenced and we are going to announce the winner. All throughout the game, this player showed a great strategic thinking and leadership that some of the players failed to show. The winner of the fifteenth Rule of Cards is Player M-22.” Despite this being the announcement of the winner, the people inside the room were quiet and were not giving a damn on the announcement, because even Denton was silent the whole time. “The eliminated player will be guided to the elimination room, made specially for the second placer. The winner of the game, on the other hand, will be guided back to the arena, where you will see your prize money and your things. Tomorrow morning, you will be brought back to the city. Congratulations for winning this game, Player M-22.”

Just like what the speaker said, the guards guided Denton back to arena while Hector was being dragged into somewhere no one would know where. The arena was cleaned and that, only one bed was left inside it, only Denton’s bed with all his things there. There are also three luggage near the bed. The door of the arena closed as he entered the room. He slowly walked towards the bed and checked the clothes that he once used before he entered the game. He also saw the phone on the bed. He opened it and almost forgot the password of his phone. Upon opening it, he tried calling his brother but there was no signal inside the arena so he gave up. “I do not know if I should trust that guard but… if they told me that I am being discharged tomorrow, maybe I should trust them for this.”

Then, the tomorrow came and Denton was woke up by the alarm that sounded victorious and was, for sure, made for the season’s winner. He was woke up with all the guards in front of him. Some of them were bringing something with them, some just want to stand by the others. “The game master wanted your last meal inside the game venue to be special. He said that it might not be suitable for breakfast but please eat this steak. We also brought you a casual clothes for you to change with. The game master said that you haven’t looked at the luggage that was just beside you. That is where we put the prize money, total of twenty million dollars. If you are of doubt of our reliability, you can check that. That is all of our game master told us to tell you. Again, we are congratulating you for your victory.”