GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

CHAPTER 7

SILENCE COVERED the whole room after seeing the players of the first escaping match die inside the battlefield. Everyone is silent and no one dared to break that silence. The whole room was silent until the speaker placed in the ceiling sounded. “The first escaping match has concluded the first escaping match resulted to zero number of players who will get to escape, zero number of players who accomplished the task and twenty-nine players failed to accomplish the task.” After those statement of the speaker, the lights went off, leaving no visible marks inside the room. “It’s time for the sleep. The second match will begin tomorrow, the same time as the first game started.”

After that announcement, the whole place is then again covered with silence. Some were eager to survive tomorrow morning so they immediately lay down on their bed and closed their eyes. Some players, like Denton, cannot bear to lay down and close their eyes after seeing everything that happened with their own bare eyes. “Why are you all caring for the woman and sacrificing your sleep?” the girl again muttered. “It’s not as if she got close with you in just one day. Sleep if you want to survive tomorrow.”

The girl is just direct of her words. Denton’s thought went from the woman who died in the escaping match to his daughters. He slowly placed himself in the bed and closed his eyes. “I need to survive. My daughters still need me,” he whispered to himself, waiting for the spirit of sleep to enter his body.

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A WHITE light started to surround the whole place again, like what happened to Denton and the players on the first day of their stay in the room. What greeted them all were the guards entering the place and were giving out a piece of bread and a bottle of milk. The players just received the foods as they were really hungry already; it was like, receiving the food when one is really hungry is a natural response.

“What do you think is the next game, M-22?” the bald guy suddenly muttered. Denton choked on his food upon hearing the question. For the players inside the Room M, they rely on Denton about the information. Denton, at first, was just telling what he knows but the other players got used to it that they used him to ask for information as if he knows a lot about the game. “Don’t you think the first match is a bit cliché?”

Denton’s brows furrowed. “First of all, I really do not have an idea about what the next game will be. Secondly, how can you say that the first match is cliché?”

“Don’t you understand it?” The bald guy sighed as if he knows something better than Denton. “The first game is hide-and-seek and it’s a known child’s game, right? If I were the organizer of this game, I will base the game with children’s game like how he did on the first game. If it is the case, the second match must be derived from a children’s game too.”

“And what would it make us to assume that the next game will be derived from a children’s game? In my opinion, it’s not even cliché, because a children’s game is never a brutal thing like this,” Denton hissed. The bald guy just looked at him. Denton is literally annoyed at that time, that he raised his voice. “Whatever the next match will be, I want to finish it, surviving. I want to see my daughters again.”

After that narration, nobody started a talk with Denton again until the lunch. As usual, like a prisoner, the players were given their lunchboxes and were also given new sets of clothing. After eating their lunch, they were headed to the comfort room and let them wash themselves. The bathroom looks like a public bathroom where everyone was not given a private cubicle; the bathroom was just a big place where there are faucets in there, naked people washing themselves without minding the other naked people beside and behind them. Denton was hesitant at first but as he was feeling a sticky feeling on his body already, he washed himself without looking at the other guy washing themselves.

The bathroom for the males is a bit narrow to fit in a hundred and plus of men so the bathing schedule was divided. Unlike the women who’s the number is a bit smaller than the men, the bathing for the males took hours to finish, and Denton was one of those who finished late. “It’s amazing how they gave us a set of clothing that fits right in us.”

“They might have measured our body measurements the day they lured us into this game. Plus, they changed our clothes to this, even my underwear is changed for Pete’s sake,” Denton muttered inside the room. It was a total silence after hearing that joke from Denton’s mouth. “About what happened a while ago, I really am sorry for raising my voice. I was just really stressed, thinking about this and that, I miss my daughters already.”

Someone suddenly tapped his shoulder from the back. “It’s okay, M-22. We are also panicking inside and that, we want to shout our stress out loud too. We understand you,” that was the bald guy who talked. “Also, it is my fault for asking you early in the morning that question that you might not know the answer. And yeah, it’s true that it will make no change if we will assume what the next match will be. Surprise might it be, right?”

When everyone has already had enough rest, the light changed from white to green. The players were shocked but were not puzzled. They knew that it was a signal for the start of another match and they are never wrong to assume that. “The second main match will commence now. Please follow the guards towards the battlefield.”

Without having any remark, the players stood up from sitting down on their beds and started marching in line, following the guards that are guiding them through the gate of the battlefield. The guards opened the gate and entered inside, letting the players to follow them. What greeted the players is a whole new world; literally different from the look of the battlefield during the last match.

“It’s new,” one of the players noted. The whole place is indeed a new place. The trees are out and there is no such thing in which a player can use to hide with. The grassy ground has vanished and it was replaced by a plain ground of soil. In the four sides of the square-shaped area, there lies the platforms of two feet high. “What’s that?”

Despite all of the noted changes, something makes the players more amused. Standing in the northern side of the area is a big robot, standing five meters high and was made by steel. The guards guided the whole area, standing on the side of the area, still in line.

Denton was amused of all the changes in the place until a big, heavy hand landed on his shoulders. It felt so familiar that when Denton turned his gaze to the person who laid a hand on his shoulder, he can’t help but to open his mouth wide. “Why are you so shocked that I am here?” the big guy asked. “Shouldn’t I be more surprised to see you here? Or, shouldn’t I? Oh, right. I just remembered that you are really longing for money.”

It was the big guy nobody but Denton knows the best. Bringing all his little pieces of s**t, the leader of the gang is here and Denton just knew it that time. It was the same big guy who plays poker with Denton. It was the same guy who accused Denton of cheating after getting a royal flush. It was the same guy who made Denton penniless after getting all the money from him. For sure, the guy was one of the reason why Denton has to play the game.

There entered Paul who looked at Denton with confused eyes. “Do you know them?”

The big guy answered, as Denton was unspoken. “I, for sure, know this guy… but it looks like he has already forgotten me,” the big guy muttered before putting two heavy pats on Denton’s shoulder. “I am hoping for the time that you will remember me again, M-22.” He, for sure, has taken note of Denton’s code number. “I saw you yesterday and it was so brave of you two. It was the best play. I hope you survive today too, so I can see you on the finals.” He looked at Denton once more. “In this place, cheating is legal. Enjoy it as much as you can… since you have always liked doing that.”

Seeing Denton unmoved and unspoken, the gang boss and his little ones walked away from the two. “I’m doomed…” was the only thing Denton can say while fixing his gaze towards the wide back figure of the boss. “I am really doomed.”