GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

THE DEATH MATCH

“That’s the woman in our room,” the bald guy exclaimed after seeing the woman in the fifth section. No one dared to show an expression. They were all just silently looking at the monitor, as if memorizing what the so-called ‘escaping match’ is. The time started on ticking and as soon as the timer started, the players started on walking. “They’re starting now…” The bald guy sounded like a commentator of a baseball game.

All the players started on walking while gripping their armors with force. The anxious ones also walked through the place and did not let their anxiety kill them. After all, going with the game is the least thing they could do in order to survive—or escape, rather. As this is an escaping match, the player with the best dedication of leaving the place will do as much as they can to attain that goal. It is the battle of players against the other players, in order to escape.

“This match will be more brutal than the main match,” Denton commented. All the other players in the Room M turned their gaze to Denton who broke the silence. “In the main match, every player just needs to survive but in this match, to escape is to kill the other player to snatch their cards. I doubt there will be players who will choose to just talk with the other players rather than just killing them.”

The other players inside the room nodded. “Plus, there is a time allotted to the game. They will for sure go with the fastest way to obtain the cards,” the bald guy noted. “And as I can see, the fastest way in obtaining the card is to kill the other player before snatching the card…”

Everything that Denton and the bald guy muttered made sense. “Since everyone is eager to escape this hell, everyone will be competitive, for sure,” Denton added. “We are all competitors in this game. No one should be trusted, not even the closest ones. And that is why I think the escaping match is more brutal than the main match; although we survive in the main match, there is still a possibility of falling behind during the escaping match.”

One of the surviving woman looked at Denton who was focusing on the match. “If this is how the escaping match is, then are we at the disadvantage… women?” That question woke up Denton’s thoughts. “I mean, if it is a survival game using strength, men are obviously stronger than women. That would make us at the disadvantageous point of this game, right?”

“I am not saying that you all should lose your hope of surviving, but I will tell the truth. If this is how the escaping match look like, it’s better for women to don’t join. As we can observe, these men are built different and are obviously stronger than women, there will just be a little percent of women winning against men if strength is the criteria.” The woman sighed after hearing Denton’s remarks. “However, we do not know what will happen next. The escaping match might be different games each level, like the main match. The one who made this game surely has its own surprise. That person would not want a repetitive concept for a competition like this.”

After Denton, there surrounded the silence again. Instead of talking, they continued on watching the live coverage of the escaping match. Everyone was unmoved, trying to focus on the match but still finds their eyes avoiding after seeing someone killing another player. It was just too brutal that they cannot bear seeing the sight of it.

The match has been on for five minutes, bare half of the whole game. The cameramen of the match know how the show must go on, for they do a close-up with all the players and the cards they obtained. One of the men of the game has already obtained a total of fifteen cards by just killing the other players using the knife he was given, but only twelve of these card is counted for a full house.

“Is she the only woman left in the match?” the bald guy commented while pointing his finger on the monitor where they are watching. It caught the attention of the other player and observed whether what the bald guy muttered is real or not. “That big guy killed the women in the game, leaving M-18 the only woman in the match left. She’s luckily surviving, though. I always thought she was weak.”

Denton heaved a deep sigh. “Although she is surviving, she will still die in this case. She only holds one card and that is her card. The rule of the match is to kill the other player and complete a full house and not to just survive along the whole match. There are roughly four minutes left and it is a short time for her to get ahead of the other player. The only resort she has is to kill the big guy and find the last piece of the house.”

“Don’t you all get it?” A woman’s voice surrounded the whole room. They looked at the one who talked and was surprised to see that it was the girl who stays on the lower bank of Denton’s double deck. The girl went out of her place and looked at Denton who was also surprised. “You don’t get it too, M-22? I almost thought you are different and smart.” The girl sighed in disbelief. “That’s her tactic; to hide is her tactic.”

Denton’s brows furrowed. “What do you mean? How did you know that with just looking at her in the live coverage of the escaping match?”

The girl gave a little smirk. “Because if I were her, I would do the same, actually.” Denton and the rest of the players inside the Room M just looked at her, like they were judging her or something a little alike to that. “That’s her tactic, to just hide and die. Guess what? I knew that she holds a necessary card and that is the ten of hearts. Her card is the only 10 all the players have, and the only card the man with lots of card have to obtain.”

The bald guy gave a judging face. “And what does that have to do with her tactic?”

“She’s a selfish woman, for sure; and so am I. However, if you are on her position, you would probably do the same thing, for sure.” Nobody reacted to what the girl has told them. “She has already accepted her fate that she won’t escape this hell and that, as you told, she has no chance of winning the game. Since she knows that she holds a necessary card, she decided to just keep the card and let everybody die. Call me selfish but I would do the same, too. Life’s f****d up and I would not want to see someone escape this hell when I know that I will die as a change.”

“Hold on,” Denton muttered, breaking the silence after the girl’s statement. “We do not know what is the woman thinking for we are not her. You assumed what she was thinking is possibly correct but probably wrong.”

The girl who talked sighed. “Just watch the whole coverage.” The girl went back to where she is before standing. “And I am not assuming things, since I have a basis of telling that which is my observation. You yourself told the other girls here that they might not have a chance to stand against big guys like you, M-22 and you are here defending her from me. Don’t be someone with a double standard, dude. So, what if she just gives up on the thought of escaping? It is not as if it will affect your performance on the game. So, you all must stop acting like you all care. It’s not just her and I that are selfish, everyone is.”

Everyone looked at the monitor and saw that there is only a minute left on the match. They lost track of the time while talking with the girl who was facing aback them while lying down the bed. The timer started on making a sound on everyone with the speaker near them, raising the awareness of the players in the match. As expected, it made them all panic and anxious.

The last woman standing was shown in the middle of the bush, hiding herself while hugging his legs, sitting. Denton realized that what the girl told them is actually what the woman is thinking. It was just ten seconds when the woman bowed her head, as if accepting her fate, waiting for her death on that exact time and place.

It was three seconds before the timer stops and everyone has stopped on their track. Some are disappointed after not completing the house while some looked like they have already accepted that they will die there. There were a five seconds of silence after the timer finished ticking. It was just a surprise to everybody, including Denton, to hear the sounds of gunshots and seeing it fall from above, killing everybody in the battlefield who failed to accomplish the task.