GAMBLE: Rule of Cards

CHAPTER 8

DENTON SYSTEM has stopped upon looking at the robot. He was then pulled by a hand; it was a girl’s hand who pulled him and included him in the hug. “Are you trying to die?” For Denton, it was as if everything happened in one snap and he’s yet to recover. Even though the woman is talking, his whole system stopped resulting to him not giving her a response. “Anyway, it’s really nice to have this guy here. We are only seven in this group and the instruction was to hug in even number. Something wrong must have happened if I never saw this guy.”

That round finished without even a player dying. Right after the robot has turned its head completely, the players eventually escaped from the hug. Paul immediately went to Denton who is still staring blankly in nowhere. “Hey, are you alright?” he asked the other one and tapped Denton’s shoulders. “Gather yourself. We are still in the game.”

“I’m okay,” Denton muttered before looking at the girl who helped him on the game. He was about to walk towards the woman when Paul stopped him from doing so. “I need to thank her for helping me.”

Paul pulled his arm. “Are you really nuts? Tell her your gratitude once you and she survive together in this game. There’s no use of thanking her if you or she is going to die in the end of this game,” he muttered. Fortunately, Denton has come to the reality and listened to the person beside him. “Gather yourself and be prepared. The robot is throwing the slipper already, be attentive.”

Denton did what Paul told him to do; gathered himself. The game then continued smoothly with just a few number of players being eliminated in the game. Paul still gave Denton the attention, scared of the latter doing something stupid again. He even gave Denton signs of what to do; Denton then relies on Paul who was a faster thinker than him. The players have been playing for almost ten minutes but the eliminated players are only few, like two or three. That made the player calm and do the game well than what they did on the first match.

The players were expecting the robot to throw the slipper when suddenly, a drum started on rolling again. The players were stopped as they stood straight to listen to the speaker in the monitor. “The game is getting boring, isn’t it?” the speaker asked the players. It was a different feeling for the players; it was rather a safe game for them to survive. Some of the players expressed their disagreement with a complain but the speaker just laughed his ass out. “I see; you also think the game is boring. For you to enjoy the game, let me at least spice up the game.”

Paul nudged Denton on his side. “The company does not even listen to our complaints. They are f****d up for sure. How do you think he will spice up the game?”

Denton shrugged his shoulders as a response. “There will be an additional rule for this match,” the speaker continued. The players just sighed their frustration as the speaker won’t listen to their regards. “There are four platforms inside the area. The platforms on the north and the south will be colored green while the platforms on the west and the east are colored blue.” Right after what the speaker muttered, the platforms changed colors instantly, but that did not make the players fluster. What flustered the players is that the robot moved to the center on its own. “Once the slipper faced down, a monitor will flash a color and you must step on the platform with that color. The robot was moved to highlight the raise of difficulty. The use of swap card is still available in this game.”

The speaker vanished from the monitor. It was then replaced by the timer that only has ten minutes left. About five seconds after, the timer has started ticking again. The robot threw the slipper again and it landed on its bottom, so the players did not move. Like what the robot did the last time that the slipper landed, facing above, it took almost five minutes to turn its head and start a new round again.

Denton and Paul took glances, waiting for each other’s signal. Before the continuation of the game, they decided to part ways to gain more chances of winning. As per Paul, if Denton and him would go on different side of the area, there will be more space for them to fit in the platform, since they are not on the same side. Paul also suggested to go in the corner, in between of the last parts of two platforms, for easy transportation.

Since the start of the continuation of the game, they are already walking to get on their area. The robot continued on throwing the slipper on his back. All the attempts of throwing the slipper was all the same; facing above. Paul and Denton took it as an opportunity to slowly go on their designated places. “Just do not show a side one,” Denton muttered while looking at the slipper which was slowly falling onto the ground. “Please…”

The slipper has landed on the ground. Opposite to what Denton is expecting, the slipper landed on its bottom but bounced that made it looking on the side. Denton’s eyes gaped open as he looked at the side. “What the f**k?” he cussed out loud as he looked at the slipper which did not meet his expectations.

“Shut the f**k up,” a woman behind him muttered before pulling him using his hand. The woman immediately hugged him, thoughtlessly. What the woman thinks is that it is the last resort for her to survive; hugging a whole stranger in a game where hugging is a rule. “This should do it, since two is an even number, anyway.”

Denton was just speechless; speechless of many reasons. First is that it was the second time the woman hugged him. Second is that they were complete strangers to each other. Third is that Denton can feel the woman’s body on him; feeling everything and what makes him more flustered is the woman’s big breasts indirectly touching his chest.

‘It was just a game; it is needed for both of us to survive’, that is what Denton has in mind to divert his attention from thinking anything but the game. The robot took more time that the two perfect stranger hugged each other for more than three minutes. There was the awkwardness between them and it’s already given by the fact that they are two complete strangers but they endured it until the robot turned its head completely.

After that awkward hug, they never talked to each other nor looked at each other. They pretended that nothing happened and that, the hug was nothing. The robot continued on throwing the slipper towards the back of itself and it landed on its back, facing above. The players stopped their movements and waited for the robot to turn its head around when a player raised its hand.

It was not just an ordinary hand that was raised but rather a hand, holding a swap card on it. “I think it’s about time to use this card,” the man muttered. Denton saw the gang boss smile to him. The man who raised his card is a member of the gang Denton used to play poker with. “I will use my swap card.”

“Player S-14 will use his card.” The speaker suddenly muttered. One of the guard approached him and grabbed the card from the hand of the player. “Please choose the direction of which you want the slipper to face.”

“Since it is facing above, I want to reverse the direction of where the slipper faces,” the player muttered. At that time, Denton and Paul looked at each other and exchanged gazes. Denton has not arrived to the space between the two different-colored platform yet. “Is there no other benefit to me for using my card?”

“The player who uses its card will be given five seconds to adjust with the game,” the speaker noted. The slipper moved on its own and changed the direction of where it is facing. “After the five seconds, the game will resume. The color of the platform to stand with will be shown after the five seconds of the card holder. The five seconds merit of the card holder will start now…”

Then, there was a sudden ticking-of-clock sound effects that surrounded the area, signaling the start of the five seconds merit of the card holder. The man who gave up its card ran to the blue platform and stood on the edge of it, which is quite reasonable as he has no knowledge of what color will the monitor show.

Standing on the edge of the platform will benefit him a lot, as it is the easiest and the fastest way to change platforms; which is quite smart of Player S-14 that he thought of that in the kind of scenario like this. Player S-14 reached the platform the exact moment of when the clock has stopped ticking.