Chapter Text
Looming ahead of me, under the watchful gaze of the Jack of Hearts blimp, stood Teio Prison- the arena of my next game. It felt strange to be here, alone and on unfamiliar territory. But what else was there to do? I had been focusing on the King of Spades ever since this new stage began but I’d been forced to give up, partially because of my dwindling visa days and partially because of what happened to me, to my friends, only twenty four hours before.
Could it have truly only been twenty four hours? It felt like a pitiful amount of time for my life to change so drastically- for all of my allies in this version of the world to be shot down and killed, our plan turning to ash right before my eyes.
I hadn’t known them before coming here, to this cursed place, but we had met at a previous game and stuck together, forming the type of bond you only make in a life or death situation. When the King of Spades began his reign of terror, we had hidden, plotted, and then tracked him down the moment we felt prepared. The plan had been to kill him, of course, or at least aid the brave souls that dealt the final blow. But instead…
I had no choice but to seek out a new game. It was devastating to just go on as if nothing had happened, as if I hadn’t spent hours mourning their loss before finally making my way here from across the city. But if I didn’t, if I just laid down and died, then what would’ve been the point of them dying? I had to keep going. For them. For myself.
Which was how I found myself standing outside of the prison, admitting myself like some sort of guilt-ridden criminal.
There was no more time to waste. I resumed my walk towards the prison gates, internally praying that I would make it out of here alive. And, if the gods allowed, with my last scrap of humanity intact. This is currently the lowest hearts game, I reminded myself. Even though I knew deep down that this would probably be harder than any game I had taken part in yet, sans the King of Spades. I heard about the ten of hearts game that took place at a resort and the bloodbath that occurred. If this was worse than that… I just had to focus. All of my allies were gone. I didn’t have to worry about anyone else but myself. If this game required me to be heartless, I would do it.
Upon entering the prison, I noticed a couple in business attire standing before a table and made my way towards them. They each took a metal ring from in front of them and placed it around their necks, the intuitive device snapping closed automatically. They didn’t even spare me a glance and moved on before I could take a look at the signage or pick up a metal collar for myself. There was nothing else to do- I mirrored their actions and then did precisely what the sign said and headed upstairs.
It felt infinitely strange to be inside a prison. Before I came here, I had always stayed on the right side of the law, and I didn’t have any family or friends who wound up in trouble either so this was completely untrodden ground to me. Now, however, I had blood on my hands, as did probably everyone else in the building. As was the nature of this world, I supposed.
There weren’t many of us currently, all standing in a circular room on the upper floor of the prison, and everyone save for the couple were in complete silence. The woman seemed intent on giggling into the man’s ear, and the man seemed intent on keeping a cold, brooding expression on his face. Then they disappeared off down the hall and I found myself frowning. Could we venture around this place? Everyone else seemed intent on standing here quietly, waiting, but if we could get a good look around before the actual game started then that could all be used to my advantage. Knowledge was power, after all.
I slowly began to meander around the central room, trying not to make it look like I was following the couple, although I was suspicious about where they had gone. I peered around, at the giant TV screens, the other halls, down the stairs I had just come up, and eventually I came to the hall the couple had gone down, which had heavy doors lining both sides and a caged space in the floor where you could see through to downstairs. I took one step down the hall before a voice said, “I wouldn’t do that.”
I froze, my eyes snapping onto the figure leaning against the wall, clad in a white jacket with the hood pulled up.
I made a confused noise, halfway between a hmm and a what? The stranger looked at me, his expression bored, eyes half-lidded. Strands of longish blond hair, clearly dyed, framed his face.
“I wouldn’t,” he repeated, “if I were you.”
I was about to ask why when a sound punctuated the silence, quiet and breathy but unmistakably… I felt myself flush. The stranger raised his eyebrows as if to say see?
I decided to put an end to my exploring and settled on the other side of the opening. There were some things I definitely didn’t need to see. Instead, I did what everyone else was doing and stood quietly, waiting. Another glance at the stranger in the white hoodie showed he was also observing. Despite his laid back demeanour with his hands in his pockets, I could tell he was taking in information.
Even from this angle, with him facing forward and his hood and hair obscuring part of his face, I couldn’t deny that he was, well… good looking. It seemed stupid to even think about it considering where we were and what was going on, but I couldn’t help it. There was something about him.
I forced myself to look away before he caught on to my staring, and instead looked at everyone else. A couple more people had arrived and were standing around, waiting. How many were we waiting for before this cursed game would begin?
All of a sudden, the couple materialised from the hallway that myself and the stranger were standing either side of. The woman looked frazzled, her eyes wide and a flush spread across her cheeks as she daintily clasped her hands and looked towards the man for direction. He looked exactly as he had before and didn’t hesitate to lead her over to the side, where they could stand out of the way. Myself and the stranger met eyes as the couple moved out of the way, sharing a knowing gaze that passed by in a moment but still left me feeling slightly nervous. Was it normal for a man’s eyes to be so arresting? I looked away and stared at the floor instead. That was a safer option.
Finally, a lanky guy in a blue shirt climbed the stairs and stood in the doorway, and then the screens lit up and the usual, robotic voice greeted us and began to explain the rules.
Apparently, the game was called Solitary Confinement and we would have to go into a prison cell and guess the suit on the back of our collars every round. Instantly, I saw people messing with the collars, trying to pull them around or move them. They only stopped when the automated voice reminded them that the collar would explode if you got the answer wrong. All of a sudden they didn’t seem as eager to mess with it anymore.
Just then, a voice piped up from beside me. “But we just need to have someone tell us what it is, right?” He said, sounding almost amused. “That’ll be easy.”
I glanced at him, taking in his dungarees and the endearing but slightly naïve smile on his face. What he had said was true, but it was whether you trusted whoever you were asking to tell you the truth. I offered him a small smile and was about to say as much, when the stranger in the hoodie spoke up instead.
“I wouldn’t be so sure,” he said. “They haven’t told us how to clear the game.”
The robotic voice came through the speakers again. “Solitary Confinement is a test of how much you can trust others. In addition, the Jack of Hearts has secretly joined the game as one of the participants.”
Now that was a shock. I glanced over all the people before me, trying to imagine one of them as the Jack.
“See?” the guy in the hoodie drawled. “There it is.”
“One of us is the Jack of hearts,” one of the other men said, a statement instead of a question.
“Clear condition,” the voice said, and everyone’s attention went back to the screens. “Every hour, this will be repeated. The game is cleared when the Jack of Hearts, who is hiding amongst you, is killed.”
Shit , I thought to myself. This wasn’t just a case of who you could trust. This could turn into a bloodbath. I could imagine that people would lie even without the threat of the Jack amongst us, simply because of the bloodthirsty world we found ourselves in. But throw that in and suddenly the idea of lying to protect yourself seemed all too easy. I looked over all of the people in the room again. How was I meant to know who I could trust?
The automated voice went over prohibited activities, including using reflective surfaces to see your suit yourself, but I couldn’t make myself focus on that. I had to find an ally, that much was clear, and then I had to just hope that we could make it through this game together. And, despite how much it hurt to think about, I couldn’t stop my mind from going back to the friends I’d lost only yesterday. If I’d had even one of them with me then we could’ve got through this easily. This type of game would be a breeze for a group of established allies. If only we had come here instead of attempting to take down the blasted King of Spades.
“In other words,” hoodie guy said, taking me out of my thoughts, “until the Jack fails to answer correctly and dies, this game won’t end. Which means, unless we lie to the Jack, we can’t clear this game.”
I nodded slowly, although I wasn’t sure if he was speaking to the group or any one of us specifically.
The voice then went on to explain that there wasn’t a time limit and that there were unlimited supplies in the building. Plus, our visa would be paused while we were here. In other words, this was our home until we flushed out the Jack.
“Unless we lie like crazy and eliminate anyone suspected of being the Jack,” hoodie guy spoke up again, clarifying my thoughts, “we’ll be in this prison forever.” Then he laughed to himself but it was short and humourless. “A life sentence, huh?”
And then, after that abundance of information, it was time for the game to start. Right , I thought to myself, time to pick an ally .