Chishiya

I held my playing cards close to my face so none of the four remaining people could peek into them. We were finally the perfect amount of players for the game of Black Jack, according to the Queen of Diamonds.

I smirked. Now was my time to shine: no luck anymore, just pure brain power. I felt confident again. I took a deep breath and sipped from my glass, the Queen of Diamonds nodding in acknowledgment. I glanced at my hand: a seven and a queen. What a coincidence. That meant I had a total of seventeen. The other players studied their cards and made their decisions. I decided to stand, hoping the Queen would bust.

The first player, a middle-aged man, hit and drew a nine, busting his hand. The second player, the young woman with a nervous smile, stood at sixteen, her eyes flickering with uncertainty. The third, an older lady with an air of false confidence, hit twice, landing on twenty.

The Queen smiled and turned towards me: 'playing cautious, I see? Could it be cowardness, or a strategy?'

The Queen revealed her cards as she grinned: a five and a ten. With a steady hand, she drew another card. It was a six, giving her twenty-one.

My heart sank, thinking I had lost, but her next card pushed her over to twenty-three, and she busted. The grin on her face faded, but she recollected herself quickly and said: 'well, I like to take some risks from time to time. What's in playing like a scared pup?'

Relief washed over me as I realized the Queen herself had to pay her coins to everyone who didn't bust. The young woman and the confident older lady won as well, but I told myself nothing was lost yet. I collected my winnings, feeling a surge of exhilaration.

The next round began, the cards were dealt swiftly. This time, I was dealt a pair of eights. I decided to split, turning my hand into two separate bets. The Queen gave me two more cards: a ten and a three, making my hands eighteen and eleven, respectively. I hit on the eleven and received a ten, making it twenty-one. On my eighteen, I chose to stand.

The other players made their moves, some hitting and others standing. The Queens face was inscrutable as she dealt herself some more cards, giving her a twenty-one once again. My heart raced as she drew another card: a seven. She busted but kept smiling this time.

I realized I had won both hands. Even though I knew I was good at this, the thrill of victory was almost overwhelming. I gathered the coins, my confidence growing with each win. The other players' faces grew more nervous every round.

We played several more rounds, the tension ebbing and flowing with each hand. Ribs cracked and moans of pure pain pierced my ears. Luckily, I was spared. Yet, the one rib cracker that still dug in my flesh kept hurting a lot.

My strategy of playing conservatively paid off, and I found myself ahead by a significant margin. As the game went on, the bag of coins in front of the other players began to empty. As well as the Queen's bag.

Niragi

If I knew before that citizen had this amount of control over Borderland, I would've tried to hack their devices earlier on. But time couldn't be turned so I had to be happy that I only knew it now.

I commanded the laptop to copy everything useful to its own data base and leaned back.

Chishiya

This was it. This was the final round. I knew I had won, because the Queen of Diamonds looked at me nervously. My head felt dizzy as I lost a lot of blood, but I tried to stay focused for a little longer. I smirked as I slowly put down my cards to reveal my final bet. As she saw my numbers, a single tear dripped down her cheek.

'I must admit that you are a good opponent, Chishiya. To be honest, I was almost sure I'd lose to you from the moment I saw you' she whispered. The other players' eyes shifted from her to me and back, scared of what would follow.

As the Queen laid her hand on the first players' only coin, the last rib cracker in their vest cracked, piercing his own rib right through his heart. A stream of blood flowed out of his chest and his body started to tremble. He fell off the chair and laid completely still. Dead.

She went around the table and the same happened with the other players. She stopped before me and handed me the coins with an official gesture.

'You are a smart man. That kept you alive. I envy you. I envy you because you can stay in Borderland even longer. Together with your boy, you can become great citizen' she said.

For a moment, time stood still. I thought about what she had said and wiped away the idea of becoming Citizen. With my knowledge, I already decided that I wanted to go back.

The pain began to feel unbearable. She crossed the table again and grabbed her last coin between her gloved fingers. 'Thank you for this game' she smiled. And she tossed the last of her coins my way.

Luck and strategy had worked hand in hand for me this time. I plucked the coin out of the air as I smiled before I lost conciousness and my body fell on the ground. A beam of red light came through the ceiling to pierce her head and take her last breath away together with a long and high pitched scream.

Niragi

I heard a dull thud in the hallway downstairs, from the table were Chishiya was playing to distract her. Was it him? Was he hurt? I unplugged the laptop, crammed the cable and device under my shirt and stumbled towards the main hall in disbelief.

I heard a pained scream before a beam of red light split the air. A thin, circular hole was visible in the roof from my point of view and I crawled towards the railing of the mezzanine as fast as I could. My eyes fell on Chishiya, laying face down on the ground next to a round table full of playing cards. Did the laser hit him?

I grabbed the railing to pull myself up but fell on the ground again before bursting into uncontrollable sobbing. This couldn't be the end. We didn't finish our plan yet. We were going to be the Kings of Borderland together!

My tears troubled my view as I tried to see whether he was still breathing. Then, I saw a puddle of blood. Not from Chishiya, but from the body that laid next to him: the Queen of Diamonds. The red liquid dripped from the top of her head when I realized that it was her who lost it from the laser. Her and not Chishiya. Did he win from her?

A feisty tune filled the air and the monotonous computer voice started speaking: 'congratulations, players. You won the Queen of Diamonds game. The Queen of Diamonds is now eliminated.'

I sighed and ran off the stairs as fast as I could. I dropped on the floor next to Chishiya and turned his body around, so that he was laying on his back. I looked at him and saw a red dot on his white shirt at the level of his ribs. I grabbed Chishiya's hand as I whispered to him: 'Shiya, are you all right? I'm here, don't leave me...'

His stiff mouth formed a smirk as his eyes opened slightly. 'I outsmarted her, I beat her,' he mumbled through his smiling lips.

I felt relief. If he could still joke around and smirk, his injuries couldn't be so bad, right?

Chishiya

As long as I laid down, I didn't feel a lot of pain from my injured ribs. But I knew that the pain would come when I had to stand up and move. Or when I removed the vest with the rib crackers, that kept everything in place for now.

'We can leave, Shiya! The doors are unlocked. Can you stand up?' Niragi asked with soft puppy eyes.

I tried to shift my legs but the pain blasted through my body immediately. I closed my eyes firmly and nodded no.

'Don't worry, babe. I'll carry you out' he said while he effortlessly picked me up. He pressed his forehead against mine while a tear rolled over his cheek.

'Did you cry?' I smiled.

'I was just worried, okay?' he replied, 'do not tell anyone.'

He carried me out the casino and looked around. He found a staircase on the outside of the building and went up with me in his arms. It all went very quick for me since I lost consciousness several times. All of a sudden, I found myself on a high rooftop, on a blanket and under a sail he had tied over our heads like a tent.

He did go up and down the stairs a couple of times: I saw our backpack and my own clothes laying down next to me. He was also wearing his own clothes again.

'No one will find us here' he said and he smiled. 'Now tell me what to do with you. I want to take care of you' he followed as he lovingly laid his hand on my cheek.

As painful as it was, that vest needed to be removed for my wounds to heal. 'You need to take off this tuxedo and desinfect my body...' I mumbled. After that, everything went dark...

[End of chapter thirty eight]

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Hi y'all. First of all, I'm sorry for not updating in May! I have some exciting news (which is also the excuse for neglecting Wattpad a bit, oops...) because I am writing a Dungeons and Dragons inspired short story which will be published into a real paper book! I am so excited for this, and that's the reason I was a bit slower on this story. As a compensation, I have the next part of GoH almost finished and I will publish it one of the following days. Secondly, I hope you enjoyed reading this part and are looking forward to the next! Votes and comments are appreciated, as always. Love, Midnightwritings.