#20 - Split Share

Current Chip Count:

Robin; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Elias, Jade, Theo, Oscar)

Caleb; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves.

Cleo; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Rafael)

Eve; 0 live, 10 full dead, 0 halves.

Visor; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves.

Lilith; 9 live, 0 full dead, 2 halves. (Holds; Leonie)

Robin looked at her hand; Queen of Hearts, Two of Clubs. The queen wasn’t a bad start. She turned to Harm, to see what his next move would be. She couldn’t help but glare, even if Wr8 had pushed him, he was still the one responsible for Elena’s death. Knowing her own fantasies, urges and desires, she knew it was hypocritical, but so was his desire to go and play the hero now.

The dark-eyed man looked up from his cards, behind the dark locks of hair which hung loosely across his eyes. A man Robin had imagined to be controlled and clean, looked rugged and worn instead. He smiled uneasily at his cards, looking over the faces of his competition. His large hand slowly reaching for one of the tinies in front of him, before coming to halt.

His eyes had stopped analyzing the players, and fallen on the large chip with the artwork of a blind tiny, in front of which lay the lower body of the innocent man who’d been butchered to pay its tithe. Harm looked at Robin, his chest raising with a deep sigh, before he lowered his hand, the cards face down, and pushed them out onto the table.

“I fold,” he said, turning to Cleo, who was up next. “You have to fold too.”

“I think I have a good card though,” Cleo said, with a fragile pitch, as she looked down, wondering which of the people in front of her she’d have to risk.

“You need to fold,” Harm said, making it sound more like a command this time. “Robin needs to win what Lilith put in…”

Cleo looked down at the half body in front of Lilith. She understood immediately. This situation was dark, messy, but if Robin won this game, she wouldn’t have to resort to killing anyone herself. The indigo-haired girl nodded, and lowered her cards onto the table to fold, before looking at Eve, the one up next.

Eve cackled, “You think playing with another killer’s corpses is gonna save your soul?”

“All you have to bet are corpses, if you lose it could build up their pool of them quite quickly,” Lilith said. “If you hadn’t been so gung-ho with your stack, you might have been able to force their hand more, the way you seem to like to do.”

“Maybe you’re right,” Eve said, as she pulled the dead woman out of her cava to call the bet. “But she’ll have to win this round first.”

Visor looked down at his card ranking sheet, then back at his cards.

Eve shot him a patronizing smirk, “You sure you don’t wanna take that stupid helmet off? Can you even read your cards though that visor?”

Visor swung his head towards her with a sassy wiggle, “Of course I can…”

He turned back to his cards, extending his arm away from him, before bringing them closer again, like an old woman struggling without her glasses, “I got two aces! No wait, that’s the Ninja of Triangles.”

“Oh, now I see,” he said, pointing at the left card in his hand. “That’s the one that lets me change the color, and forces the next player to draw four cards.”

Without much care for his comfort or wellbeing, Visor grabbed a man from his pool of tinies and called the bet, throwing the man a few inches in front of him.

“I’ll get that helmet off you if you lose,” Lilith said, as she raised the upside-down glass, and threw in the other half of the man she’d split, evening herself with the current bet. “Just don’t blame me when your head pops off along with it, like a Lego figure.”

Visor cocked his head, “Careful cutes, you flirting like that is gonna get me bricked up.”

Robin looked down, she could just keep the bet as was for now: the one tiny she’d been forced to put in. No need to raise it, she called.

Mrs. Hat let three more cards fly up from the Rabbit deck, revealing the flop. The first three community cards floated down on top of the table, flipping themselves over; Jack of Diamonds, King of Hearts, Ten of Clubs.

“Pair of Kings…” Cleo muttered under her breath, calling out the hand she would’ve had.

Lilith sighed, and lowered her cards face down, folding.

“Why are you dropping out, the bet hasn’t been raised yet?” Visor commented. “Could just ride it out and see.”

“I know,” Lilith said, before turning to Robin with a sweet smile, leaving the two halves she put in up for grabs.

Robin didn’t have a decent hand yet, all she could hope for at this stage was a high card with her queen. She checked, leaving the bet at one tiny.

Eve and Visor did the same, looking at their cards and checking without another word, before Mrs. Hat revealed the turn. The fourth card flipped itself over; Queen of Diamonds.

Robin let out an audible sigh which drew the attention of everyone at the table. So much for a poker face. She looked at Wr8, trying to read her confidence, while cursing the unfairness of Visor’s unreadable helmet.

Jade looked up at her, nodding, as if to ask if she had a good hand. Robin responded by grabbing the tiny man next to her, and raising the bet with him. Unlike the previous tiny, he kept absolutely still in fear.

Eve dropped her cards face down, Visor followed. The game wouldn’t be played out to its end, everyone but Robin had bailed out. Her excitement had given it away; there was no need for them to risk it.

Through the morbid use of the corpses already in play, Robin’s line would remain uncrossed, for now.

Mrs. Hat raised her hand, and all the tinies in play floated towards Robin; the two she had put in, the live man from Visor, a drowned woman from Eve, and the two halves of the man Lilith had split in half.

Current Chip Count:

Robin; 11 live, 1 full dead, 2 halves. (Holds; Elias, Jade, Theo, Oscar)

Caleb; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves.

Cleo; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Rafael)

Eve; 0 live, 9 full dead, 0 halves.

Visor; 9 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves.

Lilith; 9 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Leonie)

The cards floated back into the rabbit deck, which in turn floated up towards Master Rabbit, who began to shuffle, looking out across the view of the glowing cityscape. The next game’s cards were dealt out from the deck with the hat symbol on it, floating into each player’s hand, as the blinds dragged themselves across the green carpet surface, the small in front of Robin, and the big in front of Harm.

“Elias,” Theo said. “You’re good at games like this, right?”

“Yes, and?”

“Maybe look at Robin’s cards, help her make decisions. She’s still relying on a sheet.”

“Why?” Elias said, shaking his head. “To help her win more people to eventually kill?”

“Robin won’t kill anyone,” Oscar said.

“You still believe that?”

Jade limped up to him, grabbing both of the white-haired boy’s shoulders, “If not for Robin, then to stop us from ending up with that monster.”

Elias followed where Jade was looking, seeing Eve look at her cards.

“I’ll help, if it comes to that,” he said, before shaking his shoulders free from Jade’s grip. “For now, she’s on her own.”

“You know this woman?” a man in his forties asked.

“Yes, she’s our friend,” Oscar answered.

A woman turned to them, “A-Are we safer with her?”

“Y-Yes,” Oscar said.

“Safety is fucked up spectrum at this point,” Elias said. “Our so-called friend is a monster. Just look at what she did to her leg.”

The woman looked at Jade’s lower leg, which was still wrapped in cloth, then to her face. The desperate look of the woman disarmed Jade. She had no idea how to reassure her, how to explain it away like her perspective of Robin allowed her to do. To any normal person, Robin was a monster, and there was nothing she could say to sell the other tinies on the idea that she was anything else.

“Dammit, Elias,” Oscar said.

Elias shrugged, “It’s the truth. No one here is gonna join your sick worshipper cult.”

Robin heard the entire conversation, but pretended she didn’t, focusing on her cards; Ace of Hearts, Four of Spades. An ace was a good start. She grabbed the upper body of the dead Southeast Asian man and threw it out in front of her, the loose guts spilling out even more. There was a little bit of blood on her thumb now, but it wasn’t any she had spilled.

Looking away from his hand (Ten of Spades, Six of Hearts), the giant next to her had heard the conversation too. Harm stared at Jade’s leg in hurt disbelief. As gentle as he could, he grabbed one of the cowering women in his stack and set her down as his blind bet, before addressing Robin.

“You told me you came out to them.”

Robin turned to him, grinding her right molars, “I did.”

“Said you did so healthily; that they took it well.”

“I lied.”

Caleb squeezed his eyes shut, the lump in his throat stopping him from saying another word.

Theo looked up at the giant, trying to puzzle together who this killer really was to Robin.

Cleo looked at them too, not fully understanding, but feeling the hurt all the same. She lowered her cards to the table, folding and thereby following the same strategy to make sure Harm wouldn’t have to hurt anyone.

Eve called throwing out another dead body from her morgue, followed by Visor, who added a live tiny to the prize pool. Lilith folded again.

The flop cards revealed themselves; Five of Clubs, Six of Diamonds, Three of Clubs.

Harm tried to hold in a sigh, not to show his opponents anything. The six gave him at least a pair.

“Ooh, six that’s a pair already!” Visor shouted out loud. “Come on give daddy a joker.”

“There are no jokers,” Lilith said. “No wild cards, remember?”

“Then why do I have a ‘J’?”

“That’s the Jack, idiot,” Eve said.

Harm’s little bit of hope turned to ash. If Visor wasn’t playing dumb and lying about his cards, he was screwed. A low pair like that alone might have won him the game, if there wasn’t a higher hand at play. But if Visor had the same pair, and a higher kicker, that was it. A Jack was only one higher than his Ten of Clubs, just his luck.

It this round didn’t go his way; he’d be forced to kill again. No, this time he would have a choice. He could go down, have his mark struck instead of entertaining the hosts’ sadism. But if he did, could he assure these people were safe? Him and Cleo could rake in more of them to safety together. It was a trolly problem; could he kill one of them to save more of the others?

Robin tossed in the other half of the dead body, calling the one-tiny bet. Harm couldn’t lose face; he couldn’t tip toe around it. He had to play bold, make the other players drop out. Their lives were on the line, and he didn’t care much for his. The others would be more careful; the first game had proven that. He could go all in, but Wr8 would smell the desperation of a suicide bluff. He had to go high, just enough to scare them.

With a gentle hand, one after another Caleb added four tinies to the bet, totaling five. He looked at Eve, daring her to call. To his relief, she folded.

“Alright, alright. Let’s get risky,” Visor said, his cat-ear helmet bouncing as he nodded, before calling the bet and adding four tinies.

Harm couldn’t show his worry, but if Visor wasn’t lying, he’d beat him. The four extra people he’d put at risk would fall in the hands of this psychopath, and it wouldn’t even save him from the choice he dreaded to make. If his mark would be struck mid-game, would the tinies end up in the prize pool of the next game, or be killed on the spot by Hat and Rabbit?

Robin looked at the cards again. She didn’t have a hand yet, just the highest card in the game. She was running on an ace high, when Visor had already called out a pair. If an ace showed up it would beat a six.

As she wrapped her hand around four live tinies, Harm turned to her in shock. “What are you doing?”

“Playing the game,” Robin said coldly.

“If you win, I-”

“You don’t have a soul to save anymore.”

Harm’s tongue pressed against the roof of his mouth, as he struggled to swallow, watching Robin call the bet.

To her it was a blind gamble, one that risked a huge chunk of her defensive wall in return for a massive one, and a chance to punish Harm for what he took for her, for Elena. He was a killer; he might as well live up to the reputation he deserved.

The turn card flipped; Nine of Clubs.

It didn’t bode well for neither Harm nor Robin, but neither of them let it show. They eyed each other with intensity, as all three players left checked the bet without changes.

The river card flipped; Ten of Diamonds.

Harm couldn’t hide his sigh of relief, while Robin’s hissed between her teeth. He had two pairs, she had nothing.

Robin called, while Harm gently lowered two more tinies to raise the bet, forcing Visor and Robin to fold, leaving all the tinies in play to him. He did it, not only would he not have to kill, but he managed to save nine people from the hands of Visor, and a former friend who had proven herself to not be as safe as he had hoped, one who would’ve wanted to see him kill again.

Current Chip Count:

Robin; 7 live, 1 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Elias, Jade, Theo, Oscar)

Caleb; 19 live, 1 full dead, 2 halves.

Cleo; 10 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Rafael)

Eve; 0 live, 8 full dead, 0 halves.

Visor; 4 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves.

Lilith; 9 live, 0 full dead, 0 halves. (Holds; Leonie)

Harm could feel Robin’s eyes on him, but he didn’t turn to look at her; he couldn’t look at her again, not after what she just did. To his surprise Lilith was the one to say the words he couldn’t.

“That was a childish fucking move,” she said.

Robin eyed her with disgust, “I don’t need to hear that from someone who’s already killed two people here.”

“One,” Lilith corrected her. “I can still feel the other squirming a bit. Killed more out there, but that’s not the point I’m trying to make. I folded twice to shield you two from what I am, cause I don’t like people being forced to be something they ain’t. Looks to me, you ain’t keen to share the same kindness. You’re about as good as Eve in my book.”

Eve huffed.

Robin’s eyes widened with rage, fear, pain, “I don’t care about your book, I’m not her.”

“Then act like it.”

Once all the tinies were safely in front of Harm, the cards floated back, the deck was switched, and the blinds moved, the small in front of Harm, the big in front of Cleo. Harm uneasily lowered a dead man’s legs out in front of him.

“Don’t worry,” he said to the almost twenty tinies in front of him. “I know you have no reason to trust me, but you’re safe with me.”

He nodded to Cleo, who carefully and apologetically put a tiny man out in front of her, “I’m so-so sorry, Sir!”

Eve chuckled before looking at Master Rabbit still shuffling the hat deck. “You two have been awful quiet, why don’t you join us. Have a drink yourself.”

“We are simply the hosts of the game,” the Rabbit said, “and I am proud to say I haven’t had a drink in years.”

Visor chuckled, “If it were up to this hag, she’d drown you in booze, literally.”

Eve grew a little smile at that, feeling complimented for the first time, while Robin looked down at the proof of that in front of her, the one dead woman in her ‘chip stack’.

Cleo looked at her hand; Eight of Hearts, Four of Spades. It wasn’t a great start, but who knows what cards might be revealed. There is always hope, always a positive mindset to find. This had worked out for Robin and Harm. It would work for her too. She looked to see what Wr8 would do, keeping a brave little smile on her face that said, bring it, you scary witch.

Eve looked at her cards, her eyes flexing into a bulge for a split second, making them look even more crazed than they already were. Don’t let it go to your head, Cleo. She’s just playing mind games.

Eve grabbed two dead bodies from her collection, throwing them out in front of her, raising the bet. Just mind games Cleo, just mind games.

Visor looked at Cleo, tilting his head adorably, before folding. “Shielding people, huh? I’m game. Never tell me I don’t have a soft spot.”

Eve scoffed, “Oh, don’t start. Either you’re just trying to impress your new girlfriend over there, or you’re starting to feel just how little you got left.”

“Who can say for sure, me being an all-round good guy sounds better in my opinion,” Visor said, turning to Lilith. “What do you think, girlfriend?”

Lilith folded as well, giving Cleo a reassuring smile, before addressing Visor’s comment, “Girlfriend, huh? I’m usually not a fan of chasers.”

“I don’t like being chased much either,” the rider said. “ACAB am I right?”

Lilith let out an involuntary giggle, his comment actually sending her a bit. The movement of her laughter causing something to burst beneath her leg; something gooey and squishy.

After two poker rounds of suffering, Lucas had finally burst open under her weight, his last thoughts filled with the regret of what he had gotten himself into, of what he had postured himself to be, of how he had tried to cope with the powerlessness he felt in everyday life.

He’d cried at the realization he’d die underneath one of the few freaks he imagined his miserable self to be above, until a simple movement caused by her laughter wiped all those tears away, along with his flesh, bones and everything else inside him, until he was but a simple streak of misery drying into her skin.

Robin lowered her cards to fold as well.

Harm called the bet, offering the upper half of the split body, and a live person. “I’ll fold after this. I still have a body, better for you to have two pieces.”

Cleo nodded, scared, unsure, but trying to speak some courage into herself, before calling the bet, carefully placing another tiny in front of her, “I-I’m sorry…”

The flop revealed itself; Three of Diamonds, King of Spades, Jack of Hearts.

Cleo’s heart sank. Not even a single pair. No this wasn’t it. This couldn’t be it. There were two more cards left. Something magical always happens right there at the end, when all is lost. She wouldn’t have to face the small blind without someone who was already dead, there is no way she’d be forced to hurt someone. She simply couldn’t imagine a reality in which that was the outcome. Mind over matter Cleo. Mind over matter.

Harm folded and Cleo checked.

Eve grinned at the community cards, before looking around the table. “Everyone folded, just me and sweet little QTpops. Alright, if you wanna leave her with me, that’s fine.”

Eve picked up one of the corpses in her stack and pulled it in half, throwing the upper body onto the pile in front of her. “I raise…”

Cleo squeaked, “W-What?”

“You don’t have to call it,” Harm said. “You can just raise it by half, and add another full person.”

Cleo nodded, starting to feel more and more guilty about putting people on the line in this bet, as she lowered another man in front of her. “It’s ok, I’ll win you back. You’ll be safe.”

Eve grinned, as she threw another full corpse out onto her pile, which raised the bet by half again.

“Stop!” Cleo yelped.

“Stop?” Eve cackled. “That’s how you play a game of face? Visible desperation?! Squirm or face what you are princess. The only way you can stop me from betting is by calling the exact amount, not raising.”

Cleo lowered another man in front of her, raising the bet by half. “I’m so sorry, but I can’t lose.”

Another corpse flew onto Eve’s piles, as the hag grin winded.

“You’re losing too many chips,” Lilith said, “you should fold.”

Harm put his elbows on the table, pushing his forehead into his palms, “I think Lilith is right Cleo. Eve seems pretty confident with her hand, she’s sandbagging you. Unless you’re sure you can win, you should fold.”

“But the last two cards haven’t been shown yet!” Cleo said, revealing to everyone in just how bad of a predicament she was.

“Cleo fold! Fold now!” Harm said.

“I don’t wanna hurt anyone…”

“She has enough corpses to force you to bet until you only have two people left. You’ll be at risk!”

“I don’t care!”

“Treat will be at risk!”

Cleo looked down at Rafael, her little Jellybean.

The boy grabbed the tip of her finger tightly, reassuring her, “Do what you think is right, Cleo.”

“One more raise then,” Eve said with a playful tone. “I promise I’ll call the next one. Those last two cards might fix everything.”

Cleo gently put another person out in front of her, too shaken up to apologize this time.

Eve, tempted to throw out another full corpse, came through on her promise, and threw out the other half of the corpse she had split. “There, called.”

The fourth card revealed itself; Two of Spades. Still nothing that Cleo could make a hand with. This wasn’t just mind games. This wasn’t anything positivity could fix. This was hell, and she’d be forced to play the role of a demon. She checked, and so did Eve.

The fifth card flipped; Two of Diamonds. It was over. All Cleo had was an eight high card.

The smile on Eve’s face turned to sadistic wonder. “You were right, the last two cards made everything so much better.”

Cleo lowered her head and checked. Without mercy, Eve threw three more corpses on the pile. Her entire stack of eight people (one split in half) lay in front of her.

“All-in,” Eve said with a toothy grin.

Lilith sighed, “Cleo, it’s not worth it.”

Cleo stared out across the table; Visor, quiet for the first time; Harm, the look on his face echoing her pain, as he was unable to advise her; Robin, shaking her head, telling her not to.

“I call,” Cleo said, resisting the urge to break down crying, as she lowered three more people into what everyone already knew would be their doom.

“Well then, showdown,” Mrs. Hat said.

Cleo and Eve lowered their cards revealing their hands. Cleo’s cards were useless; Eight of Hearts and Four of Spades. Her pair of two was a shared one in the community cards. Eve’s cards; King of Diamonds, King of Hearts, combined with the King of Spades on the table, and the pair of twos, made up a-

“Full house!” Eve shouted.

The tiny people floated off towards the monster Cleo had sent them to, as the cards slid themselves back into the deck, and the decks got switched again. The blinds moved; the small in front of Cleo, the big in front of Eve.

“No more weaseling your way out of it now, princess,” Eve snarled.

Cleo looked down, the only tinies left in front of her were her boyfriend, and a tiny man, whose name she didn’t even know. The choice between them was obvious, so simple, it was a cruel joke on the blond man, who stared up at her in horror, as Cleo began to sniffle.

“I’m sorry,” she said. “I am so sorry…”