"Come with us. He is waiting." Huvlei said.
The guys with her were armed, so Rukard felt like he couldn't argue.
"Where are you taking me, where is he?" Rukard asked.
"You're not allowed to know, so don't worry about it, just know that we're going to play a little game with you."
Rukard didn't like the way that sounded at all, but he knew the kinds of things she had done and could guess not only from the way the other men looked, but the fact they were carrying guns, they meant business. As soon as they were all seated in the back of a car, Rukard was blindfolded.
Once they were at the place, they kept the blindfold on until after they were inside. The inside of the building looked familiar, but Rukard couldn't place where he knew it from. The men kept nudging him on with their guns, when finally the hallway opened up into a larger room. They marks on the floor were faded, but he could clearly see what looked like the marks of a basketball court. Rukard's heart sank. School. By the faint smells the place had been shut for years, and there were signs of dust all over. Their elementary school? He had heard that the elementary school had been shut down a couple of years after they had all graduated, something about a crazy pillhead threatening to shoot it up and then the mayor calling for its closure because a new school was being built. Not to mention that they found toxic mold growing in the locker rooms.
Yep, Rukard knew this was not good news. There in the middle of the court was Beedde in all his glory, but he wasn't the only one there. Sitting in a chair was his uncle looking as if he just wanted to die.
"Uncle Auftou? What are you doing here?"
"It's simple, we're here to play a little game. You've done well to make it this far, but don't worry, I'm not your opponent yet. We'll see how long that remains true though." Beedde laughed.
With a wave of his hand, Beedde cued one of his men to get something. When he came back, he had Meimei wheelchair bound, but clearly awakened from her coma, it didn't seem like she could move anything but her upper body and she was obviously scared and confused about all of it.
"Meimei! What is all of this?"
"I told you already, it's a game! Now sit in your seat here and cooperate or someone will get hurt." Beedde motioned, the motion alone reminded him of one time Beedde had tried to strangle him to death, but the tone reenforced that he'd best obey. As he sat, another person appeared from somewhere and sat beside Meimei, resting their head on the back of their chair, a tool case set beside them. It looked like a power tool of some kind and by the way that it was sitting so very near the maniac near Meimei, it was probably a saw, more than likely a chainsaw.
"Great. Let's begin, Rukard, you should be good at this one. Match game. The person with the most matches, wins. I imagine this could probably only last four rounds."
Rukard started to stand up, but quick hands pulled the hammers of guns back as also quick hands grabbed for the chainsaw case, they were fast! A lot faster than Rukard, that was for sure. He sat back down and reluctantly went along with the game.
Beedde flipped the cards for each player and kept score. The first round, Rukard lost, the consequences were exactly what he imagined they would be and as Meimei lost a leg, Rukard lost his lunch.
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As the gods were watching the game within their game, Neline handed over his pot from his loss of Glimon, and it was looking like someone else might soon lose their champion to the humans' games.
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"Next time I'm gonna take her arm!" The maniac giggled.
Auftou didn't look like he was really trying one way or the other, he barely looked present, but he continued to play, picking cards at random. This time Auftou lost, but nothing seemed to happen as a result, Rukard could only worry what that meant.
Another round, another loss for Auftou, then a bang as Grandpa Rukard appeared from somewhere, blood trailing from a tourniquet tied off where his right foot should have been.
"Grandpa! They got you too?"
"I messed up. Won't happen again. Just what are you doing to my grandkids?"
Beedde clapped like this was the greatest show he'd ever seen, "Color me surprised you made it all the way in here. Let the game continue!"
Some of gunmen kept their eyes and aim on the old man while the man at Rukard's back tapped his shoulder to make him continue playing, and this round, Rukard lost again. Guns blazed as they tried to hit the old man on his dive toward Meimei, the chainsaw maniac got up and tried for Meimei, only to rip through the grandpa's shoulder. Rukard ran free to his sister and grandpa's side.
"Go Boy, get your revenge. Avenge us and then promise me you'll live on and find a new purpose." As the light left the old man's eyes, Rukard could tell he was remembering the times that he and Meimei would treat him like a normal grandpa when even his own son had been afraid of him, and just as the teary eyed Rukard looked up from his grandfather's body, his eyes met a bloodied blade sticking clean through Meimei's back and out of her chest. "R-Rukard." She only barely managed to gasp out.
"This is the consequence for him interfering." Beedde said coldly.
"Oops I think I broke her!" Came the voice of Huvlei as she wheeled out a gurney with the dead body of Auftou's wife just as sirens in the distance began to grow closer.
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"Welp, she ended up dying anyway." Zulkris paid her share.
"Well there's only four of us left. I have a feeling it's going to be a while before the game is decided." Konjah said.
"Especially since your boy's going to prison, that's hardly fair." Kiein said.
"Yeah. Humans are so weird. If we're lucky, things might pick up again in another five years."
