The Good Die Young
"First of all, let me congratulate you on clearing the first two hurdles to freedom. You have each proven your innocence by winning two games designed by our casino staff. However, in this third game, there need not be a single loser nor a single winner. Instead of our staff judging you, you will judge each other. Let me explain the rules to this game from which both of you may escape. You each have three choices: you may Trust your opponent, you may Distrust your opponent, or you may Kill the opponent."
Hunter Price took a long look at her opponent. She knew nothing about him. Not his name, his age, his family, nothing. Except that he was here for the same reason that she was.
"If both of you Trust each other, you both make it out of here alive and with a million dollars each to put the cherry on the top. Alternatively, one of you could Kill the other and take the lot for yourself. But here is the downside to trying something like that. If the opponent Distrusts and you try to Kill, guess what? You die instead! Ha ha ha. Just as there is a downside to Killing, there is a downside to Distrusting. If you Distrust an opponent who doesn't Kill you, you pay with your life. So let's break down the possible scenari that can come up in this game."
If they both Trust each other, they both win our freedom. Trust-Kill means the Trusting player dies, but Trust-Distrust means death for the Distrusting player. Kill-Distrust means that the Killing player dies. If both of them Kill or both of them Distrust, then they both die. Whoever's still standing at the end gets a share of two million dollars. This setup reminded Hunter of Rock-Paper-Scissors. Trust defeats Distrust which defeats Kill which defeats Trust and so on. If there was to be a draw, then it would come down to what was played. If they both Trusted, they would both live, otherwise, they would both die. Hunter decided to break the silence.
"I don't know you and you don't know me. But we both know that this money takes a back seat to our freedom. I'm through with dealing with money, I'm through with my debts. I just want a normal life like the one everyone else gets."
The man standing across from me spoke. "I ran away two years ago to escape the things that were wrong with my life. I faked my death. And now they're giving us each enough to start new lives. I can start over. Let's get out of here alive. Let's Trust one another."
"Is there anything else that anyone wants to say?"
"No I'm ready."
"So am I."
"Then in front of each of you is a box with three buttons in it. Look inside and make sure you press the button corresponding to your choice. There is to be no discussion, and there is no possibility to peek at your opponent. You may have lied during your conversation. This is a game and you are able to lie. If one of you happens to defeat the other, I will not think less of either of you. Please... make your decisions now." The facilitator of this game turned his back to them and the players faced one another as they made the choice that would lead them to freedom.
Once we made our choices, the facilitator turned facing the players once again. "Now that you both have made your decisions, I will reveal them. These are the ones that count." The facilitator pulled a lever and the decisions were revealed. Hunter was left speechless. She chose Trust. Her opponent had chosen Kill. He had condemned Hunter to death.
"One thing I forgot to tell you, girl. I never really was on your side. I just wanted the money to start my life over." He pointed at Hunter. "I don't care about you, ..." He pointed at the facilitator. "... or you." The man walked away after receiving that check for two million dollars. Hunter was taken away by the facilitator, who forced some sort of pill down her throat. After a brief struggle, Hunter stopped moving. The facilitator then carried Hunter's body out of the room.
The Tribunal
Hunter woke up some time later. She found herself in a larger room than the one used for her Third Trial. With her were twelve others wondering where they were and how they got there. None of the thirteen had any idea of their purpose here. They continued talking for minutes until a television screen came to life. A man in a hood and a mask appeared.
"Welcome to the Tribunal! All of you here have each defeated two members of our casino staff. Sadly, in the Third Trial, you were all either betrayed, outsmarted or just plain paranoid. All of you should have been killed, but I decided that that's not the way I want to see any of you go. So I decided to give you all one last chance. And like in your Third Trial, you all will play judge, jury and executioner. One at a time, you will be killed off. You will call each other to the stand. The number of people called to the stand can range from 2 to everyone. Those called to the stand will testify to one another in a Trial like the ones which landed you here. The loser from each Trial will die. The method used to call defendants to the stand will differ, so pay attention. One Trial could have you voting people to the stand and another Trial could have you voting people from the stand. For now, we'll start with the basics. Vote for two people. At the end of it all, the two defendants with the most votes will be called to the stand. Good luck to you all. But before I leave, I believe you have a right to know who you are competing against."
The screen turned gray and the words "Defendant No. 01 Kazuo Haramura" appeared on screen. A spotlight appeared and found its way to Kazuo. "This is Kazuo Haramura. He tried to Kill his opponent, but was outsmarted when said opponent chose to Distrust." Kazuo said nothing. The masked man chuckled and moved on to the next defendant. "Defendant No. 02 Holly Dunbar". The spotlight moved to Holly. "She was betrayed in her Third Trial." Thus, the masked man moved down the list of defendants and how they got here.
No. 03 Yuusuke Kataoka was betrayed.
No. 04 Hunter Price was betrayed.
No. 05 Hisashi Takei and his opponent both Distrusted.
No. 06 Clancy Dunbar and his opponent both Distrusted.
No. 07 Kang Jihye was outsmarted.
No. 08 Hans Rothmann was betrayed.
No. 09 Eun Sangju was outsmarted.
No. 10 Makoto Someya was outsmarted.
No. 11 Dieter Zimmermann was betrayed.
No. 12 Alessandra Tivoli was paranoid and wrongly Distrusted her opponent.
No. 13 Sakuya Miyanaga was outsmarted.
"Now that we've taken some time to know each other, you will each vote two of your fellow defendants to the stand. The two defendants with the most votes will stand Trial. There are thirteen separate rooms in which you will cast your votes. Please enter these rooms now." The thirteen each occupied a voting room and were locked inside until everyone cast their votes. Each of the thirteen defendants contemplated on who should stand trial. Minutes felt like hours. The short time it took for them to cast their votes became a full day to them. Once all of the votes were cast, the rooms unlocked and it was time to see the results.
"Your votes have been cast and it is time to display the results." The screen was split into six rows. Equal signs followed by numbers appeared to the left of each row. "=1"," =1", "=3", "=3", "=3", and "=3". To the right, the number of votes that someone received. Two of them received 4 votes, and four of them received 3 votes. But which six would appear on the screen?
Hisashi's name appeared on the bottom row of the screen. He was safe. Knowing this, he sighed a sigh of relief.
"Fuck..." was the only response that Clancy could make.
Hunter's name appeared next on the fourth row. She was safe from the stand as was Alessandra, whose name appeared between that of Hisashi and Hunter. There was one more person who received three votes, who was it?
After a very tense moment, Dieter's name appeared and confirmed that he received only three votes. Now, Dieter was safe. He sighed in relief just as Hisashi did. This left two defendants who each received four votes and seven defendants, none of whom received more than two votes. A 22.22% chance to be called to the stand. Soon, the names of the two called to the stand were revealed.
=1 Kazuo Haramura 4 votes
=1 Hans Rothmann 4 votes
Everyone who did not see their names on the screen could breathe easy. They survived the first trial.