Frank grinned at the fact that he was given the honor of receiving the name of his captor. He now had a lead to work on when he got out of here.
"Well then, let's get started." said Frank. "I will start with the letter A."
"An accurate guess Mr. Flynn. Here is your puzzle with the letters."
_ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ A _ _ _
"Not much help, but that will have to do. May I ask a question before I continue?"
"Most certainly, but if it happens to be something to revealing about the game or myself, I will not answer."
"Of course. I would expect nothing less. What happens to the people once I guess a letter, since I cannot see them?"
"You know who it happens too when you guess right or wrong, but let me explain their situation. They are both standing on a table and have a noose around their necks, which of course is attached to the ceiling. For every right or wrong guess, a section of their table will crumble. After your seven, the table completely falls apart leaving the person hanging, hence the games name. Satisfied?"
"Completely. My next letter will be E."
"Again, another accurate guess. Well done."
_ E A _ _ E _ _ E _ _ _ _ _ A _ E _
"Interesting. I will go with I."
"That is incorrect Mr. Flynn."
"I believe I will go with two this time. D and L."
"Very good Mr. Flynn, both are correct. I believe you should know the answer now." answered Keel.
D E A D _ E _ _ E L L _ _ _ A L E _
"Although I know the answer, I want to continue to guess." Frank said with a smile.
"Please do not. Unnecessary guesses only waste my time and raise your chances of losing a finger."
"I am aware of that Keel, but revenge is a **** That terrorist bastard used kids as hostages to get away and killed one of my friends. I want him in as much fear as possible. I will guess Q, R, X, Y, and Z. That should leave one wrong answer left."
"I did not expect you to do that. You have not failed, well not yet, to entertain me Mr. Flynn. I believe he just wet his pants. Who would not after having your table almost completely crumble from under you? Do you have an answer Mr. Flynn?"
"I do. DEAD MEN TELL NO TALES."
"Well done. No real complications for you. Your rewards will stay the same, except I will be switching out your position of knowledge with the position of correction. With this position, you will be able to correct your mistake from many years ago as well as getting revenge for your dead friend. I will allow you, not the rope, to kill the terrorist in the red room, but in exchange I need a little favor done. If you happen to survive this place, I want you to use your connection, all of them if you need too, to prevent any investigation on what happened here or myself. Also, you cannot pursuit any leads you may have on me. If you do or fail to prevent an investigation, you will regret it. I will make sure of it. The details of your failure or betrayal will be given once and if it happens. Which position do you want to take Mr. Flynn?"
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Cnix began to shake his leg. He always did something like tapping or shaking a body part when he was under pressure. Instead of distracting himself by looking at the people in the windows, Cnix stared straight.
"I"
"That is an inaccurate guess."
A chunk Cnix's stepmother's table fell to the floor. She could be seen crying out. Maybe begging for God to help her, or that she is sorry for something that she did. Cnix could not here, nor did he care. He even felt a little excitement at the fact that she was terrified, but his finger was at stake and her death was not worth that.
"I will go with three letters this time. A, E, and O." said Cnix with a little smirk.
"Amazing Mr. Blank. They are all correct. I am quite surprised at your luck." replied the voice. "Let me show you the fruit of your labor."
A screen lowed from the floor revealing what Cnix's puzzle looked like.
_ O _ A _ E A _ O _ _ _ _ O _ _ _ _ O_ _
Three chunks of Kate's table fell off. She was crying, but still had a look as if she knew she was going to live. For some strange reason, Cnix had a feeling that she was looking at him. He shook of the feeling and guessed again.
"This time I will go with T, S, and R. That will at least leave me with one extra just in case."
"Again! All three are completely accurate. You talent at luck is astounding! I have never seen someone so lucky. That makes this more fun. I wonder how much longer your luck will last."
The screen now showed the added letters.
_ O _ A _ E A _ O _ _ S T O _ _ S _ O_ T
Another three chunks fell from Kate's table, but this time Cnix was smiling. He with the new letters in place, he knew the answer.
"TO MAKE A LONG STORY SHORT!"
"At least the last part of your puzzle was solved by skill. I was beginning to wonder if you were going to be able to solve it with just your luck. Quite impressive luck Mr. Blank. Your rewards are exactly the same as before. This time around, I will replace scenario of knowledge with the scenario of redemption. This scenario can only happen this one time, if you pass it up, it will never be available again. Like I said before, I am willing to help your mother recover from her misguided ways and reestablish contact between the two of you. All you have to do is sacrifice these two people here. Are willing to do that Mr. Blank? I would be thrilled if I were in your position. So, which scenario will it be?"
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With the instructions given to him, Javier sat down in his beaten up chair and sighed.
"I wish I had my cigs with me right now."
"Maybe for a reward sometime Mr. Gonzaga. First, you need to complete your puzzle."
"May I take it two at a time?" asked Javier curiously.
"Sure, whatever floats your boat, but I do not want to hear any whining about it later." replied Keel.
"Like I would be someone to do that!" Javier shot back. "My first two letters will be E and A"
"You must have luck on your side to guess the first two accurately Mr. Gonzaga." said Keel rather annoyed. "Here are the results."
_ _ A _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E
The man's table in the blue room began to sake a little, and then a little bit more for the second guess. He was already struggling to stay on the table.
"This is not guessing or luck Keel. I am using the most used letters in the English alphabet. This is skill. Next is O and N." replied Javier.
"Smartasses piss me off, but I am rather impressed Mr. Gonzaga. After you are finished, you will have to tell me about this. Your results have been updated."
_ _ A _ _ N _ O N _ _ _ N _ _ E
The table stopped shaking and began to spin. The man in the blue room had to keep moving his feet in order not to tighten the noose around his neck. It then began to spin faster.
"My next guesses will be I and T, not that I really need them."
"If you know the answer Mr. Gonzaga, please tell me."
"Whatever. It is SKATING ON THIN ICE. I kinda figured that you would have it something to do with my lifestyle. It also helps that I can plug the letters in my head."
The table in blue room stopped spinning. The man was panting and sweating.
"I will present you with the same deals as last time…"started Keel.
"I will go freedom again then." replied Javier instantly.
"If you would have let me finished, I would have let you know that you were not allowed to pick the same deal as last time. I do not like being bored, and that bores me."
"Then can we make a deal about killing the cop. He is always on my tail."
"Most certainly. I wanted to replace your deal of freedom with something else anyway. Let me see. How about sacrificing your best client and your addiction to cigarettes, and in return the cop will die? I detest smoking and I do not want any of my rooms to smell like it. How about calling this deal the deal of quitting? You will be quitting on your best customer and cigarettes. Sounds very fitting. Which deal would you like to make Mr. Gonzaga?"
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"My first choice will be E"
"That is correct. Do you just go with random letters too Mr. Guff, or would you prefer to see your results."
"Of course I want to see my results. What idiot wouldn't?" shouted Greg.
A screen on the left side of the room revealed itself showing the results of Greg's guess.
_ E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _
"What a big help that was." said Greg angrily. "Next will be M."
"That is the wrong letter to guess."
Greg was now wondering who was behind the windows. Even if he had a hint of regret, the person behind all this would not let change the situation.
"Damnit all." Greg thought. "I let my anger get the better of me. I need to calm down. Damn I hate this game. I am disappointingly terrible at it."
"L is my next guess."
"Correct Mr. Guff. Here are the results."
_ E L _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ _
"At least that one gave me a few letters." Greg said a little calmer now. "Next will be D."
"Again, that is incorrect. Your next guess. You have five wrong and right guesses left."
"Crap. I am wasting my chances here. P is next."
"Wrong! Try again." said the voice happily.
"Well I am glad at least one of us is having fun. Piece of sh…"
"Your next letter please." interrupted the voice with a slight hint of amusement.
"Bastard. My next letter is O."
"And you finally got another one correct. It is about time."
"I only got two you **** shouted Greg.
"And that is enough to make me bored, especially when such a 'sophisticated' and 'high class' person like yourself is playing. Here is the updated puzzle"
_ E L _ _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _ O L _ _ _ _ _ L _ _ _
"What hell is this **** raged Greg. "I am only getting a few letters for each right guess."
"Quit your whining and tell me your next letter."
Greg gritted his teeth at the fact that this person was toying with him. He was seriously pissing him off.
"A"
"Wow, another one correct. What a surprise."
_ E L A _ _ _ _ _ E _ _ _ _ O L A _ _ _ _ L A _ _
"Now the bastard is making fun of me." thought Greg. "He will pay for this. I swear it."
"I will go with T next."
"Now you are on a role. Well done."
_ E L A _ _ _ _ _ E _ T _ _ O L A _ _ _ _ L A _ T
"Remember, you only have 2 more right answers before the person in the blue room dies." warned the voice.
"I have been keeping track. No need to tell me." murmured Greg. "My next guess will be N."
"Well, that is the end of that role. Wrong. Next guess."
"B"
"You actually did not get two wrong in a row. I am surprised." laughed the voice.
"Would you shut up already!" shouted Greg.
"Here are the results." ignored the voice.
_ E L A _ _ _ _ B E _ T _ _ O L A _ _ _ _ L A _ T
"Another useless letter. I hate this game. It pisses me off and never has a point. AAAARRRRRRHHHH!! I will go with H now." Greg randomly picked
"It is funny Mr. Ruff; this 'stupid game' is apparently winning. What does that make the loser." stated the voice absentmindedly. "Anyway, that letter is correct, which means that the person in the blue room will die, and because of your previous actions, you will never know who it is. Here is your updated puzzle."
H E L A _ _ H _ B E _ T _ H O L A _ _ H _ L A _ T
Greg stared at the letters on the board for a while. For a moment, it looked as if he was going to burst into rage again, but a smirk appeared on his face and he started to laugh.
"Cute! Very cute! I like the way that you think. That is quite the humor you have there Mr…."
"You do not deserve my name Mr. Ruff, nor do I care whether you are impressed or what you think is cute. I only care for you answer."
"Fine then." Greg said rather offended. "The answer to your puzzle is HE LAUGHS BEST WHO LAUGHS LAST."
"That is correct." confirmed the voice. "I have randomly picked a finger to burn off by rolling a die. On the first role, evens indicated the right hand and odds indicated the left hand. After that, I numbered your fingers, thumb firsts, one through five and rolled again to determine the finger to burn off. In this case, it happens to be your right ring finger. Prepare yourself Mr. Ruff."
Greg could feel the increase in temperature on his right ring finger. It quickly became hotter than boiling water. Greg gridded his teeth in order to keep himself from screaming, but as soon as he started to smell burning flesh, he could no longer hold his voice. He roared in pain and anger. He was going to get revenge for this. After about five minutes of complete pain and agony, the ring finally burnt through Greg's finger. He stood there panting and sweating from the pain.
"Sonfab….tha….hurt!" managed Greg.
"Look on the bright side of things. At least you do not need to use disinfectant or anything. The burning took care of all that. You might want to bandage it with part of your clothing. I am sure it is quite sensitive. With that, please enter into the next room."
A door in between the two windows opened.