Hold'em to Headstones

“A flush beats a straight,” Death rasped, waving a celebratory hand toward Juliet. The dark-haired teenager tipped her head in a firm nod, then cast her gaze away from Lucci, who was seated to her left. The well-dressed man stared down in tight-lipped sorrow at his losing hand before Death waved its bony hand, and the man exploded into a cloud of ash. His entire collection of poker chips moved, as if pushed by an invisible hand, to join Juliet’s other chips at her side of the table.

The remaining four players all sized each other up. Four hours prior, each of them had invoked Death’s talisman during the full moon, choosing to stake the rest of their lifespan in a poker game against one another. Only one victor would survive this ordeal and be granted the additional lifespan of the losing players.

Danial, a balding man with a beaklike nose sitting to the far left of Death, licked his lips and sized up his medium-sized stack of chips, totaling thirty-five years. He was determined to win. After all, his victory would save over a billion lives. No one else at the table could make the same argument.

Carson, the man sitting beside Danial and wearing a prison jumpsuit, examined his fifteen-year stack of chips and licked his lips. He was scheduled to be executed via the electric chair in eight months for the heinous crimes he had most certainly committed.

Juliet, a sixteen-year-old chess Grandmaster, sat calmly in her chair behind her ninety years’ worth of chips, waiting for the next hand to begin. It had made logical sense for her to join Death’s grim game. Her young age gave her the most starting chips, and her mental prowess made her victory almost assured.

Evelyn, sitting to the far right of Death, sat behind her eight-year stack of chips and thought about her three-year-old daughter, whose childhood she would miss if she lost this poker game. Faced with a terminal diagnosis and a two-year life expectancy, invoking Death’s talisman had offered her hope at witnessing her daughter’s future.

“Proceed or exit?” Death asked, waving a hand toward a rectangle of swirling darkness behind the players. All of them turned to study it. After every hand, Death offered them a choice: abandon the game and return to their lives or play another hand. However, the decision to end the game had to be unanimous and doing so reset the lifespans of the remaining participants.

Carson snorted and pushed a three-month ante into the center pot. “What I’m returning to will bring me right back to you, Mister Bones. No thanks.”

“As if you don’t deserve that fate,” Evelyn said, through clenched teeth. “Some of us have lived morally up until now and actually deserve a second chance at life.”

“Exactly. If there is a heaven, you will no doubt go there, but for someone like me, well, I will need time to undo my eternal sentence. I have the best reason to win this game, sweetie, for that is how I escape damnation.”

“Do you now?” Danial said dryly. “If we are talking about value, I have the most reason to win. I am but five years away from curing cancer, a condition killing millions annually.” He lifted five years’ worth of chips in one hand and rubbed them together. “Upon my victory, this measly sum will increase a thousand times exponentially and spread to all of humanity. I’m sure our silent fourth can do the math on that one.”

Juliet said nothing and stared at the table. It would not benefit her to engage in conversation, as any unnecessary interaction would give her opponents a glimpse into her rationale and mindset. She pushed her three months to join Carson’s bet, and the other two players followed.

“All set.”

Death dealt the next hand.

Carson opened with a five-year bet, causing Evelyn to fold and Juliet and Danial to match. Death flipped the river, and Carson bet another five years, which everyone met. It was time for the reveal.

Death waved his bony hand across the table, and the three pairs of cards all flipped at once, revealing Juliet with pocket aces plus a third from the river, Carson bluffing with a high jack, and Danial with a pair of sevens, one from his hand and the other from the river.

“Three of a kind wins.”

The pool moved to Juliet’s side of the table, bringing her total to a hundred and twenty-one years. Carson ground his teeth and looked pitifully at his remaining five years.

“Ante is raised to six months. Proceed or exit?”

Carson rubbed two of his chips together, laughed, then pushed in his ante. “Do you even gotta ask?”

Evelyn paled at the sight of Carson’s six months sitting at the center of the table. That was a lot of time. Even if she abandoned this game and missed most of her daughter’s life, two years was still valuable time she could spend with her family. She was starting to regret invoking Death’s talisman. Unfortunately, it was too late to turn back now, so she grudgingly matched Carson’s ante.

Danial, on the other hand, was more determined than ever, for he knew his cause was righteous. His entire life’s work was at stake, along with billions of lives. To lose or back out now would mean sacrificing his life’s work. He matched the ante, and Juliet did the same.

“All set.”

Death dealt the next hand.

Danial peered at his cards and bet two years. Everyone matched except for Evelyn, who folded. Death flipped the river to reveal the Four of Hearts, the Queen of Clubs, and the Five of Spades. Danial checked, and everyone assented with a knuckles rap to the felt table. Death flipped the fourth card of the river, revealing the Ten of Clubs. Danial bet another two years, Juliet folded, and Carson’s gaze flickered between his hand and the pot.

The convict licked his lips, knowing that if he lost this hand, it was over for him, for he would barely be able to afford the next ante. “All in,” he said, pushing his chips toward the middle. His eyes flickered up to Danial, cold and menacing. “And just so we are on the same page.” He flipped his two cards to reveal the Two of Hearts and the Seven of Spades.

Danial’s heart thudded in his chest, and he almost did a double-take, looking down at his own hand where he held the Queen of Hearts and the Ten of Clubs, then back to Carson’s hand.

“I know you have the winning hand,” Carson said, verifying that Danial was not hallucinating. “I can see it in your eyes. So, since I have zero leverage, I ask you this: Are you prepared to take my life?”

“Of course he is.” Evelyn’s voice was cold. “I’ve seen your mugshot all over the news. We all have. You are a murderer who is already destined to die.”

“I still have eight months before my execution,” Carson reminded her. “That’s still time for the verdict to be overturned or time for me to escape.”

“As if someone like you deserves that.”

Danial knew she had a point. Carson was a convicted murderer. If he survived, then he could potentially end the lives of many others down the road.

“And who are you to judge the life and death of someone?” Carson asked Evelyn. “He pointed to Danial. “Or him, for that matter. Wouldn’t that make you both just as bad as me?”

Juliet watched the two of them and shifted every so slightly. Carson was semi-right by her estimate. All of them knew what they were signing up for when they joined Death’s game; however, he wasn’t wrong. Danial would be sentencing Carson to death, the same way she had sentenced Lucci to die two hands ago.

Evelyn’s jaw tightened as she looked from Carson to Danial. “What are you waiting for? Finish him.”

Danial imagined a set of scales before him. On one side were the millions of lives he would save by winning Death’s game, and on the other was Carson, a known murderer whose life was a net minus. It was an easy decision.

Taking a steady breath, he pushed his chips into the pile to match Carson’s all-in bet.

Death waved its bony hand across the table, and both Danial and Carson’s cards flipped. “Two pair wins.”

“You son of a…”

Carson exploded into a cloud of black powder, leaving a drifting shadow in his wake.

Three contestants remained.

“Proceed or exit?”

“Exit,” Juliet said, for she was starting to piece together where this game would inevitably lead.

“Exit,” Evelyn said in firm agreement, choosing the same after finally deciding that the remainder of her lifespan was better than none at all.

Danial pushed eight months of chips into the pot. “Unfortunately, it’s too late to back out now. I need to win this game.”

“All set.”

Death dealt the next hand, and after a few rounds of betting, Danial folded, seeing no viable avenue to victory and deciding not to bluff. Juliet stared at her full house, then at Evelyn’s face. It was obvious that Evelyn held nothing in her hand that could win.

Juliet folded, and Evelyn won the pot.

“Ante is raised to one year. Proceed or exit?”

“Listen to me, Danial,” Juliet said firmly. “Proceeding with this game is foolish. We can all choose to leave here and move on with what remains of our lives. This isn’t worth it. Would you really be able to live with yourself, sentencing others to death?”

“It is for that reason I must continue. For many future lives will die prematurely if I back out here. More lives on the line than the ones that sit at this table.” Danial pushed in a year’s worth of chips to the center of the table. Evelyn paled and looked down at the nineteen years and nine months before her, then at Danial’s thirty-four and a half years and Juliet’s a hundred and ten years. She needed to be brave. If she continued folding or merely matching bets, then she would inevitably be the next to leave.

She pushed her ante into the pot and watched Juliet match it.

“All set.”

The cards were dealt, and Evelyn examined her pocket jacks. It was now or never. Time to take a bold risk. She pushed her remaining eighteen years and nine months into the pot.

Evelyn’s face was a billboard. Juliet could immediately tell Evelyn held a decent hand, and judging by the look in Danial’s eye, his was similar, if not better. So, she folded.

Danial sat behind his hand of two cards, one the Queen of Diamonds and the other the King of Spades, and watched Death flip three queens off the river. His eyes swiveled to Evelyn, who sat stiff as a board. He rubbed his two cards together.

Sentencing Carson to death had been an easy decision. After all, the man had committed many atrocities, removing many people from the earth. A net minus. But someone like Evelyn only had the best intentions, to see her daughter grow up. Still, as he had stated before, his cause was noble and would yield the greatest net plus. Therefore, there was only one logical move. He felt no guilt.

Death played out the next two cards and waved a hand, revealing Danial with a four of a kind and Evelyn with a full house.

“Four of a kind wins.”

Evelyn’s eyes widened, and her entire body trembled. “Wah-wait. Hold on. I…”

Evelyn’s body collapsed into ash, and that ash disintegrated, leaving an empty seat. Evelyn’s remaining chips moved to join Danial’s stash. In mere moments, there was no trace that Evelyn had ever sat at the poker table.

“Ante is raised to two years. Proceed or exit?”

Juliet let out a long sigh and stared at Danial. This was what she had feared and tried to avoid by choosing to exit on the last hand. Because now that it was just the two of them, she had already lost. No, she had lost the moment she chose to play Death’s poker game.

Whether Juliet beat Daniel or lost, there was no victory. On the one hand, if she successfully beat him, then he wouldn’t cure cancer and save billions of people down the road. All those people sentenced to early graves because of her victory. That was guilt she would need to live with for her entire extended lifespan. And if she lost to Danial, well then, she would die and lose the entirety of what was to be her life. Regardless, she wasn’t leaving this table without incurring some form of penalty or loss.

Nothing in life is ever achieved without a price. She knew that when she had joined this game and prepared to beat others who had decided to take the same risk. But the lives of others who had decided not to play this game were different. They didn’t get a say in any of this. The entire outcome of this game had grown bigger than she had ever anticipated.

Now, whatever decision she made moving forward was hers to live or die with.

Danial pushed two years of chips into the middle. “Shall we begin?”

Juliet pushed her half of the ante into the pot.

“All set.”

Death dealt Juliet pocket tens and Danial the Jack of Spades and the Queen of Hearts.

“You argue that you need to win this game because your survival will save the most lives,” Juliet began. “How can you know that my survival won’t yield a more favorable outcome?”

Danial raised an eyebrow. She had a point. She was so young that her life was practically a blank slate. There was no telling what she could potentially achieve. “I suppose I don’t. But as far as what I know, I know for certain that my victory will save lives. I prefer to deal in sure things.”

“Like the outcome of a high-stakes poker game.”

“It was my only choice. For if I didn’t play, my potential to save lives would certainly go down the drain.”

“Unless something else stops you. Say you run out of funds for your research. Say the government adds restrictions that hamper your research to the point that it makes achieving your goal impossible. Nothing is certain.”

“Would you be able to stomach that guilt, though? Knowing there is an enormous chance that you are cutting so many lives short.”

“No,” she said. “But I think I found a solution to take away that pressure.”

Juliet studied Danial’s pool of seventy years and bet thirty-five years from her pool of a hundred and seven years. He looked from her to his hand, then matched her bet.

Death flipped the river, revealing the Ten of Clubs, the King of Diamonds, and the Ace of Hearts.

Danial noticed he had a two pair but didn’t want to get too ahead of himself. After all, there was a decent chance that Juliet had been dealt a similar if not better hand. He checked, and Juliet matched by rapping her knuckles against the table’s felt surface.

Death burned a card and placed the Ten of Diamonds face up on the river. Danial thought it over. The only cards that would guarantee Juliet a victory were pocket matching cards that aligned with anything in the river. The odds of that were very low, making this the perfect opportunity for Danial to push.

He moved the rest of his chips to the center of the table. “All in.”

Juliet ran the calculations. She had the third-highest poker hand. The only other two hands that were better were a straight flush or a royal flush. Going off the river, there was no possible hand that Danial could have to beat her.

She had just won.

So now it was up to her. Because whichever decision she chose would bring inevitable guilt. Save a billion lives or deal with a lifetime of guilt for cutting them short. A hard choice, one she didn’t want to make.

So, she wouldn’t.

“Here’s what we will do,” Juliet said, grabbing two different colored poker chips from the table. “I have already beaten you on this hand.”

Danial’s entire body stiffened, and he let out a long, shaky breath. “Oh.”

“But as you stated before, I have a tough decision to make. Which is why I am not going to make it. You are. I am going to place both of my hands behind my back and mix these chips between them, until one holds the red and the other the green.” She held up the green chip. “Choose this one, and I will let you live.” She lifted the other one. “Choose the red one, and you die. Simple.”

She moved the chips behind her back, along with both hands, and began to shuffle them back and forth. “I’ve decided this is the fairest way. All of us decided to take a risk and gamble our lives on Death’s poker game. When you gamble, you leave outcomes to uncertainty. There are two of us, so I’m giving us both a fifty percent chance. Fair odds.”

Danial wanted to argue, but he realized he had nothing to say. She had already technically won. This was both a mercy and a clever way for her to walk out of this game guilt-free. “You’re still not completely cleansed of your guilt,” he said. “You still chose to play Death’s game. Even if I do die, you had a part in it.”

“Perhaps. But this is my attempt to do the right thing, so I at least will have a clean conscience.” She proffered both closed hands to Danial.

“Now choose.”