Seven

Chapter 12- The Final Two

Mario sat up when he heard a knock at the library's door. Who would be knocking, he thought to himself. Surely it's not the staff. Mario carefully pulled away from Carmen, who was sleeping on his shoulder, and got up to answer the door.

He opened it to see Winston standing there, his face as emotionless as usual. "Good morning, Player 6. I have come to let you know that breakfast will be served in the dining room in exactly ten minutes." His eyes moved behind Mario where he saw Carmen sleeping on the plush red couch in front of the fireplace. "If it's not too much trouble, please pass this message along to Player 4."

"Okay," Mario replied as Winston turned and walked away.

"Who was that?" Carmen asked tiredly, sitting up and stretching her arms over her head.

"Winston. He said breakfast will be served in ten minutes," Mario replied, mocking Winston's monotone voice.

Carmen laughed. "Good, I'm starving."

"I can't believe we slept in here all night," Mario said, sitting back down on the couch next to her. "Well, for three hours anyway."

"It's the first time I've slept since I've been here."

"Me too," Mario nodded.

"So what do we do today? Take advantage of the open bar?" she smirked.

Mario almost disagreed with her right away, but he paused and gave it some real thought before he responded. Being drunk in this house, with these people seemed like an idiotic thing to do. He was basically welcoming something stupid to happen to him. But then again, surely they wouldn't want anything to happen to the final three players. It would mess up the final game and Mario had figured out by now that the games being played fairly was more important to Dr. Vincent than anything else.

"Yeah...we should definitely do that," he finally said, smirking back.

The pair made their way down to the dining room, the first to arrive other than the few staff who were busy preparing things. They took the seat with their number displayed on a place card, ending up across from each other.

That's when they noticed there were no other place cards at the table. They shared a look as of they'd figured it out at the same time, but neither of them said anything for fear the staff might overhear. Mario had a grim feeling they'd be finding out what happened to Damon sooner or later anyway.

The staff began to bring out dish after dish of the most delicious breakfast food Mario had ever seen- eggs, sausage, bacon, pancakes, muffins. It was a lot of food for only two people.

Mario and Carmen ate their fill, letting their minds focus on something else if only for a little while. The next game was still a couple of days away, and they had no idea what to expect and therefore, no idea how to prepare themselves. So why not live it up a little? After all, it could very well be their last days on earth.

After they were done eating, the staff cleared the table, but Mario and Carmen were instructed to remain seated for a special announcement. Once the staff had cleared the room, the monitor on the wall turned on revealing Damon in the same room Jackson was in.

You could tell by the look on his face that he expected the worst. He saw what happened to Jackson and he knew he faced a similar choice. Especially when the man dressed in black entered the room. Damon had the same reaction Jackson did- pure terror. Was the man scarred or something? Or just really ugly?

He sat across the table from Damon, keeping his face concealed from the camera. "Player 1, you failed to complete the second game, so I'm here to offer you a choice. Confess to your sins or accept your parting gift."

Mario could tell by the look on Damon's face that he knew what the consequences were to this parting gift. But no one had chosen to confess yet, so he couldn't possibly know what would happen.

Damon took a few seconds to think it over before running his hands over his tired face. He blew out a breath and shrugged. "Something tells me you already know, but if you really want a confession, here it is...a couple of years ago, I was passed over for a part in a movie that I had rightfully earned. I trained for months, dieted like crazy and it was all for nothing. The guy they gave the part to, Brandon Gassaway, was a rival of mine. We had a...habit, I guess you could say, of competing for the same parts. Before he left to fly out to Paris to start filming the movie, I planted cocaine in his suitcase. He was stopped by airport security and tried to run. The police got involved and Brandon was shot and killed. He died because of me, because I was jealous that he got the role and I didn't. Is that what you want to hear?"

Mario and Carmen shared a look. They couldn't believe he'd confess to something like that, but I guess when your life is on the line, you'd probably do a lot of things you thought you'd never do.

"Player 1, you are free to go," the man replied.

The door opened and Damon looked around in surprise. "Are you serious? I'm just...free to go?"

The man nodded, keeping his back to the camera.

Damon stood up from his chair and after a bit of hesitation, he walked across the room and out the door. The monitors turned off leaving Mario and Carmen confused. Did Damon really leave? Or did Dr. Vincent just want them to think that to give them hope? Did he sense they were trying to escape?

And did that mean if Mario lost the final game, did he only need to confess to his crime to go home? If it were that easy, he would've tried losing a long time ago. But as he thought back, there was really know way of knowing what losing might mean.

Jackson never actually participated in any of the games because he broke a rule before they even started. After Mario found out what Jackson was hiding, he wasn't surprised that he chose death over confession. He probably would've done the same if he had done something so horrible.

Kelly died by breaking the rules in the first game. Brandi died because Damon didn't complete the maze in time, and Nine supposedly hung himself. Damon is the first player to choose to confess so Mario really had no way of knowing that's what he should've done.

"Do you really think they just let him walk out of here?" Carmen whispered.

Mario shrugged in response. It's possible Damon was able to leave, but would they actually let him after everything he'd witnessed here? Surely they'd have to buy his silence somehow.

"Players 4 and 6, the staff invites you to join them on the third floor for desert and cocktails this afternoon at 4:00pm. Your attire will be in your chambers waiting for you. Please be in the foyer no later than 3:55pm to be escorted to the banquet room," Winston said, appearing at the end of the table.

Mario and Carmen only stared at him like he was speaking a long-extinct language.

Cocktails?

With the staff?

That didn't sound like too much of a celebration. Of course, there probably wasn't much of a choice in the matter. They would be made to attend, whether they liked it or not.

When neither of them said anything, Winston continued. "You may be excused from breakfast. Please enjoy your free time."

Mario and Carmen exited the dining room and headed back upstairs to the second floor.

"Do you have a feeling that only one of us will be alive in two days?" Carmen asked as they walked along.

Her question caught Mario off guard. Not because he wasn't thinking the same thing, but because it made his chest ache. He hadn't felt such a deep sadness since his mother passed away. In two days, one of them would more than likely be dead while the other would be named the winner. He didn't see any other possible outcome other than maybe having the chance to confess. But would it even matter so late in the games?

Mario realized for the first time that he would either be dead or he'd have to watch Carmen die. And he didn't like either of those outcomes. He had grown fond of Carmen since they'd been here and he didn't want anything to happen to her.

"I don't remember anyone saying only one person could win. Do you? Or...have we just been assuming that?" he finally asked.

"Now that you've mentioned it...I don't really know. Just based on what's happened so far, I wouldn't be surprised if one of us is mutilated in the next game...or possibly even both of us."

Her words sent a shiver down Mario's spine. He hadn't considered the possibility that neither of them would make it out alive. After all that's happened, he shouldn't trust anyone here, especially not Dr. Vincent or the staff. He didn't even trust Carmen, despite the fact that she seemed to be the most normal person here.

"We shouldn't think of that right now," Mario said. "If I only have two days left, then I want to live it up."

Carmen looked up at him and smiled. "You're right. Not everyone is so lucky to know when their time will run out. At least we know what's coming. We can spend the next two days doing all the things we want to do...that we can do here...with the staff watching our every move..."

Even though there was a lot of truth to what Carmen said, Mario only laughed. He meant what he said. He was going to make sure he spent the next two days doing whatever it was he wanted to do.

He went to his bedroom and found a black garment bag spread across the bed. He walked over and picked it up, getting ready to unzip the bag when he noticed something lying on the bed. Mario laid the garment bag back down and picked up the leather bound book. At first, he thought it was the rule book. But this book looked different.

He flipped it open and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw that it was the same book Nine had stolen. Mario dropped it to the floor and kicked it underneath his bed, not wanting any part of it. He wasn't trying to die over something so stupid. The only person left was Carmen, so what the others had done was no longer relevant. Even what Carmen had done was irrelevant to Mario. He couldn't judge anyone and he wouldn't even try. He just wanted to get out of here.

Mario changed into the suit that was provided for him and even though he hadn't worn one since his aunt got married about ten years ago, he couldn't help but think he cleaned up nice. He turned from side to side, checking himself out in the dresser's mirror.

He half expected the attire for tonight to be some kind of aged, moth-eaten nightmare, so he was surprised when he pulled out a three piece Prada suit. Even the shoes were Prada. The slick look didn't seem to match up well with what had been offered so far, but Mario didn't question it. Nothing about this place was as it seemed.

Mario stepped out into the hallway where Richard was standing at his post. He smiled when he saw Mario. "You clean up quite well, sir."

Mario gave him a look at first, but finally nodded. "Thank you."

"Will you be requiring anything for your evening, sir?" Richard asked.

"Uh..."

Richard smirked knowingly, raising an eyebrow. "Perhaps something latex in nature?"

"Oh...um...no, thank you," Mario replied, dumbfounded.

"If you change your mind..." Richard winked.

"Okay then," Mario mumbled, turning to walk away.

That's when he saw Carmen coming down the hallway from the other direction in a short red dress and matching red heels. Her hair was pulled up, which made her look a bit older and more sophisticated. Just the sight of her stopped Mario in his tracks.

"Will you be taking this now, sir?" Richard asked, tapping Mario's arm.

Mario looked down at the foil packet in Richard's hand and smirked. If he only had two more days to live, why the hell not.

"Thanks, Richy," he replied, suddenly feeling more alive than ever.