The Cycle Continues: Alice in Borderland Novel

3) Six of Clubs [3] ✮

===Rafferty Bucke===

The black ashy air stung my lungs, and I let out another ugly cough. Recovering from the impact, I shouted. "Judumai! I got frozen!"

I panted from the heat which only drew in more ashy air, and my clothes were now completely soaked in sweat. My entire body was sprawled out, my arms layed out in front of me.

Bracing myself, I shouted again. "Judumai! Ju-" A bout of coughing interrupted my scream for help. I paused, shutting my eyes tight and taking a deep breath in. "JUDU-" but it only transitioned into another frenzy of coughs, with me trying to stabilize my body from shaking too much from the convulsions.

'Is this it? At this rate I might die from smoke inhalation before the time limit. But... I'm on the ground! There should be the least smoke here, so why is the air so bad?'

Moving my gaze without turning my head, I gazed at my surroundings, which didn't prove to be too helpful as my head was mostly facing down. But it was there, not too far away from me: a vent on the floor with a plume of coal-black smoke billowing from it.

'Okay, the odds are likely that Judumai is looking for me. He'll likely find me eventually, so what do I do in the meantime?'

I tilted my head further down towards the carpet. 'When you're exhausted you start panting, but isn't it better to breathe through your nose instead? Nose hairs filter out debris, so maybe it'll prevent ash from entering my lungs.'

I slowed my breathing down, squeezing my eyes shut from the burn as snot dripped ran down my chin, dripping onto the carpet. At the very least, the discomfort I was currently in was dulling the effects from the scorpion sting.

Slowing down my breathing, I stayed in this position as the room continued to get hotter, the sweat now pouring out of my clothing puddling onto the carpet.

Then, a thundering explosion, the ripple shaking my body and causing a wave of small trembles from all surrounding furniture. A shower of dusty debris fell from the ceiling, including a dislodged ceiling tile that crashed into my thigh, earning a pained yelp from me as it shattered.

'What was that?'

In that small moment of clarity, every sensation of pain around my body engulfed me as echoes of pain relentlessly beat down on me from my throat, lungs, thigh, and hip. "Judumai." I croaked. "Judum-" I stopped, knowing it would be for no avail.

My bracelet buzzed, and by straining my eyes I saw that the last person had died. Only Judumai remained.

"Five minutes remaining."

'I need to do something. I need to let him know I'm still frozen, but what can I do?'

My body tensed as I racked through my mind, thinking of something, anything, in the rules that could help me out. 'Moving when frozen results in electrocution. From the bracelet. But what if I took it off? How would I do that? Well, what would I do if I hypothetically took it off? Then I'd take off my shoes and run.'

But then the question remains... How could I possibly remove my bracelet?

'Chop my arm off? I'd be dead meat in all future Spades games. But if the bracelets are electric... if I somehow stuffed layers of an insulator between it and my skin, then the shock will have no effect! To do that, I'd have to suffer through a shock, but...

'But... It would take too long to do, I'd have to take off my shorts and stuff it through, but that'll be ten full seconds of electrocution already at a generous underestimation.'