"You're the third today."
"Hmm..." I flipped over the first card: Death.
The man on the other side of the table grimaced. "I knew it."
I gazed up at him. A spark of panic grew into his eyes. His fingers gripped the edge of the table, knuckles turning white against the lacquered surface.
"The others drew this card first?" I asked. "It's not especially uncommon. I mean--"
I cut off as I flipped the second card: Death.
"I knew it." He shot up so quickly the chair flew backward. "I knew it! Do the next one!"
I flipped the third card: Death.
"I-I'm so sorry," I stammered. "I must have mixed up my spares somehow, I could have sworn..."
"No, damn it!" He reached across the table and swept the remaining cards to the floor with his arm. All of them were Death. "It's some kind of horror movie bullshit! Do you understand? It's following me, everywhere I go!"
He stormed out without paying. I watched him charge across the busy street, narrowly missed by a screaming SUV as he leapt into the open door of his taxi. It pulled away from the curb to reveal the shadow of a woman I recognized from the palmistry shop down the street.
She returned my nod as the cab sped off. I grabbed my knife and hurried out into the street to join the hunt.
This one wasn't going to make it out of town.
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