Fixed Match

"You've got ten minutes. That's five minutes each. Amaze me."

They stared at her miserably. The two victims seemed to be floating, in awkward positions, in some sort of a transparent state. One of them still had a metal pole running through his middle, while the other could swear he still felt his darned useless airbag crushing his ribs.

They assumed it was a 'her' because of the sound of her voice. She was wearing a white, baggy leather jumpsuit with a zip across the front, and a helmet with a darkened visor. Crossing her arms, she began tapping her foot. The victims however weren't too sure what surface she was tapping it against.  

"Alright. So you decided to have a race, the winner being the one who was left alive at the end of it. You're both dead. Now, I have, in my possession," she reached into a pocket the men had not been aware existed, "a vial. This vial contains life-force.
Unfortunately, I can only use it on one of you. So you have five minutes each to state your case and convince me that you need to stay alive. Go."

One of the men, the one with the perforated abdomen, spoke first.

"M-my name's J-jack; he's Tom. We're really good friends, although it may not seem like it now. We used to own a business together, so we bought life insurance on each other to make sure we were covered in case something...unfortunate happened. When the business went bankrupt, we lost everything. We decided to do this...race so that at least one of us would have a chance at a successful life."

"Off of the other one's death?" the mysterious woman seemed more interested than outraged.

"Pretty much," Jack replied, slowly realizing that he couldn't feel any pain. "I have a wife and two children at home. One of...one of my children has learning difficulties. I—I was planning to build a school for children with special needs with some of the insurance money. To help my son and others like him."

Jack was none the wiser of the grimace forming on the face encased in the helmet.

"Also, I just wanted to give my family a comfortable lifestyle. I love my family more than anything else. Maybe I wasn't meant to make a difference, but I'm sure my children are. They deserve a bright future. And I want to be there just to witness it at least, whether or not I have a direct hand in it."

There was a short, painful pause.

"Well, that was sickeningly moving. But you do get points." The mysterious woman turned towards the victim identified as Tom, who hadn't yet spoken a word. "What's your story?"

"I...I don't have one m'am. I think you should give whatever's in that vial to Jack. He seems to deserve it."

Jack began to panic.

"No, that's not true! Tom's done plenty of important things, he's just being modest. He's a philanthropist, he's traveled almost half the world, worked with numerous charities, did so much good in his lifetime!"

"Jack, I suggest you calm down," the woman's smile transformed her tone. "I'm not god. In fact, my name is Geraldine. I have absolutely no interest in morals. I'm not giving Tom the upper hand because he seems selfless. Humans are made up of a load buttons and switches that they turn on and off as it suits them.  Now, let me interrogate him. Tom, think of this as a bare knuckle boxing match. One of you has to die, but there are still rules. No clever tricks allowed."

"I understand. Still, I have no family to go back to. No one that would really care about me. I don't even know what I would do with the money. Also, I—I may have done something horrible."

"Is it in some way related to this incident? Because otherwise you're wasting my time, Tom."

"No, it is. The deal was that we would drive down the coastal road until we reached its edge. It's not completed you see, so there's a part that just slopes off. If one of us had managed to stop in time, that person would have won. But I...I rammed into Jack until he crashed into the protective fence on the side of the road."

"So, you killed him." Geraldine was one again intrigued.

"That I did m'am. I then drove off to the end of the road and didn't stop. I...couldn't take the guilt," Tom's irises spent most of their time in the upper left corners of his sockets.

"I see. Well Jack, it seems like your partner might have just let you deliver a fatal blow. Do you have anything to say? Any objections?  Any last words?"

Jack's silence seemed uncanny; almost guilt-ridden.

"In that case..." the mysterious woman handed Jack the vial.

He barely spared Tom half a glance before he had drunk the contents of the glass tube and began to disappear.

"You're a liar and a coward. I like you. We could get along pretty well," excitement resonated clearly from behind the helmet.

"What? What do you mean?" Tom said, while attempting to stand up. He realized that there was a solid surface beneath his feet.

"Oh come on. I know what happened. I was there. Jack was the one who rammed into you.
Your car fell into the sea, and he got impaled by pole of the safety fence.  You had plenty of material. You could have thrown some pretty good punches. Why did you leave yourself open like that?"

Tom was now standing in front of Geraldine. It only just occurred to him how short she actually was.

"Are you kidding me? That coastal road is in the middle of nowhere. Sure, he survived our little 'competition', but how long does he have left? A couple of hours? And can you imagine the pain?"

"No, no I can't," Geraldine whispered, holding her gloved hand out to Tom.

As the tired victim took what he now thought might be Death's hand, he knew that somewhere in the living world, at that very moment, Jack was bleeding; probably writhing in pain as his organs failed him one by one, screaming at the sheer agony of it all. Yet, best of all, he was probably out there, cursing Tom's name. That was a victory no one could take away from the dearly departed partner.