Grim Awakening

Gideon leaned against the wall, crossing his arms as he waited for the others to answer.

A young man in a wrinkled jacket nervously rubbed the back of his neck. "I was riding on the city bus. I felt dizzy and dozed off for a second. When I opened my eyes, I was sitting on that damp little boat."

Haley Vargas, a short-haired girl still wearing her private school uniform, hugged her knees to her chest on the sofa. "Same here. I was sitting at my desk doing my math homework. I felt so tired out of nowhere. I fell asleep for just a bit, and then I woke up out there on the water."

Murmurs spread across the plush living room. Everyone started sharing their final memories before arriving in this nightmare. They soon realized they all shared the exact same bizarre method of abduction. Sudden, overwhelming exhaustion had hit them in the middle of their mundane, daily routines. When they woke up, they were trapped on that small boat in the middle of a misty, endless lake.

It was as if they had all been hit by a coordinated curse.

A fresh wave of terror settled heavily over the group.

"Fuck, this is some ghostly shit." Duncan rubbed a thick hand over his bearded face, his voice rumbling with coarse dread.

Tessa clamped her hands together in her lap. She kept her gaze fixed on the coffee table. "Is it possible that this is just a special way to start an adventure program? After all, many adventure reality TV shows have weird, immersive setups like this."

Duncan snapped his head toward her, his eyes flashing with disbelief. "Did you forget about Simon? Would a reality show dismember a living person?"

Tessa flinched, her pupils shaking behind her lenses. "Nowadays, many shows have realistic practical effects. What if it is just a prop for the cameras? The blood that sprayed everywhere could be fake. With today's technology, they can use chemicals to create something that looks exactly like blood. They can even simulate the metallic smell."

She spoke fast, her words tumbling over one another. She was brainwashing herself, trying to convince her fragile mind that this was merely an elaborate game.

Gideon pushed off the wall. He needed to crush this delusion before it got them all killed. Carelessness born from denial was a fatal flaw.

"It is not chemically made. That was real human blood." Gideon kept his voice flat and clinical, shattering Tessa's final shred of self-deception.

Tessa gasped, shrinking back into the sofa cushions.

"I studied medicine and have done countless hands-on experiments," Gideon continued, stepping closer to the center of the room. "I can tell you clearly, that is human blood. It is not chemically synthesized, and it is not animal blood. The blood floating on the water was fresh human blood. And the severed limbs were also very recently detached."

Gideon paused, his own words leaving a sour taste in his mouth. He lowered his voice, forcing himself to confront the grotesque reality of the dock. The raw muscle tissue, the splintered bone, the horrific amount of arterial spray. It was a scene straight from a slaughterhouse.

"Stop it!" Haley threw her arms around the trembling Tessa, burying her face against the older woman's shoulder to interrupt Gideon's grim assessment.

Gideon clamped his mouth shut. He watched the two girls shaking and clutching each other. A sharp twinge of guilt pinched his chest. No wonder they were terrified. Anyone plucked from a normal life would be paralyzed by such a gruesome sight. It was the kind of trauma that left a lifelong shadow. Only someone like him, who frequently dealt with corpses and anatomy, could maintain a rational exterior.

"Anyway, let us focus on how to survive these four days first." Edgar Finch finally broke the heavy silence. The silver-haired, blue-eyed professor adjusted his posture in the armchair. "We need to take care of the patient for four days straight. There are seven of us here. Four women and three men. How should we divide the tasks?"

An uncomfortable quiet blanketed the living room. People shifted nervously, avoiding eye contact. No one knew how to arrange a work schedule in a house that felt like a death trap.

Seeing no one else stepping up, Duncan took the initiative. "How about the women do the laundry and handle the cooking, and the men will take care of the patient."

"Why?" Chloe uncrossed her legs and sprang up from the sofa. The blonde glared at the large, bearded man. "That fat guy upstairs is practically dead. Anyone with eyes can see that taking care of the patient is the easiest job in this place. You guys are just snatching the easy task for yourselves."

Duncan scowled, his fists clenching at his sides.

Chloe sneered, crossing her arms. "Who wants to do laundry and cook for you stinky men? It is degrading and unlucky."

"But we need to physically turn the patient over to clean him. How can you girls manage that kind of dead weight?" Duncan tried to reason with her, his voice rising in frustration.

Chloe opened her mouth to shoot back an insult, but Gideon stepped between them. He grabbed Duncan's arm and shook his head, signaling the older man not to engage in a pointless argument.

Gideon turned his attention to Chloe. "I will switch with you. I will do the laundry and the cooking. You can take care of the patient. We will do twelve-hour shifts, from nine in the morning to ten at night. After ten, we all rest."

Chloe looked Gideon up and down, sizing him up. She gave a curt nod. "Thanks."

Gideon turned toward the other three women huddled on the sofas. "What about you? Do you want to switch tasks too?"

Haley nodded her head, making her choice clear.

Maya Silva, who had remained silent the entire time, timidly raised her hand. "I... I really cannot cook."

"It is okay. Then you can take care of the patient," Gideon replied. In modern society, basic survival skills like cooking were becoming rare. With the fast-paced nature of city life, most people preferred to order takeout to save time.

Gideon shifted his gaze to the professor. "Mr. Finch, can you cook?"

Edgar stared down at his polished shoes. His prolonged silence served as a definitive negative answer.

Duncan and Gideon exchanged a quick glance.

"Then Mr. Finch, you will also take care of the patient," Gideon decided.

The house layout naturally divided them. The patient's room was located on the second floor, while the kitchen and utility areas were on the first floor. Therefore, the room allocation was simple. Those taking care of the patient would stay on the second floor. Those doing the laundry and cooking would remain on the first floor.

Now that the tasks were assigned, the tense group finally broke apart. Everyone dispersed, eager to escape the suffocating atmosphere of the living room.

Chloe flipped her blonde hair over her shoulder and marched toward the staircase. Her heels clicked loudly against the floorboards.

Halfway up the steps, she stopped abruptly.

Turning back, she shouted down at Gideon, "Hey, aren't you in charge of cooking? It's already past five, I'm hungry!"

With that, she stomped the rest of the way upstairs.