Scent of Blood

Gideon nodded heavily, shoved Edgar's cold hand away from his wrist, and twisted the heavy brass handle. He forced the door open.

A suffocating stench of fresh blood blasted into the hallway like a physical wall. The coppery scent coated the back of their throats instantly. The three girls huddled in the corridor immediately broke into quiet, hysterical sobs, burying their faces in their hands.

A huge dark red pool seeped into the floorboards. The crimson liquid dripped continuously from the edge of the mattress with a sickening patter. Chloe lay at the center of the carnage. The girl who had been arguing with them just yesterday was now soaking in a sea of her own blood.

Gideon flipped the light switch. He covered his nose with his sleeve and stepped past the threshold to witness the full, gruesome extent of the terror.

Her blonde hair was matted with gore, but her face remained perfectly intact. Right in the center of her forehead sat a small, deep hole. It was the size of a bullet, but the smooth, punched edges indicated something else. A tubular tool had been driven straight through her skull.

Below her neck, her body had been surgically disemboweled. Her flesh and muscle were peeled inside out, exposing her white ribs to the harsh bedroom light. Every single internal organ was missing from her abdominal cavity, leaving behind a hollow, cavernous shell. Gruesome fragments of torn skin and bloody tissue were scattered across the soaked sheets.

Gideon leaned closer, holding his breath against the nauseating odor. The most chilling detail was not the missing organs or the shattered ribcage. It was her expression. Despite the unimaginable carnage inflicted upon her body, Chloe's face was peaceful. A slight, eerie smile rested at the corners of her pale lips. She looked as though she had felt no pain at all, passing away in the middle of a beautiful dream.

Duncan stumbled back into the doorframe. "Fuck!"

His voice trembled. His stomach churned visibly as he tore his gaze away from the hollowed-out corpse. Duncan bolted down the hallway toward the stairwell. He grabbed the latch of the large arched window and threw it open, desperate for fresh air to fight the rising bile in his throat.

Gideon sprinted out of the bedroom and slammed the window shut with brutal force. The glass rattled in the wooden frame.

"From now on, no one is allowed to open any windows!" Gideon snapped.

His sudden, aggressive outburst shattered his usually calm demeanor. The sheer volume of his voice echoed down the silent stairwell. Everyone jumped. They stared at him in shock, terrified by the crack in his composed facade.

Duncan leaned heavily against the wall, wiping a bead of cold sweat from his temple. "Fine. We will keep them shut. We will listen to you."

Gideon turned his back on the horrific scene of the second floor. He marched down the stairs. The rest of the group hurried after him, eager to escape the lingering stench of death.

Once on the first floor, Gideon paced through the living room and the dining area. He obsessively checked every single seal on the ground-floor windows, dragging his fingers along the cracks to ensure no air leaked through. Only when he was satisfied did he pull out a wooden chair and sink into it.

Edgar marched up to him. The exhaustion in Edgar's pale face had morphed into defensive anger. He glared down at Gideon. "What do you mean by this? I need a logical explanation for this bizarre lockdown. Why can't we open the windows?"

Gideon met his gaze with dead, serious eyes. "The smell of blood is too strong. It will inevitably attract dangerous creatures from outside."

Edgar crossed his arms, his gray-blue eyes narrowing in disbelief. "What are you talking about? What dangerous creatures?"

Gideon stood up. He walked to the nearest window and pointed a firm finger out toward the desolate, overgrown yard. "Did you not notice the unnatural swarm of rats when we arrived? This is an uninhabited community in the middle of nowhere. Rats can survive without humans, but not in such huge numbers. They require a significant food supply to thrive like that."

Edgar stammered, his arrogant posture slipping. "Rats can eat anything."

"Clearly, there is only one household here." Gideon stepped closer, forcing Edgar to hold his intense stare. "What else do you think could possibly provide them with so much leftover meat?"

Edgar swallowed hard, the horrifying realization dawning on him.

"If you cannot figure it out, do not think about it. Just remember to never open the windows, or you will face the deadly consequences." Gideon turned away and strode toward the kitchen. The monstrous patient upstairs still needed to be fed.

The first floor fell into an oppressive silence.

Tessa hugged her shivering arms and looked at the floor. "We were so exhausted. We fell into a deep sleep and heard nothing from Chloe's room all night."

Haley nodded quickly, her eyes wide with lingering panic. "Yes, we were so tired from yesterday. We fell asleep right away."

Edgar stood frozen in the center of the room. He clenched his fists, gritting his teeth tightly as the memory surfaced. "I think I heard something. I heard Chloe laughing very softly in the dead of night. And then I heard her call out for her mom."

Duncan paused in the kitchen doorway, the frying pan dangling from his grip. "Her mom? Are you sure you heard that?"

Edgar rubbed the back of his neck, his eyes darting toward the floorboards as if desperately trying to dismiss the memory. "Maybe I was just half-asleep. It was probably a stress-induced hallucination."

Gideon exchanged a tense, knowing look with Duncan. The eerie serenity on Chloe's dead face flashed in Gideon's mind. The peaceful smile. A beautiful dream before being hollowed out.

Gideon turned his attention back to the immediate task. "Duncan, cook pure, unadulterated meat. Do not add anything else to the pan. I am going upstairs to check on the patient's condition."

Duncan nodded slowly, processing the grim command.

Gideon gestured for the other four to follow him. Edgar took a deep breath, nodding his readiness to face whatever lay in the master bedroom. The group trudged back up the wooden stairs, moving in a tight, fearful cluster. The three girls clung to each other, their hands interlocked, trailing closely behind the men.

Gideon stopped in front of the heavy double doors of the patient's room. He pressed down on the latch and pushed the door inward.

A thick, metallic smell of fresh blood instantly assaulted their senses.

The entire group froze. They hovered at the threshold, hesitating in sheer terror. Their eyes darted around the sterile room, searching for the source of the coppery stench. There was no reason for this room to smell like the slaughterhouse they had just left.

At that exact moment, the gigantic, mountainous figure on the reinforced sickbed moved.

The heavy springs groaned under the sudden shift in weight. The patient slowly, mechanically turned his swollen head on the pillow to face the doorway. His breathing was wet and ragged. Right at the corner of his sagging mouth, a horrifying, unmistakable trace of fresh blood stained his pale skin.