"Where am I?" Mae hears someone sobbing. Her eyes try to adjust to the brightness around her.

Around her, were four individuals. She didn't know any of them. And, by judging their expressions, everyone seemed to be unknown to each other.

"Please calm down... I know we're lost... And, sometimes, you have the urge to cry when you're unknown to surroundings. There is nothing wrong with crying, but, aren't we all trapped here. Your crying..." A guy started to pacify the crying girl.

"Will not solve anything! Rather it'll upset us even more..." Mae completed the sentence quite brutally. Everyone went quite for sometime.

"I think... We should introduce ourselves first." In a low voice, another girl said. Her eyes looked tired.

"We should..." The last guy said. A little lost with words.
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After calming down a little, everyone introduced themselves. Their story was same. Mae, Abigail, Charlotte, Lucas and Leo- suddenly woke up in complete darkness surrounded by stone walls. The one sobbing before was Abigail, who's a professional singer and who was extremely scared of darkness. The one trying to pacify her was Leo, a carpenter by profession. He was married with two kids. The one suggesting the introduction was Charlotte, a high school student who came from a rich household. She was abducted on her way to home. The last one was Lucas, a chef by profession. He didn't say much afterwards.

It didn't take much time to understand things after everyone had told their stories. Mae realized they have been abducted. Nobody had any idea who could do it. Aside from Abigail and Charlotte, nobody was worth enough to be abducted. One thing was common though. Everyone wanted to escape. Mae, an engineer by profession, was given the leadership to guide everyone out. So, they got up and started making their way through a dark corridor, trying to find a way out.

The group, while walking, discovered another room and realized that they have been placed at the bottom of an abandoned well. The well contained an in-ground toilet, toilet paper and four barrels of water but there was no food. There was also a clock that had thirty-hour marks on it.

"Just what is happening here..." Mae looked around.

"That clock... It's ticking so slowly." Charlotte seemed deep in thought.

"It represents time but not in hours..." Leo looked at the clock.

"From what I see, one mark, most probably, equals one day." Charlotte said.

"Just what is happening here?" Mae looked around frustrated.

"Hello..." A shrill voice echoed around them. Someone had placed a microphone somewhere inside the well.

"I expected everyone to be afraid and scared but, that doesn't seem to be the case here... I'm impressed." The voice said.

"He must be the one who brought us here..." Charlotte said in a low voice.

"Bingo! But, I assure you, I mean no harm... Rather, I'm a scientist. A very good one at that."

"Then please do your experiments inside lab... Why bring us here?" Leo shouted.

"A good question. Let me tell you, how it started... One day, I reviewed a strange police report. A boy and his mother were in a car accident and the boy realized that his mother has died. The boy was trapped inside the car with no way out, until discovered by authorities two weeks later. But two weeks inside a car? Seems unrealistic know? To the authorities' and our surprise, the boy survived the two weeks by eating the flesh of his deceased mother. In the present, I thought why not see the same thing unfold again? So, I have been stalking you, my victims for quite some time."

"We are not eating someone's flesh to remain alive!" Abigail shouted. At this point, she was already sobbing.

"Not someone's... You guys will have to eat each other's flesh. Or you can die starving. Starvation always leads to death. Before death, there may be symptoms like bone loss, muscle wasting, and fatigue. You'll all die dirty... Very dirty."

Everyone was shell shocked at this revelation. Never had they ever thought about being trapped in a situation such as this.

"This place is within my watch. I'll watch and take notes about the group's behaviors behind the monitor of several hidden cameras. Experiment evaluation is important after all. On the second day, a scalpel will appear on one of the barrels of water. A note will be attached to the scalpel which will read as, "the human body can only survive thirty days without eating". After that, there's only death awaiting. The scalpels are designed for cutting into human tissue. Rest is your choice... Die after killing or die of starvation." His voice cut of after the announcement.
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As the days go by, it gets harder to live. The water in the barrels would soon be finished. Nobody knew what was right choice. At that moment, Lucas made a decision. He even convinced Charlotte and Abigail to join hands with him.

They had a plan. A plan to kill Leo, who was already in a very weak condition. Leo missed his kids and the separation was creating anxiety. But, there was a problem. The scalpel. The tool which could kill others and create food, was in Mae' hands.

The three eventually successfully knock Mae unconscious, steal the scalpel and attack Leo-killing and eating his flesh. At first, they were skeptical in eating raw human flesh. But, then, they faced it, they were curious. In fact, they had heard someone say that the human flesh is supposed to be so tasty that once you've had a taste then you won't like anything else.

They didn't know whether that was true or not. So, they ate his raw flesh. A person who practices cannibalism is called a cannibal. They had now, become cannibals. When Mae came to find that, she was devastated. How could someone... That's the only thing she was able to think.

More time went by and the three debate whether or not to kill Mae, as Leo' flesh was almost over. Also, his remaining flesh was rotting fast. Abigail eventually loses grip on reality and attempts to bite Charlotte, in the hopes of getting food. Lucas, afraid, she might harm him, stabs Abigail in the neck. At first, Charlotte was terrified but, she came over things quickly. Maybe, it was truth, that human flesh was like drug. Once, you take it, you can't let it go...

For, Lucas and Charlotte eat Abigail next. Mae was witnessing things from far. Fearing for her life, Mae, somehow managed to steal the scalpel. She ran into the room, where they first met, with the water, locking the door behind her.

Here, Abigail's flesh was on the verge of finishing. This was making Charlotte and Lucas anxious. Charlotte eventually becomes unstable and tried to strangle Lucas. But, he had the upper hand in power so, he turned the tables and, strangled Charlotte.

He starts biting and tearing Charlotte' wrist, with hopes of eating it. Mae, extremely terrified with the chaos, appeared and killed Lucas with the scalpel, from behind.

She had become a killer as well. Wiping her tears, Mae stands up, then addresses the hidden camera, shouting to the kidnapper in an angry tone.

"I will not play this game by eating the remaining bodies. Not anymore. You've made me killer but, not anymore. I would rather just die." Mae makes her way to Lucas's body and used his splattered blood to write a message.

This message was written on a place which was obstructed from the camera's view. She sat beside it motionless for the next two days. Overwhelmed with curiosity and frustration, the kidnapper climbed a rope ladder down to the bottom of the well. As he read the hidden message, Mae suddenly stands up on her feet. Using all her power, she stabs her kidnapper with the scalpel, she was hiding all this time. Mae was then, able to climb the up ladder into the sun. Her body tired from everything, collapsed in exhaustion.

She breaths into the ground and remembers what the message was...

"Mastermind".
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