A Room of Killers II

No one appeared to be aware that everybody else trapped in the mysteriously sealed mansion was a hardened murderer. 

Ah no, there was a mistake with that statement.

To be absolutely accurate, not everyone was an serial killer of some sort, and not everyone was totally ignorant of the criminal nature of the people in the room. I was the singular exception to both of these.

Others have often commented on my problematic interest in any crime news of the macabre sort. In hindsight, perhaps they were correct. My current circumstances might have been the result of my unique knowledge and interests, but this was only my speculation. However, was it possible that I was simply an unfortunate third party randomly inserted into this artificial situation?

The immediate question was, what was the purpose of this scenario? A set of rooms totally closed off to the outside, with barely sufficient supplies to last everyone for a week.

Even if those gathered consisted entirely of ordinary people, the desperate situation would eventually give birth to the conclusion that the solution is to kill. 

Of course, if one was already a murderer, and a serial killer at that, then the thought process would be accelerated many fold.

But everyone here was a murderer, only that they were currently unadvised of this fact. This was a tinderbox to be sparked by the first sign of violence.

Judging from the current state of relative calm, nobody had come to a similar conclusion yet. At the very least, nobody has acted suspiciously, or expressed any hints that they knew anyone else's identity.

A single pindrop might change all of this in an instant.

There was only one thought in my mind: How could I survive in this room of murderers?

In this game, I had only one advantage. It wasn't any physical attribute, such as strength or speed or agility. It wasn't even a mental advantage, a difference in intellect or cunning. From what I knew of these murderers, each of them surpassed me in either athleticism or intelligence. By raw stats alone, I knew I was outmatched. But that very statement hinted at the nature of my advantage.

I knew. 

Not that I was outmatched, though that knowledge was certainly helpful in informing my decisions. It was my very knowledge of all the participants that was my strongest hand.

True, perhaps I lacked the raw intellect or cunning to fully exploit this information. But even so, I could see a clear way to exploit the existing situation to my favor. To increase my chances of survival, I had to control the narrative.

"Good morning. I am the manager of this game. As you have verified, there is no means of escaping this chamber."

 

This story is a completed rewrite of my earlier work, A Room of Killers I.