On his way back to the house, Eden remained careful of his surroundings, in case Jason decided to go against his hard programming and tried to attack him, but Eden fortunately did not catch sight of him. As for whether the killer stalked him on his way back, it was of no consequence to Eden.
As Eden returned to the house, though, he realized he had come back just in time, as he spotted Nolan leading Chelsea out of the house, both with towels under their arms.
Stepping up to interrupt them from signing their death warrants, Eden asked with a smile, "Hey guys, where are you going dressed like that?"
Nolan visibly and audibly clenched his teeth at the sight of Eden, fearing that his plans would once again be spoiled as he turned aggressive immediately, "What the fuck does that have to do with you?"
Unfortunately for him, Eden ignored him utterly and completely as he looked at Chelsea, smiling at her. She slightly leaned forward, replying, "We're going to the other side of the lake to take a dip. Wanna join us?"
Nolan looked at him with blazing eyes in an effort to ward him off. But Eden kept ignoring him. If he were to let the two of them go, they would get isolated from the rest of the group and very possibly get killed by Jason.
Moreover, despite his influence over Chelsea, were she to be left alone with Nolan, chances were that he would manage to sway her into playing together. Not only would the two die, but more importantly, Eden would lose control of the situation.
Eden could not let that happen.
"Why would you want to go to the other side of the lake?"
Chelsea looked genuinely clueless as she shrugged and replied, "It was Nolan's idea. He asked the others, but they did not want to go."
Eden was already expecting this kind of answer. Nolan had probably not even warned the others, wanting some alone time with Chelsea to get into her pants, not realizing this would lead to their death.
Eden finally looked at Nolan, who was looking back with resentment. Eden felt impassive inside as he smiled knowingly, "Great idea! I'm sweaty from my run; I could go for a dip."
Seeing that Nolan was on the verge of exploding, Eden placed his hand on Chelsea's arm, speaking with faux-innocence, "I don't see the point of going all the way to the other side of the lake though, why don't we-"
As expected, Nolan finally could not hold it in any longer as he stepped between Chelsea and Eden, physically separating them by pushing Eden back as he snapped, "Why don't you mind your own fucking business?!"
Nolan fully expected a fight to break out, but as he looked into Eden's eyes, the burning inferno was met with the calm sea. Not a single ripple emerged as Eden said, "You should watch your tone."
Nolan was about to replicate when Eden suddenly stepped forward. Nolan hurriedly brought up his guard, only to realize he had turned himself into a fool as Eden stepped past him, grabbing Chelsea by the waist.
The girl did not voice out any complaints as Eden led her inside, shouting, "Guys, we're going to the lake! Who's down for it?"
Nolan was left alone outside, lowering his arms in shame as he saw Chelsea throw a disdainful glance at him. Suddenly bringing up his guard when Eden simply walked past him made him look like a buffoon, something even his monkey brain could understand.
Inside, Eden led Chelsea by the waist, his little finger bridging over to her butt as he looked Bree in the eyes. As expected, she jumped at the occasion to go outside and walked to her room to get changed.
As she did, Eden looked at Trent and signaled toward Bree with his eyes. Trent followed his gaze and looked at Bree's perky ass as she climbed the stairs. That was all the motivation he needed to get up and exclaim, "To the lake!"
He practically ran up the stairs, following Bree and leaving an angry Jenna behind. Although he was already sure that the guy would see no action with his girlfriend, he might as well add a layer since he was given the occasion.
With Chelsea, Bree, and Trent convinced, the others quickly followed suit. Lawrence looked reluctant, as he claimed to have work to do, but he was eventually peer pressured into following.
Eden walked up to his room along with Jenna, and as expected, Trent had stopped Bree in front of a room. The room Eden had picked was where the locked drawer was.
Trent was standing too close to Bree for it to be innocent, which Eden expected, seeing how he had followed her like a crazed dog. That was why he came up with Jenna.
Trent's lusty expression was quickly wiped away seeing his girlfriend approaching, and he also drew some distance from Bree, but it was too late. Jenna was clearly angry, but before she could berate him, Eden acted oblivious as he walked up to the door, saying, "Excuse me, this is my room."
The room Eden had chosen also happened to be the master bedroom, which Trent most assuredly planned to take for himself and Jenna. He might thus have refused Eden having it for himself in normal circumstances, but even he placed more importance on placating his angry girlfriend than arguing over a room.
A while later, everyone had changed and headed to the lake, including the grumpy Nolan. Eden was internally satisfied seeing he had managed to keep everyone together. Had he gone alone with Nolan and Chelsea, Jason might still have considered them valid targets in the water
.
And had someone been left behind, then they might have been the ones getting attacked while the rest went to the lake. Managing to bring everyone to the lake allowed Eden to protect everyone while keeping control over the attacks.
The group gathered at the lake, the girls in their tiny bikinis, and the guys unable to draw their gazes away from them. With the exception of Eden, who instead stared at the opposite shore with narrowed eyes. Ironically, him ignoring them made him all the more attractive to the girls.
But even as they approached him, some consciously and others unconsciously so, his gaze locked onto a figure that emerged in the distance. They were too far for Eden to discern anything about them or their appearance, yet Eden still had no doubts in his mind that this was none other than Jason.
This confirmed his earlier theory that he had just stopped what would have been the first attack of the movie's plot. Had he not interfered, Chelsea and Nolan would have been right where Jason was. The whole group together was too much for him to attack, especially in a first attack, but two people would have been easy pickings.
And so, after staring for a while, he walked away.
Seeing him walk away, Eden grinned to himself, before turning his attention to the rest of the group. Jenna was with Trent, but she was visibly distant, still upset about their earlier fight. Chelsea and Bree were together, splashing water on each other while throwing not-so-secret glances at Eden. Nolan tried to approach them to make his move, but even with their characters, their impression of him had been so utterly destroyed by Eden that they actively swam away from him and towards Eden.
Seeing his chance, Eden dove underwater while they were not looking and quickly reached the easier girl of the two, Bree. Reaching her underwater, he suddenly grabbed her by her legs before emerging, making her yelp in surprise.
Ignoring the several gazes drawn to them from the yelp, Bree playfully hit his shoulder, while Eden lowered her. His hands did not leave her body, however, sliding up her legs like a snake instead to rest on her butt, pressing her into him.
Despite the placement of his hands, Bree did not protest in any way, simply moaning in his ear, "You sure know how to make a girl feel special."
Eden's hands did not stop underwater as he replied, "I live to serve."
Bree bit her lip as she pressed her chest against Eden, her own hands freely roaming his body. Eden felt the blood rush down from his brain to his lower head, but he kept his cool as he passively observed the group to make sure no one was straying away.
Seeing all was fine, he decided to raise the stakes, his left hand leaving her ass to go to the front, a sneaky finger pushing her bikini aside to enter her folds.
Even for the open Bree, this was unexpected as she gasped, which did not stop Eden's two other fingers from following. Losing herself in the heat of the moment and the conditioning Eden had put her through today, she was about to reciprocate, not giving a damn about the audience, when Chelsea swam up to them, pouting, "I see you've made your choice."
Although both Bree and Chelsea were admittedly hot, Bree was undoubtedly the more beautiful one of the two, which was something Eden knew bothered Chelsea for years from his background information.
A stray thought of Eden wondered whether he had access to this in-depth information thanks to his emulated personality, or if anyone else would have been given it.
His fingers not leaving their warm velvet, Eden freed his right hand and grabbed Chelsea by the waist, pulling her over as he chided, "Didn't I tell you before? I don't like to choose."
Bree was already too deep into it to oppose the idea of a threesome, not that she would have necessarily been against it even in a normal situation. As for Chelsea, even as Eden's hand moved down to her butt, she still resisted, though only orally, "I'm not a trophy."
Eden did not let her go, forcing her closer to him instead as the hand on her butt became firmer as he reassured her, "You're not."
Chelsea's resistance became laxer as even she felt the sexual tension rise. Being so close, she was not oblivious to what Eden was doing to Bree and, much to her surprise, found a heat rise from her lower abdomen.
But then, Eden suddenly let go of her as he sighed, "But fine, I'm not the kind of guy to force these things. If you don't dare to experiment with us, we'll be fine. Bree and I will have our fun since she did not chicken out."
Chelsea's last layer of defence was blown away as another kind of fire was lit inside her. Without needing Eden to do anything, she stuck herself to him, getting even closer than Bree as one of her hands fished into his shorts and grabbed onto his manhood.
Eden might be an animal of cold, hard logic, but he still grunted comfortably from the underwater action, an urge to go all the way surging within him. Still, he let go of the two with the slightest hesitation, the urge getting crushed the moment it appeared. The two looked confused and very ready to jump his bones in front of everybody when he winked and explained, "Let's not rush things; we should do this in a more comfortable place. Tonight, my room. Clear?"
The two girls flushed as they finally seemed to realize what they had been about to do, but that did not stop them from nodding or minding the authority Eden showed.
Eden's background information told him they probably both had daddy issues.
For the remainder of their time at the lake, the two girls only had eyes for him, with Chelsea even cheekily flashing him while the others were looking away. Well, Nolan may have seen something, but that was far from pleasurable for him.
As for Eden, he did not go any further than he already had, but he still made sure to keep the sexual tension high with the two girls, often making skin contact with them. He never let it distract him, though, as his primary concern was to make sure everyone stayed together.
Eden was also left some time to think about his behavior since the start of the mission. He had always been a naturally cold person, but he did have emotions. And normally, although he still preferred to rely on logic rather than emotions, he was not that manipulative with people.
But with these 'people', his humanity seemed to have taken a step back, as he did not treat them like he would treat people. That was because they did not feel like people to him. Real people were complex, with different layers to them, while these guys were walking stereotypes, placed there to play one role and one role only.
That was why Eden felt no remorse for treating them the way he did. Actually, he would even have been slightly disappointed with Dreamland for making such one-dimensional characters had he not started seeing signs of improvement.
He did not know what exactly caused the change, though he theorized it was their exposure to him; he could see signs of them stepping out of the stereotypes they had been modeled after.
With Eden's efforts in keeping the sexual tension high, it not only resulted in Bree and Chelsea clinging to Eden, waiting for him to ravage them, but also in Chewie and Lawrence feeling shy and Nolan and Trent frustrated.
Nolan because someone else was living his dream, and Trent because he was burning all bridges with Jenna, hoping for some underwater action as well but only getting the cold shoulder from his girlfriend.*
These guys were behaving just as they were expected, but Jenna, who should have been the forgiving girlfriend who would only be separated from her shitty boyfriend by death, distanced herself more and more, and that on her own.
This caused a chain reaction, as the douchy Trent started becoming a tad more sensible, as he stopped trying to force things and focused on placating his girlfriend rather than attempting to fuck her.
This did not work wonders for him, but it played just right for Eden. So, as Jenna distanced herself from Trent, he approached. This time, there were no sexual innuendos or double meanings, and Eden instead presented an honest shoulder to rely on for Jenna.
He did not do this because he thought this would allow him to sleep with her, but because it increased his control over half of the group. Bree and Chelsea felt left out seeing him being this caring towards Jenna, resulting in them seeking his attention and thus following his every word.
Jenna was also now much more receptive to his words, and since Trent was doing his best to not lose Jenna, as he knew Bree and Chelsea were already playing in Eden's hands, controlling Jenna meant controlling Trent.
Chewie and Lawrence would follow along as the easiest to stir around, which only left Nolan. He could be manipulated through peer pressure or intimidation… but he could also become acceptable collateral if push comes to shove. Just not before tonight.