The Long Dark Four-Way of the Soul

by Alden Odessa

  My strength was down, and it didn’t have far to fall; half of shit is still shit, but at least I know that physical injuries will affect my strength, I do not understand how to improve it. I had not yet seen a gym here.

  I still had the flashing red light, alerting me that there was a message. I was scared to open it as it had not been what I thought it was.

  The last time I got a message it told me to answer the door. It was guiding me. But I have no clue what this message would be unless the message wanted me to get the shit knocked out of me.

  I tapped on the holographic screen, opening the message. Once again it was from HHHO games, and it read: “Don’t answer the door.”

  Well, that’s just fucking fantastic. For whatever reason, the game didn’t want me to interact with Bruce last night, but I did. I wondered if there would be any repercussions from this. Other than the broken ribs. I would need to think about this for a while; it didn’t make much sense. Why was the game sending me messages still? And why were they only about door knocks?

  Before I could think of much else, there was a knock on the door. I didn’t jump so much as I was suddenly filled with dread. I will probably be a little skeptical of door knocks for a while.

  In fact, I rechecked my messages to make sure this wasn’t a recent message, like from thirty seconds ago.

  A time stamp would be nice; alas, no.

  “Yes,” I said. It was Betty’s voice I heard, and I told her to come in. I was once again reminded of my nakedness. I was leaning back on the seat of the closed toilet with my legs spread, dick lying lifelessly in front of me. It was a bit of a surprise to her as she opened the door.

  I don’t know why as much as people in my household seemed to walk around in the nude.

  “Sorry,” I said. “Probably not what you were expecting.”

  “I never really know what to expect anymore,” she replied. “Do you need me to—”

  “Not right now. Thanks for asking,” no matter how bad things got, Betty was always willing to offer herself to me.

  “I brought your clothes, and I have some other news.”

  My face perked up, trepidatiously. Most news had been pretty bad as of the last twelve hours, and it has been my experience that when it rains, it pours.

  “I have money left over from last night.”

  I cocked my head, confused. “How?”

  “You gave me money for the drinks to send up to the girls last night; I didn’t spend it all.”

  “How much?” I asked as I walked over to her carefully, holding my side, and grabbed my clothes from her.

  “Only twenty-seven.”

  I took my pants and started to put them on; her answer stopped me. I looked at her. “I could kiss you!”

  “You could actually kiss me, that’s well within our boundaries.”

  I chuckled, I always had to remind myself that Betty was more than just a computer program. She was funny and smart. She was human or at least felt that way.

  “Let me put on my clothes, and I’ll do just that.”

  “You can kiss me naked; this would also be within our boundaries.”

  I almost laughed at her. I enjoyed spending time with Betty and was glad that she had chosen to stay with me. I finished putting on my pants and then had her help me put on my shirt. I had a little difficulty lifting my arms to get it on. “What’s the morale like out there?”

  “How’s everybody feeling?”

  “Yes.”

  “Worried. Mostly they are just worried about you. If something happens to you, we’re all alone. I don’t think any of them want that. I know I don’t want that.”

  Amazing, everybody out there still thinks they need me more than I need them. I would be all done were it not for them. As it is, I at least have the ability to earn money. The girls could be out there working within a few hours and making us money, but I felt like I owed them a day off. They did take a lot of dicks last night.

  “Do you know what we’re going to do?”

  “Well, suddenly I have twenty-seven dollars I didn’t have before, so that changes things, but not much.”

  “Twenty-seven doesn’t go very far.”

  “It goes further than zero.”

  “Agreed.”

  “I have an idea, but I need to run it past you all first. It’s a little—outside the box.”

  “Meaning?”

  “There’s a good chance it won’t work.”

  3

  The Plan 2.0

  My plan was simple enough.

  I would take my twenty-seven dollars, and I would turn it into much more by being the best of the worst. I didn’t use those exact words when describing it to the girls and Bogo. I dressed it up a little by saying I would offer the best product in all of The Lower Bottoms. This wasn’t any different from the previous plan, but due to our recent financial problems, we could not continue using The Falls Hotel as a base of operations. At least not in the short term, but it’s something we may work our way back up to.

  I was worried about presenting this plan to them because I was taking them back to the place they had just been taken away from. I wasn’t sure how they would take that. It had thrilled them to get out of that place, and now they were jumping right back into it.

  They understood although I wouldn’t say they were excited about it.

  “Where will we stay?” Courtney asked. I got the feeling that her previous living accommodations down there had not been something she was eager to get back to.

  “Where were you previous, Courtney?” I asked, and she explained. I knew some of her story, but not all of it. Only that she had been squatting in a building with some other girls in The North Night, who had abandoned her, presumably for the drugs of The Corner.

  I quickly assured her we would not go back into The North Night to squat if we could possibly avoid it. The reason she had chosen to come with us in the first place was that there had been strength in numbers, she knew this. Before we came along, she was contemplating finding another harem to join, and we were in the right place at the right time.

  Thinking about Courtney’s skill set, I felt like it was a real win for us.

  I sat on the chair by the table and couch in our room. Standing for long periods of time wasn’t really in the cards for me. My pack of Third Stringer’s still sat there, so I picked up the soft pack and shuffled a few out. I offered one to Courtney as she sat next to me on the other side of the table. She took it and I lit hers first, then lit mine.

  It hurt like hell, not just the rank taste of the Third Stringer’s, but just inhaling. My ribs cursed me as I took a deep drag. My next one would be smaller.

  Courtney continued, saying that things were getting worse in The Lower Bottoms, just in the short time she had been there. It was overrun with drugs and most of the girls were getting hooked on a new drug called SPLICE. It was dangerous, and she had stayed away from it, but her roommates had taken to it, and on the day they left they said they were coming back. She didn’t know how long they had been gone, more than a day, but she got the feeling they were never coming back.

  Splice got into you, she told me, and it didn’t let go.

  “Sounds like drugs,” I replied. Drugs seemed to work here the same way they did in my world. It could take over your life. When your life already revolves around being a sex worker and all the pitfalls that come with that, drugs can seem like a way out.

  It’s not.

  Violence was getting worse down there. Men were coming in, even tourists, trying out this new drug and it turned them into animals. They started beating on the girls and worse.

  Mostly the drugs were contained in The Corner, but it was spreading, or rather, people were leaving the three other districts in favor of The Corner. People were coming to The Lower Bottoms less and less for girls and gambling and more and more for the drugs. If someone didn’t get a hold of it, it would become a real problem for everyone down there.

  I had no interest in g
etting into a drug war in The Lower Bottoms; I needed to get my foothold on the place while I still could. So time was, once again, of the essence.

  Drugs had never interested me, and it wasn’t what caused me to sign up. I had to question the purpose of this drug in the first place. Inside the game, I could see the point of real-world drugs. Things like cocaine, weed, XTC, heroin, or any other drug that was illegal in my world. Coming here would give you a virtual place to do it and have none of the real-world consequences. A digital simulation probably didn’t show up in a random drug test.

  Since the reality of this place was so lifelike, beyond in fact, I’m guessing that a drug high would feel even better than it did in reality.

  But this was a new drug. Why was it programmed in? It made little sense unless it was a way to keep players coming back. To get something here that they couldn’t get in the real world. Or maybe it was a way to keep players here. But if they had to stay, how would they get more credits to spend in the game?

  Once again, I didn’t understand this business model at all!

  I had a feeling in my gut, one not associated with the broken ribs. I suspected something much more nefarious was at play here, and I sure as hell didn’t know what it was. But it was one more reason to get the hell out of Canny Valley as soon as I could.

  Courtney said she had hesitations about going back down there. Something didn’t feel right, and she wondered what her options would be like in The Upper Bottoms. I needed to reel her back in and not let her mind travel down that path for too long.

  I assured her it would be safe for her; we would be safe. All of us.

  I had spent little time down there other than our first scouting, half a day at most. I could tell it was not a great place to be, and it was, frankly, a dump. For our purposes, however, it would suit us.

  We would win The Lower Bottoms.

  4

  Game Theory

  It didn’t take us long to load up everything that we owned. Bogo would pull the cart that was overflowing with supplies and clothing. We didn’t seem to have much else.

  This would be an arduous task, getting all of it down the stairs beside The Landmark that led from The Upper Bottoms to The Lower Bottoms, but it could be done, even if we had to make multiple trips.

  The thought of making any trips at all seemed painful to me, I hobbled around like an old man, but the more I moved, the better I felt. It felt good to get the circulation going, the more blood that ran through me the more I started to feel human again.

  I had suspected this would happen, and it was one of the reason’s I wanted to get on with it today. I’m not sure what time was the actual check out time from The Falls. I was hoping someone would tell me, that way I could get a read on how time worked.

  I once asked Betty what time it was and she asked, “What do you mean?”

  It was the strangest thing; people just knew what time to do things. Instead of saying a time they just said things like: “It’s time to eat.” or “It’s time to sleep.” or whatever it was it was time to do something. People just did things when they needed to be done, and there always seemed to be a motivation. There didn’t seem to be a lot of milling around in Canny Valley. Unless an NPC was just background, and then they were programmed to just mill around.

  I was slowly getting a grasp on the game, or the reality, or whatever this was. NPC’s just did what they were supposed to do, unless a story happened, and then what they were supposed to do changed.

  I took a second to think about the events that had happened, and I realized I could very well just be playing the storyline mode of the game. Everything that happened was only part of the simulation.

  I had been under the impression that I was on my own, that I had some element of free will, to do as I please. But what if the game was guiding me?

  Everything that had happened could easily be just part of the story. I saved Betty and became indebted to Bruce. I still owe Bruce money. This is, so far, really all that happened in that storyline. Was Bruce the first “boss”? Did I have to defeat him in some way and was paying him how I defeated him?

  I didn’t really do anything else. Everything had either fallen into my lap or the NPC’s that I traveled with had done it. I was having lunch with Betty when I met Bogo. Was he a part of this? Was he a part of the story? Was I supposed to bring him along, just like I had to bring along Betty?

  The other girls were brought back my Bogo and Betty; I had nothing to do with finding them. So it made sense that everything has just been the storyline. I did what the game had scripted.

  The point of the game, I believe (having not read the instruction manual) was to build a harem. The other point of the game is to run the city. I don’t know how to do that, but I guess I am still early in the story and things will be gradually revealed to me.

  As we walked and worked our way to the entrance to The Lower Bottoms, more things sprang to mind. The message. If Bruce was the story why in the hell did I get a message telling me not to open the door? Am I supposed to be resource gathering right now? I’m too early in the game for a boss fight. My harem has barely even formed.

  I looked at them. April was still quiet, she didn’t mix with the other girls yet, or at least couldn’t get a word in. Stephanie was always doing most of the talking.

  Stephanie was in good spirits and making Courtney laugh. Stephanie was good for morale as she tended to put a good spin on things. She looked at this as exciting. In her mind, she was looking forward to being a big fish in a small pond.

  I didn’t speak to Stephanie directly as I was concentrating on not showing pain, but I listened in on her conversation with Courtney and Betty. It was a fountain of information as to what lay on the other side of The Lower Bottoms.

  She mostly spoke of her owner, still referring to him like that as they didn’t seem to use the word “pimp.” It was odd; these girls really acted as servants. Through all of this they did not question me or my motives, they did not worry about themselves; they didn’t even say a thing about the money I owed them. Was that even a construct of the game? Did I actually pay them? Betty had made it sound like I did when she was discussing percentages, but as to the actual act of paying NPC’s, was it something that I did?

  All they had been concerned about was my well-being, not theirs, their lives revolved around me now. But yet, Stephanie had left her last owner, but was that just part of the storyline?

  When she escaped, she said she needed to lie low for a while, and she thought The Lower Bottoms was just the place to do it. She quickly felt she had made a tremendous mistake. This area was worse than she could have imagined.

  Apparently, the world past this turned exquisite, and the coast was indeed the land of luxury, and she hoped to get back there. She was full of hope when she got to The Lower Bottoms, but it was only a day or two before she had to let men jerk off on her chest for five bucks a shot. She knew she had made a mistake, so she hid out in the park and tried to think of a way out of The Bottoms altogether. That’s when Betty showed up.

  Seemed terribly coincidental to me, but not at all if it was just part of the storyline. My storyline, the one I was playing.

  Another thing that made little sense was April. How did she fit into the story? I have a feeling that she is some kind of side mission. Honestly, it could be something as simple as I had already beat that mission. I had sex with her, and it hadn’t been just another ordinary prostitute. How much Trust, Brains, and Dominance did I rack up just because of her? Maybe there was even more to unlock there.

  It sounded like the coast would be our next plan of attack, instead of building up my harem down here and then working my way back to The Reference, I would level up and then work my way to the coast. See how far that went. Build as much of a harem as I could before heading back to the beginning. I don’t know if this is the kind of game where it ends at the beginning or if the coast is the end. If I was going to win the game, I guess that I would eventually find out.


  My plan had adjusted, but it had not changed. I planned to beat The Lower bottoms, I don’t fully understand what that means, but it’s my plan. I can only do the things I know to do. The only thing I have to go off of is the harem building because that’s what the game had told me to do in its marketing materials.

  I find it funny even thinking about such a thing now; it seems so long ago. Build a harem, run the city. What the fuck does it all even mean?

  I saw a motel down here that was a real dump. It wasn’t in South Light; it was in The Landing section. All four parts were small and appeared to be about equal in size. It seemed like it was almost a perfect square and each section seemed to be a little over a two city blocks. Maybe three. There was the possibility that The Corner and The North Night was larger as we didn’t explore much there. But just thinking strictly about game mechanics, I was guessing it was the same size.

  I’d also like to know where the hell this park was that they found Stephanie.

  I had a theory about The Lower Bottoms. I think it was an early design of the game. Like it was the beta test. The Man in Blue probably made it first, just getting his feet wet. The area was kind of designed like someone might design their first city in a game like that. It had very distinct sections. This part was one thing, and that part was something else. It seemed very logical. It had the commercial area, the entertainment area, and the residential area, and then whatever The Corner was going to be. It felt like a part of the game that had been abandoned to go work on something else.

  The rules may work differently down here as that part of the game really hadn’t been built yet when it was designed. The Corner may have had a purpose at one point in time, but when it was abandoned, the game just let it fall apart.

  If the player were to look at the city he had built, this area would appear red, and then build out from there until it was green at The Reference.