Loot and Booty Box Set

by Zeke Biddle

  Is the problem with getting stuck in games more widespread than just Loot and Booty? Is she stuck in some civilization simulation or racing game?

  On her lap is a familiar flyer.

  It’s the one advertising Loot and Booty.

  I gasp. “She’s in our game. Fuck, I hope she’s okay. We need to look for her when we get back.”

  Gillian tugs my shoulder and spins me to face her. “You don’t need to look for Jenny.”

  “You don’t understand. She must have gotten into this mess to try and help me and, well, I care about her. It’s silly because we barely know each other, but…” I shrug when I realize the words aren’t coming out right.

  “No, Marcus. You don’t need to look for her because you already found her. She was a scared and angry girl stuck in a hybrid machine until you arrived and saved her.”

  I look at Gillian and then Jenny and then back Gillian. The two women look nothing alike, but both are beautiful exactly as they are. A glance in the mirror confirms what I’ve seen in the lakes and rivers in the game. My avatar is handsome. I look at my real self on my bed and wonder why Jenny would have bothered coming to my room when I looked like that.

  “I don’t understand,” I eventually say. “Why in the world would you do something that stupid?”

  Her crestfallen face makes me replay my words in my ears. I immediately hear how big of an asshole it makes me sound.

  Before I can apologize, she pokes her finger against my chest. In a low angry tone, she says, “I did it for you, dummy. You were the nice guy who approached me at the party without treating me like I was a piece of meat. Do you know how rare that is at college? And when you were brave enough to come over and talk to me, bad luck tore us apart.”

  “Jesus, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. I mean, obviously you couldn’t have known how dangerous the game was. It just makes me sad that the woman I fell for the first time I saw you ended up in danger because of me. I guess I’m mostly mad at myself but too stupid to admit it.”

  She brushes away the words. “I went back to my room, changed, and realized how embarrassing it must have been for you. I wanted to make sure you were okay and maybe ask you out.”

  She smile sheepishly at me before continuing. “I asked around and found out what dorm you live in. When I knocked on the door, no one answered. It was cracked open, so I peeked in and saw you sitting there with your headset on, staring into space. You ignored me, of course. I thought you were just sad or shy or whatever. I got mad. I tried to take your headset off and make you acknowledge me but it wouldn’t budge.”

  “What do you mean it wouldn’t come off? That’s impossible.”

  She walks over to Earth-me and tugs on the headset. My whole head wiggles from side to side, but the headset stays in place.

  “That’s fucked up,” I say.

  I try to remove my headset and then the one on Jenny’s head. It’s like they’ve molded to our flesh and will never come off. For all I know, taking them off could kill us in the game and on Earth. It sucks not knowing the rules to any of the shit that’s happening to us.

  “What’s all this mean?” I ask, hoping she has a theory.

  “You’ve got me. Other than meaning we can’t break free from the connection to the game from the inside or the outside, I have no idea what the hell’s going on.”

  I shake my whole body, trying to rid it of the creepy feeling that has spread over me.

  “Let me leave my sister a quick message and then we’ll find somewhere else to regroup. I can’t stand looking at myself much longer. It’s too bizarre. I know that’s the real me but somehow it feels fake now. Like a backward uncanny valley.”

  Gillian shivers, apparently agreeing.

  I pick up my tablet and type a message to my sister.

  Hey Kat.

  You’re not going to believe this, but I need you to do your best to fake it. My life might depend on it. I’m…well, me and a friend are stuck in a game. Like in those old crappy movies we used to watch. The game is called Loot and Booty. It’s a VR role-playing game set in a fantasy world. I met these great women and we’re… Well, I guess none of that’s really important right now. I need you to use your leet hacker skills and find out who makes the game and why we’re trapped inside it. The only person I know associated with whatever happened to us is a guy named Kip. Not sure if that’s his real name or a fake one. He gave me a flyer with a code to scan and that’s how I got in the game. My friend scanned my code and got trapped, too. Anyway, any info on him or what the hell’s happening would be much appreciated.

  Love,

  Little Pup

  “Little Pup?” Gillian asks.

  “It’s a nickname she gave me years ago. She was always Kat. So much so that her avatar is a giant cat. I swear she’s in cat form more often than human a lot of days. Since I’m her little brother, that’s where the Little comes from. And when I was a little kid I always wanted to be a cat like her but she teased me and said I was anything but an awesome feline. That’s how I became Little Pup. Sisters, right? Who needs them? Except for me right now, I guess. I sure do hope she answers.”

  I grab a few packets of ramen and tuck my tablet under my arm. I reach out for Gillian’s hand. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. You know this campus better than me, I bet. Where should we go next?”

  BoomBitch answers first. “I’m exhausted. I need to sleep. Wherever we can get that food you promised and some sleep is where we should go.”

  She yawns, proving her point.

  Gillian and I yawn right after her.

  “Sounds like a good plan, BoomBitch,” Gillian says. “Let’s go to my room. I’m not sure how time works here on Earth versus in the game, but my roommate’s never there anyway. She basically lives in her boyfriend’s dorm room. It’ll be nice and private for us, and I’ve got plenty of ramen of my own over there.”

  Gillian pulls her hand from mine, hurries over to her real body and retrieves her room key from her pocket, and holds it up to me with a smile.

  As we head back down the stairs, BoomBitch tugs on my ear. “Little Pup. We’ve got two dogs in this group. Don’t ever forget I’m the alpha. You’re the little pup. I should probably be in charge from now on.”

  She laughs and scampers out the door at the bottom of the stairs and sprints out into the quad.

  Gillian and I race after her, hand-in-hand.

  6

  Gillian and her roommate have their beds on opposite sides of the small room, leaving just a little tiny alley between them.

  BoomBitch flops onto her back on one of the beds.

  Opening a water bottle, I start making the ramen and then sit down on the other bed next to Gillian after starting the microwave.

  Gillian takes both of my hands and pulls them into her lap, and we rest with our bodies pressed against each other, each lost in our own thoughts.

  Sometime before the microwave beeps, BoomBitch speaks up again, startling me so badly I nearly jump out of my skin.

  “We’ve got to get back home. Any ideas on how we do that?” she asks.

  She’s right, of course.

  I briefly considered staying back here on Earth, but Marcus the wizard doesn’t belong here. I have to find a way to get back in the game to help Alexandra and the other women, and then somehow from there get myself back to Earth in a way that will let me regain control over my real body for good.

  And on top of all that, now I have to make sure Gillian gets back into Jenny’s body, too.

  When the microwave beeps, I retrieve the bowl, add the seasoning, and stir it before handing it to BoomBitch.

  “Careful. It’s hot.” I sit next to Gillian again. “As for what we do next, I don’t know, BoomBitch. I’m too tired to think. Why don’t we get some sleep like you said and see if anyone comes up with anything in the morning.”

  “There’s just one thing I don’t understand,” Gillian says. “Well, okay, a million things. But one thing in p
articular is how did BoomBitch make it through the portal with us? It makes sense that all the others got left behind because they’re from the game. You and I made it through because this is our home. But I don’t understand what happened with BoomBitch.”

  “Are you from here?” I ask our furry friend. “You have to know you can trust us after all we’ve been through. If you are from Earth, we’ll do whatever we can to get you back where you belong.”

  She shoves some noodles into her mouth and swallows them before saying, “Like I told you, I was born in the lab. I’ve never teleported anywhere except with you, as far as I know.”

  “Fuck. This is all so frustrating.” I lie down on my back.

  Gillian climbs over my body and settles in to spoon me. Her hands gently rub my chest.

  Her touch helps soothe me a little.

  “You know, we don’t have to go straight to bed,” she says while her hand slides down toward my dick. “In the morning, we could try to see if we can find this Kip guy and Alexandra’s mom. But until then, there’s nothing that says we don’t deserve a little stress release.”

  She hikes up my robe and wraps her hand around my shaft with such a light touch it sends my dick throbbing for more.

  “You make a good point. BoomBitch, would you care to join us?”

  Her ears droop. “No thanks. I’m feeling a little cagey. Don’t let me hold you back, though. I’ll go sit in that room at the end of the hall and finish my noodles. I’ve got some things I’m thinking through.”

  “Do you want to talk about it?” I ask, torn between what I want her answer to be as Gillian rubs her thumb over the tip of my dick.

  “Not right now. Just come get me when you’re done.” She smiles while rising from the bed. “Take your time. Make sure you treat her right.”

  “How come everyone always assumes I’m the one who needs that kind of advice?”

  But the door closes before I finish the sentence.

  “So…” Gillian purrs into my ear. “Just the two of us. In the real world. Like we could have done that night at the party if the guy hadn’t knocked the drink out of your hand. Let’s make sure we get it right tonight, Marcus.”

  I worry about BoomBitch’s mood, but she’s not required to feel like fucking every night. She’s not even in the harem, anyway.

  As soon as the door shuts, Gillian sheds her clothes. I don’t know what I’ve done to deserve someone so gorgeous, but I vow to keep trying to do more of it.

  A thought pulls on the edge of my mind. It’s almost more of an answer than anything else, but as Gillian wraps her lips around my dick, any thought of holding onto the idea disappears.

  I cross my arms behind my head and lie my head in my hands as she goes to work.

  My eyes catch on a K-Pop band poster above me on the wall. All the words are in Korean, and a group of pretty boys is smiling at me while caught in motion during their perfectly choreographed dance routine.

  I might not be back in the right body, but I’m back in the right world.

  And I’m about to get fucked for the first time outside of the video game.

  Does it count if we’re still living in our game avatars?

  It’s way too complicated of a subject to ponder while my dick is in Gillian’s mouth.

  “Think this will recharge our skills?” I ask like a dumbass.

  Gillian pulls her mouth up to reply. “Interesting question. I feel like I can still do everything I could in the game. It’s hard to tell without shooting arrows at something, though. Should we go outside and try?”

  Dumbass. I should have waited to talk until after sex.

  “No. Definitely not. All I want to hear from you right now is how great my dick feels inside you.”

  Gillian smiles as if she’d worried I’d take her up on going outside to test our skills. “I will never lie to you, Marcus, and right now your dick,” she flicks it with her fingers, “is definitely not inside me.”

  “You are so very right. We must take immediate corrective action.” I pull her up my body until she’s straddling my hips.

  She rocks her hips and my hard cock slides between her pussy lips, trapped between my stomach and her flesh.

  “Put me inside, you damn woman!” I shout with a laugh.

  “I don’t know.” She plants both her hands on my chest and bites her lower lip while she continues sliding her slit against my hardness. “This feels amazing. I could definitely make myself come like this.”

  She could make me have an orgasm, too. Her wet pussy lips feel incredible, even if she’s denying me the pleasure of being inside them.

  I’m torn between the desire to draw out my pleasure as long as possible and the need to drive myself deep inside her.

  She makes the decision for me and uses one hand to guide me inside her. “Come on, champ. How quickly can you make me come? Show me your best stuff. We don’t want to keep BoomBitch waiting forever.”

  “I like the view down here. Your tits are majestic when they sway like that, and I like the feel of your abs when I wrap my hands around your waist.”

  I move my hands to just above her hips.

  She smiles down at me. “Lazy man. But your cock has me split wide, and I’m not going to last much longer. You better hope you can come fast enough to keep up or you’re going to have to finish off in your hand while I’m falling asleep next to you.”

  She rides me hard for several more minutes. Her breathing grows ragged. She’s tugging on her rock-hard nipples. She has to be getting close.

  Holding her tightly, I buck my hips, driving my dick into her over and over again.

  She cries out in pleasure.

  “You like how I fuck your pussy?” I ask, not worried who might hear us in the next room.

  “I love your dick, Marcus. Fuck me harder.”

  I give my lady what she wants.

  She gives me what I need.

  Seconds later we’re both gasping for breath and calling out each other’s names as we ride out the waves of our orgasms before she falls onto my chest, looking as spent as I feel.

  My eyes start to droop, but Gillian shakes me awake. “BoomBitch. Go tell her to come back before you fall asleep.”

  “Won’t I get in trouble if they see me, clearly a man—” I wave my dick at her— “walking alone in the hall in the middle of the night?”

  She groans but slides out of the bed. “Next time we fuck in your room.”

  “Deal.”

  I would have agreed to anything. I need sleep so badly. We have so many problems still to deal with, but attempting to solve them without a good night’s sleep won’t do anyone any good.

  Gillian pulls on my robe. “Look out! I’m the wizard now. Beware my fireball!”

  She points her fingers at me, wiggles them, and laughs as she walks out of the door.

  I fall asleep before the door closes behind her.

  It might only be seconds later, it might be days.

  Gillian storms into the room. “Get up. She’s gone.”

  “Wha…huh?” I mumble, rubbing my eyes.

  “BoomBitch. She’s gone.” Gillian holds up BoomBitch’s two scimitars. “And she wouldn’t have left these behind if she’d left of her own free will.”

  My tablet buzzes next to me where I’d dropped it on the bed earlier. I should ignore it because my priority is finding BoomBitch and then figuring out how to get back to the game world.

  But I don’t have any plans, schemes, or even shenanigans I can try.

  When I remember it might be my sister, I glance at the screen.

  You’ve received a message from Kip. Do you want to open it?

  7

  When I tap to open the message, there are no words. A map fills my screen. There is a solid green line drawing a route to a destination somewhere off campus. There’s a cartoon picture of BoomBitch’s face where the line ends.

  “What is this?” Gillian asks.

  “Something bad, I’m sure. Kip sent it.
He’s never involved with anything good.”

  “So…what? He kidnapped BoomBitch, and we’re supposed to meet him there?”

  “I guess.”

  “Think he’ll ambush us?” Gillian asks, pulling on her leather pants and handing me my robe.

  “I don’t know why else he’d lure us there.”

  When I don’t move right away, she forces the robe over my head. “What’s wrong with you? Don’t you want to go save her?”

  “What if we can’t?” I ask. “This is Earth. I’m so pathetic here.”

  Gillian grabs my face with both hands and forces me to look at her. “That is not true. It might have been for the man frozen in your room. It’s definitely true for the woman frozen there with him. But we are not those people anymore. We are adventurers. Heroes. Badasses! And our friend needs us.”

  She pulls me up from the bed and slings her bow over her shoulder.

  “I guess we’ll see if you are any good with that thing outside of the game.”

  “And how much damage your magic will do on this side of the portal.”

  I haven’t really let myself believe my magic might work here on Earth, but since Gillian thinks there’s a chance, I start to let myself believe.

  I push her towards the door. “Hurry up. I think it’s time to start some fires.”

  We race through the dorm and out into the night.

  “Let’s do a quick test,” I say, excitement coursing through my veins. “Can you hit that tree?”

  I point at a small, thin tree about fifty feet away.

  She pulls the bow from her shoulder and readies an arrow. She sights the shot and then looks at me. “I can feel it, Marcus. There’s an energy that flows through my body when I’m about to take a shot. It starts in my stomach and then spreads out to my hands. When it gets there I release and…”

  Without even bothering to look back at the tree, she fires the arrow.

  It soars through the empty space and buries itself in the tree trunk that’s no wider than my fist.

  “Incredible,” I say. “And I know exactly what you mean about that energy. I feel it too. Exactly like that. Stomach. Out to hands. Boom.”