The Long Dark Four-Way of the Soul

by Alden Odessa

  This was all idle speculation on my part, and I had not one fact to back it up, and I even had one fact to disprove it.

  April.

  Everything that she had told me. About having no memory and The Gallows being the first thing she remembered, it all sounded a lot like she had just spawned. If The Lower Bottoms is an abandoned part of the game then why was it still spawning NPC’s? And if she was an NPC, wouldn’t she have been programmed with a purpose? A Backstory? Anything other than amnesia?

  Unless, of course, this was just the storyline. This was all going to happen from the beginning, and it’s the way the game is played.

  The feeling of knowing that you are predetermined to be somewhere, to do something and that you have zero control over it is incredibly freeing.

  Back to the motel I had seen; that was where I would start. It couldn’t be very costly and it sat just across the street from South Light, and it’s someplace that we could get a room. If I remember correctly, it’s also just a short walk to what passes for a market down here. So I would have access to food and clientele. We would work the casinos, mostly The Thrill Seeker and try to get men to come back to the motel. If not, I might have the girls do some “back alley stuff.” All the while, recruiting and growing my harem.

  Scratch that. No back-alley stuff for my girls. I would have the best gals in all of The Lower Bottoms. Clean, sexy, professional. I learned a long time ago to not be an ambulance chaser.

  5

  Ambulance Chasing

  Our cart and the stairs leading into the hell of The Lower Bottoms had been no problem for Bogo. He merely picked up the cart and carried it.

  It wasn’t a small cart.

  I wondered how long it would be before I had to get another bodyguard. If my harem grew too much, I would assume I would need more people to protect them. How does one go about even finding another Bogo? He seemed like one in a million to me.

  We got to the bottom of the stair passageway and it was like night once again. It was, of course, always night, but in The Lower Bottoms it was dark, not a lot of lights in any section of town that wasn’t South Light. It didn’t help that you entered at the base of The Landmark Bridge, the shadow of it creating the area known as The Gallows. April’s birthplace.

  When, and if, things ever settle down a little, I would like to bring Bogo down here with me and see if I could find the spawn point where she had come from. She can’t be the only one.

  On second thought if I brought him, it would cause two problems. First of all, there would be no one to watch the girls. Second, if I found the point where new NPC’s were created, I would be violating my terms of service as I thought of it. Don’t let an NPC know they’re an NPC. It would zero me out; the game, and I would be over.

  The Man in Blue said I would die in real life if I died here, not that he was reliable, but I’d just assume not test it.

  Bogo requested to stop and eat. Nevermind the fact we only ate about two hours ago. He was always hungry. That was fine, he was my muscle, and he didn’t realize it, but he didn’t have to ask me for anything, whatever he needed I would give it to him. Again, I needed him a lot more than he needed me.

  He ate fruit and bread we had in the cart and I was hoping to get a stove or at least a microwave at some point so we could have some hot food. I didn’t know how we would pay for that food just yet, but I looked forward to getting it.

  He finished up, and I filled everybody in on our plans for the night. We would go to the motel I had seen and would try to get us a room for the evening. Unfortunately, we would probably only be able to get one, if that.

  “Betty, do you know the name of the place?” I asked since she lived down here for a while.

  “Yes, it’s The Side Light Motel. I’ve been there before.”

  “How is it?”

  At first she didn’t respond, and that was all the answer I needed, but she elaborated further. “As far as motels go, it’s the second worst in all the Lower Bottoms.”

  “I don’t have a frame of reference,” I said. “Compared to The Falls, how is it?”

  “Not fantastic.”

  “Do the beds and water work?”

  “Sometimes. I haven’t been down here in a while, so I’m not sure. Maybe they made improvements.”

  I heard a snort of laughter from behind me as Courtney voiced her opinion without saying a word. I looked back and smiled at her. She was instantly embarrassed, she still had the desire, or maybe it was programming, to not undermine me.

  It amazed me at how obedient these girls were. I have a feeling though that that is a slippery slope and it could go the other way. These girls had shown already that, programs or not; they had a sense of free will. Stephanie showed that when she left her last pimp.

  “Courtney, have you been there recently?”

  “I have.”

  “And?”

  “It’s better than where I was squatting,” she said.

  I stopped walking and, in turn, so did my merry band of travelers. I turned to face them all. “Hey, I just want to get out ahead of something before it becomes an issue. I know I said it before, but this is not a permanent situation. This is only temporary,” I explained, just in case they didn’t understand for some reason what permanent meant. “Before long we will be back on our feet and taking this place over.”

  They all looked on board; it appears that they have more faith in me than I do. If they knew the real story, who I was, where I was from, they might feel differently. I had chosen a good character though, that TRUST statistic was no joke and it had only grown since I got here. I also felt that me being aware that we were in a game was an advantage. I knew how they saw me and that the trust was a statistical advantage to get them to believe me even if I didn’t.

  “I, for one, am looking forward to a new adventure,” Stephanie said, excitedly.

  “Great attitude, Stephanie, everyone else all aces?”

  “I don’t know what that means, but I’m ready for whatever,” said Courtney.

  “Are you sure you will be okay?” asked April.

  “What do you mean?” I said, confused. She motioned to my side. She was less concerned about herself and more concerned about my health. “Oh, this? Look, I’ve got like thirty ribs,” (I have no idea how many ribs I have), “a few broken ones will not slow me down!” I was lying; it was agonizing.

  We continued walking until we got to The Side Light. Since everything here in The Lower Bottoms seemed to have something to do with light and dark. That went for the entire game almost; everything had a very logical naming structure.

  The Side Light was cleverly named because it was just on the other side of the street of South Light, which was the main entertainment district of The Lower Bottoms. It was lit up somewhat but still looked like a seedy motel. I thought back and the only thing I could imagine it reminded me of was in movies. This seemed like the kind of place you would find just off of an unused road in a film, the place where bad things happened.

  It was a dump. There’s just no way of dressing that up. It was one story; the doors opened to the front of the building just like any other motel. At one point it had been white, but now it looked stained and stripped of that former color. At some points the paint was actually in the process of peeling off.

  It had red doors leading into each of the rooms, once again, probably at one time it was pristinely and gloriously red, but now it was faded, and the wood showed through. It was long, and I quickly counted how many rooms it had. It wasn’t hard and didn’t take long. It had fifteen rooms; only one had a light on.

  Not surprisingly, it had a neon sign with most of it blacked out. If I didn’t already know what they called the motel, I wouldn’t be able to figure it out based on the sign.

  There was an overhang, or an awning, that covered the walkway in front of the room entrances. I don’t know how many there were supposed to be, but there were only two lights working, leaving the walkway mostly in darkness. />
  The only other light that was on was the office light. The office had two broad windows, one on the front and one on the side, and I could see a younger man working the counter. He appeared to be asleep.

  It didn’t look like The Side Light got a lot of action.

  The Side Light looked old as if it had been here for decades (and not maintained very much for the last two). This is still something I don’t understand. Not even a little bit. How long had this actually been here? Inside of the game's mechanics, was it once new? Or was it just designed old? What is the purpose of this area?

  We approached the front door and noticed two women in front of the office doorway. They were both in tattered clothing not dated from this decade. Whatever decade it was here. It looked like it had been a while since they had bathed. This is what I would be dealing with here, used and discarded hookers.

  They saw us coming, and they looked right at me.

  “Hey, need a date?”

  My harem walked up to them, me being in front. We stopped, I looked behind me to my right and my left, sure enough, all four girls were in plain view.

  “Do I look like I need a date?” I said wryly.

  They hung their heads. I got a good look at them even though they were backlit by the light of the motel and the motels neon light above was too broken to provide enough fill light on their faces. But my eyes had adjusted fine to this part of town and I could see them well enough to see the potential. Neither of these girls was old. I would say early twenties. I call that marketable. One was short and chubby and the other was average height and thin. They were so filthy I couldn’t tell what color of hair they had. One had big tits, the other I couldn’t be sure due to her wearing a baggy shirt.

  Their faces were dark, but I could tell, even cleaned up, they would not be a lot to look at. Plain would be a compliment. But hadn’t I thought the same of these other girls when I met them? A bath, a fresh coat of make-up and new clothes could work wonders.

  “Mister,” said the first girl. “We’ll do whatever you want, all night, if you buy us a room.”

  Her statement reeked of desperation, and their bodies smelled of grime and ejaculation. They looked at the girls, who hadn’t seemed to have broken a sweat on our journey down here. They still looked good; they had dolled themselves up while we had been at The Falls and they looked clean; groomed. This fact was not lost on the girls standing in front of me who had none of that treatment.

  I looked at them for a while; I saw sadness in them; I saw fear. I’m not going to fall in that lost puppy trap I had spent the last few days falling into. Sadness would not buy me anymore. I would take care of mine, those who had come with me, they were my main concern.

  Tears don’t pay the bills.

  But still... I needed to build out my harem.

  I gave them one more good look over. I think I could find a place for them, but it was not my primary goal right now.

  “Stay here,” I said to them and turned to the rest of my harem. “The rest of you with me.”

  Maybe it was the ribs talking or perhaps it was more Buster and less Doug coming through, but I was getting a lot less chatty and a lot more focused on my task. My speaking reflected that with short orders. Everyone in my harem seemed to respond better to brief, concise, black and white statements. There are not a lot of gray areas in this game.

  The rest of us walked into the office and the two hookers out front waited for us to return.

  6

  Checking In

  The motel clerk was a frail young man. He looked as if a strong gust of wind would knock him over. He stood as we entered through the front door. He seemed surprised. I suspected that he wasn’t used to guests, much less six.

  His eyes got wide as we walked to him and I couldn’t decide which element of what he saw caused his awe. Could be the girls, could be Bogo, could just be paying customers.

  “Hello, welcome to The Side Light Motel,” he said. His voice was squeaky. Although he appeared to be late twenties in age, his voice cracked as if he was still going through puberty.

  He was short and thin. He had auburn hair that looked like it had been a while since it saw a comb. He had a patchwork beard that was so thin I could not classify it as a beard. He was wearing a button-up plaid shirt and khaki pants. He wasn’t wearing a belt, and the pants kept slipping, he was holding on to them as he greeted us to keep them from sagging to his hips.

  “Hello, I’d like to inquire about a room or two please,” I said as I realized what he was staring at. He was staring at Stephanie; apparently, he had an affinity for redheads.

  “Excuse me,” he said, snapping out of his stupor and looking at me.

  “A room. Do you have any?”

  “You’re in luck, we do. How many do you need?”

  “Depends on how much they are.”

  “Twenty for a single, twenty-five for a double.”

  One double would empty my bank account, leaving us nothing for food or any supplies we may need.

  I looked around the office. It was all wood and plaster and in desperate need of a good cleaning, but it had at least been painted at some point in the last thirty years. It smelled of dust and age. The wooden desk that felt like two-by-fours, particle board and paint stood in between the young man and myself.

  I put my hands on the desk that came up to just past my waist. I looked at him and prepared to make him an offer. “Tell ya what,” I said. “I will give you twenty dollars a night for three doubles, all side by side.”

  “I don’t know about that—”

  “I’m not done,” I said, cutting him off. “I also don’t have any money, so I can’t pay you tonight, but I will pay you. Just not right now.”

  “This doesn’t sound—”

  “I’m still not done,” I interjected. “I can provide something else for you.”

  He said nothing. He actually seemed a little confused by me, not scared, just not a wheeler and dealer when it came to rates. He wasn’t a smooth operator as it were. There was something I had learned about my statistics, my stats differently influenced men than it did women. Especially men I was much more masculine than. They took me very seriously, and they were even a little hesitant to speak to me. I intimidated them. It was the effect of my Dominance and Prowess. Where this put women at my feet, men it threatened. It was a neat side effect of the stat tree system inside the game.

  This young man appeared almost nervous to say no to me, and it wouldn’t take much of a push to get him to do whatever it was that I wanted.

  “W-what’s that,” he stammered.

  I leaned forward, closer to him. “You like girls?”

  “Yes, sir.”

  I nodded my head behind me to the girls. “Take your pick.”

  “Excuse,” he coughed, mid-word, “excuse me?”

  “Any of these girls will suck your dick if you do me this one tiny little favor.”

  His eyes got big. He paused for a moment, unsure what to say. He shook his head as if trying to get his mind together. “I’m sorry, we get lots of offers from girls like that.”

  “Yes, but do any of them look like these girls?”

  I had him there.

  “No-no, sir.”

  “Then take your pick, make the deal. Last time I will ask, or I take my business elsewhere.”

  Please don’t call my bluff. Please don’t call my bluff. Please don’t call my bluff. Please don’t call my bluff.

  “Even, uh—” he couldn’t get it out. Even though I knew what he would ask, I still made him do it himself. “Even the redhead.”

  “Even the redhead,” I said, never unlocking my eyes from his face. “Stephanie?”

  Stephanie, her usual cheerful self, bounced up to beside me. “Yes, boss?”

  Still looking at the young man but speaking to Stephanie, “Could you please relieve this young man of some tension?”

  “Blow job?”

  “Works for me,” I said.

  �
�Sure thing, Boss,” she said and then skipped around the back of the desk. The young man locked up in fear; he wasn’t used to seeing women this attractive and this energetic. I suspect most of his offers came from the girls like the ones out front.

  He didn’t move; he stood utterly still as Stephanie unzipped his pants and pulled them down, and then his underwear. She was on her knees with his dick in her face.

  He had a hard-on, and it wasn’t awe-inspiring. It was short and thin, just like him.

  “Hi,” said Stephanie to him as she grabbed his dick. “What’s your name?”

  He seemed to have trouble speaking, but he eventually got it out. “B-ben.”

  “Hi, Ben. I’m Stephanie, I will be sucking your dick today,” she said as if asking if he’d like cream in his coffee. “Would you like for me to stick my finger in your ass?”

  He was stunned and didn’t know what to say. Meanwhile, I almost let out a burst of laughter. He looked to me as if asking for my permission.

  “It’s up to you,” I said.

  He looked back down to her. “Uh, no thank you.”

  “Sure thing, maybe next time,” she said and then started sucking his dick.

  I turned away to give them a little bit of privacy. I motioned with my hand for the rest of them to do the same, and they obliged.

  It didn’t appear as if it would take long as I had already started to hear heavy breathing from the little man behind me.

  I inspected the office. It actually wasn’t that bad, with a fresh coat of paint and some new light bulbs it might not even be that bad. Where in the hell did you even buy lightbulbs in Canny Valley? I didn’t remember seeing any hardware stores, but then again, I hadn’t been looking for them.

  This wasn’t a safe place. If I would base my operations out of this hotel for the time being, then I would need to do something about that. There were too many places for an enemy to hide. Maybe I was just self-serving here because all I could really think to myself was that there were too many places for Bruce to hide and surprise me. I didn’t want to get caught unprepared or unarmed by him again.