Halloween Hacker

"What's that face for?" she asked.

"N-Nothing," Chris stammered.

"Bullshit," she grinned. "You just remembered something about the game, didn't you?"

"Maybe, but-"

"But nothing. C'mon, spill!" Evie encouraged him, slipping her arm in his.

"Well... it's about you and Jeremiah," he admitted.

"Yeah? What happens between us?"

"You, um... it's heavily implied that you two... have sex."

Evie could only grin at hearing this. She enjoyed the thought of this prospect, not only in that she had always been attracted to Jeremiah, but also in that Chris was currently in Jeremiah's place. After everything that had happened that day, she'd jump at a chance with a guy like him. Feeling bold, she scooted as close to Chris as she could, slipping her arm around his waist and laying her head on his shoulder.

"Evie, what are you doing?" Chris sighed, already knowing the answer.

"Trying to make sure we don't deviate from the game's events, silly," Evie replied. "For the sake of continuity, of course."

"We can't..."

Evie paused at this. "I see. I suppose that's fair, if I'm just not your kind of girl. I'm sorry, I shouldn't have been so forward."

"Are you kidding?!" Chris laughed. "My kind of girl? Evie, you're my dream girl! You're gorgeous, intelligent, and you kick ass! I'd be the luckiest man alive to have a shot with someone like you!"

She sensed hesitation in him. "But?"

"But we live in different worlds," said Chris. "Like, I don't even know if any of this is real or not."

Evie nodded. "Could be. If you're right, I'm just a digital rendering, after all."

"It might be even worse than that. I'm not in my own world, Evie. I'm in yours. You're the heroine of this story, the one everybody plays as in the game. Me? I'm the sidekick. I'm expendable."

"Don't say that! You're not expendable!"

"I could be," Chris countered. "Sidekicks die all the time in open-world adventure games like these. There might be no way out of this for me."

Realizing he could be right, Evie said, "Then I say we make every second count."

Before Chris knew what was happening, Evie had tilted his head down and placed a soft kiss on his lips. At that moment, any semblance of logic flew from his mind. It no longer mattered that Evie might not be real; she was real in all the ways that mattered. Digital rendering or not, she had every ability to experience real feelings and emotions. The passion in her kiss communicated the obvious truth: she was kissing Chris, not Jeremiah. She really was his dream girl, and she wanted him.

Chris soon began to get swept up in his own emotions and returned her passion in kind. They made out like horny teenagers for quite some time, delighting in each other's warmth and allowing their hands to explore freely. Chris attempted to be a gentleman and not go straight for the goods, but Evie carried no such delusions of propriety. Before long, her hand had already found the growing bulge in Chris's pants.

"Mmm... I'm gonna like what you've got down there," she murmured between kisses.

Evie did manage to separate herself from Chris for long enough to reach over to her backpack and grab her bedroll. The instant she had it spread out on the ground, Chris was already on her, pushing her down on her back and continuing their passionate kissing. She squirmed in anticipation, growing wetter by the second from his attentions and silently begging him to go further. To her pleasant surprise, Chris seemed to hear her pleas and reached down to unbutton her khaki shorts.

"Is... is this... ok?" he asked.

"Yes, please," she whispered in reply.

Seeing the goofy grin on Evie's face was all the encouragement Chris needed. After gently undoing the button to her shorts, he slid the zipper down to reveal the tops of her black athletic panties. She had already kicked off her hiking boots during their kissing, so it was easy to slide both her panties and shorts off in one fluid motion, leaving Evie Granger naked from the waist down.

Chris was rendered speechless by what he saw. The most famous and beautiful video game heroine in the world was now half-naked for him. Her tanned legs were long and smooth, leading to a surprisingly curvy pair of hips and a slim waist. She still wore her signature red tank top, but Chris couldn't complain about that. At last, his eyes found her pussy, already glistening with her juices and shaved bare, save for a thin strip of black hair above it.

"You gonna keep staring, or you gonna do something about it?" Evie egged him on.

Without a word, Chris again pressed his lips to hers, kissing her sensuously before starting his way down her supple body. Evie moaned in pleasure as he began to kiss her cheeks and neck, her body quivering with every touch he gave her. Chris soon made his way lower, but found that her breasts were encased within a sports bra underneath her tank top. Knowing the difficulty involved in removing it, he moved on for the time being, lifting up her shirt a bit to inspect her taut stomach. A few more playful kisses had Evie squirming in anticipation.

"God, Chris..."

That was all the encouragement he needed. Moving lower, Chris began to kiss his way up Evie's inner thighs, one after the other. Her moans of passion only increased as he neared her womanhood. For poor Evie, it was all she could do to restrain herself from grabbing the back of Chris's head and pushing his face into her pussy. Much as she might have wanted that, she loved the fact that he was in complete control of her passions. Besides, she reasoned, it would be her turn soon enough. Such thoughts were interrupted by an incredible tingling in her pelvic region; Chris's tongue had made first contact with her slit.

Chris never professed to be an expert in female anatomy, but he did well enough for himself. To his pleasant surprise, Evie seemed to be incredibly sensitive in her nether regions, making his task that much easier and more enjoyable. For Evie, she worried at first that his stubble would make things itchy and uncomfortable, but she found she rather enjoyed the additional tickling sensations. Before long, Chris's attentions became too much for her to withstand, forcing her to erupt in a massive orgasm. Moreover, her screams of ecstasy echoed through the cave, spurring Chris on further. After another two orgasms in this manner, Evie could take no more and pushed Chris's face away.

"Holy fuck... so fucking good," she panted.

"You're tellin' me," Chris chuckled. "I like a girl who's sensitive."

"Lover, you just took sensitive to a whole new level," Evie grinned at him. Deciding to take the lead, she wrapped her arms around Chris and rolled them both over in one swift motion. "My turn, now," she purred into his ear.

Once Chris adjusted himself on the bedroll, Evie began repaying his previous torturing with some of her own. She kissed his neck for quite some time, as he had done to her, but passed on exploring his body in depth. They were both plenty horny as it was. With a couple of swift pulls, she had his pants undone and down to his shins, at last freeing Chris's engorged member. Evie took him into her mouth without hesitation, tormenting him with an impressive display of sucking, licking, and stroking. Still, as much as Evie was tempted to make him blow then and there, she knew she had to have all of him. As she straddled Chris in preparation for the main event, Evie noticed that his eyes were glued squarely to her chest.

"Aw, poor baby," she teased him. "Were you hoping to see my titties?"

"Yes, please," Chris grinned.

Evie giggled at this. "I think I can arrange that."

With that, Evie crossed her arms in front of her and peeled off her red tank top in the same sexy way all women did. Her sports bra took a bit more finagling, but it soon slipped off as well, allowing her breasts to bounce free at last. Chris was awestruck by their perfect shape and size; they were perky and full, probably a C cup, though he would need a closer inspection to determine that. The most striking thing he noticed was that, like the rest of her body, Evie lacked even a single tan line.

"Someone likes to sunbathe nude, I see," Chris smirked.

Evie shrugged, causing her breasts to jiggle. "Lots of privacy in the Outback. It's pretty common, actually."

"Not complaining, mind you."

"Neither am I," Evie replied, beginning her descent onto his erect cock.

"Holy shit..."

As Evie began to grind her pussy against Chris, she smiled at seeing that he was completely at her mercy. She'd had a few lovers over the years, but none were as genuine and enthusiastic as Chris. Up to this point, he was far more concerned with her enjoyment than his own, creating a wonderful cycle of simultaneous pleasure as she ramped up her efforts. In spite of Evie's position of dominance, Chris still tried to remain an active participant, reaching up to tweak her tiny nipples as she rode him.

"I was hoping you'd do that," she gasped, "but why use only your hands?"

Without ceasing her grinding for a second, Evie helped Chris sit up straight and offered her breasts to him. He obliged without protest, taking one swollen nipple into his mouth and stimulating her gently. As he suckled her, Evie became a moaning puddle of incoherent babble and held Chris's face against her chest with her arms, begging him not to stop. She wasn't sure which her favorite part was: the fact he knew just when to change sides or the fact he continued to thrust into her, even with her being on top. Either way, Evie couldn't deny that Chris was far and away the best lover she had ever met in her life.

"Evie," he growled, "I'm close to-"

"Right there with ya, love! I'm goin' for broke!"

With a level of ferocity that took Chris by surprise, Evie placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him down on to his back. She became a woman possessed, thrashing about and screaming in pleasure as she rode out her final string of orgasms. The erotic sight of Evie Granger losing all control was too much for Chris to withstand, and he exploded into her convulsing pussy moments later. Real or not, it was the single best experience he would ever have, and Chris damn well knew it. Eventually, Evie collapsed onto him with his cock still imbedded within her. Their bodies were sweaty and dirty, but they couldn't have cared less in those moments. Soon, they drifted off into unconsciousness together.

*****

Hours later, Evie continued to doze peacefully with her head on Chris's chest. Chris, on the other hand, was wide awake, his mind running a mile a minute.

"Chris, you're a goddamn idiot," he muttered to himself. "Your dad always told you not to think with your plumbing, but you did it anyway. Now, here you are, falling in love with a digital rendering of a video game character. Even if she is real, there's no way you could ever be with her. You can't give her the life she wants. One way or another, you're going to lose her..."

"That's pretty defeatist for a bloke who just got lucky," Evie mumbled.

"Oh... sorry," Chris said, turning red with embarrassment. "I thought you were asleep."

"I feel the same way, you know," she replied, looking up into his eyes.

"You do?"

"Bloody oath. It's not about the sex; that was just icing on the cake. No, you and I have been in sync almost since the moment we met, Chris. I've had several different partners in my short career, but none of 'em come close to you. You've got that perfect combination of intelligence, resourcefulness, and quirkiness. If there were any way I could have a normal life with you, that's what I'd want more than anything."

"A normal life?" Chris said in surprise. "Evie, you're a globe-trotting adventurer. You uncover a different lost civilization every month, it seems. How could you want anything other than that life?"

"Yeah, I do love the adventure," she admitted. "But now that I'm self-aware, now that I know I'm just a digital rendering programmed to think that way, I think I'd choose the normal life with you just to prove a point."

"Huh, I guess that makes sense. It's like in The Matrix. Even if the system is giving you what you think you want, once you know that your ability to choose is being taken away in the process, it's only natural to want to rebel."

"Exactly. And we both know about my rebellious streak," Evie said with a wry grin.

"I just wish there was some way out for you. Although, I did have one thought."

"Yeah?"

"Remember how I said this is an open world game? I wonder if I could just stay in the game indefinitely. We could be together while ignoring the events of the game, just 'exploring' together, so to speak. You think it might work?"

Evie grimaced at this. "It might, but I can tell you'd go crazy sooner or later. Your mind wouldn't be able to shut out the fact that none of this is real for you, and by then, there might not be any way for you to escape."

Chris lowered his head, knowing she was right. "Yeah, I could definitely see that happening. I just had to at least consider it."

Sitting up a bit, Evie planted another long kiss on his lips. "I meant what I said, Chris. If I could wake up next to you every morning, I'd be the luckiest gal in the world."

As much as he wanted to voice his affections, Chris knew it would only end up hurting them both in the long run. Instead, he replied, "Sounds like the storm's let up, and Yosef won't be far behind us. We should probably get moving."

"Yeah."

*****

"That's Mount Sodom?" Chris asked, looking through the binoculars. "It looks... smaller than I thought it would."

"Remember, we're way below sea level in this region," said Evie. "Nothing gets too high up around here. Even the peak of Mount Sodom is about 170 meters below sea level. There's a reason they call it the Dead Sea."

"True enough." Continuing to peer through the binoculars, Chris asked, "Hey, do you see that structure near the top?"

Evie took the binoculars from him and gazed into the distance. "You mean that pillar? Yeah, what of it?"

"I'm pretty sure that pillar is known as 'Lot's Wife' by the locals. If the statuette mentions Sodom and Gomorrah-"

"That could be a key to finding the treasure!" Evie squealed in delight, hugging Chris and planting a kiss on his cheek. "You're really good at this!"

It took some time for them to make their way to the main trail ascending Mount Sodom, and the climb itself was also slow going. The sweltering heat and lack of any shade would take it out of anyone. Still, they made steady progress and soon arrived at the Lot's Wife pillar.

"This is impressive," Chris marveled. "What do you make of it?"

"Let's see... it's halite, same as the cherub," Evie observed, holding it in her hand. "Could it be just a coincidence?"

"I doubt it. Look at the statuette. It looks like it could have been carved from this very piece of stone."

"You may be right about that," Evie remarked. As she knelt down to inspect the base of the pillar, she said, "Now, this is interesting. It looks like an image of... Mount Sodom?"

"Yeah, I see it," Chris agreed, inspecting the image carved into the ground. "See the sun over the mountain there?"

"I do. And here, this shading looks to be the resulting shadow of the mountain. But what could that mean?"

"It's pointing to our next destination," Chris grinned. "Look at the angle the sun is at. This must be referring to a specific time of day in which the shadow will point to where we need to go next."

"I think you're right," said Evie. "Just one problem. According to this, the sun will only be at that angle around two o'clock this afternoon. That's six hours from now, and we can't just wait around for Yosef to show up."

After thinking a moment, Chris replied, "I got this. You have a pencil and some paper?"

Reaching for her backpack, Evie answered, "Yeah, but what for?"

"You'll see," said Chris, taking the pencil and paper from her. "Can I use your back?"

"Sure."

Evie set her backpack on the ground and turned to face away from Chris. She felt him place the paper between her shoulder blades and could tell he was writing frantically, but what he was doing was beyond her. This went on for a few minutes until Chris stopped and paused to study the paper.

"You wanna fill me in?" Evie inquired.

"Sorry, I went into nerd mode there for a minute," Chris chuckled. "It occurred to me that we can determine the length and direction of any object's shadow without having to see it firsthand. As long as we know the height of the object, Mount Sodom, and the angle of the sun, the rest is just basic trigonometry. See?"

Evie stood openmouthed as she looked over his calculations. Chris wasn't just thorough, he was downright meticulous. Every factor had been taken into account, even as far as knowing that there was no Daylight Savings Time back when this carving had been made. Based on his math, the shadow of Mount Sodom would stretch about two hundred yards to the east, giving them a much easier search than they would have had otherwise. After about thirty minutes of searching the area, Evie stumbled upon a conspicuously placed boulder.

"Well, look at you," she said. "Looks like a rough carving of the same characters on the statuette: Sodom and Gomorrah."

"Find something?" Chris asked, coming up behind her.

"I think so. These symbols look familiar?"

"They do. Looks like the Sodom and Gomorrah symbols on the cherub. But what's with the circle carved beneath them?"

"Hmm... I wonder if... ah-ha! The base of the statuette fits in it perfectly!"

Evie carefully pressed the statuette into the boulder, feeling a mechanism of some sort moving as she did so. After hearing a click, the boulder slid aside, revealing a stone staircase leading underground.

"Well, abra-fucking-kadabra," Chris said with a laugh.

"Come on, follow me," Evie replied, pulling out a pair of flashlights. "Here, help me close it up behind us. Can't make things too easy on Yosef, can we?"

"Agreed."

After sliding the boulder back into place above them, the pair made their way down the winding stairway. As they went, Chris began to wonder more about the object that brought them here.

"So, do you think that statuette is a relic of Sodom and Gomorrah? Is that the connection we're missing?"

"I don't think so," said Evie. "It doesn't appear old enough. Remember, Sodom and Gomorrah were ancient cities, so ancient that they only appeared in the Book of Genesis. That account was written down by Moses, supposedly, during the Israelite Exodus from Egypt, which itself would have happened somewhere between 1200 and 1450 BC, if it happened at all. Most archeologists doubt that it ever happened, but I've learned not to make assumptions."

"So, if Sodom and Gomorrah were ancient enough that they were legends by that time, there's no way the statuette would be in this good condition after all these years," Chris reasoned.

"Exactly. Based on my research, it looks to be maybe two thousand years old, give or take a couple of centuries. Otherwise, I doubt there'd be anything left of it."

By this time, the pair had reached the bottom of the stairs and now found themselves in a medium sized cavern. On each of the two walls to their sides was a mural of some sort, and ahead of them stood a small pedestal.

"Hey, there's some torches along the walls. You got a lighter?"

"Sure thing," said Evie, lighting the torches around the room. "Well, what have we here?"

"These murals are beautiful," Chris marveled. "Looks like this one depicts Moses speaking to Pharaoh in Egypt."

"I don't think that's Moses, mate," Evie replied. "See the guy standing off to the side? I think he's Moses. The guy talking to Pharaoh has to be Aaron."

"That's right! Moses supposedly had a stuttering problem, meaning Aaron had to speak for him. What does the other mural show?"