The Escape Room Room 01 Sammy

You're an idiot, Drake,

I told myself as I pulled at the collar of my light jacket and knew too late that I should have worn something warmer. Walking the streets of the city at night in early January was just plain stupid, especially with the winter as cold as it had been. I guess I'd been so excited about my birthday tomorrow that I'd rushed out without thinking, and now I was standing in a sketchy alley between some huge skyscrapers as the wind howled through the space separating the buildings. Dirty, slushy snow soaked through my shoes and socks and the icy breeze tunneled its way past my jacket and through the thin shirt beneath. I was freezing. The only thing keeping me here were the words of a stranger I'd met through an online message board.

You're totally an idiot,

I said again. What was I, anyway? A soon-to-be 26-year-old with mounds of college loan debt and a degree in accounting.

You're here as a joke some stranger is playing for their sick amusement. When you freeze to death —

"Hello! You must be Drake."

I spun.

A door was creaking open in the wall a dozen feet down and a tall, bearded figure was standing in the yellow rectangle of light. "Come in! You must be freezing, poor lad."

I shivered through the slush and into the doorway, finding myself in a small, square office with a large welcome desk and several corridors leading deeper into the building behind it. The tall man who had let me in strode back across the room and sat down behind the desk. When he turned to face me, I saw that his beard was long and white, his nose was long and crooked and his head was bald as a hardboiled egg. He also had beady eyes and a wicked smile that, along with the rest of him, made the man look like a shifty Merlin or lecherous Dumbledore.

"So, Drake..." he mused. "You responded to our posted message in an online forum for individuals with certain... sexual proclivities... expressing interest in coming to a business arrangement."

I tried and failed not to turn red with embarrassment.

He thinks I'm some sort of sexual deviant.

"No no no, lad," he said, obviously noticing my coloring and waving his hand, letting his mouth turn into a much more grandfatherly smile. "Many of our clients frequent such corners of the Internet."

I wasn't sure whether to be soothed or discomfited even more.

"Some men like their women tied up and gagged, bound or chained or strapped down," the man continued, waving his hand more as he went down the list. "Others..." He shot me a significant look. "Want nothing more than docile playthings — submissive and obedient and always ready to please."

I clenched my fists and tried to ignore the fact that even just his description sent a bucket of blood rushing below my belt.

"I assume you came with the down payment?" he asked, as I wondered whether I should even be here.

I took a deep breath.

This is real. This is crazy, but real.

I reached into my pocket for my wallet. "Your message said a thousand dollars?"

"Nope. Four thousand." The man's face fell back into the blank expression of a professional hustler.

"Four thousand?" I gaped.

That's 80 percent of my bank account!

The old man winked at me and spat into a tall silver cup that sat on his desk. "You know what you're buying," he cackled. "$1,000 each, that's the new price. Take it or leave it."

Fifteen minutes earlier, I wouldn't have thought twice. I would have flipped the man the bird and walked out. But for some reason I hesitated.

Dirty Gandalf sighed. "Rest assured, my boy, that this is your only opportunity." He shook his head sadly. "Many men have walked out that door and regretted it when we didn't give them a second chance."

I swallowed, hard. "This better be for real," I said. Fishing in my wallet, I pulled out my credit card. I tossed it down on the table.

Quick as a wink, Crazy Merlin swiped it up and was entering the details into the desk's ancient-looking computer. Several minutes of

tap-tap-tapping

on the keyboard later, he slid my card back across the desk. "You just received an address and a gate code in your email inbox," he said, looking up at me through bushy eyebrows. "Show up tomorrow to the address with the four young ladies. There will be a man there who will walk you through the rest."

I nodded, coughed uncomfortably, then turned and started to leave.

"Oh, and Drake?" The man had paused at the entrance to one of the tunnels and I paused in the doorway.

The wind was hitting my back and sending shivers down my spine. "What?" I asked.

The Dumbledore doppelgänger grinned. "Happy Birthday."

We pulled up to the crumbling facade of an old warehouse down by the financial district at around 11 o'clock. We came in two cars, Sammy and Eliza with me in my beat-up red truck, Marcella and Hannah in Hannah's new Mercedes. The security code I'd been given opened up a heavy black gate that looked new and out of place in the rundown surroundings.

"There's an escape room in there?" Sammy asked, stretching as she got out of my car and almost popping the buttons on her blouse as her sizable breasts threatened to escape.

I did an amazing job of not staring directly at her tits as I answered her question. Instead, I was captured by her bewitching blue gaze. "This is the address the booking agent gave me."

And according to old Merlin's advertisement, the room is equipped with the technology to turn any four women I bring into my personal harem of brainwashed bimbos.

Eliza came around the truck, sleek as usual in black jeans and a dark leather jacket that somehow accented her milk chocolate complexion. I'm not so good with style, but whatever she did was definitely working. "This is the place, huh?" she asked, pursing her full lips. "It doesn't look like much."

Definitely doesn't look like $4,000,

I thought glumly, but tried to look upbeat and excited. "Yeah!" I said, turning and smiling as Hannah and Marcella walked up to join us. "I've never done an escape room before and I wanted to take my four best friends with me on my birthday. Apparently this is one of the most difficult and complex ones in the city."

"Well, Drake," Marcella said, and I felt a tingle of warmth in the pit of my stomach as her delicious Spanish accent sounded out my name. "We're all here and ready for a good time."

Hannah smiled brightly at me. It was a brilliant, million-watt smile — no wonder she was pulling in the big bucks as the personal assistant to one of the biggest software magnates in the city. "The inside can only look better than the outside!" she told me, punching me playfully in the shoulder. Hannah was usually the chipper one of the group. "So let's check it out."

I led the way towards the big blue door of the big blockish building, my four hot-as-hell friends trailing behind. I still couldn't believe these girls hung out with me. Sure, I had been completely emasculated and dumped in the friend zone by all of them. But nonetheless, an average-looking guy like me took the opportunity to spend time with gorgeous women where he could.

I hit the door several times with my fist, eliciting a hollow-sounding

bong

each time. "Anybody home?" I called.

The door opened suddenly and a suspiciously-familiar tall man in glasses and a long white lab coat stood before us.

Dumbledore!

I thought incredulously.

There is no fucking way.

"Erm, hello," I said as he looked down his nose at me. He had a clipboard in his hand and a pencil.

"Hello, stranger," he said, and I could have sworn I saw him wink beneath one bushy white eyebrow. "Are you and your beautiful companions ready to embark on the adventure of a lifetime?" He flashed a joking grin at the girls and they tittered behind me.

I nodded, slowly. "We are, sir," I said, feeling slightly foolish.

My old acquaintance slumped suddenly, dropping his pretentious act. He laughed, a deep Santa Clause sound. "Then get on in here, young 'uns," he said. He backed out of the doorway and I stepped inside. "The adventure awaits!"

We trooped inside and looked around. The room was small, with blank concrete walls, obviously taking up only a tiny corner of the vast warehouse. It made me wonder how big the escape room actually was, or whether our room was just one of many. My bearded friend showed us to a table where several pages of forms were laid out in four neat stacks. Beside each stack was a pen. "Get to signing, girls," Merlin chuckled.

Sammy raised her hand, her sparkly pink fingernails flashing in the light. "There are five of us, not four," she commented.

"Our young birthday boy will have a different set of papers to sign," our host explained, snaking an arm around my shoulders and gesturing vaguely with his clipboard. "Since he's the one who booked your whole adventure he has a bit more liability."

Hannah rolled her eyes. "I swear," she laughed. "Not even my office has this much paperwork." She bent over the table and I tried not to stare at her ass in those tight jeans as she focused on the work.

I shook my head and turned to examine the pages the escape room operator scooted in front of me. I skimmed down the page. It started off like the usual stuff.

Do you forswear the right to take legal action against the Escape Room Corp. for any injuries sustained from actions taken of your own free will?

Then it moved on to some stranger ones.

Do you acknowledge that any decisions you make or actions you take during and/or after the escape room are yours and that the Escape Room Corp. has no liability?

Finally, I froze. I reread the line.

Do you, Drake Sutton, consent to have your four fellow escapees hypnotically transformed into willing, obedient bimbos, sexually submissive and servile to you, and you alone?

My hand seemed unable to move the pen across the line that said, "Sign here."

God,

I thought.

You're so stupid. And gullible. You've been reading too many stories on the internet. This is all a scam anyway. It doesn't matter if you sign.

I scribbled my signature and took a deep breath.

This is stupid. You wasted your money coming here.

A wrinkled set of fingers reached out and grasped the paper. I looked up and saw it was in the hands of my old friend the escape room curator.

"Do you have a name?" I asked, realizing I couldn't keep thinking of him as Weird Merlin.

"Maybe," the man grinned. "But I like to be thought of as a mysterious, wizardly caricature instead." He quickly scanned the page I'd signed. "Everything seems to be in order," he said, giving me a significant look.

Behind me, I heard the rustling of pages as my friends finished signing their own waivers.

"Alright," Gandalf the Strange said, raising his hands above his head. The girls gathered around and I uncomfortably wondered what was about to happen. "The birthday boy will come with me. This is a special escape room, a birthday quest."

My friends looked at each other in confusion.

Eliza put her hands on her hips and cocked her head. "What're you talking about?" she asked. "Drake isn't doing the escape room with us?"

The bearded man smiled. "While you four young ladies struggle to escape, your friend Drake will be enjoying a birthday challenge of his own. Once you've all beaten the game, you will be reunited at the end of the trials!"

I shrugged in response to the looks of confusion shot my way.

Don't look at me,

I thought.

I have no idea what's going on.

"Ladies, through that door if you will?" Crazy Albus gestured and pressed a button on a remote he pulled from his pocket. A door in the corner unlocked with a

clunk

and swung open. "And Drake, with me."

I looked over my shoulder as he led me towards a door on the opposite side of the room. My four friends were filing through the doorway and into the room beyond.

Whatever is about to happen

, I thought.

Please just let it be good.

I had no idea if I was going to get what I paid for, but I did know the games were about to begin.

Weird Merlin led me down a short tunnel and through another door. I wasn't sure what I expected, but as he showed me into a luxuriantly-appointed lounge I started to relax.

Happy Birthday, Drake,

I thought to myself as he gestured for me to take a seat in a reclining leather chair the size of a small sofa. He went around the counter into the gleaming kitchen and started bustling about.

"Champagne? Wine? Whiskey? Beer?" his chortling voice came over my shoulder as I looked around the room from my exceedingly comfortable vantage point.

"What?" I asked, craning my neck to look at him. All I could see were several impressive leather recliners, a bar and a massive flatscreen that covered most of the wall in front of me.

That must have cost several fortunes

, I thought. Glancing around, I couldn't see a remote to turn on the massive monitor.

"Beer it shall be," Gandalf said decisively, coming back around with a beer in each hand. He passed one over to me and plopped down on a leather cushion a few feet away. "You ready for the games to begin?" he asked me, glancing over and wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

I have no idea what I've gotten myself into,

I thought, and nodded.

The strange man grinned, then pulled out the remote he'd used earlier to open the door to the escape room. He pressed a yellow button and the screen flickered to life.

It was brilliant, high-definition and almost life-sized. On screen, my four friends were standing in a six-sided room. The walls were a sterile white color and glowed brightly, lighting the space from all sides. In the center of each wall was a door with a black mechanism where someone could slide a keycard. There was a soft

hiss

and in the center of the floor a tile slid back. A slim white pedestal rose and locked into place at waist height. The only thing atop the pedestal was a black keycard, like I'd used dozens of times in hotels across the country.

Pressing a blue button now, my personal Dumbledore spoke into the apparently all-powerful remote. His voice came out of hidden speakers in the brightly-lit white room, altered and synthesized so that it sounded like the voice of a classic AI simulation.

"Before you are four doors and one key. The key opens one of the doors and behind that door is your first challenge. Somewhere in the room beyond you will find another key. Do whatever you must to bring the key out of that room and use it to unlock the next door. Only once you have progressed through all four rooms will you be able to unlock and leave through the fifth door. Good luck, escapees and..." the man paused and shot me a significant look. "Have fun!"

He set the remote down as the four beautiful women began to move onscreen. "Enjoy this, Drake," he said with a gruff laugh. "You are about to have the best day of your life."

I took a deep breath.

This isn't so bad,

I thought. I sipped my beer and leaned forward, watching as my four beautiful friends converged on the pedestal.

* * *

Hannah reached the keycard first and snapped it up between her slim fingers. The lightly-freckled brunette examined the slim plastic rectangle before shaking her head.

"No writing or markings," she declared.

"We'll just have to try it on doors until it works," Marcella suggested.

Hannah nodded. "We'll go around the room clockwise trying doors."

Eliza nodded briskly, her black hair back in a businesslike ponytail. "It doesn't sound like we have a time limit, so let's take our time and be careful."

Sammy rolled her eyes and followed as the others made there way to the first door.

Hannah swiped the card, and the others held their breath. The blinking red light went from red to green, and there was a

click

as the door unlocked. Hannah turned the knob and looked over her shoulder. "Ready ladies?" she asked, already taking on the unofficial role of group leader.

Everyone nodded.

Hannah grinned. "Let's do this." She pushed the door open with one slender shoulder and the others followed her into the first room.

It was like entering another world. Mist curled around their feet and lush grass carpeted the floor. Overhead, a colorful bird fluttered through the air and somewhere another let out an exotic trill.

"Where are we?" Hannah asked, raising her hand to shield her eyes from the suddenly blazing light.

Marcella looked around. "I think it's meant to be the tropics. Somewhere in South America, most likely." The caramel-skinned woman sniffed the air. "When I was in Costa Rica the air felt like this. Hot and heavy. Humid."

Sammy pushed her wavy blonde hair back from her face and pointed. "Over there."

The other women turned to see what she'd noticed. A strangely out-of-place clothing rack, hung with four matching adventure outfits — complete with boots, shorts and white tank tops.

Suddenly, the AI voice from before addressed them from speakers hidden somewhere in the trees. "In each room you will find a corresponding outfit to match the environment. Wear these outfits for the duration of your time in the room. This is the only way you will be able to receive credit for successfully completing each room's trial."

Hannah looked around and then up at the sky, as though trying to locate the voice's origin. "So we're just supposed to strip down right now? What about our own clothes?" Her voice was heavy with sarcasm, but Eliza, sweat already beading her forehead in her heavy denim and long sleeves was peeling off her leather jacket.

"I'm sure we'll get them back later," the dark-skinned woman said, sighing with relief as the air hit her skin.

"Your clothing will be returned to you at the end of the challenge." The AI sounded as monotone and robotic as ever. "Good luck, escapees!"

There was silence as the four women looked at each other.

It was Sammy who finally broke it. "I don't have a problem if you don't," she said with a giggle, pulling her top over her head and freeing her buoyant breasts, which tumbled free in a heavy-duty sports bra. She wiggled out of the cutoff jean shorts that barely covered her ass and tossed them on top of her blouse. Clad only in her bra and panties she crossed to the clothing rack and grabbed one of the hangers.

The others hesitated, then started to strip down.

* * *

I was in heaven. The four hottest women I knew were taking off their clothes on live video right in front of me. I poured the rest of my beer in my mouth and felt the bubbles tingling down my throat.

This is real, Drake,

I thought, and I felt my cock beginning to harden in my pants.

Holy shit this is fucking real!

"This must be the best job in the world, huh?" I asked with a grin, clinking bottles with my new favorite person.

"Not too shabby, lad," Crazy Merlin said, wiggling his eyebrows. "Another beer?"

"Sure!" I nodded enthusiastically. I examined my four friends carefully as he stood and went back into the kitchen, enjoying the fact that I could do so completely uninhibited. Of the four, Eliza wore the skimpiest lingerie, a matching bra and panties in purple lace that looked lovely against the backdrop of her dark, supple skin.

I took a quick sip of beer as the girls dressed. On their bodies, the matching outfits were blatantly sexualized parodies of adventuring gear. Their khaki shorts barely covered any ass, and Sammy couldn't even button her cargo shirt for fear of popping buttons.

Dressed, the women looked to Hannah to take the lead. The spritely brunette sighed, then gestured. "Let's follow the path," she said. Together, the four trooped off into the trees.