Finding whatever small pleasures they can

For the rest of the day, the group began to settle into their new life within the room. Everyone came to Anne and Jack, asking for whatever they needed to pass the time, except for Leticia, who spent her free time exercising without any equipment, just alternating between push-ups, sit-ups, squats, stretching, and whatever other exercises she felt like doing.

Ed and Jen chose books from the store’s very extensive library, which very much appeared to contain every book ever written, in every language. Ed even claimed that some of the less popular books had never been so widely translated before, and that the store had actually made accurate translations of them, adding to the mystery of the strange room.

Frank had Jack purchase a wall-mounted TV, which came with the store’s on-demand streaming service. Again, the list seemed complete, containing every movie and series he had ever heard of, plus thousands more. He turned on a popular new action flick that he hadn’t gone to the theater to see yet, and sat down to watch.

Emery asked for a smartphone and a pair of headphones, downloading a variety of her favorite songs. The phone could connect to the internet, but it seemed like a frozen copy of the web, rather than the real one. Her calls always failed, and none of her texts went through, but she was able to download a few of her favorite games to play. Anne promised to buy her a computer later, when she had enough spare points saved up.

Anne spent the rest of the day experimenting, buying things just to watch them slide through the walls. She discovered that she could get rid of items she bought by paying a small $10 fee and placing the item against the wall. If only we could phase through these walls, too, she thought to herself.

Jack worked with Anne, listening to her and offering suggestions when he could. A couple times in the afternoon, when Anne got low on points, she took him into their tiny makeshift bedroom and gave him a quiet blowjob, always trying to stay above five points. Technically she wasn’t even close to danger until she hit one or two points, but she didn’t feel comfortable dropping that low, and plus, she enjoyed seeing the partly troubled, partly enraptured look Jack gave when he struggled to ejaculate without making any noise.

In the evening, after a lavish dinner, the lights in the glowing screens naturally dimmed, like an artificial twilight, and the group prepared for bed. Frank and Leticia had let Greco out earlier, to eat and use the restroom, during which time he continued to cuss violently, exclaiming that everyone was "losing their goddamn minds," but he was unable to hurt anyone while being watched by the two guards. After his outburst, they decided to gag and bind him again, to keep him quiet and let the rest of the group get some peaceful sleep. They threw a blanket and pillow into his cell, but otherwise left him alone for the rest of the night.

The group decided to use sleeping bags for the first night, since they were more compact than a bunch of twin-sized mattresses. Anne and Jack slept in their small bed together, since it was already there, and no one complained when they went for another round before going to sleep, although quite a few of the others were kept up by the light rocking of the bed frame. Everyone depended on the two to provide everything they needed in the small room, and they all knew that the only way they were going to be able to do that was through lots of sex. At the very least, the room was, despite having no obvious openings, very well ventilated, and the smell of sweat and sexual fluids didn’t hang heavy in the air.

That first night, most of the group struggled to sleep comfortably. Reasonable worries and fears floated through their minds, haunting their dreams, and forcing them to toss and turn across the floor. Only Anne and Jack slept soundly, fucked into a deep sleep by one another; too blissfully exhausted to think about the terrible, overwhelming sense of helplessness that laid heavy over many of the others.