Shoot and Loot: No Turning Back.

As he lied on the ground, covered in blood, the mercenary got one of the cigarettes in his pocket and lighted it up. His breathing was heavy, his lungs with blood inside, didn't feel much below his waistline, he moved enough just to feel the taste of nicotine in his mouth one more time.

His name didn't matter anymore, but the legend of the Stoic would live through battlefields along the generations that were to come. Only on his 30's, he reached the end of his life, he fought well, and he lost for the first time.

The cigarette was now tasteless, no oxygen flowed through him, his heart ceased movement, he was dead. He lived as a warrior, and died as one. No fear for death, only the honor and name he carried now stood where his body once was.

And, as his eyes closed, it soon opened again. As he laid down, in the road. The man now had the memories from another person, a 25 year-old called Duke. He rose from the ground, putting his hand against his head, Duke, as he would be called for now on, felt strange.

He was hit by a car, probably multiple internal and external injuries, but Duke was fine, no blood, no pain, and the driver left, to avoid being guilty. "That's one hell of an experience for just seconds..." He said as he composed himself.

On the ground, was a plastic bag, with a video game entitled "Shoot and Loot: Not Turning Back". As Duke's new memories told him, it was a brand new VRMMMORPG FPS, rebranding the old franchise. Extremely realistic with amazing AI and world building, it was revolutionary.

First of its kind, joining FPS with the VRMMORPG, it was ambitious, and the Beta Testers Revews where extremely high, and the possibility of making it your way of living through the in-game money made many people anxious for the game.

"Shooting game, huh? Never played one... But I heard about those VR's back there... Some of the newer soldiers knew about it." Duke thought to himself as he start to head home.

Duke was actually an gym instructorz always loved doing exercise. His body was extremely fit, and he was really healthy. But more than those, he really liked videogames, he wasn't much of an expert in those, but he always played.

MMORPG's never really caught his attention, not the classical ones at least, but Shoot and Loot was one of his favorite franchises as it joined RPG aspects with FPS really well. And, with the now rebooting of the story with Virtual Reality, he was really excited for it.

"He really is fit, huh... I mean, I was a soldier, I had to be fit too, but I never got time to invest only in training... If the game has a connection to reality, this body is going to come in handy." Duke thought as he walked through the sidewalk.

He soon reached home, quickly going in. It wasn't small, but it wasn't that big. It had two floors, the second being the one he lived in. He was so hyped for the game he even instaled a VR Capsule in his room.

"I'm already getting pumped up... The game is gonna be live in some hours, I think his love for gaming was so much I can still feel it here... And it can become a job, as it seems..." Duke, of course, felt uneasy for how coincidental it felt to be in this body, to play a shooting game, as he once was a soldier.

He lived with his mother, father and younger sister. Quite a happy family, although Duke couldn't help but feel helpless as he couldn't afford to move out with the money he made with the gym job.

"Are you already back, son? Did you buy it or did it run out?" His father, called Trevor, who was watching TV by the time he got there, asked him. "Yeah, I think I could've bought it through the internet, but it didn't make a change, really."

Duke said it, but the now owner of this body felt a bit uneasy. He wasn't Duke, he never talked to them, but a strange feeling came up as they interacted. It wasn't bad, and felt natural, something he barely experienced in his past life.

He normally was arrogant, and extremely confident, but Duke didn't feel like doing it anymore. Instead, he felt bad for even thinking of acting like that. Duke was soft hearted, although he was one hell of a big guy. "I guess changing bodies make you soft, huh..." He thought to himself.

"Good to hear you got it." Trevor said as he turned his attention back to the TV. It was quite of a tranquil interaction, but there was a catch. His dad was unemployed, and in debt. His sister was too young to work and his mom normally took care of the house when she wasn't working. So, Duke carried the need to sustain the house with his mother, and he was too good of a man to even think of talking to his father about making him work too.

He didn't hate his father, nor he was mad at him. They lived pretty well together, the four of them, but the debt was still Trevor's fault, and he didn't work to pay it. The family knew he felt guilty and was probably depressed, but he needed to work. Being sad at home wouldn't help.

Duke always thought he could do better, and work enough money to cover for his father, but, of course, he couldn't. "Maybe this RPG thing can help out a bit, huh? But I'm allowing him to be lazy, I'm going to quit my job and force him to work." He thought as he went to his room.

He quickly went to the bathroom, so he could clean himselft from being hit by a car earlier, although it seemed nothing happened to his body. Duke quickly showered and left the bathroom, and so he stared at the mirror, for the first time actually seeing his new face.

He was a tall, fit guys, lots of muscles, he had black hair and beard, looking a lot like a mediterranean. "Doesn't really look like I used to, huh... I mean, I head black hair, but it was shorter... Beard? It never really grew well... And I wasn't mediterranean... But he doesn't look bad... Well, I guess I don't look bad." He thought as he analyzed his face in the mirror, looking every angle the could. It was a strange feeling to look in the mirror and not seeing the same face you always did.

He put on some clothes, although his old taste didn't fit his, as he didn't really like gym clothing, Duke put on some shorts and a black T-shirt. He went to the VR capsule and put the game in before entering, and soon he got in, so he could wait for the start of his new gaming life.

It soon booted up, and he was now in a blank space, everything he could see was white, and soon, a System appeared before him, of course, it was the game's menu, with the countdown going down, millions of anxious players were waiting for the start of a new era of FPS gaming.

The thrilling feeling of survival and looting was about to receive life, the interaction among people all around in this game, to make groups, guilds, army It was to soon begin.