He woke up with a jolt. His vision was blurry, and his head felt like it had just been crushed by a semi truck. He felt like he was going to puke. No! Don't you dare throw up now! He thought. He forced himself to sit upright. The room he was in was old. Very old. It looked like a scene from a post apocalyptic movie. Torn wires hung from the ceiling, randomly sparking and flickering light on the torn up walls. Everything was dead.
Okay, stay calm. He thought. What do you know? He thought back to the time before he fell asleep, but nothing came to his mind. Literally, nothing came. Anything? What do I remember? My name is Felix. I am sixteen years old. I… No other memories came after that.
Felix stood up apprehensively. When he looked down, he realized that he was naked. "What the hell?" he said out loud. He searched for what seemed like an hour to find something to cover up, but came up short. The dead silence did nothing to ease his anxiety.
A door creaked open on the far side of the room. Nothing came through, but that it had opened by itself nearly gave him a heart attack. After a few minute of staring at the door, petrified, he inched his way towards it. Still nothing else moved, other than the occasional flicker of light from a broken cable. He eventually touched the door, and looked through the crack of an opening. The hallway on the other side was just as dead as the room he was in. He forced himself to go through.
Still, nothing moved, but more cables were torn from their outlets, sparking and casting a strobe effect on the walls, floor, and ceiling. Out of the corner of his eye, Felix saw a corpse. It was half rotten, and smelt of dead people, obviously, but it was wearing clothes. He walked over, and crouched down by the dead body. "I'm sorry," he said, and he stripped the body of all its clothes. After brushing the dead skin off of the inside of the clothes, he quickly put them on, trying not to think of the fact that he was wearing a dead man's clothes.
Felix walked over to a reflective surface. The glass was shattered, but he could see himself clearly. The clothes were that of a scientist's. A white lab coat hung over his shoulders, concealing the black suit and tie underneath. An ID card was clipped to the coat's chest pocket. It read: "Dr. Kurt Connors, PhD Theoretical Physics." Felix quickly tore the ID off and set it on the rotten body.
Felix walked for hours around the building, trying to find a way out. All the elevators weren't working, so he had to find the staircase. He finally found his way out. Outside wasn't as depressing. The baby blue sky contrasted well with the lush green grass surrounding a vacant parking lot. The Sun was a brilliant ball of light and heat that welcomed him with rejuvenating energy. Only one motorcycle was in the parking lot. Most likely, it was Kurt's. Huh, I didn't thing scientists ride motorcycles. He thought. On the horizon was a sight to behold. It was a vast, futuristic city skyline. The tallest buildings were all clustered to the middle of the city. Flying ships flew to and from the tallest building in all directions. Roads sprouted from it, which made it look like a spider web. One road led straight to the broken down facility that Felix was now at.
"Looks like that's where I need to go." He thought out loud. He walked over to the cycle. The fuel gauge read "half empty". "Let's say it's half full" He told the motorcycle. As he expected, it didn't react. Felix felt his pockets. A key was in his back pocket. Felix inserted the key into the ignition, and the bike erupted to life. The engine purred eagerly, as if it was happy that it got turned on again. He got on, and drove it towards the city.
Riding a motorcycle was surprisingly easy for Felix. He felt as though he had done this before, but couldn't remember where. The city grew exponentially as he got closer. It didn't take him long before he reached the city limits. A sign read, "Welcome to Grid City. Population: 8 billion." It wouldn't surprise me if there really were that many people in this behemoth. He thought. He soon got stuck in traffic that made Las Angeles look underpopulated. No cars moved. He ended up getting off and walking, with no regard for the furious couple in the car behind him.
He made his way to the side-walk, and his heart did a flip in his chest. The pedestrians were all characters from video games! He didn't understand why he was so excited. He doesn't even remember playing any video games. Yet there he was, pointing out in his mind as many as he could recognize. That's Ethan and Shaun Mars from "Heavy Rain"! And over there! That's Chell from "Portal"! And over there… He forced himself to calm down. No need to have a nerdgasm and make a scene. He was already getting enough unwanted attention from his outfit. A lab coat clearly did not match the comparatively laid back look that Felix had. He'd have to find clothes that would suit his style better.
He saw a store that had clothes in the windows, and went in. It looked like a traditional clothes store inside, only various video game icons were shopping instead of normal people. Princess Peach was looking at a bunch of pink dresses in the clearance section. "Hello! How can I help you?" Felix turned around to see a girl standing in front of him. She clearly worked here. She wore a store uniform and had a name tag that read: Jenna. She had a friendly face, that didn't seem quite natural. Maybe she got a face-lift? He suggested. He looked up to see a glowing green gem-like object floating over her head. Oh. That explains it. She's from "The Sims".
"Yeah, I'm looking for clothes." He said. He sounded dumbfounded, even to him. She gestured to the entire store. "Any particular style?" she asked. He shook his head, silently answering "No." "Okay, ask me if you find anything." She abruptly walked away. "Something tells me that she doesn't want to help me," he muttered. He continued to look through the various outfits and accessories until he found a look that he liked: a partially zipped, black, hooded sweatshirt with a grey T-shirt underneath. He wore jeans and black Converse shoes.
Felix walked up to the cashier. She too was from "The Sims". She looked him up and down before asking, "Is that all for today?" He nodded "Yes". "Hold out your arm." She ordered. He immediately hid his arm. She looked at him suspiciously. "You can't have the clothes if you don't pay." He hesitantly held out his arm. The cashier scanned it. Suddenly, a bar code appeared on his forearm. The scanner beeped. She looked at her computer screen, and knit her eyebrows together. "Huh, that's weird."
"What?"
"You have unlimited credits." She looked at him accusingly. "Are you a hacker?"
"No."
"A glitch?"
"I don't think so." She obviously was still suspicious, but she approved the transaction, and Felix darted out the store.
Okay. So my name is Felix. I am sixteen years old. I am in a world where the populous is composed of people from video games, and I apparently have unlimited credits, so I can literally buy or do anything in this world. He computed. Clearly, I'm here for a reason more than" I just happen to live here, and I can't remember". He walked around for a while longer before ending up at the tallest building. The doors were underneath a large ivory archway that had "Grid Station" engraved into it. Felix walked in. Inside, there were terminals that had various names of video games illuminated over the entrance. He saw a terminal for "Halo 4", "Bioshock Infinite", "Grand Theft Auto V", and countless others.
His eyes became fixed on one terminal in particular. "Borderlands 2". He didn't know why, but he felt drawn to that game. The sheer name brought a feeling of nostalgia that he couldn't explain. He walked toward the entrance, and quickly picked up the pace as he got closer. He ended up sprinting to the shuttle. The shuttle started moving abruptly after he stepped on. He was on his way to "Borderlands 2". He still didn't understand it, but he could barely control his excitement.