Author's Note: Yes, super short first chapter. Sorry! I promise it'll be a LOT better in pretty much all the other chapters. I swear!
It was almost ready… I just needed it to run over night for diagnostics and log everything it did differently and changed in the program. I hooked the cable to my old bike helmet, now a very vital piece of my virtual reality game. Gamers could control their avatars like nothing before, using their own minds instead of those clunky controllers.
I paused and took a deep breath, turning the helmet over to eye the dents and a crack. It felt like yesterday that I had the "accident..." I shivered, remembering the headlights of the truck that hit me. The buzzed driver claimed he never saw me until he hit me. The doctors say I was lucky to be alive. I had gone underneath the truck, my legs were crushed by the tires, and I would have died on the initial impact if it wasn't for my helmet. I kept it since then and I never walked again.
My stomach growled, protesting hunger. I sat the helmet down on my bed and grabbed the rungs around my wheels, tugging the left wheel to turn to my bedroom door. I lived alone. Well, I have a cat. His name is Grandpa because he snores like an old man when he sleeps. He's a big, fat asshole that loves sleeping on my pelvis when I'm in bed. He jumped onto my lap before I got to the door and wheeled myself, now us, into the room that did every function except the restroom.
From the lowered freezer, I grabbed a frozen dinner and slid it on the counter to the microwave. Grandpa had made himself comfy while I tugged the tray from the box and pulled one of the corners up. While it cooked, I grabbed a fork from the drawer and eyeballed the empty sink. Mom must've come by today and did the dishes for me. Looking around the room, I noticed she picked up a few things and left a laundry basket of folded clothes on the couch.
Ding! The microwave alerted me. I pulled the tray out and removed the cover to stir the beef, veggies and teriyaki sauce. I ate slowly at the counter, thinking back on the game I had been testing lately. It was going to be the first for Legend Gaming, the company I worked for. They were trying to be the first in forging the path into virtual reality gaming, but they are far from the only. The rival company pushed out a game recently, but it the game was so game-breakingly glitchy, it failed before it got far out of state.
Early on, a buddy I've known since high school convinced me to submit a few stories I had written way back then to use as the basis for the game's story line. I was surprised mine was chosen. The supervisor wanted me to test the game this week for obvious bugs, and because I would know the story well enough to pick out any obvious inconsistencies and plot holes in the story.
The next morning, I hauled myself into my wheelchair and checked the computer. It didn't detect anything wrong with the game's programming. Satisfied, I sat my helmet next to my pillow on my bed, hauled myself over to it and put it on my head before I relaxed back. I flipped the switch just inside the helmet, by my cheek.
Once I closed my eyes, I was immediately in a virtual void, standing on the top of a stone pillar that was only a few steps across by a few steps wide. "Welcome, new player," the emotionless female voice chimed. "Please specify your options in the menu."
I waved my hand like a Jedi and the menu appeared. After a few tweaks, I tapped save and waved the menu away. "Thank you," the voice said. "Now launching… ."