Reincarnated Inside The Interface

Date : February 28th, 2078 Chris was a normal college student. He was doing a course in programming, down at his college.  He lived with his parents, and his two younger sisters, in their home, which stood at the heart of their small town. His father was a lawyer, and his mother was a nurse.  His girlfriend, Sofia, was in the same programming class as he was, down at their college.  Chris and Sofia had met way back in high school, and been together all the way, to enroll into the same college, and do the same course.  Chris went to school everyday of the week, while his mother went to the hospital where she worked, and his father went to his law firm. Today was however Saturday, and Chris was chilling out at home. He had just had fries with chicken wings for lunch, and was alone inside his room.  His mother was in the living room, reading her novels, while the two small girls played everywhere around her.  Inside his upstairs room, Chris sat calmly on his gaming chair. The chair was black leather, and it shone slightly amidst the light inside the rectangular bedroom.  His bed was on his far left side, while a small glass table stood right in front of him.  Behind the glass table, hanging upon the white wall, was his 75-inch screen.  Chris sat holding his gaming pad in both arms, facing forward towards the massive screen in front of him.  The pad in his hands was glowing red and blue, it's light gently twinkling now and then.  Huge black headphones hung on his head, covering both his ears and pressing down his short dark hair. On the screen in front of him, his avatar was fighting some black shady creatures. Suddenly slashing them down with his sword, then using a spell to blow fire onto their faces. Chris always enjoyed playing adventure games. He loved the magic. And the swords. And the spells. And the treasures along the journey, and the awesome abilities he'd already unlocked. Little did Chris know that his life was about to change drastically, and going on fantasy adventures would be for surviving, and not fun anymore. [Notification: Subject Insertion is launching...]  As Chris continued playing, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket, vibrating his leg as it rang.  Chris then quickly paused the game, the moving picture instantly freezing in front of him.  He then reached his right hand into the right pocket of his black jeans trousers. Quickly removing his sleek smartphone, then lifting it up to glance at the glowing screen. It was Sofia, his girlfriend. She was video-calling.  He then quickly accepted the call, his phone's screen suddenly changing, and now showing Sofia's bright face.  Her hair was dark, and it flowed down onto her shoulders. She wore a blue top, and a shiny golden necklace dangled around her neck.  Sofia wore a warm smile, as she began speaking to Chris. "What are you doing?" Sofia said. "Nothing," Chris said suddenly. "You're gaming aren't you? Forget about that... Guess where I am," Sofia said. "You know I hate guessing." "Just take a wild guess, come on..."  "I... I don't know, where are you?" Chris said. "Right outside your house... And check this out," Sofia said, turning the screen away from herself, to show him the blue sports car beside her. "NO!" Chris said, covering his mouth with his left hand.  She had stolen her dad's car, again. "Hell yes!" Sofia said. "What are you waiting for, come on out, let's go..."  "Give me one second," Chris said. "You have half." "Hmm," Chris scoffed, immediately ending the call.  He then quickly stood up from the black chair, stretching forward to place his pad onto the small glass table in front of him, then turning around to walk towards his bed.  On coming up to the bed, he quickly picked up a black leather jacket that lay on it, suddenly throwing it up and putting it on, as he now walked forward towards the wooden door of his room.  On coming up towards the door, he quickly bent down onto the floor, picking his black sneakers from his shoe rack, then quickly putting them on.  Before long, Chris was now walking away from his room, wearing all black, headed down the stairs towards the living room below.  On entering into the living room, Chris looked up and saw his mother, where she sat on the couch. A book was raised to her face, and it seemed like she couldn't see him.  He then slowly tiptoed, headed forward towards the door to the outside. "Where are you going?" His mother said, without looking at him. "To the bookstore, I need a new sketchbook," Chris said.  He couldn't afford to tell his mother where he was actually going.  She had expressly forbade him from driving his girlfriend's dad's car. Saying that it would get him in serous trouble if anything ever happened to it. His mother then maintained a calm silence, and Chris quickly took the cue, that her silence meant she had bought his lie.  He then walked boldly towards the door, quickly opening it, then stepping outside through it.  Once outside, he quickly locked the door, turning around and looking out beyond the front porch of his house, as he now walked towards the small metallic gate.  He then spotted Sofia, seated on the front of the blue car, across the street from him.  Seeing her and the car, Chris got excited all of a sudden.  He then ran forward past the gate, onto the street, headed towards where Sofia and the car were.  Sofia then turned and saw him, just as he was stepping onto the tarmac street.  She then suddenly jumped up from the car, landing onto the ground beside it, then facing forward towards Chris. Shock written all over her small face.  "Chris, Watch out!" She screamed at the top of her lungs. Hearing her shout, Chris suddenly turned to his right side.  He then suddenly spotted the huge truck, that was headed right towards where he was, at the center of the street.  The truck was honking loudly, and it's brakes immediately screeched hard.  Even before Chris could think, the truck flew right onto where he stood. Powerfully hitting him, throwing him off the ground, and spinning into the air above.  Chris' flying body then went all the way up to smash hard onto the front porch, right outside the door of his house.  Sofia was shocked. So shocked that she lost her breath for a moment.  As she was recollecting herself, the truck's engine suddenly revved. And it immediately took off, accelerating fast towards the opposite direction.  This only exacerbated the tension and confusion she was experiencing. He was escaping, the driver of the truck was literally fleeing the scene. What would she do first? Worry about the fleeing driver, or Chris. Sofia then quickly reached to her phone and immediately dialed the emergency number.  The call went through quickly, and the EMT's were immediately sent to her location.  But, by the time they got there, Chris was dead.  His injuries from the impact had been instantly fatal, and the EMT's carried him away in a black body bag. Except, Chris didn't die.  Not exactly. As a matter of fact, none of this had even actually happened.  It was all playing itself out in Chris' head. He was still lying back on his gaming chair, with his eyes closed, and his pad hanging loosely on his right hand.  His girlfriend hadn't called him, and neither had she come to his house.  A mysterious tech virus designed to infect human brains had invisibly seeped from Chris' screen, inside his room, entering in invisible waves into his head, and sucking him into The Interface.  The effect of the virus made the events play out, in his head, exactly as they had been programmed to play out. And Chris now believed he had actually been hit by a truck.  And Chris was not the only one.  The virus had been launched all across the world. Targeting young people in front of their screens, and transporting them into dangerous Virtual Reality worlds. Without any of them having a clue about what was happening to them.  CyberPunk Global had just taken their first major step towards taking over the whole world. They had done this by infecting millions of young people with the VR virus, and inserting each one of them into dangerous fantasy worlds.  Would Chris make it out alive?  Would any of the others?