Dos Games Collection 2015 - Part 1-3 -0 To J- -

The screen went black. For a long moment, nothing. Then a single line of text appeared:

> YES

Leo wiped the dust off the old Dell desktop. His uncle had left it in the garage after he moved to a condo. The sticker on the case said “Pentium II – 233 MHz.” Beside it, a stack of burned CDs in paper sleeves. On the top one, handwritten in black marker: DOS Games Collection 2015 - Part 1-3 -0 to J. DOS Games Collection 2015 - Part 1-3 -0 to J-

He slid the first disc into the drive. The CD-ROM whirred like a sleepy beehive. A blue DOS prompt appeared. Then a menu: garish, green-on-black, listing folders from to J .

> NO. HE GREW UP.

Another pause. Then the screen began scrolling through every game title from 0 to J at impossible speed. ALLEY CAT, ARKHANOID, BATTLE CHESS, CIVILIZATION, DIGGER, ELITE… all the way to JAZZ JACKRABBIT . The CD drive whirred like it was screaming.

“No idea,” Leo said. “Probably some nerd filing system.” The screen went black

It was stupid. Glitchy. Perfect.

But it was DUKE NUKEM that froze them.

Here’s a short story inspired by the DOS Games Collection 2015 - Part 1-3 (0 to J) .