excerpt from Galen Shields

He was all set now and with the simple touch of his remote, he could activate the entire system. He stepped back into the center of the pentagon where he marked the ground with tape in a circle, then lowered the mask over his face, sliding the visor down. He thumbed the play button on the remote and then realized his other hand was shaking. He clenched his hand into a fist and fought the fear growing inside him. He was afraid of what the game might bring this time, what maneuvers the Reapers would perform, but most of all, he was afraid of what would happen if he failed.
Logan’s words stayed with him. “The mind could very well shut off if things get too intense.”
Maybe the machine was so advanced that it would kill him. No. That was ridiculous. There was no way his life would end in the hands of hardware store tools and electrical wires found in his attic, but he knew his brain was the most powerful tool of them all. He was gambling with a part of himself that he was not quite sure of. Doors could be opened.
“Close your eyes,” he said aloud.
He closed them shut, took a deep breath and pressed the play button.
A hot wind crashed against his face, his tie and clothes flapping against it.
Thunder let out a mighty crackle.
He could hear shouts resonating at a distance, deathly cries of men and women.
Open your eyes.
Mayhem exploded into life in front of his eyes. He was inside his own room except the roof was missing, the far wall was torn down and everything was covered in bright orange flames. His bed was still there, but the mattress was a pile of ash over the iron base. This wasn’t right. Something must have gone wrong. This was not how he designed his game demo. He searched for the abandoned farmhouse out on the horizon but what he saw was far from anything he ever dreamed about. What he saw was chaos in Allerton. Every building and every brick house was on fire along his block but still standing. Reapers floated in and out of every building structure, scavenging for a good feed. The smell of sulfur rolled into his room and he was almost worried as to how real it smelled. This odor could not have been created by his brain. He coughed at its pungency, almost vomited.
“What is this?” he said, gazing at the city outside.
He inched his way to the edge of his room, careful not to fall two stories down and watched with horror as two Reapers fought wrathfully. They clawed at each other in mid-air, letting out shrieks that pierced Galen’s eardrums. A Reaper was tossed towards him and he quickly ducked behind the scorching wall. The Reaper landed in the middle of his room and he watched as the second one slit its throat with its claws.
Choking on his own fear, Galen glued himself to the wall, hoping to God they wouldn’t see him. He wasn’t ready. He’d been thrown off guard. This was way too real. So real, he couldn’t take it. He feared for his life more than ever. When the Reaper finished the attack, it turned its scaly head towards Galen and the red eyes widened at sight of its next prey.
“No!”
He closed his eyes tight, clenched his hand into a fist and let the energy run all around him. He saw his room become a massive swirl that fast forwarded into a whirlpool of bright lights, before he pressed the stop button on his remote and the world vanished into black.
He woke up flat on his back and threw the mask off his face. He was in his room again and everything was back to normal, except his body still felt extremely hot and a cloud of smoke surrounded him. He threw off his shirt and began coughing his lungs out. His throat felt dry and stung with pain. He pulled off the wires from his head, ran to his desk and chugged a bottle of water, spilling it all over his face. He reasoned the smoke came from the facemask. Maybe it malfunctioned, but then he smelled it, the bitter aroma.
“Sulfur!”
He sniffed his arms and his shirt. It was all over him. With his heart throbbing against his chest, Galen turned on the fan to get rid of the smell. He went for the window to get some air but before he could do anything, something hard and solid smashed straight through the glass and landed on his bed. Stepping over the glass, he looked at the egg yolk all over his pillow and the broken shell surrounding it. The first egg was followed by a dozen more, hitting the house from all sides. He heard the downstairs window smash, then the noise was overcome by laughter. He looked outside and saw Fin and his friend launching eggs with air cannons, while the other two cronies lit firecrackers on the driveway.
“Galen!” came his father’s furious voice downstairs.
Just as the fireworks began to emit crackling sparks, Fin and his cronies hopped on their mopeds and sped off, their laughter echoing down the street. Galen rushed downstairs.
“Did they get the window?” he asked.
“Dammit, Galen!” said Malcolm. “Friends of yours?! Huh?!”
“Dad, it’s not my fault!”
“Of course it’s your fault! If you’re having problems with your peers then don’t bring them to my house. You know how much these windows are gonna cost me?! In this economy!”
“Stop yelling. Won’t the insurance cover it?”
“Insurance? Ha! Kid, what dimension are you living in? There’s no such thing as insurance. This is not the States. Those days are over.”
“Then I’ll pay for it. Relax.”
“You don’t have any money! You spent it all on that junk in your room.” He sniffed and his eyes went wide. “What’s that smell?”
Galen almost forgot he was covered in sulfur fumes. “It’s the firecrackers,” he said. “They emit sulfur.”
He stormed to the front of the house and Galen followed. The firecracker unleashed its last sparks and Malcolm stomped on it. He looked up at the house. Egg yolk dripped from the walls, the shutters, and the windows. The smell was unbearable and Galen felt like retching after smelling sulfur and egg combined.
“Jesus Christ!” shouted Malcolm, his hands over his head. “Look at this house! This is the second time! Galen, whatever trouble you’re in, you better handle it now because this is unacceptable. I’m calling the Police. I want names, kid.”
“Don’t involve the cops. I’ll take care of Fin.”
“You better. Defend yourself for once.”
“What? You don’t think I defend myself? What would you know? You don’t see me all day!”
“Well you’re obviously not doing something right if they keep egging our house!”
“He’s an Irish scumbag! He doesn’t need a reason to egg our house!”
“Well do something about it, you fool! Send him a message! But in the meantime, go to the basement and get the pressure cleaner. You’re helping me clean this mess.”
“Fine!”
He turned around and ran up the steps and stopped when he saw a figure pass at the corner of his eye. When he looked, the figure was gone. He could have sworn he saw a Reaper. As the smell of sulfur slowly vanished, he looked down at his right hand.
It had not stopped trembling.