June, 1989

“So you think I'm stupid, huh?”

A young girl rode with her older brother in his beat up red Honda Civic. The radio blared Young MC's “Bust a Move” as the two drove down through the downtown streets. The sun was setting, it was warm outside. Kids were walking down the street towards the same place the siblings were heading.

It was summer vacation, and the kids of Midway Falls were ready to have some fun.

Nick laughed, “That's what Dexter told me! He said there’s a ghost of an old man haunting Ant’s and snatches stupid little nerd kids like you straight into Hell!”

“Nick, I don't believe any of that for a minute,” the young girl said, brushing her fingers through her strawberry blonde hair. “I'm not a little kid anymore.”

“You don't believe it started bleeding out of the screen?”

“Dexter is an idiot, of course he’d believe garbage like that. That's why you hang out with him.”

“And who do you hang out with, Cammy? Huh? Huh? You're too big of a dweeb to have friends.”

Cammy huffed, “I have friends.”

“Yeah? Name one.”

“Billy is my friend.”

“Hardly counts, he’s a total dweeb. Then again, maybe that’s why you hang out with him!”

“Why don’t you keep your eyes on the road?”

Nick finally shut up and trained his eyes on the road again, singing along badly to the radio. Cammy was already getting a headache from him, but she was hoping once they got to the arcade she wouldn't have to deal with him much.

Their father was out of town on some fancy business trip. Their mother was working late, helping shut down the school before summer vacation was in full swing. Nick was going to the arcade with some of his friends, but mom insisted he couldn't leave his little sister at home. So he was forced to bring Cammy along against his will. She didn’t really want to come along with him either, but she didn’t have a choice in the matter either.

As long as she stayed out of his way, she'd be fine.

Nick sang along loudly as he punched her none too gently in the shoulder. She groaned and adjusted her glasses, already wishing she could jump out of the moving vehicle.

Finally, the car pulled up in the parking lot of a run down strip mall. Ivy snaked along the brick walls, threatening to consume them entirely. The neon lights glowed brightly on the front of the building, displaying “ANT'S ARCADE”. The “E” in “ARCADE” was flickering in and out periodically, appearing like the flashing light of a club. Other kids Cammy recognized from school were already going in. She was excited.

They got out of the car and strutted into the building. The arcade was full of kids playing on the machines, running around and watching others get high scores. Music was blaring while machines beeped and flashed bright colors. Just watching it was a thrill. Cammy couldn't wait to jump into the middle of it all.

“Shit,” Nick said, reaching into his pockets.

Cammy scowled. “You know mom said not to swear.”

“Shut up!” Nick shot back, “I forgot my quarters at home!”

“Well, sucks to be you then.”

Nick’s eyes trailed down to the purse hanging from her shoulder. He smiled evilly.

Cammy took a few steps back. “Oh no you aren't! You did this the last time! I'm not giving you my quarters!”

“Fine then. I'll take ‘em!”

Nick snatched Cammy's purse off her shoulder, digging through it. Cammy cried out and tried to take it back, but he held it out of her reach. He pulled out all the quarters he could find and dropped it on the floor.

“Thanks, dork!” he taunted as he ran off to join his friends at the Operation Wolf cabinet, some stupid shooter war game Cammy had no interest in.

She picked her purse up off the floor and groaned. Nick had taken all of her quarters and left her with nothing. Now she couldn't play any of the games. She'd just be stuck here watching everyone else play for the next few hours.

Except...

There was someone she could talk to. Maybe he'd help her.

Cammy walked through the crowded rows of kids playing the games, reaching the front counter. An overweight balding man ran the counter, wiping down the surfaces and exchanging dollars for quarters. He wore a purple shirt with the arcade’s logo and mascot on it. His cargo shorts jingled with the sounds of quarters. When he saw Cammy, his eyes lit up and a smile crossed his face.

“If it ain't Cammy!” he greeted her heartily, “How ya doing? How's your parents?”

Cammy smiled back at him weakly. “I'm good. They're good. Yeah. Umm... Mr. Ant, can I ask a favor?”

Mr. Ant perked a playful eyebrow. “Your brother stole your quarters again, huh?”

Cammy giggled awkwardly. “Yeah... I tried to stop him but he's too tall and held my purse out of my reach.”

Mr. Ant chuckled as he reached into his cargo shorts and pulled out a handful of quarters, handing them to Cammy. “Big brothers will be big brothers. If I see him taking your quarters again, I'll be sure to give him a firm talking to.”

Cammy grinned, taking the quarters and shoving them in her jean jacket pocket. “Thank you Mr. Ant. You're the best!”

“Go have some fun, kid,” he said to her, waving her off. She bounced away, looking for an open game to play.

That was a problem. All the games were full with kids waiting in line to play. Especially the newer games, like what Nick was playing with the pretty graphics and full colors. Cammy sighed as she walked towards the back of the arcade, where some of the older games were. There were less kids back here, but there were still quite a few taking up most of the cabinets. She'd still have to wait until her turn to play. 

One of the kids was playing at the Galaga cabinet with a few of his friends. It was Cammy’s friend from school; a pudgy redhead kid named Billy Brown. Billy had just died in Galaga and was putting in his initials when he suddenly let out an angry yell.

“NQC beat my high score!”

His friends gasped at the scoreboard. Cammy glanced at the screen to see Billy's initials, "BMB" had dropped to second place. At the first place position were the initials “NQC”. Cammy remembered hearing about Billy playing for almost ten hours straight to beat the previous high score that was previously held by NQC. Just a few days ago, he finally did it and claimed his title of number one high score on Galaga. But looking at the scoreboard, NQC had beaten that record by almost two thousand points.

The mysterious NQC held the number one record on every single cabinet in Ant's Arcade. He or she was an urban legend among the regulars at the arcade. No one ever saw them in action. No one, at least from Cammy's school, had the initials of NQC. Even skilled players couldn't come close to the same scores as NQC. Billy was one of the few who had accomplished it, and he only held it for maybe 72 hours. 

“When I find NQC, I'm gonna give them a piece of my mind!” he shouted. “I can't believe they beat my high score already!”

“I guess they're just that good,” one of his friends said, in awe at the score.

Cammy walked away from the group of boys to the very back of the arcade. Even though she was friends with Billy, she didn’t want to interrupt his game. Instead, she walked further back by the bathrooms in the corner, where one of the lights was out, leaving the corner dark. There, partially obscured by the shadows was a free cabinet. No one was playing it. Cammy approached it, looking up at the marquee. The bright red light glared down at her, illuminating the title of the game.

DR. MALICE

She had seen this game in passing when she had come to the arcade, but she never played it. Mainly because her mom told her to never play scary or violent games. And with the blood red marquee and dark cabinet design, it certainly looked like both of those.

But she just had her thirteenth birthday last month. She was a big girl. She had watched Children of the Corn with her big brother and only had nightmares for a week. She could handle anything!

The screen displayed the company name and title in fancy pixelated graphics. An animated sprite of a doctor ran across the bottom of the screen, chasing little green aliens. The screen read:

COYOPP INDUSTRIES INC.

PRESENTS

DR. MALICE

INSERT 1 COIN TO PLAY.

Cammy approached the cabinet. It was quite the intimidating machine; nearly twice her size and certainly thrice her weight. The bright red accents on the dark indigo finish seemed to glow with an almost alien-like power. She noticed there was a severe imperfection on the right side of the machine. The top part of the cabinet’s side was broken, slightly exposing the inside. It drew her curiosity even more, since she had never seen the inside of an arcade machine. She reached into her jacket pocket and pulled out a quarter, pushing it into the coin slot. She placed her hands on the joystick and buttons, feeling an odd static shock as she did. She blamed it on her shoes building up static electricity from running across the carpet. 

The game took a few seconds to load up, before it came up with a new screen that read:

LEVEL ONE:

DESTROY ALL ALIENS.

Her character was loaded into what looked like a laboratory. The graphics reminded her a bit of Street Fighter, one she had seen her brother play with his friends, but wasn't allowed to play because it was “too violent”. It also reminded her of Legend of Zelda, a game she would play on her brother's NES behind his back. She moved the character between several maze-like screens. One button threw a syringe, the other was a dodge button. The remaining two buttons seemed non-functional. It was easy to get the hang of.

As she entered a new room, a green alien was in the middle of the space. It turned and started charging. Quickly, Cammy disposed of the alien by throwing the syringe. It promptly exploded into rainbow colors, which she found rather charming. As she moved through the rooms, she cleared out a few more aliens and completed the level.

CONGRATULATIONS! YOU BEAT:

LEVEL 1.

As the next level loaded up, a little cut scene began to play. It was the doctor character approaching a table with an apple sitting on it. The doctor took the apple and ate it. As he did, text popped up below the scene.

WHAT HAPPENS WHEN A DOCTOR EATS AN APPLE?

Cammy raised an eyebrow at the odd question. Just as she was about to question it more, the doctor on the screen exploded into rainbow colors. The text changed to an awkward delivery of a joke.

HE'D PROBABLY EXPLODE OR SOMETHING. APPLES KEEP DOCTORS AWAY AFTER ALL.

Cammy found herself giggling at the dry humor. Yeah, it was kind of stupid, but she found it charming. It was just her kind of humor.

Once the cut scene completed, level two loaded up. It was more of the same with slightly more challenging enemy patterns. This level introduced a small puzzle section. It was a block pushing puzzle, something Cammy was very good at. Since it was still an early level, she had no problem navigating the blocks and getting her character through the room. Once she destroyed the last alien, the game congratulated her again and loaded up another cutscene similar to the first. This time, it featured two aliens in the middle of a conversation.

WHAT DID ONE ALIEN SAY TO THE OTHER?

I HAVE NO IDEA. I DON'T SPEAK ALIEN.

The stupid joke had Cammy laughing out loud. She was ashamed to say she found these silly jokes funny, but she couldn't help it. She didn't think such a scary looking game would have such a great sense of humor.

She ended up playing through quite a few levels, each one getting progressively more difficult, but always rewarding her with a cute cut scene joke. It was challenging. She lost a couple of lives, but she was rising through the levels quickly. In fact, a few of the other children had taken notice and were watching her play, cheering her on. Wanting to seem cool to everyone, she put in her best effort and began to show off.

“She's a natural!”

“How did she get so far in that game? I only got to level five!”

“Woah, you go Cammy!”

Cammy was smiling as she played. Everyone in the arcade was impressed with her skills. She knew she could conquer this game with no problem. Just as she was about to take out an entire room of aliens, a voice from across the room yelled at her.

“Why's everyone watching this dork play?”

Cammy was suddenly pushed from the cabinet by a pair of strong hands. She nearly fell on the floor, but managed to catch her balance before tumbling over. She looked up and saw her brother now standing at the cabinet. She watched in horror as her character was swarmed by aliens and she lost her last life, all thanks to her brother screwing her up. 

GAME OVER.

Everyone was actually on her side and booed and hissed at Nick for ruining the game. Nick, being the jackass he was, didn't care.

“You guys really watching a girl play this stupid game?” he asked. “Betcha I can get to level thirteen on one quarter, no problem!”

Nick gloated more before he popped in a quarter, one of Cammy's quarters no less, and started a new game. The level loaded up again, putting Nick in a room with an alien. Not expecting to immediately face an enemy, Nick’s character was attacked and lost his first life. The kids started to laugh.

“Uh, uh, I'm just getting started,” he said nervously.

Cammy was entertained by the comedic timing of his death. Though in the back of her mind, she could have sworn there wasn't an enemy when she loaded up the first level. 

Nick tried again, killing the first alien. He moved to the next room and was bombarded with three aliens. He managed to take out two before the last one got his character. He was already on his last life. The audience of children were snickering at his failure to even get halfway into the first level.

“I'm just getting started! Cammy had beginner's luck!” he insisted.

Once again, he loaded up the first level, killed the first alien, then moved into the next room to kill the three aliens. He moved into an empty room. Nick chuckled to himself as he moved the character through. But once the doctor reached the middle of the room, a hole opened up under him, and he disappeared.

YOU HAVE FALLEN INTO A PITFALL.

Nick was flabbergasted. The other kids continued to laugh at Nick's failed attempt to outdo his little sister. Cammy raised an eyebrow. Now that definitely hadn't been there when she played. 

GAME OVER.

Underneath the game over was a sentence that almost seemed to be written in a snarky way.

YOU AREN'T THE SHARPEST KNIFE IN THE DRAWER.

ARE YOU?

The laughter of the other children turned even louder at reading this. Nick's face turned red with a combination of embarrassment and rage.

“Did this piece of garbage just call me stupid?!” he demanded, backing away from the machine.

Cammy snickered under her breath. “Well, it confirmed what we already knew.”

The other children cackled at her snarky remark. Nick clenched his fists, glaring at Cammy before he turned back to the machine. He went around to the side of it, where the top part of the machine was partially broken. Breathing in heavy breaths, Nick shouted.

“YOU'RE THE STUPID PIECE OF SHIT!”

He drew back his leg and kicked the side of the machine hard enough to cause it to wobble. The already broken side of the machine came loose, falling out and right on to Nick. The sharp side cut his face, causing him to pull back and cover his face in shock and pain. He shouted expletives as he tried to get his face to stop bleeding.

“WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON BACK HERE?!”

The other children, hearing the voice of an angry adult, scattered like flies, leaving Cammy and Nick alone by Dr. Malice. Mr. Ant stomped towards them, his face contorted into a scowl. He saw the broken arcade cabinet and the cut on Nick's face and immediately made the connection.

“What do you think you're doing, punk?! Tearing up my machines?! Those cost money, y'know!” Mr. Ant scolded the boy. “You gonna pay for the damages you caused? Cause I sure don't want to have to call your parents and tell them you broke one of my cabinets!”

Nick said nothing, just held his face and glared at Mr. Ant. 

Mr. Ant stepped closer, speaking in a threatening voice. “What do you have to say for yourself, son?”

Nick looked down, clenching his teeth and his fists. He managed to croak out a very weak, “Sorry.”

Mr. Ant sneered, “Get out of my arcade before I call the cops. Punks like you aren't welcome.”

Nick looked like he wanted to argue, but being face to face with the much larger, much scarier Mr. Ant left him speechless. He quickly darted away, holding his head down so none of the other kids would see him. The bell on the door tingled as he left.

Mr. Ant heaved a tired sigh. He turned back to Cammy, who still appeared shaken by the whole thing. “You alright, kid?”

Cammy nodded slowly. “Yeah, I'm okay, thank you.”

Mr. Ant went to pick up the side of the cabinet and try to put it back on the machine again. “Can't believe you two have the same parents. Ain't no way that little brat is related to you.”

Cammy shrugged. “I'm sorry about him.”

“Ah, don't apologize on his behalf. You're a good kid. You shouldn't have to put up with the likes of him.”

Mr. Ant was trying to push the side of the cabinet back into place, but the harsh kick from Nick had dented it in a way that it wouldn't fit properly. He swore under his breath. Cammy picked up on this and approached him.

“Are you okay, Mr. Ant?”

Mr. Ant looked down at her, his face contorted in frustration. “Huh? Oh, uh, yeah, yeah I'm alright. It's just this cabinet belonged to a very close friend of mine. It's one of the few things I have to remember him by.”

“So my brother kicking it was like an extra kick in the gut to you, huh?”

“You could say that, yeah.”

Mr. Ant reached into his pocket and produced a roll of duct tape. He looked at Cammy. “Hey, you mind taping this for me while I hold it in place?”

Cammy nodded as she grabbed the tape from  Mr. Ant. She carefully taped the broken side to the front and back of the cabinet, being careful not to wrinkle the tape. As she helped Mr. Ant, she managed to get a good view of the inside of the cabinet. It was unlike anything she had ever seen before; a tangle of wires and circuit boards connecting into a large CRT screen. It was very alien and unsettling to see what went on behind the scenes of the games. Dust was kicked up from the inside, causing her and Mr. Ant to sneeze. It was almost like no one had touched the inside in over a decade, not even to repair it. Once she was done, Mr. Ant let go and the side stayed in place. It wasn't pretty with the damages on the top, the dent in the side, and now the ugly duct tape holding it together, but it was better than the entire inside of the cabinet being exposed for children to mess with.

“It'll have to do until I can call a maintenance man,” Mr. Ant said. “Thanks for your help, Cammy.”

Cammy smiled back. “You're welcome.”

Despite all the damages done to the cabinet, the game itself still seemed to be in working order.  Mr. Ant decided to stick an “OUT OF ORDER” sign on the controls anyways, likely to prevent other kids from damaging it further. Cammy was disappointed she couldn't try the game again, but she understood.

“Listen, for all your help, I'll give you a few more quarters to play,” Mr. Ant said, handing her another handful of quarters. “I'll make sure your brother stays out of trouble until it's time for you to go home. Now go have some fun.”

Mr. Ant waddled away, his cargo shorts jingling with quarters, leaving Cammy alone with the game. As she stared at the imposing cabinet, she couldn't help but ponder over what had just happened. How had the difficulty suddenly spiked when her brother played it? Where did all the extra enemies and traps come from that she never ran into? Did the game somehow... Change itself for her brother? Could games even do that? Surely they couldn't...

Cammy stared at the screen. The demo of the game played quietly.

...

What the...

Maybe she was going crazy, but for a split second, Cammy thought she saw the demo glitch into something else for a moment: a screen full of glitches that seemed to be forming some kind of pattern. Two black voids empty of any data seemed to stare back at her, full of some sort of malicious feeling. But just as quickly as she saw it, it was gone again. It left her feeling uneasy, like someone was angry. Maybe not at her... 

But at someone who had done wrong.

Feeling anxious, Cammy turned her back on the machine and quickly went to the other side of the arcade, far out of view of the Dr. Malice cabinet. Maybe she was just being paranoid, but she suddenly felt as if someone was watching her every move. She decided to distract herself by playing some of the two player racing games with the other kids at the arcade, which was lots of fun. She quickly forgot about the incident with the Dr. Malice cabinet and focused on enjoying herself.