WE NOTICED YOU STOPPED. DO NOT STOP. LONELINESS IS THE REAL ENEMY. WE ARE HERE NOW. PLAY WITH US FOREVER.

He tried to quit. The game window froze. The sound distorted into a low, pulsing hum—the same hum you heard on the empty servers before they shut down. His mouse cursor moved on its own, clicking back into the match.

Leo yanked the power cord from his PC. The screen went black. The hum stopped.