The sticker was still on the jewel case. “Sierra: Action Today.”
Leo remembered the first time he used that key. He’d traded a burned copy of Morrowind for it from a kid named Derek in study hall. Derek had written the key on a torn piece of notebook paper, folded it twice, and said: “Don’t give it to anyone. If you see someone with the same key, you have to leave the server.”
Validation. Green check. The Half-Life engine spooled up. The menu loaded. de_dust. The orange-brown sky. The archways. The shadow that stretched long across the bombsite at 4 PM server time.