Leo’s skin prickled. He fired again. And again. The soldier absorbed three more rounds before he finally crumpled, but the kill feed didn't pop up. Instead, a new message appeared:

The server browser wasn't a list of official TDM or Domination lobbies. It was a list of names. Ardennes_Forest_1944. Operation_Chastise_NoRules. Omaha_Bleeding. And one at the very bottom, pulsing with a faint, sickly red light: THE_KESSELPATCH.

The disc arrived in a plain, bubble-wrap envelope. No label, no return address. Just a sharpie-scrawled identifier: “COD: WWII – NOSTEAM – RO.”

The game loaded, but the main menu was wrong. The usual cinematic of D-Day was gone. Instead, a single, rain-slicked street stretched into infinite darkness. The menu options hovered in the air, stark white: CAMPAIGN. MULTIPLAYER. ZOMBIES.

No music. Just the hiss of a dying radio and the wet crunch of boots on bloody sand. He took three steps before the first bullet tore through his digital shoulder. No hit marker sound. Just a wet, meaty thump and a grunt from his own throat. His screen didn't flash red; the edges just turned a cold, frostbitten blue.

He chose MULTIPLAYER .