Hell on PC

Lyrics

[Intro]
The air is thick.
Seventy-eight degrees of hot plastic and stale smoke.
2111 North Collins Street.
No windows.

[Verse 1]
I watch you at the NeXTstation.
Just a kid, really. Twenty-three.
Typing demons into existence.
Lines of C code become teeth and claws.
Over on the other side of the room,
Romero draws maps on graph paper.
Corridors of blood and rust.
He says your engine needs a world to burn.
The beige walls don't see it. They just sweat.

[Chorus]
This is how you build Hell on a PC.
One empty Domino's box at a time.
One line of code that makes a monster scream.
The click of the keys is a machine gun prayer.
We're writing the gospel on a floppy disk.
Shareware salvation.
Rip and tear, until it is done.

[Verse 2]
The cleaning crew comes in, doesn't look at the screens.
They just empty the trash, full of styrofoam cups and ash.
They don't know we're opening a portal in here.
Four machines, linked by a thin black cable.
A private universe where we are gods and janitors.
The red Toyota outside hasn't moved in a week.
There is only the hum. Only the glow.
Only the work.

[Chorus]
This is how you build Hell on a PC.
One empty Domino's box at a time.
One line of code that makes a monster scream.
The click of the keys is a machine gun prayer.
We're writing the gospel on a floppy disk.
Shareware salvation.
Rip and tear, until it is done.

[Bridge]
December 10, 1993.
Two in the morning.
You upload the file. DOOM1_0.ZIP.
And the world dials in.
A thousand tiny screams down copper wire.
The university servers start to melt.
The beast is loose.
It's out of this room now.
It's everywhere.

[Outro]
The fluorescent light flickers.
Just one more time.
The smell of burnt coffee.
And victory.