I felt a hand on me, which stopped my screaming. Katie was missing. It made no sense. It should have, after all, she could have decided to pop right to the toilet or something but I couldn’t stop shouting her name.

My boss, a short portly man called Jack Greyson, ran over and shook me to stop. He kept shaking me until I told him to get off me. He shook me violently once more before pushing me away.

“Stop fucking screaming, Will. Go home. If you can’t deal, go home,” he said in a huff. His face was red and I assumed it was from shouting at me.

“Not until I find Katie,” I replied.

“She’s not at her desk,” someone said.

“Yeah, it’s not like she’s dead or anything,” another voice said and I matched the voice to the slim, tall figure of Cassandra.

“Probably went to the loo, to be honest,” a guy called Anton said with a shrug and a mocking smile.

Common sense overcame irrational fear and I began to feel foolish, standing in the middle of gathered colleagues, looking like a deranged employee. My cheeks were hot. A different kind of heat this time around. Not from fear or anger but shame. Perhaps I truly wasn’t ready to come to work yet.

“I…” I began, words failing me.

Laughter filled the room and I hung my head to avoid looking at any of them. The letter had rattled me that much and it was beginning to show. The desperation that the letter filled me with was suddenly diminished. I still wanted to see Katie but I felt ashamed to even think about it now. Whatever control I thought I had over my relationship with Katie was gone.

I tried searching for what to say that would have saved me from the embarrassment and from the shame that was increasingly mounting inside me. My insides turned and I felt like hiding away from everyone when another voice spoke out.

“I don’t think she’s in the toilet.”

It was a quiet voice, timid and tinged with something other than mocking laughter. The room’s hubbub died down and everyone tried to find out who had spoken. Soon enough, all our eyes fell on a short lady. Last I knew, her name was Agatha. She looked pale and her eyes were locked on Katie’s desk.

She sort of trembled on the spot as Jack rounded on her. Before the man could talk, she repeated herself louder and stronger.

“She didn’t go to the toilet,” she said.

“And you’d know this how?” Jack asked.

“I was talking to her. We... “ she paused as she hugged herself tightly, “We were talking when I blinked and she suddenly wasn’t there anymore. She just wasn’t…”

Jack narrowed his eyes at her and then glanced back at me. I could see how his fists tightened and I moved away from him almost on instinct. He turned back to face her and spoke in a cold voice.

“I don’t know what it is you and Will have been smoking. I don’t fucking care if you two log heads trip on drugs. But, you will not. And I repeat,” he said, his voice rising, “You will not disrupt work because of your issues.”

I opened my mouth to protest as the rest of my colleagues began to head back to their cubicle. Jack towered over me, staring me down as if challenging me to speak. Agatha just remained on her feet, shivering, though some of her friends were now crowding around her to comfort her.

I glanced at the ladies walking towards the bathroom, perhaps to check if Katie was inside, when a voice resonated over the speakers in the room.

“Hello everyone. For the sake of this message, you can all refer to me as Blank,” the voice said in an almost musical tone.

I frowned while Jack and some of the others looked up at the speakers. Silence descended on the room. After a few seconds, the voice continued.

“Oh, wow. Tough crowd. No manners too. Not that it matters. Get it? Manners, matters, the little rhymes. Oh, how I love it,” Blank began.

“Seeing as Will has opened the game to more participants, and seeing as it has been fun so far, I have been ordered to play a game with you all on this floor. It’s a simple game. Very… very…” Blank said, muttering for a bit before adding, “Very short and fun, depending on how you choose to play.”

The dread that had reduced to nothing began to rise. I glanced at Katie’s desk and then at Agatha. Then, my head swivelled to the toilets and I wished my legs would move. But, it didn’t.

“Wha-”

The murmurs between my colleagues grew until it became a low hum against Blank’s voice. It was then that I noticed everyone was now paying attention to what the voice was saying. When my name was called, they all shot a glance at me as if to blame me for what was happening before their eyes.

“So, here are the simple rules. There’s a small loaded revolver in your manager’s office in one of his secret stashes. In the next hour, the gun has to be found and a person has to be shot from it.

“No, you can’t wait until the hour is up. No, you can’t choose not to participate. Yes, you are allowed to kill more within the hour if you wish. And yes, you will get in trouble for it,” Blank said, laughing as he did.

The air suddenly felt tense.

“Lastly, to discourage cowards from acting up, all the doors and exits to this floor has been sealed and is being guarded by those loyal to the truth. Obey the above, and you just may have a wonderful game.

“And to really, really dissuade you from being brash, Agatha?”

Agatha frowned slightly.

“Blow your head off.”

Almost as if on command, Agatha let out a blood-curdling cry after which her head sorta popped. Blood and what I could only assume to be brain matter splashed on my trousers and my shoes. Jack and Agatha’s friends weren’t so lucky.

A scream filled the room as Jack trembled on the spot. One of her Agatha’s friends fainted, falling to the floor in a crumpled heap. The others screamed and cried. One was trying her best to wipe off the pieces of brain matter on her hair and by her face, before doubling over and vomiting all over the floor.

“Enjoy playing all! Blank out,” Blank said and the speakers went dead again.

At once, the men on the floor began running into Jack’s office. I remained frozen as I tried to contemplate what had just happened in my presence. The sounds of tables and chairs being overturned were the only sounds in the room as my colleagues ransacked Jack’s office.

The stench of blood permeated the air and I felt sick to my stomach. The urge to vomit like one of Agatha’s friends washed over me a few times but I closed my eyes to steady myself. Shouts of people fighting buffeted against me and I opened my eyes to carnage.

Several of my colleagues were fighting in earnest, calling each other names and slugging it out. I watched as Mr Greyson stumbled his way back into his office as more and more people ran in to search for the weapon. I had far too many questions on my mind. Who was Blank? What was happening? Why me?

Suddenly, a gunshot went off. And then, three more in succession. Then, we were quiet once more.