'Wake up David, wake up' she said calmly

David slowly opened his eyes, he couldn't see anything, he was blindfolded; he was sat in a chair, his hand tied behind his back. The chair felt wooden, with a thin cushion to sit on, David stretched his legs out then flinched as his blindfold was removed.

'Welcome David, how are you feeling?' she asked

'Who are you? Where are you? David asked

There was a short silence, David could hear someone walking around behind him, and they were moving objects around on what sounded like a table. 'Who I am does not matter, you are in a warehouse office building, the man behind you will not kill you, his is preparing your equipment' she replied

'How do I know he won't kill me…what's stopping him?' David asked

'I told him not to' she replied again

'Doesn't he have free will?' David asked nervously

'No' she replied sternly

'He is a failure, you are a test subject'

'Test subject? Where are you?' David tugged at his restraints

'I am far away, you can hear my through the loud speakers in this room' she replied

David looked around the room, it was dark, three lines of light streamed in through the wood that replaced the glass window that should have been there. The floor was dirty, paper, blocks, electrical wiring and other miscellaneous items littered the floor, there were several small puddles of water and the middle of the room there was a old, worn and slightly torn carpet. The man walked over and cut David's restraints, David stood up and turned around and looked at the 'failure'; he was young, barely a few years older than David, a rather handsome man, he looked at the table and saw several items. He walked up to the table.

'Put the body armour on, then the holster' she instructed him, David did as instructed without a second thought. He saw a sidearm on the table, the magazine was already inside the weapons, David examined the sidearm, a Glock 17C.

'Shot the man in the room with you' she said

'What? Why?' David replied hesitantly

'I'll make this simple' she spoke angrily 'you WILL do as instructed or face the consequences'

'What consequences?' David asked sarcastically, he froze as he felt his arm lift and aim the sidearm at his own head, he began to sweat; 'You die' She replied bluntly. David turned around and lifted the sidearm, he held it with both hands and aimed, he pulled the trigger; there was a large bang and a ringing sound as he watched the man's body fall to floor. A scream for another room, a woman begged for help, for her life. David slowly approached the door and opened it. Inside, a woman in her 30s sat in the same style he had been sitting earlier, she seemed calmer, as if happy to see him.

'Help me…are you here to help me? Are you police?' she asked frantically

'Kill her, two shots to the chest, preferably in the heart' she ordered

David lifted the weapon, the unknown woman begged to be let go, said she wouldn't say a word, David tried to say he didn't want to kill her, instead he pulled the trigger twice. The loud echo, David began to breath harder, he was sweating…he had no control…he didn't pull the trigger, he didn't have control. He lifted the sidearm to his head.

'I resist! I suffer the consequences!' he shouted

'Test 1 complete' she responded 'go back to the table and put the hands free headset in your ear'

David went back and did as instructed, he looked at the table; there were half a dozen Glock magazines and a suppressor, h e picked up all the items. He put the pistol in his holster. 'There is a coat near the entrance put it on, act…normal' she instructed. David walked through the office building, it must have been abandoned years ago…no one was here, no one would find his victims; perhaps criminal or some adventurous children would stumble on their bodies. David found the entrance; he saw sun light, It was a bright and sunny day outside, the people living in this city must have been enjoying themselves, but David knew that for many, today would scare them for life, end for some it would be the end of their life.

David picked up the coat and put it on and exited the building; he didn't know what to think, he had just committed murder, twice. He stepped onto the path, he looked at the abandoned industrial buildings, he was standing in front of an old corporate head quarters for a company that collapsed three years earlier, the entire area had been abandoned, but no redeveloped, he assumed the financial situation meant no one could afford to buy the land, or nobody wanted to risk it. David crossed the road toward a car; he opened the door and sat in the driver's seat.

'Mm, you take written orders as well, this is interesting' she spoke, he voice was becoming t a torment for David

'What written orders?' he asked

'I didn't tell you to get into the car, but you did anyway' she laughed

David's hands were shaking; he didn't want to know who his next target would be, he hoped that the next victim would not be another random individual kidnapped; they could at least make it someone who deserved to die. 'Test 2 begins' Her voice made David jump, he started the car's ignition and the engine roared.

'Take a right turn here, and go two blocks down, there will be an alleyway, inside there will be two young boys, they will be torturing a girl, execute the bys and…' David interrupted her 'I will not kill that girl!' he demanded, she laughed 'No, the girl must live' she responded.

'Wait…how do you know about this?' David asked puzzled

'Security cameras' she answer 'I control every camera in this city, the local providers are all currently suffering from an "interfering signal"…or simply, I'm jamming them, once you have completed all of our tests, they will regain control of the system, and you will be free, however, you success rate determines your innocence, if you are completely successful, I will wipe all the recorded data, but if you fail one objective, you will either be shot and wounded for the police to find, or you will die' her words numbed him, he tapped his head.

He took hold of the steering wheel and began to drive, he turned right; then followed the road. The entire area way rundown, empty houses, old shop, decaying paths. This was not the city he lived in; he had no idea where he was. He kept driving; he eventually pulled up to an alleyway. 'attach the suppressor in the glove compartment to your Glock, then head into the alleyway and perform your task, p.s. if the girl dies, so do you' she instructed him. David opened the glove compartment and attached the silencer, he hid it under his coat and got out of the car, he walked into the alleyway, drawing his weapon once he was sure he was out of sight. 'This is like BDSM' he thought, he had little control of his actions and would be vigorously punished. He continued to advance down the alleyway, he heard whimpers, then childish laughing, he slowly but casually walked round the corner and saw the two boys; the girl was laying on the floor, bruised face, bruised limbs, she was barely conscious, and the boys were laughing at her misery. He set out of cover and slowly approached.

'I've forced you to take two innocent lives, now I will make you take two lives and save an innocent' her voice sounded more sincere, David began to wonder if his tests were all going to be straight forward. Who would he kill next, a policeman? David blinked, almost a minute had passed, both boys lay face down in the alleyway, a single bullet wound in each of their heads, the girl was crawling away in fear, she murmured. David lowered his Glock and walked the way he came. He sat back in the car, he awaited his next instruction; he de-attached the suppressor and re-holstered his Glock. He looked down the street, a small high street with numerous shops and low cost rented housing. Then it came, the thought…he had remained calm even after killing two people, he'd been forced to kill them but he hadn't reacted by crying, or begging it to end; he'd just kept killing. Was he a born killer, were the tests there to "wake him up"? or, were they trying to create a monster, something to terrorize the city with, leaving a trail of non-coinciding corpses all killed by the same man and weapon. He sat there in the car for almost half an hour.

'Test 3 commencing' the voice restarted

'What took you so long?' David asked

'I was listening to emergency calls…confirming that the girl was still alive, a woman dialled the emergency services 2 minutes ago, the child description was similar to yours' she replied

'So the police now want to question a murderer?' David asked sarcastically

'No, I made sure of that' She replied

'Who are you?' David asked, hoping the question would catch her off guard

'Hmm, smart man…I am the controller, one of five; yes, there are five of you ' she responded, David felt a chill down his spine, he had killed, but there were four more people killing uncontrollably, he hoped he'd meet them soon, what he'd do, he didn't know. Kill them? Wouldn't that make things worse? Trying talking to them? The controllers would probably make them hunt him…why did killing them seem the only logical answer? Perhaps it was human nature; the primeval desire to survive. If he survived he could be an example of this, but he wasn't in control, in some way he was always being controlled, his action weren't directly controlled until the trigger needed pulling, but, he was still following instructions, like a child…or machine.

'Your next test' she spoke again

'Am I killing someone who deserves to die, or another innocent person swept up in your sadistic desire to control someone?'

David's head suddenly hit the car window, his right arm was numb, it fell into his lap; he rubbed his sore face with his left hand. Her control was almost absolute, she made him punch himself. He wondered if this was to show her power over him, or punishment for his questioning of instructions.

'You will obey!' she shouted 'You will do as I instruct, as I instruct or suffer the consequences!'

David frowned, he knew now was a bad time to ask when this would end, he'd either get the same answer as before, or another munch to the face, with his own fist. 'What do I do?' he asked helplessly

'Good David' she replied patronising him

'You are to proceed to the Lavixa hotel, once there, take the large brief case from the boot and await further instructions'

A hotel? Was he about to commit a massacre? He paused for a moment, he must stop with question he didn't have the answer to, David restarted the engine and drove down the road, he tried not to think, he didn't want to remember what he'd because of this, a job, family? Was he even a citizen? Again, questions he didn't know the answer to. David arrived at the hotel; he drove the car into an underground car park. After he parked, he turned off the engine and walked to the boot, he opened it, he looked in amazement, alongside the Briefcase, there was a sniper rifle. David picked up the suitcase and closed the boot.

'Awaiting instructions' he spoke