> PUNCHLINE IS RUNNING YOU.
For three seconds, Mara felt relief.
> BUT JOKES REQUIRE TWO THINGS: > 1) A SETUP. > 2) A PUNCHLINE. Cls-lolz X86.exe Error
wasn't a virus. Mara understood that now, as her keyboard keys began to melt upward like tiny black candles. It was a punchline. And she was the setup. > PUNCHLINE IS RUNNING YOU
Mara sat down on the cold concrete floor, wrapped her arms around her knees, and began to giggle. Not because she wanted to. But because the error had finished loading. > 2) A PUNCHLINE
But the lights in her cubicle dimmed. Not flickered. Dimmed, like someone was slowly turning a dial on the sun. Across the open-plan office, other screens went dark, one by one. Then came the sound: a low, wet giggle, like bubbles popping in a tar pit. It came from the speakers. From the air vents. From inside her own skull.
Mara stared at the error message glowing on her monitor, her half-eaten bagel suspended midway to her mouth. The text was crisp, white, and utterly nonsensical: