“Come in Henry Farshaw,” The doctor said invitingly. “We’ve had a small malfunction with the machine which chose to boil the husk rather than warm it to body temperature, however all seems well and it's looking as fit and healthy as you could wish for,” Henry looked around the room focusing on the husk that lay on the large metal table in the centre of the room. The husk was male and had a biological age of 20.56 years, as stated on a label wrapped around its’ ankle.

“Why are it’s eyes open?” Henry Farshaw asked as he examined the husk.

“The heat can stimulate muscles, but I assure you that it’s perfectly normal,” The doctor answered. Henry continued to examine the husk closely: he looked at its’ muscles: judged its’ proportions; and spent a lot of time on the facial features. Once he was happy with it, he turned to the doctor and confirmed both his agreement that this was the husk that he wanted, and he also gave his consent for the surgery.

The doctor proceeded to led Henry out of the room and into an anaesthetic room next door. He came back and proceeded to prepare the husk, warming it to room temperature and ensuring that everything was working as it should.

It could feel hands on it.

It could feel external movement of its’ body.

It refused to move. It resisted the instinct to reach out and escape.

It was waiting for it’s chance.

Henry Farshaw, now unconscious and intubated, lay on his front as he was wheeled into the operating room. The husk was placed beside him and the first checks were completed with no issues. The surgeon got her equipment ready and began to prepared the first incision into the husks’ neck.

As soon as it felt the knife it moved.

A horse and rough sound erupted from its mouth as it forced its body up.

Everything was stiff, everything was new and it was not use to moving.

“We’ve got a live one!” It heard someone shout and immediately it felt strong hands forcing it down. Adrenaline pumped through its’ body and it forced the hands away, which sent two nurses flying across the room. Its’ vision blurred as it tried to focus on the surgeon who was coming straight for it. The anaesthetist had hidden underneath the table and was beginning to make meowing noises. Instruments clattered onto the floor as it was forced back being slammed hard a wall. The surgeon held it there, as a small Asian woman she was much stronger than she looked. Its’ eyes darted around the room trying to see an escape. It twisted and fought against the surgeon’s grip, screaming loudly into her face. She cried out as her grip weakened, her wrists beginning to be bent back by it as it began to gain control and forced itself up from the wall. It looked her deep in the eyes before its’ focus changed, just moments before it was slammed back into the wall.

A doctor with dark skin forced it back, reinforcing the surgeon’s strength over it. It began to fight them both only to feel surprised as the force holding it down became weaker. The doctor was working with it, forcing the surgeon’s strength back onto herself. The anaesthetist was still cowering under the table looking at, but not running to, the exit. It threw the surgeon off itself and ran for the door, leaping over the operating table and powerfully punching the two battle ready nurses away with ease. The doctor with dark skin followed it out of the operating room, which was left in ruin.

Blood trickled down its’ back as it ran naked through the hallway, rooms flashed by and it kept running. It heard its’ feet pounding on the floor below it and like an animal it raced down corridor after corridor, then down stair after stair, lower and lower until it crashed out of the giant glass door on the ground floor of the hospital.

It rolled and stood up. All around it were large containers. It heard the doctor behind him running, not making a sound. It felt adrenaline pump through it again and it took off down a narrow passageway between the containers. It kept running and running, beating its’ way over the concrete. The drumming of its’ feet drove it on, round corner after corner, twisting this way and that until it emerged from between containers into an open space. It ran beside a dock where large machines were at work.

Water flowed gently lapping the side of the dock but it kept running. The doctor was no longer following it, he had stopped far back while it had kept going. A dark tunnel appeared before it and it knew where it was heading for. It raced on.

It could feel and hear its’ breath, hard and fast like the beating of its’ heart. It stared into the darkness. The pitch blackness. The deep shadows that surrounded it, and the tiny light that was slowly coming towards it.

It shielded its’ eyes.