Stepping closer, the assistant boxed Lina against the cage wall with the feet of the chair. He began to reach for the key on the floor while keeping her in place.

The black monster went berserk. It tore and scratched at the window, actually clawing into the ledge and hissing madly.

"Hey, someone pump the sevo into 248, quick-like!" The assistant yelled.

Lina heard the other two men hurrying around to get the gas flowing in the cage. Usually the window had to be shut, and the assistant started cursing at #248 for blocking it.

The man wasn't paying the slightest attention to Lina. She looked at herself, standing in her own cage of his design, and had to wonder why she let him do this to her. To the monsters he helped keep and kill.

And she slipped down from between the chair legs and picked up the key. She was tired of orders and cages. No matter the cost, she wouldn't let these high-ranker monsters hold the keys to her door any longer. Leaning slowly over the chair that stood sideways on the glass, she lifted the e-key towards the port. The assistant saw her hand.

"No!"

Too late.

A sigh of released pressure came from the door right before the monster crashed into it. It forced the sliding door wide and grabbed Lina's head. In one movement, it shoved her inside the cage and leapt for the assistant. The chair went flying.

Lina's body collided with the back wall and the assistant's screams filled her ears. Slumping to the floor with neons exploding across her sight, she heard the screams turning to crying and begging as the monster dragged the assistant away.

A crash—a desk falling maybe. Another crash, but glass. More cries of alarm from the second assistant and security guard. An animal howl like metal tearing. What had she done? Screams that went on and on, finally changing to gurgling chokes.

The monster rushed through the lab, claws screeching against tiles. It appeared at the cage door, its black skin was smeared with blood. It sniffed at her. It was studying her, as though making up its mind.

She waited against the wall. This had been her choice. That's what she had done—chosen.

The thing yanked the sliding door shut. It scrabbled for the badge and key still hanging from the port. Claws scratched for a few seconds. It was gone. Silence.

It had locked her in there to die of dehydration or be killed at its convenience. What else had she expected from a monster?

It had been created to make the company money. It had failed its creators' hopes so they had sent it down here to be cut, bled, watched and experimented on. Always surprised when it continued to live no matter what they did to it or how much it screamed.

A few strawberries from her could not undo all that pain and misery.

Dark shadows darted through the lab. She pushed herself up, using the wall for support. #246 was coming closer in a loping gait. The monster #248 had freed its co-inmates. #246 reached the door and pressed against it, torso extending upwards and nakedness exposed. Humanoid, but nothing like a human. She turned away at the same time as #246 was pulled away from the glass.

# 247 wrestled it to the floor; twisted broken body against swollen body. They wrapped around each other, biting, snarling, and struggling. Saliva dripped from their open mouths. #246 tore itself free and rolled backwards, shaking its head like a dog before slinking away.

#245 limped into sight from the front, and Lina saw it was holding two scalpels, one in each hand and both were covered in blood—red blood that wasn't its own. It breathed heavily and watched as #246 walked, then turned to go with it.

#247 couldn't stand, but crawled on one elbow and one knee that would bend. It crooked its long finger at Lina in the cage and flapped its jaw. Lina shook her head at it. It collapsed against her locked door.

A boom shook the building. Lina was surprised she would feel the building shake at such a deep level. Another one. The lights went out and emergency glow spots came to life every 3 feet along the floor. Were the booms elevators falling? The thing she set free would kill everyone in the building and when it left, it would kill everyone it saw outside.

This thought made her smile. She approved. She had not been allowed to do much with her life, but there was a certain justice and importance in her choice. She had done the right thing. Time passed—a minute, ten minutes.

Tapping on the glass cage brought her back to her senses. #247 was off the door, and the black monster #248 had come back. It curled its lips up to bare its huge teeth at her through the narrow window. A smile? It crooked its finger at her to come, much as #247 had.

Even at that distance, she could smell smoke and the stench of opened bodies. It beckoned again.

She stood and forced herself to walk to the window.

"Fahr yoo," the monster said, its wreck of a face contorting with the effort to speak around its fangs.

"For me?" she asked. Was it her turn to die?

It dropped to the ground, digging through a pile of wires, e-keys, shattered poly-disks, and partly burned refuse it had dumped. Finding what it wanted, it turned triumphantly and showed her the assistant's badge and key.

So it was her turn. Term. Sched. 14.09.74. approx. 23:30. No signatures. There was no one left to sign.

It swiped the badge and unlocked the door. When the door jammed, the monster growled and shoved it open. It stepped inside, sniffed and lifted one of her cleaning buckets towards her.

"Fahr yoo."

Or it wanted her to clean up the mess. She looked down. And blinked. And up at the creature standing in front of her. His eyes were closed. A faint perfume filled the area despite the blood and smoke stink. He was waiting for her to decide.

The bucket was full of strawberries. Perfect strawberries.

"For me?" she asked.

"Pleeeeze," he answered.

She took the bucket, she took his hand. Hard, cold and clawed. If they hurried, they could escape the building through the underground corridors to the metro rails before any police blocked them.

She stepped from the cage. The broken creature #247 stared up at her. It moved its mouth around and whispered, "Good...good." It nodded and relaxed on the floor.

She led her creature through the laboratory, hurrying past #246 and #245 who were busy dissecting the assistants and security guard on the metal tables. Or was vivisecting the right word? When the subjects were still alive while being cut to pieces? The men groaned through their leather gags, crooking their fingers at her.

At the corridor, the creature pushed ahead of Lina to sniff and then let her lead him away, soft and silent but for the faint scratch of claws.

There used to be cracks in society. Narrow cracks that were hard to slip through, that made it difficult to run and hide. But now there were canyons that never saw the light of day. She would take him to their sun-starved passageways between concrete towers and what if they never came out again? Most people never saw the light of day. Never tasted a strawberry.

They would be together.