Gavin stared out his apartment window as he ate a breakfast of muesli with milk and a ćevapi for extra protein. His apartment was on the twenty seventh floor and although it was quite the social status beacon, the place was still a shit hole. Building inspectors only had to determine if something was structurally sound, which said nothing of the actual state of the place. Now it seemed the city funded mural, which had adorned the equal, structurally sound building opposite his only window, was being replaced with a large anti augmentation bill board. It was done in vogue with the surroundings keeping with the grey wash that much of the city had adopted over the last decade. A large quite attractive model, in spite of her large scars, was projected from the sign with jigsaw pieces flying away from her mid drift, next to it the slogan 'fall to pieces' was artfully printed in the top left corner. The puzzle pieces flew out, spinning aesthetically before blinking out of existence and the whole process repeating. As he ate the last of his mince sausage he decided he wasn't a fan of this billboard at all, in fact he found the repetition annoying and he had only been aware of it for twenty minutes. Furthermore although he agreed with the sentiment of the anti aug crowd he wasn't sure this sign was the right approach. Gav had always been a strait up, all human kind of guy, when the body part industry had started he hadn't even given it a thought. To him replacing a body part was something you did when the old one was broke. Now it seemed every fifth person he passed on the street had white photo sensitive eye augs. At forty nine he guessed he was getting old and although he never really fit in with the crowd, he had always been close enough that he could understand them, but the kids these days were alien to him. The clock in his house chimed politely drawing his attention to the time. He had been sitting lost in thought and now it was almost time to go to work. Crossing the clean white tiled floor he opened his stainless fridge to inspect the contents for materials to make lunch. Surveying the interior there were a lot of ingredients but nothing that could be readily assembled to make what could be called a meal. Settling on a cafeiria lunch he shut the fridge and gave the apartment one last look over, it was neat, tidy and painted the way he liked it. With a nod to himself and one last look at the billboard he stepped into the hallway carefully locking the autolarm door behind him.

The hall was a stark contrast to the manicured apartment he kept. The building manager it seemed was in vogue with the times having the communal areas out fit with dim lighting and what Gav considered to be sloppy painting. The haunted style it seemed was so commonplace these days that it was even present in some government buildings. The floor was patterned to give the impression of age combined with wear, while the walls painted with effects paint to give it a dilapidated feel. To Gavin it was an excuse for superintendents and trades people not to have care about minor details. He had spent long hours in his own apartment making sure evey tile laid was strait, grouted to perfection, that the paint was perfectly spread and that everything was immaculately done. It still bugged him that the outside of his front door was painted to match the hallway but he wasn't about to get into a fight with the building super over it. As he walked the familiar trek to the elevator a young woman approached in the opposite direction. Her old style dress hanging from her motionless shoulders, head down as she walked with long black hair hanging in her face, she shuffled along quietly, arms hanging as though they were broken. As Gavin strolled past her he noticed between the strands of her hair that her eyes showed the familiar matt white of augmentation. He wondered to himself how someone so young, who shuffled along so slowly, could afford an apartment in such a complex. Guessing she was one of those hip young artist who was paid to produce these new arty looks, he pushed the elevator button. What was with kids these days he thought, he was starting to understand why old people got cranky and wanted to die, life was no fun when everything you knew and understood was a distant memory.

The walk to work uneventful matching his day at the plant, he enjoyed the comforting repetitive nature of his job. It wasn't thrilling but it didn't have to be, it paid the bills and gave him enough money to have his apartment the way he liked it. At lunch he sat in the company garden, for some reason it was okay to have your garden manicured while the house was a controlled mess. For some reason everyone seemed to think topiary fitted perfectly with the haunted theme so many of the city's gardens had hedge animals and clean crisp plant structure. The company garden had two large lions posed in battle trimmed to perfection with as much detail as one could have using plants as a medium. Even though he didn't understand the disconnect between the two styles the appreciation he felt for the order and structure of the garden wasn't diminished. As he sat eating what he considered to be half a meal of bean salad, he noticed through the chain link fence one of the new style police camera. It stood opposite the park on the footpath taking in data with its large bionic eye. He had heard a lot about them in passing as well as the media was making a huge deal over it. Surveillance was increasing again despite ever increasing calls from the public for privacy, the truth was privacy was for the rich. The crime rate was down and the experts put it down to the increased surveillance so that's where the money was spent. Gavin wondered briefly if maybe there was a connection with the modern decor, most people had never known anyone who had actually been murdered. He supposed it was possible that they felt something lacking in their lives that they tried to fill with mock atrocities. Just last week he overheard two co workers talking about a new shopping district where the buildings had been painted to look as though they dripped with blood. They had seemed excited that the street was filled with the stuff and everywhere you walked you left bloody footprints. He would bet money that the surveillance there would be off the scale. The police bot turned to look the other direction up the street bringing him back sharply to reality. For some reason it reminded him of an old television show that he watched when he was a child, it had robot villains called cyber men. Although this one had only one eye and was somehow textured, not the shiny metal he remembered from the show. Across its head read the serial number on a large plate. Anyone who had an objection to something that it may have recorded could have it reviewed and deleted if found to be benign. The machine whirred before moving down the street to disappear into an alleyway as the first work bell sounded.

The salad hadn't done much in the way of suppressing Gavin's appetite and he spent the rest of the afternoon mildly hungry. Nowhere in the city served meat these days, most people settling for eggs and mock meat which was a discusting mix of lentils and bean curd. It always amazed Gav how people could delight at buildings that bled into the street but when it came to eating an animal it was so out of fashion that it was hard to get a good steak anymore. Leaving work at five he walked the streets towards the red light district passing two more cyber cops as he went. One frightened the hell out of him as it let out a siren call having observed a youth spray painting a stenciled tag onto an alley wall. The city was so badly styled Gav wondered why they even cared. As he passed the cyclopse cyber man officer he was reminded of a carnival clown, mouth open ready to receive a ball. He hurried along passing themed restaurants that churned his stomach with food smells before reaching the sex district. Here the decor changed dramatically as it was less horror and more sex themed. The people here were no less styled just they had different sense of it and he found the change refreshing. Prostitutes strolled the street so exposed that all the mystery of what you were getting was gone. Others followed themes of burlesque, bondage or skank which had become a popular style after the year 2020. Elaborate shop fronts jutted obscenely into the street while spruikers called all manner of perversions at passers by. Avoiding the booming music and a shady looking character who seemed intent on dragging people into a particular venue, he ducked down a side street. This was more what he was looking for anyway, the girls here were too impoverished or damaged to work the main street, instead choosing the back alleyways to peddle their wares. Someone had destroyed the street lights, although it did strike him that it could just be part of the intended atmosphere. Even such low class still made an effort to style it as best they could and all manner of different concepts littered many of the back alleys. This must be the dark, trashy, rape type he thought as he walked to the end, ignoring the host of white eyes belonging to scantily clad trashy women and men. The next street was much the same as the last and as he walked he noticed that the rate of augmentation was a lot higher in this part of town. His mind returned to the billboard outside his apartment and it occurred to him that some of the people he passed would have been a much better deterrent than the beautiful woman they had used. A woman with one eye as a large very obvious camera lens, another had her mouth sewn shut while another had her womanhood grafted into her esophagus for all to see. He quickened his pace towards the lower end, it was here the poorest people dwelled many living on the street itself most not having money to eat let alone get prosthesis. The clientele here was lower as well many came here to abuse or revel in others misery. He took no pleasure in the misery here as he trekked past the desperate, these were the people that society forgot, the hidden underbelly of the city and the place where the discarded lived. For Gavin this wasn't the same as other people saw it, to the people who came for the ride it was a cheap thrill and for those that lived here it was hell. To Gavin this was trash and treasure, he had to walk past a lot of trash but somewhere here was a hidden gem, overlooked by all but him. He had come many times and always he found something worthwhile, it was the reason he kept coming back and he never overpaid for it either.

It didn't take long before such a treasure gleamed through the squalid mass catching his eye as she hung clothes on a makeshift line across a large shipping crate. The crate itself had only three sides with the side facing the alley missing. Inside was bedding and a few meager personal belongings including photos, writings, a small pencil case, a make up case and a paperback of a book titled 'Skeleton Crew'. He stopped to admire her beauty as she finished hanging the clothes and sat with her knees up holding the book, she was about to open it when she sensed he was watching. Following her firm legs past her ample hips he paused only slightly at her breasts before meeting her amber eyes. She lent forward and he realized that they were almost green in color before she spoke.

"Can I help you?" She asked putting on a honey sweet demeanor for her possible client.

He took his time inspecting her further, her small shorts while modest showed plenty, her top was similar but with more frills. It was clear she was trying to dress herself up, but her red bruised face made it hard to hide the recent abuse she had suffered. It mattered not to Gavin as he crouched to her level to speak.

"How much for a day at my place?" He kept it short and to the point watching while her eyes widened in surprise.

"Four fifty.... Plus food." she stammered adding the food part as an afterthought. It was clear that she hadn't been expecting such a good offer with her face so beat up. Looking at her long and hard he kept his voice low with a firm tone.

"I will pay four hundred, with food." "But I will expect good service." He added coyly.

The walk home was silent and uneventful except for the elevator having maintenance done and having to ascend more stairs than he cared to remember. Then there were the kids smartly dressed standing on the landing between floor twelve and thirteen. They stood blocking the way in an embrace, faces made up pale while they both dribbled blood down their nice clothes. He had to ask them to move three times before they begrudgingly moved aside to let them pass. He really didn't understand kids these days and wondered if they did that everyday as he rode past in the elevator. His date, who he still hadn't even a name for, looked slightly embarrassed as he guided her past them onwards and upwards to his apartment. Once inside he was ravenous not to mention tired from the climb, he was fit for his age but would need a rest before attempting that again. Plopping himself onto a kitchen chair he motioned to his newfound gem to join him. She was as tired as he from the walk it seemed and somewhat overwhelmed at the neatness of his apartment, she sat at the table marveling at the smooth finish on the varnish.

"What is your name?" He finally got around to asking.

"Hazel." She replied meekly.

"Well Hazel... Would you like a hot bath?" He offered politely. "If you would like to run the bath through that door just there, then I shall make us something to eat." Hazel nodded enthusiastically before disappearing into the bathroom. The bath had been his own addition to the apartment, one that he never got tired of and it never failed to impress. Taking the last of the mince from the fridge he shaped the ćevapi in the palm of his hand before dropping them into the pan. They sizzled nicely as the water in the bathroom stopped running and he looked out the window briefly before shutting the blinds. The billboard was lit up now, the holographic puzzle pieces falling away in endless repetition. He turned the sausages, switching the stove to low before knocking on the door to the bathroom, it always paid to be polite. She lay naked in the water, steam rising off the surface to give the room a hazy feel. She was so beautiful, her naked body full and ripe of age, he would enjoy it in its entirety. Kneeling on the floor beside her, he couldn't understand how someone could blacken the eye on such a face. leaning forward he kissed her puffy lips and as she closed her eye he reached across her shoulder smoothly before pulling it back across her throat letting the blade slice deep cutting her arteries. Her eyes sprung open in surprise as the realization struck her but it was too late. Grabbing her legs he held her feet up while she scrambled to try and get her head above the water. The bath became a mess of red as she pumped blood with every beat of her racing heart. After a minute her struggling ceased as she slipped from the world. Leaving her he turned the ćevapi once more before getting the leg clamps with the rope he used to hoist the carcass. With seasoned hands he lifted her feet using the pulley attached to the ceiling until only her hair hung in tub. The blood had slowed to a trickle now that the hot water and adrenaline had help push most of it out quickly. He would leave her here now for a day so as the meat could set. Wiping his hands on a towel Gavin returned to the kitchen to finish up dinner.

The following night his polished table was unrecognizable with a mincer firmly attached to one end and freezer bags scattered about. With skill he worked slicing the flesh to the joint before working the blade between the bone and severing the limbs from the torso. Each cut of meat was skillfully removed from the bone to be bagged and any scraps fed into the mincer. The smell of fresh meat filled his apartment making him salivate as he worked. With this haul it would be another couple of months before he would have to make the trek to the district again. All around him poses dressed up and role played making a game of it while always too reserved to eat even the flesh of an animal, it sickened him. He could never repress the urge in himself to consume what was natural. He thought again to the cyber man surveillance units and wondered how long he could keep this repetition up before he got caught. Surveillance was all well and good if you knew what you were looking for, as yet though not a single person had ever been reported missing.