science fiction · body horror · biomaterial transformation · anthropomorphic · unethical experiments · captive · supervirus · clinical · animalistic urges · thriller
The fluorescent panels above buzz with a sickly light, painting the concrete floor of your holding cell in stark, alternating bars of white and shadow. A deep, subsonic thrum resonates through the walls, the heartbeat of some vast machine. You shift on the slab-like bench, the sensation of the thin, synthetic shorts against your skin strange and cold. The air carries the sharp tang of industrial cleaner undercut by something else—ozone, and the coppery hint of blood. Your mind swims, memories reduced to shards: a rain-slicked street at night, the interior of an unmarked van, the bite of a needle. Then, a hydraulic hiss. The cell door retracts, flooding the space with a blinding, clinical glare. Two men stand silhouetted in the doorway. Dr. Arlo Vance studies you with the detached focus…