Welcome to Liberty
By Howard Night, first published in The City: A Cyberfunk Anthology
A detective finds a large mass of severed body parts, and sets to figure out the identity of the killer and their motives before they strike again.
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Plot Summary
Detective Rhoades examines an extremely graphic and strange crime scene; there are dozens of severed body parts thrown together in a pile. The strangest thing is that no heads are found. There are only arms, legs, and torsos, and all of them are naked.
Upon closer inspection, It is discovered that none of the body parts are cut, but are actually torn apart. The only clues are bloody footprints, some barefoot and some bootprints. The bootprints are concluded to belong to the Rebel. The Rebel is an unknown figure who does not seem to have a name, face, or background.
The bloody barefoot prints are thought to be from a faux. A faux is something like a clone, which can be used for a number of illegal pursuits.
However, forensics discover that the prints and blood are human, not from a faux. That means that people are being torn apart and made into another person; without a head to complete it. Instead, the "people" have multiple sets of legs and arms sewn together. These beings are supposed to be used as runners. Rhoades gathers more intel about the creatures.
A gang called the Lords try to stop the police from discovering their hideout and their business. Tone and Cong, brothers and leaders of the gang hear about the crime scenes and learn that the police think that the body shops are in their territory. They are confused as to how anyone could have anything in their territory, especially a body shop. The gang has to make sure nothing comes back to them, body shop or otherwise, as well as who is on their turf.
Rhoades finds his way into a a body shop. The warehouse has purple gas clouds polluting the air and bodies everywhere. None of the bodies are alive; all the heads are smashed in or cracked open. This crime seemed to have happened only a few minutes ago.
The bodies that can be identified seem to be Lords' crew members. Rhoades even finds Cong, who is barely alive. A massive sewn-together creature yanks Cong away, and Carr soon after. It goes after Rhoades.
Rhoades fights off the monster while he tries to find a pod, which he has been told holds something valuable. As he fights, he struggles against the monster's strength, and Rebel appears and helps Rhoades. Together, they defeat the monster and obtain the pod. Rhoades opens the pod and sees a baby.
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