Mutant

Chapter 1

‘Blast!’

Brad stopped halfway down the outside stairs of the Genetic Clone Unit where he worked. He’d just glanced at his wrist to check the time and saw that his watch was missing.

‘Blast!’ he said again. ‘I must have left my watch in the locker room.’

Now he would have to go back inside and through the research labs to get it. He ran quickly up the steps and keyed in his security number.

His workmates, Jade and Mark, had already gone home. He’d better hurry. Rob, the security officer, would soon lock up the whole building and set the alarms for the night.

Brad made his way between the experiment tables. He didn’t bother to switch on the main lights. There was enough light coming through the windows from the streetlamps for him to see where he was going.

He went past the Mutant Human Parts Section. This was where they kept the deformed organs locked in special tanks. Professor Mace, the head of the Genetic Clone Unit, had shown these to Brad when he first joined the research team. Brad rubbed the back of his neck. He knew that the Mutants could never get out of the containers, but he always felt uneasy when he was near this section. Scientists had created some mega-weird things in the late twentieth century before they’d cracked the secrets of genetic cloning!

Brad hurried on.

On the wall behind him a shadow followed.