Time to escape!

Arvish burst through the doors of the hospital, the alarms blaring as he sprinted towards freedom. The guards were hot on his heels, their voices echoing through the concrete structure. Arvish had only one shot at this, and he couldn't afford to fail.

He could see the entrance of the hospital up ahead, the chilly night beyond the automatic doors. He pushed himself to run faster, his heart pounding in his chest.

As he reached the entrance, he skidded to a stop. The doors were shut tight, and a large security guard was blocking his path.

"Sir, I need you to calm down." said the security in a calm voice.

The guard reached for his weapon, but Arvish was ready, or more like he was desperate enough. He rushed at his opponent and kicked him as hard as he can in the nuts before the guard could unholster his weapon.

Arvish thought that a nearby chair was a perfect equipment to open the closed doors. The glass shattered into a million little pieces. Arvish didn't waste a second, he darted past the guard who was laying on the ground in agonizing pain, and through the doors.

****

Arvish stood at the entrance of a massive structure that towered over the city's side walls. It looked like a container yard at a port, but there was something different about it. Arvish couldn't go home because the police would probably already be there, so he decided that this was his best bet.

There were a lot of cube – shaped containers with numbers on them. It was a storage unit facility.

A car parked near the entrance. 'Odd at this hour,' Arvish thought. It's an automated place with no guards. He continued his walks in the inside.

'If I remember right…'

He walked into the structure and stepped onto an escalator without walls. He pushed the button for the twentieth floor, and the escalator slowly crept up to door number 1037. Arvish used his ID chip to unlock the door, and it opened with a loud click.

As he entered the dark contraption, the automated motion sensor lights gradually turned on. He was surrounded by rows of boxes filled with junk and tools.

'The family inheritance. It's not worth a penny, but one item will be useful to my escape.'

He searched through the boxes until he found a metallic object. Holding it up to the light, he saw that it was a dust-covered prosthetic arm that extended up to the elbow. Arvish muttered, "I didn't calculate that I would have to cut off this much."

In today's world, all prosthetic were banned because they had immense strength, capable of lifting heavy weights with ease and performing tasks that were once thought impossible. But with this newfound strength came a new problem, the fear of these being used for harm. And so, the government made a bold move, they claimed every prosthetic and destroyed them, ensuring that no one would have access to their capabilities. Anyone who is caught with one nowadays, would be thrown into jail immediately.

Arvish's father hid it away from the government's watchful eyes not much time before he died.

'Thanks dad, at least this is something good you did.'

From another box, Arvish retrieved a power tool with a circular blade. He tested the tool and was relieved to find that the accumulator still had power, as the blade spun with a loud noise.

He created a makeshift operating table from a plastic container and placed the cutter and prosthetic arm on it. He then took out a couple of syringes, bandages, and a gun-like object from his pocket.

Arvish inspected the prosthetic arm and marked the location of his ID chip on his right arm above his elbow with a marker.

The ID chip was embedded into your bone after you were born. They say the reason for this is that because if it was just under your skin, it would be easily stealable. But now that Arvish thought about it, it was rather done by this way because you can't get rid of it as simply.

He emptied one of the syringes into his arm. On it, the label read: Nerve Block.

He grabbed the circular blade, turned it on, and took a deep breath. With a determined look in his eyes, he said, "Here goes nothing."

The blade slowly approached Arvish's arm, inch by inch, then was quickly pulled back. Frustrated, Arvish went in circles, breathing heavily. He shouted, "Come on, Arvish! You can't back out now. What's the worst that can happen? You bleed out in the middle of nowhere and die. What's the other option? You go to jail." He thought about it for a couple of second. "It feels like I've been in a prison my whole life. Time to escape!"

With renewed determination, Arvish turned the power tool back on and didn't hesitate this time. The power tool quickly hacked away at Arvish's flesh without much effort, and in no time, his arm fell off. Blood started flooding the storage unit floor.

Arvish gritted his teeth as he felt the sharp pain shoot through his arm. The sound of metal scraping against metal echoed in the abandoned warehouse as he dropped the power tool to the ground, exchanging it for the gun-like object that lay beside it.

Desperately, he pushed the device into his bleeding arm, pulling the trigger. A clear liquid flowed out of the gun, quickly stopping the blood flow. Arvish gasped for air, his breath coming in short, raspy bursts. He knew he had to act fast, or the consequences could be dire.

Fingers trembling with pain, he pushed a button on his prosthetic arm, and a series of spikes extended from it. He winced as the sharp points dug into his flesh, but he knew he had no other choice. The metal arm would be fused with his flesh this way. It will not look pretty, and he couldn't remove the prosthetic on a whim, but he didn't have time to wait for his arm to heal fully.

With a chuckle, Arvish exclaimed, "I have done it! I'm free!"

****

A police car pulled up to the storage unit facility. Two policemen stepped out of the vehicle, the same officers who had taken Rick away yesterday. One of their badges showed the name Officer Kent, the other Officer Lambert.

They came here because they had received an alert from Arvish's ID chip when he used it on the storage unit, indicating his whereabouts.

"Unit 1037," Officer Kent declared, his voice filled with authority.

****

Arvish dropped his bloody shirt on the floor. He quickly grabbed a jacket from one of the containers and put on gloves.

'Better to hide it until I leave the city.'

He started a fire to destroy the remains of his amputated arm and any other traces of what he had done.

As he stepped out of the container and into the elevator, he tentatively flexed his prosthetic fingers, testing their functionality. Despite the roughness, they were usable.

The elevator descended, and as it neared the bottom floor, Arvish was hit by a bright beam of light.

"Good evening. Isn't it a bit late for a stroll?" A voice called out from the source of the light.

Arvish shielded his eyes, trying to adjust to the brightness.

"Yeah, it is. We were quite comfortable in our car when the alert came in. So I would advise the gentleman not to do anything stupid, because I would get p*ssed," Lambert added.

Arvish's heart sank. He knew he had to do something, but he couldn't even see where they were. He could maybe try to run away, but he has just lost enough blood to not be in the best condition to make that plan work. And even if he could run, the cops have weapons to make him regret that.

He made the operation as fast as he could, so he had time to leave this place before they show up. He had been so close to getting away, but now he was paying the price for his miscalculation.

Kent spoke up again. "You are right to suggest that… Wait! Is it who I think it is? "

Lambert, however, seemed confused. "Yes he is… Sorry, I can't follow. Who is he?'

"Open your eyes, you f*ckin' moron! Yesterday… ?" Kent asked.

Arvish's mind raced, trying to think of a way out of the situation. But with his limited vision and the officers' weapons, there was no escape.

"Yesterday, when we busted that racist, he was there," Kent explained, frustration clear in his voice.

"Oh yeah… No, it doesn't ring a bell."

It was then that Arvish realized he was dealing with the same officers who had arrested his friend. The memory made him anxious, and he braced himself for the inevitable.

"Oh forget it. I don't have patience to explain. Just keep the light on him."

Footsteps grow louder towards Arvish. He tried to think of something, but his mind was in panic mode.

'Come on. Come on, don't be so pathetic.'

Kent grabbed Arvish by the hair, pulling him close. "You know what you get for your little stunt at the hospital? I know why you ran away before the implantation of the MIND+. You're a racist, just like your friend. Am I right?"

"You guys don't have MIND+ either" Arvish spat back.

"How should I put it... We love to fight against criminals with any mean necessary. What is your excuse?"

"No, I just-"

Arvish tried to explain himself, but the officer was having none of it. He shook Arvish violently, pulling him even closer.

"Don't you lie to me here. You know what I hate more than anything in this world?"

He pulled Arvish close to his face.

"People like your friend," Kent hissed into Arvish's ear.

Just then, a voice came through on the police officers' badges. "What's the situation there, Unit 15? Did you find the suspect?"

"Yes, we did. And he is resisting arrest," Kent replied.

"Understood. I'll send reinforcement immediately," the dispatcher responded.

"No need for that, everyone is busy. We could handle it by ourselves if you would unlock our power for reasoning," the officer countered.

In the society of the future, the police force was deemed too brutal. They carried weapons, but they could only use them with permission from the police headquarters.

The dispatcher hesitated for a moment. "That's not the protocol, Unit 15. Are you sure about this?"

"Yes, sometimes people just need a little push to understand their situation," Kent replied, a menacing tone in his voice.

After a short moment, there was a beep, and the gun on the officer's belt lit up green.

The officer signed his partner to turn off his badge that acted like a bodycam, then he pressed the barrel of his pistol to Arvish's temple.

"We're going to have some fun," Kent said with a smirk.