The man's eyes flicked open. The loud shriek had woken him. But, was it a shriek? It sounded more like a... growl. He was disorientated, not knowing if he was asleep or awake, stuck in the hazy middle grounds of consciousness. Harsh beams of moonlight burned his eyeballs as they shone through the small barred window, the full moon's glare bathing both himself and the wall behind him. He narrowed his eyes and protected them from the outside world with his hand. Ahead of him in the pitch black, something shuffled. The man sat up stiffly when he heard the sound again. It was low and gruff. It made him shake. He meant to scream for help, but his vocal chords betrayed him.

Frantically, he writhed beneath his covers, full of fear, sweat plastering his dirty vest to his back. This was no dream; it was real. Again, the growls followed by clumsy, heavy movements from the bunk below where his new cellmate lay. He had been in there a week. Armed robbery. Just like him. But, right then that didn't matter. What mattered was the terror that had quickly suffused the man's body. It was too much, finding his voice, he let out a scream. It subsequently awakened his fellow inmates in the surrounding cells. Each hurriedly made their way out of bed to discover the source of the noises.

Before the man could shout for help or even begin to wonder where his cellmate was, his head was clipped cleanly from his shoulders by a powerfully huge hand which sported immaculate razors for claws. The man's blood splattered against the wall in huge blots. The creature took hold of the fresh corpse and feasted, hungrily tearing through flesh, consuming every small morsel.

The other inmates shouted at the tops of their voices, drowning out the frenzy going on in cell 7B. Undeterred, the beast guzzled more thick, syrupy blood. The commotion quickly attracted the attentions of the chief screw, who marched up to the cell. 'OKAY,' he shouted as he approached it. 'WHAT THE FUCK IS...' he was cut short just as the main lights were switched on and the screw saw what it was in the cell. Startled, the beast turned to confront the screw, who's own face by then had been flushed of its entire colour. He backed up, stammering to himself. In return, it howled.

The screw screamed as he watched the monster effortlessly remove the iron bars separating the two and sling them aside. The screw looked up into the towering thing's burning eyes, swearing that he could see Hell itself in them. As he was about to scream once more, the beast leaned forward, its rancid breath hitting the screw's nostrils. Slowly, it placed its mouth over the paralysed man's face and bit down hard. The sound of his skull cracking in the vice-like grip of the beast's jaws could be heard above the rabble of the other inmates, echoing down the many corridors of the prison.

Blood spilt all down the white walls behind the screw. His now faceless body slumped to the floor. The beast left it there, turning and storming out of the building, to the rapturous applause of the other inmates. Its hind legs pumping like pistons and its huge, thick muscles rippling across its back, its arms, its legs, it crashed through the heavy brick wall of the prison and out into the misty night. Its escape had seemed all too easy.