Gift for the Cutter Man
ShortStory 6,001 words Recommended by 2 award/anthology sources
"The blade of Legrue’s scalpel flared in his headlamp’s narrow beam, casting glints of light across the slender hand strapped to his cutting table. “Deed done?” the woman asked, a warble in her voice. Legrue adjusted his magnifiers. He had not eaten in over a day, and the emptiness in his gut gnawed at his focus and put a tremor in his fingers."
Content warnings 3
body-horrorchild-deathdeath
Quasar links out; the story lives on Apex, where the author gets the click.