Get your infants here, at the Baby 'Supermarket'.

Baby supermarkets have been operating all over the world for ages. But they only sold products for tots and newborns...or so everyone thought. When Eliza met a handsome fellow who worked in the 'supermarket', and learned of the existence of one that actually sold babies...well, to put it mildly...she was struck completely dumb and flabbergasted. Robert decided to secretly show her the place on his late night shift.

The Baby Bazaar

The supermarket gleamed with polished floors and perfectly aligned aisles. Rows of shelves stretched endlessly, stocked not with groceries, but with babies swaddled in pastel blankets. Some were nestled in a transparent egg-shaped oval, their features illuminated by soft LED lights. Above the shelves were labeled holographic displays: “Quiet and Docile,” “High Intelligence,” “Athletic Potential". Others, those a bit older, moved about in clean, supervised enclosures.

Marla worked as a “Care Tech”, monitoring the pods, ensuring the babies were comfortable, healthy, and displayed their best attributes to potential buyers.

These babies were not illegally acquired as far as anyone knew, but were crafted in the factory beyond the store—a monolithic building with tight security and secrecy. The factory “perfected the imperfections of nature.” Geneticists engineered every child to meet specific customer demands. Couples who couldn’t have children came here, selecting traits from store catalogs.

Marla questioned the ethics, though she loved the babies, their tiny fingers curling around hers. But the diluted humanity of it all, were they nothing more than commodities? And what of the “defective stock,” who didn’t meet the standards? Rumor had it they were sent to a section of the factory no one dared discuss.

That evening, as the store neared closing, Marla noticed a baby boy with unruly curls and wide, curious eyes...he didn’t match catalog labels. His tag read: “Unsorted.” Unsorted meant unclaimed, destined for the factory’s shadowy depths.

A pang of guilt hit Marla. She couldn’t shake the boy’s gaze. It felt alive, almost defiant, as if he understood the gravity of his fate. She stood by his pod longer than she should, her heart racing.

Marla would smuggle him out of the Bazaar. Utter madness...airtight security made escape impossible. But for the first time in years, she felt a spark of purpose. This boy deserved a life beyond labels and shelves.

As she searched for a way out, Robert's in-store car stopped close by. Dressed in store clothing, Eliza was being shown around by Robert. Marla jumped into the back of the van and hid among the sundries.

A harried supervisor appeared and ordered the two workers to accompany him to the factory. Terrified, Eliza obeyed.

They were ordered to unload the new cargo...DEAD BODIES!

Mortified, they carried the bodies to a large mixer marked..."BABY PRODUCT". Someone was sifting out the bones from the mixture.

Marla peeked out and gagged.

Her new baby had been made from the remains of dead people.

The government had said it found a new way to dispose of dead bodies.

The baby stirred and smiled.