The Search
By: JC785
Hey there everyone. First off, this story used to be up on here, but I took it down for a number of reasons. One of them being that I didn't feel it was good enough when I posted it. But now, its back.
(Edit 04/06/15) Alright, so I'm having my pal FlygonNick edit this so it doesn't sound as weird. I'm gonna go through the other chapters and make them sound better before I post the next one. Hopefully, I'll be able to update on this story once I get everything in order. Enjoy
Chapter 1: Arrival
Year: 1968
Somewhere in the Atlantic Ocean
The halls echoed with the sound of dripping water. Where it came from, well that didn't matter. There were so many leaks in Rapture that not one person could count or fix them all. Dripping water though, that was the least of one young man's worries.
The person ran down the halls, with a Tommy gun in his hands, his eyes constantly darting back at forth, trying to see if anyone was following him. Beads of sweat dripped from his head as his breaths were hard and rugged. A trail of blood leaked down his arm with no signs of stopping at the moment. The young man didn't care about that though. When being hunted, your injuries mean less than your own life.
A sound off to his right caught his attention, so he turned quickly and fired in the direction. His shoulder screamed with threats of delocation as he fired with one arm. As soon as the firing stopped, the sounds of dripping water continued, only followed by a small chuckle. The next few words sent shivers up the young man's spine, his eyes going back to darting quickly. Suddenly, a voice sounded behind him, sounding not ever 2 feet away.
"Is it someone new…?"
Hours earlier...
All I noticed was how tall the structure was.
Not the fact that it was a lighthouse in the middle of the ocean, nor the fact that the salty sea wind was whipping around me in wild gusts. The base of the gigantic lighthouse just loomed over me, even from a distance, like it was staring at me nonstop into my soul. It had to be at least twenty stories high, and at the top, a needle like object pointing to the sky, with a light spinning around slowly.
The boat I was in approached it slowly, the lighthouse growing bigger as we came closer. I say we, cause the other two occupants of the boat were bickering...I think. They both wore bright yellow raincoats, and the man was the only one rowing, while the female just sat in front of him.
"I'm telling you this is different." The woman said.
"How is any of this different from before." The man replied.
"Well for one, the person is different, and so is why he's here."
"Ah, but that's where you're wrong."
"Explain."
"Theres always a man, and theres always a lighthouse. Plus, he remembers why he's here."
"So?"
"So?! Theres nothing to 'so' about!"
"Yes there is."
"Explain."
"The outcome will be different."
"How will it be different, it was always different with the others. It always ends one way or another. Success or defeat."
"But with him, there is only one outcome."
"How can you be certain."
"I just am."
"Lovely."
Why I hired these guides in the first place, I had no idea. I just let them bicker or argue, or whatever it was that they were doing. I decided to pull out a set of maps I had brought along with me and look them over one more time. One of the maps had a set of lines from all over the east coastline of the United states, all pointing to this one location. This was the place, it had to be.
The guides bickering drowned out in the background as I thought of the events that led me here. All of this started, with Cindy getting kidnapped.
So much had fallen apart in one night. Cindy got takes from the house in a ruckus, but no trace or tail of the kidnapper could be found. None of the neighbors heard Cindy screaming, and no one saw a vehicle or anyone. This only put stress on my parents already crumbling marriage, and it wouldn't be long before they separated. Dad was going crazy all the while, trying to find any lead or evidence he could get his hands on. Some nights, he would just be passed out at his desk, papers in hand and phone in another. One day, about 3 months later, he just disappeared. None of the neighbors at his new place knew where he was, or who he was for that matter. It would be another week before a Coast Guard officer showed up, and told me that my father had went to see, and his ship had reported missing.
I was left in a fit of rage, sadness, and depression. My mother though, she just didn't seem to care anymore, or maybe she physically couldn't handle anymore. I don't think I'll ever know, cause I found her hanging by a rope in the kitchen one morning.
I had lost all of my family, and was all alone. A part of me though, it refused to believe my father and sister were gone. I had gotten a fair sum of money from an inheritance my parents set up, so I took that, and went to my fathers Montauk vacation home. I spent a few days there, going through the insane amount of files, maps, and papers. Apparently, he had set up a separate investigation here, and made more progress by the looks of it. Eventually, I came across the map I had in my hands now, and took that with me when I left the house.
Hiring someone to take me out to the place on the map was not cheap. Apparently, there was a plane crash there 10 years ago, and the entire area became restricted for some reason. The two guides in front of me were the only ones willing to take me for some reason.
There were some steps on the lighthouse, so when the boat got close enough, I got out and went up a few steps before turning around to see the boat leaving.
"Hey, where are you guys going?!" I shouted at them.
"Our job is done for now. You have to take the next step!" The man shouted back at me.
"Don't worry, you'll be alright." The woman tried reassuring me.
"How can you be sure of that?"
"Well he's doing fine so far."
"That hardly amounts for what will happen later."
The guides voices drowned away as the man rowed them away from the lighthouse. I turned back around and looked up at the top of the lighthouse, with the light still spinning.
I, Billy Meltzer, was determined to find my dad and my sister, no matter what the cost.
In my dad's notes back at the vacation house, he said the thing that took Cindy was a creature with a red eye. I had no idea what that kind of thing was, so I had to be prepared. There was a safe in the house with a revolver and 12 rounds, so I took those with me.
I slowly walked into the giant doors, darkness filling the room where I entered. Once I walked all the way inside, the doors shut behind me. I was in total darkness, and the only thing I could hear was my soft breaths. Suddenly, a light came on in a flash, blinding me momentarily. When I could see again, a giant statue on a man's upper torso, who looked to be in his mid-forties or fifties, was staring down at me angrily. On the walls were were metal workings that had words emblazoned on them, like Science and Art.
There were staircases next to the giant statue, so I walked down them. They spiraled out to a room below the statue, and in the middle was a round object that looked like something from a sci-fi movie. It looked like a cross between an elevator and a diver's helmet.
I walked in carefully, and hoped nothing happened to me. As I looked inside, all I saw were some seats, a holder for something, maybe a radio, and a lever. I assumed this lever would take me to where ever I needed to go, so I pulled it. The pods doors closed and the thing started to descend. There were markings on how many fathoms down I was going. As I reached 20 fathoms, a screen came down, and a presentation started play, with some music in the background.
"I am Andrew Ryan, and I am here to ask you a question. Is a man not entitled to the sweat of his brow?" I just stood there, pondering who the man was, then what he meant by his question.
"No, says the man in Washington, it belongs to the poor."
"No, says the man in the Vatican, it belongs to God."
"No, says the man in Moscow, it belongs to everyone."
I started to realize what he was saying. He was saying that if a man created something, it should be his or hers, not anyone else's.
"I rejected those answers. Instead, I chose something different. I chose the impossible. I chose... Rapture.
The screen pulled up, and the lights of an underwater city started to fill the pod with a holy-like glow. Towers that reached underwater sky highs, all of them connected by rails or tunnels or wires. Some looked like they were brand new still; others looked like they were flooded and were leaning on one another. Human-like creatures walked through some of the tubes, but they looked distorted. I just went up to the glass, staring out into possibly the greatest possible creation ever, thinking, how can something like this be done?
"A city where the artist would not fear the censor, where the scientist would not be bound by petty morality, where the great would not be constrained by the small."
A whale went by the glass, and then a giant squid. I just couldn't believe it. Something like this shouldn't, no, can't exist. It's impossible.
"And with the sweat of your brow, Rapture can become your city, as well." Just as Ryan finished saying this, the pod pulled into a long docking station. Once it was all the way in, it started to go up to who knows where. When I got all the way up, there was nothing but darkness again. The pod's doors slowly opened, letting in the air from Rapture's environment. Once they opened all the way, shutters in front of the pod rose, letting in the view and light from the surrounding ocean outside the city. I was expecting someone, anyone, to be waiting there for me. But there was nothing. Not a single sound except for water dripping, and maybe a fire in the distance. I came out slowly with the pistol in my hands. I had never fired one before, but I figured, it would be a pretty good time to learn.
I was in a maroon room with paint coming off the walls, and some support beams coming out of them. I looked to my right and I saw that was the only door in the room, so I walked towards it and tried to open it. But something was blocking it from the other side, so I had to force it some more. When I got the door open some more, I was finally able to wiggle through, only to come to even more destruction than the last room. There were suitcases that blocked the door, trash cans that had been set on fire, trash everywhere, and a pod that looked like the one that I came in on, only this one was on fire.
When I pushed the suitcases out of the way, something fell out of one of them. I looked down and saw it was one of my dad's audio logs, like the ones he used back on the surface. I picked it up, played it, and I could hear my dad's voice once more. "Barely made it down alive, but here it is, and it's real. Rapture. This is where that thing took my... my poor baby girl. From what I saw in the sub, most of the city's in ruins. But there were lights here and there. And shapes, moving... I'm rambling. Scared, I guess. But maybe, if I find this "Doctor Lamb" I keep hearing over the P.A... I'll find Cindy too."
It was comforting to hear his voice again after so long. It was also good to know he was looking for Cindy. But there was something else I was curious about. Who was this Doctor Lamb? I would just have to figure it out later. I tucked the radio into the book bag I had brought along with me and started moving out of the area.
I came up to a plaza like area after a while. While this place was bigger than the others, there was even more destruction here. More luggage was everywhere, even more fires, and it looks like a fight recently occurred here. There were explosive marks on the ground, bullet holes the size of my thumb, and places where the tile was cracked like a crater impacting. I looked at one of the bullet holes, dug around inside it, and pulled out a rivet. This was really confusing to me, cause how can a bolt this size dig that deep in the ground. When I looked to my left, there was water coming out of the door, so I decided not to go that way.
As I kept looking around, I came up to a bar, and I found another audio log, only this one wasn't from my dad, it was from Andrew Ryan. I played it just out of curiosity. "(Short sigh) Diane insisted that we spend a weekend at the Adonis, and already I find myself seeking a respite from my vacation. When she deems it necessary to chide me for working, the words dissolve into an endless, animal bleat. I founded Rapture to be free of law and god... to live among those for whom work is our wage! Yet, when Diane speaks of bearing my child... I am given pause. Until now, I had never considered my legacy. Perhaps... perhaps after the New Year..."
I had to give this one even more thought. Did Ryan even have a child, and if so, was he here in the city, and could I find him? I set the tape back down since I didn't want extra weight slowing me down.
I kept looking around some more, until I came to a shoe shining area, with the ocean right in full view. But what interested me most was the huge ass gun leaning against one of the chairs. The middle section was like a cylinder, with gears at the top that pushed a pole into the muzzle of the gun. I took a closer look at it, and there was writing on the side. 'Rivet Gun: A Model' it said. What is an 'A Model'? It would have to wait, because out of nowhere, I heard small footsteps, then what sounded like a little girl singing. I panicked and pulled out my gun, but I was a bit happy at the same time, because it could be Cindy.
I went to the corner of the bar, and then edged my way across the wall of the broken staircase. As I got close to the noise, it was sounding weird; like it was distorted in a way. When reached the other end, I poked my head around to try to get a better look.
This little girl was not Cindy.
Cindy had brown hair and she hated dresses. This girl was blonde and was wearing a bright blue dress. But the weirdest thing was the big yellow eyes that she had. They just took over all over eye, like a demon possessed her. She also had a syringe in her hand and was draining something out of the corpse she stood over. Suddenly, she seemed startled and started to look around, like she was trying to find the thing that frightened her. Her eyes finally locked onto me and they didn't move from my location. I had no choice but to step out and they to act calm. "Um… Hi there. Are you ok?" I said as I tried to approach her slowly.
When I got just a bit closer, the little girl started to scream. I was frightened by then, then tried to calm her down. "It's ok, it's ok. I'm not going to hurt you." I said. She just continued to scream, and it was scaring me even more now, because the screams were just echoing all around. Suddenly, I heard a horrible screeching noise like a fork being scraped against glass. The lights in the room started to flicker in and out, some of them bursting, creating sparks. I looked all around, wondering where the screeching was coming from, but at the same time, I didn't want to know.
A figure appeared out of nowhere on the broken balcony. It was in a skinny diver's suit, with a cage and an oxygen tank on the outside. The cage had a bunch of pink ribbons on it, and the O2 tank had a some drawings on it. It also had a large syringe on its left arm, with some red liquid that wasn't blood in a glass container. The last thing was the big glowing light coming from its portholes. I realized then this was the creature that dad had talked about.
The monster jumped from the balcony, soaring into the air in an incredible feat of strength and agility, before it landed right next to me. I tried to turn around and run, but the creature just grabbed me and threw me at a wall, causing me to yell out in pain and my vision to suddenly go fuzzy. As I tried to get my senses straight, I could feel blood rushing down my head. I heard footsteps that slowly drew closer to me, and as I looked up, I realized I had tears rolling down my face. The creature slowly drew its hand back, its deadly needle poised to tear into me, and before it could strike I closed my eyes, a terrified sob escaping my throat.
Only the blow never came.
I slowly lifted my head up, and saw the creature just looking at me, the red in its helmet slowly turning yellow, and then a light blue. It crouched next to me, and touched the tears that fell down my face. I cringed at the touch, but eventually loosened up a bit as I realized how gentle the creature was.
It helped me to my feet, but I stumbled because of the blood loss. The creature took a moment to think, then motioned for me to grab onto it. I was a bit skeptical, but I just went with it. It then leaped up and took us both through the upper support beams to who knows where. I blacked out somewhere along the way, still not knowing where we were going.
I opened my eyes slowly, not awake, nor asleep. I was in some kind of cross-conscious state, where I could hear and see, but I couldn't move my head. I still didn't really know where I was or what had happened to me. I could see a trash can burning near me (probably done as a source of warmth), and rail cars, like the ones in Los Angeles, only these ones didn't have wheels. Gears were moving everywhere, machinery noises were going, and what sounded like an elevator was starting. I saw an elevator to the right of me going up, and I caught a glimpse of a big creature with a gigantic drill for a hand. I just kept staring at it until it went out of view. The creature then walked from my left and went forward a bit. It stood by the fire for a moment, and then started to disconnect the tubes that went to its helmet. As it took the headgear off, I could see short, jet black hair. I couldn't tell if it was a boy or a girl, but I was sure it was human. It was then that my body decided to sleep again.
I woke up again at a later point. At that time, I really wished that I had a wristwatch. I looked down, and my clothes looked the same when I first got them, not torn and had blood stains from that fight. I felt the top of my head, and it appeared to have been bandaged. I winced a bit from the pain, but it wasn't that bad. I looked at my surrounding to see if anything was new. As it turned out, I probably got the biggest surprise ever since I got down here. The same person with the jet black hair, who turned out to be a girl, was lying next to me in a short white nightgown, asleep.
I tried to shift a bit, but that accidentally moved here a bit. Her eyes shot open, and she moved up slowly. We just stared at each other for about a minute, and then I decided to break the silence.
"…Uh… Hi there. I'm sorry if I did anything to piss…" I never got to finish, and the girl came up to me and started to hug me. I had no idea what to do, or how I should feel about the person that tried to kill me. So I did what I felt was natural. I hugged her back.
If my first few hours in Rapture was any indication of what was to come...then this was going to be a very strange trip for sure.