Stories of Rapture
Chapter 1: Up on the surface
Elias Cree held up his glass of Arcadia Merlot. It was New Year's Eve 1958. He was in his home in Athena's Glory, celebrating the coming year of 1959 with his wife Samantha and their closest friends. The children were babysat by Nina Carnegie, the third grade school teacher. They both left their father with ease when they saw their other friends.
He held up his glass, with the dark red wine, and gave a toast to Andrew Ryan, and to Rapture!
Elias Cree was in the security business. Up at the surface he made vault doors and alarms. All the store owners and bankmen that used his wares had the lowest rate of robbery. But all that was nothing compared to his new masterpieces. With his engineering skill, he had made special movement detecting turrets and flying sentry bots. Any trespasser would be shot to pieces. If you weren't the owner of the store you wouldn't get in past the open hours. However, the communist weaklings in the so-called government despised the idea of harming the criminals parasites, leeching of people's good will. When Silas Cobb, the local music store owner, told him of Rapture, the city where the great would not be constricted by the small, he collected all his money in cash, packed up the needed tools and materials, and in less than a day, he was on his way to the North Atlantic Ocean with his two year old daughter Lily and his wife Samantha. That was in 1952. Lily was now eight and his son William, who had never seen the surface, was six. Elias himself was 36, and already at the top of the Rapture society. Andrew Ryan loved the cleansing of leeches and parasites. In two weeks Elias had more money than he could wish for.
The voice of his wife brought him back to reality.
Honey, could you pass the bread?
Oh, yes, of course.
The phone rang. Elias stood up, excuse himself, and went to the shining red phone.
Hello, Elias Cree speaking.
Mr Cree!
It was Nina Carnegie. She spoke with a panicked tone.
It's chaos outside! There's maniacs killing people on the streets! I've barricaded the door, but I don't know if it will hold for long.
Elias heard a thump in the background.
You have to come here quickly!
Chapter 2: Journey to Ryan's Amusements
Elias ran to the gun cabinet. He owned four weapons. One revolver, two tommy guns, and an old-fashioned shotgun. He took and handed them out to the three men that he was celebrating with. He had turrets installed all over the house, so the women would be safe.
It was empty on the streets. Not a person at the Atlantic Express. Luckily, Elias friend Daniel worked for The Atlantic Express and could drive it without problem. As Elias looked out the windows during the trip, he still couldn't see any people. Even in the riff raff blocks there wasn't anyone. He supressed the thought for a while and asked Daniel how long it would take to get to Ryan's Amusements.
Well the traffic is surprisingly empty. This shouldn't take long at all.
They arrived at the train station at Ryan's Amusements. When the train stopped, the first person they saw was a woman pressing herself against the windows. She appeared to be wounded mortally, because she was wailing horribly against them. They all stood on the other side of the glass, stunned by the blood on her. After a while she went quiet and slid down on the floor.
They all walked out.
We can't bother with her, Elias said. We are here to get out children and we can't waste any time!
Elias walked out of the train station without looking twice at her. The others followed but with a concerned look on their faces.
The second that Elias walked through the slide doors he was met by one of the big goons called "Big Daddy". It was standing ten metres away, and it was on fire. The maintenance drill on it's right hand was drenched in blood and pieces of something that Elias didn't want to know more about. The Big Daddy was howling with it's deep voice and was clearly in agony. It didn't seem aware of their presence, but was rather just walking around in pain. Elias took the revolver from Daniel, walked up to the Big Daddy, aimed at the yellow glass which was the weak spot, and fired. The Big Daddy fell to the floor with a big crash and didn't get up.
The next slide door they walked towards had bullet holes in it. Elias gave back the revolver to Daniel, and walked through as silent as possible. They were met with complete chaos. Elias counted five maniacs beating up regular people in the streets. They didn't care if the people were men, women or children, they beat them up with the same sadistic screams. One woman came running towards Elias, bleeding from the left temple.
Help me!
But before Elias could do anything, the woman got struck in the backside of her head and fell to the ground. The man who had done it had a suit, but it was torn and through the ripped clothes giant stye looked out. He had red holes from syringes. He was a splicer.
Chapter 3: Freaks of Rapture
"Splicers" were the freaks of Rapture. They had become addicted to ADAM. People of high class like Elias looked down on these cretins. Sure, he had tried some Plasmids, but they didn't impress him enough to make him an addict. Everyone knew that splicers meant bad news.
The splicer laughed insanely and lunged at Elias with a roar. However, Elias had a tommy gun and the splicer only had a wrench. Elias fired a salve towards the splicer's chest and he was pierced with bullets and tipped backwards with an aching sound. The sound of bullets attracted the other four. Now, all four of the friends were standing with their weapons aimed against the splicers. They fired until the magazines were empty and the splicers had been reduced to piles of meat and broken bones. Elias and the others walked past the dead splicers and went over to the normal people to see if any of them were alive. Unfortunately, the splicers seemed to have hit in the right places, because every single person there was dead. What chance would a group of children and a woman have, wondered Elias worrying. They walked up to the door where he had left Lily and William with Miss Carnegie. It was kicked in. It was dark inside. He held up the tommy gun and slowly entered the house. One of the other friends, Eric Hughes, suddenly burst out:
I found the light switch
No don't!
But Elias was too late. Eric flipped the switch. They were met with what could be the cruelest thing they had ever seen. All over the floor, lay dead children. Some had been shot, quick and almost painless. Others however, had been beat to the point where there was nothing left to beat. And some had been torched. Their burnt bodies were still on fire. They all stood frozen of fear and disgust. The sound of something metal came from the kitchen. someone was in there.
Chapter 4: Vengeance
Whoever was in the kitchen hadn't heard them. Elias proceeded catiously. He pressed his eye against a chink. In the kitchen were three men. One had a wound in the arm.
Fucking bitch. If she had known how to kill I wouldn't have this wound!
And we'd be rid of you, jackass!
The men laughed and Elias felt nothing but pure hatred. Suddenly a loud noise came from behind him. It was Eric who had managed to bump into a cabinet.
Did you hear that? Looks like we forgot one of the kids!
The splicer walked towards Elias. He backed away from the door, and all the friends stood in a line, with their weapons aimed. A loud crash, and the splicer kicked up the door. He had a sick smile on his face.
Come here little child!
The splicer's face was immediately twisted to a panicked stare
No! Please!
All the friends fired. The splicer was massacred. All the pain he had caused was now thrown back at him, in the form of bullets. The splicer closed his eyes and mouth, Then sunk down on his knees. Eric rushed in before Elias, and shot the second splicer with the wound, straight in the head. Eric had taken the shotgun, which resulted in the splicer becoming a head shorter. However, rushing in gave the third splicer a head start. He emitted a burst of flame towards Eric. It wasn't at close enough range to hurt him mortally, but it incinerated Eric's hair and he ran out of the kitchen screaming. Daniel ran after him while Elias and the fourth friend Jeremiah went inside the kitchen. The splicer looked at them with a smirk, then burst out another flame towards Elias. He jumped to the side, then fired at the knees, to incapacitate him. The splicer fell with a scream. Jeremy walked forth and kicked the splicer in the face.
Elias rose up, brushing off his suit. He searched the splicer. The splicer had a few dollars, a revolver, and a syringe with the well-known red fluid ADAM in it. he took it out, inspected it, then looked at the little dirty tag that was one it. "Incinerate!" it said.
So this is what he used to kill our children.
Elias dropped it on the floor, then stepped on it, crushing it without problem.
Eric and Daniel came back. Eric had tufts of hair left, but otherwise he was bald. His eyebrows were gone. They all sat down on chairs, except for Elias, who tied the knocked out splicer to his chair.
When he wakes up, he will suffer for what he's done.
Chapter 5: Interrogation
As the splicer woke up, the bell rang. It was 1959. And what better way to start the new year than to kill the man he hated most in the world? The splicer opened his eyes, slowly, then he was suddenly awake, struggling to get out.
Let me go! Now! You can't hold me!
The splicer emitted flames from his hands, but he was tied, so the flames just sunk to the floor and disappeared.
Why are you doing this? Elias asked straight and without taking his eyes away from the splicer.
Elias saw him forming his lips to say "Fuck you", so he just kneed the splicer in the face, then released a number of blows to the face.
I said, why did you this?
Because of the ADAM. Everyone needs ADAM.
The splicer spat blood on the floor, then talked again.
We are the so-called low class of Rapture, and even though we are the ones using ADAM the most. You people don't see the value of it!
Quite the contrary. We do see the value of it, therefore we also see the danger of over-using it. You don't. That's why you became this.
You saying I'm not as good as you are?
Elias punched him again.
That's exactly what I'm saying!
Then kill me now you blown up shithead!
Oh no, you won't get the luxury of death yet. You see, the children in here were our children. And as you probably can understand, we're not happy with you. That's why we killed your two friends. You, however, we managed to spare. So you'll get thrice the treatment because as I see it, there was three of you.
The splicer looked around. He realized that they were all holding something tha would cause pain.
Please! Just kill me! Please!
Oh no, I'm going to enjoy this.
They all walked towards the splicer. Daniel gagged him, so that he wouldn't attract other splicers. Elias pulled out a thin knife.
This is for my Lily and William.
Muffled, the splicer kept screaming.
-Please!
Elias raised the knife.
PLEASE!
Chapter 6: Burial
Daniel had used the plasmid to light the dead splicers on fire. Every child that they could find had been buried. Daniel, Jeremy, and Eric had all found their children. They had been killed humane, more or less. Elias himself had found William, lying peacefully asleep, with a bullet through his head. Lily he hadn't found however. He had searched all the rooms but one. Blood was splattered on the door and he wasn't sure if it would be a mistake to enter it. But it was the only place left. He opened the door. The doorknob was smeared in blood. He looked inside. Inside was a bed, several dead splicers and his daughter, in the hands of a Big Daddy that sat on the short side of the bed. She was asleep. The Big Daddy was dead, but it still held her with both arms. He took his daughter, lightly. He took the helmet of the Big Daddy and lay it down, then put it's hands across the chest. He walked out with Lily in his arms.
All his friends looked at him.
Then at Lily.
Then they walked out of there.
Using "Incinerate!" Daniel lit the place on fire. They all stood there for a while, looking at the burning house. They had all lost something, even though Elias still had his Lily.
They didn't see any other splicers. On the Atlantic Express train, Lily woke up.
Daddy, why are we on a train? And where is mum? And William?
Shh, honey, I'll tell you when we get home.
Lily burrowed herself in his chest and soon fell asleep.
They came home. Not a single splicer, at least not yet. Samantha and the other women all cried for hours. But Samantha cried of sadness and joy. Elias's friends held their wives, comforting them, letting out the sadness and anger. Elias just stood there, this time with a glass of scotch, with a cold stare through the window, out in the ocean. He couldn't stay here. He had to go back to the surface. He had to go home.
Epilogue
Elias sat in his armchair. They had a republican government, meaning that his turrets and sentry bots were legal, and they were the only things you bought if you wanted a safe store. Burglary and robbery was reduced with over 70 % and Elias became even richer than in Rapture. He was an international celebrity. He was now 48 years old. Samantha was 42. Lily was twenty and his new daughter Elisa was fourteen. He lived a happy life. But the memories of Rapture were still pounding in the back of his head. He never saw Daniel, Eric or Jeremy. It reminded him too much of William. He would have been eighteen now. He would have had a girlfriend that he would introduce to Elias and Samantha. This pain kept him going. It kept him alive.
The End