Hello Bioshock readers and welcome to another AU universe story where Booker and Elizabeth are no way related. Now, as for Wipe Away The Blood, the revised chapters are in development. I will still have Saltonstall in the story, Major's Notions, Gifts, and Sundries, the bar scene from the 2010 early gameplay, and basically some other things in it. Anyway, now, this story moves away from my adventure/romance stories. This is more of romance/friendship, and well, this will have less action, but there will be minor action happening. Hope you enjoy and don't forget to review, favorite, and follow if you love it. Thank you. This is The Shepherd's Lamb.

P.S. The title is all I could think of. I think it's not motivating. I'll hopefully try to come up with a better title if I have to.

December 20th, 1983

"Hey... Hey! Get up! Get up, already buddy!" Booker awoken sluggish and foggy to see that the bartender apparently did not like the current situation he was in.

"What do you want?" Booker asked while trying to stay conscious. "Yeah, buddy. I don't care if you're a former soldier or a government agent. I want you out of my bar already. I think you had enough, plus, if you haven't notice yet, dummy, everyone has left already and it's almost close to closing. So do you mind beating it?" Booker looked around indeed to see that the bartender's statement was correct. The bar remained silent, only covered by the dark howling wind that came from the outside world Booker left the bar since he did not want some old guy barking at him, so he left some money to pay for all the 'fine drinks' he had to offer. Stepping outside, the cold breeze blew at him, causing him to shiver. He button up his tan trench coat and started his back to his apartment, with the crowd as his obstacles. He simply just walked past them, pretending that they weren't there. Walking past everyone in a rush, he also noticed that some people are actually paying attention, mainly the women, who seemed to have interest to being with a man like him, considering that he had the looks of a gentleman. Poor naïve girls, if only they knew his true colors, otherwise, they wouldn't be with him. One even think to smile at him with such seductiveness , also waving at him like they have nothing else better to do for the rest of their own lives.

"Really pathetic." He thought, along with that, a chuckle at their expense. Another thing the ex-soldier couldn't keep his eyes off were the amount of homeless people on the sidewalk. One almost immediately stopped him after running at him, blocking the path.

"Sir, sir, please, I need food and money. I have no where else to go. Please, please, just give me something." Booker can't help but feel sorry for this man, but he was a dead beat. A dead beat. He couldn't do anything about it. He walked away from the man who would likely end up in a horrible fate when he thinks of it. Without any warning, he bumps into someone, which of course, made Booker annoyed.

"Hey, mind watching it, buddy." Booker said in a stern tone to the unknown African-American. "Sorry, sir, I didn't mean to-" The man who bumped into Dewitt glared at him for a second before completely hugging him, shocking Booker, since he had no idea what on earth was going on when the man let go of him. That is when Booker recognize the man.

"Bower? What brings you here on this so-called evening?"

"Oh, nothing Dewitt. Just buying the missus a gift for the holidays. Speaking of which, here's your early gift." Bower dug through the bags until he had found the item he was looking for, handing it to his friend. Booker opened the gift to see that it was a simple, red tie.

"A red tie, how lovely." Booker said with a sarcastic tone. "Hey, not my fault that you don't talk much about your life." Bower noting his behavior.

"Maybe it's best to stay in a cage then go outside where anything could be waiting to take you." Booker remarked.

"Booker, you can't stay in a cage. It's bad for you plus you don't get to experience things with the people you know and explore new things in this world. You can't just take this all for granted."

"Really Bower? That's all you have to say. Look, I already stepped outside my cage once and all it brought me was pain, blood, sweat and tears, adding to that is destruction of the innocence. There's no way you can drag me out of my cage."

"Jesus, what happened to you Booker. One day, you're out of your cage having lots of spirit, next day, it disappeared. What even happened to you during the war?" Booker sighed much to his friend's dismay. Not sure what to say next, he decided to let the heart speak for itself.

"You know what happened to the man you once know, Bower? Well, he's gone. The ravage of war has scarred him, draining the soul, cleaning the innocence, splattering him in blood from the victims he slaughtered, forced upon by the cruel nature of man. One by one, the blood drips, marking the number of people he had murdered with cold blood and all for what? For duty and service. The men of war are just men waiting to go to the battlefields and be herded like cattle and slaughtered when the man feels like it, then it brings in more poor loss souls that are naïve, very naïve. They are young when they go to the slaughterhouse and no one seems to care as they are eating up their blood. The soldiers were just expendable and they were foolish enough to fall for the propaganda." Bower stood in disbelief on what had Booker had said in front of him. Temporary shocked and paralyzed. He snaps out of this state when he took a deep breath.

"You know Booker, soldiers may just be cattle, but still, they have families waiting for them back home from overseas, or maybe a lover watching with them by sunset. Look, I don't know what the government even does to the men in the military, but know this, they're still human, sure some of them are cattle, but not all of them. I'm just trying to say something, Booker, you understand?"

"Of course I understand." Booker replied, and very calmly. "It's just... many men like me are going through some shit. We feel like we're just cattle with no purpose in life but to leave and get slaughtered. I mean, men like me don't have family or a lover waiting for us back here. I basically cut off my family from here and my lover, my wife... Bower, I can't go on."

"I understand, Booker. I can see it in your voice. I know things for you are hard ever since you know who passed away."

"Bower... I just miss her. I want her back."

"It's too late Booker, she's gone and you have to accept it. Don't you think she wants you to go on instead of keep going on like this?"

"I'm pretty sure." Booker replied, tearing up a bit. "I can't get her out of my head, Bower, she was all I had after I went off to war. You know how it feels to arrive home only discover that your own wife had died in an accident? Huh?"

"I don't. My wife is still alive. It was probably just fate, man. I don't do this to sound mean, but there was nothing else that could have save her. She was alone when it all went down and you got drafted and got sent into those damn jungles with fucking diseases and mosquitoes. Away form that, on the side-note, now don't get mad, Dewitt-"

"Bower, what did you do?"

"Dewitt, I may have- I mean, me and my wife actually invited a special woman for you to meet at the party we're having tonight."

"Bower, what the hell?"

"Come on, Booker, I'm pretty sure this woman could be your type and maybe, just maybe it can-"

"I said no!" Booker exclaimed. He was sure some people had heard him out loud, judging the suspicious looks that were on their face.

"Booker, come on man, besides you owe me. Can you please do your brother a favor?" Booker, however, still declined the request. A twist that is to happened in just a minute happens when Bower pulls out his best tactic: Puppy Dog Eyes. Even though it's weird since he was a guy, Booker still feel a bit of sorrow coming from the man. He closed his eyes, with much hope that the tactic would fail for the first time in history, but curiosity got the best of him and he peaked, still seeing those dreaded, cursed, eyes. Seeing no other option and maneuvers available, he sadly, with much annoyance, gives him to the request.

"Thanks Booker. You're a great brother, man. Party's at Eight. Remember." The two went their own ways, Bower to his fancy, clean apartment while Booker's very much differ from Bower's, him getting a lot of money in a lottery, but some how, Booker was unlucky. If Bower had received more wads of green, he could call him the King of England. Upon the arrival, Booker got stopped by a man in suit. It was none other than his landlord, Herman Schmitz. Things did not look go for him.

"Hello, Mr. Dewitt, how's the rent?"

"Look Herman, I can give the money in the week. I swear, I can-"

"Booker, that's enough. I swear this, I swear that, give up the gig already, Dewitt, I know you don't have the money to cover everything. Heck, you don't even have money at all. Now, before you even bother asking, I have a friend who works at the bank who checked your wallet and found nothing but lies in it. Lies, I say. Lies!" Before Booker could explain himself, Herman hands him a piece of paper, which could only mean one thing.

"You have one week to get out of here. Better start packing, Mr. Dewitt. The sooner your ass is out of here, the better." Herman left Booker holding the piece of paper to attend to management business, leaving Booker devastated, furious, upset, and had contempt for that man, hoping one day, he hope that Schmitz guy gets what's coming. Angry and frustrated, he punched the wall while climbing the flight wooden stairs to his apartment. Entering the apartment he had brought when he and his wife were living together, you could really see that the apartment was falling apart. The wallpaper was literally starting to peel off. Most of the pieces already landed on the rotting pieces of wooden board, which seems to have deteriorated over time. Hell, even the windows were becoming rusty as they were starting to have those brown-reddish stains. He was pretty sure by now that he found himself in a craphole. He only got a few things still in his room or office. He started a private investigating business not too recently and so far, from his charts, he had no customers, meaning no money. Booker is really starting to reconsider the choice he chose, but it was either this or go work at the factories or country side. He never chose to leave for the factories do to the conditions there and for the country side, he had personal experiences from the jungles that blocked him from getting a job of probably being a farm hand. Guess this was the life for this ex-soldier. Only thing that could help filled the void that was left, after the soul became tainted, is some nice cigars, a meeting with the lighter, and some late night drinking. The smell of tobacco from leftover cigars on the ashtray filled up the room. It made Booker cough a little. He also smelled strong hint of tobacco. Probably some leftover essence giving off from the floor. Hope the occupants couldn't smell it or he would immediately get kicked out.

"Time to hit it. It'll set the mood." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out a lighter and cigars. He lit one of the cigars he drew from the box and lit it, then inhaling the tobacco. He next grabbed the glass of wine and proceeded to sit in his office chair with an office table. On the table were mainly some evidence of his gambling. They were for horse races and so far, none of the horses chosen have even come close to winning. Too bad since it cost him nearly all the money. The rest of it was mainly for tobacco and some fancy alcohol from foreign countries.

"Let's just see what's going on in Washington and Reagan." Placing the unfinished cigar in the ashtray, he turned on the small television set placed on the table. He somehow managed to do it at the right time as the Reagan was about to give a speech about the status of the floating city of Columbia. For unknown reasons, Columbia wants to peacefully join the US as a sovereign nation. Many were actually baffle by the city's announcement because after the Boxer Rebellion, it succeeded from the US, and now, here they are, hoping to get a admittance into the red, white, and blue again. Some agree to let Columbia stay, but divided from the US, while others remained skeptical and paranoid, fearing this is a way to get into the military's defenses in use to prevent the Reds from coming and used them in the city. Despite warning and worries, Reagan still chose to admit the city.

"My fellow Americans, today, the congress and your government has reached a decision on the status on this city in the sky that we raised into the clouds a long time ago. We had met with the Columbian government at a conference. A few weeks ago, The leader of the Founders Party, Zachary Hale Comstock, has chosen for peaceful reintegration with the United States of America, but one promise states that Columbia is view as a sovereign nation and the true Union. Now, I disagree that they should call themselves Union when we are the true Union. Our Union is at the struggle with the Russians, but despite this issue, we have reached a solemn agreement and drawn a conclusion, in which we can say, allow Columbia as its own city and nation. Many will argue that we will use the nation to defend against the Soviets, but may I remind you that if our freedom is at threat, we need all the support from our allies, even if they're at disagreement with us. As of now, The Soviets had already invade Afghanistan and resistance met with the Mujahideen. If they want a war, we'll give them a war. We will turn their war into our war. We will turn it into their own Vietnam War and see how we felt." The camera leaves the announcement leaving a couple of stunned crowds who were actually surprise by the president's decision. Others were all talking about it in the background. The camera shifts focus to a fancy Newsman with slick, dark brown, hair.

"That appears to have been the president's speech, folks. Let us all pray to god with mercy that the Columbians will make peace with us and hope that it's people are not feeling much contempt and disgust at us. If something were to change soon after, this could be a catastrophic disaster, possibly maybe even a second civil war. Believe folks, if it happens, it will be more bloody than the last one our ancestors faced by in the 19th Century. We hope to prevent further hostilities which began in the early part of this century thanks to previous government officials back then. Now we'll bring you more coverage if possible and-" A loud explosion erupts out of nowhere, trembling the pedestrians. The camera points to Columbia, floating above Washington D.C.. The tower, The Lamb's tower, had erupted into flames. Many onlookers were all paralyzed with fear from this, not knowing what this would mean for the relationship.

"Holy shit, Dave you getting this?" The reporter asked, filled with joy and excitement. "Uh, yeah, Jack. If you can see, I am recording this." Dave replied, much to his annoyance from his annoying partner.

"Hey Dave, shut it. We're getting footage here. Okay, folks, we seem to have looked at the tower that belongs to Columbia and which houses, from what we know, The Lamb. Not much is known about this person except that she is likely a young female who's been housed in the tower since she was an infant, but I assure you, they said that she is very healthy. Nobody is sure of how this happened and who could be responsible for the explosion or bombing. Not much is known now, but we'll get further information as the situation develops. Hopefully, then this terror will be all-"

"Uh... Jack..."

"What is it this time, Dave, we're trying to get footage and now you're interrupting good news. I will make sure that I could get you demoted to janitor and you will be cleaning up all the shit you see and you will-" A loud shriek ringed out, like in a song. Jack turned away from his scared, dim-witted cameraman to see what he was even talking about when a giant mechanical bird headed right towards them.

"Oh shit, run!" Jack cried. He and his cameraman pushed through the panicking, dispersing crowd and ran to get back to the news van. Sadly, they knew they were possibly dead when the bird shook the van and knocked it down, causing a young white male to come rolling out the vehicle, bruised and possibly deceased judging from the blood leaking from the scalp.

"Shit, Michael, it's me, Jack. Are you alright? Shit." Judging from the no response, Michael was either unconscious or dead and the two of them weren't going to stay around to find out. While running from this new type of monstrosity, Dave turned the camera to his left side and from what the viewers can see was a soldier firing at the bird with an RPG. Big mistake Dave make is choosing to stop and record the entire thing for proof which would prove an error of judgment. When the RPG shell gets a hit on the bird, it comes swooping in, hitting the cameraman and causing him to fly through a building with a large glass window, rendering the man unconscious and broke the camera, leaving newsman Jack, running for his life.

I hope you enjoy this chapter so far. So, Songbird made an appearance and took down a news team, will two of them. Anyway, that is it for the chapter. I promise I'll make Elizabeth appear in the next chapter. That is all.