"I came here, to Rapture to reach my full potential. I was swayed by the words of Andrew Ryan, his talk of a paradise with no god, or government, no limits... now that I think about it... there's really no way it could have ever worked out."
-Walter Hamilton
Walter made his way through the rubble, looking for food. It had been three days since he's gotten anything real to eat.
How many years had it been since he had gone to a restaurant and ordered warm, well prepared food? Three or four?
All the energy in Rapture comes from the underwater vents, and probably will still be running hundreds of years from now, even after all of residents tear each other in pieces.
He stopped when he heard something moving. He turned to try and see what was lurking in the shadows... but couldn't see anything...
"What have you done with her...? My child... WHERE have you taken her?"
Walter froze, eyes wide scanning the area.
Where is she... dammit... where...
"I'LL KILL YOU!"
Walter felt something sharp dig into his shoulder, he yelped and fell, pulling the hook from his skin, gasping in pain.
"GIVE HER BACK TO ME!" The splicer descended on him arms swinging wildly, when she screamed and fell back. It took him a moment to realize someone had shot her.
He stood up and saw a woman, she was wearing mask... another splicer?
"This way! Before she gets back!"
He rose to his feet and followed her, when they got far enough she pulled him down and they hid, close together in silence for a long time.
The girl rose and looked around. "I think we're safe..."
He sighed. "Thank you."
"You need to be more careful... what were you doing out here?"
"I was looking for food, what are you doing out here?"
"...looking for Atlas."
"Atlas?"
"Yeah... and the other survivors... I've heard Atlas has a place full of people... and it's safe from the splicers."
"You really think there's a place like that?"
She shrugged. "I...I don't know.. but I don't have anywhere else to go..."
He looked around. "Are you by yourself?"
She nodded. "Y-yes."
"We should stay together, just in case all right?"
He couldn't see her face, but he could see an uncertain look in her eyes. "O-okay... you're bleeding..."
He looked back to his shoulder. "Yes..." He reached in his bag for a first aid kid, and wrapped up the wound after applying the proper medicine. "It'll be fine, now do you have any idea... uh... where this safe haven may be...?"
She shook her head. "No..."
He sighed. "I see... well let's go shall we?"
She nodded and followed him.
"So... what's your name?"
She didn't say anything, and just continued walking.
"Hm... That's fine you don't have to tell me. My name is Walter Hamilton."
She remained silent, and did not look at him.
He sighed, and gave up trying to make conversation.
After hours of walking, he fell down onto a bench. "What I wouldn't do for some fin gin and an Oxford cigar..."
The girl shifted uncomfortably, and went to a vending machine, she came back with some chips and little cakes.
"Ah, thank you..."
They ate in silence, Walter wasn't used to company... well at least company that didn't try to bash your head in, or burn your house down. He only wished she'd say something, he longed for a conversation with sane person. He hated the silence in Rapture... hated it even more then the screaming. At least when he heard the screams it meant he wasn't alone... alone in this pit, alone at the bottom of the ocean.
Walter could feel her body heat; he could hear her breathing, see her chest rise and fall. It had been so long since he'd been with someone...
He rolled his eyes; he was far too old to be thinking of that with a girl who barely looked twenty.
His eyes traveled up to the mask.
Why would she wear that I wonder... is she a splicer?
He looked at her arms...
No, no puncture marks... and if she was a splicer she'd have more deterioration, not just her face... and she would sound more incoherent.
He sighed and finished off his ships.
A steak would be marvelous... medium well, with mashed potatoes...
He shook the image out of his mind, before it drove him insane. Then he wiped his hands and stood. "Well if you're ready."
She nodded and stood up, and they continued.
They soon found an abandoned hotel room, and decided to stay there for the night.
He let Katie sleep on the bed, but was mentally cursing sleeping on the hard floor.
He remembered when he had an apartment in Olympus Heights, back when he was a Doctor... was he still? Not really. When ADAM had been introduced and healed all ailments a person could have, he really stopped being a doctor, in his opinion. He spent a few years doing surgery, but became fed up and quit.
He wanted to help people, he wanted to be relevant! He didn't want to cut up people's faces, or drill people's teeth.
But his job was made irrelevant. So much for all those years of college.
He sighed and saw a record player in the corner. He walked over and checked it...
Still in working order...
He looked at the old record, it looked all right. He put on the record and waited, and was greeted by music.
The girl jumped, not expecting the music. "What?"
"Sorry I didn't mean to scare you."
She nodded. "It's okay..."
After a minute or so he stood up and offered the girl his hand. "Care to dance mystery lady?"
She stared at him for a moment, then she slowly took his hand and he spun her around. At first she was staring at her feet, and counting, trying to stay in rhythm. Then she looked up and started really dancing.
He remembered when he used to go to all sorts of parties and danced to the same music, surrounded by the masters of high society.
Those were the days...
He spun her around again, then dipped her, and her mask fell off.
"NO!"
Her face...
Someone had pulled up a side of her face, her left eye was pulled down, and her lip was ripped and sagged down, her nose... He recognized the scars on her face..
Someone had... Someone cut up her face...
She screamed, and covered her face, then pushed away from him sobbing.
He was frozen not sure how to react as she ran out clutching the mask.
"Come back!"
He ran out after her, trying desperately to keep up, soon he caught up with her. She was huddled in a corner, crying.
He came close to her and tried to touch her shoulder, but she shrank away.
"It's all right... It's okay... who did this to you?"
She continued to cry for a while, not looking at him. "St-Steinman... he... he tied me down.. and... and... he..."
He reached out and touched her arm, she jerked and tried to run, but he grabbed her, holding her still. "Shh... it's all right... it's okay..."
It was a long time until she calmed down he led her to a bench as she clutched her mask, he sat her down.
"K-Katie..."
"What?"
"My name is Katie... B-Bastone..."
"All right Katie... Katie... if you want... I think I can help you..."
"What?"
"I think I can... fix your face..."
She sniffed. "How?"
"I have some experience in surgery if-"
"NO! NEVER NEVER AGAIN!" She jumped up hitting him wildly.
He grabbed Katie's arms. "Okay! Okay! Calm down... I'm not going to hurt you Katie..."
She was shaking, then swallowed, and sat down again.
"Now we still need to find Atlas, right?"
She nodded.
"Then we need a good rest, and in the morning we'll start looking again, all right?"
"O...okay..."
Katie was finally asleep; she'd been tossing and turning for hours...
Poor thing...
He'd met Steinman a long time ago, he almost couldn't believe the horror she had told him... almost.
This place destroyed people. Why should he be surprised that a perfectionist like Steinman would go off the deep end?
But to do that...
Do no harm indeed.
He leaned back and sighed. Closing his eyes…
When Walter woke up his back was awful stiff, he cursed and twisted hearing a small crack, he was rubbing his shoulders when he saw that Katie was gone.
"Katie? KATIE!"
He ran out looking around. No sign of her.
"Katie! Dammit!"
He ran, trying to find her, but found nothing. No trace.
Walter returned to where they had stayed the night.
Maybe she had just left to find some food...
But as the hours went by he knew he was only fooling himself.
He left the room and began to search for Atlas.
It had been weeks, when he stumbled on a battle ground...
Or what was left on one.
He checked the bodies, the blood was fresh... it had happened recently...
He heard a groan from a form nearby, he rushed to him and started wrapping up his wounds. He was young; maybe eighteen years old, he was a normal boy.
When he was finishing up he heard a voice calling.
He looked around and found a radio.
"Hello?"
For a moment there was silence. "Who is this?" A thick Irish accent.
"Walter Hamilton, I'm a doctor."
"Where are my boys?"
"From the looks of it, all dead, except one, but I need to get him somewhere safe."
"Shit, all right, get movin' to the nearest Bathysphere."
"Who is this?"
"My name's Atlas."
Walter was blown away. "So it's true! You got some safe haven in Rapture?"
"Yes, but you'd better get movin' now!"
Walter lifted the boy and went to the Bathysphere; he followed Atlas' instructions and found himself at Atlas' base. There were armed men and woman all around the entrance.
"He's not a splicer, let him in!"
As he came into the haven a woman ran out to him. "Jimmy!" She grabbed the boy and started crying. "What happened?"
"Splicers, I think, I wasn't there for that bit."
Some men came down and took the boy away.
"Hey you. Head upstairs Atlas wants to have a word with you."
He stared at the man who gave the order then went up to where the man had pointed to.
When he entered the room he saw lots of equipment, and a bed. A woman was asleep in it, and in the chair was a dark haired man, his hair was long enough to reach his shoulders, but was pulled back in a messy pony tail.
"Who are you?"
"Atlas."
He scoffed. "Bullshit, Atlas must be at least fifty years old by now, you can't be more than twenty!"
"Turning twenty next month actually." He said, no accent this time.
"Who are you?"
"My real name's Landon, but as far as anyone else is concerned, I'm Atlas."
"Where's the real Atlas?"
Landon laughed. "Bastard died years ago, but the people here still think of Atlas as a hero, so I pretend to be Atlas. Or his son, or Atlas reborn, or whatever the people in Rapture want me to be."
"So what do you want from me?"
"You're a doctor right?"
"Yes."
He motioned to the woman on the bed. "Her."
Walter walked over to her; she was pale, and sweating. Her arms and legs were twitching in her sleep. He opened one of her eyes, examined it, and then stepped back. "Withdrawal."
"What?"
"Has this woman ever used plasmids, ADAM?"
He nodded. "Yeah."
"She's stopped using it, and she's going onto withdrawal. Not many people that start abusing ADAM can stop, and when they do it's extremely painful. Most die from it, but perhaps it's better than the alternative of turning into a mindless monster."
Landon looked pale and rubbed his head. "Is... Is there anything I can do?"
Walter stared at him. "Her body has grown a dependency on ADAM. So it's working double to try and function, so she's overheating, you'll need to keep her cool until this phase is over, also try to keep her dry, her sweat will cool and chill her, so be ready to bundle her up too when her body finally recovers... if it recovers... Besides that... there's really nothing you can do."
Landon swallowed then sat down next to her. "Thank you..."
Walter decided it was best to leave them alone, and headed out; he looked back and saw Landon kiss her forehead...
Katie...
Why was he thinking of her now?
He sat in the shelter, and ate some fish with the others... He made a few rounds and helped anyone who needed medical attention, and also checked on Jimmy. Who was doing fine.
Then he left to search for her.
He couldn't do much more for these people at this moment, but she still needed him.
It was silly, to stick your neck out for someone you hardly knew… but he felt like he had to. He wanted to do it.