Authors note: Special thanks to Sailorkagome91 and my first Guest (Who for the sake of this post I will call G1) for the first reviews on Chapter 5. I appreciate both your kind words as well as Sailorkagome91's suggestions. Also, to G1, The drawing is of Tristina (and no offense taken)
Jack stumbled to a stop and stared ahead, sweating profusely as he stared at one of the chipped and grime encrusted sinks along the wall. "Jack, what is it?" Tristina asked, frowning at Jacks pale face and trembling finger as he pointed at the second sink against the wall.
"D-don't you see her?" Jack asked, pointing at the sink. Tristina looked back at the sink, studied it for a moment, then looked back to friend.
Jack sank to the floor and held his head. "Jack, are you okay?" Tristina asked, frowning as she felt Jack tremble slightly beneath his beige knitted sweater.
"a woman...there was a woman standing there." said Jack, pointing to the sink again.
"She was saying she was 'too spliced up' and that 'Nobody's going to want me.'" said Jack, staring at the grimy tile floor.
"Okay, Jack." said Tristina, squatting down in front of her friend. "We'll just set up camp here. I didn't think we were going to reach Atlas' family in one day." Tristina finished gently.
"No." said Jack, planting his hand on his knee to boost himself up. "Jack, if you're seeing ghosts and stuff..." Tristina began firmly, standing up as well.
"We need to get to somewhere more secure. This place is too open. A splicer could come from anywhere. We'll rest soon, Trish." said Jack, smiling and placing his hand on Tristina's shoulder.
"I promise. Lets just get our backs against a wall or something, okay?" "There's an opening in the Gents restroom to such a place, lad. you two could camp there." Atlas suggested from the walkie.
Tristina nodded, picked up the knapsack and voice recorder, then followed Jack back out of the ladies restroom...at first.
"Hey Jack!" said Tristina, ducking into a stall. "Trish, if you gotta go, you could have just said..."
"No, look!" said Tristina, emerging from the stall with a bottle of wine and a box of bullets. "This was in a toilet bowl." said Tristina, wrinkling her nose as she put the items in her rapidly filling knapsack.
"Hand me the bullets." said Jack, checking the rounds of ammo in his pistol.
Tristina placed the box firmly in Jacks electrified hand, then shifted the knapsack strap to a more comfortable position. Suddenly, the last stall door burst open and a splicer jumped out, wielding a pipe.
"Call the cops on ME?" the splicer shouted, swinging wildly at them. Jack quickly raised his pistol and pulled the trigger, but woefully heard dull 'click'.
"Shit!" Jack swore, raising his opposite hand and electrifying the man. Tristina raced in front of Jack, twirled on her right foot and slammed her left heel into the neck of the man.
There was a sickening crack, and the mans head bent forward over Tristina's foot. "Nice." said Jack as the man collapsed at their feet in a heap.
"Thankfully he didn't feel anything." said Tristina, still uncomfortable with killing. "I snapped his neck on impact."
"It was still cool." said Jack, smiling as they stepped over the man. "No Jack." said Tristina, grabbing Jacks shoulder and turning him slightly so silvery brown met baby blue.
"Murder is murder, be it Splicer or sane man. No one...NO ONE...should ever take the life of another living creature." said Tristina, releasing Jacks shoulder and walking into the restroom. "I'm no better than my father." Tristina muttered, walking towards the concrete hole that Atlas had mentioned.
"Hey Trish. there's another tape thing here." said Jack, pointing to a pile of rubble. Tristina looked back and picked up the tape player.
wrinkling her mouth to one side in thought, Tristina took the tape cassette out of the player. Placing the tape in a compartment on the back of the knapsack, Tristina tossed the empty tape player back on the rubble and ducked to clamber through the hole.
Stepping aside, Tristina allowed Jack to crawl through. Peering around through the dust riddled air, Tristina noticed several long, twisting black riggings stretching across the top of the room.
"Careful now." came Atlas's voice as the two approached the riggings. Jack nimbly began to make his way along the rigging, as Atlas continued to speak quietly.
"Would you kindly lower that weapon for a minute?" Atlas asked as Tristina gingerly place one white furred foot in front of the other.
"You think that's a child down there?" Atlas asked, and Tristina looked up from her focus on keeping her balance to see Jack peering down below them.
sitting next to a bloody corpse was the small girl Tristina had seen earlier. Using the long needle Tristina had seen her carrying, the girl proceeded to stick the corpse with the needle.
drawing out blood into the syringe. As she continued to stab the man, Tristina noticed she was singing a strange song to the tune of 'Frere Jacques':
"Mister Bubbles, Mister Bubbles, are you there? Are you there? Come and bring me lollies. Come and bring me dollies. Teddy Bears. Teddy Bears."
Looking up from the child, Tristina noticed Jack had proceeded on to the other side of the rigging. Forcing her Ki down through her feet, Tristina took flight into the dust choked air and flew to the other side of the catwalk.
Jack was near a stairwell, staring at the walkie in his hand as Atlas spoke. "...took a sweet baby girl and turned her into a monster. Whatever you and the lass thought about right and wrong up on the surface, well, that doesn't count for much down in Rapture." said Atlas.
Jack proceeded down the stairwell, frowning as his eyes appeared distant and dreamy. He only gave a start when Tristina bumped into him on the stairwell.
At the bottom, a concrete wall and a glass window pane brought the two closer to the girl. "Those Little Sisters," continued Atlas as Jack and Tristina watched the little girl tilt the syringe back and drain the red contents through a nipple on the back.
"They carry ADAM, the genetic material that keeps the wheels of Rapture turning." Atlas explained. Suddenly, the double sliding doors behind the little sister opened and a ragged looking man with a pistol walked in.
The Little Sister, oblivious to her company, finished draining her needle and wiped her mouth, then looked behind her. The splicer placed his fingers to his lips and continued to approach the child.
Far from keeping quiet, the Little Sister tilted her head back, filled up her tiny lungs and let out an ear piercing shriek. Anxious to silence his victim, the Splicer balled up his free hand and punched the little girl, knocking her off her feet.
As Tristina started to build up Ki in her hands to break the glass and aid the child, a loud monstrous roar filled the air around them. Tristina and Jack followed the Splicers view and noticed the sound had come from a large tank like being with several red lights on its face.
Grabbing a chair beside it, the creature continued it haunting roar and tossed it at the splicer, who aimed a pistol at the creature and fired twice. the bullets seemed to have no effect on this stranger as it lumbered forward, and pulled its drill back.
the splicer seemed to turn and run, then stopped dead as it reached a wall. Turning around, the splicer knocked to the ground by the still enraged creature.
Tristina backed away from the window, her shackled wrists flying to her mouth as the creature lunged its drill forward, drilling into the stomach of the splicer. The splicer flailed about on the creatures drill, his blood splattering from the wound on the wall behind him as he screamed.
Jack and Tristina ducked as the creature then removed its drill. Jack and Tristina then looked up as the creature began punching the window, the splicers head firmly in its grip.
The creatures second punch went through, and the creature released the dead splicers head, drawing his hand back through the hole it had created. "That's the Big Daddy." said Atlas gravely as Tristina and Jack peered over the wall through the window.
"She gathers ADAM, he keeps her safe." Atlas finished as the Big Daddy and the Little Sister lumbered through a nearby door.
"Fuck." Jack breathed, staring after the two, then looking at the offending Splicer. Tristina shakily stood up, slowly approached the splicer, and felt of his neck.
"Dead." Tristina reported, looking up at the door the Big Daddy and Little Sister walked through. "Stand back, Trish." said Jack, pulling out his wrench from his belt.
Tristina watched numbly as Jack swung his wrench at the lock and chain which held the security gate closed. "Are you crazy?" Tristina whispered, grabbing Jacks arm as he made to go through.
"I don't fancy splattering my guts over his." Tristina whispered, nodding to the dead splicer. "Its clear, Trish." said Jack, peeking around the corner.
Tristina nervously followed Jack into the hallway, and saw that the Big Daddy and Little sister were indeed gone. Walking into the area, Jack began to inspect the body that the little sister had drained while Tristina leaned numbly against an opposite wall.
A similar wall mimicking the one Tristina and Jack had watched the Big Daddy and Little Sister through sat opposite its twin. the floor and wall portions of the room were covered by a blood red fabric.
near the back of the room was a grand stage with a royal red curtain. There was no ceiling too the room, only the night black rigging that Tristina and Jack had crossed earlier.
"You okay, Trish?" Jack asked as he pocketed a wad of money from the man the Little Sister had drained. "Do you..." Tristina's voice failed her, so she cleared her throat and tried again.
"Do you ever get used to it? killing?" Tristina asked as Jack stood up. "We didn't kill this splicer, Trish." said Jack, turning towards the stage and approaching it.
"We have killed others, though." said Tristina. " I...I've always tried to avoid killing." Tristina added quietly, staring at her flowery blood stained dress. "Knocking out, okay. Stunning, no problem. but killing. Actually taking life from another human..."
Tristina trailed off when she saw Jack squatting in front of her, his hands on her shoulders. "I didn't enjoy it, either." Jack said quietly, his eyes staring into her silver ones.
"I never have, not even in the military. But its survival of the fittest down here. If we don't kill them, they'll kill us. Id rather make it out alive, than die because I didn't defend myself." Tristina nodded, and gave a weak smile to Jack, then stood up with him.
"I'll find some wood." said Tristina, walking to the stage. "Hey Trish. do you have anything you can cut stuff with?" Jack asked. "Ill see if I can find something sharp." Tristina replied, disappearing behind the curtain.
True to her word, Tristina soon returned with an armful of wood and what looked like a sharp piece of metal. "Finally these blasted things came in handy." said Tristina, carefully lowering the pile of wood. Straightening up, Tristina revealed she had been using her shackles to help balance the precarious pile.
"If you want to stay shackled..." Jack offered, only to have Tristina drop the sharp piece of metal at his feet. "Of course I don't." said Tristina, stretching the chain out so it was taught on the ground.
"Do you think you can use your wrench as a hammer and break this blasted chain?" Tristina asked, looking up at Jack. Jack pulled his wrench out of his belt loop and, holding the piece of scrap metal horizontally, began to steady himself.
Finally, Jack brought the wrench down and drove the metal through the chain. "Yes!" Tristina cried triumphantly, holding out her now separated wrists. Tristina then sat down on her rear and pushed forward her ankles.
repeating the maneuver, Jack smiled as Tristina let out a whoop of pleasure as the chain snapped under the force of wrench and scrap metal. After doing a little jig Tristina bent down and pecked Jack on the cheek, which caused the young mans cheeks to redden.
"Cannie lassie." Said Atlas, chuckling. "otherwise ye will be gettin' merrit next." Tristina's eyebrows furrowed, and she looked down at the radio, confused. "I think you confused her, Atlas." said Jack, laughing.
"Appologies, lad. I meant she'd better be careful, otherwise you two will be getting married next." "Er, what do you say we get ready for bed now?" said Tristina, walking off to tear off some sheets from the theater curtain.
As Night fell on Rapture, Tristina laid on her back and stared at the black ceiling. Occasionally Tristina would hear the scraping of metal against metal, but the noise would soon fade away. As evidence of Jacks small fire began to die away, Tristina felt herself slowly succumb to the lullaby of sleep and hopes of a better tomorrow.