She groaned in her helm, and sat up, hand on her yellow-lit visor. Vision blurry and head pounding, Eleanor grasped a handful of...wet sand...and let it pour onto her lap.
"Huh...I thought I was sinking." Eleanor looked up, her visor illuminating a dark ceiling made of water with a Tear-aura. "Wait, I was...underwater…" She spread her arms and moved them around. Indeed, she was not in water, despite being on the ocean floor. Oddly enough, she felt the ocean floor pulsating under her buttocks and legs, as if the ocean floor had a heartbeat, though her hearing was quite distorted.
Some sort of Tear is keeping this area water-free.
Something huge and slimy crawled from the side. Eleanor's visor revealed a heart the size of a house with starfish-like fleshy appendages. It beat like a giant drum.
"That's...not supposed to be here…" She picked herself up, and brushed her thighs off. "Hunh, that...heart-creature smells like ADAM." Looking around, Eleanor realized that the ocean floor was overgrown with veins and tendons.
The next thing Eleanor saw was a metal pyramid, about the size of the skyscrapers. Eleanor raised an eyebrow.
"Where did that come from? Never in Rapture was there a pyramid…"
A mound of thick blood was also nearby, fleshy appendages moving in them. Eleanor saw bloody footprints trailing off into the darkness.
After regaining her senses fully, Eleanor could hear, apparently, a beating heart reverberate underneath the ocean floor. Other features were various Tears, lights beaming out the skyscrapers, fleshy growths here and there, and a Tear-aura flowing upwards like one immense aurora borealis.
The Luminescent Biomass sheds a darker light, now. Eleanor had a feeling she was being watched, the same feeling she had in Ireland a few times. Though, if Spirry stalked her still, she could not see him anywhere, for now. Although very faint, Eleanor thought she heard the distant cry of a small girl, seemingly coming from the Luminescent Biomass.
Eleanor turned around, seeing a red translucent image perhaps a hundred feet tall and wide, the same monster Booker and Elizabeth had seen. However, the monster appeared to be leaning over, as if sleeping, front eyes closed. The upwards-facing eyes in the transparent top of its skull were visible, the brain visibly behind the eyes, zapping a bit. The mechanical columns connected to the monster's spine and arms vibrated, machinery creaking.
The monster snorted, and reared backwards. Its front eyes opened, beaming immense spotlights upon Eleanor. She quickly covered her visor with her hands and spun around, feeling the usual frequencies reverberate within her skull. She tried to walk away, but her legs felt like jelly.
Elllehnnorrr… whispered a mighty voice in her mind, which gave her a headache.
"Did you grow out of the the biomass!?"
Eleanor's helm formed a yellowish aura and she fell, clutching her helmet. With a groan, Eleanor crawled away. She wanted to teleport, but her Plasmids were not working, similarly to what Spirry did to her in the first dream so long ago.
The abyssal monster grunted and looked away. Eleanor partly recovered, and got up again. She turned around to see what was going on. A Tear appeared in the monster's chest, then another giant human-faced slug-thing burst through the Tear, screeching wildly and wiggling to and fro.
"The sea slugs shouldn't grow that big!" Upon speaking, the giant sea slug snorted and looked at Eleanor, pausing. It cocked its head, licked its teeth, then writhed out the Tear. It swam a short distance and dove through the Tear-sealed water, flopping onto the moist ocean floor.
Moaning like a whale, the giant sea slug wriggled towards Eleanor, snapping its teeth repeatedly. Eleanor wasted no time and threw a fireball at the damn thing, impact searing its face. The sea slug screeched, but kept wiggling forth.
The abyssal monster roared, a Tear forming in its mouth. About a dozen mechanical lengths shot out the Tear, identical to the skyborne machinery. The lengths slammed around Eleanor, a few digging into the giant sea slug. She barely dodged the last few mechanical lengths.
Eleanor teleported a short distance away, the mechanical things squirming after it. She ran past the giant tentacled heart, then dove through the wall of the Tear holding the ocean back. Re-entering the waters of Rapture, Eleanor swam like a dolphin as fast as she could. The mechanical lengths went after her, but she was faster than they underwater.
That was close. But I still can't use my Plasmids to full extent. Those painful frequencies really can damage my genetic code.
Eleanor swam casually, then heard the moan of a whale. She twirled, seeing the silhouette of another human-faced sea slug, mouth agape, patterns glowing. Eleanor gasped. Even she got frightened from sudden terrors, but she spiralled out the way, rolling along the side of the huge monster. The big beast swam off, thrashing its head side to side and snapping at the waters.
Eleanor heard several more whale-moans in different directions. The glowing patterns of giant sea slugs appeared here and there. It was not long until she saw their humanoid faces emerge from the darkness, moaning, mouths stretching open.
"Now I know how a seal feels…" Eleanor dodged the first incoming sea slug, Electrobolted another, then teleported to avoid a few more. She reappeared elsewhere, but the damn monsters turned and swam after her. Do they always know where I am?
Eleanor scanned the remaining buildings of Rapture and swam to the biggest one: Fontaine Futuristics. She figured she could swim as fast as her predators.
"Spirry having a similar genetic code as Gil Alexander… Suitable place to find out what the hell is going on down here. I hope Booker and Elizabeth are alright...haven't seen that skull-monster yet." A school of fish swam past her.
Eleanor swam towards the corporate headquarters, the giant sea slugs after her. She relied on underwater acrobatics and teleportation to avoid them. The whooshing of water and their moans were creepy, but she managed without problems.
"Hm, I wonder if…" After evading one beast, she rammed her wrist-mounted needle into it as it swam passed her. Ripping her needle out, she turned the valve, she felt her body burn from some sort of overdose, the veins in her eyes and under her skin bulged painfully.
"Woo-fff-woowah!" Eleanor's bones and tendons made popping sounds. She could not stop shaking, teeth clicking loudly. Her heart, lungs, veins and muscles overworked, a mix of pain and power. Amidst the pain, her entire body tingled with pleasure.
She inadvertently released an Electrobolt as powerful as lightning. A few giant sea slugs turned upside-down, twitching. One by one they recovered, dazed.
It was hard for her to swim while shaking. She teleported, but ended up not where she intended, reappearing beside one of the sea slugs. She intended to teleport again, but instead cast a fireball, which instantly died with a sizzle.
"Okay...no more ADAM from giant monsters…" Teleportation unreliable until the overdose subsided, she performed maladroit swimming. And I'll need to enter Rapture to escape them.
She heard a bubbly roar, and the black entity returned. It swam at the nearest giant sea slug, and dug its claws and teeth into the moaning slug's head. Within seconds, the black entity ripped its soft prey open. The reek of ADAM avalanched everywhere, Eleanor convulsing.
"Ughh! Never thought ADAM would make me gag!"
The other giant sea slugs groaned, a few swimming away, but the black entity went after them. Although she appreciated its help, Eleanor very much preferred to keep a distance from the glossy monster. She swam off into the darkness.
Eventually, Eleanor noticed the Atlantic Express railway system of Fontaine Futuristics, going from its lobby further into Rapture. Oddly enough, the rail systems were undamaged. In fact, there seemed to be much more rails than Eleanor remembered.
"What? Long ago did most of the Atlantic Express collapse. To be rebuilt so quickly is not possible. Huh... The little ladies could revert parts of Sinclair's plane into a past form. Someone down here can do the same."
As Eleanor swam closer to Fontaine Futuristics, she saw that the building was overgrown with veins, tendons, and elongated organs, some of the organs even gently swaying in the water. She saw hearts beating, lungs pumping, and tubular organs working away. Curiously enough, sunflower-like plants grew out the fleshy growths, facing the light cast by the Luminescent Biomass in the trenches.
"Huh. Father collected some of those ADAM-infused plants. Whatever experiments Mother and Gil performed, Spirry had clearly allowed to get out of control."
As Eleanor swam, she observed, seeing some organs with fleshy appendages and fishtails, crudely swimming. Down below, some sort of creature resembling something between a fetus and a crab scuttled along, eating the fleshy biomass. To her surprise, she even saw some trees growing out the ocean floor, reminding her of Arcadia. However, these trees had seaweed-like leaves and coral-like bark.
"Seems that new forms of life are rapidly evolving. Considering the fleshy growth, then..."
The growing properties of plants are merged with bodily tissues...that would explain the fleshy biomass. Huh, bodily tissue growing as plants do… Ugh, Mother…blasting Persephone into the trench just caused Gil's experiments to plunge into the Luminescent Biomass, inducing extreme mutations. If they reach the surface...there's no way the survivors of the skyborne machinery will last long.
Eventually, Eleanor reached the building. She placed her hands on a dirty window, and looked inside with her one eye.
"It doesn't look flooded. I'll have to send the train and a bathysphere back for the others." She teleported into the headquarters, ending up upside-down on her head. She fell onto her back with a splat, then got up and looked around.
Inside was quite different. The checkered flooring, walls, ceilings, hallways, columns, furniture, crates, security cameras, and general ruinous features were mostly covered with fleshy growth. The veins of the fleshy growth cast light, similarly to the Luminescent Biomass down the trench. It seemed that, somehow, giant lungs here and there pumped oxygen, whilst muscular tubular organs had drained the water. The fleshy biomass had sealed all leaks. Here and there grew those ADAM-infused plants, occasionally spitting out polyps.
The only sign of normalcy came from the radios. Eleanor almost wanted to hum along, hearing a security camera trying to turn within its tomb of living meat. She did not stumble upon anything remarkable, though did find a Vita-Chamber caked in fleshy growth. She sighed, thinking about Father.
I wish Father could just… Suddenly emerge from there and hug me...
"Hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hah hahhh!" The clown caused Eleanor to jump. "Kill your cravings at the Circus of Values!" A fist through the flesh-growth covering the vending machine and its mechanical innards never felt so good.
"Alright...let's keep looking for clues. From here can I send the train. I'll do that first, then try to find a bathysphere..."
After teleporting multiple times and snooping around, Eleanor found the train depot of Fontaine Futuristics. The fleshy growth was here, too.
She sighed with relief.
"The train's here. Good." Eleanor investigated the schedule and map. To her surprise, more areas were accessible. "Hm. I can send this train to an Adonis Luxury Resort station, and to the Hephaestus station that also leads to Arcadia… Once a bathysphere returns to the Lighthouse, the others can enter Rapture, make their way to Arcadia, board the train, then directly arrive back here. Perfect."
The train's door slid open, revealing a clean interior, untouched by Enaedonai. Eleanor went in activated the switch, then noticed rather large, bloody footprints inside the train. The large blast door outside opened, lighting activated one at a time, and the train descended into the ocean.
Eleanor took her helmet off and put it down, gently shaking her head, hair flowering. She felt relieved to take that thing off. Her eyes followed the bloody, animalistic footprints.
"Spirry's footprints…" They led out the train's doors, though he did not seem to have ever walked into the train. "Huh." Eleanor heard static. She looked around and found a radio sitting in a puddle of blood. She picked it up, increasing the volume. She heard distorted gunfire and shouting.
"Hello? Can anyone hear me?" Eleanor called. There was just gunfire, soon accompanied by screeching and hissing. A child's scream came. "Cindy!"
"What are dem t'ings?" The radio picked up an Irishman's distorted accent, sounding like one of the Vox Beasts.
"Conor! Behind you! Oisin, help me get that thing off Greg's back!" Daisy's voice barked.
"Dammit! They just keeping coming from the ocean!" Zachary.
"Zachary, Salts!" Elizabeth.
"Thanks!"
"Burn, disgusting crab-men! Burn to death! BURN! YYYESS, YOUR FLESH MUST BURN!"
"This one looks more like a fish with two faces! I'll cleave him asunder!" Zealot.
"These monsters...they're disgusting! What are they?" Old Elizabeth.
"Elizabeth, summon that, now!"
"Gotcha!"
"Zachary! Over here!" Sofia.
"Get down, Sofia!"
"If anyone can hear me," Eleanor called into the radio, "I'm sending a train now! I'll try to find a bathysphere as fast as I can! Just hold on!"
Eleanor put the radio on the control panel, overhearing the shouting and combat. She put her helmet back on.
"Ugh, damn train is so slow… I'll have to find a bathysphere in the meantime." She teleported, reappearing in the waters, and swam off, keeping an eye out for those giant sea slugs...
As she swam, she felt static and tuning in her brain.
"Oh no! Spirry, I don't have time for you again! Why now?" Eleanor cried, though she did not feel any different.
Welcome back, Eleanor Lamb. If in need of a bathysphere, Porter's private vessel is currently docked, having returned sixty-six hours and six minutes ago.
Those thoughts made Eleanor pause.
"Thinker? Is that you?"
Yes, Eleanor. I bonded with you in London for this purpose. Allow me to guide you...
"Oh-whoa!" Booker exclaimed as he flipped mid-air, gracelessly landing atop the side of a flesh-covered table, bouncing off and hitting the floor. Elizabeth landed like a cat next to him, avoiding a leak between the table and windows. They were in a room of some sort, with a blueish chandelier, a few potted plants, and some furniture.
They looked back, seeing a series of large windows in a semi-circular, convex shape for the upper half. A large circular hole was in the big window where, apparently, some sort of gargantuan esophagus had connected to, a row of teeth along the edge of the hole in the window. It had curled from the depths down the building sometime ago. Behind the gargantuan esophagus floated the skull monster, or what was left of it, its own esophagus having protracted and connected to the gargantuan one.
"Ugh...now what?" Booker grumbled, rather displeased at the sight of flesh growing everywhere.
The limbless monster emerged from the esophagus, arching over Booker, Elizabeth lifting her shoulders and keeping a distance from the creepy thing. It slowly tilted side to side, then decided to look at Booker with its glowing yellow eyes.
"About damn time you got us out that thing," Booker said.
"Booker!" Elizabeth whispered, then took a breath to calm down. "Thanks for saving us, mister… whatever you are…"
"You are welcome. I am what I am, Tongue. Unfortunately, Bookkeeper, Oath-god…normally I would have delivered you to the lobby," speaking caused blood to leak out its mouth, "but a train blocked the way."
"Trains underwater too?" Booker wasn't amused. He and Elizabeth looked around at the odd features of Rapture. They saw what Eleanor saw: glowing flesh overgrowing architecture.
"What is all this...fleshy growth? Why does it glow?" Elizabeth pondered to herself, quite interested. "Ugh, it better not stick to my shoes…"
"The fleshy growth is Enaedonai. The glow is To Be Red, which Enaedonai biological processes in small amounts."
"To Be Red?" Elizabeth asked. Booker did not seem to care about any discussion, probably having enough adventure for ten lifetimes.
"In Rapture, that refers to the red liquid processed from the creatures known as Sea Slugs. Mr. Va'Ahtar referred to the source of their power as De Profundis. The denizens refer to the processed substance as ADAM, but why they abbreviate I do not know. Enaedonai is mutating, but a majority of it remains unchanged."
"Hunh...this is so...fascinating. I never even dreamt of anything like this… It's like a body growing...outside itself."
"An appropriate analogy." Tongue (the limbless monster) remarked.
"If that's the case, what about that gigantic monster outside?" Booker asked.
"It is also of Enaedonai, a section that has undergone extreme mutations because of ADAM. However, as I have said, a majority of Enaedonai remains unchanged."
"Wait, you mean we're inside that thing's body?" Booker asked, feeling a bit uncomfortable, but Elizabeth remained interested.
"What about these…" Elizabeth knelt over one of the ADAM-infused plants, quite curious, and it spat a polyp over her face. Surprisingly, she barely reacted.
"Aw, jeez...be more careful. Elizabeth, you alright?" Booker asked. Elizabeth spun around, wild-eyed, teeth clenched. "Ugh...Elizabeth?"
"I wish I killed you with that pipe wrench. You're not even a real father to me! I hope you heard me, you son of a bitch! All of this is because of you! BECAUSE OF YOU!" Elizabeth flailed that oversized head of hers, smashing it in Booker's nose. He grabbed his face and staggered, Elizabeth driving her knee into his crotch. Booker convulsed as he fell to his knees.
"Ow! What the hell are you doing Elizabeth!?"
Elizabeth grabbed her Broadsider pistol, squeezing the trigger as she pulled it out, nearly shooting her own leg. In her haste and rage, she fired into the air, then pointed it at Booker. He grabbed the pistol and threw it out her grasp. She leapt upon him, Booker falling onto his back with Elizabeth atop him. She pummeled her little fists into his face, frothing at the mouth, eyes bloodshot, veins in her temples bulging.
Despite being dainty, she did have quite a lot of buck in her. Small girls have big tempers, after all, and if there was anything Booker would never fight, it was Elizabeth.
"The polyp Enraged Oath-god," Tongue remarked nonchalantly as Elizabeth fed Booker punches.
Eventually, the polyp's Enrage effect ended. Elizabeth threw her last punch, smoking Booker in the left eye. She pulled her other arm back then paused, breathing heavily. Slowly, her lips covered her teeth, and she raised her eyebrows, eyes big.
"Ya done, yet?" Booker asked, regaining his senses. He looked at Elizabeth's pulled arm, a little blood dripping from her ripped knuckles, and expected another blow.
Elizabeth did not move. She tried to figure out why she attacked Booker, but could not find an answer.
"Oh, I, um… Sorry, Booker." Her arms and shoulders dropped. After another pause, eyes kept low, Elizabeth got off Booker. Eyebrows lowering to the sides, Elizabeth turned around and walked away, ashamed. "Mr. DeWitt, I'm… I'm so sorry."
"You only punched me for half a minute," Booker grumbled as he picked himself up, touching his nose. For once, his nose did not bleed from extradimensional frequencies. "Elizabeth?" She inhaled sharply, whimpered, and ran off. "Elizabeth!" After taking a step, the pain in Booker's crotch cracked throughout his pelvis. He groaned and fell to his knees. "Elizabeth! Hey! I know you're sorry! It's okay! Just wait!"
She didn't listen. Elizabeth ran down the room, a set of double doors sliding open automatically. She continued past a Bot Shutdown Panel, and the next area was larger, with columns and a stairway in the centre, mostly in ruins. The area above the stairway had a waterfall of its own, the lower floors were flooded. A vent was on the wall to her left. Elizabeth ran across the room, passing a few stacks of flesh-covered crates.
"Elizabeth!" Booker's voice echoed, but she kept running like a brat caught red-handed.
Meanwhile, Booker's groin still ached with pain. He needed a bit more time before he could walk. The limbless monster raised its head as Booker picked himself up, grabbing Elizabeth's Broadsider.
"You had better hurry, the Splicers Reborn are awoken. Find Videre, he will help you."
"Videre? Where can I find him?"
"You will feel it. Think of him, he will think of you, and you will find him."
Booker dismissively waved an arm. "Well, whatever… I better find Elizabeth before she lights out of here."
"I go." The limbless creature retracted into the esophagus...
Booker soon reached the area with the stairway, though Elizabeth was long gone. He occasionally called out to her, but there was no reply. He heard the water flooding the lower floor bubble fiercely, so he turned around.
Something grotesque and disgusting jumped out of the water, looking like a horribly mutated crab-human, more crab-like for the bottom half of the body, though it did not have an exoskeleton. It's lower jaw possessed an elongated secondary jaw, complete with teeth. A pair of stalked crab-eyes stuck out the mutant's cheekbones. It walked with a set of crab-legs, and even had a pair of pincered arms going out the sides of its body. The creatures jaws opened acutely, bones cracking, and a pair of pincers stuck out.
"Jesus! What the hell!" Booker yelled. The monster extended its arm at Booker, screeching, frothy bubbles gushing out its mouth. Booker raised Elizabeth's pistol and fed the fucking thing bullets as it scuttled towards him.
The bullets hit the mutant in the face and neck, and it bled, but it nevertheless scuttled onward, swinging its pincer at him. His shields lit up, blocking most impact. Booker pushed the crab's other incoming pincer back, pistol whipped its pincer-tongue, and threw Devil's Kiss, the eruption of heat up-close causing him to wince. The mutant howled as flames flickered around it. Booker slipped his Sky-Hook on and smashed it across the mutant's stalked eye, breaking it off, then rammed it into the freak's neck. Whirring to life, the Sky-Hook wrenched the mutant's head acutely. The freak's head hung, and after a second's pause, it went limp.
Booker did not have much time to think, as several more crab mutants emerged from the flooded floor, looking around frantically. He tossed a Murder of Crows trap and ran off with some limp, the pain in his crotch still there. The trap went off, keeping the freaks busy and allowing Booker to make a getaway.
"Elizabeth! ELLIZAAABEEETH!" Screaming hurt his crotch. No reply, not even after the echo. To make things worse, Booker overheard inhuman screeching and wheezing echoing behind him. "Those disgusting things better not touch her…"
Elizabeth had ended up in a dilapidated washroom, sitting in a toilet stall and crying in her hands. Her toilet at least wasn't covered in living meat, but as for her feelings...
"Why did I do it?" she whimpered amidst sniffling. Footfall sounded. She sharply inhaled, sat up, and waited.
"I think she went this woo-ayy! Shh-th-thshhish...where are you hiding you? You ain't better than you, baby!" a stupid-sounding male voice remarked, followed by coughing and gagging. "I wash things all the time, and I'm thtill second pick! I don't deserve my room like this! Stupid garbage humans, stop staring at me, fucking natural urges!"
"What the hell?" Elizabeth lifted her knees and shoulders. She heard some mumbling idiot banging the stall doors. She reached for her holster, but her Broadsider was not there. "Ughh, shhit!" After swearing for the first time, Elizabeth looked guilty, a few fingers on her mouth.
"I just wanted to talk! Come out, I wanna see some pearlies! Or maybe all these meat...maybe I'm already seeing the walls of her? Wait, I said hello! Anybody home!?" The Splicer continued banging on the stall doors with a pipe wrench. "I'll find ya, ya dumb cunt! I just wanted a drink 'r two!" He began grunting a tune.
"What is he mumbling about?" Elizabeth whispered to herself.
The Splicer huffed with anger, banging his head on the stall where Elizabeth sat.
"Where is she already? Huhhhh-hooohuh-huh-huh-hah hah hah ha ha! I wanna find her, and everyone! And that means the baby's gotta behave for her milk for a while! I wanna to see a baby girl, end of discussion, and that's me! I do everything right! So fuck you!"
Elizabeth wasn't sure if this was worse than realizing she was being watched growing up in the tower.
"C'mon out wherever you are already! C'mere here, hussy baby, I wanna hug ya! So make me wear a dress, I got it for you, ya dumb broad! See? So keep it to yourself, ya gimp!" He reared his pipe wrench, "Open up, doll, ya fuckin' baby! Hellllooo! Anybody home?" He started hitting the stall door with greater vigor. "I'm gonna bang ya up, fuckin' palooka! So go bang a hoe and get outta my room!"
Gripping his pipe wrench two-handed, he raised it overhead. The stall door swung open, smacking him in the face, causing him to stagger. Elizabeth headbutted the ugly fuck in the nose, hearing it crack. He dropped his pipe wrench while wheezing aloud, which Elizabeth stopped with a knee to his crotch. He fell over, sounding like a retarded vacuum cleaner.
Elizabeth's face contorted, one eyebrow higher than the other. She was rather aghast by the deformed appearance.
"I bet you're a guy who rapes and murders women..."
"Ohhh-oww! Yooo dumb little whore! Don't test me…" he moaned weakly.
"Well, handsome, you got special problems," Elizabeth remarked as she stepped over the Splicer.
"Thtop picking on me ya fuckin' baby!"
Elizabeth left the Splicer's and his incoherent complaints behind.
"Hey, baby! You come back, just try! You need me! You're not any better than me, ya doughnut! I just wanted ta talk t'ya!" His choice of words never seemed to work. "You made me wanna do you, ya pocket hoe!"
A while later, Elizabeth began to descend the stairwell, little feet crushing the fleshy growth and veins. The waterfall of a leak was rather soothing.
"Um, Booker?" Elizabeth called. Nothing. "Ugh, it's cold down here…"
The dainty blue thing descended, but then a step broke. Her leg shot down, crotch landing against the previous step. Elizabeth's head reared with a grimace. She lifted her leg and realized weird things moving down the next floor. She paused.
The crab-like mutants Booker had encountered looked up at Elizabeth, many of them slightly hissing, foamy bubbles flowing out their mouths. One by one, they started scuttling up the stairs, crab-legs clicking against the steps.
Shaking, Elizabeth ran up the stairs. Unsurprisingly, her foot slipped, shin scraping against the edge of the step. She hoarsely inhaled through clenched teeth, hearing the mutated freaks' scuttling getting louder. Looking to and fro, Elizabeth summoned a Mosquito, which opened fire at the climbing crab-mutants. They screeched as Elizabeth ran up the stairs. It was not long until one of the freaks leapt upon the Mosquito, bringing it down to the water.
Elizabeth ran until reaching the destroyed end of the stairwell, falling short of the next floor. Frowning, the dainty lady looked down, the freaks below crawling faster and faster. The short girl jumped as best as she could with her little legs, extending her little arms. Her breasts struck the edge of the floor, knocking quite a lot of wind out of her,
"Awwff!" She slouched over the ledge, fingernails digging into the fleshy growth. She picked herself up, feeling something rip the edge of her skirt. As she ran down the fleshy flooring, she heard the mutants jumping behind her. "There!" she cried, summoning a Motorized Patriot.
"Any enemy of the Prophet's seed shall feel His wrath!" The crank gun started ripping, the mutants' bodies cracking and splitting apart. While Elizabeth ran away, the Patriot smashed the crab-mutants back, but one managed to jump on his head, clamping its pincers into his gears. The pincer revolved with the gear and got stuck...
Whilst the patriot's gunfire echoed, Elizabeth ran around a corner, slipping on the fleshy floor and falling down.
"Ohhh!" She grimaced as she extended her hands, palms sliding along the flesh-growth. She noticed the flooring directly under her face was...pulsing, as if a beating heart was inside. She did not have much time to feel squeamish, as she overheard talking.
"I heard guns shooting!" a man remarked, a woman slipping on the fleshy floor and falling down.
"...Ohhh! I hate this inconceivable change! Blood and body everywhere, disgusting! Did Dr. Lamb leave us? Did she go after the Lamb? I am better than any of this!" the woman complained, slapping a male Splicer to keep him away. "I'm sick of you, too!" she yelled, picking herself up.
"Whuh? Buh why, baby?" the male Splicer asked, receiving another slap in the face.
"Hey! Don't!" the male Splicer whined, then noticed someone rather misplaced. "Is that a Little Sister?"
The female Splicer turned her head and noticed Elizabeth. The two made eye contact. "Dressed like that, I am surprised no one raped you dead yet! Filthy little whore, bending over like that, you cannot be my daughter!" The Splicer raised a machine gun and opened fire, her male friend shooting a revolver.
Elizabeth rolled sideways, bullets whizzing around her, some thudding into the flesh-growth and popping blood out. Keeping her head low, she took cover behind a mound of flesh absorbing the gunfire.
"Hey! Stop shooting me! I didn't do anything!"
"We gotta sneaky girl, guys! This way! She might have ADAM!" the male Splicer shouted, and several more Splicers went to the scene.
"Come out from hiding, you little thief! Where are you, hmmmm?" The female Splicer casually walked towards Elizabeth's hiding spot, hips swaying, but then the Motorized Patriot ran to the scene and smashed her away. He looked quite broken, bolts and chunks missing, but he jogged forth, opening fire at the other Splicers, and they fired back at him.
Amidst the tension, Elizabeth slipped away, going down a hallway, echoes of combat behind her. Soon, the Motorized Patriot phased out of this reality, and the Splicers wondered what happened.
As Elizabeth ran, she heard a slight grinding noise, but ran around a corner. A yellow spotlight shone upon her. Elizabeth stopped and looked up, a Security Camera staring back at her. Its light turned red and an alarm sounded. Whirring angily, a Security Bot flew forth, going after Elizabeth.
"Does everything here want to kill me!?" Elizabeth darted off as bullets rained around her. "At least no one tried to shoot me in Columbia!" She did not know where to go or what to do, but the only solace she saw was some sort of vent. She jumped onto it, lifted herself, and fell into the hole.
Elizabeth's decent was rather noisy and clumsy, but she was safe in the ventilation shaft, feeling like a little girl hiding from big monsters. Bumping her head and knees, she kept crawling until she reached a comfy spot, lying against the side. Above her head was a fan, some light shining down from above, illuminating some of her face.
"At least nothing fleshy grows in here…" She sighed with relief.
Elizabeth rubbed her nose, then noticed her hand was red. She raised both hands into the limited light, seeing both covered with blood, yet her hands seemed uninjured. She looked down, seeing thick red marks under her shirt. She gasped.
"I've been shot." She had been pumping with so much adrenaline, she did not even feel the bullets. "Oh, no… Well, I can't just sit here…" She crawled through the venting, having no idea where to go or what to do.
Eventually, she saw an opening, and stuck her head out, blood leaking from her mouth. Fleshy growth illuminated another hallway, but a section had a short set of stairs descending into a flooded section. She squirmed out the vent and looked at herself. The red marks had grown quite a bit, blood trickling down her skirt. She twisted around to look at her back, seeing red marks there, too. It seemed that the bullets had gone straight through her tiny body.
"I'm going to die here, am I?" Her heart sank. She neared her hands together. No Tear yet.
Elizabeth wandered the place, little shoes tapping against the flesh-covered flooring. Occasionally, she tumbled upon a heart, liver, spleen, or even an eyeball in the walls, floor or ceiling. One eyeball on the wall even blinked at her.
"Um, Booker?" No reply. Elizabeth's shoulders dropped. "Booker, did you leave without me? I wouldn't blame you, but… I miss you."
Soon, Elizabeth found a Medical Station, the cross glowing underneath its layer of flesh. She weakly walked to it, then started ripping the coating of flesh off. Blood leaked out, and she grimaced at all the meat under her fingernails. Eventually, she removed enough flesh to operate the damn thing. It didn't work.
"Ughh! What the hell…" Elizabeth crossed her arms in frustration. By chance, she saw something shiny in the floor. Kneeling, she plucked out a coin embedded in the flesh. It was heads up. "A Silver Eagle? No, something else. I hope this works…" It did, a Med Kit fell out. "Ohh, thanks God…"
Elizabeth did what she could, but there was only so much a Med Kit could do for multiple gunshot wounds. Amidst her work, Elizabeth heard grumbling and footfall. Sounded like a bunch of retards arguing incoherently, but Elizabeth could not understand. The arguing intensified, followed by thuds. The Splicers fought, and after brutish cusses and grunts, it seemed that several Splicers were knocked down.
"...I'm sick of this fuckin' shit!" a deep, bellowing voice complained, having a false British accent. A massive, apelike, bald man appeared, with disproportionately gigantic arms and torso, and a big belly. The hulking dashing chap had a broad jawline, and wore knuckle dusters.
All that moved was Elizabeth's blood.
"Hey there, lil' pup, aren't you the merry little bleedah, ain'tcha?" the Brute Splicer aggressively-seductively remarked as he approached the dainty lady. "You're not quite my type, pup, but I know wooatcha thinkinn'... Ohh, I'm having you, little girl, so come to poppa. This'll leave a real deep mark in the skin, ya duff bitch."
Elizabeth's blood curdled. She wasn't sure what was worse: his sweat-stained stenchy armpits, or his passive-aggressive sexual tone of voice. She felt a Tear coming, and conjured a Motorized Patriot.
"What the bloody ffuck!" the Brute yelled.
"Fear judgement, unclean, unworthy sodomite!" the Patriot warned, crank gun ripping.
"I'LL RIP YOU APART, FUCKIN' TEAHOUSE DOLl!" The Brute moved like a gorilla, and to Elizabeth's surprise, he withstood the stream of bullets. He knocked aside the Patriot's Crank Gun, and the two exchanged mighty blows. To another of Elizabeth's surprise, the Brute actually smashed the Motorized Patriot apart! Its parts phased out of reality.
"Now, where were we, love? Oh, that's right… I'm smashing my cock up yer chicken ass and splitting ye in half... C'm'ere!"
Elizabeth did the splits and rammed her Sky-Hook into the Brute's crotch.
"OOOHHHH!"
The machinery whirred, rotary parts ripping through the Brute's pants and dashing out blood.
"OOOHH-WUH-UH-WUH-UH-WUH-UH-WUH-WUH-UH-WUH-UH-UH-WUH! I'll fuckin' ring yer neck, ya slimy little cunt!"
Elizabeth slipped around the Brute's massive arms, then swung her Sky-Hook into his crotch from behind, Sky-Hook screaming. The big boy scrunched up and hit the floor, letting off a massive groan.
"Or I'll be splitting you in half…" Elizabeth remarked, then ran away. "Huh, I'm a good nutcracker..."
The Brute bellowed in agony as the little thing scampered away, her adrenaline returning and numbing all pain and discomfort. Surprisingly, he gradually picked himself up.
"I'LL FUCKIN' BUST YOU OPEN! GIVE YOU TEN NEW CUNTS IN YOUR BODY! I'LL FUCKIN' FUCK YA TO DEATH!" He crawled with those elephantine arms of his.
Shoes tapping against the fleshy floor, Elizabeth wondered where to go. She ran around a corner and made her way down the next hallway. She saw double doors, but they were covered with so much Enaedonai, she could not wrench them open.
"FNNN-URRR! WHERE'D THAT LITTLE CUNT GO?" The Brute's heavy breathing and footfall became louder.
Elizabeth ran away some more, and felt a draft. She sighed with relief, seeing another vent in the wall. She put her Sky-Hook away.
"COME HERE!"
Elizabeth ran forth and jumped to the vent, lifting her puny arms and beginning to the climb into the vent.
"AHHH! YOU AIN'T GONNA GET AWAY FROM ME!" But she did. The Brute rammed his arm down the vent, rummaging around, but could not find her. "FUCKIN' DAMMIT!" The Brute began smashing the vent, each punch leaving a dent. "FUCKIN' DUMB BITCH!" He put his head into the vent, "I'LL FIND YOU YA SLIMY CUNT! I'LL RIP THIS PLACE APART AND SPLIT YOU WITH MY COCK! YA HEAR ME!? Ughhh-huh-huh-uh-huh…" The Brute covered his crotch and limped back.
Elizabeth reappeared, crawling backwards out the vent. She fell on the back of her head, not even concerned about the Brute. He was quite surprised, and then realized a fleshy monster squirmed out the vent, crawling over Elizabeth as she crawled backwards, following her until her head hit the floor.
The fleshy monster paused over Elizabeth, all ten feet and half a tonne posed over her, eyeless skull in front of her face. The beast's heavy breathing reverberated within its throat, and it drooled over the girl's forehead. The fleshy monster slowly cocked its head, then looked at the Brute Splicer. The monster inhaled sharply, then let off a slow, gurgling exhale. It slowly stood up, towering over the Brute.
"I ain't afraid of you, punk!" The Brute punched the fleshy monster in the gut, causing the monster to stagger with a big gasp. If his balls weren't busted open, the Brute Splicer would have fought better. Even after receiving knuckle dusters to the face multiple times, the fleshy monster did not need much effort to grab the big boy and slam him into the floor.
The monster clawed the Brute's big belly open, the Splicer kicking and wriggling, but unable to overpower the fleshy monster. The beast then curled its clawed fingers into the hole, and peeled the tissue apart. Guts popped out, the monster spreading the stomach open until its hands nearly reached the Brute's hips.
The fleshy monster rammed its arm elbow-deep into the Brute's stomach, knuckles bumping against the underside of the Brute's ribs. Blood leaking out the Brute's mouth, the monster pulled out an armful of intestines, then ripped the stomach open further. Snarling, the beast rammed both arms into the Brute's belly, grasping handfuls of innards and ripping out more organs: bean-shaped kidneys, floppy, gallbladder, wiggly pancreas, bloated stomach, and the huge fatty liver. The monster snapped its jaws over organs and crawled backwards, disembowelment the Brute further.
Elizabeth's bones felt like jelly at what she beheld. Never had she seen so much guts, several feet of intestines trailing along the fleshy floor.
Hissing, the beast crawled to the Brute, grasping his spinal cord, feeling the discs and poky parts. It pulled on the spine until it snapped. Ripping a section of spine out the pelvis, the monster looked at it, then tossed it over the shoulder. It landed near Elizabeth. The monster rammed its arms underneath the ribcage, and after some growling and cracking, wrenched the ribs asunder. It then pulled the lungs out, each hand gripping a lung, soft and wet. The beast's grip became so tight, the lungs mashed and popped.
Still not done yet, the fleshy monster grasped the Brute's hip bones, and after a hiss, literally ripped the pelvis off the remains of the torso, complete with a pair of legs. The fleshy monster stood upright and turned around to look at Elizabeth, holding the Brute's lower half.
Elizabeth never felt so scared in her life, shaking uncontrollably.
"Ughh-oww! Where did he go? Where did he go?" a retarded Splicer asked.
"If you keep talking like that, you won't get any ADAM! Leave, me, ALONE!" an angrier-sounding Splicer said.
"ADAM? Did you say ADAM?" a female Splicer asked.
Elizabeth and the fleshy monster looked down the hallway, seeing a group of Splicers led by a crazy-looking doctor.
"Now this...is incredible. He was ripped apart from the inside, but not by a failed teleport, but by the contagion...Nyeh-heh-heh-heh-heh! Reminds me of the toxic brats waking up during surgery..." the crazy doctor seemed quite pleased, but then paused as he glared at Elizabeth. "YEEEOOOOOO! You're not supposed to be here! Who created you, filthy girl? Go get yourself cleaned! Now!" the Dr. Grossman demanded, but then lost interest and looked at the fleshy monster.
The mad doc was unphased by the butchery. "What the hell are you doing? Nurse! Get a mop and bucket or two! NNURRSE!" He angrily approached the fleshy monster. "You! Will! Listen-to-me, contagion! We know who's infected when their flesh regrows rapidly, you can't fool me! Contagion, get yourself OUT of my office! Before you spread your virus throughout The Family! I will be taking over your operation!"
When the Splicers opened fire, Elizabeth covered her head. The fleshy monster charged with a howl, leaping upon the mad doctor.
"UNN-FFFUCKING-BELIEVABLE! Nurse, get the biggest straightjacket for this little shit! He's outta control!" The doctor's bickering was promptly ended when the fleshy monster bit his jaw, and ripped it off. As bullets thudded the fleshy monster's body, it crushed the jawbone and teeth as if they were hard candies.
"I think we need more than a dentist!" one of the female Splicers remarked.
Elizabeth struggled to get up, the sounds of bullets, screaming, and ripping flesh echoing behind her. She ran across the Brute's guts, nearly slipping on them, and darted off as the monster's roar pierced her ears, followed by intense screaming of terror and agony.
"How the hell did that thing even fit in the vent!?" Elizabeth squeaked, then slipped, sliding a short distance along the fleshy floor. When she regained her footing, she saw someone crawling along the ceiling with hooks. He had quite a big, deformed grin.
"You were never part of the Family, were you?" the crawling man asked, having an exasperated, wheezing, high-pitched voice. "You're Lamb's little girl, aintcha? When I try to sleep, you come..." He began crying stupidly. "Stop looking at me! STOP IT! Why can't you stop!? Leave me alone!"
Elizabeth slipped her Sky-Hook back on, dodging the Crawler's leaping attack. She gave him a good whack on the head. He cried out, then swung his hooks sideways, but Elizabeth skipped out their way. He raised his arm to swing wide, so Elizabeth swung her Sky-Hook into the incoming fingers, breaking a few of them. The Crawler dropped a hook and screamed. Thinking about Booker, Elizabeth rammed her Sky-Hook into the Crawler's sternum, the rotaries ripping him open and dashing out blood.
"Hwoo-ahh!" Elizabeth exclaimed from fear. She never wanted to kill anyone, but here she was, feeling her Sky-Hook shaking as it tore the Crawler open. The rotaries clawed and dug into tissue, and she lost grip of the device. It cartwheeled across the Crawling's chest, and she spun with her device. Upon finishing the revoltuion, she bonked the crawler in the forehead and he fell over, head gushing blood. He hit the floor twitching and wheezing.
Elizabeth's heart stopped when she heard heavy breathing and footfall.
"That thing's coming…" she whispered. She ran past the Crawler as he moaned and cried, and then heard the fleshy monster begin devouring him alive. She kept running, hearing tormented scream after scream from the Crawler Splicer.
"Oh, thank God!" She opened a Tear and jumped in without looking…
...and ended up atop Eleanor, the tall brunette falling onto her back. Elizabeth landed on her knees, legs astradle of Eleanor's hips. Eleanor did not wear her helm, it was on the seat of the bathysphere. The two girls just stared at each other as the bathysphere swam. Elizabeth felt her groin tingle.
Well, this is embarrassing… Elizabeth had a feeling Eleanor read her thoughts.
"I had a feeling the floating light was a Tear... Uhh, you're covered in blood…are you alright, Elizabeth? Where's Booker?" Eleanor asked.
Elizabeth slid off Eleanor and sat on the seat, crossing her arms. She was glad blood hid her blushing.
Eleanor sat up, knees bending up until she could rest her elbows on them. She patiently waited, but Elizabeth did not reply, her eyes low and unblinking. Eleanor frowned and slightly tilted her head, and blew some hair away from her eye.
"Well?" Elizabeth seemed focused yet oblivious. "Elizabeth, are you staring at my crotch?"
"Oh, I'm… I've been shot several times." Eleanor's eye widened.
"What? Let me look." Eleanor got up and examined Elizabeth. Elizabeth's breathing slowed, she started shaking, and she tried not to grin. "Is something wrong, Elizabeth?" Elizabeth shook her head.
"Huh. You were shot multiple times, but I can't find any bullet holes."
"Wha-what?"
Eleanor put her fingers into a torn part of Elizabeth's blouse. Her fingernails did not find any hole, and caused the dainty girl to shiver.
Elizabeth put a hand over one of her wounds. Slipping her fingers into the torn fabric, her fingertips did not find the bullet hole that used to be there. She checked a few more spots, but, oddly enough, no bullet holes.
"What? That's...not possible. I had bullets pass through me, I…" She did not know what to say, eyes low. A few seconds passed, eyes still low. She noticed Eleanor frowning again. Oh, she must think I'm staring at her...
Eleanor stepped to the side, creating some distance. She crossed her arms, looking a bit grumpy.
"Where's Booker?" Elizabeth's heart and face sank.
"I...I don't know. I hope he's okay."