MEN NOT MONSTERS

The walk was surprisingly silent; even Dennis' normal penchant for accidentally destroying scenery didn't interrupt their silent stroll. If David didn't know better he'd think that the group of inhuman individuals arrayed around him were feeling remorseful for what they did.

A cackle broke the near overwhelming silence, as Veronica began laughing uproariously. Well, maybe most of them were feeling remorseful. "Did you see her go down? Did you see her face? God it gets me every time! And that crack when you snapped her like a twig boss! It was great!"

"Veronica, shut the 'ell up! I'm not in the mood!" With a frustrated sigh, Dennis turned and shattered a nearby column with a single mighty blow

Frankie turned from his position at point to chuckle at Dennis. "Come on boss; don't tell me you actually regret killing that little tike? It's not like it's even a real kid!"

Turning from the recently destroyed column with a roar, Dennis screamed at his crony. "You think I enjoy offing kids ya sick fuck? I know we need it, I know it's the only way we can get it, and I know it wasn't really a kid! Don't mean I got to like it!"

With a dull thump, Reggie landed in front of the group. "I've got the door open, we can head in anytime. Oh and boss, for what it's worth, I agree with you. It may be necessary but that doesn't mean we've got to enjoy it."

An audible sigh announcing his mild irritation, Dennis spun to face Reggie. "Thanks Twitchy, your 'eartfelt words of comfort are much appreciated."

With a soft grumble, Reggie motioned for the others to follow him. After following Reggie for several minutes through the winding corridors of Rapture, they came to what appeared to have once been a bank called the Vault of Sinclair.

Motioning David to follow when he paused to glance around this new area, Reggie walked them towards a backroom. To David's surprise there was a large section of the wall that had been pushed back revealing some kind of staircase heading downward into the dark. Once the last person had headed through the gap in the wall, Dennis turned and pushed a button on the wall, sliding the wall back into place effectively hiding the entrance.

"How'd you find this place?"

"Some guy was workin on this place as a safe house for 'imself and 'is family, durin the civil war. Unfortunately fer 'im he was killed by some Splicers before 'e could move 'is family 'ere, no clue what 'append to them. We stumbled onto this place by accident, and were able to find the secret button on the outside, that opened the wall. There's also this one 'ere on the inside, like you saw."

David followed his somewhat monstrous new allies into the dark, as they entered the main area of this safe house. Three of the walls and the floor were thick glass allowing an incredible view of the nearby ocean floor. The last wall was stocked from head to toe with food supplies and water. There were several beadrolls on the ground, a small grill in a corner, and a small room off to the side that likely lead to a bathroom.

Trundling over to the wall covered with supplies, Dennis grabbed some kind of liquor off of the wall. Quickly biting the top off, he took a brief swig and sat down with a thump and sigh. "Make yerself comfy newbie, our casa is your casa, or somefink along those lines. Feel free to eat or drink anythin off of that there wall, that doorway leads to the baffroom. You'll be expected to go out fer supplies like the rest o us, though we's good fer now."

Veronica began to prepare herself for sleep, picking up a bedroll and tossing it onto the ground; she lay down with a sigh closing her eyes. "Shut the fuck up, all of you! I'm getting my beauty sleep!"

Frankie shook his head as he lay down to sleep, chuckling harshly. "Trust me skank, there aren't enough hours in the day!"

Veronica sighed irritably as she readied herself for bed. "Fuck you droopy eye, at least I try to maintain my looks you ugly bastard!"

Groaning Dennis tossing David a bedroll, as he slowly lay down on two bedrolls laid out parallel to each other. "Get some sleep all 'o you. I'm gettin too damn old fer this!"

David dragged his bedroll to the far corner of the room, where he laid down and spent hours thinking about what he had done, the girl he had helped murder, and if his family would ever understand.

()

Hours later, still awake David was alarmed by a sudden movement near his head. Jerking into a sitting position he was greeted by an unexpected voice. "Something's wrong with it, I can tell. It's distressed."

"Jesus Reggie! Don't sneak up on me like that! You scared the hell out of me!"

"Sneak? I didn't sneak up on it. I've been watching it for hours now. I know it hasn't been sleeping. What is wrong with it?"

"You've been watching me? For hours? Why?"

"It was obviously not sleeping, I was curious. Why?"

"I was thinking. I miss my family, and I don't understand why we killed that child!"

"I had a family once, not sure if it cares, but I did. A wife and a child, they were killed in the civil war, killed by some insane Splicer looking for a hit. Look at me. Look what I've become. I know I'm most likely worse then the Splicer that took them from me. What would they think if they saw me now?"

"I'm sorry. I didn't know."

"Of coarse not, how could it?"

"You called yourself a Splicer. What is that?"

"We are Splicers, well us not you. We've used Adam to augment our natural abilities, it changed us over time. We became this, no longer human."

"Wait, Adam is that stuff we got from that poor girl, right?"

"Yes, we need it. Adam is addictive, each transformation requires more and more to stay stable. We begin to hallucinate, see the memories of others. Without a constant supply we would loose all sense of self, become little more then a raving lunatic, an animal." A sigh escaped the ruined beings lips. "Like your cannibalistic friend from your arrival."

"Why did you use it at all?"

"We didn't know enough about it. We saw all the positive effects and none of the negative." With a small sad shake of his head, Reggie continued his monologue. "By the time the general population started to show severe adverse side effects it was too late. Too many were addicted, too many needed it. People sold their belongings, their families, even themselves, anything for another hit."

"Couldn't you, I don't know, wean yourself off of it?"

"No, not that I know of, like I said we would become animals or worse."

"I'm sorry, I didn't know"

"Of coarse not, how could it?"

"What do you know about that child we killed?"

"Hmmm, the Gatherer, or "Little Sister", they were designed to gather Adam from the corpses of those that died, so that it could be reused. The creature we fought was a protector, or "Big Daddy", it was created to protect the Little Sisters from crazed Splicers who would attempt to take advantage of them… like we did."

"Before Ryan's utopia became Ryan's hell, I was a scientist, Protectors were my specialty. Those poor creatures, horrible amalgams of flesh and metal, Adam was used to increase their muscle mass, and decrease their higher brain functions. Their organs were grafted to their suits, and they were designed to feel a hormonally enforced urge to protect those children. What we did to them was horrible, inexcusable."

"You were a scientist?"

"Yes, sad isn't it? I was a scientist." Gesturing towards each of their companions in turn he continued. "Veronica was a model and singer, Frankie was the head engineer of Dionysus Park before the whole place flooded, not that that was his fault. And our "great leader" the one snoring surrounded by all that alcohol, he was a dock worker at the fisheries. Ironic no? Adam leveled the playing field for everyone."

"Why are you talking to me? You barely know me."

"Reggie, it called me Reggie. No one else does. It has no idea how dehumanizing it is to be called a nickname for years at a time. You loose yourself, even if it didn't know, it helped me. I thank…you."

Taken aback David nodded slightly. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

"Of course it didn't. How could it?"

Loosing a surprised chuckle, David grinned. "So I'm it again?"

With a soft laugh, Reggie nodded in response. "It would be bad if the others thought I actually liked it. It would ruin my brooding, antisocial reputation."

"Aren't you going to sleep? It must be late, right?"

"I don't sleep, not anymore. Being a scientist is competitive, especially in Rapture. I Spliced in order to get ahead and lost my head in the process." Giving David a shrewd look he narrowed his eye. "It is fairly observant isn't it?"

"I do have a name Reggie. David, my name is David. It's not that hard to remember, really."

"It has a good name, I'll give it that." Standing slowly from his crouched position and cracking his neck, Reggie nodded towards David. "Goodnight, I hope it sleeps well. I'm going to go scouting, might as well do something productive while I'm awake, not that I have a choice. Don't worry about closing the wall back up; I'll do it as I leave." Pausing one last time before he left, Reggie lowered his head almost sadly. "That child we killed, it wasn't a child, not really, not anymore. It was a monster, the tortured form of a child abused by those that should have protected it. Putting them down is a favor, like removing a terminal patient from life support. It's not murder, not really, just euthanasia."

With that final cheery thought, Reggie left to scout the area, leaving David to ponder his parting words.