BANG BANG BOOM!

More shots rang out, and this time, I followed them. I looked around in every direction. Someone had been here, not me though; this person had left a lot more damage. I saw blown up turrets, hacked security cameras and vending machines, and gunshot holes in the deck. The corpses of dead splicers littered the area. Whoever this person was, they knew how to kill.

BOOM BANG BANG!

I continued to follow the shots, then my radio picked up a signal.

"Eve, come in, Eve! Can you hear me?"

"Miss Tenenbaum?"

"Yes, it's me. Are zhose gunshots yours?"

"No, I'm trying to follow them."

"Careful, zhey could be a splicer."

"I don't think so, all of the splicers down here are dead."

"Then zhat means ve have company. You keep following zhose gunshots. I've found a place for us to hide out, until ve get the chance to move to Arcadia."

"Ok, I'll keep following them, but before I go, I have to ask you question."

"Anyzhing, vhat is it mein child?"

"Do you know anyone named Julie?"

"I do."

"Who is she?"

BAM BANG BANG BAM BOOM!

"I'll explain later, right now, ve have to get going. Here, it's lethal to stand still."

"Agreed."

BANG BANG BOOM BAM BANG BOOM!

Someone seemed to be having a shootout, but who? I kept following the shots. They led me down twists and turns of hallways and corridors, and then I reached a large metal door. It was open, wide open. I crept in slowly, not knowing what could be around the corner, and I heard someone scream, "Fontaine is alive! And you're down here doing his dirty! Atlas is a lie!" BANG BANG BANG! "BLARRRRRGHHhhh…. Arrrhgg…. Ugh…uh."

Whoever was screaming was dead now. I crept around the corner to see who the killer was, but I saw no one. Man, they're fast, whoever they may be. I carefully inspected the area, making sure all those who looked deceased, were in fact, deceased. I guess I'm just paranoid like that. I seemed to be standing in a tunnel of ice. Everything around me was frozen solid, except for the doors and such. I turned on my radio.

"Miss Tenenbaum?"

" Yes mein child?"

"Whomever our 'guests' were, I think they just left."

" Left? What do you mean?"

"I mean they're gone now. Wait, I see this hole in the wall leading down to what looks like to be, caverns under the fisheries. Weird…"

"Oh no, zhen zhat means zhey are in zhe smuggler's hideout."

"Should I follow them?"

" Yes, I guess ve'll be moving to Arcadia sooner zhen I expected."

"Ok I'll follow them."

I crouched into the hole, and began making my way down into the caverns. Boxes filled with smuggled goods lay everywhere. Each box had a black handprint emblazoned on it, symbolizing that it was a smuggled shipment. I held my pistol at the ready, but I tried not to jump the gun, literally. BOOM! I heard this loud explosion from up ahead, and I ran to see what it was. I saw a small light at the end of a tunnel, and I ran towards it. Everything was silent, and then I saw it. Lying before me was the remains of a submarine that was blown to bits just a few mere moments ago. Just about everything around me was engulfed in flames, but I managed to find a path to a door. Then I started getting a call.

" Eve! Vhat happened down zhere? Are you alright?"

"Yeah, but there was submarine that exploded."

"Submarines don't just explode like zhat, someone must have triggered a bomb. Ve have to get you to Arcadia, and quickly. Someone is up ahead, and ve need to find out who it is."

"You may be right. I've got to catch up to whoever that is!"

"And…"

"And?"

"I have some bad news: Zhe only tunnel zhat can be used to get to you is blocked off due to a collapse. I von't be able to catch up to you for zhe time being. However, I vill be able to communicate vith you through zhe radio. I vill try to find anozher vay to get zhere, but it might take a vhile."

"That's fine, I just need to move. Otherwise we'll never find this guy!"

"Alright, good luck Eve"

"You too Miss Tenenbaum."

I ran through the doorway, and right there I found an open submarine-type thing. I hopped in and pulled the lever. The doors closed with a big thud. A sign above the door read "Bathysphere". Strange name for a submarine. Soon we were completely submerged into the deep dark ocean. I stared out the window in amazement. I could see all the buildings of the city, all lit up like fireworks in the cold sea floor. The Bathysphere glided through the water, and I soon reached a building labeled "Arcadia". We locked in, and ascended up a shaft. The doors unlocked, and I saw a jungle. Imagine it: a jungle under the ocean. Okay, so it wasn't really a jungle, but a giant garden.

I stepped out of the bathysphere slowly. I was astonished at the fact that someone had grown almost a forest at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean. That feat, to me, seemed utterly impossible! I started to get another call on my radio.

"Hello? …. Hel…? Is…anyone…Hello?"

"Miss Tenenbaum? Your signal is really fuzzy, I can barely makeup what you're saying."

"What? I am not Tenenbaum."

"Who are you?"

"My name is Julie Langford. I'm a botanist here in Arcadia. Who are you?"

Julie! This was her! She sounded just like the woman in my dream! Arcadia… that's where I was in the dream! The grass, the garden tools, it makes sense now! She must know Tenenbaum!

"My name is Eve, and—well I don't really have a job, but I'm trying to follow someone who, I guess, went through here."

" Well, my dear, I wish I could help but I've got plenty to work to do, and I've been holed up in my lab for most of the day, so I wouldn't have been able to see if someone passed through."

"Oh, it's fine."

Suddenly, I saw this foul-smelling green mist come out of the air vents. It covered the whole area like deadly smog. Then all of the trees started wilting immediately. All of the plants were dying right before my very eyes. It started becoming harder to breath. The entire place was stuffy and I started coughing.

" Oh no… no no no! My trees! They're dead! You didn't kill them did you? DID YOU!"

"No ma'am! I didn't! This green smoke stuff just came out of the vents!"

"Then it must've been Ryan! Listen to Miss Eve, listen good, and me: All of the trees down here provide oxygen for the city. The longer we dilly-dally, the less air we have to breathe, and I highly doubt that you and I have gills. So, we need to fix this and fix it fast!"

"Understood."

"Find me in my office, near the research laboratories in the lower rolling hills, and maybe we can find a way to reverse this problem. /em"

"Alright, I'm on my way!"

I ran out the door as quick as I could, looking around frantically for a sign to point me in the right direction. But then I hit something. I bumped into it so hard I knocked myself backward onto the ground. I shook my head in an attempt to make the pain stop, but then I looked up. My eyes widened, and my whole body tensed with fear. What stood before me, was an angry big daddy, and a frightened little girl atop his shoulder.