Beyond the Sea

Escape from Rapture - 1960

Then it was over.

Helena had been carried off like some prize animal and locked away.

Sarah was sobbing on the floor, holding the hand of her Big Daddy who lay like a broken doll, and Brigid knelt beside her, trying her best to stop crying. One of the men who had restrained her had whispered into her ear that Suchong had said she wouldn’t last the night. She didn’t know if he was warning her or threatening her. Did it matter?
If they stayed, she would be killed and all the Little Sisters would be lost.
If they left, Helena would be alone down here, and Sarah might never forgive her.

Brigid was overwhelmed with guilt and anger, but she did her best to push it away.

“Sarah, come, we have to go, найдорожчий.* Come now.” she picked up the girl, holding her with one arm while she picked something up off the floor with the other. “Here.” She handed the doll to Sarah, the baseball head slightly dented now. Sarah sniffled, lips trembling as she gazed down at her fallen protector.

“Will...will he get better?” she asked, her voice cracked and hoarse.

Brigid considered. “I think he will, but it may take a while. We can’t do anything for him right now. We have to get out of here before they come back and hurt him again, yes?”

Sarah nodded. Her face screwed up again. “It hurts, Maty, and ‘lena is so scared. She doesn’t know where she is!” She began to cry again. “We’ve never been away from each other. I don’t know what to do! She’s scared!”

Brigid stroked the girl's hair soothingly as she started to move.

That monster she thought, still furious, if it wasn’t for Helena, I’d slit his throat and burn this place to the ground. He thought mothering these girls made me soft. She spat, and cursed his name under her breath.

They reached the girls bedroom, Sarah still cradled in her arms. Her eyes were glowing intensely, and Brigid guessed she and Helena were still communicating. Placing her gently down on the bed, Brigid opened the vent behind the posters.

“Come now, Sarah, we have to get to the safe room and see if everyone else had made it. Then, we’ll decide what to do.”

The girl nodded and climbed up into the hole. Brigid joined her, taking the supplies she’d stashed earlier and shoving them in her pockets.

They started crawling along the tunnel, Sarah still sniffling but otherwise silent, and eventually they came out in the basement of Olympus Heights, the apartment building where Brigid had built her safe room over the past months.

Most of the other sisters were already there, idly playing with whatever toys they’d brought with them. All of them were happy to see mama Tenenbaum, but their smiles faded when they saw Sarah. Sarah, alone, was a sight so strange that a few of the girls started to cry, instinctively knowing something horrible had occurred.

A larger figure moved out of the darkness.

“Are you alright, love?” Mrs S asked. “You seem to be a bit light on girls there.”

Brigid breathed a deep sigh of relief and walked forward into S’s arms, allowing herself a moment of comfort.

“It was Suchong.” she murmured. “He blindsided me, took Helena away...they’ll kill me if they catch me.” Anger and grief bubbled back up her throat. “It was my fault. I should have paid more attention to what they were up to, I should have known he’d pull something like this.” She pulled away from Mrs S, and clasped her hands together, fingers restless. Suddenly, Sarah tugged at her arm.

“Maty, maty,” she whispered insistently, “Can your friend help us get Helena back?”

Brigid and Mrs S looked at each other, then S knelt down to look Sarah in the face.

‘Hello there, chicken. We’ll do everything we can to help your sister, alright? And you can call me Mrs S, if you like.” She gave Sarah’s shoulder a brief squeeze, then stood back up. She guided Brigid away from the girls and lowered her voice.

“What do you think is our best course here, love? I’ve got my shotgun with me, if that helps.”

Brigid shook her head. “It looks like Suchong has his own personal little army to protect him,” she replied, keeping an eye on Sarah, who had sat down on the floor, eyes glowing. “And I’m sure that security has been tightened even further now. Млинець! If only I’d moved sooner…” She rubbed her forehead anxiously.

Mrs S gently took her hands and rubbed her thumbs back and forth over the other woman's palms.

“Shush now. You can’t keep on blaming yourself. What’s done is done, now we just have to go forward. Alright, darlin’?”

Brigid sighed and nodded. “You’re right, Siobhan.” A thought occurred to her and she crouched down next to Sarah.

“Sweetheart, what happened to little Rachel? She was looking for you just before…” she gestured vaguely.

Sarah blinked, slowly, and came back to reality. Her eyes grew wider.

“Oh! Rachel was there! We were talking, I was telling her about the house and the sky, then I heard ‘lena scream, and, and...I don’t know what happened to her.” She concentrated for a moment. “I can sort of...she feels...angry. But...she’s not hurt or anything. Just really, really mad.”

Brigid nodded, thinking. Rachel wouldn’t be in any immediate danger - she was too valuable to DYAD and, well, she was the Duncan's daughter...although that didn’t seem to do the girl any favours. And that meant there was someone in DYAD who was on Helena’s side. Brigid had no illusions about Rachel loving Helena like a sister, but she knew the girl would do just about anything for Sarah. It was better than nothing. She heard Siobhan talking in the next room, her voice sharp, then the bang of a receiver being hung up impatiently. Then another number being dialed.

Brigid felt the old familiar feeling of deep seated panic, rising up from her gut.  What else could go wrong? Would they ever make it out of here? She moved away from the girls and dug in her pockets for her cigarettes, needing something to occupy her hands.

S came back in, smiling grimly. Brigid searched the blue eyes for some good news.

“Well.” she clapped her hands together. “So, we can’t get out in one of the mini-subs as planned. Ryan’s sent a splicer squad down to the Fisheries to crack down on the smugglers. And it seems they’re on the look-out for me now as well.” She lowered her voice. “My friend says that the splicers are also under orders to catch and harvest every Little Sister they see. You’ve made enemies, love.”

“But -” she paused and winked at Brigid, “it just so happens I’ve got us something better than a sub. And it’s ready to go whenever you are, love. But we all of us need to get out.”

Brigid sagged in relief. Then they both looked over at Sarah.

“How can I take her away from her sister?” Brigid whispered.

“At this point, Helena is the only one they want alive.” S stated baldly. “If we stay, they’ll find us, and kill us. Then she really will be lost.”

Brigid bit her lip, then steeled herself, grabbing her bag with the antidote. She went into the kitchen area and prepared the injection. She stared at the syringe. Even though she knew the effects would wear off - she’d managed to make the plasmid temporary; it would be flushed out of her system within a week without any EVE top ups - she was still nervous after seeing what splicing had done to so many others.

“Боже , допоможи мені…”* she muttered, and injected herself with the iridescent liquid. She gritted her teeth as the pain ran through her body, but managed to stay quiet. The last thing she wanted was to upset the girls anymore. Holding up her hands, she watched the veins glow through the skin, a golden network that slowly returned to normal before her eyes.

Taking a deep breath, Brigid went back to the group of girls. She nodded at S, glanced at Sarah, then asked the rest of the girls to line up for her.

Justyna was first, her solemn face under long brown braids looking at her trustingly. Brigid flicked her wrist and placed her palm on the side of the girls head, fingers outstretched. Her hand glowed brightly as the plasmid activated, and the glow spread from her hand to the girls head, then Justyna's entire body shone golden, the light almost blinding. The other girls chorused “oooo” at the sight.

Then it was done. Justyna stood before her, a perfectly normal little girl again. Every vestige of gold was gone from her eyes, and her complexion was healthy. She clapped her hands.

“Thank you, mama Tenenbaum!” the girl said. She went and sat with Sarah, whose golden eyes glowed fiercely as she continued to mentally reassure Helena.

Brigid worked her way through the line of girls. Beth was last, and when the glow died down, Brigid asked her to help ready the others to move.

“Of course, mama.” Beth answered, and gave each girl a task - collecting Pep Bars, making sure everyone had a warm sweater, deciding which toys to take.

Brigid knelt down before Sarah, gently touching her on the shoulder.

“Найдорожчий Sarah, it is time now. I’m sorry but we have to go. There are very bad men looking for all of us.” Sarah opened her mouth to protest but Brigid squeezed her hands and spoke rapidly. “But I promise you, we will come back for your sestra. We will, I swear.”

Sarah squirmed as Brigid placed her hand upon the girl's head and the glow spread. The other girls watched silently, as if holding their collective breaths. Sarah sat up as the glow died away and clutched her head.

“‘lena?” she said. “‘lena, ‘LENA. Maty, I can’t hear her anymore! I can’t…” She began hitting her hands against her temples, as if trying to fix a broken radio. “Where has she gone? Maty, why can’t I hear her?”

Brigid blinked back tears and grabbed the girl's hands before she could injure herself.

“I’m so sorry, my little angel, I’m so sorry.” She held Sarah in her arms and murmured to her. “Helena will be okay, I promise. We will come back and get her very soon. But we have to go now.” She looked imploringly at S, who nodded sharply.

“Come now, girls,” her Irish accent rang out. “Time to get a wriggle on!”

Brigid lifted Sarah to her feet, then poked around on the big desk in the corner, pulling out an accu-vox.

“Here, we’ll leave her a message, alright? She might make it here before we come back, don’t you think?”

Sarah nodded, her face a study in misery. She was still holding tightly to the doll that Helena had made, and now she carefully placed it next to the accu-vox, so it would be ready and waiting for her.

They recorded the message, Brigid going first, then Sarah, who broke down and started crying uncontrollably again. But Brigid couldn’t coddle her anymore, not with time so tight, so she swept the girl up and carried her down the stairs into the tunnels underneath Rapture.

S led the way, with a line of girls behind her, and Brigid brought up the rear. The short journey was uneventful, if damp, and they came out in a hidden corner near one of the bathysphere stations. She frowned.

“But all the bathyspheres have been locked down, or destroyed!” she protested.

S raised her eyebrows. “Have they now?” she said, half smirking. She looked around, then gingerly reached her hand inside the nearest rubbish bin, feeling underneath the lid. Then she grinned and pulled out a plastic card, waving it in front of Brigid's face. “As it happens, we’re taking the very last bathysphere out of Rapture. I still have some friends.”

“Oh, Siobhan, I could kiss you.” Brigid exclaimed in relief, smiling over Sarah's head at her.

S winked at her. “Save that for when we have time to enjoy it, love.” She walked out onto the docking area and opened the door of the bathysphere, then waved them all over.

A scream pierced the air, and they all froze for a moment. Then, as the splicer appeared, S herded the girls into the bathysphere, and pulled her shotgun free from her backpack. The splicer let out another scream, apparently so far gone that they’d lost the ability to speak, and let a stream of fire loose from it’s hands. The last girl into the pod, Veera, caught the tail end of it in the face and screamed shrilly. S cursed and fired, emptying both barrels at the splicer at close range, stopping it in its tracks. “Bloody hellfire.” She carefully took the girls face in her hand and turned it. “There, love, only a little burn. Your mama will put something on it for you.” She shrugged at Brigid, who placed Sarah carefully on one of the velvet seats in the bathysphere and smoothed her hair. The girl was quiet, exhausted, and not coping very well at all with being cut off entirely from her twin. She lay there, eyes darting around until she realised where she was, then staring at nothing, until she closed her eyes and rolled over.

Brigid pulled out a first-aid kit from under the seats, and found some cream to smooth on Veeras cheek. ADAM had provided some excellent medical advantages, before plasmids became the big money spinner. The regenerative qualities meant Veera wouldn’t even have a scar.
“There, “ she said soothingly, “How does that feel now?”

Veera pressed her lips together, then whispered, “It doesn’t hurt anymore.” She patted Brigid on the arm in a comforting way, as if trying to reassure her. Brigid’s heart hurt with the love she felt for these girls and she had to swallow down her tears.

She smiled brightly at all the little faces in front of her, and said “Let’s go, then! You’ll all be seeing the sun soon.”

S unlocked the lever with the card, and pulled it down with a clonk.

The bathysphere glided down the tracks and out into the ocean. The girls crowded around the windows to see Rapture for the last time, the neon lights and brightly lit windows glowing through the water. As it drew further away, the city looked like a magical fairy kingdom, all lights and bubbles.

Brigid and S sat with their arms around each other, next to Sarah who was now curled up and asleep, in a state of complete exhaustion. She didn’t wake up when the bathysphere finished its journey, or when she was carried up the stairs inside the lighthouse by S.

They all stood on the flagstones outside the lighthouse doors, the girls staring at the sky in astonishment. A few of them were overwhelmed by the expanse and began to cry with excitement and exhaustion. Sarah stirred and her eyes opened. As she took in the view above her, her mouth fell open. It was early morning and the sky was streaked with clouds, tinted rosy gold by the sun. Some gulls flew over, squawking loudly.

S put her down gently and Sarah grabbed her hand, turning her head around to see the sun, squinting as she did.

Brigid heard her whisper, “‘lena, look…”, then fall silent again.

Mrs S said quietly, “I’ve organised for a lift. They should be here soon.”

Brigid nodded and put her arm around Sarah. The girl stiffened briefly, then sagged against her.

They all sat in the morning sunlight and waited to go home.