A/N: Okay, just a quick notice before you start the story: First, no, I don't anything, and my guess is I never will
A/N: Okay, just a quick notice before you start the story: First, no, I don't anything, and my guess is I never will. Heather, Silent Hill, Harry, the Otherworld, all belong to Konami, not me.
And second, this fan fiction does not include SH4 and SH0, basically, as far as I'm concerned, neither of those ever happened, mainly because I still haven't played Origins yet, and there's really no way SH4 could be tied to this, so, you know, Walter, Eileen, and Henry, all off in their own little world. :D
I have never actually written anything quite like this before, even though it is based off of material from a videogame, and I'm sorry if I don't capture the mood quite right, or the atmosphere, or a bit out-of-character, but, hey, it's my fiction, and I get to right it the way I want to. Plus, I apologize in advance for this chapter, because it's going to seem a little off, but that will be explained later. :P
I hope you all enjoy this one, because I have a few surprises in store, and a little R&R would always be appreciated. (Wink, wink.) And don't kill me because I suck at chapter titles.
Silent Earth
1: Shift
"The White House has issued a statement that everyone is to stay indoors. The quake is over, but it is still dangerous. Do not go out into the streets. There is still no explanation for the creatures roaming the streets, but we have reports from all over the world - ." There was another tremor and the TV went out altogether, the picture being replaced by a wall of static. A single woman sat, on her knees, in front of the television, her bloodshot eyes covered by her long, blonde hair. The ceiling of her home shook again, more plaster falling into her already unkempt hair.
"Heather!" There was a shout from across the room, but she didn't turn around, staring blankly at the screen. A man stumbled up to her, holding a paper towel to his bleeding forehead. "Oh, my god, Heather! What's happening? The kitchen collapsed on top of me, and there's something out there… It almost bit my fricking head off!" Heather didn't say anything.
"Heather!"
A week ago..
Heather turned, wiping her eyes on a tissue, hiding it behind her back as an old man with a grizzly beard in a trench coat and bowler's hat walked up to her, frowning deeply. "Heather, I'm so sorry." She bit her lip, wanting to scream at him. Sorry?! The only thing I'm sorry about is that it wasn't me! She had known it wasn't over, she had known all along, but had never wanted to admit it. It had been ten happy years since she had discovered who she was, in Silent Hill. Her father, Harry Mason, had found a young girl on the side of the road outside of a town known as Silent Hill. Years later, he had taken her there as a vacation, but instead he had crashed and found his little girl missing. The town was drastically changed, full of hellish creatures and apparitions, and he found out that his Cheryl was one half of Alessa, a girl who had been tortured by her Mother, and was the cause of the horrible "Otherworld" which turned iron to rust and water to blood. In the end, Alessa/Cheryl had given birth to the God, the horrible vision of a cult called the Order, and Harry had killed it, and his daughter. But as she lay dying, she gave him a child, Alessa and Cheryl's souls combined, and he escaped Silent Hill, renamed the child Heather, and relocated to another state.
Heather had spent years without knowing, until a member of the Order named Claudia Wolf had hired Douglas Cartland to find her, and then she killed her father for stopping them all those years ago. But Heather had fought the God again, and Douglas, having no one else to turn to, adopted her as his own. The same Douglas stood before her now, gazing at her sadly, trying to imagine how she felt. Having her child taken from her. It had been ten years since she last encountered the Order, and now she had married a wonderful man named Evan Morrow, and had a beautiful child named Damien. But, the peace had been shattered.
"Heather, they're doing all that they can. They're combing the city; they've set up a perimeter around - ." He started, but he couldn't keep talking to her, seeing the hurt and anger in her eyes. Douglas shamefully looked away. "We'll find him, Heather.." She shook her head. "We won't find them, Douglas, you know that. Even if they were backed into the tightest corner, they'd get out. Them and their God!" Heather shouted, and several officers looked over, but Douglas sent them on their way with a threatening scowl. "I've called in a lot of favors for this, Heather. The Chief of Police is going to hold this over my head for the rest of the year."
Heather wiped her eyes. "I don't care about the damn Chief of Police or anyone else, I just want Damien back." She growled, walking away. Douglas started to shout something to her, but stopped, sagging his shoulders in defeat. He couldn't bear to see Heather like this, miserable and depressed. It wasn't like her, and he could only imagine what Evan was feeling. But Heather was right about one thing, if the Order were back, they were probably gone now. He was surprised that any of them were left. And if the Order was back, then so was their God.
Douglas shuddered, because if this involved the Order, then it involved Silent Hill. The town that turned nightmares into reality. But Douglas didn't want to think about that now..
Evan looked up as Heather entered the room, ignoring the police officers dusting the window and collecting the shattered glass from around it. "How are you?" He asked dismally, and Heather bit back another angry response, already feeling guilty about her confrontation. "Douglas.. Douglas called in some favors and the police are scouring the city, they're making posters, news bulletins.." Evan frowned, looking into her eyes as she rambled on, and he reached out and put a finger on his lips.
"Calm down." He smiled weakly, and Heather scowled. "Calm down?" She raised her voice, and an officer turned and she but her tongue. "Calm down?" She said quieter, "You're taking this awfully well, aren't you the least bit concerned? We should be out there looking for her ourselves, not letting a bunch of idiots in blue look for her. They'll mistake her for a damn fire hydrant!" She hissed.
Evan frowned, looking down at her lap, and she felt another pang of guilt. But Evan reached up and cradled her face in one hand. "It'll be alright, trust me. She's safe, I can just sense it. Parents do that, you know." Heather frowned, she sensed something else entirely. Evan leaned over and kissed her on the cheek. "Please, I mean it." He stood up slowly, pulling her hair with him, and left the room, and Heather let out a shuddering sigh. "My Dad would've gone out there, he'd be looking." Heather shut her eyes, ignoring the pitiful stares from the officers in the room. Harry had gone out into the middle of Silent Hill and looked for her relentlessly, ignoring every horrible hell he faced. Even though that time was long gone, Heather could still remember many of the things Alessa had remembered, including her pain.
Then she sat up slowly, her face hardening. She couldn't sit back and wait, she had to do something, anything, and there was only one place she could go, Silent Hill.
"There's nothing I can do to talk you out of going?" Douglas said, regarding Heather grimly. They were in the kitchen, all the police had left earlier that day, leaving only Heather, Evan, and Douglas. Evan was watching their exchange in silence, not really sure what he was talking about. "You don't know that you're even right, that they're even there! Or that this wasn't some random kidnapping, or – or, someone who wanted to -.."
He paused, seeing the look on her face. "That's sure as hell what the rest of the town thinks!" Douglas raised his voice, and Heather lowered her eyes.
There was a moment of awkward moment of silence, and then Evan butted in. "What are you two talking about?" They both glared at him, and he smiled weakly. "I just want to go to Silent Hill.. To get some.. Perspective on things." Heather said hesitantly, and Douglas sighed. "Your hometown?" Heather's eyes lowered, and she nodded, "Yeah." Evan was still confused. "But why are you going there, why not stay here. We need you now, I need you now!" Evan pleaded, looking at Douglas, who stared back at him silently. "What about Damien?" Evan asked.
"Believe me, I think you will be much happier when I come back, we all will, I'm sure of it." Evan stared at her in exasperation. "But what about Damien?" He repeated in irritation, but Heather leaned forward and kissed him passionately. He let out a small gasp of surprise, and Douglas smiled awkwardly. Heather slowly pulled away, smiling. "Please, just let me do this." Without waiting for a reply, she left Douglas and Evan alone. They stood together for a moment, Douglas whistled quietly, and then Evan spoke up. "What were you two talking about?" Douglas chuckled, shaking his head and heading for the door. "You don't know the half of it, son." He said, leaving Evan alone to think that over.
Heather reached down to turn off the radio with a sigh, rounding the bend, she found herself on a road around Toluca Lake to the main side of town. She didn't have any map, but the lay-out of the town was burned in her mind, and she remembered well enough to know exactly where she was going. She passed the Historical Society and turned right on to the first street she saw, stopping in front of the Texxon Gas Station, she hit the brake and the car screeched to a halt. "Well, hopefully, every bastard in the town heard that and will come running."
She stepped out of the car and slammed the door behind her. She should've gone to the Church first; this was a stupid idea, why would they be here, on the other side of the lake? Heather spun around, trying to see through the dense fog, for any sign, of any life, and she was ashamed to feel herself heave a sigh of relief. She leaned against the side of her car, pulling the gun she had brought with her in her hand, flipping it over absent-mindedly. It was getting dark, but she didn't want to leave, she had just got here, and it seemed as if Damien must be so close she could taste him, but if he was, he was lost in all the fog.
Heather, sniffling, wiped her eyes on her sleeve, composing herself, finally realizing what a stupid idea it was to have come back here. She was already on edge, and he wasn't here, but she could try the Church.. But her thoughts were interrupted by a flurry of footsteps not far away from her, and she pointed the gun in its direction. "Hello?" She said tentatively, and then stiffened, "Get out where I can see you!" She heard another rustling and aimed her gun the other direction. "Damn it! Give me back my son! Give me back my son!" She shouted, repeating it several times and firing off several rounds of ammunition in frustration. "Where is Damien?" There was a flicker of a shadow in the fog to her left, and she immediately fired after it. "Come on! Do you think you can take me, huh? I'm a crazy Mom with nothing to loose, if you think this damn town is going to scare me, think again! I can ride right out of here whenever I want, but I will hunt you down and - !"
Heather froze as there was a screeching sound to her right, and then a shadow was rushing at her through the fog, like a flying worm with an enormous, gaping maw full of teeth. It slithered through the air and closed over her head, and all she could see was the darkness inside of its mouth. She shot off one shot and rammed her head against the side of the car, dropping her gun on accident. She could feel the creature's teeth burrowing into her head, and she let out a scream of pain..
Heather turned the keys to the front door of her and Evan's house, but stopped suddenly as she was doing so, blinking, as if in a daze. 'What the - ?" Then it all came flooding back to her, like some sort of weird flashback, in sequential order. She had shot the creature off of her head, went to the Church, found nothing, and drove through a crowd of slouching creatures with hammer-like heads on the way out of town, bashing up her car so much that she had to have it repaired, staying the next few nights in a hotel. Yeah, that sounded right, normal.
A sudden depression came over her, why was she so happy about all that? She felt dizzy, she just wanted to go inside to Evan. Feeling dizzy, she started to turn the key again, but jumped back as the door opened and a shocked Evan stepped outside. "Heather! What the - ? You've been gone for a week!" Heather smiled awkwardly and Evan's expression softened. "C'mon, just come inside." He turned and she followed him in, explaining it to him as she went. "I busted up the car on the way back from Silent Hill and had to have it repaired, so I had to wait a few extra days." Evan frowned. "Well, why didn't you call?' Heather blinked. "I dunno." She said simply, and he simply stared at her, dumbfounded. "Okay, just – whatever. I'm gonna go make us some coffee." He said, kissing her once on the cheek and heading toward the kitchen, then turned back around "What do you want?" Heather paused for a moment, "Just black."
Evan nodded with a smirk and retreated into the kitchen. Heather sighed, kicking off her shoes and setting her feet on the table in front of the couch, flexing her toes. She tried to think about Damien, but every time she tried to feel sad and make herself cry, she felt nauseous. It was a curious feeling, at first, but she sort of got used to it, picking up the remote and flipping the channels, stopping on Damien's favorite cartoon channel, the cooking network, and finally on the news station, setting the remote down on the arm of the couch, she watched an old, female reporter. "Strange seismic readings from the eastern United States - ."
There was a sudden tremor that sent Heather flying forward, glass cups falling over the table and shattering. Heather screamed a second later as the glass cover of the table shattered shortly after. "Heather!" Evan shouted from the kitchen, and then let out a cry of pain as the coffee pot fell off the counter and shattered on the floor and splattering his pants with piping hot coffee. He could practically hear his skin sizzle. "Heather what's going on?" The entire room was shaking now, and he was stumbling out of the way as plates next to the sink toppled over on to the floor, sending shards of glass across the floor.
"Evan, are you okay?" Heather spun around when she heard him cry out, but her voice was drowned out by the loud rumbling coming from all around her. Why the hell was there an earthquake, that didn't make sense! But what had made any sense lately? "Evan!" She cried out again, and then let out a scream as a beam fell down in front of her and there was a tremendous crashing sound, dust flying up around her. "Evan!!" She screamed, but suddenly, the rumbling stopped, and Heather stumbled, grabbing for the bookcase and steadying herself.
"Evan?" She said again, tentatively. "Evan?" She said again, more loudly, and stood up, weaving her way around the fallen beam. Right past it, she stopped, gasping in horror. The kitchen was gone. Completely destroyed. She looked around for some sort of movement, but there wasn't any. "Oh, god." She sobbed, falling forward and digging through the debris, but she stopped, her arms hanging limply. "No! Not now!" She slid back, looking up at the sky.
Heather was faintly aware of panicked shouts and car alarms blaring in the distance, and slowly stood up, trying without success to compose her self. She didn't have time for this now. But why now? Heather found herself slightly amazed that she was even considering it, but this seemed to happen at exactly the wrong time, a week after her son had gone missing, a week after she had gone to Silent Hill. But.. That was just crazy.
Heather stood up, wiping her eyes, stumbling over the debris half-heartedly, stepping out on to the lawn. The rest of the street had sustained minimal damage, a fire hydrant had broken open, and every single car alarm on the street was shrieking deafeningly. She heard an ambulance's siren nearby, and saw the faint flashing of red lights in the fog at the end of the street. Her house was the worst off on the whole street. Heather sank down outside, putting her head in her hands, and then she looked up, her eyes widening, her pupils darting back and forth dangerously, looking into the dense fog. "The fog." She said slowly, her face going pale.
There hadn't been any fog when she had gotten home.
Evan groaned piteously, feeling his head, wincing in pain. What had just happened? His eyes widened, seeing red on his fingers. He scrambled to his feet, whirling around. He was in the garage, and then it all came flooding back to him. The kitchen had started collapsing, and he had barely made it into the garage, and something had hit him. He looked around, and saw a chunk of plaster on the floor next to him, and he rubbed his aching head again, and saw blood on his hand.
He shuddered, turning around. "Heather!?" He yelled. He didn't hear anything. Evan moved to the door he came through earlier, wincing from the pain in his legs. He was shaken after opening up to the other side, and he saw the doorway into the kitchen standing alone on the side of the house. He started forward, but was suddenly very that he wasn't alone. There was a low sound behind him like heavy breathing. Evan slowly turned around.
The creature was bent over a bloody mass, the lower half of its face stretched open revealing a mass of tentacles that burrowed into the corpse, which was now unrecognizable. Its skin was rotten and looked almost as if it must be tight over its body, and it looked almost as if a hole had been cut through the skin to reveal its eyes. "Oh, my god." He breathed, and its head snapped toward him, its maw stretching close. After a tense moment, there was an unearthly screech as its mouth opened, the tentacles inside writhing madly and stretching toward him.
Evan screamed and turned, scrambling for the door, and the creature swung itself toward him, not even using its legs, which were bent unnaturally toward its head. The door into the kitchen still remained intact, and once inside, he slammed it shut. The creature bashed itself against it from the other side, letting out a bestial sniffing sound. He looked around wildly, and slid a wooden chair leaning against the wall under the doorknob. Evan pulled away, making sure it would hold. But not for long, the edges of the door were already starting to splinter.
He turned around, weaving around a falling beam which creaked dangerously, sending dust falling from the ceiling. Evan ran to the hallway closet and ripped open a packet of paper towels, pulling several sheets out at once and pressing it to his throbbing head. He proceeded back into the living room, and stopped. He hadn't noticed Heather kneeling in front of the TV screen until now.
"Heather!" He shouted, stumbling toward her and coughing in the dust that hung in the room. She was watching some sort of news report: "The White House has issued a statement that everyone is to stay indoors. The quake is over, but it is still dangerous. Do not go out into the streets. There is still no explanation for the creatures roaming the streets, but we have reports from all over the world - ." There was a tremor and books fell off the shelves and the TV screen was replaced with static.
"Oh, my god! What's happening? The kitchen collapsed on top of me, and there's something out there… It almost bit my fricking head off!" She didn't say anything. "Heather!" He called out again, and she glanced at him sadly. "Heather, are you okay?" He knelt down beside her, turning off the TV. "No.." Evan was shaken to his core by the hopeless look in her eyes; he had never seen that before. As long as he had known her, she had been so determined and brave, and seeing her look at him like that. "Heather, is it Damien? What happened at Silent Hill?" He asked.
Even though she was staring right at him, he got the feeling she was looking right through him. "How could this have happened? How did they do it? This shouldn't have happened?" She mumbled to herself, as if he wasn't even there, he hard something about "the Order" and "Dad." He looked around desperately. "Heather? Heather, honey, we've got to get out of here, that thing is gonna come straight through that door any minute." She looked at him, and he reached out a hand to help her up. "But how did they do it? Everywhere?"
A horrified look crossed her face, and Evan shivered, but just as he was about to ask her again, they both became aware of the faint sound of static. "Didn't I just - ?" Evan turned around, but the TV was off. Then what was making the noise? He bent down, looking around the TV, and opened a cabinet below the TV. The static intensified and he rifled around inside, and then pulled something out, a small pocket radio. Heather looked at it dully, and Evan looked at it curiously.
"Huh, radio."