Clarence Sherman was robbed of her deep sleep with a shake on the shoulder by one of her comrades. Opening her eyes, she looked up into the face of Antonio Chan, her friend.

"Clare, it's our turn to head out."

Clarence sat up, rubbing her eyes groggily. Looking around the apartment, she noticed that she and Antonio were the only ones present.

"Where is everyone?"

"They are playing cards in Derek's apartment next door. Colin and Madison just got back from their run, it's our shift."

Nodding, Clarence forced herself out of bed. Donning her jacket and snatching her backpack, she walked over to Antonio, who had his map out on a table.

"What's on the schedule today? The bar again?"

"No, Colin and Madison just went there. We're heading towards the gas station on Harris street, apparently it hasn't been hit yet."

"There could be some goodies there," Clarence said as she chambered her Beretta. A former Navy officer, she was sufficient with firearms and taught the rest of the group how to use them. Antonio was scared to death of them, and opted for a hatchet he had obtained while raiding a hardware store. He loved the thing more than his life, he claimed, but Clarence certainly hoped that wasn't true.

"We have plenty of food, but our water supply is running low. Larry is sick, and he's draining our water supply faster than we can get it. And for the record, if we find any soda there, we keep it to ourselves, okay?"

Clarence grinned. "I haven't had any soda in weeks. Chris hogs it all."

"Well let's hope we get lucky. Let's move, we got a few hours before Dark."

Although the nightmare world came and went as it pleased, Derek and Chris had managed to chart a basic cycle for the two worlds, like a day and night cycle. Sleep, hunt, and relax during the fog, and stay alert during the darkness. It was relatively simple, and the nine person group had only lost one in their entire formation. The current group was comprised of Chris and Derek, the two 'leaders', Clarence, Antonio, Larry, Madison, Colin, Dawn, and Jeff. Red had been the only one to die, leaving the group at nine members, but overall it was a good set-up. In the woodside apartments where they lived, Clarence, Antonio and Dawn shared room 202, Chris, Derek, and Jeff had room 203, Colin, Madison, and Larry had room 204. Room 206 was where Larry had been relocated, due to his sickness, with Madison (the group nurse) being with him at all times.

Leaving the apartment complex, Clarence and Antonio walked side-by-side across Katz Street, in the direction of Harris Street, which they reached quickly. It was a relatively short walk, and the two friends remained quiet as they found the gas station. Best gas. Not only was it named that, which was bad enough, the slogan was 'We give only the Best gas!", meaning the person behind the naming of the gas station had to die. Anyway, they moved towards the entrance of the store, pushing the doors aside, flipping their flashlights on. The place was in poor condition, like all the buildings in Silent Hill, but the store somehow had a little electricity; the fridges containing the drinks in the back were in working order. Approaching the area carefully, they saw that most of the drinks were gone, but a good supply of various sports drinks and sodas were still there. Grinning, Antonio unzipped the sports bag he had brought with him, quickly filling it with drinks with Clarence's help. Searching near the back, Clarence found several large gallon containers of water. Clarence put one in Antonio's bag and opted to carry the other herself. On a side note, Clarence stopped at an aisle to fill her backpack with small bags of chips to share with the group when they returned. Making sure they had everything, the pair left the gas station, returning to the apartments in a few minutes. They had only been gone for near twenty minutes.

Clarence and Antonio entered Derek's room to find him, Chris, Jeff, and Colin playing poker on the table; Dawn was watching from the couch.

"We got chips and soda, help yourselves." Clarence tossed the bag onto the floor near Chris's chair, and he picked it up, handing everyone a bag of chips and a bottle of cold soda. As she handed Dawn her share, she noticed that two were missing from the room.

"Where's Mad and Larry?"

"In 206. Apparently Larry was feeling even worse, so she went to give him some of the medication." Jeff calmly replied, adjusting his blood stained white hoodie. "She wanted me to tell you that, if you got any water, to bring it into her."

Clarence nodded and grabbed the gallon of water she had carried back, exiting the room and crossing the hall to 206.

She knocked on the door softly. "Mad, it's Clare. I have some water for him."

There was no reply. Clarence shrugged and pushed open the door. She entered the silent room, finding the apartment empty.

"Mad?" She asked, looking around and noticing the closet door slightly ajar. Clarence moved to it and pulled the closet door open calmly.

With a loud shriek, a human-like creature leaped from the closet, knocking Clarence down instantly. Stunned, she was helpless as the creature lunged downwards, mouth open, ready to sink its teeth in. Clarence was fast enough to swing the gallon of water in her hand up and slap the creature aside.

Getting to her feet quickly, Clarence felt for her Beretta, but she remembered she had set it down in Derek's room. Looking back up, she got a good look at the monster.

It was Larry.

It had to be. It was his button-up shirt, his dress pants. His sneakers. His hair. But this thing had razor teeth the size of Dawn's nails, and eyes that were bloodshot red and empty looking. Larry had been sick. Was it some kind of disease? A virus?

The ex-Larry lunged once more, and Clarence did a similar motion, sidestepping as she swung the gallon of water, slapping the creature onto one of the beds. Quickly moving for her escape, she pushed open the bathroom door by accident - to find a mutilated Madison. Her body was covered in blood, her skin was pale white. But the worse part was that she was missing her head.

Clarence turned to see Larry was on her once more, teeth aimed to rip Clarence's throat out. Clarence did all she could, ducking low, and the creature missed his bite. Without remorse, Clarence swung the gallon of water in between Larry's legs, a move that would have probably disabled a man, but this Larry was simply staggered by it. Feeling her hopes diminish, Clarence got to her feet and ran out the door, into the hallway.

At that moment, the siren went off. Oh no. It was time.

Clarence turned once more to struggle with Larry once more, his teeth inches from her face, but she managed to drive a fist into its stomach and bring the gallon around into its face again. As the creature stumbled, Clarence ran to Derek's door, trying to open it. It was locked. The group was fortifying for the darkness.

"Derek, it's Clarence! Open the door!"

She heard Antonio call her name back, but he was hushed. "It's too late!" Derek called back, "The darkness is here!"

"You son of a bitch! Open the door! Please!" She banged on the door repeatedly. She heard footsteps, then a sound of a punch.

"Don't open it, Antonio! It's too late! They must be out there with her!"

All Clarence heard from there was Antonio's protest, a brief scuffle, the sound of a bone breaking, and a gunshot.

Clarence turned just in time to evade Larry once more, before running to her own room, slamming the door shut behind her.

Locking the door, Clarence ran to the other side of the room, grabbing her spare pistol. Tears were running down her cheeks. Sweat was pouring down her body. Antonio had to be dead. And the darkness was here. She couldn't trust her group. She had to survive alone.

The next few hours were horrifying. She sat there on the bed, gun in her hands, trembling in fear as she wondered what had happened in that room, and what had happened to Larry. Was it a virus? Like a zombie virus? Why hadn't they seen anything of it before?"

Finally, the banging on her door ceased. The apartment became eerily quiet.

Slowly rising to her feet, clutching her gun like a child to a teddy bear, she approached the door, and slowly, with her shaking hand, unlocked the door. Moving her violently trembling hand to the doorknob, she twisted and pulled.

The hallway was empty.

Clarence stood still for a few more moments before walking out into the hall. Her mind wasn't straight. She didn't care about death. She only cared about checking on Antonio.

Walking out into the hall, slowly turning and walking to the door next to 202. 203. She slowly moved her hand from the grip of her gun, letting the trembling take over once more, and slowly eased it towards the doorknob. She squeezed it until her hand was bruised. And finally, she turned the doorknob. It was unlocked.

Clarence didn't care how it had become unlocked. She only cared about Antonio.

She pushed the door open, her gun not even readied.

The first thing she saw was Derek, the man who had left her to die. He was dead on the ground, surrounded by a puddle of red blood. On the face right above his slit throat was an expression of permanent terror.

Next to him was Chris. There was nothing of him to see. Clarence only identified him by the bloodied clothes he wore. His face, his skin, it was all gone. Melted away by some sort of acid.

On the couch was Dawn. The poor girl hadn't been a fighter to begin with, and because of it, she now lacked a head.

Colin was next. The redhead was now all red. He had been chopping in half by some kind of large knife. His legs were near the door, and his torso was on the other side of the room, discarded by whatever had attacked.

Antonio was the only one who looked calm. He had a slight smirk on his face, right below the bullet hole in his head. A small sliver of blood flowed out of the hole.

Clarence stared at the bodies, quivering in fear. Yes. Fear. In all her days, she has never felt fear. Not when she was on the battleship during a ship-to-ship battle. Not when she had entered the place. Not when she had found Red's body in that bar. Not when she had been locked out of the room, in the nightmare world, with the monstrous, infected Larry.

Only then did she realize she had forgotten about Larry. And only then did she feel his breath on the back of her neck.

End