Author's Note:
Hello all! Yes, I'm starting a new story... T_T I've been having some trouble with writing Save Me From Me, so I decided to take a brief break from it. I'm still writing it, but lately I've been having so many ideas in my head that it's been hard to write just one story, so I've decided to crank out another one. I know I'm terrible with updates and such, but I work full time and go to school as well, so I tend to not have much time for writing. Hopefully this new job I'm starting on Monday will have the downtime my friend promises me that it is. XD
Anyway, this is a BTR/Silent Hill story. I'm hesitant to put it as a crossover because I feel that crossovers are more about the characters of two universes interacting together and in this story, all the BTR member replace the SH characters – with the exception of Alessa and Dahlia Gillespie for somewhat obvious reasons. XD So, I tried putting this under crossover, but the story has gotten barely any hits, so I'm moving it to regular BTR stories FOR NOW. If there's a huge problem with this, I'll move it back. I just want to give my story the chance to be read by people other than me and the friends who Beta for me. XD
Lastly, the story is going to be told from three main perspectives. I won't go into who those three are, but at this point I can say that the events of Silent Hill 1,2, and 4 will be incorporated together into one story. I'd love to do SH3, but it'll probably being apparent quickly why that won't work in the context of this story. Maybe someday down the road, but not in this story. XD
Anyway, enjoy!
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Chapter 1: Abandon Hope
Kendall groaned. His ribs throbbed as each labored breath he took painfully forced air into his battered lungs. He was bleeding, the blood matting his hair to his forehead before sliding down his face to the airbag he leaned upon. He was in a car, that much he remembered. He'd been driving last night... a girl had run into the street. He had panicked, slamming on the brakes while frantically trying to steer the car away from her. He'd avoided killing her, but had lost control of the car and swerved off the road.
Grunting in pain, Kendall feebly shoved his door open. The heavy metal creaked in protest, resisting Kendall's efforts to free himself from the twisted wreckage. Frustrated and injured, Kendall kicked at the door, finally forcing it to swing open.
A gust of cold air rushed into the car, providing some solace to the injured teen. Sighing in relief, he hit the buckle on his seat-belt. As the restraint pulled back into the seat, Kendall tried to exit the car. Unfortunately, as he exited the car, his knees buckled and he fell face-first to the ground.
"Ugh... hockey pucks," he spluttered, trying to rid his mouth of the dirt he had landed in. He pushed himself back onto his knees, wincing slightly as his legs throbbed in pain. A tiny speck of white flit past his face, drawing his attention from his aching body. "Snow…?"
Tiny little white flakes were fluttering in the air about him, covering the surrounding terrain in a thin layer of powder. It was summer, wasn't it? Snow couldn't fall in summer, even this far north.
Confused, Kendall put his hand out in front of him, catching a flake before it could join its brethren on the ground. To his surprise, it didn't melt in his hand; it just sat there on his fingers. He crushed the tiny flake between his fingers, marveling as it broke down to a thin dust on his fingertips.
"Ashes...?"
He wasn't sure if that should relieve or frighten him. Snow falling out of season was one thing, but ash? What would explain that? He'd read about volcanoes and wildfires in class at the Palm Woods and he was pretty sure he wasn't in the middle of either phenomena. It was too quiet. There was no sound of eruption, no crackling from fire, there wasn't any smoke. Instead, a thick fog hung in the air around him, cutting of his range of vision to a couple feet around him.
"Where am I?" He could see no buildings around him, just the shapes of what he surmised were trees and the fence and light pole he had crashed into. The road was behind him, only a couple feet from where he knelt, but even that was shrouded beyond the veil of fog. Even the empty car next to him was fading in and out of view as the banks of fog passed by.
Kendal's breath hitched. The car was empty.
"Katie!" he shouted, jumping to his feet. He scrambled to the wrecked vehicle, yanking the front passenger door open. Her seat was empty and her bag was missing from the backseat. "Shit!" he swore, frantically looking around for any sign of where his sister had ventured.
Nothing. No footprints, no anything. The ashes had covered any trail she might have left.
Panic was beginning to set in. He needed to find her. He needed to make sure she was okay. It was his stupid idea to come to this place and he'd be damned if he'd let anything happen to his baby sister. He grabbed his backpack from the backseat and glanced around the car, making sure anything of value was stored away safely before heading towards the road.
As he limped along, he pulled out his phone. He debated calling Logan first and keeping the accident a secret from his mom as long as possible, but the group genius always cracked under pressure, no matter how small. James was a no go, he'd flip out on Kendall for losing his pseudo baby sister, and Carlos would probably start crying or call the National Guard.
"Guess I'm just gonna have to bite the bullet and call mom," he muttered, cycling through his contacts until the list centered on her number. He hit 'Send' and held the phone up to his ear, waiting for the familiar dial tone that would precede his mother's rage.
"We're sorry, the number you have reached is not in service at this time. Please check the number, or try your call again. We're sorry, the number- "
Kendall sighed, hanging up and shoving his phone back in his pocket. So calling wasn't an option... He'd have to find a landline or something in town.
The minutes dragged on as he limped along the road. He knew he wasn't too far away, but his injuries made it difficult to move quickly. If only he had the guys right now! If they were actually involved in the situation, instead of safe at home, he'd be able to rely on them. Logan could fix any injury, and Carlos or James could help him walk while the other started looking for Katie.
"But knowing our luck, I'd still be the best off or something," Kendall muttered. It sucked, but he'd just have to suck it up and make the best of it.
A few more minutes passed and finally Kendall could see the sign signaling the entrance to the town. It towered above the freeway, the wrought-iron frame rusted and stained from years of neglect. The writing was faded, but Kendall could still make out the faint, cursive writing through the dirt and grime: Welcome to Silent Hill.
He hadn't been to this town in years, but it had struck him as a very clean place. There had been no litter or graffiti and everything had a 'new' feel about it. Yet as he walked past the sign, he had the feeling that a lot had changed in the eleven years since he'd been here.
His hunch wasn't too far off. Like the sign, the town was in a similar state of disrepair. Abandoned cars lined the street, long since stripped for parts. Trashcans were overturned, covering the streets with bits of crumpled paper and food wrappers and most of the buildings were boarded up. This town had been abandoned for years.
"Hello!" he shouted. Nothing, just the echo of his voice fading away. He didn't know why he had even bothered. The town was completely silent: No birds, no wind, no anything. If Katie was nearby, he'd be able to hear her. He could hope that someone else was nearby and willing to help, but that scenario was even less likely than the previous. Assuming someone still lived here, Kendall wasn't entirely sure he'd want their help.
No sane person would live in a dump like this.
He continued on, relying on his vague memories of the town to guide him through the fog covered streets. He was traveling along Bachman Road into the middle of Old Town Silent Hill. The diner he and his parents would frequent was up ahead and the church was further south. To the east across the river would be the shopping district and resort area and off to the west was the main residential area and elementary school.
Kendall sighed. Katie was somewhere in this ghost town and with his cell phone reception out, it'd be practically impossible to find her. He'd have to go block by block and hope he got lucky and ran into her.
He continued on in silence, glancing about at the buildings around him as he walked. The fog was growing thick again, slowly pressing in on him. He could barely see the buildings anymore, and anything further than a couple feet was reduced to a mere silhouette in the gloom.
Suddenly, a soft noise broke through the still of the air. Kendall jumped in surprise and quickly glanced around for the source. Someone was laughing...
"Hello!" His eyes were darting frantically through the fog. He couldn't be certain, but it sounded like Katie and that was all he needed. "Hello!" He shouted again. Where was she?
There! At the very edge of his field of vision, the faint shadow of a girl was moving through the fog. She was in some kind of parochial school uniform and her hair was tied back in a loose ponytail. Her shoes clopped loudly along the sidewalk as she ran, the noise obnoxious and foreign in the still air.
"Hey wait!" He took off after her, doing his best to keep her within his sight. "I just want to talk!" he shouted.
The girl however, didn't seem to care. She was far ahead now, just a fading silhouette on the edge of his vision. Kendall was pushing his body to its limits, but he couldn't keep this up for long.
She suddenly darted to the left, vanishing down a nearby alleyway. Kendall rounded the corner in pursuit. His legs were burning as he pushed them to the limit and his breath was growing more shallow with each one he took. Where was she running to? Garage doors and backyard fences ran along either side of him, vanishing in the distance ahead. This was a trash pick-up route, that much he could guess, but why was she here? This town was in ruins, she couldn't live in one of those houses...
The backstreet ended abruptly. A stone wall spanned the length of the passage, preventing Kendall from going any further.
"What the hell? Where did she go?"
Clang!
A pair of gates to his left had swung shut, making him jump in surprise.
"It's just a gate," Kendall muttered, reassuring himself. "She probably slammed it behind her." He stepped tentatively towards the gates, listening for any trace of the girl. There was nothing, just more unnerving silence.
He was hesitant to continue on. He should be searching for Katie, not chasing some homeless Catholic schoolgirl. The large 'Beware of Dog' sign plastered on the wall adjacent to the gates was also more reason to give him pause.
"Oh come on Kendall," he muttered. "You're being a pussy." This girl was the only person he'd seen in the last hour. What were the odds of her actually having some kind of scary-ass guard dog? Chances were the dog and its owners died or left long ago. The girl was probably just squatting here until the place was leveled for some urban-renewal project.
Still, it couldn't hurt to be cautious. He took a step back from the gate and whistled as loudly as he could. He covered his ears, waiting for the ravenous barking to ensue as the hidden attack dog jumped and clawed at the gate. Only silence greet his covered ears. Perplexed, he dropped his hands to his sides, listening expectantly for any sign of a dog. There was none: no barking, no jingle of a collar, just more silence.
"Well... guess that settles that."
Still slightly on edge, Kendall reached for the handle and gave the gate a tentative push. It was heavier than he thought, and the rusted hinges weren't making it any easier for Kendall to open the gate. With a final heave from Kendall, the door swung upon the rest of the way, clanging noisily against the brick wall behind it. Satisfied with his effort, Kendall limped through the gateway.
A foul stench flooded his nostrils as he crossed the threshold: a vile combination of rotting meat and sewage that threatened to make him vomit in disgust.
"Jesus Christ!" Kendall groaned, covering his mouth. His eyes darted about the narrow alleyway, looking for the source of the smell. "What the hell is that!"
He didn't have to look far. In the corner of the alleyway, nestled in the shadows of the surrounding wall were the remains of a mutilated animal; probably the dog of which the sign warned. The corpse was ripped to shreds, its intestines and blood splattered about on the ground and the surrounding wall. Its head was sliced open, leaving most of its skull exposed to the open air. A variety of bugs were crawling in and out of the carcass as they feasted on the flesh that still clung to the bones. This corpse had been here for a while.
"...the fuck is wrong with this town?" Kendall whimpered, moving quickly past the mutilated animal. He made his way down the alleyway, his footsteps echoing ominously in the tiny space. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his nerves still shaken from the events thus far. Perhaps he should paid attention when Logan had been researching Silent Hill...
"No point in dwelling on that now," he muttered.
The alleyway seemed to go on forever. Every time Kendall expected it to end, another turn presented itself, guiding him deeper and deeper in middle of the town. The houses he had started by quickly fell behind him, replaced by the backs of the shops and offices that faced out onto Bachman Road. It was like the alleyway that ran behind the grocery store back home, though significantly more ominous. What little light he had had before was gradually diminishing as the buildings pushed closer together.
Eventually, another gate presented itself to Kendall, this one sporting an even more decrepit state of decay than its partner. Several of the bars had crumbled into dust, while others were twisted beyond repair. It was a miracle it was still on its hinges.
For a moment, Kendall hesitated. He knew he was being stupid. The odds of Katie being back here were slim to none. Hell, nothing had even given him reason to suspect she would be back here. He should have turned back at the first gate and kept the search up.
If only it were that simple... His curiosity was getting the better of him, drawing him away from what was important. It was as if his mind was being so being clouded and deluded; all reason was vanishing. There was no doubting it anymore: some strange kind of force was at work here, the same force that caused Katie's nightmares, the same force that caused a blanket of fog and ash to descend upon a town he had only known to exist under the powerful, California sun.
There was no turning back.
"Abandon hope," he muttered, reaching for the gate. "All who enter here."
It was corny, but the quote brought a tiny smile to his face despite what it implied. Dante's Inferno was the only bit of classical literature he had ever been able to enjoy. It seemed appropriate to reference it now.
To his surprise, the gate moved effortlessly on its near-broken hinges. Kendall let out a sigh of relief. He'd half expected the gate to fall apart in his hands or be rusted shut. He crossed the threshold quickly, pulling the gate behind him before continuing on in silence.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrr! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr! Rrrrrrrrrrrrr!
A siren? Kendall had heard his share of tornado sirens over the years, but the sound of this one was completely foreign to his ears. It sounded mournful, rather than urgent; like the town itself was wailing in agony or misery. The sound sent a shiver down his spine, rooting him to the spot as the alarm droned on. As if in response to the siren's mournful elegy, the sky above him grew dark, throwing the alleyway into near pitch darkness. Kendall looked up, doing his best to discern the source of the sudden darkness, but he couldn't tell. The sky was so far above him now that the buildings faded away into the darkness. There was no way to tell where the buildings ended and the sky began.
"Lovely," Kendall grumbled, fumbling about in his pocket. He didn't have a flashlight or a lighter, but he could improvise. Finding his smart phone, Kendall pulled it out and cycled through the screens until he found what he wanted
"And Kendall said: 'Let there be light'," he muttered, activating the program. His screen cleared, producing a pale, white light. It wasn't much, but it was enough for him to see the way ahead. It would suffice for now.
Light source in hand, Kendall made his way carefully down the new alley. Like its gateway, this one had an air of decay about it. Rust coated the chain-link fences that occasionally popped up along the gaps between buildings and trash littered the ground. This place had been abandoned for a long time.
Yet as he walked, Kendall could hear the steady thrum of fans off in the distance. Someone was maintaining those fans. Somehow they were still working. Regardless, Kendall was grateful for the background noise. His steps were still the main source of sound in this industrial labyrinth, but at least now there was something else to occupy the empty air.
Another turn was coming up ahead. How long did this path go? The gateway he had passed through was shrouded in darkness now, far enough away that his phone was unable to reveal it. He aimed his phone above him, trying to see if there were any lights above him he could turn on, but no such luck. His phone would have to do.
He rounded the corner slowly, sweeping the light across the ground as he walked.
"Shit."
Another corpse was on the ground, mangled just like the dog outside. This one though, sent an even colder chill up Kendall's spine: It was a human corpse. He could feel his stomach churning in disgust, practically begging him to turn back. Something – or someone - was killing these people and animals, he could very well be next.
"Kendall... "
That voice, he recognized it, no matter how distant.
"Katie!" he shouted. No answer. "KATIE!" he repeated. Nothing again. Her voice had come from up ahead, that much he was certain of. Why the hell was she down here? Forcing himself onward, Kendall stepped carefully around the corpse. This one was fresh, he noted. They had probably been killed within the last day.
"I'm so fucked..."
Blood was splattered about the place, steadily dripping from the walls and fences. Most of it was senseless splatters, probably from the actual killing. However, amidst some of the carnage someone had smeared the crimson liquid into words and sentences. Most words he didn't recognize: scientific or biblical terms that Logan would surely be able to decipher. A few though, Kendall was able to read.
God will return.. her children yearn for her love...
The world will be reborn in fire, all will be made anew...
More bodies littered the ground ahead, their bodies all in similar states of mutilation. Men, women, children: there was no discrimination between who had been killed. All for what? Some morbid writing in a back alley that had been seemingly abandoned for years? It didn't make sense.
A wheelchair sat solemnly against the wall, it's back and seat stained with blood. Leather restraints were attached to the legs and arms, leaving Kendall with a vivid glimpse into its former occupant's final moments.
As he pressed on, more medical equipment littered the area. A few shelves were loaded with syringes and scalpels, their needles and blades still coated with blood. A few more wheelchairs were present, lined up ominously among some gurneys covered in white sheets. Well, what were once white sheets. They too were stained in a copious amount of blood, much like everything else at this point.
A morbid fascination was taking over Kendall. How had this managed to go undetected for so long? Everything was so sloppily done, evidence was left everywhere. It's like these murderers weren't concerned with being caught by the law...
Or that they were given free reign from the law...
Pulling his eyes from the blood stained equipment, Kendall continued along the path. The frequent turns he had been encountering for the last few minutes were gone, devolving into a simple straightway. He was coming to the end of the alley, he could feel it.
The walls that had framed his journey for so long fell away. He was in a room now, lined with more of the same chain-link fences. Blood was splattered here as well, dripping softly to the floor. A small altar stood before him, adorned with several brunt out candles and unmarked vases. Above the altar, a corpse was crucified to one of the fences, the flesh frayed to the point where it was impossible to tell the victim's gender or race. Their stomach was sliced open, a steady torrent of blood dripping down onto the shrine below.
"Jesus Christ..." Kendall whispered.
If he had any doubts of the peril he was in, they were now assuaged. The girl he had followed wasn't down here and some psychotic cult was making sacrifices to their demented God or whatever. He needed to get out of here.
Before he could turn to leave, his phone erupted in a series of rings and chimes. He fumbled quickly with the screen, doing his best to silence his shrill ringtone.
"Hello!" he asked quickly upon answering the call.
"...ig brother!"
"Katie! Where are you! Are you hurt-"
"You have... run away Big Bro...! They're coming …..ou!"
"Katie! Where are you! What are you-"
The line went dead.
"Shit!" Kendall swore. Katie was alive, which was good. She sounded a bit shook up, but definitely okay. Still, her words still echoed faintly in his ears, her desperate warning to escape. There was only one way down here and he couldn't have passed her… She had no way of knowing where he was... how did she kno-
Static was blaring from his phone, the annoying noise pushing the worries of his sister from his mind. Pandora had somehow opened on his phone, but the program was freaking out. The screen was frozen, preventing him from exiting out of the program.
"What the hell! Turn off! Stupid piece of shit." He didn't need to deal with this now. He wanted to shove the stupid piece of technology in his bag and try to drown it out as much as possible, but he needed the light. He'd have to make due.
He turned to leave, his phone aimed ahead of him, but stopped dead in his tracks as his tiny light swept over the corridor he had traveled down. Something was lurching down the alley towards him, it's figure barely a shape in the dim light of his phone.. It looked about the size of a small child, though it lacked any of the playful energy children usually possessed.
As it drew closer, a feeling of dread overtook Kendall. He could see the rotten, gray skin that covered its body; Its eyes were missing, merely two empty sockets that dripped blood as it lumbered towards him. A knife was in its hand, the blade shining eerily in the light of Kendall's phone.
This was the killer? This... this THING was what was responsible for the corpses that filled this place? He had suspected a person, some God-forsaken lowlife like the ones you see in the news. This though... this was something out of the sickish depths of someone's twisted imagination. This thing wasn't natural.
A sudden pain in his leg pulled Kendall from his thoughts. While he had been distracted with the appearance of the first monster, another had sneaked up on his left and stabbed its knife into Kendall's thigh. Screaming in pain, Kendall fell to his knees. The monster however, was not finished. With a surprising amount of dexterity given its slower brethren, the monster stabbed Kendall's leg again, shrieking with ecstasy as its sunk the blade into the teenager.
"You little piece of shit!"
He caught the creature's wrist and gave it a sharp twist. It screamed in pain, dropping the knife in its urgency to free itself from Kendall's grip. Seizing his chance, Kendall grabbed the knife and viciously stabbed the monster in the face, twisting the blade as the beast shrieked in agony. Unsatisfied, Kendall ripped the blade from its face and plunged it into the creature's throat, silencing its cries before it fell to the ground dead. Blade in hand, Kendall turned to face the original monster. The first creature, perhaps hearing its partner's death had increased its speed, hobbling towards Kendall with renewed vigor.
"I don't think so!" Kendall grunted, pushing himself to his feet. More of the monsters were appearing, climbing over the fences that lined the tiny chamber. He could barely hear their shrieks of rage over the static blaring from his radio, but he didn't need to. The way they stalked towards him, he knew what they intended.
Kendall tried to fight them off, stabbing as many as he could. Yet as the stack of bodies around him grew, the number of live ones grew exponentially. He was still sore from the accident and he could barely put his weight on his injured leg. He was fighting the inevitable.
He fell to the ground as the monsters overwhelmed him. There was nothing he could do. His vision was blurring as he lost more and more blood to the numerous blades piercing his skin.
It seemed cruel to be cut down like this, unfair perhaps. Would his friends ever know what had happened to him? Would his mother ever be given a body to mourn over? He didn't know. His vision was fading an it was becoming harder to think. He tried to hold on to the memories of his friends, of the dream they had had that almost came true, of his mother, who had worked herself to the born to support him and Katie. However, they soon all faded away until only Katie remained. He had wanted to save her, to be the one who fixed everything when their mother could not. He had failed.
"I'm sorry Katie..."
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So how was it? :D Horror's a new genre for me, so I would love any reviews you guys can muster up. Was the atmosphere good? Was Kendall believable and a good substitute for Harry Mason? XD Anything you guys wanna say is cool for me! :D
On an unrelated – to this story anyway – note, I will be updating my other story sometime within the next week, hopefully with two additional chapters. I can't promise an exact day, but it should be soon! Also, I've edited the previous chapters for some clarity, grammar, and character/plot issues, so that's something else to look forward to! :D
Anyway, thanks for reading! I hope you guys liked it! :D