Keys slid into the ignition with a familiar grinding sound, of jagged metal against jagged metal. It roared to life easily, and he sat back. He'd feared the old blue Cadillac didn't work, and it was a relief it did. He pulled the seat belt over, buckling it in. He hesitated, hands moving to the pockets of his jeans for a moment. He pulled them out, giving a quick glance over them. A small mp3 player and the earphones, and a folded map, torn from an atlas. He unfolded the map and put it up on the dashboard, and put the earphones in, turning it on.

Sure everything was set, he shifted gears, and put his hand on the wheel, pausing a moment to regard the silver wedding band he wore. It was a constant reminder of what he was going there for; his wife. She had left him a message on his answering machine.

He pulled off the curb, and drove off. Traffic was so-so, and gradually thinned out until he could go a few hours without passing a car. He made no stops, on the way to his destination, not that he saw any, anyway, and soon enough he noticed a thin fog. Gradually, it grew thicker until he couldn't see much more than a few yards ahead.

His headlights, turned onto bright for the fog, barely caught the sign reading Silent Hill, though he couldn't make out how close. He drove a little while more, before he turned off the highway, onto Nathan Avenue. He came to a split, and he could faintly make out a sign that read Sandford, before catching sight of a figure walking casually in the mist.

Squinting a bit as he tried to make it out, he stopped the car and rolled the window down. Within a moment, he could see the man fully. He was tall, with platinum blonde hair and brown eyes. He was dressed in a dull blue t-shirt and a pair of jeans, all a bit stained but he took little note of it.

"You need a ride, sir?"

The man hadn't acknowledged him before, but as he heard his voice, he looked up. A shocked look crossed his features for a moment, but just as soon it was gone. He shook his head, coming to a stop at the side of the car, looking down to where the other male was peering up at him from the window. "No boy. I'm just walking." He said, though his gaze shifted from him to the ring, lingering on the wedding band. "That's a nice ring."

There was a sense of inferiority as the man stared down at him. He couldn't place it, but he was so glad he had averted his gaze. He looked to his hand as well, pulling it back. "Thank you... that was my wife's, actually."

"And you're wearing it? Interesting marital tradition." This elicited a slight chuckle from the younger of them.

"It's all I have left of her. She told me she came here... trying to find her."

Crossing his arms, the man considered this for a few moments, before he nodded. "I see." Was all he said for a few more minutes. "What's your name? I'm staying at the hotel, way back that way," he gestured back towards the way he'd been walking. "If I see her, I'll tell her you're looking for her."

"Well I'd appreciate that. My name's Neil Gerard." He smiled, moving to offer him a hand. "Thanks...?"

"Victor." The man nodded, unfolding his arms to shake his hand. "Victor McFarlane. Best be on my way now, boy. Still gotta walk all the way back." He smiled a bit.

Neil glanced past him, then looked up at him again. "You sure you don't want a ride?"

"Yeah, I'm sure. You go on, find your wife. I'll be fine." Victor said, waving a hand, gesturing for him to go. He didn't give him a chance to say anything else, turning away from him, and started back the way he'd came. Neil watched him until he was gone, raising an eyebrow slightly. He shrugged it off, glad to no longer have Victor staring down at him. He straightened up in his seat, rolling the window up, and drove off again.

As he drove, he took note of the fact no cars came or went, even as he passed a faded green sign reading welcome to Silent Hill in yellow letters. He figured it once had been brightly colored, and was quite a warm welcoming to tourists and locals alike, by the looks of the design, but those days were gone, and it stood a solemn reminder of what had once been.

Soon enough, he spotted another faded sign reading Texxon Gas. It stood out in the fog, barely, towering over the town like some dark temple. He felt a sinking feeling in his gut, and he pressed the brakes lightly, staring up at it. Something was telling him to turn, to run. To get out, and never come back. But something else was nagging him to stay... his wife's voice, echoing in his mind as he contemplated following his gut feeling and leaving.

"Had a wreck out near Silent Hill... remember that place? Leave the kids with your brother and come get me. Car's totaled."

He sighed, staring down towards his lap. She didn't tell him where she'd be at, either. Nevertheless, he decided against leaving and pulled into the Texxon Gas. There were no cars here, either... strange, he hadn't seen any since that fog had first engulfed his vehicle, now that he thought about it.

He put it in park in front of the store, climbed out, and headed up to the sliding glass doors.

Slowly, they slid open and permitted him entrance. He crossed the threshold, and although the sign in the window read open, there wasn't a soul in there. He hesitated, glancing around. It didn't look like anyone had been there in a long time. Did everyone just up and... abandon it? He didn't really understand how that happened to towns.

He located what it was he wanted, a map of the town. There was only one left by the register, and he took it, unfolding it carefully. He found where he was, on the far left side of it, and folded it back, shoving it into his pocket, before he turned away and walked back out.

His hand just touched the handle of his car as he heard something, tilting his head to listen. Was that... waves? That's right. Toluca Lake was just up north from his location. He paused to look in that direction, listening to the faint, yet distinct sound of waves crashing. Now if only there was bright sunshine and the sound of gulls wheeling above in the air, and he could be somewhere so much better.

Rosewater Park was near there, though, he remembered. It was right at the lake, and in walking distance. He checked that his car was locked, though he doubted anyone would materialize out of the fog to break into it. There was nothing in there of value. He checked one last thing; his key was in his pocket.

Nodding to himself, he started back to the road, taking a right, and he walked for a while, near the sidewalk on the far left of the road, until he came to a turn off. A parking lot and a wider sidewalk. He turned down it, continuing until he got to the railing. He got to it, putting his hands on the railing as he stood, staring out through the fog at what little he could see of the shoreline.

He flinched as he heard a low, almost raspy voice behind him.

"You looking for something, boy? Got an awful longing air about you."

He whipped around to see the source of the voice. A tall, dark headed man sitting back on bench just behind him. He was dressed in all black, but his skin was sheet white, and his black eyes were hollow, devoid of emotion. It looked like he hadn't slept in days... but then there was something else, beneath his blank expression. A fear so great one couldn't show it, no matter how much they screamed. A fear that ate you up inside, tearing you apart and killing who you were, and leaving nothing but a shell of what you had once been.

And he had evidently seen things that would break most men down. A war, maybe? No. He got the odd idea it had something to do with the gashes running down the side of the man's face, fresh and still bleeding, and upon closer inspection, he saw the rest of him was covered in blood, some dry and caked on in layers, some still fresh.

"Yes, sir... my wife." Neil answered, regarding him carefully. For a moment, his concern for his wife gave way to the stranger, but... there was a fear of him, as well. Something familiar. What was with these people? He didn't know them. "Are you okay...? Maybe I need to take you to the hospital, my car's not too far from here."

The stranger's black eyes stared at him, his lack of an expression never wavering. He shook his head, disregarding the boy's concern as he went on. "You should get out while you still can. She's not here. Nobody's here." He said, then added with a little consideration. "Nobody but the damned, anyway." He said, leaning forward, and stood up. He swayed forward, and Neil moved forward slightly as if to grab him, but he got his balance and stood straight. He glanced around, before he looked at Neil.

"Go home." Was his final warning, and without giving him the time to further say something, he turned away from him, vanishing into the fog opposite the way Neil had came in. There were a few underlying emotions in his voice, though he wasn't sure what the problem was. There was pain... not physical, but mental, something he thought coincided with his fear, and dread. Like he didn't want to go. So why did he?

He watched him go in questioning silence. He didn't know what he meant, not sure if he wanted to... still. He wanted to now what was so wrong with this town, the fog and lack of people aside. Deciding on a course of action, he started into the fog after him. He went all the way to the other side of the park, but he found nothing, though he noticed at the turn a blood trail seemed to start, and his mind flashed back to the gashes on the man's face. Was he bleeding that badly? It didn't look enough to leave a blood trail on the ground. Not to this extreme, anyway.

If it were actually that bad, though, he decided he couldn't just... leave him wandering around, right? No one would be at the hospital to help, either. Quickly, he followed the blood trail, turning left back onto Nathan Avenue, and it lead him away from the gas station he was parked at.

He passed a few streets within a short period of time, still no sign of the man he'd spoken to, but the blood trail went on. He went by another street, just getting past the corner of it, when he heard the soft crackle of static in his ears. He stopped, realizing he still wore his mp3 player, and moved to remove it from his pocket.

"Come on, what's wrong with you?" He muttered, holding it close to see the screen through the fog. He tried to turn it on and blue letters flashed across the screen; low battery. "Come on, you were full five minutes ago..." If he had wanted to say anymore, he was cut off as the crackle grew louder, and he heard what sounded like something being dragged through the fog. It was heavy, like something dragging across a carpet. He couldn't tell what, though within a few moments he saw movement from the fog.

Hesitating, he shoved the mp3 player away, taking a few cautious steps closer to it. It looked like a man, but clearly not the stranger he'd searched the last few minutes for. It's arms were long and boney, like the rest of it's body seemed to be. The flesh was twisted and marred, and featureless. Neil shuddered slightly, looking at the faceless... thing. He thought about running, but he was curious. Until, at least, it stopped, and he flinched back.

The creature seemed to acknowledge his presence, turning in his direction... and then, with startling speed it came in his direction. His mouth came open in a silent scream but all he could manage was a soft gasp. He staggered back; it crawled forward. It was deceitfully fast. Finally, it came close enough and seized hold of his leg. It's grip was tight, unforgiving, and man, did it hurt.

Neil stumbled in it's grip, lost his balance, and hit the pavement hard. He started to sit up as the creature pulled itself onto it's lap, grabbing blindly at his torso and he already figured out where it was trying to grab.

He took hold of it's shoulders, and with immense effort, he shoved it off, groaning under the strain of removing it from his lap. It rolled once, then twice, and was back on it's stomach, once more crawling to him. He got to his feet faster than he thought he could and turned, taking off around one corner. He could hear it dragging behind him, so quickly and probably just outside his field of vision. He turned down another street, before finding Martin Street, and turned down that. He came to a stop at the end, eyes widening at the sudden realization of where he was.

It was a dead end.

Mostly the back of houses, fences against them but it would offer him no escape. He turned his head, taking the surrounding area in. Garbage cans, trash spilled out from them and their ripped backs... nothing that would help him. And then... then, there was that hiss behind him, and again that same strong grip took hold of his sore ankle. He didn't have the time to struggle as it pulled his foot out from under him, and his other easily went with it.

It was on him again as he cried out, and he felt it's hands finding their way up his back. He squirmed underneath it. It was so heavy, it felt like a chunk of lead. He struggled, spying something behind one of the trash cans, partially obscured in the trash. He dragged himself closer in much the same fashion as the beast on top of him, grunting slightly as it gripped his shoulder. He reached out, but recoiled and gasped as it took hold of his throat. He grabbed it, struggling. It was a futile effort. The beast was too strong to simply pry off.

He released it, moving to pull himself a bit more, one eye squeezed shut and just withstanding the pain on his throat. He reached out again, and seized the object of interest, a rusted metal stake, and pushed, rolling onto his back and even onto the creature. It let out a sound that he might've called a scream, though he hadn't heard something like that before, and it released as he rolled back and scrambled away. He didn't get far, or even to his feet, before it he took hold of both of his legs. He was at least sitting up now, and it pulled back into his lap, finding it's way up his torso, and made for his neck.

It didn't get the chance to close it's hand around his neck again. He swung the stake as hard as he could, the way a baseball player might. It collided with the creatures head, bloodying the end of the stake and causing the creature to lean back, such the way it looked like it was sitting up despite the impossibility of this, in a daze.

There was a chance in the creature's stunned state, and he took it, shoving it over and pinned it down, straddling it's waist. He brought the stake up once. Then twice, and a few more times, spraying blood everywhere as he impaled the creature, writhing and struggling under him, until finally all movement stopped and the static in his ears subsided, before stopping completely.

He huffed, sitting back on the creature and staring down at it, a brief feeling of recognition before his emotions gave way to shock. He got up, staggering back suddenly and dropped the stake. A soft, distressed whine escaped his lips as he struggled to wipe the blood on his hands off, only succeeding in staining his gray shirt, but then his gaze went right back to the thing below him. What was that? It looked human... but it wasn't. Maybe he was just having a nightmare... no. No, that was too real. It hurt too badly.

His ankle. He moved to crouch down, pulling his pants leg up to see where he had been grabbed, twice even, and grimaced lightly. It was already starting to turn black with bruises.

"Blast it... now where do I go..." He muttered, pulling the map out and fumbling with it before he got it unfolded. He laid it on a clear spot on the ground, leaning over it as he checked his location. He had just glimpsed the street name, and used that to find where he was. Somewhere in the middle... he looked across it, locating the hospital. He traced the roads back to it, muttering to himself, before he folded it back up and put it away.

One more glance to the monster, and he turned away, shaking faintly now, and afraid to look at it further. He grabbed the stake that he had been fortunate enough to land by, and picked it up, before he hauled himself up again.

Now with a direction, he turned and walked cautiously to the end of Martin, glancing around for anything in the fog, and listening to his silent mp3 player. He took a left then, walking to the end of Katz Street, until he got to Lindsey and turned left down that as well. Perhaps that man would be in the hospital. The blood trail was going in this direction, as it was placed on the corner of Nathan and Lindsey, though he couldn't be sure. Maybe his wife was there, too? She didn't sound like it, but she did say she had been in a wreck. He could only hope that was where she was waiting.

He continued down it, occasionally coming to places on the side of the road where the static once more came back, as did the dragging noise, but he moved away before he was detected. Finally, he came to the hospital. The blood trail thinned out on the steps and altogether vanished at the top of them. It gave him some hope that they would be here, but very little.

He pushed through the doors and stepped inside, letting them swing shut behind him. The inside looked all too similar to the gas station. Empty, abandoned... untouched for years, maybe even decades. He started to move forward, but stopped as he felt a tremor. It was barely noticeable, but it was there. The lights, long, hanging beams, swayed and flickered above him.

Off in a distance, he never even heard the storm siren begin it's dark song of warning.