Okay, here's the start of a new fanfic, this time my first crossover...it brings together the worlds of two more game series I love, RESIDENT EVIL and SILENT HILL! I was inspired to this by an amazing friend I know on DA named Ygure. As a Yuri (lesbian love!) fan, I fell in love with her art of Heather Mason (Silent Hill) and Rebecca Chambers (Resident Evil) as a couple, and basically this story is because of her!
Like my MASS EFFECT fanfic, "Coda", "Judgment Day" will be a love story...and as a fan of both games crossed over in this fiction, I'll strive to give every fan what they want! Well, you'll see! The story opens as Rebecca discovers the mystery of Silent Hill...and she will begin a search for answers that will lead to Heather Mason... This may start out safe and ordinary, but buckle up for a wild, bloody and mature ride in later chapters!
Of course, I'll be staying true to the mythology of both games to date...with one possible exception I must address. According to SILENT HILL series canon, in the original game, the 'Good' ending happened in which the character Cybil Bennett died, and Harry Mason escaped with his daughter alone. However, Keiichiro Toyama, the director of the first game, thinks of the 'Good+' ending in which Cybil survived and escaped with Harry and his daughter as the true ending. That's good enough for me!
"Resident Evil" and its characters are owned by Capcom, and "Silent Hill" and its characters are owned by Konami!
RESIDENT EVIL X SILENT HILL: JUDGMENT DAY
written by Charles Spencer,
inspired by Ygure
CHAPTER ONE:
"REBECCA"
-1-
Friday, August 23, 2013
Washington, D.C.
BIOTERRORISM SECURITY ASSESSMENT ALLIANCE
U.S. DIVISION HEADQUARTERS
Rebecca Chambers rushed into Chris Redfield's corner office, her eyes alight with enthusiasm. She had ream of papers in one slender hand and said, "Chris, we need to talk!"
Special Operations Captain Chris Redfield looked up from his computer behind his desk, more than slightly surprised...and there was an edge of annoyance in his look at Rebecca, too. Still, patient, he asked, "What is it, Rebecca?"
The petite, beautiful young woman who served as a Medical Specialist in the BSAA was full of energy as she reached his desk and proclaimed, "I might be onto something I've been investigating."
Chris frowned. "I don't remember making you a field agent, and I've never given you anything to investigate outside of our research lab."
Rebecca's soft features hardened a little. "You don't have to remind me. I'm talking about something I discovered by accident a few weeks ago on the Internet. I've been using my personal time to investigate since, and I really think I found something important."
"Rebecca..." Chris' tone was impatient at first, but he only had to really look into the earnest lady's eyes to see how serious she was. He sighed and shrugged. "What have you got to share with me?"
Rebecca said, "I need to ask this first. You ever heard of The Order?"
"Never. What is it?"
"It's a stateside religious cult. They were formed in this town called Silent Hill."
"Silent Hill?"
Rebecca enlightened, "A former mining town in Maine. It was a lot like Raccoon City, a resort destination for sightseeing and stuff."
Chris gave Rebecca a look. "You describe Silent Hill in the past tense. Why?"
Rebecca frowned then. "Because the town's dead, Chris. Not dead like...like Raccoon City. It...well, I'm still trying to figure out what happened, but I've still got a lot of information you need to know."
Chris Redfield leaned forward in his chair and rested his forearms on his desk, settling in. "Start from the beginning, Rebecca. Where did you first find out about this Order online?"
"Twitter," Rebecca answered. "Some nights I check random tweets for certain keywords, like the Department of Defense does all the time online for possible terrorist activity." She defensively added, "I've got a lot of free time in my off-hours."
"Go on?"
"Anyway, I told you before how worried I am about religious fanatics out there who wouldn't mind getting ahold of bio-organic weapons. I know we're more focused on rogue nations getting ahold of such things, but - !"
Chris finished for her, "But terrorist zealots are still as much of a priority, Rebecca. That goes without saying."
Rebecca nodded solemnly. "Yeah. This one night, I stumbled across a series of tweets with the hashtag 'churchoftheholyway'. These people are either stupid, arrogant or just plain ignorant to be out in the open, especially the way they talk to each other online. I printed out this exchange to give you an example..." She then offered Chris one of the papers in her hand.
"Okay." Chris took the paper, and began reading it. His frown didn't just return, it deepened. The exchange began between two people:
'I'm so excited. Everything's going to change soon.'
'Keep calm, too much can go wrong. We may be as unworthy as the unbelievers.'
'Don't say that. The Order is about to finally bring Paradise to this world. God will reward the faithful and condemn the unfaithful.'
'Only if we find the Mother of God. We still have no idea where she is.'
That was when a third person with the same hashtag interrupted the two:
'That's enough. Remember where you are. Don't say too much.'
One of the two was defensive... 'The unfaithful won't care what we're saying.'
The third person tweeting was harsh then. 'Dammit, be silent! We're too close to Paradise. Call me offline now.'
Chris finished reading, and he looked at Rebecca. The girl asked, "What do you think?"
He said in a cool tone, "It's enough to get me worried, too. Tell me more about The Order."
The petite lady crossed her slender arms as her lovely face shifted to take a serious set. "There's a lot of information online on this cult, even websites they either created for their followers or to draw in new recruits. From what I've read, they believe that human beings came to exist in this world before their god...well, actually a goddess they refer to simply as God or the Lord of Serpents and Reeds. They wait to see the rebirth of their god and in the process the world will either be destroyed or remade into a Paradise. Actually, according to most of the sources I read, destroyed and remade means the same thing."
Chris growled, "They sound like a bunch of doomsday nuts."
"Pretty much. But the scary thing is they're true believers. They're serious about this crap, Chris."
"And I've heard enough about it. You said they started in Silent Hill?"
"Yep, in the early 1900's, when the town's coal mining industry was in decline. For decades not a lot was heard about them, but that changed in the 1970's. News reports rumoring about a possible religious cult in the town, a lot of unexplained deaths...ominous stuff. Something else interesting: law enforcement agencies outside of Silent Hill suspected the town was a center for the manufacture and trafficking of illegal drugs."
"Like what, cocaine? Heroin?"
"Nothing you've ever heard of. It was something called PTV, a hallucinogen made from a plant unique to the region. It was sold to citizens and tourists, and it was suspected one of the town's hospitals was where the drug was made."
"Was The Order connected to this PTV?"
"It was rumored to, but any and all PTV manufacture came to an end just before the turn of the millenium..." Rebecca Chambers added quietly, "...along with Silent Hill itself."
Chris Redfield asked, "So...what happened to Silent Hill?"
The lady's expression became a mix of troubled and frustrated. "I wish I could tell you for sure. The sources I spoke to had little to no information to give to me. But something happened, and ever since, Silent Hill gradually turned into a ghost town. Almost thirty-thousand people lived there and in a little over a decade between the 70's and 80's, more than half of the populace moved out of town to find new homes. The rest disappeared."
"What?"
Rebecca said with quiet urgency, "I mean literally, no-kidding disappeared, Chris. I've gone over every public record there is online for Silent Hill and its surrounding townships, I've made every call to neighboring agencies to make sure my facts were straight, and it's the only way to describe what happened. It was like thousands of people in that town, entire families, dropped off the face of the earth. I know it sounds like something out of H.P. Lovecraft, but it's true."
Chris thought about it for a moment. "You mentioned the place had been a mining town. Maybe some kind of disaster happened with the mines? Some kind of gasses or something forced the citizens to leave?"
"That's the official story in the news archives I read, Chris." Rebecca then dropped the papers, which held the facts she memorized and just recounted, on Chris' desk...she then leaned forward and put her hands on top of the desk, looking into Chris' eyes. "But this is the thing: any and all mining operations in the area closed in the first half of the 20th Century, decades before...whatever happened." The light in Rebecca's eyes shifted with knowledge as she added, "And I don't have to tell you there's a world of difference between 'official' and the truth."
Chris Redfield knew exactly what she meant and nodded. "Yeah." Hadn't that happened in Raccoon City, after Chris, Rebecca, Jill and the late Brad Vickers survived the horrors of the forests outside of Raccoon City, of the mansion that was a secret research facility for bio-organic weapons and nightmare viruses? The city government and the Umbrella Corporation sought to bury the truth with their 'official' version of events...before all Hell broke loose.
"There have been disappearances since...either tourists or those known to have been traveling through Silent Hill at the time they disappeared. Worse, the town right next door, Shepherd's Glen, had the exact same thing happen. Just in 2003, they were celebrating their 150th Anniversary, and a few years later...they were a ghost town, too. Even more people died or just plain disappeared. One other thing: both towns have been blanketed by this thick, persistent fog that won't go away."
Chris arched an eyebrow in response. "What, they're in a fog all the time?"
"Weather experts who have reported this phenomenon don't understand it. But Silent Hill has been experiencing fog that literally hasn't gone away, no matter what the season, since the late 1970's...and then it reached out to cover Sheperd's Glen in 2003. I'm not sure how important that is, or even if it's connected to everything else I told you." Rebecca said with worry, "Bottom line, I've got to wonder how long it'll be before another town is virtually wiped off the map."
Chris asked, "Could The Order be responsible?"
Rebecca shrugged. "It's possible, but it's just as likely they were victims of what happened to Silent Hill, too. But we do know some of this cult are alive, they're communicating online, maybe recruiting more lunatics on the fringe...and they've got something in motion. I really, really have a bad feeling about this, Chris."
Chris thought for a moment, but his expression was one of unease, too. "I'm with you, Rebecca. I'm just surprised more people don't know about this. From everything you're saying, we're talking about two disasters worse than 9-11! Unfortunately, there isn't much to go on to conduct a formal investigation. Hell, no bio-terrorism seems to be involved, so this is out of our bounds anyway - !"
Rebecca quickly countered, "Is it? Silent Hill and Raccoon City might as well be sister cities. Both had a lot of dirty dealings going on behind the scenes...and both are dead. Do you want to wait to see if history repeats itself? Or maybe something even worse will happen because of this Order? And I've got to stress we have no idea what exactly happened that killed both of those towns...bio-terrorism is as likely a cause as not!" Rebecca then said, "I wish to request two weeks' leave so I can continue an informal investigation. I've discovered there are a few people I can talk to who might shed some light on what happened. No one's time or money will be wasted but my own, okay?" Chris frowned again, unsure...but Rebecca's voice and gaze pleaded to him, "I know this might be better suited for another agency to investigate, but I want this, Chris. Please."
Chris was reluctant. "Rebecca..."
"Please, Chris, I'm only asking for two weeks! If I don't come across anything worth worrying about, then that's it. I'll be back to business as usual in our labs. Okay?"
Chris Redfield stared at Rebecca and hoped he wouldn't regret this...still, after everything the lady shared with him... "All right, and I'm holding you to that. Who do you plan on talking to first?"
Clearly grateful, Rebecca Chambers smiled and nodded. She then said, "A police captain named Cybil Bennett. She works not far away from Silent Hill in a town called Brahms."
-2-
Two days later
Brahms, Maine
Rebecca found herself in another corner office...in this case, on the second floor of the Brahms Police Department early on a peaceful Sunday afternoon.
In her fifties, Cybil Bennett had reached the middle of a long, full life. She was an athletic beauty in her police uniform who only had crow's feet at the corners of her eyes and the beginnings of streaks of gray in her blonde hair that betrayed her age. The captain was also a married mother of two teenaged daughters, a role that had to make her life as interesting as police work. Rebecca liked Cybil immediately after she was admitted into her office. Cybil began back to her desk after they shook hands in greeting...the police officer said, "I'm still not clear on how I can help you, Agent Chambers. I've never lived in Silent Hill."
Rebecca almost felt like she should have been standing at attention in front of the officer. She asked cheerfully, "But you did pass through the town one night when you were still a motorcycle cop...this would have been back in 1983?"
Cybil paused for a moment and turned to look at the girl. "Yes?"
Rebecca recounted, from information she already knew well on her iPhone's screen, which she glanced to at random moments as they talked: "You were on patrol one night, and then you disappeared for a few days. Your department began a search of the region hoping to find you. Then one morning, you appeared again here in Brahms like nothing happened. According to the stories I read, you had an accident with your motorcycle - "
Cybil finished coolly, "And because the town was so foggy, I couldn't find my way out right away." She gave Rebecca a look. "So what?"
"So...from what I know officially, you were sent to Silent Hill because Brahms P.D. lost contact with the police there. What did you find?"
"You obviously already know a lot. You must know the answer, too."
Rebecca Chambers nodded. "Yeah...officially, Silent Hill lost its city government. Along with its police and emergency agencies, its hospitals, public utilities and so on. But they never let anyone else know their town was basically dying."
Cybil said quietly, "And it had to take my visiting to find out it was already dead."
Silence for a moment...and then Rebecca said, "One of the few things I don't know is this. Captain...what happened in Silent Hill?"
For a moment, Cybil Bennett didn't speak...but the look in her eyes said so much. Cybil answered, with an expression of forced neutrality, "A lot of things. Things I don't want to think about."
Rebecca gently asked, "Can I ask if you'd talk about those things?"
The officer's lips drew tight into a thin line...the woman was almost painfully uncomfortable. "You can ask...but you won't get an answer."
Rebecca realized she was getting nowhere...but... "Please don't be angry if I ask this...but did something happen to you?"
Cybil looked at Rebecca again, and she gave an honest smile. "If anything did happen to me, I healed from it a long time ago." The woman lost her smile as quickly as she found it when she said, "All I can tell you, Agent - " She stopped herself, and her tone became much softer. "Rebecca...Silent Hill died, then Shepherd's Glen died, and maybe they deserved to. There's no point in digging up facts about something no one could stop...there's no reason asking about something that can't be changed."
Steel could be felt in Rebecca's voice as her expression became determined. "Actually, I've got one good reason. I don't want another Silent Hill to happen!" They stared at each other for a beat...one who wanted answers looked at the other who wouldn't (or couldn't?) give them. Rebecca asked softly, "You really have nothing to say, Captain?"
Cybil Bennett deliberately turned from Rebecca to move to one of her office windows...she looked outside at the bright August day. "I can tell you this. The people responsible for what happened to Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen won't trouble anyone else. According to my best information, they're as dead as those towns."
Rebecca's eyes examined Cybil. "You're talking about The Order?"
"Yes."
Rebecca looked down solemnly. "I hope you're right, Captain...for all our sakes." She looked up at Cybil again and said, "I needed to ask about something else."
Cybil turned to her again. "Yes?"
"That morning you returned to Brahms, a man and his infant daughter were with you. Harry Mason and Cheryl Mason, right?"
Cybil nodded. "That's right."
Rebecca smiled. "Okay. I still need to see them to get all my facts straight..."
Cybil quickly said, "You can't."
Rebecca seemed to be caught off her guard. "E-excuse me?"
Cybil's expression softened. "I mean as far as Harry Mason goes, you can't talk to him. He died over ten years ago."
Rebecca's expression spoke volumes about how awkward she felt. "Oh. Did you know Harry Mason well?" Cybil looked down as she remembered, and that was all Rebecca needed to know. "I'm truly sorry, Captain."
The captain smiled a little and said, "Call me Cybil, Rebecca."
Rebecca offered gently, "I'm sorry, Cybil. Um, do you know anything about how he died?"
"No, just that it happened during a random home invasion. It was when Cheryl was 17 years old, and it broke her heart."
Rebecca nodded, her eyes somber. She said softly, "I can't even imagine how she must have felt. I understand her first name was changed from Cheryl to Heather years before that?"
"Don't ask me why she did that, either. Chances are it was because of some kind of phase she was going through."
Rebecca didn't have to glance at her iPhone again as she said, her eyes curious, "Actually, from what I understand, Harry killed a man in self-defense and had to move to another town...then he changed Cheryl's name to Heather. Maybe to protect her?"
Cybil stared at Rebecca, surprised. The young agent's acting ignorant about Harry Mason's history, especially that he died, was just that: an act to test the waters with her. It seemed the young lady knew much, much more than expected before she arrived here. "I..."
Rebecca mused, "I can't help but wonder if Harry Mason's murder and his killing a man in self-defense were connected, you know?"
Cybil looked at Rebecca with a new level of respect as she conceded, "I've thought of that myself, Rebecca. As far as I was able to find out, the incidents weren't connected."
"If they were, I'd have to wonder what kind of enemies Harry had. Anyway, Cheryl should be as old as I am now. I mean, she was a newborn when you met her and Harry, right?"
"Yeah."
Rebecca formed a frown on her lips again. "Or is there a Cheryl out there older than I am?"
Cybil frowned back. "Why do you ask?"
"I've taken an in-depth look into Harry Mason's history...sorry, you must have figured that out by now...and I found something strange. Harry had a daughter named Cheryl with his late wife, Josie."
"Yes?"
"Well, that was in 1977, seven years before you met her and her father."
"There must be some mistake, Rebecca."
Rebecca smiled a little as she shook her head. "Mm-mmm. I triple-checked to make sure. I wouldn't even be bringing it up if it wasn't such a strange inconsistency. I understand you helped Harry draw up a new birth certificate for Cheryl at a local hospital after you returned from Silent Hill."
On-edge, Cybil said impatiently, "He'd lost the original birth certificate for Cheryl accidentally. I still don't see the relevance."
Rebecca gave Cybil a look then. "Um, I'm sorry, but you must be blind not to see." She sure as hell didn't need the intelligence of a prodigy who graduated from college at the age of 18 to figure it out, Rebecca thought. "Records say that Harry Mason had two daughters, one in 1977 and the other in 1983...and both of them were named Cheryl."
Cybil tried to offer a casual smile and began, "That's a bit silly, Rebecca - "
Rebecca Chambers quickly cut Cybil off: "Not if something happened to his older daughter." Her eyes examined the officer. "Did something happen? Maybe in Silent Hill? Is that where his new daughter came from? And who was her mother?" Rebecca spread her hands and said, her beautiful expression imploring, "Please tell me you understand why I feel the need to ask such questions!"
It was Cybil who was truly off her guard then. But her eyes became solemn as she looked at the bio-terrorist agent because she did understand the girl's curiosity. She knew, just looking into Rebecca's eyes, the girl was here for only the very best of reasons. Cybil Bennett finally said, "Rebecca...it isn't necessary to ask those questions. The discrepancies you're talking about must be the result of some clerical errors. Mistakes with red tape have happened before, and will until the end of time...but I promise I'm telling you the truth when I say this. When I met Harry Mason in Silent Hill, he was a truly decent man and loving father. He adored his daughter and would have given anything for her, and I doubt that changed before the day he died. I also met Cheryl, the only child Harry ever had...and while I never met her mother, I can guarantee that when we traveled from Silent Hill to Brahms, she was a baby girl."
Instinctively, Rebecca felt Cybil was telling the truth...but for whatever reason, she insisted on keeping so much secret.
The BSAA agent thought, What the hell happened that would make people want to forget it...and not even speak of it?
-3-
Later that afternoon, when Rebecca visited and interviewed those she needed to see next who were known to be connected to Silent Hill or Shepherd's Glen, the murky picture of what happened became only slightly clearer.
Rebecca also began to understand why no one wanted to talk about the disasters - it was the most fitting word - that befell two New England towns.
As she spoke to Alex Shepherd and his wife, Elle Shepherd, Rebecca couldn't have imagined how anyone could be touched more profoundly by what could only be called true, monstrous evil...that would change, and very soon, when the agent learned the real meaning of evil. (But that will come later, dear reader, so best not to get ahead of ourselves.) Alex and Elle were good and decent people, like Cybil, but different from the police captain in the sense that they seemed to have nothing to hide...at first. Their openness about what they went through in Shepherd's Glen and then Silent Hill might even have served to be an agent toward helping them heal. Heaven knew that for the longest time, both Alex and Elle lived in the midst of a nightmarish conspiracy in which their own families played pivotal roles...and Rebecca Chambers couldn't help but feel her blood chill as she listened to their story.
It was their families and two others who migrated from Silent Hill to establish Shepherd's Glen over a century and a half ago...yet those founding families, like many of the civic leaders of Silent Hill, were part of The Order, followers of The Church of the Holy Way. They were of an amoral faith that believed not in the absolutes of good and evil, but a dark and brutal view of order and chaos. Both towns, even if this couple told Rebecca a part of the truth, held histories vile beyond any decent person's imagining, and all for the belief of their strange, terrible 'God'. The Order's faith demanded sacrifice in both towns...indeed, in 2003, the four families were each required to sacrifice one of their children so they wouldn't fall victim to what destroyed Silent Hill. Three of the four families made those sacrifices...
...but then, something no one expected to happen did. Alex Shepherd's brother Joshua died in an accident not long before Alex was fated to be sacrificed by his parents. Alex was forcibly taken away to a mental institution far from town, and the unspeakable pact was broken. Whatever happened in Silent Hill took hold of Shepherd's Glen...many left out of fear, and those who stayed who wouldn't follow The Order's dictates were killed. Just as many completely disappeared, never to be seen again, and Rebecca truly realized then that they were also dead.
Like Silent Hill, thousands of people in its neighboring town were simply...gone.
A few hundred citizens, perhaps less, remained when Alex escaped the institution and returned to Shepherd's Glen. Even though he was temporarily delusional, Alex found Elle, who he'd known since their childhood. Together they discovered the terrible truth of their hometown and its link to Silent Hill, which had been kept secret from them all their lives. But The Order was amoral and showed no mercy...Alex's parents were killed as his mental state returned to normal. Elle's mother, Judge Margaret Holloway, confined her and Alex and was going to kill them both before Alex killed her in self-defense. Elle's father had long been very different from Margaret...years before, he was horrified to know the depths of the evil he became a part of after he married her, and he was frightened by the overwhelming influence and power of The Order in his town. When later combined with the knowledge he'd have to sacrifice one of his beloved children, it was all too much for him to bear. He withdrew into himself completely and became a bedridden, virtually non-responsive catatonic under the care of a Brahms doctor. Ultimately, Alex concluded the story by saying he was forced to kill most of its followers himself so that he and Elle could escape Silent Hill as the rest destroyed themselves.
My god, Rebecca thought with horror, all of this makes what happened in Waco and Jonestown look like PTA meetings!
There was a happy ending to the story, at least for the couple she interviewed. Alex and Elle married a year later...she became a police officer and he took courses online to become an electrician. The home they made for each other was a truly comfortable one, and they both looked after Elle's father during their off-hours at home; he was slowly but steadily showing signs of improvement in the decade since his daughter escaped Shepherd's Glen. More than that, Elle was two months pregnant...she already looked forward to waddling around while enforcing the law in her pregnancy like Frances McDormand in Fargo.
Rebecca Chambers was truly happy for them both, but there were still a few blanks she needed filled. As the couple sat together on a loveseat holding hands in their living room, she was seated across from them on a comforter. Rebecca said, "I really, really appreciate you both telling me so much, but there's stuff I'm still not clear on. You said the same thing that happened to Silent Hill reached Shepherd's Glen, but you never said exactly what happened. I mean, how could so many people die and disappear in such a short time? And why is it, as far as I can tell, no one is in any hurry to go back to either of those towns?" She raised her eyebrows.
The couple suddenly looked unsure...they looked from Rebecca to each other, as if they suddenly didn't know what to say.
Rebecca frowned. "What?" She suddenly thought, Uh-oh, I think I ran into a wall again...
Alex Shepherd finally looked back at Rebecca and said quietly, "Uh...Agent Chambers..."
She gently offered, "Rebecca, please."
Alex nodded. "Rebecca...we meant what we said when we'd tell you everything we knew, but..." He was silent a beat, trying to find the right words. Then: "...but it isn't that simple. For most who live anywhere near Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen, the subjects of those towns are sensitive. Knowing evil lived so close to you, you'd feel afraid, you'd wish like hell it never happened. And you wouldn't want to talk about it. If you never talk about it, never acknowledge it, then it'll go away. It'll be forgotten." And no one else would hear of what so many wanted to forget...that was why those disasters were never national news.
Elle offered quietly, "We were too close to what happened, so it's not like we can live in denial. And we'll never forget it, no matter how hard we try." The pretty blonde looked down sadly, and her husband gently squeezed her hand.
Alex finally said, "Even for all of that, you've got to understand there are still some things we can't talk about. Things that...haunt us. And if we told you about those things, to be blunt, you'd never believe us."
Rebecca's expression was soft. "Hey, remember what I told you about myself not long ago? Remember I lived in Raccoon City. I've fought zombies, so I've got an open mind about a lot of things!"
Alex said solemnly, cryptically, "Rebecca...you may be ready to see the Easter Bunny walk through our door, but that wouldn't help."
Elle said, "Telling you about what we've seen won't help, either. It hasn't helped us. Some nights we remember, and we hold each other in bed, unable to sleep."
Rebecca couldn't just settle for that. "I guess I'll have to go to Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen for myself and see - !"
Elle almost shouted then, "Don't do that!"
Alex said, with clear concern for Rebecca, "Listen to us, please! Don't even say that offhand! Those are places you don't want to go!"
With a burst of impatience, Rebecca Chambers almost shouted, "Why? You've got to understand I'm not just here out of curiosity! I need to know what happened!"
Elle spoke then with a measured voice, her expression clearly concerned for Rebecca: "All you need to know is...there is so much wrong with those places now. Especially Silent Hill. It may never be a safe place for anyone to live ever again."
Rebecca shook her head. "But why? What are we talking about? How did so many die? Are we talking about a virus? Some kind of chemicals that drifted from Silent Hill to Shepherd's Glen? What did The Order do?"
Alex frowned and said, "Something worse than any of those things...something a lot worse."
Elle's concern for the agent didn't ease for a moment. "Please...I understand you don't want what brought an end to Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen to happen to anyone else. You're so beautiful for that. But listen. If you're to believe in anything we say to you, believe this. It isn't safe for you or anyone to go there. If you need to know so badly, simply stop at the city limits of either of those towns. Stop before you begin to enter that damned fog. Even then, you may simply feel how wrong those places are."
Alex added, "Please believe that, Rebecca. Please trust in us to not go in there if you do feel it."
Rebecca was startled by how scared they were...for her. Taken aback, she managed, "O-okay. But that isn't as important as my needing to know this. Are you both sure The Order is gone? That they're all dead?"
Alex nodded, his eyes cool in their gaze. "Absolutely, Rebecca. If any of them are still alive, we wouldn't know." Unfortunately, that didn't help Rebecca at all, knowing what she knew.
Elle gave Rebecca a thoughtful gaze and said, "You're not the first one to ask us about The Order, you know?"
Just like that, the agent focused on Elle. "Really?"
"Yeah, that's right," Alex Shepherd said, suddenly reminded. "Less than a year ago, this girl visited us. She had as many questions about The Order as you did." He thought back. "A really pretty girl, about your age...blonde...really sad eyes. We weren't surprised she got away from Silent Hill, too. We could only tell her everything we told you."
Rebecca Chambers sat forward reflexively. "Did she say what her name was?"
Elle Shepherd said, "Only her first name. Heather."
Rebecca thought, Heather as in Heather Mason?
Cheryl Mason?
That made Rebecca want to reach her next destination faster than ever...and she was there the next day, to talk to the last person she needed to.
A man who, according to her facts, knew Harry Mason's daughter.
-4-
One day later
Humphrey, Maine
The humble office of Douglas Cartland, Private Detective. After letting the pretty young lady in, he felt the need to say, "You don't look like an anti-terrorist agent."
Rebecca turned to the former police officer who was pushing 70 years of age and smiled. She got that all of the time. She responded, only half-joking, "And you don't look too much like a private eye."
Douglas grinned. "Touche, kiddo."
Rebecca quickly lost her smile. "I'm not a kid, though. Ever heard of Raccoon City?"
"You're kidding, right? Everybody's heard of that place." He did a double-take at the girl. "What, did you live there before...?"
Her expression was serious as she nodded...as she said, "And I was one of the few who got out alive before it was destroyed."
Douglas drew closer to Rebecca, who stood in the center of his office. His gaze was one of solemn respect. "Don't take this the wrong way, but I always thought that was a funny name for a place. Raccoon City."
Rebecca shrugged. "What can I say? The folks who founded the city ran into lots of raccoons." In a softer tone, she said, "Now nothing lives there." And nothing was likely to live there for a very, very long time.
Douglas finally moved past Rebecca and sat behind his desk. Casual, he said, "So you wanna know about Cheryl Mason, huh. Is she in trouble?"
Rebecca shook her head. "No. I just want to talk to her."
The man's eyes narrowed a little, probing. "Why?"
"Silent Hill. I know it's a ghost town now, most of its residents gone. If Cheryl knows anything about what The Order did to make that happen, she could save a lot of lives. She could keep it from happening again."
Douglas settled back in his chair. He said quietly, "You oughtta leave her alone, honey."
Rebecca put her hands on her slender hips. "My turn to ask. Why?"
"She's had enough bad things happen to her. Half those things I still have trouble believing. Still keeps me awake some nights."
Rebecca suddenly felt troubled...the man had the same look in his eyes Cybil had. The same look in his eyes Alex and Elle had. "I understand you've known Cheryl for a long time...since about the time her father died?"
Douglas gave her a level gaze. "Uh-huh."
"That was in the year 2000, and her legal name was still changed to Heather then." She didn't bother to get out her iPhone this time to double-check her information...by this time, she knew most all of what she'd read by heart. "A couple of nights after Harry Mason died, she helped admit you to the hospital for a broken leg. How did that happen?"
Douglas Cartland answered, "A gorilla fell on me."
Rebecca smiled a little. "For real?"
"That's what I told the doctors. Cheryl was kind enough to help me out, and we've been friends since."
This guy was going to give her trouble, Rebecca realized. "According to what I researched, Cheryl drove you to the hospital from Silent Hill."
He nodded. "They got big gorillas there."
"I'll bet. I understand that Cheryl was briefly considered a suspect in the murder of her father?"
"She didn't do it, kid."
"Yeah, no charges were ever filed. Why?"
"Because Cheryl loved her dad, and he loved her. She wouldn't have done something like that in a million years. End of story." Douglas started to look agitated.
Rebecca decided to switch gears. "Okay, let me ask something else about Cheryl. She was born in Silent Hill in 1983, but she has no birth mother listed - "
"So what?"
"So...how is a child born without her mother's name on her birth certificate?"
"It was a blank left unfilled. Happens all the time."
"Uh-huh." Rebecca began to lose her patience...tension had built in the office between her and Douglas. "You know, it would be nice if you decided to cooperate with me, so start anytime! How did you meet Cheryl at the time of her father's death? Why did you both go to Silent Hill?"
Douglas shook his head slowly. "Take my advice, honey. Leave Cheryl Mason alone. Leave me alone."
Rebecca suddenly snapped, "I can't do that! Now you listen - !"
Just like that, Douglas leaned forward and jabbed a finger at Rebecca as he shouted, "No, YOU shut that pretty mouth of yours and listen to ME!" Stunned, Rebecca could only look at Douglas, who clearly regretted that outburst. Then...the old man's expression drained to become tired, and that weariness was mixed with a terrible shame. The P.I. looked down and finally said, "The last time someone wanted to find Cheryl, they came to me, too. They offered good money, and I didn't cover all the bases. I didn't care if they were being honest about why they wanted to find her. Well, I found Cheryl and her dad." He looked up at the girl, and his eyes were haunted in their expression. "And you know what happened? The crazy bastards murdered her father and wanted her for things...things that keep me awake at night, like I said."
Rebecca Chambers realized how much he wanted to protect Cheryl...she took a step toward his desk, her expression soft. "Mister Cartland, I'm not here to hurt Cheryl, I promise you. I just want to talk to her, to understand." Her eyes hardened with resolve as she told him, "There are members of The Order still alive out there. I have reason to believe they're going to do something terrible. I don't know if it can be called any form of terrorism, but I do know two towns are dead because of them. You said they wanted her thirteen years ago. Chances are they might still want her now, and I know she's been asking about them, like I have. Please believe me when I say I want to help Cheryl and, if she wants, I will do everything I can to protect her."
Douglas frowned, unsure. "Kid..."
Rebecca said with force, "Cover all the bases!" She dipped into her purse and pulled out a card, which she offered to Douglas. "This is a hotline number right to Chris Redfield, my commanding officer! He'll confirm that I'm conducting an informal investigation of what happened in Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen! If you want proof of my honesty, this is it!"
Douglas looked at her for a long moment before he finally said, "Give me that number." She did, and he dialed the number on his phone. It took a few minutes to talk to Chris Redfield, who confirmed all Rebecca said.
Douglas Cartland hung up the phone, and he looked up at Rebecca. There was a new light in his eyes. "You wanna know more about Cheryl and Silent Hill. Okay. I'll tell you what I can, and I'll only tell you the things I know you'll believe. If you want to know everything, Cheryl's the best person to tell you."
Rebecca gave him a confident look. "Mister Cartland, you're not the first one to tell me I wouldn't believe what they couldn't share with me. I have an open mind about lots of things."
"Uh-huh. Having an open mind is one thing. It's another to want to believe what you're told. Take my word for it: you won't want to believe."
Rebecca sighed heavily. "That's your choice, sir, but rest assured. I've seen my fair share of things that keep me awake some nights."
Douglas smiled then. "I hear you...but even that's no help." The old man began to tell Rebecca what he knew, but only the things he had no doubt she'd believe.
And those things was frightening enough...Rebecca looked at him with wide eyes and said softly, "If that's true...if even half of what Cheryl told you was true...! My god, why don't more people know about Silent Hill?" She asked that even after all that Alex and Elle told her.
Douglas offered, "Remember that old saying, ignornace is bliss? People have an instinct for turning a blind eye to things they don't wanna know about. It's a kind of defense mechanism, you know? But for real, I think there's something in Silent Hill and Shepherd's Glen that keeps them from from being seen...being known. It's like Silent Hill doesn't belong in our world anymore, but...someplace else."
The lady shook her head. "I don't know what to think. But I know The Order truly believes in their insane faith, and I don't doubt they still want Cheryl. They really think of her as this...Mother of God. If they still want to hurt her, to...use her, I will do everything I can to help her find The Order and stop them. Please, can you tell me where she is now?"
Douglas was reluctant to answer. "Kid, she didn't want me to help her, and she trusts me! She doesn't want what happened to her dad to happen to me or anyone else."
Rebecca said earnestly, "I'll take that chance if it means helping her and keeping her safe. I'm not just stubborn, but I'm pretty resourceful when I have to be."
"Yeah, those sound like famous last words." He gave her a thoughtful look. "But I believe you. There's something about you...I really believe you." He was silent for a deliberate beat, and then he told her. "You're right that Cheryl's been looking for those bastards. She knows they're out there, too. I've been trying to help by long distance, researching for her, making contacts with my friends in law enforcement, things like that. She's caught onto a lead you may not know about."
Rebecca asked, "What lead?"
"Hold on," Douglas grunted as he got out of his chair and went to one of his file cabinets set against a wall. He opened the top cabinet marked ACTIVE, and he quickly pulled out a file. He got out a pair of glasses from his suit jacket pocket and grumbled, "I hate being old." He then opened the file and looked at it for a beat. "Okay. Cheryl wanted to know if anyone of any importance ever left Silent Hill before things went to hell there, since some of the most powerful people in town also belonged to The Order. There was this one guy...a doctor by the name of Burton Young."
Rebecca nodded. "Go on?"
"This Doctor Young was real close to another doctor in Silent Hill, Michael Kaufmann. Hell, those guys went to medical school together. In the 1970's, Kaufmann was a director of medical staff at Alchemilla Hospital, and Young was one of his most immediate subordinates. At the same time, a local drug trade started involving PTV. Ever heard of it?"
"Yeah!" Rebecca felt a sudden excitement.
He gave her a look. "Then you might know about the rumors that Alchemilla was making the drug, too. Police outside of Silent Hill were starting to look at Kaufmann and anyone he knew very closely. Anyhow, in 1975, Doctor Young left Alchemilla and Silent Hill. Nobody knew why. He just left before...well, before a lot of other crap happened in that damn town."
"Where is Doctor Young now?"
"It took a lot of calls, but I finally got word last week. Burton Young moved to another state, and he's currently administrator of a hospital in this town called Black Falls. That's where Cheryl is now."
Rebecca nodded enthusiastically. "Okay. I need all the information you have!"
Douglas Cartland said, "You got it, but I need to tell you again. Cheryl won't want any help. She'd rather check into this guy by herself."
Rebecca frowned. "No, sir. If she's right about Doctor Young, then alone is the last thing Cheryl should be."
-5-
Two days afterward
Silent Hill, Maine
Rebecca Chambers arrived at the town limits on her green sports cycle and stopped. She'd brought the bike to a halt just before a dirty, weathered sign that proclaimed "Welcome to Silent Hill" and stood next to the two-lane blacktop. Rebecca considered the sign for a moment. It didn't feel in any way welcoming, and neither did the dense fog that shrouded everything in sight before her. Outside of town, it was a pleasant summer's day, the forested hills around the woman on her motorcycle alive and green under the blue sky...
...but just ahead of her, the fog that literally stopped at the border of Silent Hill was something else entirely. The road ahead seemed to fade away in the distance into the gray mist. Rebecca recalled what she'd been told before by those who escaped this town, and she began to understand what they meant. It really was like Silent Hill wasn't a part of this world anymore, that it wasn't just blanketed by this fog, it was gone. She had the thought that driving into the fog might mean driving into another world, and it didn't strike her as silly or fanciful in any way. Truly being here, she understood why there was no activity at all on this road besides her.
Those who had been touched by this place said it was a town better left for dead.
Rebecca felt this unearthly cold emanate from the gray in front of her, and she shuddered involuntarily.
There was a survival instinct in Rebecca that had been a part of her ever since the nightmarish incidents that took place in Raccoon Forest, and then the city that shared its name ceased to exist. Most wouldn't be as aware of things as Rebecca was because of the horrors created by the Umbrella Corporation. It was the same kind of instinct that soldiers earned from the harsh and unforgiving experience of combat in one battle after another.
That instinct spoke to Rebecca as she stared into Silent Hill's fog. As she sat astride her cycle, that voice became more and more urgent as moments passed. The chill in her blood increased as she thought, No wonder people want to forget this place. This...really is wrong. If I go in there, will I be able to leave?
The BSAA agent felt the urge to giggle after she thought that...it was something a child would think...but the urge faded away fast.
Rebecca somehow knew then that she wouldn't find any answers here if she did cross the very visible border to Silent Hill. And if the beautiful survivor did find anything, chances were it was something she wouldn't have wanted to find. It wouldn't have helped her in any way to find the answers she needed to find.
I must find The Order, but they wouldn't be here anymore. I have to find the girl looking for them.
I need to find Cheryl.
Rebecca Chambers never knew she made one of the wisest decisions of her life by backing her cycle up a few steps from Silent Hill's border, making a quick u-turn, and roaring away the way she came.
The survivor had no idea she still set her course to a destination that was more horrifying than anything she could have imagined.
But her destiny would be a wondrous one, too...because this isn't just a story of survival, of horror, and of nightmare evils that would threaten to change the world.
This is, first and foremost, a love story.
TO BE CONTINUED
