Chapter 2
Cybil and the Keys of Eclipse
I have returned. I'm glad a lot of people like this. I wasn't sure people would approve.
I do not own Silent Hill nor Sly Cooper.
Sly's POV
By the time I had finished explaining what happened to Cybil, Grace finally started to stir from her spell. As she sat up, she rubbed her forehead. I guessed that she was hit on the head.
"How do you feel, Grace?" I asked her once she sat up completely.
She groaned.
"Like I've been run over by a truck, but I'm alright, I guess."
Cybil sat on a barstool as she spoke, gaining Grace's attention for the first time.
"Glad to hear it."
Grace was confused at first, not knowing who Cybil was.
"Who are you?"
Cybil answered.
"Cybil. Cybil Bennett. I'm a cop from Brahms, the next town over."
She then gestured to me.
"Your friend, Mr. Cooper, was telling me why the two of you were in an alley. Can tell me what was going from your side of the story? Like why were you out this way."
That was a question I shared with Cybil as Grace answered.
"I'm just a tourist. I came here on vacation. I just got here. I'm not sure what exactly happened, but I'd like to find out myself."
Grace then returned to a question that has become her top priority since we got to Silent Hill.
"Have you seen a little girl? Just turned seven last month? Short, black hair?"
Cybil gave her the same answer she gave me.
"Sorry. The only people I've seen in this town are you two."
That enabled me to ask a different question.
"Where is everybody?"
Cybil answered stoically.
"I'd tell you if I knew, believe me. But, from what I can tell, something bizarre is going on. That's all I know."
Cybil then looked to the phone on the wall and a small, red, handheld radio on a nearby table.
"The phones are all dead, and the radio, too."
Cybil then stood up.
"I'm going back to Brahms to call in some reinforcements."
Just then, Grace stood up and started toward the glass door. Cybil and I both said the same thing.
"Hold it!"
Then Cybil spoke.
"Where do you think you're going?"
Grace looked at her and answered.
"My daughter. I've got to find her."
It was my turn to speak.
"No way. It's dangerous out there."
Grace then gave a serious look at me.
"In that case, I need to find her right now! Cheryl's my little girl. I can't just leave her out there by herself!"
I was about to protest when Cybil spoke.
"Have you got a gun?"
I looked at Cybil, thinking that she couldn't be serious. From the tone of her voice, it sounded like she wanted to help Grace instead of getting her out of this crazy town. Grace looked away, trying to find an answer.
"Ummm…no."
Cybil then approached my old friend and handed her a spare pistol. From the look of it, it was a Smith and Weston SD40 VE.
"Take this. And hope you don't have to use it."
As she handed her the gun, Cybil spoke again to Grace.
"Now listen to me, before you pull the trigger, know who you're shooting. And don't do it unless you have to. And don't go blasting me by mistake. Got it?"
In other words, don't waste the bullets and watch where you shoot. Nodding, Grace took the handgun.
"Yeah. Thanks."
Cybil then turned toward me.
"Do you need a gun, Sly?"
I shook my head.
"Nah. If I need one, I'll probably find one in this town. Otherwise, I'll use my cane."
But Cybil folded her arms.
"You two would do your best to stay nearby. I'll be back with help as quick as I can."
I then spoke up.
"If you come across a turtle in a wheelchair by the name of Bentley and a pink hippo name Murray on your way, can you let them know we're ok and what's been happening?"
Cybil nodded as she left the diner, leaving me and Grace alone.
I decided to keep a lookout while Grace examined for anything useful in the diner. Chances are high that we wouldn't be staying here long, especially with her daughter out there. But as I watched the fog, the feeling of dread I was having had begun to increase. After seeing those things in the alley, I didn't want to dare myself into imaging what else could be out there. It'd be great if I could contact Bentley and Murray from here, but it seemed the fog is jamming my communications. Chances are they were starting to worry.
I heard a chair being pulled back as I saw Grace take a seat with some items in her possession, including the handgun. She placed on the table four small bottles, a sharp knife, and a pocket flashlight.
"We'll probably need these."
I took a look at one of the bottles as Grace placed the pocket flashlight in her front pocket of her shirt. All the bottle said was 'Health Drink'. I wasn't certain it was poison or not, but I guess we'll be finding out later.
I took the knife just in case my cane would be ineffective and I still didn't have a gun. Grace also took out a brochure and opened it up to reveal a map of the town. Or at least the part we were in. Upon looking at the brochure, I remembered the paper I found in the alley and pulled it out of my backpack after placing the Health Drinks and the knife in. I showed it to Grace.
"I found this when we were in the alley after we got attacked by those creatures and saved by Cybil. Can you make anything of this?"
Grace took a look and her eyes widened yet again with realization.
"This paper. It's from a sketchbook! Cheryl's favorite birthday gift I got her a month ago was a sketchbook!"
I then looked at the writing.
"You think she could've gone to the town's local school?"
Grace looked at the map and pointed to one such square.
"Midwich Elementary appears to be the only school in this area. And apparently, there is more to the town that where we are. The area we are in is called "Old Silent Hill."
I then decided to joke to lighten the mood.
"If New Silent Hill is anything like the old one, I'd rather stay here."
The joke didn't help.
Deciding to check out the school, Grace and I were about to leave when the hand radio began to emit a loud static.
"What's that?" Grace asked.
I looked at the radio.
"Huh? It's the radio? What's going on with it?"
As I approached the radio, Grace withdrew her handgun and followed.
"I thought Cybil said the radio doesn't work."
It was then we heard a crash at the window where we were before the radio went off. Just then, something crashed through the window next to us.
It was another of these…monsters. Only this one looked like a human-sized pteranodon only warped in a nightmarish way. I held up my cane as Grace shot at the creature with the gun that Cybil had given her. She shot at it five times before the creature finally fell down dead. It was then that the radio quieted once more.
"This is not a dream! What's happening to this place?" Grace gasped in horror.
I stepped over the Air Screamer, as I decided to name it after it's pig-like screaming, and grabbed the hand radio.
"I don't know. But I bet that if we take this, it'll let us know when we are near one of those things or something else." I agreed with Grace.
It seemed that the little radio will be saving our lives more than once. As she placed the radio in her jean pocket and the gun in her inner jacket pocket, I took a look at the map.
"What's the name of this diner, Grace?"
From the corner of my eye, I saw Grace take a look at one of the abandoned menus on the bar.
"Café 5to2."
I then found our location on the map and then the school.
"If we take Bachman south and turn west on Bradbury, we'll be right in front of the school."
With that information, and the radio in our possession, we were ready to head out.
The chill of the fog pierced though my fur and made my skin crawl. After what happened at both the alley and the diner, who knows what else will crawl out from the mist and try to kill us. Using my binocu-com's compass, I took the lead and lead us to the south. But as we got to the intersection of Bachman Road and Matheson Street, one block south of the café, Grace saw something at the corner of a coffee shop.
"Look! Those look like more of Cheryl's sketchbook pages." She answered in a whispered.
We rushed over to the papers only to find two intact, the rest stained with blood. On them were two words. Doghouse. Levin St. "What's this about?" Grace asked. I raised an eyebrow as I picked up the two papers.
"I don't know. Maybe Cheryl left something for you there."
I then took out the map and found Levin Street.
"It's only a block west of us. We can find whatever's in a doghouse there and we can head over to Midwich Street instead. We then head south from there and pass a reservoir to get to the school."
We then hurried down Matheson, with me pocketing the messages. But as we got halfway to the first house once we turned the corner of Levin, the radio began to static again. My fur stood on end as we heard growling from the other side of a fence. I pulled myself up to look over the fence and I nearly lost whatever I had back at the diner.
I did see the doghouse the note mentioned. But I also saw the dog that lived in it, if you can call it a dog. It was a large Greyhound-like dog looked more demonic than a normal dog. It was hairless with rotten brown skin and a large set of jaws. It looked like a walking corpse that had its last meal when it was alive.
I was grateful that it was still asleep, although it seemed to be irritated by the radio's sound. I'd rather avoid it, but we need whatever is in that doghouse. Good thing I was a Master Thief. I let go of the fence and retuned to Grace.
"Grace. I see the doghouse, but there's a freaky-looking dog sleeping in it. I'm gonna go over the fence and get whatever's in there without waking the dog. I want you to go across the street and wait. I think it's sensitive to sound."
Grace was wary, but nodded.
"Alright. If it means finding Cheryl, I'll do it."
As Grace walked across the street, the sound of the radio died down. I then climbed the fence and used my Rail Walk to make my way to the roof of the house. Careful not to make any noises, I climbed down until I found myself on top of the doghouse. The doghouse made a creaking sound that caused the dog to stir a bit. My heart pounded so hard that I was afraid that it would wake up the dog and make me into dog chow.
But much to my relief, the dog decided to go back to sleep, thinking it was nothing. I held my breath as I carefully arched my arm over the doghouse's roof and into the opening, just inches above the sleeping dog. I carefully felt the interior until I felt something small taped to ceiling near the entrance. This must be what was hidden in here. Carefully, I peeled the item from the doghouse and pulled my arm out. With swift, silent movements, I climbed back up to the roof. Once I was in safe distance of the dog, I look at what I had just stolen. It was a house key.
As I wondered why Cheryl directed us to a house key, I made my way back to Grace, who raced toward me as I touched the sidewalk.
"What happened? I heard the dog growl and I thought I was going to have a heart attack."
I showed her the key.
"I thought I was too. But this is what the note said to look for. I think it opens the house where the dog is."
Quietly, I returned to the house and unlocked the door before entering with Grace.
The house was quiet and thankfully empty. With a nod, Grace and I began to search the house. Using the dining table as a base, we placed whatever we found that could be useful in our search. This included a first aid kit, handgun bullets, and health drinks. I found a map near the back entrance of the house what has something scribbled on it.
"Keys for Eclipse? What the heck is that?"
I copied the scribbles on our map, thinking this is something important. There was a circled area on the intersection of Matheson Street and Ellroy Street, an arrow at the end of Finney, and a line that goes down the alley behind Café 5to2 and the block behind it.
Wondering what these 'Keys for Eclipse were, I turned and found myself facing the door to the back. There were three locks on it. I figured it was where these keys go. I turned to Grace, who was reloading her handgun.
"I'm gonna find the keys for this door. Stay here and don't let anyone but me, Cybil, and Cheryl in."
"What are you talking about? What keys?"
I showed her the map before I left, telling Grace that I would be as fast as I could.
Once out of the house, I sprinted down the street to the nearest of these locations: the alley behind the café. I had taken the radio with me so that I could 'watch' where I was going and not run into anymore of those things. I rushed down the street until I found the alley. Carefully, I walked down the alley until a sign caught my attention. It said 'Off Limits".
But when you're a thief, nothing is off limits.
Carefully, I passed through the gate. On the ground in front of me were three items. A bloody basketball hoop, a dog's head, and a small key. Avoiding the head and the hoop, I picked up the key and looked at it. It had an engraving of the Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz book on it. There was a little note attached to it that said, 'Key of Woodman.' I pocketed the key before taking out the map, wondering where this was going.
I headed to the next stop, which was the southern Ellroy marker. I made my why to Ellroy when the radio when off again. Looking up, I saw that it was another Air Screamer. Although I had my cane with me, I was starting to wish I had Grace's gun or had taken Cybil's offer for a second gun instead. I waited until the Air Screamer was in range, then I cracked its head with one swing of my cane. It took a lot of strength to kill it and my arms were beginning to kill me.
Leaving the body behind, I headed down the street until I came upon what almost looked like a crater. There was a single house that looked like it was going to fall into the crater and it had an open mailbox with something shiny in it. Careful of my footing, I took the key and backed away from the edge before looking at it. This key had the image of a scarecrow on it and a note that said 'Key of Scarecrow'. I held back a mental eye roll, clearly seeing a pattern with the keys as I headed north to retrieve the "Key of Lion," which I found in an abandoned police car's opened trunk.
I returned to the house on Levin Street where Grace was waiting.
"I've got the keys. Have your gun ready. We may have to take out that dog if we want to live."
Grace nodded as we entered the house again. Upon seeing the triple locks, I used the keys to open it. It was then that something strange happened.
As we entered the yard, the sound of a siren roared with life, echoing across town. I prepared for a fight, but not for this. As the siren blared, the town immediately became dark again. I was sure that it was morning when Grace and I arrived in Silent Hull. So how was this possible? What in the world was going on?
Our attention changed when Grace turned on her pocket flashlight and we saw the dog, growling at us. Only, it was FAR different than what it was in the light. The dog seemed to have gained some weight, making it seem healthy, but one thing stood out: its head was covered in worms. And it wasn't like someone dumped fish bait on it. They were a part of its body.
"Grace!" I yelled.
The worm-dog was about to attack me when Grace, who I knew would never shoot a normal animal, fired a few rounds into the dog's head, killing it. As the animal died, I looked to Grace.
"You ok?"
Grace shook her head.
"No. I won't be until we leave this damned place with Cheryl. This is a freaking nightmare!"
I then headed to the back gate.
"Come on. We'll have to run our way to the school."
Grace and I then headed down the alley into Bloch Street and headed to Midwich, carefully avoiding the newly 'evolved' monsters until we had reached the school doors and dashed in. As we panted, we looked out into the darkness behind the doors.
Grace was right. This is a nightmare.
One that I hope we can wake up from.
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