A/N: Omg! I updated! :D I'm proud of myself. Anyway, yeah. I don't know what else to say here, really. Thanks for all the reviews!

Read and enjoy!

Disclaimer: If I owned the Silent Hill series, I'd be out making an awesome game right now instead of sitting at my computer writing fanfiction.

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The town was completely silent, save for the sound of our footsteps echoing on the pavement. After the short conversation we'd had, I couldn't quite bring myself to talk to him again. There was far too much on my mind. I had to organize my thoughts before...before something happened.

I almost shuddered. If this happened exactly the way I thought it would...then the craziness had only just begun. So, what was worse? Staying with James, or being alone in the town? I was too afraid to be alone, now that I knew where I was. But I was sure that tagging along with James was probably the most dangerous thing I could do...

Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. After all, Lying Figures and Mannequins had roamed the streets in the game, and yet I hadn't seen a single one since I woke up here.

I paused, almost bumping into James as he stopped. It took me a moment or two to realize why he had stopped—we'd arrived at the destroyed bridge, the one down the road from the Historical Society. This was near the spot where I'd woken up.

James was bending over something. Eh? What was—

"Jesus Christ!" I screeched, backing up in horror.

Stumbling to the edge of the road, I paused to retch for several seconds, almost heaving up my lunch in the process.

Lying in the middle of the road before the dropoff...was a human corpse.

Part of my mind remembered there being a corpse here in the game, but that bloody lump was nothing like this. This was fucking real.

Its—no, his—eyes were wide open, a blank and staring expression on his face. There were numerous slash marks cutting across his chest, and a huge chunk of flesh was missing from one of his arms. The blood formed an ominous crimson pool around his body. It was still wet; still fresh. This person hadn't been dead for long. Whatever had killed him...was probably still nearby.

This realization almost caused me to start retching again. I bent over slightly, placing a hand over my mouth, anticipating the unpleasant sensation.

A large hand firmly gripped my shoulder. I allowed James to grasp my other shoulder as well, guiding me away from the corpse and the metallic stench of blood. After we had walked for a few minutes, he stopped and turned to me. I still had one hand firmly placed over my mouth.

"Are you all right?" He asked gently. I immediately shook my head.

"Wh-Who could've...?" But, of course, I already knew the answer. I just didn't want to accept it.

James didn't reply; he just continued to stare at me with a very solemn expression. After a moment, I felt my stomach calm down a bit. But the fear hadn't lessened at all.

"How are you not affected by that?!" I snapped, jabbing a finger in the general direction of the corpse. "That was...that was a human body, wasn't it?! Somebody...no...something killed that person..."

He was still silent, and I knew why. He had already mentioned monsters. He was just waiting for me to stop my denial.

"We could die here, couldn't we?" I suddenly asked in a small voice. "Oh my God...this is really happening..."

Nothing human could have killed that man. Nothing.

"I won't let anything happen to you," James said quietly. "All right?"

I bit my lip, not quite believing him. How could you protect anyone in Silent Hill when it was hard enough just protecting yourself? Suddenly the town looked as ominous as it felt, and I knew that anything could be hiding in that fog.

"...Okay," I said, but only because he was waiting for an answer. There was nothing I could do to ensure my safety here.

James didn't make any reply, but I could feel him staring at me. He hadn't been here for that long, had he? Long enough to go through the apartment buildings; that's it. How was it that he was so much calmer than me right now? He wasn't exactly in the best state of mind right now, but still...

A crinkling noise caused me to look over in his direction; I noted with a frown that he was smoothing out a yellowed piece of paper. The edge of it was soaked with blood.

"What is that?" I asked in a weak voice, moving closer to him.

"A map," he answered. "I found it on the...I found it."

His effort to censor himself didn't make me feel much better, because it was pretty easy to tell what he'd been about to say. Still, I leaned closer to get a better view. I had already remembered what it was, but I figured I'd give some input for James' benefit.

"The bowling alley's circled," I pointed out, satisfied with the short look I'd taken. Nothing else of interest was on the map; just blood and grime. I couldn't fathom how James had reached over and taken that thing off the corpse; I didn't even want to look at it for a prolonged period of time.

"Hm..." James stared off down the road with a troubled look on his face.

"What is it?" I asked.

He shook his head. "No...it's nothing. We should get going; it's the only lead we've got, after all."

"Yeah..." I murmured, taking one final glance in the direction of the destroyed bridge. Only a faded outline was visible through the fog; I couldn't see the corpse from here. I had the sudden idea that if it stood up and walked, we wouldn't see it coming.

No, that was utterly ridiculous. I was letting my imagination run wild.

"...Though I don't see what a bowling alley has to do with anything," I said with a nervous laugh, and started walking. James caught up and took the lead.

"Not much in this town does make sense," he commented quietly.

It fell silent after that, as I wasn't really sure what to say. I thought about the bridge, how it looked like it had been blasted away with some immense force. That wasn't the result of little maintenance and gradual deterioration; something had destroyed that bridge. And the very fact that I couldn't see what that something was disturbed me to no end.

Yes, there was no doubt about it...creatures prowled through this fog. Just because they weren't out in the open like in the game didn't mean they weren't there.

The hair on the back of my neck rose at this thought, and for the first time I noticed how James walked with his hand hovering close to the butt of his gun. He knew. He had known from the beginning.

We walked like that for a little while, lapsing back into familiar silence. Despite my paranoia, we didn't run into anything during our trek. Our only company was the endless fog and the lurking possibility of danger.

After a few more minutes had passed, a low rumbling met my ears. My body tensed for a moment, before I registered the fact that it was the car from before. I could see the shadow of it through the fog, the car with the metal pipe jutting out of its hood. A cloud of black exhaust flowed from its tailpipe, mingling with the haze before dissipating.

James approached the car, eyeing it warily; anything suspicious here could easily mean trouble.

"I passed by that thing earlier," I said, standing at a distance. "I don't know how the hell it got like that."

He spared me a glance, nodding, and then walked up to the pipe. Experimentally placing a hand on it, he hesitated for a brief moment before yanking it out with a grunt.

As I expected it to, the car sputtered for a moment before its engine died. Just like that, we were plunged into silence once more.

Keeping a firm grip on the pipe, James walked around either side of the car and gazed through its windows. It only took him a few seconds to discern that there was nothing of interest for us here.

He returned to my side, and I wasn't surprised when he held out the pipe.

"Here," he said solemnly. "You should probably hold on to this."

I took it without a word. It seemed like the look of pure dread in my eyes was enough of a response for him, because he turned and gestured for me to follow.

Matching his pace, I gripped the metal pipe tightly. It was slightly rusted, but it seemed sturdy enough. It was around three feet long, just like the game had described it, and just the right weight for me to carry around. I hoped I wouldn't have to use it.

In a matter of seconds, we were standing in front of a large and familiar building. The main sign, as well as various fliers taped around the building, confirmed that this was in fact Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. James held the door open for me and I slipped inside, careful to keep the pipe from banging on the doorframe. I wasn't sure whose attention I would catch if I made a loud noise; I didn't really want to find out.

We slipped through the first door we came to, though I knew the one at the end of the hall would be locked. The door took us into some sort of supply closet slash employee's lounge. One end of the room was full of clutter, and another part contained an old looking sofa and a coffee table. It was a bit different in here than I remembered.

James immediately began an investigation of the room, his eyes scanning over every nook and cranny. It struck me as morbidly amusing for a moment, and I had to fight the urge to laugh. His actions seemed strange, but it was exactly what I always made him do when I played the game. There was no way to get through Silent Hill without meticulous investigation. On my first playthrough of Silent Hill 3, I had gotten completely stuck just because I had missed picking up a coat hanger, of all things.

Deciding to give him a hand, I started to look around as well, even though I knew there was nothing of value in this room. Strange...wasn't something supposed to happen here? We were supposed to hear Eddie and Laura talking, but everything was pretty quiet right now.

I almost jumped when I saw sudden movement to my left; it took me a moment to realize that I was just seeing my reflection in a dusty mirror on the wall.

Strange. I was in hell, and yet I didn't even look affected. My long, curly brown hair was slightly messy from lying unconscious on the lake's shore, and my skin was a little paler than usual, but other than that I looked pretty normal. My AC/DC t-shirt looked a little out of place, though.

I smiled to myself, a little nervously, and suddenly the intensity of my own brown eyes unnerved me. I had the feeling that someone else was staring back at me through that mirror.

The sound of James approaching broke me out of my reverie, and I turned away with a jerk. Nothing had been there...my paranoia was getting to me again.

"There isn't anything here," I remarked with a shrug, trying to hide the fact that I'd just had a minor episode.

He nodded, opening his mouth to say something, but then he paused. "...Do you smell that?"

My lips tugged down in a slight frown. "Yeah." I was glad I wasn't hungry, because the distinct smell of pizza was suddenly in the air.

"But how..." James trailed off, because suddenly we heard voices.

"So what'd you do? Robbery, murder?"

A little girl's voice...that was definitely Laura.

"Nah, nothing like that," Eddie's muffled voice came. I shuddered; we would have to kill him later, wouldn't we?

"Hah! You're nothin' but a gutless fatso!" Laura scoffed.

At this point, James and I exchanged glances. He nodded to me, approaching the second door out of this room.

"Whadda you have to say that for?" Eddie asked, a hint of a whine in his tone.

"I thought you said the cops were after you."

"No, I ran 'cause I was scared. I don't know what the cops are doing."

Eddie...I wished we didn't have anything to do with him. Most of the other people we'd meet in this town would be more dangerous than helpful.

Speaking of which...where the hell was Maria? Sure, she was just a figment of James' imagination, but still...it didn't look like he'd seen anyone like her around.

"But if you did something bad, why didn't you say you were sorry?" Laura asked innocently, her normally bratty tone fading for a moment. Then she seemed to hesitate.

"Well...I guess I run away a lots too," she admitted.

"It's no good. They wouldn't listen. Nobody will ever forgive me."

I had to abandon my troubling train of thought about Maria, because James had opened the door to the next room. I followed in shortly after; we walked out from behind the counter, approaching where Eddie sat.

Almost instantly, I didn't like him. Maybe my impression was influenced by my prior knowledge of him, but I had a feeling I wouldn't like him either way. He was overweight and sitting slightly hunched over; his almost childish clothing style and his very posture hinted at the insecurity buried within him. I could see sweat stains on his back and under his arms, and the dirty blond hair that showed from beneath his cap looked about as greasy as the pizza he was eating.

And he wondered why people picked on him...okay, maybe that was a bit of a cruel thought. I had an itching feeling that that kind of thinking would get my brains blown out later on.

"Eddie," James said, getting the man's attention.

Eddie looked turned and looked at us over one shoulder, squinting at the light coming from James' pocket flashlight. James reached up and turned it off.

"Oh...um, yer..."

"James. We met in the apartment building," James said. He gestured to me after a moment. "This is Brittany."

"Yeah, uh...nice to meet'cha," Eddie said awkwardly, staring at me.

I didn't care much for the way he looked at me; I wasn't sure why, but his eyes seemed to darken at the sight of me. Maybe he sensed the dislike I had for him. Hopefully it was just my imagination acting up again.

James frowned when Eddie didn't say anything more. "...Are you alone here, Eddie?"

"Um, no..." Eddie said after a second, and the upward inflection he placed on the last word betrayed his hesitation.

I watched a green bowling ball roll towards us, and we all looked up to see Laura standing near the door.

"Bye-bye!" She said, smirking as if this was some sort of game. With that, she slipped out the door.

"Wait! Come back!" James called, but to no avail. He ran forward a few steps, then turned to look at Eddie. "Eddie! Aren't you coming?"

"Huh? Go after Laura? But why...?"

"Laura? Is that her name?" James asked.

"That's what she said," Eddie said with a shrug, before taking another bite of his pizza slice.

James' eyes narrowed with frustration and anger, and he turned to Eddie once more.

"This town is full of monsters! How can you just--"

"James, forget about it," I interrupted him, feeling uncomfortable in Eddie's presence. "We're going to lose her if we stick around."

I tried to ignore his statement about the monsters, and how every single word uttered here was almost identical to what had been said in the game. I had the distinct feeling of being trapped, and had to shake it off.

After a second, James nodded and gestured for me to follow him. He cast a final glare of disapproval at Eddie before we ran out the door together.

"Damn," James muttered as we emerged out into the fog once more. I understood how he felt; it would be near-impossible to find someone in this setting. It was difficult to even see shadows.

Shit, how were we going to find Laura? Maria had helped James out in the game, but I obviously wouldn't have the keys to the back door of Heaven's Night. But since Maria never actually existed, maybe the door would be unlocked? Still, I thought she had been a manifestation of the town, so...

For the first time, I did not appreciate how puzzling everything here was. I had been under the impression that every person who entered Silent Hill in the second game saw a different version of it. Why, then, did I see the town exactly the way James saw it? The monsters that James saw were physical manifestations of the different aspects of his psyche; theoretically, I shouldn't be able to see them. But I had the feeling that I would soon enough...

"There!" James said abruptly, as we saw a shadow disappear around the corner.

We ran after her, but I couldn't tell if we were even close because of the fog. After passing through the gate to a chain link fence, we started jogging down the alley towards the strip club.

"Who the hell is that girl?" I asked, simply because it would look suspicious if I started talking about her like I knew her.

"I don't know," James replied. "But she knows something about Mary. We have to find her!"

It didn't take long for us to reach the dead end, and for James to discover that there was no way we could follow her through the crack between buildings. I took a peek myself to see if I could slip through, but immediately shook my head. I was claustrophobic, and I'd probably have a panic attack if I got stuck in there.

"Maybe there's a way through here," James remarked, approaching the door to Heaven's Night. He reached out and tried the doorknob; I felt a sinking feeling in my stomach when the door didn't open.

"No good," James muttered. "It's locked."

Well, that was it. Our progress had come to a screeching halt, and now we were stuck here. There was no other way to Brookhaven Hospital; the road next to the bowling alley was blocked off, and I was pretty sure the opposite end of that road was blocked as well. Besides, I really didn't want to trek through the apartments just to check that last option.

"Well, any other ideas?" I asked, walking up to his side. However, when I approached the door, it swung open a bit.

I raised my eyebrows, frowning. "...Locked, huh?" I glanced over at James, who looked bewildered.

"But I just—" He faltered, reaching out and trying the doorknob again. It turned easily. "...Never mind."

"Okay then," I mumbled, shrugging. But I couldn't help but feel troubled. I had heard the doorknob rattle when James tried it the first time; it had been locked. So why...?

Giving up, I pulled the door open fully and we slipped inside. James turned on his flashlight, and the room was dimly illuminated. There wasn't really anything of interest, except for a few crates that I suspected contained alcohol. After giving the area a cursory glance, James trudged up the stairs, with me following closely behind.

The first door we tried led to the main room of the strip club. As I remembered, there was a bar on one wall, while the stage was almost directly in front of us. I noted with mild amusement that James looked a little uncomfortable. Probably because I was here with him, and I didn't exactly parade myself around like Maria tended to do.

"A strip club. Awesome," I remarked sarcastically, and then glanced over at the bar. "I could seriously use a drink right now."

"I don't think now is the time," James said, seeming to relax a little. "Besides, you're underage."

"Sorry, Dad," I smirked slightly, before walking further into the room and looking around. I felt a lot more comfortable here, oddly enough; it was probably because this had been a monster-free area in the game.

"Any sign of her?" James asked after a moment. "If the door was unlocked, she might've gone through here."

"For the sake of her psychological well-being, I should hope not," I remarked, looking up at the nude posters on the wall with raised eyebrows.

"There's another door over there," I reluctantly said after a moment, pointing to it. "We'd might as well move on."

"Yeah," James agreed. "Let's go."

Next stop, Brookhaven Hospital...and I knew my nightmare had only just begun.

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A/N: Very slight humor at the end...but it's kind of impossible to incorporate much humor into Silent Hill. XD Anyway, this chapter was...sort of eventful? Brit has a rusty pipe now, hurray! Let's have her fight Pyramid Head now--okay, not really. I want this story to be longer than four chapters. XD

Monsters will show up next chapter, so look forward to that. I've just been trying to pace this...y'know, the gradual descent into "OH DEAR GOD I'M GONNA DIE."

I hope no one's too upset about the lack of Maria in this story. Btw...can anyone else figure out what that means? XD

So! Please review? ;D I'll give you...some of Eddie's pizza! Yeah!

Next time: Evil nurses of doom!