S.E Chapter 4- Dream or Reality?
Authors note: the silence will be broken in the seemingly abandoned town, sounds of unpleasant beasts coming and going in the fog; are Sheva and Kevin seeing things? RE is Capcom's, SH is Konami's.
The houses were old and the eerie desolation that surrounded them made the whole environment less quaint then it was meant to be. Feet shuffling and equipment clanking lightly replaced any conversation the partners would have had, far too unsettled by the never-ending fog. Sheva could easily relate what she saw to an evacuation; doors of houses wide open, garage doors left up, cars still parked in driveways and rusting from age.
"You know Cybil didn't go into detail as to why the town's abandoned or why it's so dangerous that we had to be called in. Do you think she's hiding something?" Kevin finally said the words coming out of his mouth being professional for once.
"Possibly or maybe she's had bad memories from past experience. Either way it never hurts to take precaution." She said unclipping her gun holster while she spoke, eyes scanning quickly over every direction. When they looked back to the grey concrete something dark against the surface caught her attention. Kevin saw her hand raise to halt him and he watched her bend down slowly to closer examine the stain, trying not to let his gaze wander to her slender behind.
"What did you find?" he asked stepping up beside her. The mark was still moist but getting cold the colour unmistakable to Sheva.
"Blood, there's so much and it looks as though it's only been here a couple of hours."
"Maybe following that will give us more answers." Sheva looked to Kevin's pointing finger and followed its invisible guidance, a trail of drag marks leading to the open door of a bungalow. Without hesitation they entered the building, mould and dust itched irritating their senses. Room after room was peered into but not a single sign of life was there.
"Is anybody there?" Sheva called only hearing the walls creak in reply. Clacking of nails swiftly coming and going on the pavement outside triggered the agents reflexes, both of them drawing their guns and turning swiftly to be met with nothing; the quick motion put shock into the floorboards that they could no longer handle and with only a crack as a warning Sheva felt her whole support give out underneath her. She yelled and waited for the pain from a hard landing to go through her but was only met with a tense pressure around her forearm; feeling like she was floating she looked up to see Kevin's strained features as he held fast to her, his eyes blazing with determination not to let go.
"Kevin..." she had never expected the man to be so fast but she was grateful and couldn't find the words to show it. With a grunt he pulled her up enough so she could grip the floors edge with her free arm and clamber out; he smiled with relief and still hadn't let go of her arm, the small smile replaced by a terrified look in seconds. The dog had come up from behind and jumped Kevin so quickly that his mind almost didn't register the pain her felt from the jagged yellow teeth ripping at his shoulder. Sheva was stunned for a moment by the beasts appearance, it looked like it was skinned alive the pink and red tissue covered in slick mucous; how it could see boggled her when its head was wrapped in black worms intertwining into one another but never falling out. Kevin's yell brought back her protective instincts and faster than a human could blink her gun was raised and shot a clean hole into the beasts head. Its gurgled yelp sounded until it fell onto the ground, convulsing before finally lying still for good.
"Gross, it's not a Cerberus that's for sure." Kevin groaned clutching his wound and prodding the dead beast with his foot.
"It reminds me of the Adjule that were in Africa but these are different; far more twisted looking." Sheva took her eyes off the corpse to examine the extent of her partner's injuries. The teeth marks weren't fatally deep but they would need supplies from a medical facility to fix them up.
"We need to fix this wound, is there a hospital nearby?" she asked knowing Kevin was holding the map. He unfolded the paper and spotted Brookhaven with ease.
"Yeah there is but we don't have time. We have to get to the church-"
"That can wait, my number one priority is the well being of my partner got it?" she furrowed her brows not in anger but to prove that she was serious in her words. He silently nodded feeling ever the worse about the way he acted around this obviously strong and determined woman.
"Good, we'll make it quick so we can get back to the mission. Joseph could be on the move while we're getting distracted." Gun placed securely in its holster, the African woman lead the way out of the house her senses on high alert in case there were any more of the strange creatures around. Jogging at an even pace covered several blocks in only a few minutes the partners never losing momentum even when their lungs burned and legs screamed for a break; as fast as they were they would never be able to out run what came next, the sound of an air raid siren ringing loudly throughout the air despite being in a location far away from them.
"Are we being bombed?" Kevin questioned tensing his muscles and preparing to go for cover, what they were met with instead was the darkness that slowly turned the fog dark grey, deep gray and finally pitch black.
"An eclipse?" Sheva felt extremely unsafe in the darkened environment, sounds of scratching and low growls coming from alley ways and houses, from all directions. Kevin was just as lost feeling his partner's presence nearby yet still having an ominous cloud of loneliness clinging to his aura.
"This is just a little too fucked up for my liking. Sheva follow the sound of my voice, put your back against mine and stay close." He gave the command swiftly but was only answered with her quick and frightened scream, the whoosh of something large just passing by him and then an off silence following it.
"Sheva?!" he remembered the flashlight that was clipped on his belt buckle, flicking it on to reveal what the darkness had swallowed. He saw his breath and felt the cold that had just begun prick his skin. From above snowflakes fell soft and innocently to the ground and he held out his hand to make sure what he was seeing was real.
"Snow in the middle of summer?" the small distraction was discarded quickly, his mind still focused on where his partner had disappeared to. Thinking that she may have made a run for it he turned on his walkie talkie to get a hold of her.
"Sheva, Cybil if you can hear me call back, over." He let go of the receiver being met with only the hiss and crackle of static on the other end.
"Come on answer me Damnit!" he was usually calm in desperate situations but upon hearing the same static a second time his worry grew into gut wrenching fear.
"Sheva please answer me....what the hell is going on." He shouted towards the endless sky of black all of what surrounded him making no sense at all. He sprinted down the streets ignoring the never ending sting of his wound and hoping that wherever Sheva was she was still in one piece. Jagged turns met him down an alley after he went through a gate that said beware of dog, his way cut off when the end of the path was blocked by a larger chain fence barbed wire topping it and making escape impossible. The drip of water into a puddle could be heard just in front of him and he turned towards the noise; instead of a murky puddle there was only the deep black of blood, lines of the same crimson liquid running down the fence. His heart raced in fear of what the source was when his light followed the streams up and when it shone over a pink, grey and red mass of contorted, gelatinous flesh he felt the bile stir in his belly; not just because it was a mutilated corpse but because it was someone he recognised, Cindy the waitress who had worked at J's bar many years ago during the Racoon city incident.
"Oh god.' He wanted to turn away but his eyes couldn't stop staring until he heard a sound coming from behind him, like clotted blood being curdled in a constricted larynx. It only took a second for him to lay eyes on the four disturbing creatures that were now blocking his only way of escape; they were skinned and faceless save for the set of teeth that were always in view due to the lips being chewed away. Pot bellies were slit open allowing highly corrosive acid to trail on the ground after them in a lethal hiss; these demons were created from Kevin's mind, the fear of the zombies now coming to life in a hellish form.
"Wha-this can't be real." He backed up and pulled out his gun, hands that were usually calm and steady now shaking violently.
"Get the hell away." They only drew closer and he knew they wouldn't listen in the first place, why he bothered yelling was beyond him but he quickly started plugging rounds into their putrid flesh. He feared for his life and sanity but in his mind he had to survive; all he could really think about was finding Sheva and making sure she was ok.
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Cybil didn't know why but she felt she had to check the old diner first, maybe it was for the sake of nostalgia or some other foreign reason either way she walked into the musty building taking slow steps like she were walking on rice paper. It was designed in the style of any early eighties restaurant with chequered wall tiles, red round bar stools and quaint little booths; if it weren't for the dried blood stains and eerie otherworld darkness that had suddenly fallen on her she would have thought it to be the perfect little dining spot.
'It all started here where I first met Harry and he looked so lost. He told me about his lost daughter and despite my own orders to investigate why communications were lost in Silent Hill...I offered to lend a hand.' She thought brushing her hand over the exact booth bench she had found him on.
'Harry this time around it's different. The world could be in great danger if this man isn't caught and you're not here.' Despite being quite the independent woman Cybil felt oddly helpless knowing that she wouldn't be running into the dark haired man at any point. She looked at her reflection cast back due to her flashlight in the window seeing how sad and tired she had become, sighing in disappointment. The features of someone standing outside suddenly were caught in the lights beam and the cop felt her entire form jolt from surprise. Her eyes registered to her brain too late and his visage vanished into the darkness as quickly as it had come. Without hesitation she ran for the glass door back out into the dark cold streets, snowflakes landing on her head but quickly flying off from her head that looked back and forth swiftly eyes searching for any sign.
'Get a grip Bennet there's no way that could have been him, you're seeing things. This place is trying to drive you insane.' She argued internally but remained focused on looking and listening for signs of human life, there weren't even traces of footprints left in the shallow snow that blanketed the roads.
'Go ahead, follow after him.' This voice didn't sound like her own and yet Cybil obeyed it like a hypnotic command, running down the street that led to Midwitch elementary school one of many places she had explored when she first ventured the town. Her goal of finding the scientific madman Joseph Creed didn't even seem like her only focus anymore, she promised she'd get right back to finding the church once she confirmed if what she saw was real.
'Harry.' the one word she thought she'd never say again was starting to feel as though he were still alive and...it frightened her.
Chapter four and the town is beginning to play with three outsiders minds. Where could Sheva have gone so fast and will Kevin even be alive to save her; Cybil is seeing ghosts that may not be so dead. What's to come? Only I know. Reviews will keep this story alive.
