Thank you everyone for sticking through this with me. Sorry for not updating much in a while, but I had a lot going on that distracted me from this. I also should give a shout out to my wonderful supporter and editor Echoes of Fantasy, without her, I doubt I would have gotten this far! (If you are a fan of Dragon Age and Mass Effect, I highly recommend reading her work here!) Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Fog World and the First Clue
I opened the door out into the pool area. It was light out, but the entire area was covered in a thick fog; thick enough that I could barely see even a few feet ahead of me.
"How the hell… I've never seen fog this thick before…" I commented under my breath.
I looked at my watch and saw that it was rather early in the morning; about seven in the morning to be exact. There was a bitter cold breeze running through the fog and it made me shiver. "I should probably get my jacket from my car on the way to Nick's parking spot…" I thought as I looked at the note, apparently from Nick, in my hand.
"…Parking lot, Spot number twelve. Maybe that's where Nick parked…" I thought as I rustled around in my pocket and pulled out Nick's car keys I had found in the room. "Why did he abandon his car? He would never do that…" I question aloud and pocket the keys again.
As I made my way through the thick fog and into the main lobby, I noticed something else that was rather odd: the entire place seemed to be quiet, almost lifeless. It was all so very dilapidated; as if, over night, the placed had aged several years with no one taking care of it.
"Hello?" I asked out loud, hoping to grab someone's attention, but no one responded. The entire place was eerily quiet. It gave me an uneasy sense of lifelessness surrounding me.
It was very peculiar as normally, the front desk of places like this are always manned at all hours of the day. I made my way to the front desk and placed my hands on the counter, leaning over and looking into the office beyond, but it was empty as well; not a single soul in sight. That same eerie feeling washed over me again and I remembered the dream from last night. The place felt the exact same way and suddenly, I was paranoid. Lying on the far corner of the countertop was a folded up map of Silent Hill's Central District; the district I was in right now.
I found myself watching my back, almost expecting to find that pyramid head thing standing behind me with that bloody great knife. I pushed that thought aside and made my way out into the equally foggy parking lot. There were a lot less cars here and they all looked old, wrong from what I had seen the day before. Many looked as if they hadn't been touched in many years; dust coated on the exterior, some windows broken and some of the tires had been completely deflated.
My truck was still there, though. Still looking just as clean as when I pulled in and parked it. I found that rather odd, but there wasn't much I could do about it until I learned more about what was happening. I opened up one of the side doors on my Ford Ranger XLT extended cab and grabbed my black leather jacket; slipping it on. It didn't make the cold go away, but it sure as hell felt a lot better.
I placed the handgun James had given me into a pocket on the inside of the jacket; the knife from Cheryl still in my pants pocket, and made my way to the spot indicated in Nick's note.
As I had predicted, Nick's 2005 Ford Mustang, blue as a clear morning sky, sat in the spot; covered in a very thin layer of dust. I ran my fingers along the dust-covered body; remembering how excited Nick had been when he had first got it. I checked the driver's side door; not surprised to find it locked. I fished the keys from my pocket and slid the car key home in the lock. The lock on the door popped up a little, and I opened the door.
Like it always had before, Nick's car still had that "New Car" smell from one of those hanging scented tree car fresheners as I sat down in the driver's seat. I inserted the key into the ignition and turned it enough to simply turn the power on. Everything seemed fine on the inside, and the car even showed that it was full on gas, but when I tried to start it, it just gave that long clicking sound as if the battery was dead. I knew Nick wouldn't leave his car in this condition, so why did he? I wondered.
I checked the car out for anything useful; anything at all that I could use to help find Nick. Sat on the passenger's seat was a small voice recorder about the size of the palm of my hand. I didn't have to check it out to know it was Nick's; I had given it to him for his birthday a few years ago. He used to carry around a small notebook with him all the time to jot down his thoughts and ideas, so I thought this would be easier for him.
There was a SD card still loaded into the voice recorder as I checked it out. It was a special touch-screen model, so I loaded it up on the screen and pressed play; Nick's voice filled the car.
"It's Monday, nine in the morning, and I am currently on my way to the local hospital: Alchemilla Hospital. Reported there are what you would expect from any really old hospital; some sighted apparitions, objects like doors, tables and beds moving by themselves, and patients hearing voices in some of the rooms. I don't expect much in the way of actual activity, but you never know in towns as old and riddled with history as this one. I hope tha…" Nick's voice was suddenly drowned in a fury of static.
I tried to restart the recording, but all I was getting any more was static; even after rewinding.
"What the hell…?"
All of a sudden, there was a loud thud against the door and I jumped, quickly turning to look out the driver's side window. What I saw made my eyes widen with shock; they almost couldn't comprehend what I was looking at. On the other side of the car window was something I had no word for other than, creature. An eyeless and lipless face stared back at me, almost pressed up against the window; its skin was grey as death and covered in thick, pulsating black veins. The rest of the creature's body was obscured by the car door.
I nearly had a heart attack as I quickly pocket the voice recorder, which was still ringing with static noise, and push myself back into the passenger's seat. The creature pulled its head back and smashed it against the driver's side window again. Cracks started to form along the window, and I knew it was only a matter of time before it would manage to break through.
My heart was pounding so hard that it was deafening, and my breathing grew rapid and heavy. I had no idea what the hell was happening.
"What the hell are you!?" I shouted in terrified anger at the creature. "Get the hell away!"
I quickly drew the 9mm handgun from the inside pocket of my jacket and aimed it directly at the creature's frightening and disfigured head. My entire arm was shaking, making it hard to aim as my finger hesitated over the trigger. I had never actually shot a gun before; it showed as I couldn't steady myself, and I could feel the sweat beginning to form on my forehead. The creature drew back once again and then rammed itself harder into the window. The glass gave way and shattered, and time seemed to slow down as I screamed. It was that feeling that everyone seems to get when you see something coming towards you like an on-coming train. It only ever lasts a moment, but that moment can feel like a lifetime. I pulled the trigger.
The bang from the shot rang throughout the car louder than I had expected. My ears were ringing and the world spun around me. I shook my head and quickly rubbed at my eyes. It took a moment, but my vision cleared, and the grotesque figure was no longer in sight. I felt behind me for the passenger's door handle and pulled it. The door slowly pushed open and I fell out harshly onto the concrete parking lot; the gun still smoking and held tight in the clutch of my hand.
I got to my feet as quickly as I could and held the 9mm up in front of me as best as I could, then made my way very slowly and carefully to the driver's side. There was a rather large pool of fresh blood coating the concrete; apparently even with my lack of skill, I still managed to hit the thing, whatever it was. But, there was no body at all to be found and a cold chill ran up my spine. There was no sign of the thing at all, not even tracks of blood leading away. It was as if whatever it was had just vanished.
The gun felt heavy in my still shaking hands as I searched around the immediate area for any sign of the creature; paranoid that it might sneak up on me or something just as sinister. After a few minutes past, I let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding and slowly slid the 9mm back into the inside pocket of my jacket. I chuckled a little nervously as I glanced at the driver's side door; it was riddled with dents and the entirety of the window had been smashed inward, leaving fragments of glass on the driver's seat.
"Nick's going to kill me for this…" I say jokingly in a whisper, almost afraid that whatever that thing was would hear me and come back. Or maybe something more lurked in the dense fog.
There was obviously nothing left for me to do here, so I made my way quickly, and cautiously, back to my truck once again. I slid into the driver's seat and tested the ignition. The engine roared to life. I buckled my seatbelt and put it into drive and drove out of the parking lot and onto the fog covered streets.
I drove slowly, my headlights set on high-beam; I didn't want to accidentally hit someone after all. Though, even out on the roads at this early hour, there wasn't a soul in sight. Weren't people supposed to be up around now heading to work? The only cars on the road that I could make out were similar to the ones in the parking lot before; they looked old, dilapidated and covered in a thick layer of what seemed to be dust. Had something happened when I was asleep? Was the whole town evacuated or something? I thought, but that still didn't explain what the hell that monster was or why everything looked so… old.
It all didn't matter, I had to find Nick. He was in trouble; I knew that for sure without a shadow of a doubt. Maybe whatever that thing was, was the reason Nick had disappeared. Though, with as little leads as I had now other than Nick's voice recording, there was only one thing for me to do. I made my way down the road in the direction the hospital was according to the map.
It didn't take all that long to get there, even in this strangely thick fog. I decided to park my truck out on the corner of the street in front of the entrance to Alchemilla; with the town abandoned, who would care if I was illegally parked? I was in too much of a hurry to care.
Alchemilla wasn't as small as one would expect in a town like this, but it still wasn't as large as some you would find in the big cities. I made my way up the entry ramp and pushed through the large double doors into the main lobby. The power still seemed to be working at least as most of the overhead lights still shone brightly, though some flickered and then some were completely burnt out. It bathed the hospital in an uneasy gloom. To my left, there was what I assumed to be the check-in desk and office. It was small and had some paperwork scattered about on the countertop. It looked like whoever was here had left in a hurry. To my right, was a plain tan-painted wall just like the rest of the walls with chairs lined up along it and a rather large bulletin board hanging above them; mounted to the wall firmly.
I moved closer to the bulletin board and examined the papers tacked to it closely. It wasn't all that interesting; some advertisements for the hospital, greeting cards, and pictures that kids had drawn of some of the staff, but what really caught my attention was the map of the hospital posted up on the far right corner. It only showed the first two floors, but the hospital looked a bit bigger than that from outside. It showed stairs that led down on the first floor to what I could only guess was the basement level, but there wasn't a section of the map detailing it. That wasn't all that important, though. What was important was something had been written in pen on the corner of one side of the map.
"Disturbance in Intensive care…You know what to do, Marius." I repeated aloud, and that was it, just that one cryptic sentence. Though, it looked like it had been written in Nick's handwriting with a small arrow pointing to the intensive care room located on the second floor.
My voice had echoed through the abandoned and decrepit hallway, sending a shiver down my spine. Normally, fears like this and the thrill of hunting down paranormal activity gave me a rush, but this? This wasn't exciting in the least; this was too serious a situation to allow it.
I pulled the map gently off of the bulletin board, folded it up and pocket it with the map of the town. I then made my way out of the lobby and down the only hallway on my left. There were double doors at the end of the first hallway that led into a second. I followed that hallway all the way down according to the map, but when I pushed on the second set of double doors that was supposed to lead me into a third hallway, I found the doors jammed by something heavy on the other side.
All of a sudden, there was a soft rustling behind me, very alien in the dead silence that was there before. I turned quickly just in time to see a shadowy figure dart through the double doors that I had just come through before.
"Hey, wait!" I shouted, hoping that maybe it was someone who could explain what the hell was going on around here.
I sprinted back towards those doors and tried to push them open to give chase, but found them suddenly locked. I glanced through the small window of the door but whatever it was, was gone now. It seemed that I was now stuck in here until I find the keys to this place. I sighed and turned back around and pressed my back to the door, looking along the hallway I found myself trapped in. There were three other doors here that I had yet to try out; one led to the stairs and the other two were apparently bathrooms. I took the stairs.
There were no more signs of life at all; it was all getting rather unnerving. I made my way up the stairs and into the second floor's main hallway. Left down the hallway led to four rooms that were numbered from 201 to 204, and straight ahead of me was another set of double doors that led to another part of the hallway as well as a single door labeled Nurse Center. There was no need for me to go into any of the patient rooms as of yet, so I went for the double doors. Surprisingly, they were unlocked as I pushed my way through.
From here, it was a straight shot to the Intensive Care room. As I grew closer to the door, I slowed down; hearing something coming from beyond the door. It was a calm sound, like one of those old fashioned music boxes. It took effort, but the door slowly pushed open.
A bright light blinded me for a moment. When I opened my eyes again, I was in the room, the door shut behind me. The room was a decent sized, bathed in dim light from a open window that looked out over the town. There were small metal rolling tables scattered about with all manner of medical equipment as well. A large sink was positioned on the wall nearby the door with a small mirror over it. The tune from the illusive music box filled the room. It was loud, but surprisingly calming.
Tucked away in the far corner of the room was a small bed, covered on most sides by a large white curtain save for a small gap on one side. Through it, I could see the beginnings of what seemed o me to be a foot. It twitched a little and my breath was caught in my throat.
"Who… Who's there?" A soft voice asked that could only be a child, female by the sound of it.
I stood there for a long moment in silence. I was unsure as to what to say; my voice caught along with my breath.
"I'm… Marius. I'm here looking for someone… a friend." I finally managed to say.
"Nicholas?" The child-like voice asked.
"How did you…?"
"…know?" the voice finished for me. "He visited me here as well. He was very nice to me…"
"Do you know where he is?" I asked in a hurry.
The voice chuckled. It was both innocent sounding and very unnerving at the same time.
"He was here, of course. He just left. Did you not see him?"
As soon as the girl, I assume, said that, I rushed back to the door and tried to open it. It was locked; of course.
"Why leave just yet? He left you a message. It's right here, with me."
"With you?" I questioned. My eyes were narrow as I examined the covered bed.
"It's on the side table here, behind the curtain. You'll have to come get it… I can't move that well."
I cautiously approach, unsure if it was really a person or merely another trick. The tune of the music box grew even louder the closer I got to the bed. I gripped at the edge of the slightly parted curtain and pulled it open. I gasped sharply and fell back onto the hard tile floor. I covered my mouth as I nearly lost what little food I had in my stomach.
The bed was rather empty, the sheets stun about as if someone had been lying there recently, but there was no body. Just a single, severed foot settled under the sheets of a bloody drenched bed. An unfamiliar stench filled my nose and nearly made me vomit again; it was the stench of death, of rotting meat and flesh. Who the hell had just been talking to me? I swallowed hard, trying to keep my lunch down as I slowly got back to my feet.
Just as the voice had mentioned, on the side table next to the bloody bed sat a music box, and inside the music box, resting on the edge, was another SD card. I made my way slowly over to it, careful not to breathe in too deeply. I pulled out the voice recorder and switched the SD card with the new one and pressed play.
There was a long static-filled silence and then a deafening siren filled the room from the voice recorder, like one of those old fashioned air raid sirens. There were sound amplifiers for these things, but this was beyond it. I tried to press stop but the stupid thing wasn't responding at all. The world began to spin as I fell to my knees on the cold tile floor. I looked slowly around the room; it looked as if it were getting older by the second, rusting and decaying at an alarming rate. The pant on the walls began to peel and drop to the floor with a very meaty sound as if they were raw flesh. What the hell was going on? And with that thought stuck in my mind, I blacked out.
