Author's Note: Starting to get into the horror parts by the end of this chapter. I can't wait to get them all into Silent Hill and seeing scary things!

Ducky

I'm not sure who I'm more concerned about at the moment: Jethro, or Abby. I often worry about the long-term effects of Jethro's most recent coma, and this sudden, unexplained trip to a state he has no ties to seems uncharacteristic, at best.

On the other hand, Abby seems to be taking his disappearance particularly hard. She felt his loss keenly during the four months he was gone, and she seems to have slipped into a fantastical delusion upon hearing about this new absence.

Trying to make her see that will only result in conflict, and knowing Abby the way I do, she won't be swayed until the hard evidence is presented to her. So I humour her, and the others follow my lead, some more reluctantly than others. I expect Ziva to be the first one to snap, and it shouldn't take long.

We arrive in a small town named Brahms and stop for a bathroom break at the tiny gas station. The GPS signal Abby has been tracking seems to have disappeared, and she and McGee bicker over the meaning of that while I walk a short distance down the main street, stretching my legs.

"Lotta strangers headed through Brahms today."

There's a middle-aged woman leaning against the lamppost in front of the church, smoking a cigarette. I approach her, hoping for information. "Has a man come through here, alone?"

"Good lookin' fella, grey hair, doesn't like to smile?" Seeing the recognition on my face, she nods. "Stopped in and had a chat with Sergeant Bennett, bought himself a rifle, then headed out the west road. Funny how many people do that."

"Really? Thank you. That's very helpful."

She stubs out the cigarette and exhales a lungful of smoke. I hold my breath, curbing the urge to turn my head to avoid the fumes. Filthy habit.

"No problem. My cafe's right across the street. Come grab some food or beer if you're sticking around."

I make my excuses and return to the car, where Ziva's body language suggests that an argument is imminent. I clear my throat, and all eyes turn to me. "There's a witness up the street who saw Jethro in town."

Abby

Sergeant Cybil Bennett has the look of someone who knows too much. I've seen it before, in some of the agents I've worked with, and I recognise it right away. "Silent Hill, huh?"

Ignoring Ziva's frosty presence behind me, I say, "Yeah. We're looking for a friend of ours."

"They always are," she mutters.

"We heard he stopped in to see you earlier today." That's Ducky, who's been the most supportive one on the trip so far... even though he's just humouring me. "After that, he bought a weapon and left, is that correct?"

Bought a weapon? Thank god – he's not just going in there with his SIG. That makes me feel a little better.

Sergeant Bennett looks surprised now. "You're looking for Agent Gibbs? Wow, that was fast." At our confused expressions, she elaborates, "It usually takes a few days for loved ones to get worried enough to come out here."

"As soon as I heard he was going to Silent Hill, I had to come. There's something wrong with that town, I just know it."

Sergeant Bennett looks... relieved, almost. I guess she gets more sceptics through here than believers. "Then I don't have to tell you he's headed for hell."

"Are you the one who updates the websites?" McGee asks; innocuously enough, but I can tell he's trying to make me see that all the rumours are just spread by one crazy policewoman.

"I'm one of them."

I shoot McGee a significant look, and he sighs, shutting up. I turn back to Bennett. "Did he say why he was going there?"

"Looking for his dead wife and daughter, he said. Had a call from them. That's how the town gets you... it lures you out with the impossible, and then doesn't let go."

"The call was on his answering machine. I'm a forensic scientist, and I analysed it, and I managed to get the message to play. Only for me, though. When I called the rest of them to hear it, it went back to static."

Sergeant Bennett rubs her eyes wearily. "Be careful. It sounds like the town wants you, too. I don't suppose I can convince you to turn around? Save yourselves?"

Abruptly, Ziva throws up her hands and leaves the room, muttering something in Hebrew. After a second, Tony goes after her. Good – I didn't need the biggest Doubting Thomases in here, anyway. "No. We're going after him."

Bennett nods, tension radiating from her. "I can't say I think much of your chances. When you get there, one of two things'll happen. One is that the town will look completely normal, but no one will have seen Agent Gibbs coming or going. The other..."

"The fog?" I've read about it. People driving into Silent Hill in the fog... they don't drive out again.

I could swear I see Bennett shudder. "The fog."

I turn to Ducky and McGee. "I could drive you guys to the last town we hit, and we could get another rental. You could stay nearby while I head out there... it might give us more of a chance if we're divided?"

"How's your marksmanship?" Sergeant Bennett interjects.

"Theoretically, fine. But I've only ever shot at targets and dummies. I don't know if I could shoot something that was alive."

"You're not going alone, Abby." That's McGee. Always overprotective.

"We're all in this together, my dear." Ducky lays a reassuring hand on my shoulder.

Neither of them believes yet, but if things go like Sergeant Bennett says... they will.

Gibbs

I've been wandering down foggy alleyways and streets for the past thirty minutes, checking backyards and looking through the windows of parked cars as I go. I haven't seen Kelly since that first, fleeting glimpse. Is she wandering alone, or is someone with her? Did she escape whatever happened while she was on the phone?

It hurts, and Mommy's bleeding...

"Shannon." The grief is nothing new, but it seems sharper now that I've heard their voices, seen Kelly disappearing into the fog. I need to find them.

From a little further down the street, I hear a sound – something between a shuffle and a scrape. Raising my SIG, I move with caution in the direction of the noise.

Something crawls out of a nearby driveway – humanoid in shape, and moving on its belly, the way I used to crawl on my elbows through undergrowth as a Marine sniper. There's something inhuman about the way it moves, though – sinuous and unnerving.

I level my weapon at it as it turns my way. A choked-off screech splits the air, as if it recognises me, though the face is all slick, bruise-mottled skin with no mouth to speak of. Whatever it is, it hasn't been human for a long time, if it ever was at all.

It somehow surges to its feet, though its arms seem pinned to its body by the straitjacket of skin around its torso.

I want to turn and run; adrenaline sets my heart pounding and my stomach churning, and I take an instinctive step back, and then another. I should get the hell out of here, but god knows how fast this thing moves when provoked.

It's stumbling forward at a slow lurch, gurgling and retching, and before I can move, a stream of foul-smelling brown liquid arcs from its chest.

Author's Note: For Silent Hill geeks, the monster Gibbs encounters is pretty much the Lying Figure/Patient Demon/Straitjacket/whatever you want to call it, from Silent Hill 2... only it moves in more of a commando crawl, to fit in better with Gibbs' subconscious rather than James'. You can tell I'm thinking about this too much, huh? I have more weird and wonderful ones to come!