Redemption chapter 8

They sat in silence as they ate their breakfast. Simmons walked in, setting down a plate of sausage fresh from the stove. "I made plenty for everyone." He moved over to a box and took off his 'kiss me I'm dutch-irish' apron and set it aside before he joined the group, grabbing his own plate.

No one spoke as they ate until Alessa finally broke the silence. "Are we going to talk about what happened last night?" She looked to Alex.

Alex stared at his food as he ate slowly. "No." That was all he said. From the flat tone he used it was all he was going to say. He poked at his eggs, having hardly touched them.

Tex set her plate down. "Yes, we are going to talk about it. I want to know what happened." Alex looked up at her and his gaze was defiant, telling her he wouldn't talk. "Tell us about your dream."

Alex set his own plate down. "I don't remember it. There's nothing to talk about. I woke up in the bathroom. That's all I remember."

Tex didn't believe him. There was something he was keeping from her and she didn't like it. "I know that's not the truth. What aren't you telling us?"

"That's ridiculous." Alessa looked at her mother, stunned at the accusation against Alex. "Why would he keep anything from us? He wants to get Alana back just like me and you."

Alex looked toward her and hesitated. "It's not that I know something. It's that I do and I don't. It feels like I remember the dream, important things, but when I try to focus on it I can't remember a single detail." Alex hung his head a bit. "I can also tell that we're getting closer, probably not far from the system now."

Grif raised an eyebrow at his son. "How can you tell? I mean the crew is scheduled to wake up today. So we have to be close."

Alex shook his head. "It's not that I can just feel this unnatural sense of dread creeping up the closer we get." He struggled to find words to explain what he meant.

Alessa put a hand on his arms, stopping him. Alex looked at her, silently apologizing for not being more help. Tex studied the man, trying to figure out when the shift had happened. When had he changed from the man who'd been forcefully telling her 'no' to his usual docile self? The change was more subtle, or maybe Tex was just seeing a more forceful side of Alex that she hadn't known was there.

"I have a question." Tex looked to Simmons and waited for him to continue. "How are we going to find this place? We may have narrowed it down to the United States, but that's still 48 states to check."

"Poor Alaska." Grif shook his head. "They never did see those Canadians coming. Now look what became of them."

"I still don't know how they won that war with kindness." Simmons frowned before he turned back to Tex. "Do you have any plan as to how we'll find it?"

"Maybe we'll just get in a car and let your son drive. He says he can feel when we're close to it. We can use him like a Silent Hill bloodhound." Tex shrugged, picking her plate back up to continue eating. "Other than that I have no real plan."

"Wow, even with how little we actually planned out this is still the most thought out plan I've ever been a part of." Grif turned to Alex. "You think you can do it?"

Alex shrugged. "I have no idea but if it's the only plan we have then it will have to do. If we don't think it's working then we can stop and ask locals."

The ship jerked, indicating that they'd come out of slip-space. Tex set her plate to the side. "We should get ready." She stood up and looked around. "Alex, Alessa, go gather the weapons and come back here. Grif, Simmons, gather all the food and health supplies that you can. Meet back here."

Alessa took Alex's hand and dragged him off to get the weapons. Simmons moved toward the kitchen but Grif hung back. Tex frowned at him, not sure why he wasn't going to do what she told him to do.

"I have a question for you." Tex scowled, not sure if she wanted to hear Grif's question. "Why did you come here against Church's instructions? What aren't you telling us?"

Tex just stared at him for a few seconds. "I'm not worried about Alana," Tex finally blurted out. Grif looked stunned and Tex put up her hand, stopping him from speaking. "Don't think that means I don't care. It's just I trust Church. I know he'll save her."

"So then if you aren't here for Alana, then why are you here?" Grif relaxed a bit, waiting for her answer. "What's so important you'd go against Church?"

Tex hesitated, not sure if he'd understand. "I'm here for Church." Grif didn't seem to understand what she meant. "In my dream that Church appeared a woman told me that if I wanted him I had to come get him." Her explanation didn't seem to please him. "Oh, like you have a right to judge me. You get to curl up each night with your husband. I go home each night to an empty bed and an empty house. I think I'm entitled to miss him."

"Miss him, yes, but this is extreme. I can't pretend to know what it's like to not have the man you love." Grif glanced over in the direction Simmons had gone then back to Tex. "Church wouldn't want you to risk yourself like this. It's just plain stupid."

"Well I'm already here so there's nothing you can do about it." Tex turned toward her own sleeping quarters just as Simmons rejoined them with a bag of food. She moved toward her quarters and it seemed that Grif didn't follow her.

Tex reached her area and frowned as she looked down at the bloody blankets. They'd been clean when she'd gone for breakfast. The blankets were drenched and the walls had bloody handprints on it that seemed to drag down toward the floor.

A hiss tore through the air and Tex turned to see a black cat hissing at her. She recognized it as the same one that had hissed at her when it had been raining. She took a step toward it. Tex looked up as a figure appeared behind the cat. She found herself face to face with Church. They stood in silence for a moment. Church seemed displeased, though Tex expected that. She'd directly gone against what he told her to do. Of course he was mad.

"I told you not to come here." He glanced down at the cat as it rubbed against his leg. "Why did you come?"

"I came here for you, Church." Tex started to reach out to her, but stopped. Something was off. She just wanted him to accept, maybe even be happy, that she'd come for him. She reached out, just wanting to touch him, be sure he was there.

Church took a step away from her to stay out of her reach. "You shouldn't have done that. Not to mention you brought Alessa with you. I can't believe you." He was now visibly angry with her. "I told you not to come."

Tex was surprised by the anger, though she should have expected it. "You said this place was about choices." His anger had made her mad. She'd done this for him and here he was, not even happy to see her. "It gave me a choice, a chance, to come try to get you. I made my choice."

Church pinched the bridge of his nose. "Damn it, Tex, you have no idea what you're doing. I can't believe that you rose to the bait. Let's not even get into the fact that you used our missing grandchild as an excuse or that by doing this you're ignoring and going against my choice, against all I've done."

Tex didn't know what to say. He had a point, and she was ashamed a bit, not that she would admit it to him. This had turned into an argument and she wasn't going to lose. "Do you not want to come home?" She was a bit afraid of his answer.

"Tex-" Church was cut off as the radio clipped to his belt flared to life and static filled the air. Church cursed. He pulled a lead pipe from his belt and gripped it, ready to fight. "Stay behind me." He turned so that Tex was behind him.

She looked past him at the fog that was slowly starting to fill the ship. She didn't know how it had gotten in, but it did explain Church, and the blood on her blankets. "What is it?" Tex looked around, not seeing anything in the fog. She could hear the footsteps of something moving closer. She wished she'd kept some of the weapons with her. Instead she'd given them to Alex.

Church shrugged. "Not sure yet. Haven't heard anything to give away what type it is." He glanced back at Tex. "You seriously didn't bring a weapon?"

Tex scolded at him. "I brought some, Alex has them." She was offended he thought she'd come unprepared. She thought he knew her better than that.

A scrapping noise filled the air and Church cursed again. He looked back at her and then put away the pipe, pulling out what appeared to be a pistol. His eyes searched the fog and he glanced back at Tex. "Stay here. I'll take care of him."

"Wait-" Before she could continue there was a loud roar from the fog and Church ran off. She quickly lost sight of him and she cursed. "Damn you, Church. How dare you leave me?" Tex looked around, trying to find anything she could use. She cursed and failed to find anything that she could use to defend herself. Tex finally decided that she'd use her bare hands if she had to before she ran off into the fog to try to find Church again.

She stopped when she reached something lying on the ground. The first thing she realized was that the ground under her feet was a broken road, no longer the metal of the ship. She edged toward the object and realized that the road was covered with blood. She spotted a gun lying on the ground and Tex hesitantly picked it up. The weapon was partially coated with blood. She ignored it and turned her attention to the object that had caught her attention. What it was seemed to be a dead animal, or she hoped it was an animal, that had shards of broken metal sticking out of it.

Tex looked away, not wanting to look at the scene any more. She looked up and involuntarily stepped back. Standing over the dead…whatever it was, was pyramid head. The monster didn't move to attack her, didn't do anything, just stood there. He finally moved, turning and lumbering off, lead away by some unseen force. Tex watched as the monstrous being walked away. Her gaze turned back to the ground but oddly found that the body she'd been standing before was gone. Only she bits of metal that had been sticking out of the body were still there. She picked one up and examined the blood soaked metal.

She found nothing that seemed to be able to help her figure out what was going on so she dropped the shard of metal, turning her attention to the world around her. The fog had now cleared enough that she could see a bit. She was on a vacant weather worn road, surrounded by a think forest on either side. She sighed and looked in the direction that pyramid head had gone. She suspected that it was a way into Silent Hill, so she moved forward, following the way she'd seen him go.