Disclaimer: I own nothing from Silent hill. Anything mentioned that might belong to another individual or entity belongs to it's respective owners. This story is entirely fiction. Any similarity between the characters and real persons living or dead is purely coincidental.

Sing A Song Of Sixpence

Zach awoke from his fitful sleep to see Lexington staring out of the window, looking at something not seen up the street. Lexington sat on the couch next to Ashley staring out the window, right there yet so distant at the same time. He didn't even look to Zack as he got to his feet and stretched. He had to have seen him As Lexington then spoke to him, not taking his gaze from the window.

"Zack, have I ever told you my real name?" Lexington causally.

"What the hell you talking about? Your name is Alexander Lexington." Zack said going over the table where their gear was sitting. He picked up his body armor and went about putting it on.

"That's not entirely true. After Jenna died, I was lost, I didn't know who I was any more. I took the name Lexington as a way to go back to my roots and to distance myself from the pain of Jenna's death all at the same time." Lexington said finally looking to Zack.

Zack stopped messing with his body armor and looked to Lexington. This was quite a surprise, not that it mattered, but a kick in the balls none the less. Zack, not knowing what to say, went back to adjusting the straps to his body armor.

"My real name is Alexander Howe. After Jenna died, I didn't want to associate myself with the name Howe any more. To me that belonged to Jenna. Lexington is my birth place so I took that as my name, turns out it works great as a call sign too, so it stuck." Lexington said getting to his feet, walking over to the table with Zack.

"Well, I've only known you as Lexington, to me your always gonna be Lexington, the old cantankerous, hard as nails son-of-bitch that fucked up so many of my weekend passes I would be a rich man if I had a dollar for every one." Zack said smiling to him putting his hand on his shoulder.

Lexington smiled back to Zack. It made him feel better to know that he had at least him, at least one person in this whole shit hole, he could trust. One person who wouldn't keep anything from him.

"Well I told your ass, that if you wanted to go out on the weekends you needed to start running faster." Lexington said as he too grabbed his body armor. Five minutes later both men stood in full combat gear. Their black body armor with the equipment harnesses over that. The black vests a stark contrast with the green digital MARPAT, or Marine Pattern, combat uniforms. Their helmets had a cover of the same material as their uniforms. Zack slung his rifle over his body and Lexington made sure the flashlight on his pistol still worked. Satisfied the two men went over to Vanessa.

Vanessa was laying in a field of flowers, the sun radiating on her face. She was warm and she was happy. She sat up and saw Zack walking over to her. He wore designer jeans with a white undershirt, over that a black button up shirt, opened letting the tight undershirt show. To top it off he wore a designer suit jacket opened casually. He smiled at her as he came closer, his soft features, and brown eyes enticing her. His short military cut hair visible with out anything thing as ugly as a helmet. The deep red tint glowing in the sunlight.

He walked up to her and smiled. She smiled back, then Zack kicked her. She was stunned, before she could ask what his problem was he kicked her again. Her beautiful world was shattered as she slowly opened her eyes. Standing in front of her were Zack and Lexington towering in front of her with all their battle gear. She was startled by the sudden sight.

"Bloody Hell! Can't you wake a girl the normal way?" She asked jumping. She was disappointed to find her dream world was in fact that, a dream. The cold grey solitude of the Grey atmosphere replacing the bright sunlight. The grey monochrome seemingly delighted to thrust her back into it's lonely abyss.

"Wakey, Wakey, eggs and Backy." Lexington said, trying to be funny.

'Dude you're a such a dick." Zack said sarcastically, he smiled as he went then to check on Ashley. Lexington helped Ashley to her feet and then joined Zack in waking Ashley.

"Ashley, it's time to wake up. How are you feeling?" Zack asked her tenderly. She fluttered her eyes open and whined a little. She had made a marked improvement over the way she looked earlier. The swelling in her eyes had gone down and she no longer looked feverish. Zack sat her up and helped her to her feet. Unable to handle her own weight she would have fallen to the floor if it weren't for Zack catching her.

"She can't move, but we can't stay here any longer." Zack said looking to both Lexington and Zack. Zack sighed as he sat Ashley back down on the couch. Lexington put his pistol in it's holster and took his body armor off. Leaving only his equipment harness.

"What the hell are you doing?" Zack asked confused.

"The less weight I have with her on my back the faster I'll be able to move. Zack do you think you can get her on my back." Lexington said seriously.

"Your gonna carry her? We won't know how long we'll have to go before we get out of here or how long it will be before she gets better." Zack said not sure if Lexington was firing on all cylinders.

"You said it your self, we can't stay here. If she can't walk, then someone has to carry her. Since you have a rifle and are better at doing nimble things I think it's best if I'm the one to do it." Lexington said going over to where Ashley and Zack sat on the couch.

"Besides, she weighs what all of 120 pounds, it will be just like 24 hour survival op." Lexington said nonchalantly. Zack could do nothing more than agree as he helped Ashley climb onto Lexington's back.

As much of a hard ass Lexington tries to be, Zack saw him strain under the weight. Zack helped Ashley situate herself on Lexington's back and told her to hang on as best she could. Zack then remembered his goggles on his helmet, he had forgotten about them all this time. He took them off his helmet and put them on Ashley, to try and protect her heeling eyes.

Zack then gave Vanessa the Lugar that Ashley had previously carried and told her she was gonna have to help out now. The group got their senses together and started to make their way out of the door. Zack opened it and was the first out, he crouched down and swept the area with his rifle while the others followed close behind.

Once everyone was outside, Zack shut the door and they began to walk away from their sanctuary. This time Zack took the lead while Lexington was in the middle carrying Ashley, Vanessa brought up the rear as the group went out into the street, the Ash still freely falling.

"Our goal is still the Tolouca county historical society. The problem is we have no idea where that is." Zack said as he continued walking, checking into the fog for threats.

"Ugh…is there some place we might be able to find a visitors guide or something like that. All of these little towns have crap like that." Lexington said straining under Ashley's weight.

"Yeah good Idea. We might be able to find one in one of these shops or something. Communities like this tend to be tight knit." Zack said still letting his rifle lead the way. "All we have to do is find one that looks like it would be overflowing with community pride."

The group continued trudging through the foggy ash. They seemed as though they were in a residential part of town, not really where they needed to be. Neat houses lined up in rows along side the street sat silent, their windows, portals into the lives of the last occupants, no longer there. The streets were deathly quiet devoid of the happy laughter of children playing ball and riding their bicycles, now the only noise was Silence, death and decay throughout.

The group walked along for some time in silence. Zack was leading the group with his rifle, Lexington straining under the Ashley's weight, followed by Vanessa. Lexington began to struggle as he kept his eyes towards the ground. He could feel Ashley slipping from his grip. His breathing became labored and as he walked, he suddenly bumped into Zack.

"Hey what the hell, what did you stop for?" Lexington said, breathing heavily.

"I hear something. It's not far off, but…It's coming this way." Zack said scanning the grey vastness in front of the group.

"I think from previous experience, we need to find somewhere safe to hide. Any time one of us gets an eerie feeling, something bad always happens. " Vanessa said as she came up directly behind Lexington.

Lexington, Zack and Vanessa stared into the grey emptiness that stood before them. Ashley's head lay on Lexington's shoulder, moving lazily with his every movement. She began to let out a small moan, as Zack and Vanessa went to check on her.

Zack and Vanessa tended to Ashley when Something took Lexington's feet out from under him. Both he and Ashley fell to the ground as Zack raised his rifle to battle what ever had come.

There was a loud, angry moaning and the Ash man had reappeared, looking to finish what he had started. As Ashley lay in the ash Lexington got back to his feet and drew his pistol.

"Lexington, we don't have any more flash-bang grenades. How the hell are we going to fight this thing." Zack asked frantically as the Ashman made his slow advance towards them.

Lexington didn't answer, He stood, looking down the sights of his pistol, not knowing what to do. The Ashman lumbered up to them and as he came within two feet, suddenly sunk back into the ash. Zack and Lexington went to where he stood and kicked around, disturbing the soft ash, hoping they would find where he went to.

As Zack and Lexington kicked through the ash, Another loud angry moan filled the still air. From behind where they stood, the Ashman had reappeared, this time only his torso was visible. He sprung from the Ash right next to where Ashley lay. He covered her in a matter of seconds and they both sunk into the grey powder.

Lexington, and Zack, being to far away to get to Ashley in time, stood horrified at what had just happened. Vanessa had begun to cry and began frantically digging in the ash. She was stopped however when her frantic hands met the cold barren pavement of the street. Lexington and Zack had begun to call out to Ashley, in a vain attempt at trying to communicate.

Vanessa sat on her knees, profusely sobbing at Ashley's loss. Vanessa looked back up and saw Zack and Lexington again shooting at the Ashman who had reappeared. Vanessa was too upset to notice and at this point didn't really care. She sat watching them through swollen eyes when a pair of black designer dress pants interrupted her view. She followed them up and saw the face of the man who called himself Greg. He smiled to her and motioned to something behind her with his left hand. She didn't have time to look and see what was happening, as a cloth covered hand covered her mouth. Her eyes went wide as Lester's face appeared next to hers.

"SSSHHHHH….All will be forgiven their sins." Lester whispered in her ear. She could taste the chemical chloroform, on the rag. Her body not wanting to breath in the toxic fumes locked up. She fought for a second but her body screamed for oxygen. Not able to go one more second without breathing, her bodies natural reaction made her breath in the chemical in one deep breath. Her eyes went wide one more time before her world went black.

BAM…BAM…BAM… Zack fired his rifle into the Ashman, his bullets hitting harmlessly all over his body. Suddenly, the Ashman stopped, let out a roar and fell into the ash, disappearing just as quickly as he had come.

:Mother fuck." was Lexington could muster as he took his helmet off and scratched his head.

"Where the hell is Vanessa?" Zack asked.

Lexington came up to him and, noticing that Vanessa was indeed gone. He shook his head and teared up. He didn't say anything but the look on his face was one of defeat and remorse. Lexington began to pace the ground as Zack shouted out to Vanessa, hoping she was within earshot, hiding somewhere.

Zack then got a terrible pain in his head and dropped his rifle, squeezing the sides of his head. He shouted out in pain as he fell to his knees. Lexington came running up to him as he got dizzy. Zack dropped to the ground and the last thing he saw was Lexington kneeling over him, trying to find what was wrong. He could say nothing as Lexington slowly faded from view.

To Be Continued…

A/N: I know this chapter is extremely short. There is a reason for that. Kind of look at it like a fork in the road. Also, I'm sorry for taking so long to update. The restaurant I used to work at was unexpectedly shut down and I have had to deal with new employment. Anyway thanks for all the reviews, they really help.