Redemption chapter 9

Alessa watched as Alex looked through the supplies in the bag. He knew better what weapons they'd come with. Silence hung in the air and Alessa looked around. She had a bad feeling but there didn't seem to be anything around them. Alex suddenly stood up and Alessa looked to him. "What is it?"

Alex looked away and then back to Alessa. "I thought I heard something." He shook his head, grabbing the bag of weapons. Alex turned to Alessa but she was still watching him. "What?"

Alessa shrugged. She really didn't know what to say that wouldn't upset him. She decided on a vague answer. "I'm just worried." She didn't specify about what or who. She just hoped that he wouldn't ask further. All she wanted was go get her daughter and go home with her family.

"You don't need to worry. We'll find Alana. She's safe for now and…" Alex frowned. "What was I talking about?" It was obvious from his look that he really didn't remember. "Well, we should probably get back to Tex." Alex rolled his eyes and Alessa suspected that he didn't want to go back to being questioned by her mother. She couldn't really blame him.

They started to move back to the main area. Alessa followed behind Alex, still holding his hand. She was still thinking over what he'd said. She didn't bother asking about it, she was sure he didn't remember saying it. She squeezed his hand, and he looked back at her. She stared at him, trying to be sure that the man that was standing there was her husband. She wasn't so sure that the more forceful Alex was really her Alex.

Alex sighed and squeezed her hand back. "You don't have to worry about me either. I'm fine." He shifted the bag on his shoulder and then looked past her shoulder. "Well crap." Alessa looked back to see what he did. The space they'd come from was filled with fog. "Let's move."

They started to walk, hoping that they'd get back to Grif and Simmons before something happened. Alex stopped them as he rounded a corner and the space before them was also filled with fog. Alessa sighed and started to walk forward, dragging Alex behind her. He tried to voice disapproval of just walking in but she didn't care. Alessa only stopped when the metal under her foot changed to grass and she found herself faced with a large stone monument.

"What is that?" Alex moved to stand beside her, looking up at the stone. He reached out, running his hand over where a sun had been carved into the stone.

Alessa leaned down and spotted a name with two series of numbers under it. "I think it's a grave. These look like death dates." She stood back up and looked around, seeing the outline of smaller stones vaguely in the fog. "Yeah, looks like a graveyard to me."

Alex looked around and then cursed. "Damn, great, now we lost everyone." He glanced back at the weapons. "Worst, now none of them can defend themselves."

Alessa moved around the grave and Alex followed her. "Well I'm sure they'll find something. We should really see if we can find them though."

"Alana first." Alessa looked back at Alex as he spoke. "We find Alana first, then we find the others and get out of here." Alex started to move forward, moving around a grave. "We have to stay focused." He tilted his head to the side and looked confused.

"What's wrong?" Alessa looked to a grave for a moment, reading the name. It was worn away that all she could see were the letters A-D-A.

"I got that feeling again. The one where I know something, but when I tried to think of what it is it's gone." Alex scowled. "I swear, that's going to drive me insane." Alex scratched at his head. "It's like when you know a word, but you just can't think of it, but something more important."

"Does it have to do with Alana?" Alex shrugged in reply to her question. "Let me rephrase that. I think it has to do with Alana. When we were getting the weapons you said that Alana was fine, then you just stopped, like you forgot what you were saying."

Alex scowled, obviously trying to remember saying any of that. From the look he didn't remember even forgetting what he was talking about. "Maybe you should be worried. Maybe my brain has gone to mush. Well, at least the zombies won't come after me."

Alessa raised an eyebrow at him. "Zombies would still go after you. They want meat, not brains. That's a stupid old myth. Just like the idea that they can speak to say brains." Alessa looked around as the sound of growling filled the air. She finally spotted what was the source and pointed.

In the distance there was the outline of a pair of what seemed to be dogs. Alessa moved forward slowly and realized that they were eating something. She got close enough and froze as she realized that there was something wrong with the dogs. They had no skin. She could see what they were eating, though she didn't know what it was. To her it looked like just a hunk of meat though she could see that there was cloth here and there.

"What do we do?" Alessa looked to Alex but he only shrugged. Great, so neither of them knew if they should attack the canines or not.

Before they could decide a figure ran toward the creatures. It swung a pipe and the metal hit the closest dog in the side of the head, sending it tumbling. The second growled and charged. The figure raised the pipe and put it against the dog's throat as it tackled him to the ground. The dog snapped and bit at the man as it clawed at his jacket. The first canine regained its senses and moved to assist in killing the man.

Alessa was the first to act. She grabbed a rock from nearby and tossed it, hitting the dog that was on the man in the side. It turned its attention from the man and toward Alessa. It moved off of the figure and the second dog turned toward her. The man grabbed the dog that was closest and it struggled to move toward Alessa.

The man put the pipe under the dog's chin and pulled back, holding it from going forward. "Protect her!" The voice was so familiar but at the same time so different.

The canine that was running at her jumped but was knocked out of the air as Alex swung his blade and the machete cut through part of the canine's neck. It fell to the ground and Alex moved before it could get up. He stabbed the blade through the canine's head. It stopped moving and he put his foot on its neck to pull the blade free.

Alessa turned back to the man just in time to see the second canine tear through his throat. She watched in horror as blood spilled from the wound, onto the ground. With one great swing the man connected the pipe with the second canine's head and the skull shattered, sending the body flying. The figure stumbled and then fell to the ground.

Alessa rushed to the man's side to see if she could help him. Her hand moved to his throat as she helped him to lie on his back. She stared down at the man, not believing what she was seeing. There on the ground lay Alex, dying. No, there was something about him that wasn't Alex. He was younger then Alex. Not by too much, but diffidently younger. His hand moved up and lightly touched Alessa's cheek. She could swear that he mouthed her name before his hand fell and his body went limp. She watched the light fade from his eyes and could feel tears in her own.

Alessa looked over her shoulder as Alex moved up behind her. He looked down at the body, a mix of horror and confusion on his face.

Alex finally looked away and moved over toward the thing that the dogs had been eating. "Oh, come on." He threw up his hands and looked away.

Alessa looked toward the thing and was completely confused. There lay a third Alex, though its stomach had been torn open and it was obvious where the canines had been chewing at the body's organs. "Alex, what's going on?" Her husband shrugged. Alessa looked from one dead Alex to the other. She looked at the jacket and then back to the half-eaten corpse. "They look the same."

Alex turned to her. "What do you mean?"

Alessa stood up and looked between the two several times. "They are wearing the same thing. Military jacket, the same pants, their faces even look the same." She looked to her Alex who was wearing just a shirt and a pair of jeans. "You don't look like them. I mean…" She tried to figure out how to explain. "They look younger than you, they are wearing the same clothing, which are different than yours, and…well they just aren't exactly you."

Alex looked at the bodies and then back to Alessa. "But they are me. I mean, I know they're me. Maybe not me me, but they are me." He ran a hand over his hair. "You know what, I really don't care." Alessa looked at him, surprised. "So, this place is making copies of me or something that all die. Well, what does it matter to us? We need to find out daughter. That has nothing to do with the sick perverted games of this place."

Alessa looked down at them and then back at Alex. "I suppose that is true." She looked at each of them and then moved to the one that had been recently killed. She started to go through the pockets of his jacket. "Check the other one."

"For what?" Alex put on a slightly disgusted face. Likely he just didn't like the idea of Alessa trying to loot his dead body. He reluctantly moved to the partially mauled body and started to look though the pockets.

"For anything. Weapons, ammunition, maybe some sort of sign as to why he was here, or where he was going to go." Alessa pulled out a bit of shotgun ammunition. Odd, he didn't have a shotgun, so why did he have ammunition?

"I got a map." Alex held up the paper which was partially coated in blood. Alessa moved over to join him as he unfolded it. They looked over the map but half of it was impossible to read as the blood had soaked it. Alex pointed at a building that had been circled in red. "That's where we should go."

Alessa frowned, contemplating it. "What if all of this is a trap? What if the only reason these two look like you is because we'd trust copies of you?" She wouldn't put it past this place to do something like that. Alex didn't look as convinced. "I'm just worried that we're doing exactly what it wants us to."

"But what if we're doing what your dad wants us to do?" Alessa frowned in confusion at Alex's question. "I just don't see why I'd do what the people of this town wanted me to do. And before you say it, your dad isn't a person of this town. He's a person trapped in this town."

Alessa had to give him that. Church hadn't been born in Silent Hill. She looked back to the map and sighed. "Fine, we'll go there. But we should still be cautious." Alessa looked around and frowned. "Where are all the weapons?"

Alex looked around as well. "I swear I put them down right there." He pointed to a spot but there was nothing. "I don't know where they went. I don't think anyone could have taken them."

Alessa groaned. "I really hate this place, and never assume that nothing could have taken it." She stood up and Alex followed, folding up the map. "All right, you're on navigation. Which way do we go?"

Alex looked around. "Well, from what I can tell this place has to be in the covered up part of the map. That means that we should go south in order to get somewhere that there's an actual landmark that we can use." Alex looked around and spotted the exit of the graveyard. "This way." He stopped and grabbed the lead pipe. He handed it to Alessa and she took it. He raised his machete and nodded. "Now we're at least both armed." With that he turned and started to walk out of the cemetery, Alessa following on his heels.