A/N: Magdalene experiences the 'Other World' for the the first time. But just as she starts to build her courage, Markus' nerves slowly begin to unravel. WARNING: The following content of this story may be disturbing to some readers. Discretion is advised…

Clutching the Japanese dagger in her hands, Magdalene Kreuz tightened her jaw and swallowed hard, as she followed close behind Markus through the slimy disgusting hallway. She kept looking from side to side, making sure she avoided brushing against the walls, as they navigated their way down the stairwell.

"Okay" spoke Magdalene, "where do we go from here?"

"I don't know" answered Markus, "but I'm sure there's a clue somewhere.…" He came to a halt when they reached the 3rd floor landing. "We'll start with this floor."

Markus looked back at Magdalene to see if she still had her weapon drawn. She readied her dagger and nodded to Markus, then he turned and opened the door. When they entered the 3rd floor, Magdalene immediately noticed the sudden change in atmosphere: the air was humid and reeked of blood, the entire hallway gave off a red florescent glow; and the checkered tile floor was now replaced with a red rusty mesh grating. Magdalene now realized that Markus' description of the Other World resembling 'Hell' was quite accurate.

Magdalene's thoughts however, were soon interrupted by the sound of footsteps, prompting Markus to pull out his revolver. As the footsteps grew louder, Magdalene stared into the hallway and noticed a slender silhouette hunched forward, as it clumsily made its way towards them. Within a few moments, the figure appeared in plain sight. Magdalene gasped when seeing that the slender figure looked like a human female! Her figure was very shapely and she wore a bloodstained nurse's uniform, cap, and an open blue knit sweater jacket. But what really caught Magdalene's attention (other than the nurse's porn star-like physique) was the gigantic fleshy mass, or hump that was on the Nurse's back. It jiggled and glistened in the florescent red light, causing Magdalene to feel nauseous.

Just then, the nurse groaned loudly in a male-sounding voice. She lifted her head, and Magdalene cried out when seeing the Nurse's deformed, bloody face; blood seeped from its eyes, nose, mouth, and its skin looked gray and marble colored, like that of a decomposing corpse. Without warning, the Nurse rushed Markus and attempted to slash him with a scalpel. Markus barely dodged this attack as he opened fire on the thing. It cried out in its male voice before collapsing on the ground in violent convulsions. While it was down, Markus quickly stomped and kicked its fleshy hump, and it finally died with a loud male-sounding groan.

"Oh my god…" gasped Magdalene, staring in horror.

"I told you" spoke Markus in between breaths, "lots of monsters."

Just then, the radio blared loud garbled static, prompting Markus and Magdalene to make eye contact. Without a word, Markus grabbed Magdalene's wrist and pulled her roughly down the hall, as MORE of those demons made their presence known. Markus started trying door knobs as Magdalene readied her dagger, keeping watch. Her eyes widened in horror when seeing a small army of demon Nurses moving clumsily towards them from both ends of the hall. She noted that a few of the nurses were dragging long heavy looking pipes behind them, while some of them were armed with scalpels. And to Magdalene's horror, at least three of the nurses she saw, were carrying revolvers!

SHIT!

"Ahhh Markus…?" cried Magdalene.

But before she could finish, Markus got one of the doors open and pulled her inside. He barricaded the door behind them, as Magdalene leaned against the wall, trying to catch her breath. While doing this, she eventually noticed the room they took shelter in. It was covered in rust, mold, and grime from top to bottom, just like everything else. But what really caught Maggs' attention, was that the room was filled with hundreds of little white doves, mutilated! Even the ceiling was decorated with mutilated doves, cut neatly into little pieces. And each individual piece was suspended by slender metal spikes sticking out of the ceiling.

As she observed the gruesome collection, Markus noticed a flashlight, resting on the rickety soiled hospital bed. It had been left on, and its beam was shining on a poor little white dove, that was cut neatly into pieces, and arranged in a sick twisted pattern. Markus gnashed his teeth and silently collected the flashlight, as he fought to contain his anger.

The doves Markus thought, they were mother's favorite bird!

Markus closed his eyes, in an attempt to control his emotions. His mother was such a gentle soul. She loved animals so much, and white doves were a particular favorite of hers. As a child, his mother often spoke to him of how doves symbolized many things to different people, but the greatest of these, was love. Markus opened his eyes, and studied the room in disgust. Was this someone's idea of a sick joke? Was someone or something trying to send him a message?

"Markus…" spoke Magdalene, "What is all of this, what does it mean?"

Markus looked at Magdalene, sternly. "What does it mean…?" he started, "…it means nothing! It's just a sick joke designed to rattle us…!"

Markus pulled the map out of his pocket and studied it under the flashlight.

"Damn it" muttered Markus, "why couldn't Vincent have been more specific..? My father could be anywhere in this hospital!"

Frustrated, Markus crumpled up the map in his fist, and threw it on the ground. It fell then rolled across the floor towards Magdalene, who silently observed Markus' anger . She looked at the crumpled map, then suddenly, it dawned on her.

"Markus" she spoke softly, "I know how horrible this suggestion might be…but close your eyes, take a deep breath, and think…if you were your father,where in this hospital would you go to set a trap for someone ?"

Markus looked up at Magdalene and scowled at her, but his expression quickly faded, when it suddenly occurred to him…

"Come on!" shouted Markus as he retrieved the crumpled map, and unfolded it. "I know where my father is:"

"You do?" spoke Magdalene, hopeful, "Where's that?"

"The Morgue in the basement…! Come on if we move quickly, we can dodge those Nurses in the hallway…"

Magdalene joined Markus next to the door, weapon drawn. 'Me and my big mouth' she thought to herself, as she clutched the dagger, and waited for Markus to open the door. But before opening the door, Markus quickly glanced at the map, to see where both stairwells were located, as well as the elevator. Satisfied, he tucked the map back in and turned to Magdalene.

"Right" breathed Markus, "On the count of three: One-Two- THREE...!"

Markus opened the door and the two quickly burst out of the room, into the hallway, where the armed demon Nurses were waiting for them. Markus glanced from side to side, then forced Magdalene towards an open space where they could evade the mob.

"Down the hall to your right" shouted Markus, "get to the elevator!"

Magdalene nodded and started running as fast as she could towards the elevator, and Markus walked behind her, keeping his eyes and weapon trained on the Nurse demons. As Magdalene ran towards the elevator, she kept hearing this strange noise. It sounded like a combination of slurping and snorting…like the sound a pig makes. But Magdalene ignored it, and continued sprinting towards the elevator. When she reached the elevator door, she quickly hit the button several times, waiting impatiently for it to reach their floor. But as she waited for the elevator, the slurping/snorting noise grew louder, followed by a strange buzzing/humming noise.

Without warning, someone jumped Magdalene from behind, and shoved her to the ground on her stomach. Magdalene gasped, as the assailant crawled on top of her, pinning her to the ground, scratching, pulling and sucking on her. Magdalene gasped as she could feel the assailants' rotten smelling breath on her face, and those loud horrible noises, pouring in her ear. She tried to cry out for help, but the assailant pinned her down with such force, she could scarcely breathe. All Magdalene could do was hold onto her dagger, and try to stab whoever was attacking her. Magdalene twisted and struggled underneath her assailant, until she finally managed to turn around. Without even thinking, Magdalene stabbed the assailant repeatedly with her dagger, and finally mustered enough strength to cry for help. Markus turned, then quickly rushed over and began firing his revolver. The assailant jumped back, grunting in pain as he slid off of Magdalene. And when the elevator finally opened its doors, its faint light revealed to Magdalene, that her assailant was NOT a person at all, but a grotesque leathery Half-Human Half-Aardvark type monster. Magdalene felt sick, but the "Slurper-monster" started twitching and convulsing again, so she repeatedly stabbed the thing until it moved no more.

Markus rushed to Magdalene's side and quickly helped her up off the ground, and led her into the creepy elevator (whose solid walls were also replaced with rusty red grating). He hit the button marked: BF and they stood in silence as the elevator carried them to their destination. When the doors opened, they were both relieved to find a silent, empty hallway. Magdalene started to leave when Markus stopped her.

"Are you okay Maggs" he asked.

"I'm fine" Maggs answered with a brave smile. She touched his hand on her shoulder, reassuringly. "Honest!…I think I'm actually starting to get used to this…" She chuckled. "I don't know if that's a good thing or bad thing. Do you…?"

Markus smiled at her sympathetically, as he checked the map. "Right…according to this, we go left, all the way down to the end of the hall. It'll be the last door on the left."

Maggs nodded and the two cautiously made their way down to the end, convinced that their ordeal was nearly over. But they were wrong. What they found, instead, was the entrance to the morgue…sealed shut. The door contained Five square holes the size of a fist: There was one on top, then three square holes underneath the first, and finally, one lone hole underneath the three. Together, these 5 holes created a diamond pattern on the door, and it was accompanied by a strange little story written in blood… It was a puzzle.

"The Four Horrors:

There once was a man. A good man. Who was so grief-stricken from loss that he was driven to commit unthinkable acts, all in the name of love. But his actions, however, begot terrors MORE HORRIFYING than the acts he committed, in order to reclaim that which he had lost. Proof that the End is sometimes Far Worse than the Means…"

"My god" spoke Magdalene, "what is this, some kind of puzzle?"

"Yes" spoke Markus annoyed, "this town is Famous for its puzzles…Great!"

Markus pounded his fist against the door in frustration. The last thing he wanted was to go on a scavenger hunt, looking for ridiculous keys and/or objects, All for the purpose of completing some vague disturbing puzzle. But it looked as though they had no choice. Markus sighed and turned his attention to Magdalene. If nothing else, this puzzle was at least an indication that they were on the right path.

"We're going to have to go back up there…" said Markus in a bitter tone, "…and search for those damned square pieces to complete this puzzle and unlock this door." He looked at Magdalene, feeling hopeless. "I'm sorry Maggs… I was hoping I could end this sooner."

Markus sighed tearing his gaze away from Magdalene as she stared at him, sympathetically. He rubbed his tired eyes, but looked up when he felt Magdalene's hand on his shoulder. Her lips formed into a warm smile.

"It'll be okay" she spoke, "we'll find those pieces Markus…"

Markus looked at Maggs and smiled, tiredly. "Well then" spoke Markus, "I guess we better get started…"

A/N: The following tracks that inspired this chapter include: SH2: The Darkness That Lurks In Our Minds