Disclaimer: I own nothing From Silent Hill; all product names used are the property of their sole owners. In addition, this story is completely the work of fiction. Any similarity with these characters and any person in real life, living or dead are purely coincidental.
Act One:
The Game
Light slowly came back to Lexington. He could not remember much of what happened. Something about Ashley then there was Zack and then, nothing his memory was blank after that. As he sat up trying to remember what happened he got a good look at his surroundings.
The world had changed over to the hellish nightmare while he was out. He was in a bare room, the walls slick with a red effluence, pulsating in the dim light. In the far corner, sat a small desk, on which an oil lamp provided the only light in the room.
Lexington staggered to his feet, the weight of his body almost foreign to him. Lexington made his way to the desk to examine it, his body aching with every step. He made it to the desk and saw three sets of numbers carved into the wooden surface.
11/14/1987
09/11/2001
07/15/2004
They were dates. Two of them made sense to Lexington, The first one was the Date of Jenna's Birth, and the last one was her death date. The second one was the one that did not make sense; the only thing he could think about relating to it was the Terrorist attacks in New York and Washington.
What the hell, did that have to do with anything? Lexington Thought to himself. Suddenly there was movement behind him. Lexington Jumped, he turned quickly and was not pleased with what he saw.
Barely visible in the darkened Corner, Lester sat facing the wall, rocking back and forth.
"Hickory, Dickory, Dock…the mouse looks at the clock, three dates he see's, knows not what they mean… Oh Gambriel, GIJOE is so stupid." Lester sang to himself.
Lexington instinctively went to draw his pistol from its holster. His hand moved to the canvas holder and found it was empty. There was nothing in there. Lexington looked down with at it with freight. The weight of the pistol was his safety net, something that gave him reassurance in this place, without it, he was lost.
Seemingly able to sense Lexington's distress, Lester held up the pistol and showed it to him without even turning away from the wall. "Looking for this, GIJOE thinks he is so tough, but when you take away his toy, HAHAHAHA" Lester laughed.
"All right Lester, what the hells the meaning of this, you better tell me, I don't need a pistol to kill you." Lexington said seething.
"Again GIJOE is so arrogant gambriel. He keeps making threats, but what he does not realize is, if he was going to do it he would have already. He knows I know things, things he wishes he knew. In that regard I am special…Oh Gambriel I am special just like my therapist used to say, I guess I should have paid more attention to that simpering fool." Lester said gleefully.
He continued talking, Lexington could not tell whom exactly he was talking to but He was sure Lester was talking to him. "GIJOE is so dumb, and they said I had the mind of a three year old, Well Damn them All. HAHAHAHA. I will explain it to GIJOE so he can understand, understand, No…He will…or maybe he won't he is so dumb."
Lester finally turned from the wall and faced Lexington. His hair seemed to be even more ragged ad his eyes had become dark, sunken and frenzied. "Three dates on the desk. The first, the glorious day when our princess was delivered unto us. The Last, the day she went to sleep. The second, the day she lost all hope."
"Ok Lester, what does 9/11 have to do with any of this?" Lexington asked as calmly as possible.
"Surly you of all people would know, but it seems I have to remind you, New York, Washington, a field in Pennsylvania." Lester said
"I know the terrorist attacks, what do they have to do with anything." Lexington asked even more confused.
"Uhhh. I will have to show you." Lester sighed.
Suddenly Lexington's view became distorted. The room went from barley ay light to a blinding white light. Lester went from View and the only thing Lexington saw was a vast white abyss. As his view slowly came back, he was in his house, looking at the T.V. A frantic newscaster was on.
"Yes! We have confirmation; a second plane has hit the north tower of the World Trade Center. Preliminary reports are indeed calling this a terrorist attack!"
As Lexington watched, time seemed to skip forward as the nest image played on the television.
"Oh my god! Look at this The North Tower is collapsing, The North Tower is falling to the ground, oh my god all those firefighters and policeman still inside!" the newscaster as the North Tower of the World Trade center disintegrated as it fell to the ground.
Lexington got a sharp pain in his head as the next image on the T.V. was of President George Bush.
"The American people will face this new threat. We will hunt them down and defeat all who stand against freedom and democracy." The president said amidst thunderous applause. A soon as that was done; the T.V. went back to the newscaster.
"Saddam Hussein said today that he dares American forces to enter Iraq and calls for his republican guard to defeat the Americans at every turn." Lexington then saw himself standing in the kitchen His wife was also there doing the dishes.
"Alex, I don't understand why you are going, you don't have to." Lexington's wife said as she scrubbed the dishes.
"I told you Lacy, I have to go because I am ordered to. I have to go and fight the people responsible for attacking our country." Lexington responded.
"I know but your daughter is sick, really sick Alex. Don't think I don't know how the military works, my father was in the marines and if he had an excuse like that, he wouldn't have had to go to Vietnam." Lacy said quietly, anger in her voice.
"Just because your father was a marine, doesn't give you inside knowledge of how the military works. Bush gave the order, I have to deploy with my unit and I will be back in six months. Yeah I know Jenna is sick, she is a big girl she needs to be able to handle her self."
"Listen to you. You are going out to fight someone else's war while your own daughter gets weaker by the day. Don't you love us any more?" Lacy asked, tears welling in her eyes.
"Of course I do, but I couldn't expect you to understand. I am leaving tomorrow at five in the morning and that is all there is to it. I will be back in six months and then we can pick up where we left off."
The couple were taken from their argument as they saw Jenna standing in the doorway of the kitchen, tears in her eyes. The both looked at her as she began to cry in earnest. "Daddy please don't go, I don't want you to leave me, and I need you."
"Jenna, please it will only be for six months…" Lexington said as he carefully approached her. However, that was not what she wanted to hear as she cried even more and ran off to her room. Lexington turned back to Lacy as she gave him a look of "See what you have done" and went off after their daughter.
Lexington Got another sharp pain in his head as the blinding white light came back and overtook him. As his vision came back to him, he was back in the dark, dank room he had started in. Lester had moved and was now crouched, sitting on top of the barren desk.
"You left her to fend for herself as you went off for glory and praise. The ever dutiful soldier doing what he was told, his family and everyone he loves be damned." Lester said scathingly.
"I…I…" Lexington was left speechless he was truly at a loss for words.
"That's not the worst of it. The lonely mother and the woeful child never knew where you were. Your secretive government not wanting to give away your location. Every time the news came on, they would shy away, but eventually turn to watch. Day after day, they would watch, hoping for some fleeting picture or story that would show you. Even if they showed your dead body that was all right too, at least they would know where you where." Lester said coming off the desk and over to Lexington.
"After the princess went to sleep, you still only think of yourself. You gave up your name, and you left your wife. All for Mr. Bush."
"I…That's not what I…" Lexington was still at a loss for words. How did Lester know all of this? Lexington once again dropped down to the floor as he began to tear up. The memories came rushing back to him. The look on Jenna's face as he left that morning to report for duty. Every few months his superior officer would come to him and offer to send him home because of Jenna's health and every time he would refuse.
"When you realized that something was wrong with Jenna, you ran and hid in the military. You couldn't deal with her so you left, and she suffered for it." Lester said.
Lexington was completely broken down. He slumped in a corner and cried, trying to shield himself from what Lester was saying to him. Lester, seeing him like this began to laugh hysterically and dance around the room.
"HAHAHAH Oh Gambriel GIJOE cries and we are strong. HAHAHAHA. So sad so sad, to bad to bad, but I'm afraid it all is true, HAHAHAHA" Lester said rubbing it in his face. Lexington did not even try to stop him, he was beginning to break.
Zack ached as he sat up. The heavy weight of his helmet making the job harder than it should have been. He looked himself over and found that every thing was in order. He still had all of his things and he did not seem to be wounded. Zack got to his feet and found that he was alone.
Looking up the street, he saw nothing but the monochrome of grey, ash, and fog. He looked behind him and saw the same. Checking to his right, he could barely make out the ghostly visage of an abandoned house, the occupants having long been gone.
However, to his left was an open field, or as far as he could tell it was. Going over his options, Zack decided that he was going to go the way of the field. Zack checked his rifle and pulled the charging handle back, chambering a round in the chamber and hearing the chink-chink, he shouldered the weapon and made his way across the field.
The fog and ash made it difficult to maneuver. In the field, the Ash and fog had become extremely thick. Zack kept looking from straight in head of him to the ground to make sure he was going in the right direction. After a few minutes, he made it out of the field. It was as if he stepped through a door.
He found himself on a city street but instead of houses, the street was lined with businesses. The fog seemed thinner now to and the ash was falling at a slower pace, making it easier to see. Confused, Zack looked up and down the street and decided to go what he guessed was a southerly direction. The compasses were still spinning wildly out of control and he thought they probably would not be any help anyway.
As Zack made his way down the ashy sidewalk, he saw a figure standing near a building. The first thought that went though his head was maybe it was Ashley, Vanessa, or Lexington. Then again, it could be something "else" he thought. AS he moved closer, he saw that it had long red hair, obviously female, but she did not match the description of his friends.
He inched his way closer, his rifle never leaving its point of aim on her back. Zack started to get a bad feeling and found himself breathing heavily again, taking deep quick breaths. As Zack came closer, the girl did not even bother to move, she just rather stood, swaying with a non-existent breeze. He was now close enough to make out more detail. He then became excited and relieved at the same time.
The woman standing in from if him was wearing The Army Combat Uniform or ACU, in that universal camouflage, that wasn't really good at camouflaging anything, in this grey atmosphere it worked great though. The army was indeed looking for them and now that the Army was here, they could figure some of this shit out. He did not see any rank on her, just the US flag on her right shoulder.
"Hey, PFC. Where's you ranking officer? I am one of the people you are looking for. My partners is god knows where and we need to find him." He said, lowering his rifle and running the rest of the way over to her.
She did not reply, and still just stood facing away. Zack put his hand on her should and spun her around to face him. He knew that the Navy and the army had a rivalry going back a couple hundred years but this was just ridiculous. "Hey Private, answer me when I talk to you don't you know I'm a superior officer and…" When he spun her to face him, Zack could believe his eyes.
She had no facial features at all. No eyes, No Nose, No Mouth, just a sheet of skin covering what should have been her face. However, someone had taken a scalpel or something and carved into her skin eyes where he eyes should have been. A nose where is normally went and a mouth where it should have gone. They also carved tears coming out of her right eye and unlike the other things, they had encountered in this place, and this one spoke to him.
"Of Course you're who I'm looking for. The Army takes anyone regardless of the cost to others, HAHAHAHAHA." She laughed at him. Zack was so freighted at the sight he had stopped breathing all together. Thinking instinctively, he quickly brought his rifle to his shoulder and shot the girl directly, in her makeshift face, the bullets rupturing holes in her head like a watermelon. The lifeless body fell to the ground as blood began to pool around it.
Zack was shaken by what he had seen. He panted as he tried with all his might to understand what was going on. As he looked down at the monster, Zack started to sob.
"Why? This was supposed to be a simple training mission. Why is this happening?" He sobbed, his emotions finally busting to the surface. "Ashley, Vanessa they are just poor defenseless girls. Why are they going through all of this…GOD DAMN?"
Zack fell to his knees and let his tears fall to the ground. Zack thought back to all of his family members. After all, of this time, this was the first time he did not think he was going to get out alive. His mom, his nieces and nephews, brothers and sister. He began to sob with more vigor as he removed his helmet from his head.
His tears fell into the soft ash as a small hand suddenly cupped his cheek. Naturally surprised, he made no effort to fight, as the small hand guided his face to meet that of a small girl.
"Ashley?" Zack asked through tear-swollen eyes. The girl looked almost like Ashley. The blonde hair, her eyes, her mouth and nose, her body structure. She did have her differences, her eyes were dark and sunken, her cheeks shallow, her lips blue, from apparent lack of oxygen. She did not wear any normal cloths, no; she was clad in the simple plain fabric of a hospital gown.
The girl simply shook her head as she got to her feet, and stood before Zack. She then turned from Zack and started o walk into the fog. Before she completely disappeared from view, she stopped and seemed to speak to him.
In a voice as small and frail as to almost not be heard, the girl said "You must continue to play. The game is not done, the players not in their final places. You are his last chance."
Zack sat in confusion as the girl started walking into the abyss of the fog once again. Before he could call out to ask her what she meant, she was gone from view.
To Be Continued…
A/N: Once again a shorter chapter. I once again apologize but that is part of the reason I am cutting this one up into acts. I also want to apologize for the lack of updates. I am still trying to deal with my job closing shop on me and other things like that. I want to thank all of you who have reviewed my story so far, it keeps me going with your words of encouragement. Please keep the reviews coming. Thanks for everything.
