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Nightmare Silent Hill...
I ran out into the hallway, expecting to find someone who could help me. Someone that could call the police, and have then come and arrest the maniac-thing that had been in my room. Even know, I could hear it shambling about inside, coming closer towards me.
Now, I was a strong guy. I could handle myself in nearly every sort of situation.
But this shit is seriously out of my league...
The hallways were empty on either side.
What the hell kind of hospital is this?
I had definitely never seen anything like it. The walls were peeled, blooded. Covered in human...everything. Same with the floors, which on a second glance, I discovered was actually grating. I couldn't see anything below that. All around me was almost pitch black, and my eyes were fighting to gain a better portion of sight.
I could hear the thing closer now, shuffling on unsteady legs...hunched over, waving that damn scalpel in the air...
STOP IT.
I forced the thoughts out of my mind. But I could still hear the shuffling, and in another moment, my thoughts would become a brutal reality.
So I started on through the darkness, feeling my way through the dim hallways until my eyes could see somewhat better. It wasn't so hard to see in front of my anymore. I saw a door up ahead of me, and quickened my pace.
Finally, my hand clasped the doorknob and pushed. To my immense relief, the door opened with a loud squeak, and led me into another section of this nightmare hospital.
"Isn't there anyone else around here?" I asked myself aloud, frustrated and afraid nearly out of my mind.
Not if there are any more of those bloody, scalpel-happy freaks running around there isn't! Ask yourself why!
I took a moment to look around my surroundings. This hallways was actually lit. Weakly, with only a small lightbulb, already cracking down the middle. But still lit.
Enough for me to be able to see the thing coming at me from across the hallway.
The scream that ripped out of my throat startled even me.
The thing. It was hunched over, though lower then the nurse creature I had seen in my hospital room. For a moment, I thought it had no arms, but then realized that it was restrained with a tight, blood-soaked strait-jacket. Its face was grotesque. It didn't look like it had any eyes, just dark hollows, crawling with mucus and blood. Its mouth was agape, opening and half-closing rhythmically. When it opened its mouth once more, I could see the dark green drool dripping thickly from one corner of its scarred, twisted lips. The lips were drawn back tightly, revealing the teeth in a morbid grinning fashion.
And it was blocking the only other way out.
Except for going back to where I had just come from.
Not unless you want a scalpel shoved down your throat!
The strait-jacket moved closer, step by step, swinging its torso left and right in what could look like some obscene dance. Its jaws snapping faster now. I could hear it now, emitting a gurgling, groaning sound.
My eyes darted around the room, desperately searching for something. Anything.
SHIT. A WEAPON, AN EXIT, ANYTHING.
My mind was screaming, while I felt the panic deepen. Mere moments, and this thing would be dripping its noxious drool down my throat.
It was then I saw the office. To the right of me, it looked to be a receptionists desk, with a low roof and a caged door. The door was slightly ajar, and the roof looked to be just low enough to let but a hand through.
Thankfully not an entire strait-jacket wearing maniac.
It was halfway across the room, and seemed to read my thoughts as it saw me looking towards the office. It quickened its pace, shambling a bit faster, and emitting those sick sounds with even more vigor.
So I dove for the office, pulling the caged door open, and slipping inside. I breathed in relief as I saw the heavy lock on the door, and barred the way in. Now the thing stood outside the door, pushing itself against it repeatedly.
"Not today you ugly fuck!" I muttered, feeling somewhat better. However meager, this office seemed a good place to be. The door was sturdy enough, and the little roof only low enough for limited access from anything trying to get at me.
It was then I decided to try and find out what was going on. There were papers scattered all over the counter beside me. As I saw the bloody fingerprints on the stained sheets, I wondered who had previously touched them.
And if they died screaming.
The morbid thought found itself into my head, and promptly decided to stay.
"Alright, get off it Marco...it's you that you should be worrying about right now!" I reminded myself.
Yes, the thing was still pounding away at the door, and I was trapped in this little corner.
It's safe now...but when more of those things come?
"No..when they come!" I tried to reassure myself. But standing there, listening to the grunts and sounds the thing made outside, and looking at the bloody sheets in front of me...
When. When they come.
I picked up one of the sheets, and read it. It was a list of doctor's working at the hospital, and the name, in big bold letter's right at the top.
BLANCKE, S : HEAD SUPERVISOR
STINE, C : HEAD SURGEON
WEST, H : NEUROLOGY
ANDROS, I : SURGERY
The list continued on, listing Doctor's I had never heard of. Then the hospital itself, was totally unfamiliar to me.
Alchemilla....Alchemilla....
I tried to remember desperately. For a shred of memory, for something, anything that could lead me to knowing where I was.
I had been in a hospital to begin with. But it had been Denmark Memorial, not Alchemilla.
And it hadn't been crawling with maniacs out to stab and/or eat you either!
Right.
I took a handful of the papers, and sat on a chair as far from the door and the small open counter roof as I could. Skimming through the pages, I discovered a large, fold-out map of the hospital, and tucked it into my pocket for the moment.
That'll probably be a good help, not knowing where the hell I am in this dark hole.
I flipped through some charters for patients, skimming through them with little interest. Suddenly, a name on the list caught my attention.
"Amy Connors....,"
I skimmed through her personal information. Age, date of birth, until I arrived at a small paragraph that interested me in particular.
hallucinations, paranoia, and constantly slips in
and out of consciousness. Her particular incident has rendered her
temporarily to in-hospital suspension until further
notice as to her condition.
I skimmed through more pages, hoping I could find more information concerning what I had just read.
Like the others....
Why did those words disturb me like they did.
"Was there some sort of outbreak or something?" I asked myself. Instantly, my mind froze in silent fear. If there had been a virus, I was in danger of contamination...
If your not screwed over already!
I shook my head, forcing the disturbing thought away. I couldn't afford to go into total panic right now. Not if I wanted to get out of here alive.
And with all important Marco parts included.
It was then that I felt the odd feeling.
It started as an itch in the back of my head, like an upcoming headache. I didn't pay much attention to it at first. I had better things to do then worry about a headache.
Like worrying about that goddamn thing outside!
But as seconds passed, that itching became a sting. The sting began to spread an odd warmth through the back of my head, which turned to a dull thudding inside my mind. It felt at first, like a quick ice-pick headache. The kind received under severe stress.
Surprise Surprise. Why-ever would I be having one now?
But as the thudding got louder, I realized there was something very wrong. I felt my mind numb, as if I were on the very verge of falling asleep. My eyes shut halfway, and I saw endless gray cloud my vision, sending me falling to the floor.
I sprawled there momentarily, feeling only the dull thudding in my head.
Am I having a seizure?
My thoughts were oddly collected. Not the turmoil I would naturally expect from something like this.
Then the world went from gray, to black.
I coughed violently, and realized my eyes were shut tightly, hurting at the edges from squeezing them against the darkness so violently.
I opened them.
My sight was instantly pierced with light, and I coughed again, harder then before.
What the hell just happened?
Everything around me looked different.
It was the same room, that much I was pretty sure. The same little space of an office where I had hidden from the thing in the strait-jacket. But the darkness was gone. The room was filled with a fair amount of light, mostly coming from the windows all around, where I could see the vague light flooding in.
The blood that had previously invaded the walls was gone. The walls were clean, albeit somewhat plain.
Well, it is a hospital.
The grating beneath my feet was gone. Replaced instead with a normal, everyday floor. The stench of the place before, where all had reeked of death, decay, and blood was gone. In its place was a musky scent, like that of a place not inhibited by anyone for a long time.
Most important of all, the strait-jacket monster was gone.
I stood shakily, my legs managing to hold me up after the strange episode.
The hallways were still deserted.
But at least you can see now!
I reassured myself with that thought, happy to know that if anything else jumped on me from some corner, I'd at least be able to see where I was running.
After a moment of double checking, I left the little office, finding the door to be ordinary wood, with a smaller lock on it.
Was I dreaming? Hallucinating?
Questions jumped through my mind as I walked, and I wondered if perhaps I had dreamed the place I had been in before. Dreamed the creatures that had attacked me.
I felt the stinging pain in my knee. Still present, though not as painful.
Didn't dream that. Too bad.
I turned right, and found myself at a pair of double doors. I could see the fog outside.
The exit, oh thank God....
As I pushed on the door, I felt some odd instinct go off in my mind, and for a moment I expected the doors not to open. The thought made me shiver. However, the doors swung open soundlessly, and I stepped outside slowly, and was faced with another odd sight.
Besides the town being immersed in a fog, and the fact it was snowing in August.....there was not another soul in sight.
Taking a deep breath, I stepped down the small set of stone steps by the door, and made my way into this unknown place.
