"Oh, no," Bishop murmured, running over to where he had last seen her. "Arelia?!" Nothing that could have contributed to her disappearance lay in the cupboard. He turned to the swinging door leading out into the hallway. "ARELIA!"


His shoes hit the tile floor hard as he ran out into the hall, looking left, then right down its expanse. A thousand thoughts raced through his mind: where could she have gone? Had someone taken her? Was something holding her prisoner? Had she gotten up and left? Was she in danger? Was she already dead...?


He ran into the Director's Office and tripped over books scattered onto the floor. The cupboards level with his eyes were open, and their doors were hanging by a single hinge each. Contents were ripped and torn and tossed about like a whirlwind of inconceivable force had raged through the room. Behind a desk, he found a large smatter of blood.

Blood in liquid form. Fresh blood...

Blood with glass in it.


Leaving the Director's Office and still calling out Arelia's name, Bishop tried to open the Storage Room again. Nothing. He punched it in fury, adrenaline spiking and dulling the pain in his bleeding and bruised fist. Further down was the Kitchen, and its door was unlocked. He charged inside, breathing hard, and slammed into the steel refrigerator. Something moved to his right, and he drew his shotgun, firing two shots in quick succession before he even turned to look.


BA-BLAM! BLAM!


Both slugs ricocheted off the stainless steel sinks and pipes of the kitchen, and he got a quick glimpse of a figure duck out of the path of fire and behind the large stoves. Putting all rational thought aside, Bishop moved blindly to follow the thing, passing through rows of culinary equipment. His eyes narrowed as they scanned the area ahead of him, and then behind him. Nothing. Not even a sound--


Cha-chlick.


Cold against his temple. He rolled his eyes to the left, and out of his peripheral vision, he could view the black of a gun. Kaufmann, he

thought unhappily, and blinked to focus more clearly on what was holding the weapon. There was no way to bring up his shotgun before the good doctor pulled the trigger.


"Now, would you like to explain why you fired on me? Because I really thought you lectured me on looking at the target first before pulling the damn trigger, jackass..."


Another blink. Definitely not Kaufmann's voice...


"A... Arelia?"


"Damn straight, Chappy. Drop your weapon before I kick it from you."


The shotgun dropped. The barrel was pressed more forcefully against Bishop's head, and he heard Arelia hop down from the sink she had been sitting on. She moved it harder, and he moved with it and out of her way.


"Turn to me. Slowly."


Bishop turned, the muzzle now at his forehead. Arelia's green eyes burned with agitation, but she was completely sane. So much for rescuing her, he thought sourly.


"Next time you so much point that shotgun at me," she said evenly, brushing a few strands of hair out of his eyes with the gun, "I'll paint the walls with your limited gray matter." She put her handgun back into her jacket and nodded to the weapon on the floor. "Alright. You can pick it up now."


The police officer crouched and retrieved his weapon, scowling fiercely. "Y'know, maybe you shouldn't run off so quick like that. I got worried about you. How come you didn't answer when I called out your name back there?"


"Didn't hear you," Arelia said with a shrug. "Guess I got caught up in looking for materials. Sorry." She waited for him to stand, then looked up at him. "You were really worried about me?"


"Um, yeah? Like I haven't been worried about you before?"


"Never so much as to fire a gun at something you didn't even see." She took his wrist. "Your pulse is going wild, too. Nice adrenaline trip you just went on."


"I found blood in the Director's Office," Bishop said softly, pulling his hand away from Arelia. "I... thought it was yours."


"Nah, all blood present and accounted for here. Which is more than I can say for you," she added. He looked at his hand and winced at the brutal sight of his knuckles. "That's going to take more than a bottle of medicine."


Bishop put his hand down on the surface of the sink as Arelia used one of the first-aid kits she had found in the school to disinfect and bandage the series of wounds across his skin. He growled a little at the sting of the disinfectant, but had no other complaints. When she was finished, he flexed his hand and moved his fingers about, testing his range of movement within the bandages. It was adequate.


"You know, you never did answer my question," he said as they moved into the Director's Office. "About hospitals." Arelia glanced at the cupboards and floor, shaking her head at the mess before stepping over it and behind the desk. Using a plastic bottle from the kitchen, she kneeled and ushered the red liquid into the container.


"It's not blood," she said, again avoiding the question. "It doesn't have that acrid scent." She touched the substance and felt it between her thumb and forefinger. "Nor the consistency," she added tonelessly.


"That's disgusting," he said. "Wash your hands before you touch me again. And why won't you answer the blasted question?"


"Maybe it's none of your business?" Arelia snapped shortly. Bishop blinked with surprise.


"I..." His voice trailed off, and then he lowered his eyes. "Sorry..."


"Don't be sorry, be useful." Arelia pushed the bottle of unknown fluid into Bishop's arms, took the basement key from his jacket, and walked out the door. A few moments later, the door to the basement slammed shut, and several shots were fired. Bishop continued to look at the floor, head lowered. So, he wasn't getting through to her...


Down in the basement, Arelia kicked away the three bodies of giant cockroaches she had eradicated and glanced down at her map. Morgue, Boiler Room, Generator... The Boiler Room and Morgue doors were locked, leaving only the Generator. Great, she groaned internally. Another freakin' metal behemoth to operate.


Indeed, the generator was a great, lurking beast. It towered above Arelia as if she were a mere ant in comparison. The great height was partially caused by its intimidating position: a huge machine in the confined space of a dark, silent, eerie room. It was off. She turned it on.


Back up the stairs to Bishop, who was waiting near the elevator. There was a broken vending machine to his left. He was eating a granola bar.


"The elevators are working now, I think," Arelia said. "I turned on the generator downstairs. Everything should be functional."


"Yeah. I hope so," he murmured.


The elevator did not take long to arrive after Arelia pushed the "up" button. Its progression from ground floor was almost immediate. She and Bishop entered warily, and he seemed to tense as the doors closed. They looked at one another before she pushed the button to the second floor.


Cables creaked and gears groaned. Then the elevator began to move upward.


"They're too clean, too sterile, and hold too much suffering that goes uncared for," she said after a moment without looking at Bishop. He smiled gently and closed his eyes, enjoying the singular sentence that washed away all the terror of Silent Hill and let him know that, in this nightmare, there was at least one solace.