Silent Hill 4: DOMINION

by H.C.R.

A/N:I know I went way out of line this time. Rarely do you see a person having a flashback within a flashback of their childhood, but I promise this'll be one of the few. I am not hell bent on starting a flashback trend. After this we get back to the story cool?

Chapter Four: Leaving Home

Back in 1997...

Three hours of straight video games, an opportunity to watch all the 'illegal' movies as his parents had so dubbed, all the food in the fridge at his disposal and the young 13 year old Pat Henley was still bored. At this point it was very easy to convince a person that total bliss was beyond them. Daydreams and fantasies were far from solving the problem either. He seriously needed an adventure.

The day would only become more dull having his mother and father finally come back from their drive out to the middle of nowhere. They said they were exploring the community when he knew that the two were simply looking for private space and hopefully trying to return to the days when they probably made out in dad's old car when they were high school kids during the time of 'Grease.' Everyone else enjoyed watching that film in class, but there was enough prep to drive him out of his mind. The house was so quiet when they came back. Even the football game wasn't blasting on the TV, and he was only left with the opportunity of reading a book in their presence as he had been a bad boy, and his idolatries had been confiscated once again. There were some things that really sucked the root when it came to being a little kid, and punishments like that were one of the few peeves.

Up to the big silent, solemn looking judge's chair he had walked, begging his father for some free time just to get a bit of fresh air. He told them that he was going to meet his friends outside. That was a lot to ask for considering the hot water he was in lately for the last time he brought uninvited guests to the house, but he'd also given the sales pitch of

"I promise to be back around 3:00"

It sure as hell gave him only an hour but to be honest the only way he could bargain for more was if he had the neuralizing memory wiper from 'Men in Black'

An hour did not give him enough time to relax under the fresh feeling of a spring day. (not that he cared about the weather) much less, enough time to hike it all the way to the woods by Toluca Lake and smoke a few more cigarettes without the knowledge of a stone chisel faced father who kept eyes on him like a hawk in his rocking chair, or his mother who looked like she would be ready to put that spatula of hers to a good whipping use if she only knew half of the things he'd done out of their sight, but he'd ruined his chances to show up back in time, and usually he had to give them an hour and a half before they started getting antsy about the whereabouts of their 'beloved' son.

Good lord, he was sweating out there. The sun was becoming a bit too violent for a nice spring day. If it wasn't for the wind coming in, he would have sworn that the sun rays were 'summer-killer'. Perhaps they'd be enough to ignite his Marlboros while they were still in his pocket if he wasn't careful. He took them out and proceeded to crush as he kept going with his pumas starting to feel the heat of the pavement up the highway and into the woods. It was funny how the closer he came, the more the sun started to fade away, and besides the skies becoming cloudy. He was starting to see that peculiar fog again. Seriously eerie. You could film a crappy B-Horror film in this place, and it would make the American Film 100 greatest horror list just because it was friggin Silent Hill. Oh yes he'd heard more than just a few rumors about what sort of weird things happened here between the usual lunch conversations where the guys usually shared the nastiest, weirdest, and coolest stories they ever heard. He dismissed them as fairy tales of course, until he watched the latest murder cases on TV. (Good GOD! If only his parents knew that he was walking on the VERY same road where they found that old fisherman's body cremated and crushed by truck tires. It was odd but he wasn't as scared as he thought he would be. Maybe it was simply that he loved being in these woods, and there was no other private spot where he could chill and take in his monthly cigarette (Being only thirteen years old there was no need to rush to get the fumes. Words of his older brother)

Plus all the citizens around the town were a bunch of weirdoes. Okay so maybe quite a few of them. They were always pretending like they were his annoying close relatives whenever his folks went to one of the town parties, and some of those grown-ups were really damned sharp at the tongue. Calling his friends little devils whenever they were caught doing something bad. Maybe they were religious fanatics or something, but his mom was a no 'B.S.' Catholic and these people were freaking him out! Reminding him of a nutcase schoolteacher that liked to beat people. They sung weird chants, and they knew every damnedest secret you had under the sun. You couldn't hide or get away with shit from your neighbor in Silent Hill. Colonial Williamsburg sounded like a WAAAY better option for a vacation visit than this weird resort town. He didn't even think he could eat dinner if dinner was the fish in their lake.

It was more the empty, quiet places such as the woods that intrigued him to stay in the town. He had to admit that there was never another place where you could be more at peace than the woods. As a matter of fact, why go home to deal with two assholes? He might as well have stayed out another hour but no…he was still on punishment, and there were things to be done at home. He began to turn around and trudge back in the other direction.

SNAAPP!!! CRAAAASSSHH!!!

Like any other boy his age, his eyebrows perked up with sudden interest with a bit of shock but he was convinced right then. The cure to his boredom was not far away, and that noise sounded pretty loud like it was coming from deep in the woods. It didn't sound anything like the falling of a tree, Even if that was the case. Who could say that one had really gotten anything out of a two mile long stroll out into the woods towards Paleville if they didn't find something incredibly spooky to brag about witnessing to all their friends at school the next day. He pocketed the cigarette pack and hustled off across the highway into the dark wilderness.

Bugs, bugs and more bugs. It was funny to think how Pat remembered his last pilgrimage to the dark woods to be the closest thing to heaven. The insects sure weren't, and it was no fun smoking with legions of ants crawling up your leg either. They were trying to crawl up his shoe as he walked deeper into what his friends loved to call the abyss. What imaginations they had. Everybody else knew there wasn't shit down here…

"GASP!"

"Okay. So Captain 'On the Contrary' had obviously struck again….

His eyes stayed widened as he looked over the motorcycle. Rusty and mud-covered a bag full of tools on its side and what else?

…Red, clear and blue headlights on its front. With the painted phrase 'to protect and serve' scratched on the right side of the bike.

….Well this sort of thing didn't happen very often.

He at first began to wonder whether or not the department was ever going to come back and reclaim their bike. It wasn't a good thing to leave such toys around in the woods where a bunch of mischievous kids usually wreaked havoc. Especially, in a place where a 13 year old that knew how to hot wire and ride the suckers had access to it.

…someone could have their eye put out that way!

His curious hands led towards the machine. An evil grin was on his face. It looked like the thing was still working and it was pretty small. It was probably one of those late models for the short female cops. He could fit on that bike without the slightest bit of hassle, and he'd save a lot of time getting home too. He could almost see his folks' faces right then. They would have nothing to say once they saw that he didn't break his promise to show up on time. Heck. Maybe he'd even pimp out the bike on his way to school, tell a few of his frie- NO. One of them would snitch, and considering this was Silent Hill, the 'rumor spreading' capital of the world. That would not be such a good idea. This bike would be his forever and ever and ev-WHAT THE FUCK!?!!

He stared down into a pair of crimson red eyes that held his gaze for the longest time. Everything around him became distorted as the voice of someone crying, almost screaming ran through his head. He could have been going into a flashback for all he knew.

"..but I couldn't save you. I don't even know who the hell you are."

"SAAAAVVEEE MMEEEEE!!"

Someone was calling out him. It wasn't the fact that he was simply startled right then, but the voice kept on getting louder. It was someone who he remembered so well. IT WAS almost like a flashback…and he hadn't even gotten high yet…

"And that'll be 10 bucks extra for your trouble. You know I've usually got places to run."

"Going to slap the cuffs on another bad guy eh Officer Bennett?"

"I know what you're thinking Patsy."

"Don't call me that."

"Yeah. You wish you had a job bold enough to show off to the rest of those little wise asses at school but not everybody can carry a gun like this you know."

"Yeah but they're still at basketball practice and at least you don't see them babysitting."

"Hey kid. This is no ordinary baby you're looking after. She's quite a handful, and to be her white knight for 12 hours is one heck of a feat! I don't think anyone could pull it off like you. Personally, I never trust the girls. Some teens these days are crazy, all high, tripped out, they're into that new-age craft stuff. I even heard a news story where somebody actually sacrificed their little sister to some toxic brew that cult weirdoes were cooking up, and the baby was only 4 months old. It's sad you know. Then somebody is going to put the care of a baby in the hands of such people? Nah. Besides I have to arrest half of these weirdoes more than usual. ESPECIALLY around this fogged up town.

"No shit?"

"Language."

"Whoops sorry."

"So, for this next week I'll need you to come at this time and look after the squirt for me. You got the routine so there's no need to explain anything else, diapers, bath, food, her favorite song-"

"Yeah I was always wondering about that…"

"What? The song?"

"Yeah. Why'm I always supposed to play that to her?"

"It's weird, but my boyfriend-her father I mean…says it lulls her to sleep every time. The next morning she's healthy as an ox and running around like a Mexican jumping bean or something. I don't know where she gets it from but it's better than anything a doctor can prescribe and a hell of a money saver too. She just keeps on growing. I'm afraid she'll turn into a super-being by the next time she'll wake uuuuuuuuuuuuuupppp

He stood up and shook his head rubbing his eyes, looking at the woods around him. Alyssa had found another caretaker and Bennett had been missing for weeks. To him, she was just another lady that he could make money off of to save up for more video games, anime and porn, but was this her bike?

She did leave an urgent message on the machine one day. Just before she left it was about….

"ALYSSA."

"GO GET HER."

"Who the hell's talking to me?" Pat whispered as he looked around. This was too much for your average middle schooler.

"YOU WILL LEAVE NOW.

That delusional voice really hit home. He'd almost forgotten during his little trip that he was due to see her again. Sure Alyssa seemed fine at Dahlia's orphanage, but he was advised to check up on the kid since he was the last person to understand her caretaker's last wishes. Still…Why him?

He jogged back through the fog wondering what the hell had run through his mind and when he would waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaakkkee uuuuuuuuuuuupppp

Present Day

Pat awoke to total darkness and upon discovering that he could hardly breathe or move he instantly thought he had reached hell. He was killed out there, and this was his hell. Well if it hurt then he sure as hell had the right to scream. The fair sized chained cross dangling around his neck was a contradiction considering what he just did, but he still couldn't breathe he just needed to breathe.

The black body bag slowly unzipped and much to the woman's distress. Years of college, and more research than the next coroner could not prepare her for what she was seeing. The eighteen year old was blood covered and fighting to breathe. As his head reached out of the bag, unable to think of what to do next, she fainted on the ground dropping her cell phone and her tools. Another young woman sat next to her in the ambulance staring deeply into his gray eyes. Her own were teary. Somewhat happy. It took awhile for him to recognize. It was that girl who had the same name as the baby he looked after. Was it just a coincidence? Then what was that flashback all about, and why was he still breathing?

" You came back to me." she smiled

" I...did? " It was going to take awhile before he understood anything. " Where am I?"

" Everything will be explained in time I'm sure but for right now you've got to relax."

Immediately, the second that she put her hands on his shoulders to calm him down back onto the stretcher and moved her face closer towards his.

" Uh okay." He said with much less hesitation than before.

" Bet you've been dreaming about me doing this." She smiled and wrapped her arms around his blood-soaked body smiling uncontrollably as tears of misunderstood joy continued dropping from her eyes. Her blond hair in tangles from the recent fall of rain sticking to his skin as he lay there confused. The only thing he couldn't get over was the fact that he was still alive.

So where else did that leave him? With a duty. A duty that he'd been given but he had put off for so many years all because of his clumsiness. If there was any man that was known to be gene recessive for having initiative then it was him, but at least he wasn't left without options. Okay he was stuck in an ambulance having survived by the very grace of God and for a very good reason. To be a last action hero to some chick that he looked after in his youth and had undergone a very odd jump in age, form and intelligence. That simple fact alone told him that the world was no longer the realistic 'lazy ville' he had perceived it to be. His dreams were all messages of his duties to protect her, and then what.

That was the second part that he had to ponder.

He saw the gray fog of Silent Hill but in one of his dreams the town wasn't looking so dull and foggy. More like Hellish with dark skies and burning homes. Although it was a silly dream nothing else could explain the incredible heart throbbing pain that hit him every time he thought about it. Another sudden shock and he felt like his heart would explode out of place killing him all over again. No, he simply had to get to that town and that was all there was to it. He would take Alyssa there because that seemed to be all that mattered…but then…

What about his dad and his friends?

News of what just happened would not make the man any happier. Knowing him, his father's hairs would stand on end just before the shock would ultimately kill him. Seeing his baby boy standing and walking with those possessed red eyes that he was currently sporting as he looked in the mirror with pure disgust would put on too much drama, and most likely convince the cops to start shooting again.

Wiping off a few tears from a face that was turning stone firm he thought to himself that he couldn't let it happen. How ironic. As he was thinking about the people who would go nuts seeing him alive, two silhouettes were jogging towards the back door of the ambulance. They'd probably found extra room to store him in the police wagon and were coming back to find a bag. Once they saw him and poor Alyssa already undergoing an odd state of change with her own pupils, apocalypse would rain on both the kid's heads, and his heart was telling him (with as much pain as it could express) that he was to not let them be discovered at all costs.

The driver of that ambulance was waiting patiently. Funny, he'd always remind himself that soon would come the day in which he had to give up the cigarettes once and for all. He'd just survived what seemed pretty much like a killer phenomenon of heat. Wouldn't it be a better to celebrate life by not diminishing it little by little? He after all, thought about living to be a great granddad, and with being a paramedic? Well it didn't necessarily set a good healthy example with what he was doing.

But then again he also didn't give a rat's behind about what other people thought, and nobody else was looking. That last Marlboro was as good as his.

Besides, any normal guy would seriously need to smoke after what they had just seen happen. That crazed pyro had torched almost everyone that came within range. School kids, senior citizens, innocent bystanders and workers, and one of those kids wasn't friggin' innocent at all. He waltzed out into the middle of the street like a zombie. Grabbed a dead cops' gun and unloaded on the guy till he was out of bullets! Kids today, he would never understand. It was a sure thing to be afraid of a kid's potential after hearing about the Columbine massacre but some parents would get to thinking that the young'uns they gave birth to were really super villain aliens from mars if they could fight off a weirdo like that without getting so much as a simple scorch then kill the thing? Of course his two lovely 13 year old twin daughters were exceptions but Yes he was more than just nervous about who was laying back there in his vehicle. Not to be a prophet of weird happenings but for all he knew the kid….no the monster could be brought back to life or something. It was torture to watch what happened. It was a straight up bloodbath. He knew some of the SWATS such as David and Argento. Normally those guys would show a little consideration or think it over since after all the shooter was just a minor but the whole team did not hold back in the least. It almost looked like the kid…was going to drop the gun and they emptied him before you could hear him scream. Man what a story he was going to have to tell his wife Elly that night. She always asked him whether or not his line of work ever made him afraid. Well no. He passed the psychological test perfectly, and a cadaver never bothered him in his life, but with the thoughts that were currently running through his head, and with the body he was currently carrying, it would be easy to say that this might have been the first time he was actually ready to wet his pants on the job.

It came faster than anyone person could predict, and it was enough to do more than just make him soil his pants but black out completely.

The sight of his own flesh glowing in a gold color had also startled Pat. He was even surprised that he didn't have to attempt to put the driver to sleep which to the best of his knowledge, wouldn't have gone over too well. The true task was lifting the big guy out of the driver's seat.

" Uh Alyssa could you give me a hand?"

" What are you doing?" She asked in that same soft voice of hers.

" We won't be any safer in this town. I know why you came to get me, and if this is going to work we'll have to get out of here. This little emergency scene you see around you…something isn't right about all of it. I can't really explain it to you now but I know you trust me so just hang on and you'll see what I mean."

Stopping to think it over, she was pretty sure that his idea was nuts as soon as he jumped into the driver's seat. Could he really leave behind every single person that they knew and cared about in town?

Meanwhile in the streets, a tough interrogation was going on between some students and the cops. Between their latest youth cases, the freak occurrence they just witnessed and seeing the renegade teen, they were convinced that all of the high schoolers were rotten little imps withholding evidence and very deserving of their stone cold grimaces.

" Ah let's get out of here." a rookie detective gave up " I don't think this kid's got the mental capacity to say another word."

" He's holding back for his insane friend that's all." His partner said sharply without an ounce of sympathy for a young traumatized Ken Matthews whose face was saturated with tears, and unable to speak as of the moment.

" Listen." The detective grabbed Ken's arm and dragged him to the ambulance hoping a bit of shock therapy would wake him up and extract some answers as to what was going on.

" I don't got all day for trouble causing shrimps like you that seem to be fascinated with wreaking havoc and killing innocent ladies understood?! Maybe a nice taste of reality'll wake you kids up and see what gun play leads to! Where's that damned ambulance?"

Yanked by his hood, he was brought to the ambulance. His stomach tightened as he was drawn closer. He had watched the horror from a distance that terrible afternoon. He'd faint again before he ever saw it up close. His knuckles tightened as he was brought closer to the vehicle. Hearing the endless wails of a very upset father. He tried to hold back but soon he was being forced, nearly being dragged all the way there.

(Inside the ambulance…)

He was on his last nerve. There was no other way that he knew to protect her. He had to keep away from those cops. Fed up with time being wasted, and almost turning chalky white from fear the very second he saw even more people getting closer to the vehicle. He grabbed Alyssa and mover her into the passenger seat. The engine was already left running. Thank goodness, and there wasn't much of a police barrier ahead. Just a tiny wooden road blocker which was considered as virtually nothing to him as soon as he stepped on the gas throwing Alyssa back in her seat.

The vehicle pulled out wildly. It's sirens yelling, casting red and white lights over concerned, shocked, and angered faces. The cop cars (which might have had a chance to catch up with the ambulance if they had room to move) were all the way at the other end of a traffic jam where the clean up and investigation was taking place. Booted feet were off in a dead rush for the door that waved open only to see a hand reach out to close it much to the distress of a terrified coroner who was screaming for help.

He was already reaching 70 mph as he barely mastered a sharp turn pulling off the highway and onto the bridge. The darkness around him felt different than evening. The buildings around him seemed quite redder than usual. Yes it was happening. All outside was becoming silent under the loud blare of the siren. He could have sworn his vision was not up to par but on the inside he knew it wasn't the case.

Who could truly explain the disgusting rusted grating that the roads were becoming and the fog that was surrounding his universe at the absolutely worst time of day. Panicky citizens becoming nothing but shadows or crippled walkers that he at first wondered where they came from, but eventually recognized their hideous shadows from his dreams as a youth and more frequently in the presence of the girl he was sworn to protect…and the voice that was talking in his head definitely reminded him of the very person who had entrusted him with this responsibility. All the danger was coming from the town that made him feel so paranoid, and they were coming after her baby girl. After what he had supposedly done to the pyromaniac that Alyssa was constantly reminding him about during their high speed chase it was pretty much assumed that there was no other human being that could be her super knight of defense except him. He didn't know where he got such powers from exactly, besides his strong will to look after her. Actually it was too much to think about. He accelerated a bit more seeing a huge break on the bridge barely keeping the wheels balanced as the weight of the cabin sent the ambulance swaying on it's sides. Alyssa could only look into determined, near lifeless eyes as they stared forward while the both of them fought to hold up against the rush of an incoming cop car.

The old rusty squad vehicle refused to let up. The sound of their cars making 'clankety' noises as they realized they were traveling over grating. They both looked dead ahead and saw that the end of the line was approaching yet they hadn't even gotten 1/3rd of the way over the bridge.

Even though there was no more bridge left to go. Something prompted him to speed up. His teeth grit as they came closer before they went over the edge, the light had hit upon them. Everything that one knew to be real and existent had disappeared.