Silent Hill: Darkness Rising
Foreword: Silent Hill and all Silent hill characters belong to Konami incorporated, however my characters: Alex, Mike, Couri and Oz belong to me. However they are based on real people so you can't use them. Blagh! :P
Chapter 2: when shit hits the fan
The next morning the 4 of them woke up at god knows what time. Oz had set the alarm clock to go off at 9:30 but it didn't, hell it wasn't even ticking!
" That's odd." Oz said shaking the clock in his ear. " What happened to this thing?"
" Dude what happened to the electricity?" Alex asked clicking the power button on the TV.
" It might've been knocked out." Gohlke suggested. " Which also explains why it's freezing in here."
" No it can't be freezing, the A/C isn't on." Oz said putting the silent alarm down back on the table. " I mean how can it be freezing in here when it's the middle of summer?"
" Well also consider the fact that it's snowing outside." Couri said looking out the window. " During might I add in the middle of summer."
" What?" Oz said going to the window. Alex and Gohlke joined him. Outside it was white with fog, so thick you could barely see a few feet in front of you. Oz could hardly make out the outline of the Gremlin in the fog. On top of that it was snowing, not heavily but lightly. When the snow falls, hit's the ground and disappears. Alex shook his head and rubbed his eyes.
" Man this is trippy." Alex said in disbelief. " I've seen some crazy stuff but man, snowing in the middle of June?"
" Well consider the fact that we're on a lake, so that explains the fog." Gohlke explained. " How ever the snow could either be lake effect or El Nino, I'm not sure."
" But Gohlke it's in the middle of fucking June for crying out loud!" Couri yelled. " There would be no fog or lake effect snow when it was 86 degrees yesterday!"
" Listen, let's just check out and get going." Oz said pulling on his clothes from yesterday. They all put their clothes on from yesterday* except Couri who had fallen asleep in her clothes, the guys wore shots to bed.) As they put their stuff back together, Couri headed out the door hugging her jacket around her.
" I'm going to go take a walk." She said. " I mean it is snowing in the summer, so it must look pretty outside."
" Right well where will you be?" Oz asked.
" I saw a park or courtyard behind the hotel." Couri explained. " So I'll be back there."
She closed the door behind her and walked out into the fog. Oz shook his head and zipped the suitcase up and lugged it outside. Gohlke opened the trunk lid for him as put the luggage in the back. With that he slammed the trunk lid down and dusted his hands off.
" The owner probably isn't up yet so we'll wait in the car." Oz said yanking open the driver's side door. " I mean damn it's freezing out here."
Just then a shrill scream pierced the silence hanging in the air.
" Where did that come from?!" Alex asked looking around wildly.
"Oh shit, Couri!" Gohlke said.
They ran across the parking lot and out onto the street. They turned and ran around the corner behind the motel where Couri went. It was a small park, with neatly trimmed hedges, benches and trees. Along with paved walkways. In the center of the whole deal was a stone fountain, which wasn't running right now. Couri sat next to the fountain, her knees up to her chin and her arms wrapped around her legs holding herself. She was trembling and making small squeaking noises. Gohlke kneeled down next to her and shook her.
" Couri you okay?" He asked her. She said nothing, but kept on trembling and staring at the other side of the fountain. Oz walked over and nearly puked his guts out, Alex beat him to it as he vomited in a nearby bush. Lying on the pavement, in a pool of sickening crimson blood was the mangled form of the upped half of a human. It's mouth hung open in an eternal scream, it's skin was decaying to a tanned brown, it's eyes were gouged and bleeding. Oz shuddered and shook his head, as he noticed there was barbed wire wrapped around the corpse's neck, along a part of skin that was shredded and hanging loose. The lower half of the torso looked like it was gnawed away by some animal. Gohlke stood up to see what they were looking at.
" Dude what is-?" He asked, but stopped dead in his tracks when he saw the corpse. He then vomited in the bushes.
" This is some fucked up shit man!" Alex said shaking his head. " We gotta go to the police."
" Can't lines are down." Oz said snapping his cell phone shut.
" Well then what the hell do we do?" Alex asked. " What about Couri man? She's like in post-traumatic coma from seeing this. Look at her!"
" We'll go wake Mr. Haerby up." Oz said. " C'mon let's get Couri away form this."
As they were walking down the street Gohlke started analyzing the situation.
" Don't you find it weird that the corpse we just found looked like it had been decaying for a long while?" He said.
" So?" Oz started. "Someone could have dumped it there."
" Yeah but notice there were no foot prints, no blood trails." Gohlke explained. " There didn't even look like there was a sign of struggle."
" Ok so the killer presumably carried the corpse in a trash bag." Alex said, his arm around Couri guiding her down the street.
" No I doubt that, that corpse had barbwire wrapped around it. So the bag would've ripped." Gohlke explained.
" So what are you saying that it just dropped out of the sky?" Oz asked. They were coming up to the corner now.
" No but it couldn't have been lying there for a while." Gohlke replied. " The police would've found it by now."
" So then what are you implying?" Alex asked. " How can you really explain anything that is happening around in this town? The snow, the lack of people, the alarm clock not working, the power failure and that corpse?!"
" I don't know." Gohlke said as he held open the door to the office. They went inside, and Alex helped Couri sit down on the couch next to the front door. Oz called out form behind the counter;
" Mr. Haerby? Are you up?" He yelled out hoping his voice would float behind the partition into Mr. Haerby's apartment, no one or nothing stirred.
He's probably dead too like that corpse in the park.
Oz shook the notion out of his head and jumped over the counter, Gohlke followed suit. They walked around the partition and saw a thick trail of blood leading to behind the partition. Oz's eyes widened and he hurried around the partition to find a gruesome sight. The plain walls now had a new color, crimson red; The color of blood. It was smeared all around in handprints. And tacked on the wall with large railroad spikes through his fore head and wrist's, in the biblical Jesus Christ crucifiction pose was Norman Haerby; covered and soaked in blood. His eyes were gouged out and a weird symbol was carved in his forehead.
" God this time I might actually puke." Oz said barely holding it down.
" You do know what this means?" Alex asked as they hurried across the lot. This time Gohlke was carrying Couri draped over his shoulder, they didn't have time to move with her on her feet.
" Which is?" Oz asked pulling his car keys out of his hoodie.
" There's a serial killer or something on the loose." Alex said as he yanked open the side passenger's door on the Gremlin. The both got in and Gohlke got in the back letting Couri lie down with her head in his lap. She was still in shock from seeing the corpse next to the fountain.
" So what are we going to do?" Gohlke asked as Oz started the car.
" Go to the police station, then go to the hospital and get some help for Couri." Oz replied.
" But we don't even know where those places are, more or less if they even do exist." Alex stated.
" Don't worry I grabbed a map out of the Motel room." Oz replied holding up the folded sheet of sturdy paper. He turned the key.
The car didn't start, hell it didn't even make any noise. Not even it's protesting " Try and then give up" noise. All you could hear was the audible click of Oz turning the key.
" Shit not now." Oz said banging his head against the steering wheel. " Don't you do this to me you piece of junk."
Oz got very irritated and started turning the key rapidly and aggressively, almost breaking the steering column. After a minute he gave up.
" We're going to have to walk into town." Oz said with a shaky voice. " But we need a weapon in case that serial killer pops up."
Oz got out and popped open the back lid on the Gremlin. He searched around back and pulled out an emergency flare gun with one flare and loaded it. That's when he noticed the bag. It was one of those regular medium sized brown paper bags, fairly wrinkled. Oz hadn't seen this bag at all since they left Ohio. He picked it up and it was pretty heavy, so he took a look inside it.
Inside were two guns, a revolver and a pistol. They were his guns as a matter of fact. The Revolver was a Smith and Wesson Model 66 chambered for .38 special, the other was a Browning High power chambered for 9mm. They were both loaded, but the strange thing was Oz had left them at home. He even remembered his Mum yelling at him to leave them at home. So how did they end up in his trunk? Oz shook his head and took the two guns out of the bag, he also found a box of ammo for each one in the bag. He stuffed the flare gun in his pocket and took a gun in each hand, weighing them out. Alex got out of the car and asked;
" Hey did you find anything?"
Oz nodded and tossed the revolver to Alex, he caught it in both hands and shook the hair out of his face to look at them. " Dude where did you get this?"
" I found it in the trunk along with this." He said holding up the browning hi power. " And some ammo." He tossed the box of .38's over to Alex. Alex caught the box and put it in his jacket pcoket, he tucked the revolver into his belt.
"Exactly why did you have guns in the Gremlin's trunk when you knew that border patrol was going to search us?" Gohlke asked getting out of the car. " Are you insane or something?"
" Listen man." Oz said holding his hands up in defense. " I haven't those guns up to until right now, hell they weren't even there last night."
" Listen whatever, let's just start walking." Alex said helping Gohlke pull Couri out of the backseat. Gohlke once again draped her over his shoulder and they walked out of the Haerby Inn's parking lot. On Sanford street they turned the corner onto Bachman road. Somewhere out into the mist Oz could sense something was watching them. But he shook the feeling off and kept walking.
On the corner of Bachman and Craig, they found something very peculiar. The cars that were in Annie's grill parking lot were still there from last night. There weren't even tire marks on the pavement.
" That's weird." Gohlke observed. " Why are the cars still here?"
" Probably they all got drunk and walked home." Oz said " Let's keep walking."
" No how did they all get drunk that much?" Gohlke said. " And look the front door is still open."
" Really?" Oz asked. He walked up to the open doorway and peered inside. It was empty relatively, but there were still full glasses of beer on the counter, pool sticks on the floor and on the tables. It was like they had just suddenly got up and left.
Or like Norman Haerby, they could be dead. Hanging by meat hooks in the Basement freezer.
Oz shook the thought out of his head. It couldn't be true. Unlike Norman there was no sign of a struggle. But then again there was that corpse in the park. He reached for the Browning tucked under his belt but pulled his hand away.
" Hey check this out." Alex said. He was holding up a small red portable radio. On of those cheap AM/FM radio's, that you could get at a dollar mart and would break in two days. It was emitting a weird whirring noise, hard to explain like a when a microphone touches a speaker. But it didn't have a high pitched sound but a low key groaning noise.
" Dude the lines are probably down so you can't hear anything on it." Gohlke explained.
" We should hold on to it, just incase the lines come back on line." Alex suggested pocketing it. " So maybe when the lines come back on we could find out what the hell is going on with the snow and the power failure."
Oz wasn't paying attention to Alex, but looking down Craig street to where they had driven into town. He still had that feeling of something watching them.
" He Oz, you okay?" Gohlke asked him. Oz nodded and took his attention off staring itno the mist., htye started walking again.
" So how do we get to the Police station?" Gohlke asked. Oz checked his map briefly.
" We keep going up Bachman road until we hit Bloch street, which is in old Silent Hill." He explained. " Then we go east on Bloch, and cross the bridge and then we're central Silent Hill. In central Silent Hill after we cross the bridge, the Police station is on the corner of Chrichton and Sagan."
" Chrichton, Sagan, Bloch, Bachman." Gohlke repeated to himself in deep thought. " Thse names they sound familiar but I don't know where."
" Well whatever." Alex said. " You'll figure it out eventually."
After a while of walking, they were walking through the intersection of Bradbury and Bachman, when Oz noticed something.
" Hey my watch isn't even working!" He said shaking it.
" Well we can't explain that so let's just keep going." Gohlke said, shifting Couri's weight on his shoulder. She was still trembling and making those squeaking noises. Then the radio in Alex's coat pocket started emitting static.
" The hell?" He said pulling out of his pocket and shaking it. " Hey I think the lines are back up or something."
" Really? Let me see." Oz said taking the radio from Alex.
From behind a newspaper machine not far down the street, something crimson and glistening padded into view. The 4 didn't even notice it.
" Well are you getting anything?" Gohlke asked, as Oz held the radio up to his ear trying to make sense of the static.
The thing moved stealthily out from behind the newspaper machine
" No not yet." He said adjusting the tuner. " I think this thing is broken Alex."
The thing started charging at them. Alex was the first to notice it.
" Dude what is it?" He said. He could make out the out of what looked like a fairly medium sized dog. It lunged at them revealing it self from the mist. Oz saw it first, it looked like the remains of a dog, but it was glistening in blood as if it were turned inside out. It's face was twisted up so bad it wasn't even dog like anymore. It's teeth were soaked in crimson red blood, and it's eyes were a firey red.
It's Cerberus.
Oz broke back into reality and jumped back, the same Alex and Gohlke did. The dog, wait on the thing landed on the ground and did a U turn down the street, as it charged at them again. Oz drew his Handgun as Alex drew his Revolver and they began firing at the beast.
BLAM BLAM BLAM!
The 9mm and .38 rounds smacked into the creature with incredible force, and a sickening splat. The creature reeled back and fell on the ground writhing around in pain. It got back up shaking off the blows and charged at them again. Oz aimed and pulled the trigger,. The round tore into the beast's forehead and made it reel back hitting the ground, dead. Oz let out a breathe of relief and ejected the magazine from his gun checking it, there were 9 shots left.
" How many shots did you fire?" He asked Alex, as he pulled out for 9mm shells from his pocket and inserted them in the clip,
" Hold on lemme check." Alex said as he swung open the cylinder. " All of them I think." He tapped the empty shells out, they clinked to the ground. He then inserted new ones from his coat pocket.
" Gohlke you okay?" Oz asked as he reinserted the fresh clip.
" Yeah I'm fine but what I want to know is what that thing is." He replied pointing at the skinned dog.
" Who knows." Alex said as he swung the revolver's cylinder closed. " It could be some friggin' bio genetic freak dog that got loose into town somehow."
" Yeah well whatever it is, it's dead now." Oz said. " But there could be more of them, so Alex watch how much you shoot. And reload after every time you fire. How's Couri doing?"
" She's fine." Gohlke said checking her pulse. They started walking again.
" So do you think that's the thing that got that poor old sap in the park?" Alex asked as they continued to walk up Bachman road.
" No it's too small." Gohlke replied. " Something bigger got to that guy."
" Well shouldn't we take that thing to the police?" Alex asked.
" No it will be there when we come back." Gohlke said, shifting Couri's weight on his shoulder. " I don't think anyone is going to touch that thing."
" Don't you find it weird." Oz said. " That no one came outside when we started shooting?"
" Ok so maybe they're heavy sleepers." Gohlke said.
" No, those shots were pretty loud." Oz continued. " I think someone would have heard them."
" So what are you saying?" Alex asked. " That this place is deserted?"
" Maybe." Oz said. " I don't know how but maybe."
" Ok so how?" Gohlke asked as they reached the intersection of Bachman and Bloch, and started heading East. " That everyone just got up and left town? That they all just got up suddenly, left their belongings and vehicles, and walked straight out of town for no reason suddenly?"
" Could be Alien Abduction." Alex suggested.
" That's bullshit and you know it Alex." Gohlke said. " Even still how do you explain the two dead bodies we've found."
" They all could be dead." Oz said.
Yes all the homes filled with dead bodies, sitting at the dinner table, watching TV. Just dropped down dead suddenly and viciously like Norman Haerby and that guy in the park. And when the Forensic teams come in, they'll pile body bag upon body bag of dead people in the streets. Why they'll have to transport them out by the truckload.
Oz shook that thought out of his head as they reached the bridge. But they found and obstacle.
" Who the hell left it like that?" Alex asked looking at the raised bridge.
" I don't know, but we have to get across it someway." Oz said. " Let's go check out the control room."
" Dude if the power is out wouldn't the motors not start?" Gohlke asked.
" Well they could on separate generators." Oz said mindfully. " Or it could have a backup generator."
Gohlke shook his head as Alex and Oz climbed the steps into the control room. The room was small, and dusty. A table next to the door was littered with a TV, old stale half eaten candy bars and empty wrappers and magazines. Oz checked the control panel at the end of the room, scanning the front panel. He saw the switched labeled BRIDGE UP and another called BRIDGE DOWN. He hit the button labeled Bridge down. Nothing happened. A note on the control panel answered his question:
NOTICE!
In case of power failure please use the emergency backup generator located in the tool room under the control booth
" Hey go back outside and turn on the emergency power generator in the tool closet below." Oz said to Alex.
" HEY CHECK THAT OUT!" Gohlke yelled up to them pointing to the river. Oz and Alex looked out the window, seeing a person less sailboat float down the river lazily and past the bridge.
" Weird." Oz said watching the boat. Alex headed out the door and down the steps and a second later a generator roared to life. Oz slammed down the BRIDGE DOWN button and watched the bridge slowly lower.
Central Silent hill here we come.
TO BE CONTINUED