Just got Silent Hill 3 yesterday, and had a chance to play about 10 minutes so far. Heh, me like. Perhaps I'll be able to tie in some stuff from it as I play; we'll see.
Anyway, have fun with the next chapter. Bon apetite.
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Chapter 7: A Run Through Pitch
A small beam of light penetrated the darkness for a few feet. The ground, once concrete and wet with melted frost, was now rusted metal grating. Below that... who knew. The chasm below the metal looked to go on forever, but with such limited light it was anyone's guess; I sure as hell didn't want to find out.
There was nothing immediately within our line of sight aside from the ground. Moaning and gurgling noises came from the nothingness beyond the light.
Todd and I stood completely still in the newborn hell, trying to get a grip on what was happening. My mind kept telling my body to move, but I was a rock... a shaky, paranoid rock.
"Kuri," whispered Todd, "you all right?"
"What do you think?"
"We gotta get out of here, Kuri. Now. Pull out that map of yours and start directing, because if we stay here much longer, we're dead."
As if on cue, the sputtering and hissing around us grew a notch louder. Whatever was out there, it wasn't very far from us.
Finally, my mind got through to my body, and I got my map out. If Steph was smart, wherever she was, she knew that we were eventually going to go to the hotel. Even James said he and his wife were there, and the prospect of being with people sounded really good right about now. Even so, the hotel was still a long distance from where we were. Then again, what choice did we have?
"I hope you're ready, Kuri," said Todd, suddenly grabbing my hand, "'cause we're going now. We can't stay any longer."
I quickly gave the flashlight to Todd, and with one hand in his and the other holding the map, I nodded in readiness. I felt his muscles quickly tighten, and then-
"Now!"
We broke into a sprint just as something swiped out of the darkness, missing our bodies by inches. Our feet pounded against the metal, mixing with furious cries all around us. We only had moments to dodge huge holes in the grating as they appeared in our light, bumping into one another and struggling not to trip. Something clanked hard behind us, as if a horse were galloping after us. I had no time to turn around and look, nor did I want to.
We soon came to a resemblance of an intersection, and I pulled us to the left. This was supposed to be Katz St., so I could only hope we were going in the right direction. Todd kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as we panted down the "street", looking for guidance.
Our run soon started to wear on my muscles, and although Todd seemed to be doing just fine, my legs started experiencing an irritating, itchy sensation. I could do nothing about it, or it would all be over. I inwardly cursed myself for not being in better shape.
Soon we approached the next intersection, and once again I steered us, this time right onto Munson St. I'd seen a park somewhere up this way on the map, but I didn't think that would do us much good. It did mean, however, that we were close to the boat dock - our immediate destination.
With every muscle starting to burn with the strain, we raced toward Nathan Ave. We'd passed all sorts of "things" on the way so far, but with only a quick glance as we ran, I still couldn't tell what was around us. Whatever they were, they didn't look natural... or friendly.
Finally we got to Nathan, but our left turn was cut short. Skidding to a stop, the flashlight passed across some sort of huge creature in the way. It was covered in some sort of thick skin, giving me the impression of a rhinoceros, though I'd never seen one this big. It twitched a bit and turned toward us. Two globular protrusions on its body quivered as it turned, each looking like a gooey boil about to pop. Sticky, whitish fluids oozed over its skin, secreted from god-knows-where and dripping onto the grating beneath.
"Todd," I said, practically crushing his hand in mine, "shoot it!"
"No," he said simply, pulling me off to the side.
He took the lead and started running with renewed vigor, pulling me with him like a rag doll. It was all I could do to keep up as we skirted past the hulking creature. Whatever it was, it wasn't moving very fast, and even seemed confused that we'd suddenly disappeared.
With the thing behind us, we ran ever onward. The creatures chasing us had apparently stopped, for we heard nothing now except our own panting breath and clunking footsteps. The air was hard to breathe in fully, smelling strongly of rust and decay.
Finally we saw a sign, covered in what appeared to be dried blood, stating "Silent Hill Historical Society". We ran off the main road (even though everything was rusted metal and grating) and around the historical building. The building itself was made of large sheets of rusted steel, splotched with blood and who-knew what else. Of course, the front of the building had a door (which looked like the entrance to the meat locker from hell), but I wasn't about to waste time here when we were so close to the hotel.
Finally clear of the building, we thankfully slowed down a bit as we approached the boat launch. To our complete surprise, the launch itself looked just like it ought to; it was all plywood and railings, devoid of grating and filth. Of course, it didn't look like it'd been used for years, but it was much more inviting than anything else we'd seen for the past half hour. Now that we'd slowed down to a walk, I actually thought about it. We'd been running that long. I was amazed that my body had held up.
"Is this {pant} where we're supposed {huff} to be?" managed Todd.
"{huff} Yeah," I said, looking down as we huddled up to my crumpled map.
We both took a knee, and Todd glanced at me.
"Well," he said, "that was fun."
I grinned as I caught my breath. We both looked at each other with a newfound respect - we'd run through hell together and helped one another survive.
A deep creak came from the side of the dock. Todd and I froze, almost forgetting to breathe, as we slowly lifted our heads (and the flashlight) to the source of the noise.
At first glance, it looked like a person was stretched out on a gurney, face down, with its arms hanging over the sides. However, as it came further into view, we realized with horror that it definitely wasn't a person. The humanoid being was actually part of the gurney itself, its entirety completely covered in pus-ridden skin. The bottom, where wheels should have been, had instead stumpy leg-like appendages that were slowly walking the conglomeration toward us.
Without warning, the humanoid portion started convulsing, violently twitching from side to side. It had no discernable face of any kind, but that didn't stop it from suddenly screaming horribly at us. It sounded as though a woman were screaming with her head underwater. Its arms raised themselves, reaching out for us with bloodstained hands and black, rotting fingernails.
At that moment, two choices presented themselves in my mind: puke (and probably end up dying in the hands of this monstrosity), or run like hell to the boats and pray that the thing couldn't swim.
Guess which choice I made?
Anyway, have fun with the next chapter. Bon apetite.
********************************
Chapter 7: A Run Through Pitch
A small beam of light penetrated the darkness for a few feet. The ground, once concrete and wet with melted frost, was now rusted metal grating. Below that... who knew. The chasm below the metal looked to go on forever, but with such limited light it was anyone's guess; I sure as hell didn't want to find out.
There was nothing immediately within our line of sight aside from the ground. Moaning and gurgling noises came from the nothingness beyond the light.
Todd and I stood completely still in the newborn hell, trying to get a grip on what was happening. My mind kept telling my body to move, but I was a rock... a shaky, paranoid rock.
"Kuri," whispered Todd, "you all right?"
"What do you think?"
"We gotta get out of here, Kuri. Now. Pull out that map of yours and start directing, because if we stay here much longer, we're dead."
As if on cue, the sputtering and hissing around us grew a notch louder. Whatever was out there, it wasn't very far from us.
Finally, my mind got through to my body, and I got my map out. If Steph was smart, wherever she was, she knew that we were eventually going to go to the hotel. Even James said he and his wife were there, and the prospect of being with people sounded really good right about now. Even so, the hotel was still a long distance from where we were. Then again, what choice did we have?
"I hope you're ready, Kuri," said Todd, suddenly grabbing my hand, "'cause we're going now. We can't stay any longer."
I quickly gave the flashlight to Todd, and with one hand in his and the other holding the map, I nodded in readiness. I felt his muscles quickly tighten, and then-
"Now!"
We broke into a sprint just as something swiped out of the darkness, missing our bodies by inches. Our feet pounded against the metal, mixing with furious cries all around us. We only had moments to dodge huge holes in the grating as they appeared in our light, bumping into one another and struggling not to trip. Something clanked hard behind us, as if a horse were galloping after us. I had no time to turn around and look, nor did I want to.
We soon came to a resemblance of an intersection, and I pulled us to the left. This was supposed to be Katz St., so I could only hope we were going in the right direction. Todd kept glancing at me out of the corner of his eye as we panted down the "street", looking for guidance.
Our run soon started to wear on my muscles, and although Todd seemed to be doing just fine, my legs started experiencing an irritating, itchy sensation. I could do nothing about it, or it would all be over. I inwardly cursed myself for not being in better shape.
Soon we approached the next intersection, and once again I steered us, this time right onto Munson St. I'd seen a park somewhere up this way on the map, but I didn't think that would do us much good. It did mean, however, that we were close to the boat dock - our immediate destination.
With every muscle starting to burn with the strain, we raced toward Nathan Ave. We'd passed all sorts of "things" on the way so far, but with only a quick glance as we ran, I still couldn't tell what was around us. Whatever they were, they didn't look natural... or friendly.
Finally we got to Nathan, but our left turn was cut short. Skidding to a stop, the flashlight passed across some sort of huge creature in the way. It was covered in some sort of thick skin, giving me the impression of a rhinoceros, though I'd never seen one this big. It twitched a bit and turned toward us. Two globular protrusions on its body quivered as it turned, each looking like a gooey boil about to pop. Sticky, whitish fluids oozed over its skin, secreted from god-knows-where and dripping onto the grating beneath.
"Todd," I said, practically crushing his hand in mine, "shoot it!"
"No," he said simply, pulling me off to the side.
He took the lead and started running with renewed vigor, pulling me with him like a rag doll. It was all I could do to keep up as we skirted past the hulking creature. Whatever it was, it wasn't moving very fast, and even seemed confused that we'd suddenly disappeared.
With the thing behind us, we ran ever onward. The creatures chasing us had apparently stopped, for we heard nothing now except our own panting breath and clunking footsteps. The air was hard to breathe in fully, smelling strongly of rust and decay.
Finally we saw a sign, covered in what appeared to be dried blood, stating "Silent Hill Historical Society". We ran off the main road (even though everything was rusted metal and grating) and around the historical building. The building itself was made of large sheets of rusted steel, splotched with blood and who-knew what else. Of course, the front of the building had a door (which looked like the entrance to the meat locker from hell), but I wasn't about to waste time here when we were so close to the hotel.
Finally clear of the building, we thankfully slowed down a bit as we approached the boat launch. To our complete surprise, the launch itself looked just like it ought to; it was all plywood and railings, devoid of grating and filth. Of course, it didn't look like it'd been used for years, but it was much more inviting than anything else we'd seen for the past half hour. Now that we'd slowed down to a walk, I actually thought about it. We'd been running that long. I was amazed that my body had held up.
"Is this {pant} where we're supposed {huff} to be?" managed Todd.
"{huff} Yeah," I said, looking down as we huddled up to my crumpled map.
We both took a knee, and Todd glanced at me.
"Well," he said, "that was fun."
I grinned as I caught my breath. We both looked at each other with a newfound respect - we'd run through hell together and helped one another survive.
A deep creak came from the side of the dock. Todd and I froze, almost forgetting to breathe, as we slowly lifted our heads (and the flashlight) to the source of the noise.
At first glance, it looked like a person was stretched out on a gurney, face down, with its arms hanging over the sides. However, as it came further into view, we realized with horror that it definitely wasn't a person. The humanoid being was actually part of the gurney itself, its entirety completely covered in pus-ridden skin. The bottom, where wheels should have been, had instead stumpy leg-like appendages that were slowly walking the conglomeration toward us.
Without warning, the humanoid portion started convulsing, violently twitching from side to side. It had no discernable face of any kind, but that didn't stop it from suddenly screaming horribly at us. It sounded as though a woman were screaming with her head underwater. Its arms raised themselves, reaching out for us with bloodstained hands and black, rotting fingernails.
At that moment, two choices presented themselves in my mind: puke (and probably end up dying in the hands of this monstrosity), or run like hell to the boats and pray that the thing couldn't swim.
Guess which choice I made?