Chapter 9: Pray

Adrian walked down Bachman road and made his way towards the church which was a few blocks away. He was trying to piece together the coincidence of Raven and that man pointing him along to that same church- and whether or not Raven was the woman that took the key the man was in need of. He didn't even know why he was thinking of it in the first place, though. All he wanted was his brother and just get out of dodge as quick as he could. And if the church was his only hunch as to his location, he was all for going there. As long as that pyramid headed monster with the big knife wasn't there, too, anyway.

He made his way through the street, the radio giving off no sign of a nearby threat. It would crackle now and then but nothing more, not enough to cause panic. And as far as Adrian could see, and other than the demented scenery of the town, the streets looked rather tame. Of course, Adrian wished he was back in his cabin with a nothing but harmless trees everywhere. But as long as there wasn't a monster around at that moment, he was fine. Although there wasn't no denying that the atmosphere around him was getting under his skin. Of all the places his brother had to be...

'This place changes to day and night randomly, giant monsters are trying to kill you, and this goth chick thinks she's your girlfriend and she most likely tried locking someone into their own store. Priceless.'

But for his brother, it was worth it. He was losing family fast; another loss could put him next on the offing list, although the knowledge that he'd soon not have a brother anymore was probably a worse fate than dying, even if his brother had inadvertently been an asshole to him in the prior eight months. He had stole his girlfriend, never chose to speak to him since, and that was it. Wasn't so much of an asshole when Adrian thought about it... just spending time with Maria. Something Adrian couldn't necessarily do while he was practicing his band that had been forever in recording limbo.

'No... don't turn this into something it wasn't. It wasn't my fault she left... it just wasn't.'

He could no longer bring himself to blame Maria for leaving, either. She needed someone who would be there to take care of her, not someone who would be away recording and be touring with other metalheads. Adrian wanted to follow his dream, Maria just wasn't satiated by his disappearing acts and went to Cain. Cain was a carefree drunkard, but he still loved his fiance like no other.

But still, it wasn't Adrian's fault. It just wasn't. He refused to let it be.

Adrian loved Maria anyway. He wouldn't have isolated himself from the world to think if he didn't. He'd have never taken it as such a loss if he didn't love her. But he did, and as much as he wanted a band, he wanted someone who would care about him and the fact that he was in a band. But much to his dismay, Maria wasn't that someone. However, as much as he disliked the pain they put eachother through, he was still in Silent Hill to get her fiance, his brother, out of the sadistic town and save the day. He wouldn't have Maria's love to show for it, but he'd be damned if he didn't have her respect and gratitude instead. And that was almost just as good. But until he was out in the clear, he'd have to think about nothing but getting his brother back, any kind of faltering in this town could be deadly.

Ade had approached the church in question. He found something hesitant about his movements forward, but with the way the church looked- with such a dreary atmosphere surrounding it, he was pleasantly surprised that he hadn't ran away. And if his brother wasn't on the line, he probably would have. He had no choice, however, and he'd have to head inside the church- which looked as intimidating as anything Adrian ever faced. Perhaps even worse than the 'Pyramid Head'. But with his only hunch inside, he forced himself to walk up the large steps and into the front doors, which emitted loud creaks as he pushed them open. And at that moment, Adrian could almost feel his skin crawl.

A strange odor permeated from the heart of the church towards Adrian's position in the doorway, and was much worse than anything he had ever smelled before. He quickly raised a free hand to cover his nose and mouth before he took a step forward, and felt his foot slip slightly under wetness on the floor. Adrian looked down, shining the flashlight down with him, to find nothing but a dark red, near black liquid streamed all across the floor. It was everywhere, however- on the walls, drops of it dripping from the ceiling, on the seemingly endless rows of wooden pews... and all over the mangled bodies of animals that Adrian had never even seen before. Not even animals... rather monsters.

Adrian back pedalled out into the cold fresh air in the streets and looked up into the sky, trying hard not to let out a long and defeated howl. He would have wanted nothing more than to turn and run as far as his legs would take him at that moment, but it wouldn't mean much if he didn't get the answers he needed. So he took a deep breath, bit his bottom lip, and cautiously stepped back inside.

The bodies were motionless; at least Adrian wouldn't have to worry about killing them all by himself. The only thing that he was worried about was running into whatever had killed them all, which surely wasn't the action of a human. No human would have had the power to kill all the monsters that were strewn along the floor, slumped over in the pews... there were dozens upon dozens of them, it would have taken the ammo of a local police force to put them all down, and as far as he knew there were only three other humans in Silent Hill other than him, and one of them was locked up in his store while the other could have been dead already. But still, Adrian wasn't fine with going anywhere near the corpses. So instead, he strategically headed around them all down the far aisle and tip toed over the few bodies in front of him on the ground.

He eyed the few doors around him. He noticed the one closest to him and reached out to grab a doorknob, until he noticed there was no knob to grab- it had been twisted off, now lying on the floor amidst the blood. Adrian grumbled and looked at the other rooms. One door was partly broken, and the other Adrian found to be locked, the key he found not working on it either. "Great, now what?"

Looked like his plan was demolished before it was even given a chance to begin, but he jumped when he noticed movement at his feet; a large rat scurried by him and over by the altar at the end of the hall, atop a few stairs and it quickly scampered underneath a table draped in white cloth that reached down to the floor.

'Stupid turd with feet...'

He looked at where it disappeared, and headed over to the table before he pushed it aside, causing the rat to shoot back out from under the table and down the center aisle of the church. But instead of being focused on the rodent, Adrian found himself looking puzzled at the small door that the table had covered. "Gotcha now..." He pulled out the key from his pocket once more, and crouched down to fit it in the keyhole under the doorknob, where it entered and turned perfectly. He grasped the gold bronze doorknob and turned it, pulling the door open and crawling inside to find himself in a surprisingly large hallway. He stood up and looked down it, but could see no end. For what seemed to be a small church, he didn't expect to be met with such a long hallway. And the subtle calls he heard weren't helping.

He broke out into a run down the hall as a male voice, sounding pleading, almost as if in dying breaths, began to chant throughout the hall. "A.M... where are you? A.M... please.. help me...." The voice quieted for a moment but Adrian didn't stop running. A.M... he hadn't been called that since he was a kid- and for a reason he couldn't remember no less. But he didn't stop to think about it.. he didn't stop running until his knees had involuntarily buckled at the sound of the radio in his pocket blaring static at an ear piercingly high volume. Adrian reached into his pocket and pulled out the radio, staring at it with a look of fright etched into his eyes, when the static was quickly replaced by more chanting, from the same voice, "Adrian- hel- me... A... where are y.... AHHH-" and then the static quickly returned. He knew the voice more than any other.

'Cain!'

He broke out into another quick run, ignoring the static that was practically out to destroy his eardrums.. running until he could take no more and was forced to stop and cover his ears and look around for whatever the radio was warning him about. But even though the radio sounded loudly, there was nothing in sight. Nothing in front of Adrian, and nothing behind him. Just an empty hallway with no door in sight and no end in sight, either. He then heard something else over the white noise- that unmistakable metal scraping sound that Adrian had quickly associated with the large knife that deformed giant had been carrying. And if that was indeed where the sound was coming from, Adrian wanted out of that hallway fast.

He turned to look down the hallway from where he had come from, backing off as he did this, and listening tensely as the scraping got closer.. and closer... and-

BAM, Adrian's muscles stiffened as he spun around by his heels to see a wooden door in front of him. He exhaled deeply and mumbled curse words to himself as he leaned against the door, scared out of his wits. He wiped his brow which was damp with cold sweat as he looked up at the door and slowly turned the doorknob, pushing the door open to find something he frankly wasn't expecting.

Numerous dolls were along the floor, along with a giant straw doll, possibly eight feet tall, nailed to the wall on the right. Toy fire trucks and board games all around, as if the room belonged to a child. It sure was messy and unkempt enough to be, anyway. But there was no sign of Raven, and no sign of his brother, or any kind of sign of life at all. What did catch his eye, however, was a bronze key atop the cherry wood dresser on the left. Adrian slowly made his way over and checked it, noticing the initials 'SR' engraved onto it. "S.R... S.R... Storage Room.. the guy was right." He took the key and jammed it in his pants pocket and turned to leave, but was shocked when the door was blocked by Raven's small stature. "It's not what you're probably thinking."

"And... how do you know what I'm probably thinking?" Adrian replied. Raven stepped towards him, and seemingly in sync, Adrian stepped back as well. "If you're after that key, you must know of what I have locked up in there."

"Yeah," Adrian replied angrily, "and I'd like it if you told me why you locked the guy in there. And while you're at it, tell me where the hell my brother is!" Raven took a small step back and raised her hands in front of her. "Just calm down, love, you see.. the reason why that door is locked is to protect you. I couldn't even imagine what kind of trouble you would be in for if you opened that door, which is why I took the key from him and locked him in. Please... please believe me? I know it may seem harsh of me to do to you, but-"

"To me?" Adrian tilted his head in confusion. "If he's locked in so he can't harm me, why would that be such a harsh thing to me?"

"Oh," Raven said, "that's right, you haven't fully remembered yet.. Don't worry, sweetheart.. you'll get your memory, and you won't need that mere shadow of yours around anymore."

"Shadow of mine? What are you talking about?"

"I told you," Raven answered, "I can only show you, and that is what I've come here to-"

"Dammit!" Adrian fell to his knees and lifted up his hands, dropping his steel pipe to the ground. "Agh, my head..."

"Love... what's wrong?" Raven knelt down in front of him as he held his head, tugging on his hair.

"My head... it hurts..."

Raven leaned forward and embraced Adrian gently, trying to soothe him. "You've been up and about too much.. you need rest, dear."

"No..." Adrian said, pulling away, "this is... different. Something's wrong." And with that, Adrian stealthily put the bronze key into his pocket.

'She's been acting a little too nice... she's hiding something she isn't as eager to tell me as she claims. Ergh, if only I could think straight and not have these damn air raid sirens hurting my ears!'

And he surely wasn't prepared for what would come next. He glanced to his left, only to find the scare crow like doll on the wall missing. This discovery, was quickly followed up by Raven letting off a loud shriek.

"Look out!" She grabbed Adrian by the hand and pulled him forward and out of harms way from the huge lumbering scarecrow that reached out for him. "We must go," Raven pleaded, "we must go!" And with that, she took off running out of the room, leaving Adrian staring in awe at the huge thing walking towards him. The straw made disturbing crunching noises as it moved, and was even worse than the sounds of his screaming brother who was at that point, more than likely in danger.

With renewed vigor, Adrian picked up his steel pipe and swung it as hard as he could into the doll's side, and was surprised to be met with a loud clang, and Adrian dropped the pipe- hands shaking in pain. That doll wasn't just made of straw.

'It's like that fucking thing has STEEL under its shirt....'

And with an iron grip, the straw doll grabbed Adrian by the throat and lifted him off the ground, forcing Adrian to stare into its beady eyes... its human eyes.

They blinked and glared at him, a dark brown that easily made them resemble buttons. Adrian looked at them in pure terror- steel, straw, and now human parts?

He swung frantically at its face, and fortunately for Adrian the straw neck couldn't take more than two swipes, and the head quickly rolled off of its shoulders... and a geyser of blood shot up from the opening that had been created.

Adrian was dropped to the ground but the thing refused to fall. It stumbled around aimlessly, swinging its long arms to try and desperately grab Adrian again, but Adrian grabbed his steel pipe and swung at one of its legs, taking it off easily and causing more blood to spatter everywhere. The lanky figure couldn't hold its balance very long with only one leg, and it quickly fell to the ground after that, but it continued to squirm. Adrian carefully stepped towards it and used the pipe to poke the shirt away... and revealed human, living flesh underneath... and an enlarged heart on the outside, pumping to its own beat.

"Oh my God..." Adrian covered his mouth with one hand, as the other thrust the steel pipe forward and straight into the huge beating mass on the not so straw doll's chest. The limbs made a couple of dying spasms before the body went limp. Adrian momentarily reveled in a sense of pride of killing the monster, a sense of power beginning to grow in his mind. Maybe he could get his brother back afterall. But if he were to do that, he would have to find Raven first, or unlock the storage room and ask that man.

But upon taking one step to the door, Adrian fell backwards and onto the floor, his head slammed harshly on one of the fire trucks on the ground, and knocked him out. And then, only air raids filled his mind, until he would wake up...