SILENT HILL- CELL
As soon as he was through the door, Noah was running. As much from the pain as the horror, he ran as fast as he could.
He passed a bridge which seemed to span off into forever, hearing sounds of machinery clanking as someone had been kind enough
to activate the section that closed the gap between old and new Silent Hill. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, Reginald."
Noah huffed, not daring to stop out of fear that he would simply drop from exhaustion and be an easy target for any number of
things inhabiting the town. "Where the hell has Estelle got to?" Noah asked aloud, worried for her safety as much as his own.
Reginald had backed up her story, claiming her as his neice which made him a member of her crazy cult family.
As if he'd needed anything to convince him of that, Reginald was sorely nuts. Something as monstrous as the otherworld
could scarecely be believed, and even then it was the kind of forced belief than came from something being shoved in your face
whether you believe it or not, you have to. It's there, it's reality. The otherwolrd was that kind of thing, for each time Noah
escaped it he found himself thinking it was all some disturbing dream or hallucination until it happened again.
"Why would anyone want to control a place like this?" Noah wondered out loud again, seeing no point in it aside
from the bundles of money to be made from the world's first and only real life ghost town. And Reginald didn't seem that type at all.
Noah could only guess at the kind of financial backing he must have had already to even try and tame what almost seemed to be
a dimensional rift to hell itself posing as a town. There were too many questions, Noah's logical mind not totally repressed
by the horrific events he was caught up in. Too many questions and not enough answers, although Noah had no idea where to find
such answers. He could barely find his way through the street even with the help of a map in this town, in fact the only purpose
trying to figure things out served was to keep his mind off the growing ache emcompassing Noah's body. He took out the map yet
again, stopping and panting heavily as he gave it a look. Standing in the middle of the street like he was would ordinarily
be suicide, but whatever was in this town seemed to prohibit combustion. Or perhaps the town itself was so alive with these
creatures, so sentient that it could selectively hinder certain machinery while the rest stayed in perfect working order.
It made no sense for all the cars to be affected, after all he and Estelle had taken quite a wild ride on a roller coaster.
And then there had been all that strange computerized stuff down below the amusement park with the Robbies. Noah had a
momentary image of the hundreds of Robbies all coming up at once and dismantling or sabotaging any vehicle a fellow could
use to escape this town, and the thought alone chilled his spine.
The map was changing every few seconds now, as the eternal fog surrounding the town grew thick and heavy. Within moments
Noah couldn't see more than a foot or two in any direction. "I need to find that stone.." Noah mummered in a trancelike voice,
as he watched the map constantly redraw itself like an etch-a-sketch gone berserk. The hospital was replaced by a gas station,
possibly the one he'd encoutered upon his arrival. The school was erased and the Lakeview Hotel emerged on the paper in it's place,
with 'Reginald' writen in big red letters and a childish arrow pointing to the location. So that's where he'd been when they first met...
A blank section of the new part of town was given color and detail, revealing itself as a police station. In the same chillike
red lettereing Estelle's name appeared over that spot on the map, and without another glance Noah was off running.
Reginald howled in rage, throwing a ceramic lamp across the room. He stood hunched and unflinching as it broke agianst the wall
and jagged pieces flew back at him. "I'll make him give it to me!!" He shouted, as the other man stood quietly in his corner.
"Are you sure he really had it to begin with?" The man questioned, putting a thumb to his small blonde goatee and touching
it thoughtfully as Reginald turned around to face him. "It has to be him, Estelle's connection to him proves it. He's just
holding out on us." Reginald explained angrily, pacing around the room and clutching half of the stone he lusted after so madly.
"If I may.." The other man spoke out again, his attention focused on a red stain that refused to leave the sleeve of his black
button down shirt. "Even if it is as you say Reginald, he had no knowledge of the stone's origins or power. It's entirely possible
he sold it or even gave it away, perhaps he merely lost it. I believe it's foolish to be wasting your precious time on such a man.."
Reginald scowled, stepping up to the other man close enough to feel his breath. "It's because he's that kind of man that he most
certainly does still have it, Lucius." Reginald argued, poking his finger at the mans's chest with every word. "A simple man,
foolish and unaware of anything in this world that can't be seen. He found that stone as a boy and truly, that's all it was to him.
But as soon as he gave it to my neice, in his simple little mind it became a token of friendship, a bond. Men like Noah,
do not let go of such things so easily." Lucius merely nodded, letting the old goat have his way. "Be that as it may old man,
do not forget that I am not a part of your little group. Nor have I any interest in what you are all trying to bring about.
You employed me, as an assassin." Lucius held out his blood stained sleeve to illustrate that fact before continuing.
"So, if you ever decide to forget about that man and kill him as I think you should, then by all means let me know. Until that time.."
Lucius glared at Reginald with cold black eyes, startling him as much as any of the demons in Silent Hill. "I have more pressing
matters to attend to, goodbye." Lucius turned and walked out of the hotel room without another word, his heeled boots sounding
his exit as they marched rigidly down the hall. Reginald listened to him go, and sat down in a huff. Time was short, he needed
the other half of the stone. If Noah wouldn't give it to him willingly, perhaps his neice could be of some use yet.
Noah sat slouched down in the police cruiser low enough so that only his hair was visible just above the dashboard. The
flying creatures were new to him, and made the most piercing screeches as they hunted for him. He'd spotted the first one
from a distance, and dove into the car as a desperate last resort. The fog had lifted a little but still surrounded everything
like an explosion of cotton candy.
So there Noah sat, hiding from the monsters that had almost tripled in numbers since he had reached the police station.
Luckily the cruiser was parked directly in front of the building, the entrance no more than ten feet from the passenger
door. Noah was preparing to make a run for it, checking his supplies now that he finally had a little time to breathe.
He sipped at the health drink, wincing at the taste. The first had been a welcome treat, the others sweet and mildly
refreshing. But now, after drinking God only knew how much of the sugary liquid the drinks were making him feel
sick. That little boy kind of sick that comes from freebasing candy and chocolate all day, completely oblivious to the
benefits of a well balanced meal. Noah decided to cap the health drink, saving it for later. He looked over the map again,
wishing desperately for a simple glass of cold water to wash the awful texture from his gullet. As he'd thought, the map
remained unchanged. It seemed to have made up it's mind as soon as Noah arrived at the police station, the very instant
the fog had lifted he would bet anything on it. He turned the map over cautiously, spreading it out as flat on his lap as he could.
The backside was covered with things Noah had been writing down, information he'd been gathereing along the way, little bits
of what was going on that he'd heard from Reginald and Estelle, and what he had pieced together himself.
There was no room for error here, only what he was sure he knew was written down. He looked the notes over, his mind
clicking away at the problems which needed solving. So far he knew that Reginald was at least somewhat, if not totally wrong
about the otherworld and his stranglehold on it's innermost workings. And also that Estelle was as she'd been saying all along,
just another piece in the chess game her uncle was playing at. What Noah knew for sure at this point, was that there were two
forces at work in Silent Hill, the actual nature of the town itself, or the spirits that made it what it was. These were the forces
that generated the monsters holding a personal meaning for him, the creature that had represented his foster mother and his father
attacking him from while inside the bunny suit. These things were leading him towards a kind of self discovery, things he'd forgotten.
Memories so painful he had buried them deep inside his heart. Noah was convinced this was a good thing, if not a little extreme.
The other force pulling at him was Reginald's will trying to overshadow the town's own way of things, leading him into confrontations
with James and meeting Estelle. It was also clear that the spirits of Silent Hill were fighting back against Reginald, which
was why the map sometimes changed constantly as if the town itself couldn't make up it's mind as to where he should go next.
Those things being taken for fact, him coming here to look for Estelle was Reginald's doing, and the next stage of Noah's
own reawakening lay elsewhere. Noah scratched that part out, writing more over it as a flash of memories invadaed his head violently,
making his nose bleed. The monsters outside seemed to detect the scent, closing in as they narrowed their search to the vicinity of the
police station, he wouldn't be safe here much longer. Noah knew now that it wasn't true about Estelle being part of Reginald's plan,
not completely anyway. Reginald's monologue had unlocked memories of his childhood, Noah could now recall knowing Estelle for a short
time when they were both very young, he always thought she was very sad, before he'd lost his father and couldn't understand how someone
could be so unhappy all the time. One day, he'd been abandoned by some friends who were gathered around an old hill near the lake.
About halfway up was where they'd all hiked to, and found a cave none of them had dared go into. None but Noah.
He had gone in to explore even though they'd all heard stories of a haunted cave that cursed any who ventured into it.
Noah had been afraid, but envisoned his dad being with him and saying that no son of his would fear a silly thing like a
haunted cave. Inside it had been very dark, the floodlamp Noah had carried in barely penetrating the maze of stalagtites and
paths draped with spider webs bigger than the old picinic table he and his mother had sat at on so many warm days watching his
father cook hot dogs and hamburgers. Deeper inside, something had begun to make a strange echoing noise almost like a
whistle. Noah had finally been scared enough to head back, when the ground gave way. He had fallen, fallen forver.
He had woken up stretched out on the floor of a cavern far below with bones of people all around him. It was like being
in a catacomb, Noah remembered. It was there that he'd found the stone, half of what was once a round piece of onyx twice
as large as his palm had been at that age. The one and a half circles on the face of it had glowed a deep red when he touched it,
finding it quite by mistake while searching for the lost floodlamp. He'd found both and had sat there on the floor littered
with pieces of skeletons, crying and thinking that he would die down there for sure. Noah had never been able to remember just how
he'd gotten out of there, but now the memories came rushing back as his eyes widened. There he was, sitting on the ground
clutching the worthless stone and praying to God that he find some way out. Indeed Noah remembered that the stone had glowed,
and in the next instant there had been a strange humming, Noah had since become accustomed to it being in the otherworld for so long.
As if by magic there had been a hole in the wall where there was only solid rock before, the hole had led him all the way back to
daylight at the foot of the hill. His friends long gone, and he'd run home to his parents as fast as his little legs could carry him.
The next day he'd been ignored by everyone, his friends already spreading the story of Noah that went into a haunted cave and was
now cursed forever. It was later that day, outside near the jungle gym that he had found Estelle sitting sadly on a bench.
Noah had tried to talk to her, but she remained quiet. In a gesture of friendship, being the only friend he had now that didn't
believe he was cursed Noah had given her the stone he'd found. She had smiled then, once. A beautiful smile, before tousling his hair
and walking off. Everything was making sense to him now, as a loud thud shook him out of his daze. The monsters were attacking the car,
as Noah looked in the rear view mirror and saw that his nose has been bleeding more and more as the memories came. Somehow,
the common ground that this town and Reginald's goals shared lay within Estelle. It was important for him to remember her, and how
he'd been at that age also. He needed to bring back those days when the light still shone in his eyes if he would ever pass the
test Silent Hill had thrown him into. Noah realized that Estelle's uncle was using her to lure him where he wanted Noah to go,
so that there was no real way to tell if he was doing the right thing by going after Estelle or not. The only way he could
see himself getting out of here was to keep her with him, and hopefully she would follow him on the path that would lead him
through his painful past and back out to where the real world awaited him. So the only way to survive would be to take
Estelle out of here with him, just had he wanted to all along anyway. Silent Hill was almost feeling like the old home
it once was again to Noah, but any further nostalgia would have to wait. It was time to get away from the uglies.
Noah eyed the remaining beef jerky as he repacked his supplies, gripping the shotgun as he held the jerky in his other hand.
"No way I'm gonna eat anymore of this crap." Noah whispered hoarsely, rolling down the car window and throwing the jerky
out to the side. At least five of the winged creatures flocked around it, as Noah bolted out of the car and headed for the
doors of the police station. Another kind of monster, this one ressembling a small gorilla didn't fall for it and bounded
after him. Noah threw himself backwards through the door, unloading two rounds into it's knees. The lead caught it in mid
jump, and the monster made a surprised kind of yell when it landed and found it's legs refused to support it. Falling flat
on it's face, the monster cried miserably for help. The winged monsters by now realized they'd all been had, and flew over to
their injured comrade. Noah backed up inside the door, hoping that he had enough time to take them by surprise. It was
Noah who was surprised, as the creatures ended their search for food and started picking at the wounded gorilla thing.
Noah backed off slowly, unable to take his eyes away from the carnage as he backpeddled further into the building.
There was a treasure trove of bullets for both a shotgun and a handgun in one of the rooms. SWAT gear and
plastic sheilds were hung up on the walls, and Noah took down a flak jacket and also one of the shields. He grinned at the design,
quite unbreakable unless high explosives were involved, and a little slot near the top to poke a weapon through.
"Fucking sweet!" Noah cried uncharacteristically, leaving the bow in one of the empty lockers since he was all out of arrows.
As he went through the rest of the lockers, he found an extremely compact and lightweight assault rifle, complete with two
full magazines and a light affixed to the top of the barrel. Noah smiled even wider and took it happily, glad to have
a back up plan in case the puny pocket flashlight he'd been stuck with all this time deicided to quit on him.
Noah patroled through the rest of the building, finding nothing more than another first aid kit and a post it note stained
with blotches of what looked like purple ink under a desk lamp. That bothered him a little, since weird obscure clues meant
trouble was close on his heels. Yet the building was completely deserted, he had been expecting zombie cops or maybe
at least a zombie criminal or two. The only person he found, after exploring all but the small wing of the building used
for the holding cells, was Estelle. As he peeked around the corner he saw only one guard, and he was sleeping soundly
behind his desk. The snores made stealth easier, as Noah creeped up to the jail cell. Estelle barely heard him when
he whispered 'psst!' from the other side of the bars. She got up from the cheap cot with a foam pillow, smiling just a little
as Noah looked at her with relief. "I'm have you out in a jiffy, 'Stell." He said quietly, giving her a thumbs up as
she reacted to his childhood name for her by smiling wider. Noah carefully snuck the keys off the desktop without rousing
the cop, and turned back to see Estlle take out the gun he'd given her and point it straight at him, her smile gone.
As soon as he was through the door, Noah was running. As much from the pain as the horror, he ran as fast as he could.
He passed a bridge which seemed to span off into forever, hearing sounds of machinery clanking as someone had been kind enough
to activate the section that closed the gap between old and new Silent Hill. "I suppose I have you to thank for that, Reginald."
Noah huffed, not daring to stop out of fear that he would simply drop from exhaustion and be an easy target for any number of
things inhabiting the town. "Where the hell has Estelle got to?" Noah asked aloud, worried for her safety as much as his own.
Reginald had backed up her story, claiming her as his neice which made him a member of her crazy cult family.
As if he'd needed anything to convince him of that, Reginald was sorely nuts. Something as monstrous as the otherworld
could scarecely be believed, and even then it was the kind of forced belief than came from something being shoved in your face
whether you believe it or not, you have to. It's there, it's reality. The otherwolrd was that kind of thing, for each time Noah
escaped it he found himself thinking it was all some disturbing dream or hallucination until it happened again.
"Why would anyone want to control a place like this?" Noah wondered out loud again, seeing no point in it aside
from the bundles of money to be made from the world's first and only real life ghost town. And Reginald didn't seem that type at all.
Noah could only guess at the kind of financial backing he must have had already to even try and tame what almost seemed to be
a dimensional rift to hell itself posing as a town. There were too many questions, Noah's logical mind not totally repressed
by the horrific events he was caught up in. Too many questions and not enough answers, although Noah had no idea where to find
such answers. He could barely find his way through the street even with the help of a map in this town, in fact the only purpose
trying to figure things out served was to keep his mind off the growing ache emcompassing Noah's body. He took out the map yet
again, stopping and panting heavily as he gave it a look. Standing in the middle of the street like he was would ordinarily
be suicide, but whatever was in this town seemed to prohibit combustion. Or perhaps the town itself was so alive with these
creatures, so sentient that it could selectively hinder certain machinery while the rest stayed in perfect working order.
It made no sense for all the cars to be affected, after all he and Estelle had taken quite a wild ride on a roller coaster.
And then there had been all that strange computerized stuff down below the amusement park with the Robbies. Noah had a
momentary image of the hundreds of Robbies all coming up at once and dismantling or sabotaging any vehicle a fellow could
use to escape this town, and the thought alone chilled his spine.
The map was changing every few seconds now, as the eternal fog surrounding the town grew thick and heavy. Within moments
Noah couldn't see more than a foot or two in any direction. "I need to find that stone.." Noah mummered in a trancelike voice,
as he watched the map constantly redraw itself like an etch-a-sketch gone berserk. The hospital was replaced by a gas station,
possibly the one he'd encoutered upon his arrival. The school was erased and the Lakeview Hotel emerged on the paper in it's place,
with 'Reginald' writen in big red letters and a childish arrow pointing to the location. So that's where he'd been when they first met...
A blank section of the new part of town was given color and detail, revealing itself as a police station. In the same chillike
red lettereing Estelle's name appeared over that spot on the map, and without another glance Noah was off running.
Reginald howled in rage, throwing a ceramic lamp across the room. He stood hunched and unflinching as it broke agianst the wall
and jagged pieces flew back at him. "I'll make him give it to me!!" He shouted, as the other man stood quietly in his corner.
"Are you sure he really had it to begin with?" The man questioned, putting a thumb to his small blonde goatee and touching
it thoughtfully as Reginald turned around to face him. "It has to be him, Estelle's connection to him proves it. He's just
holding out on us." Reginald explained angrily, pacing around the room and clutching half of the stone he lusted after so madly.
"If I may.." The other man spoke out again, his attention focused on a red stain that refused to leave the sleeve of his black
button down shirt. "Even if it is as you say Reginald, he had no knowledge of the stone's origins or power. It's entirely possible
he sold it or even gave it away, perhaps he merely lost it. I believe it's foolish to be wasting your precious time on such a man.."
Reginald scowled, stepping up to the other man close enough to feel his breath. "It's because he's that kind of man that he most
certainly does still have it, Lucius." Reginald argued, poking his finger at the mans's chest with every word. "A simple man,
foolish and unaware of anything in this world that can't be seen. He found that stone as a boy and truly, that's all it was to him.
But as soon as he gave it to my neice, in his simple little mind it became a token of friendship, a bond. Men like Noah,
do not let go of such things so easily." Lucius merely nodded, letting the old goat have his way. "Be that as it may old man,
do not forget that I am not a part of your little group. Nor have I any interest in what you are all trying to bring about.
You employed me, as an assassin." Lucius held out his blood stained sleeve to illustrate that fact before continuing.
"So, if you ever decide to forget about that man and kill him as I think you should, then by all means let me know. Until that time.."
Lucius glared at Reginald with cold black eyes, startling him as much as any of the demons in Silent Hill. "I have more pressing
matters to attend to, goodbye." Lucius turned and walked out of the hotel room without another word, his heeled boots sounding
his exit as they marched rigidly down the hall. Reginald listened to him go, and sat down in a huff. Time was short, he needed
the other half of the stone. If Noah wouldn't give it to him willingly, perhaps his neice could be of some use yet.
Noah sat slouched down in the police cruiser low enough so that only his hair was visible just above the dashboard. The
flying creatures were new to him, and made the most piercing screeches as they hunted for him. He'd spotted the first one
from a distance, and dove into the car as a desperate last resort. The fog had lifted a little but still surrounded everything
like an explosion of cotton candy.
So there Noah sat, hiding from the monsters that had almost tripled in numbers since he had reached the police station.
Luckily the cruiser was parked directly in front of the building, the entrance no more than ten feet from the passenger
door. Noah was preparing to make a run for it, checking his supplies now that he finally had a little time to breathe.
He sipped at the health drink, wincing at the taste. The first had been a welcome treat, the others sweet and mildly
refreshing. But now, after drinking God only knew how much of the sugary liquid the drinks were making him feel
sick. That little boy kind of sick that comes from freebasing candy and chocolate all day, completely oblivious to the
benefits of a well balanced meal. Noah decided to cap the health drink, saving it for later. He looked over the map again,
wishing desperately for a simple glass of cold water to wash the awful texture from his gullet. As he'd thought, the map
remained unchanged. It seemed to have made up it's mind as soon as Noah arrived at the police station, the very instant
the fog had lifted he would bet anything on it. He turned the map over cautiously, spreading it out as flat on his lap as he could.
The backside was covered with things Noah had been writing down, information he'd been gathereing along the way, little bits
of what was going on that he'd heard from Reginald and Estelle, and what he had pieced together himself.
There was no room for error here, only what he was sure he knew was written down. He looked the notes over, his mind
clicking away at the problems which needed solving. So far he knew that Reginald was at least somewhat, if not totally wrong
about the otherworld and his stranglehold on it's innermost workings. And also that Estelle was as she'd been saying all along,
just another piece in the chess game her uncle was playing at. What Noah knew for sure at this point, was that there were two
forces at work in Silent Hill, the actual nature of the town itself, or the spirits that made it what it was. These were the forces
that generated the monsters holding a personal meaning for him, the creature that had represented his foster mother and his father
attacking him from while inside the bunny suit. These things were leading him towards a kind of self discovery, things he'd forgotten.
Memories so painful he had buried them deep inside his heart. Noah was convinced this was a good thing, if not a little extreme.
The other force pulling at him was Reginald's will trying to overshadow the town's own way of things, leading him into confrontations
with James and meeting Estelle. It was also clear that the spirits of Silent Hill were fighting back against Reginald, which
was why the map sometimes changed constantly as if the town itself couldn't make up it's mind as to where he should go next.
Those things being taken for fact, him coming here to look for Estelle was Reginald's doing, and the next stage of Noah's
own reawakening lay elsewhere. Noah scratched that part out, writing more over it as a flash of memories invadaed his head violently,
making his nose bleed. The monsters outside seemed to detect the scent, closing in as they narrowed their search to the vicinity of the
police station, he wouldn't be safe here much longer. Noah knew now that it wasn't true about Estelle being part of Reginald's plan,
not completely anyway. Reginald's monologue had unlocked memories of his childhood, Noah could now recall knowing Estelle for a short
time when they were both very young, he always thought she was very sad, before he'd lost his father and couldn't understand how someone
could be so unhappy all the time. One day, he'd been abandoned by some friends who were gathered around an old hill near the lake.
About halfway up was where they'd all hiked to, and found a cave none of them had dared go into. None but Noah.
He had gone in to explore even though they'd all heard stories of a haunted cave that cursed any who ventured into it.
Noah had been afraid, but envisoned his dad being with him and saying that no son of his would fear a silly thing like a
haunted cave. Inside it had been very dark, the floodlamp Noah had carried in barely penetrating the maze of stalagtites and
paths draped with spider webs bigger than the old picinic table he and his mother had sat at on so many warm days watching his
father cook hot dogs and hamburgers. Deeper inside, something had begun to make a strange echoing noise almost like a
whistle. Noah had finally been scared enough to head back, when the ground gave way. He had fallen, fallen forver.
He had woken up stretched out on the floor of a cavern far below with bones of people all around him. It was like being
in a catacomb, Noah remembered. It was there that he'd found the stone, half of what was once a round piece of onyx twice
as large as his palm had been at that age. The one and a half circles on the face of it had glowed a deep red when he touched it,
finding it quite by mistake while searching for the lost floodlamp. He'd found both and had sat there on the floor littered
with pieces of skeletons, crying and thinking that he would die down there for sure. Noah had never been able to remember just how
he'd gotten out of there, but now the memories came rushing back as his eyes widened. There he was, sitting on the ground
clutching the worthless stone and praying to God that he find some way out. Indeed Noah remembered that the stone had glowed,
and in the next instant there had been a strange humming, Noah had since become accustomed to it being in the otherworld for so long.
As if by magic there had been a hole in the wall where there was only solid rock before, the hole had led him all the way back to
daylight at the foot of the hill. His friends long gone, and he'd run home to his parents as fast as his little legs could carry him.
The next day he'd been ignored by everyone, his friends already spreading the story of Noah that went into a haunted cave and was
now cursed forever. It was later that day, outside near the jungle gym that he had found Estelle sitting sadly on a bench.
Noah had tried to talk to her, but she remained quiet. In a gesture of friendship, being the only friend he had now that didn't
believe he was cursed Noah had given her the stone he'd found. She had smiled then, once. A beautiful smile, before tousling his hair
and walking off. Everything was making sense to him now, as a loud thud shook him out of his daze. The monsters were attacking the car,
as Noah looked in the rear view mirror and saw that his nose has been bleeding more and more as the memories came. Somehow,
the common ground that this town and Reginald's goals shared lay within Estelle. It was important for him to remember her, and how
he'd been at that age also. He needed to bring back those days when the light still shone in his eyes if he would ever pass the
test Silent Hill had thrown him into. Noah realized that Estelle's uncle was using her to lure him where he wanted Noah to go,
so that there was no real way to tell if he was doing the right thing by going after Estelle or not. The only way he could
see himself getting out of here was to keep her with him, and hopefully she would follow him on the path that would lead him
through his painful past and back out to where the real world awaited him. So the only way to survive would be to take
Estelle out of here with him, just had he wanted to all along anyway. Silent Hill was almost feeling like the old home
it once was again to Noah, but any further nostalgia would have to wait. It was time to get away from the uglies.
Noah eyed the remaining beef jerky as he repacked his supplies, gripping the shotgun as he held the jerky in his other hand.
"No way I'm gonna eat anymore of this crap." Noah whispered hoarsely, rolling down the car window and throwing the jerky
out to the side. At least five of the winged creatures flocked around it, as Noah bolted out of the car and headed for the
doors of the police station. Another kind of monster, this one ressembling a small gorilla didn't fall for it and bounded
after him. Noah threw himself backwards through the door, unloading two rounds into it's knees. The lead caught it in mid
jump, and the monster made a surprised kind of yell when it landed and found it's legs refused to support it. Falling flat
on it's face, the monster cried miserably for help. The winged monsters by now realized they'd all been had, and flew over to
their injured comrade. Noah backed up inside the door, hoping that he had enough time to take them by surprise. It was
Noah who was surprised, as the creatures ended their search for food and started picking at the wounded gorilla thing.
Noah backed off slowly, unable to take his eyes away from the carnage as he backpeddled further into the building.
There was a treasure trove of bullets for both a shotgun and a handgun in one of the rooms. SWAT gear and
plastic sheilds were hung up on the walls, and Noah took down a flak jacket and also one of the shields. He grinned at the design,
quite unbreakable unless high explosives were involved, and a little slot near the top to poke a weapon through.
"Fucking sweet!" Noah cried uncharacteristically, leaving the bow in one of the empty lockers since he was all out of arrows.
As he went through the rest of the lockers, he found an extremely compact and lightweight assault rifle, complete with two
full magazines and a light affixed to the top of the barrel. Noah smiled even wider and took it happily, glad to have
a back up plan in case the puny pocket flashlight he'd been stuck with all this time deicided to quit on him.
Noah patroled through the rest of the building, finding nothing more than another first aid kit and a post it note stained
with blotches of what looked like purple ink under a desk lamp. That bothered him a little, since weird obscure clues meant
trouble was close on his heels. Yet the building was completely deserted, he had been expecting zombie cops or maybe
at least a zombie criminal or two. The only person he found, after exploring all but the small wing of the building used
for the holding cells, was Estelle. As he peeked around the corner he saw only one guard, and he was sleeping soundly
behind his desk. The snores made stealth easier, as Noah creeped up to the jail cell. Estelle barely heard him when
he whispered 'psst!' from the other side of the bars. She got up from the cheap cot with a foam pillow, smiling just a little
as Noah looked at her with relief. "I'm have you out in a jiffy, 'Stell." He said quietly, giving her a thumbs up as
she reacted to his childhood name for her by smiling wider. Noah carefully snuck the keys off the desktop without rousing
the cop, and turned back to see Estlle take out the gun he'd given her and point it straight at him, her smile gone.