SILENT HILL- Hand Over Hole
Noah's legs felt as if they were on fire. He could feel every muscle in them aching terribly, and his vision wasn't so clear anymore.
But he had to keep running, even if his legs did actually fall off he had to keep going. As Noah stumbled through the stone-paved
labyrinth that was Rosewater park, he risked a glance back at the way he'd come, and instantly wished he hadn't.
The creatures were gaining on him, bearing down on him, their cryptic groans and shouts proclaiming the collective intention to
devour him piece by quivering piece. Noah fired the handgun, backpeddling as he thinned the herd of evilness with bullets.
These were different, much different than the monsters he had been facing before. He had been attacked by the most terrifying things
from the moment he'd set foot in the town, with razor sharp teeth and claws and fangs, and heads and eyes where such features simply should not be.
But the creatures that now pursued him somehow made the others seem tame. They were almost all hands. They walked upright
on two arms, decayed flesh falling in chunks as they ran. These arms were attached to a large palm, an eye in the center as if the huge
hand were clutching it. The eye refused to stay still, twitching and looking every which way. The lines of the palm tensed with it, creating
the appearance of an eyebrow, and two more arms sprouted from either sied of the palm. Those arms carried pipes and broken bottles,
with massive biceps that made Noah's look piddling and weak. A final arm seened to be almost sewn onto the top of the palm, reaching towards
the sky as the fingers convulsed. The creature as a whole was horrifying, and as Noah's back hit something solid, they charged.
First one, dropping it's melee weaponry and cartwheeling towards him at an alarming rate. The others followed suit, moving as quickly
as bicycle wheels spinning down a steep hill. Noah's back was against a wall, he had no choice but to use the M-16 he'd aqquired at the
police station. The sound was absolutely intense, the rapid gunfire mixing with the screams of the hand monsters as they were shredded
by hot lead. There seemed to be hundreds of them, coming in waves as Noah mowed them down. The gun clicked empty,
the barrel white hot and smoking as Noah moved to his side. He crept along the wall, fumbling for the second machine gun clip.
His fingers found it, grasping it desperately as he prepared to reload. A hand monster rushed ahead of the group, snatching the ammo
deftly away from Noah and smashing the long metal cylinder of bullets against the side of his head. "Unnnff!" Noah cried,
his knees buckling as his vision blurred all the more. Red liquid trickled down his cheek, the gash in his temple feeling much more like a crater.
They were actually smart, Noah realized as he gave up at last. These disgusting bastards actually understood that without the magazine a gun
was useless. "Shit, I guess that's it then.." Noah almost laughed, finally allowing the madness to overtake him. He was losing more blood
from his head now, he'd lost so much already and now this...Humans have limits, Noah thought to himself. Even if these godforsaken monsters don't,
the truth is I've been bleeding to death for almost half a day now..Noah thought about that, really thought about it this time. Hadn't he come all this way
by following some strange path? A maze of riddles made up of his own life and fears? Hadn't he come to this park the same way? If so, how could he
be dying now, while still on his true path? The hand monsters crept closer, slowing down as they were almost close enough for him to spit on now.
They acted almost like they expected him to come out with something, as if they still viewed him as a threat, and not the helpless feast he saw himself as
at this point. "What are you waiting for, you sons of bitches.." Noah mummered, coughing sporadically as he tasted blood. He crawled away, his hands
reaching back and touching the moist grass, pulling himself backwards, still trying to escape. Yes, he had followed the path here, in search of the
stone Reginald wanted so badly. Something Noah couldn't let him find, something he had made up his mind to find first, and destroy it.
Was it that intent, that departure from his inner journey that had led him to such a demise? Noah kept crawling away from the monstrosites,
yelping softly as his hands felt no ground behind him. He scarecly had time to see one of the hand things swing a car fender at him, falling away
as it's one damnable eye glared at him, watching him fall. He passed out on the way down, never even noticing the large hole someone had dug
behind one of the park's statues.
"I'm not afraid of you or this place anymore." Estelle spoke stoutly, clenching her fists angrily as she stood toe to toe with her much taller Uncle.
"You can't keep me here." Reginald only laughed at her, his voice carrying that lazy wheeze nostalgic of her childhood. She remembered
now, about that night. Lenny was stripping her pants from her legs, her struggles only excting him further. Her father watching from the bushes.
His eyes flacid and uncaring, his mind taken by the cult. She had bent forward, grabbing her jeans as Lenny finally managed to remove them.
She'd taken them in her hands, wrapping them firecely around Lenny's neck in a rage. She'd scrammbled behind him, pulling the knot tighter
as she screamed and cried, her tears staining his naked back. He'd fought back, punching and kicking at her as she choked him. A dull snap,
and Lenny fell fovever silent. "You murdered that boy." Reginald answered at last, glaring down at her. "All he ever did was adore you,
and you mudered him in cold blood." Estelle swung her fist as her teeth clenched, striking her uncle in the stomach. "It was self defense!"
Estelle shouted back. "He was raping me! My father didn't help me, he just sat there watching, not caring about me at all! You're the murderer,
you and this damn religion! You're the ones who should be punished, not me!" Reginald slapped her hard across the cheek, shoving her into
a chair and standing in a fury. "I've had all I can stomach of your stubborn rebellion, little one." Reginald hissed, clutching his stomach.
He chanted in the old speak, the language the cult had used to create a literal hell on earth. The chair Estelle sat in suddenly came to life,
an eerie shape of a face protruding from the seat. The armrests were suddenly made of barbed wire, wrapping their lengths around Estelle's arms.
The legs followed suit, entwining her feet so that she was held firmly in place. Estelle howled as the wire dug into her flesh, the face
between her legs rising up from the seat, groaning at her.
"I should have killed you, long ago Estelle. The instant you refused to embrace your fate, your family."
Estelle sais nothing, bearing with the pain as she glared at her uncle, wishing Noah would come and kill him.
She hated the thought as soon as it crossed her mind, that she might need anyone, espeically a man, running to her rescue when
Noah had no place even trying to fight Reginald. He had been called, summoned by her.
She was the one who should have taken a stand before now, and ended her family's evil.
Now there was nothing she could do, and in a few moments she would finally die and be free of all that had haunted her in life.
Reginald cried out, falling first to his kness and then face down on the carpet.
Blood flowed out from under his corpse, as a ghostly image of Estelle's uncle rose from the body. "No you don't, damn old fool!" A figure
spoke from the shadows, stepping out from behind Reginald's body with something large and pointy. It was a blade attached to a triangular
wodden hilt, barely even a sword. Yet Estelle had seen the members of her family's cult kill over such things in the past, amassing them
in a large room with various other artifacts. The cloaked man jammed the sword into Reginald's corpse, pinning it to the floor like a butterfly
in a child's collection. The ghost wailed and fell back, writhing in despair as the man stepped closer to Estelle, chanting a few words of old speak
to return her chair to normal. "I...Thank you.." Estelle said softly, confused as she stared at her dead uncle. "You ought not to thank me.."
The stranger said, his voice unmistakably wily. "I need you alive, that's all." Estelle gasped suddenly, turning to look at the man as he
removed his hood. Long golden locks of hair fell around his face, his thin smile frightening her as his hand took hold of her injured arms.
"What...Who are you?!" Estelle shouted, struggling. She heard a buzzing, familiar sound, reminiscent of the hospital she'd stayed in for so long..
Clicking stiletto heels could be heard, as Estelle realized the hotel room was gone. What surrounded her now was a clockwork of metallic
structures, a nurse walking obediently over to them. the squeaking wheels of the chair she pushed ahead of her made Estelle tremble.
She couldn't stay awake, the buzzing ordered her to sleep. Her last thoughts were those of regret. For meeting Noah, for falling in love with him,
and now, becoming bait to trap him with.