Sonic Hill 2

Chapter 3: White Noise

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They were everywhere.

His body pumped full of adrenaline, Miles ran through the streets of the town, evading and avoiding the straightjacket monsters that passed him by along the way. Killing that first one seemed to trigger all the others to wake up or something, and they were all aimlessly roaming the foggy streets. Luckily, like the first, they didn't move very fast, and most of them were too far apart to be a problem. But the fox was hopelessly afraid of being cornered by a group of them or something, and used his plank on one of the creatures whenever they got too close. The piece of wood was proving very useful, and he was glad he'd ripped it off that barricade or he'd be really screwed right now.

As if the weather and monsters weren't a big enough problem, many of the roads in the town seemed to be blocked off by a chain link fence. Miles had thought he could just climb over it, but he quickly noticed that the top of all the fences were wrapped in a thick set of barbed wire. So he'd have to find another way around—or some very large and strong scissors. Either way would work.

Or it seemed like they would.

'Oh goddamnit. I'm lost. I need a map.'

Sighing, he began to jog once more. All this running around was beginning to make him sweat, and the coldness of the town felt rather comfortable against his fur. But he was too worried about running into another one of those things to notice.

The radio static burst to life once again, and the fox tensed up, holding up the plank. It seemed that the static was only on when a monster was nearby. He was really glad he found the radio now; because now he could tell a monster was not too far from him before it appeared from the fog. The static got louder as a straightjacket monster came into view.

"Yah!" With a shout he swung the plank hard and bashed the straightjacket monster over the head. It fell to the floor and spazmed for a while before he nervously kicked it, ending its short life somewhat guiltily. 'I wonder how many of these things there are…is this the reason people left the town? Or are these monsters what used to be the…the…'

He shook his head. He really didn't want to think about it right now. Hopping over the corpse, he jogged down the road, stopping at another intersection and turning left. He wasn't sure where the hell he was going, but if he didn't get turned around somewhere, the park should be that direction.

Passing by a few monsters and cars later, he stopped and groaned in aggravation. There was another fence blocking off the street he stood on.

"Is every road to the park blocked off?"

He really wasn't sure how many roads there could be left. This part of town didn't look very familiar, probably because of the fog and all. The place was large, and he was sick and tired of running around aimlessly without being able to see. It was extremely disorienting, not to mention scary.

There was a strange metal thing on the wall of a building only a few feet away from him. His curiosity took him over once again and he walked over to it, trying to read it. It looked like a memorial of some sort, but the words were barely legible from the dirt and obvious signs of age. He could only make out a few words.

'Remains of ----- Swamp
The ----ers of land surroun---- -- is monument was originally a swamp, but was later fil----- Fr----ng ago, t----------s nicknamed Blood Swamp because the -------ers poured the wat-- -sed to was the ex------ols in here. Perhaps it's fo------hat many pe-----m to have s---- ------n the area.'

"Weird…" he thought. "Blood Swamp? I don't remember hearing about that place…"

He shook his head and looked around some more. Better take this road back to the intersection he just turned on, then go down the right lane past the other roads he already went by and try to find a road that goes around the fence. Yeah, that should work.

Once again, he began to run.

---Later…---

There was a trailer not too far ahead, on the side of the road. Its door was open wide, as if someone rushed out in a hurry. Whoever it wasn't didn't make it very far.

There was a body on the floor.

He didn't pay much mind to it at first, thinking it was just another straightjacket monster. But he remembered he hadn't gone down this road yet, which meant someone else must have killed it. To his horror, upon closer inspection he found it to not be a monster at all. It was the remains of a mangled human being, flesh torn to pieces. There was a look of terror on the man's pale face, whose blue eyes were opened wide. There were pieces of paper all around the ground - looked like whoever it was was holding a notebook that got torn up. Miles picked up one piece of paper—his hands trembling from the fear of whatever killed the man—and read what was scribbled onto the paper in neat handwriting.

'I'm going to write everything that I've learned so far. Maybe that will help you out some how. If you're reading this, it probably means I'm already dead.'

Miles glanced at the body once more, feeling sorry for whoever it was. "He must have known…"

He looked around at the other pieces of notebook paper. He picked up the nearest one and read it.

'I saw those demons. They were there, I'm certain. But my friend says he didn't see anything. If that's true, does that mean that what I saw was an illusion? But whether that demon that ate other living things was real, or whether it was just some kind of hallucination that my mind dreamed up, one thing I know for sure is that I'm beyond all hope.'

A note a few feet away from it.

'It seems that they're attracted to light. That's why people who need light to see are their natural prey. They also react strongly to sound. If you want to go on living, you'd be better off just sitting in the dark and staying quiet. But even that probably won't save you.'

And a final one a yard away.

'If you're going to try to fight them, the most important thing is to relax. It's dangerous to fire a gun while you're all crazy with fear. Take good aim, and then squeeze the trigger. And don't forget to finish them off. I think most of those creatures can be killed, even if they are tougher than people.'

"Yeah, a gun. That's what I could use." Miles muttered. The man had obviously been here for a lot longer than he has. "What happened to this town…?"

A distant moan was heard, and his ears perked up. It sounded like another one of those creatures—they were probably closing in on him or something. He couldn't tell – but the radio static wasn't buzzing so he must be safe for now. Most of them didn't seem to follow him for very long, so he wasn't sure what the safest move would be next.

'Check the trailer.' A part of his mind told him. 'It might be that man's. Maybe he has a gun or something.'

Nodding, Miles jumped into the trailer, barely being able to see anything in the darkness inside. He searched around, and spotted yet another note on the kitchen counter, lying in the light from outside the window.

'I'm going to the Gates Bar.'

"Gates Bar..." He looked out the window. "Maybe there's other people there, or…hell, I don't know. But it's something." He had remembered passing by the bar a few blocks away. Better check it out at least before trying to go somewhere else – it's not like there were any unblocked roads here anyway. He stepped out of the trailer; probably imitating the way the now dead human in front of him did, and began to run once more. He'd just walked around in the place that that man had spent the last moments of his life in, and the thought of that creeped him out.

Eventually he made it to the bar, panting heavily. He pushed the door open and walked in, sad but not surprised when he didn't see anybody there. Looks like there really was no one in this town except that man and the bat. And now he was beginning to wish he stayed with the latter one. He didn't like being alone, especially not here.

'there was a hole here, its gone now' was carved into the wall at one end of the bar, along with an arrow pointing down to the ground. Miles raised an eyebrow, concluding that it wasn't any of his business to worry about. He looked around the main pub and spotted a piece of paper on one end. Walking over to it, his heart jumped for joy when he noticed it was a map of the southern part of town, the section he was in.

"Yes! This is just what I need!" Miles grinned as he grabbed the map. The town looked a lot smaller and less complicated on the map, obviously, and the street names and other locations would make it a lot easier to move around. "Now if I could just find a way to that park…"

He was becoming frustrated, and losing hope of making it to Sonic. From the looks of it, he'd tried just about all the roads to the place, and all were blocked off. This defiantly wasn't his lucky day.

"Wait a minute…"

He spotted an alleyway on the end of the Woodside Apartment building, which was about five blocks away. It dead ended at another building, but hugged the apartment building while leading up North till it ended at the main road: Doggie Avenue. Rosewater Park was only across the street and a little to the left of where the alley ended.

'Maybe if I can get through the apartment building and exit via the backdoor, I can take that alleyway to the main road and get to the park!' he considered the idea. Walking through a closed hallway with the possibility of monsters being around didn't sound like a very good idea, but from the looks of it it's the only way he could get to the park. He'd have to go. 'Alright. That's my next target. Woodside Apartments…'

Aware of the dangers ahead, Miles headed for the apartment building.

---Later…---

"eeeeeEEEEEE!!"

Miles jumped and cried out in fear when the sound of a creature screamed into his ears. The radio static burst to life and suddenly a straightjacket monster crawled—practically shot out—from underneath a white van. It started slithering around the place, making one hell of a racket and moving a lot faster than it did on foot. Miles considered fighting it, but he really didn't want to get anywhere near it now nor waste the energy. The monster crawled towards him, but he quickly hopped over it and began to run. It lost interest in him and crawled somewhere else pretty quickly. The apartments were less than a block away, and soon he spotted it.

The gate to it was closed, but not locked thankfully. He pulled it open and stepped onto the front garden grounds. The front door to the apartment lay straight ahead, and nothing else of interest seemed to be in the area, so he walked through the front door.

Darkness soon clouded his view, replacing the fog. Great. Just great. It was almost pitch black in the obviously abandoned apartment building. Just from the entrance hallway he could tell.

'Shit. If there are any monsters here I'm screwed.'

'Relax.' Another part of his mind told him. 'Those monsters don't have arms, so they probably can't open doors. Besides, even if they are here the radio will alert you of that long before they can reach you.'

Letting out a sigh and still clutching the plank so hard it was leaving imprints through his gloves to his palm, Miles cautiously stepped down the hall, hearing nothing but the insanely loud creek of his shoes on the wood flooring. From the looks of it (well, not that he could see much anything anyway) the windows were boarded up and all the lights were off, which explained the darkness. He could still make out the impression of something on the hall. He felt along the wall and realized it must be a bulletin board. He knew he'd need a map of the place, so he grabbed the largest sheet of paper and hoped for the best. He wouldn't be able to tell until he got some sort of light source.

And he found it; there was a stairway at the end of the hall, leading up left. There was a dim light on the ceiling above the stairway. He walked up to it and felt a slight bit more comfortable being able to see his hands before him. He looked at the paper and realized it really was the map. Smiling, he continued up the stairs. All he'd have to do was take a left at the second floor hallway and leave via the fire escape, and then take the catwalk down to the street. Easy.

At least, that's what he thought.

To his dismay, he soon found that the fire escape door was locked.

"Erg…Now all I need is to run into some monsters…"

He'd have to find the Fire Escape key, or at least some other means of getting to the other side of the building. He decided to look around the place. And so he walked down the hallway, trying every door he came across. The first four doors were locked, unfortunately. But the fifth, Room 205, wasn't. He pushed the door open and shielded his eyes when something very bright shined into his face. He groaned as his eyeballs burned. Covering his face with his free hand, he moved into the room and out of the light's path. Shaking his head, his eyes finally adjusted and he saw what the light source was.

He grinned. There was a mannequin standing up at the end of the room, wearing red and orange boots, along with a red dress and a tie. A rather weird outfit, and even weirder place to find it, but that wasn't important. In the breast of the mannequin was a small but very powerful flashlight.

He picked up the flashlight and turned its brightness down, feeling a lot better now. Now he could actually see where he was going at least.

'Who left this here though?' he asked. 'And how long was this light on before I—'

Before he could finish the thought the radio burst to life again. He jumped and held out the plank, ready to hit anything that moved.

But nothing was there.

"Huh?" he asked. The radio only made noises when he was near a monster so far, why would it start up for no reason now? The only thing in the room was a few more mannequins, and a few fake legs, arms, and other body parts lying around. Nothing harmful.

That is, until one of them moved.

"Hoooly…" Miles backed away. The mannequin in front of him began to twitch, suddenly. It wasn't much more than a torso with some legs attached to its body and head, but it was moving.

And then it charged at him.

Miles cried out and jumped out of the way, just barely missing an attack from the two pairs of legs. He was bewildered at just seeing it. How could it see him? How could it breathe?

'Hit it!' his mind cried.

He raised the plank to smack the monster down, but before he could the mannequin monster kicked him over the head, sending him falling to the floor dizzily. "Gah!" he cried. The monster, wearing high heels and pantyhose, kicked him in the ribs, causing him to groan out in pain. He smacked the thing's legs with the plank, sending it spiraling over because it was so light. It fell to the floor as Miles got up, and this time the fox brought the plank down on its "torso". It didn't make a sound, just began to spasm. He hit it again. This time it stopped moving. But the radio static continued. He kicked the thing and that's when the radio stopped.

"Jesus Christ." Miles said, not believing what just happened. "This place is fucking insane!"

He didn't know the half of it. But he soon would. Very soon.