Chapter 11
August 20, 1983
Silent Hill, Idaho
Orridge Bridge, Bloch Street
2:18 PM
Harry had followed his map east on a thankfully monsterless and chasmless journey to Orridge Bridge, which had only been a block east of the church. He climbed the rickety metal stairs up to the top floor of the small stone building next to the raised bridge. He tried the door and was surprised to find it open.
I wonder what I need the key for, then.....
Inside the small building, there was a locker, an uncomfortable-looking swivel chair before a counter that had a coffee machine, a small television with bent rabbit-ears on top of it, a few papers relating to maintenance of the bridge controls and work schedules, and a map of the area across the bridge: Central Silent Hill. Harry grabbed it and turned to his left.
Against the far wall, facing the raised bridge through a large window above it, was the control panel for the bridge. A keyhole was in the very center of it, and the small light above it was red. Harry took the key, twisted it in the keyhole, and watched as the light turned green. Some ancient machinery churned to life inside the panel, and Harry looked for the button to lower the bridge, and was relieved to see a button that was marked "Down". He pressed it, and watched the bridge slowly lower with a great shrieking of rusty gears. He cringed. If there were any of those monsters in the area, he might as well have lit a flare and shot it into the sky.
On impulse, he checked the locker on his way out, and found a few boxes of handgun bullets inside. He pocketed these, took out his pistol, and stepped out into the fog again.
Although the radio remained silent, he dashed across the bridge anyway, then stopped on the other side and checked his new map. Alchemilla Hospital was south of his current location. He was on Sagan Street, and to get to the hospital he needed to go south on Crichton onto Koontz Street, where the hospital was. However, something caught his eye on Sagan Street just a little east of his location: Silent Hill Police Department. Maybe Cybil was there, or at least someone who could help him.
The hospital could wait. Cheryl was more likely to seek help at the police station than at the hospital anyway. She was terrified of hospitals, always had been. Nothing bad had ever happened to her personally there, so Harry had never been able to figure out why she hated them so. She had been at the hospital lots when Carolyn had been dying, but she had only been a baby then. Maybe even then she had known what was going on.
Harry shook himself out of his reverie seconds before the radio screamed to life. Whirling around, he only caught a glimpse of the creature before it tackled him to the ground. It appeared to be some sort of ape, similar to drawings of Bigfoot he and Cheryl had seen on a special on TV a year or so ago. It grabbed Harry's head in its hands and started to try to smash his skull into the pavement, but Harry grabbed its hands and resisted. He was slightly stronger than the creature, and was able to twist its hands to the left sharply, making a horrible snapping sound. The creature screamed and reared backwards off of Harry. He struggled to his feet, picked his gun off the ground where it had fallen, and shot one bullet into the creature's head as it sat on the ground wailing. It went silent and slumped onto its stomach at Harry's feet.
He put the gun back inside his jacket, then turned and headed for the police station.
August 20, 1983
Silent Hill, Idaho
Silent Hill Police Department
2:29 PM
The front lobby was deserted, and the door to his right was jammed shut. The only other door he could access in the room was the one to the left of the reception desk. Inside the cramped room there were two desks, a locker (this one locked) and another door (also jammed).
Harry sighed. There was nothing here that would be of any use to him, and no one seemed to be around, including Cheryl. As he was about to leave, though, a piece of paper on the desk by the door caught his eye. He walked over and picked it up, frowning as he read it. It said: "Coroner Seals called. Officer Gucci unlikely to be murdered. He apparently died naturally. But, medical records show Officer Gucci had no prior symptoms of heart disease." For some reason, Harry felt that this memo was relevant to his current situation. He put the paper back on the desk and turned once again to the door. This time, a message scrawled on the chalkboard near the door caught his attention. It read: "Product only available in select areas of Silent Hill. Raw material is White Claudia, a plant peculiar to the region. Manufactured here? Dealer manufacturer?"
Feeling this was also relevant, but unable to figure out exactly how, Harry left the police station and headed to Alchemilla Hospital.
August 20, 1983
Silent Hill, Idaho
Outside Alchemilla Hospital, Koontz Street
2:39 PM
Out of breath, Harry slowed to a stop outside Alchemilla Hospital's front gate on Koontz Street. It was an unremarkable white stone building that was bordered by an abandoned storefront on its right, Sagan Street on its left, and a large water tower across the street.
Harry pushed open the large iron gate and stepped into a small, ugly courtyard. It had a pathetically small strip of grass with one withered-looking tree and a broken-up bench, and nothing more. Harry found himself strangely creeped out by the small courtyard. Already he knew this was a bad place, one that no one could possibly be happy in or get well in.
Suppressing a shiver, he pushed open the double entrance doors and stepped into the dim lobby area of the hospital. A number of blue vinyl chairs were set up in the waiting area, and the unmanned reception counter had a summoning bell, a broken telephone, and a hospital map on it. Harry grabbed the map and tapped the bell, but was nonplused when no one answered his summon. He walked past the lobby, turned left and started down the small hallway towards a door on the left wall that, according to his map, led to an examination room. A gunshot rang out from the slightly open door. Harry jumped, took out his own gun, and edged towards the door as a small pool a crimson blood ran out from the interior. He pushed the door open and looked at the middle-aged man in a gray suit who sat in a wooden chair before a fallen bird creature (what was that doing inside?) with a heavy-looking revolver clutched in his hands. The man looked up at Harry with red-rimmed, sleepy eyes before raising the revolver at Harry.
"Hey, wait! Stop!" Harry ducked just as the man pulled the trigger. A bullet tore into the wall in the hallway behind him. Harry looked from the bullet hole to the man with shocked surprise. "You idiot! You could have killed me!"
The man got to his feet and shoved the gun into his suit jacket pocket. "Sorry about that." He had a rough, gravely voice that reminded Harry of Fred Flintstone's voice, but nowhere near as friendly and likable. "I thought you were another one of those monsters for a second there."
"No problem." Harry said automatically, realizing at once how stupid that sounded after having someone shoot at you. "My name is Harry Mason. I'm in town on vacation." Not exactly true, but close enough, he decided.
"I'm just glad to see another human being here."
"You work at this hospital?"
"I'm Doctor Michael Kaufmann. I'm the director of this hospital."
"So maybe you can tell me what's going on around here."
Kaufmann shook his head. "I really can't say. I was taking a nap in the staff room, and when I woke up, everything was like this." He gestured around him, stopping on the dead bird. "Everyone seems to have disappeared. And it's snowing out, this time of year! Something's gone seriously wrong. You see any more of these monsters?" He pointed again at the bird. "Ever even heard of such things? You and I both know that creatures like this don't exist."
"Yeah. But there it is. And it looks mighty real to me."
"What are you doing here anyway? Not that I'm not glad to see you or anything, but--"
"I'm looking for someone. Have you seen a little girl around here? I'm looking for my daughter. She's only seven, Short, black hair...?"
Kaufmann's eyes widened for a second, but he shook his head again. "She's missing? I'm sorry. But with all these monsters around I highly doubt she's...." He trailed off.
Harry choked back a hopeless sob at just the thought of it. "Sorry," Kaufmann said feebly, "I didn't mean to alarm you." He reached behind the chair and picked up a black briefcase. He turned back to Harry. "Your wife? Is she here with you?"
"She died four years ago. Now it's just me and my daughter."
"I'm see. I'm sorry." Kaufmann started for the door. "Well, I'd better be going. I can't just sit around here doing nothing. I'm going to try and find a way out of town. I'd suggest you do the same."
"So long. Good luck out there."
Kaufmann turned to look at Harry once more. "I hope you find your daughter."
After he left, Harry thought there was something in his eyes as he said this that said he didn't really mean it. He had no clue why he would think that.
But it was there.