Chapter 12

August 20, 1983

Silent Hill, Idaho

Alchemilla Hospital

2:45 PM

After Kaufmann had left the room, Harry had made his way through a door on the left wall that led to a small office, and from there to the area behind the reception counter. A small table was against the wall to his right, and the drawer was unlocked. It contained a first-aid kit and a small box of handgun bullets.

Without bothering to wonder why the receptionist would require to be armed with bullets and a med kit, he pocketed the bullets and stole some bandages and a small bottle of antiseptic from the kit.

Back in the examination room, Harry crossed to a door on the back wall that led to a small medicine room. There was nothing of much importance in the room, but on an old wooden table at the back of the room there was a newspaper. An article at the bottom had been clipped out. Harry frowned. For some reason he felt this was significant. But why?

Stepping through the door to the right of the desk, he found himself in a broad hallway that snaked abruptly to the left. Both the doors to his right were locked, but the first door on the wall facing him was unlocked. It led into another office, this one appearing to belong to a doctor at the hospital. Harry checked the name on the plaque on the desk. It wasn't Kaufmann's. A door was open to the right, which led into a cramped conference room. The huge table took up almost all of the space in the room, and there was barely enough room for you to pull your seat out and sit down. Glancing back at the tiny doorway, Harry puzzled at the fact that it would have been impossible to fit the table through that door to get it in here. Maybe they built the walls up around the table, he mused.

The table was bare save for a small key in front of the spot where the nicest chair was, more than likely the hospital director's. It read "Basement" on the label.

Back out in the hallway, Harry followed the hall to the right. The next door up was also unlocked, and led into a kitchen. It was also very cramped in this room. Stoves, refrigerators, racks of pots, pans, and knives were jammed into any nook or cranny that could accommodate them. A white board was on the wall to his left, and contained notes on food allergies different patients had. Next to the white board, a shelf containing plastic bottles caught his eye. Of course, they wouldn't want to use glass bottles here, in case the patients broke them and cut themselves, he thought as he picked one up. Deciding it might be useful, he put it in his jacket pocket.

He was running out of pocket space. He'd have to find something, like a backpack to carry all his stuff. He cursed himself for not searching for one at the elementary school. Perhaps he'd be able to find one in one of the rooms here. A loud crash suddenly sounded from the next room over. It sounded like someone had thrown something made of glass. He headed back out into the hallway, unholstering his pistol, ready to blast whatever else this town had to throw at him.

It was the hospital director's room that the crash had come from. It was larger than the other office down the hall, but not by much. It had been completely ransacked. A large oak bookcase with hinged glass doors stood open along the left wall, and all the contents of the bookshelf had been pulled out, opened, and thrown aside. A handsome desk that appeared to be made out of mahogany was at the back of the room. Harry read the name plaque: Dr. Michael Kaufmann, Ph. D. Kaufmann didn't just "work at this hospital", he owned it. Moving behind the desk, Harry saw that all the drawers were opened, their contents torn about as well.

On the floor near the foot of the desk, he discovered what had made the sound. A glass beaker had been thrown to the ground, shattering it. It appeared to have contained some sort of red liquid, which was now mostly sprayed all over the ground. Upon closer inspection, however, Harry found there was a small amount of it still left in the beaker. This is what whoever did this ransacked the room was looking for, Harry realized, and if they tried to destroy it, it must be important. Harry took out the plastic bottle and poured what remained into it. He'd have to ask Kaufmann what it was, if he ever saw him again.

Finding nothing else useful in the office, Harry returned to the hallway and came to the last door before the hallway led a set of elevators. Striding over to the elevators, he was less than shocked to find that they weren't working. He returned to the door he hadn't yet tried. This one was locked. Checking his map, Harry saw that, sure enough, this door led to the basement. Using the key, he unlocked the door and tossed the key aside.

A narrow set of concrete stairs led down into complete darkness. Switching on his flashlight, he headed down the stairs to a stone door. Stepping through it, his radio sprung to life. Pulling out the pistol, Harry looked frantically around the darkened hallway, searching for a creature ready to attack. Seeing nothing, he continued to scan the area around him until he felt a sharp pain in his foot and remembered about the cockroaches. Jumping backwards with a yelp, he stamped on the two cockroaches who had been attempting to feed on his foot. Holstering the pistol once more, he crossed the hallway and tried the two doors on the facing wall, which led into the morgue and the storeroom. Turning from the storeroom door, he tried the door on the opposite wall, which led into the boiler room. Also locked.

The remaining door, which was just to the right of the door leading back up to the first floor hallway, however, was unlocked, and led into a small generator room. The panel was open on the generator, and it didn't take a genius to know what button to push: there was only one button. Punching it with his fist, he heard the generator cough and wheeze to life. The room stayed in darkness. This must turn on something else, Harry thought, then it hit him: the elevators!

Moving past the door leading up to the first floor, Harry found that there was elevator access down here, too. Pushing the call button, he heard a pleasant ding and the right elevator doors slid open.

He stepped into the elevator cab, which was done in sickly green tile. There were
only a few buttons on the control face; open and close door buttons, an emergency stop,
and B, 1, 2, 3. Harry hit the button for the second floor. The elevators slowly rose with a
screeching of old gears and shuddered to a stop after an alarmingly long trip two floors
up.
He stepped out into a tiny room with a few chairs identical to those in the lobby,
and a bare table. There were a few posters on the wall, and Harry, alarmed, looked at one
that had a nurse who looked quite a lot like Shannon Tweed cupping her exposed breasts
in her hands. The message above her leering face warned readers to get checked regularly
for breast lumps.
Tearing his eyes away from this unsettling poster, he crossed to the rusty double
doors at the back left of the small room. It was locked.
Sighing, tired of this roundabout bullshit, wanting to find Cheryl and get out of this
town, he returned to the elevator and rode it to the third floor. He found the double doors
in this room (which was strikingly identical to the room on the second floor, titty poster
and all) locked as well.
Where can I go from here? I've been everywhere in this hospital that is open to
me. What if that woman only sent me here to either a) meet Kaufmann, or b) get the red
liquid?
Harry shook his head. No, he knew Cheryl was in this hospital. He just knew, he
felt her presence all around him.
He decided to go back to the basement and see if he could break into one of the
rooms down there. Maybe the storeroom had something useful in it......
His hand stopped in midair as, back in the elevator, he saw the button reading the
number 4 above the 3rd floor button.
That definitely wasn't there before....
To be sure, he looked at the map, but there was no map for any fourth floor. The
fourth floor did not exist.
He pressed the button. As he did so, his vision went black, and seconds later he
watched, blurry-eyed, as the girl from the school basement walked into a dark doorway
below a sign that read "Green Lion Antiques". An air-raid siren screamed faintly from
somewhere behind him.
Then he was back in the elevator. It continued to rise for almost an entire minute
before the elevator suddenly stopped with a great jolt that nearly threw him to the floor.
The room that lay before him was also identical to the two below it (he assumed
the other floors were actually still below him, but he didn't believe anything for sure
anymore) except for one detail. The room had gone all bloody and rusty, like the school
had before.
He turned to retreat back into the elevator, but the wall was blank behind him.
The elevator was gone.
He crossed to the double doors and found them open (big surprise!). He stepped
through them and let the double doors swing firmly shut behind him. Then he heard a latch
turn with a sharp click. He spun around and pulled on the doors. It was no use.
Someone had locked the door behind him.