I really wanted to do this whole section in one chapter but it would have been painfully long. Anyho, Claudia's moment in the spotlight in now over (for now) so I can turn all my attention back on Jobe….grins sadistically

Jobe: NOOOOO!

Chapter 19: A humble citadel

"You still don't know?" Claudia glanced sideways at the man, examining him questioningly from the corner of her eye. Jobe felt the final shard of patience within him snap. Ever since he'd fallen head first into this living, breathing and oh so horribly real nightmare, she'd been bating him with these obscure questions that lead into an endless cycle of yet more questions. He grinded his teeth, feeling as though every blood vessel in his body was about to explode, veins pressing against his forehead like tight chords. He cracked.

"KNOW WHAT!"  The grip he had on her shoulders tightened but the woman didn't flinch.

"Then I'm afraid you still have much to learn…"

Jobe inhaled sharply through flared nostrils but that was the closest he got to scream his desperate plea for her to make some coherent sense. In a fraction of a second, everything went to hell. Literally.

The hands grasping Claudia's shoulders so tightly that Jobe could feel her very bones through her scratchy black shirt simply slipped through them, as if the very molecules between his fingers were pulled apart. Before his brain even had time to react, the whole world was ripped from underneath Jobe's feet.

The floor simply disintegrated beneath him, dropping away to nothing save a dark pool of oblivion and there was nothing the man could do to stop himself plummeting down. Jobe opened his mouth to scream, his stomach in his throat as he fell like a rock. He gritted his teeth as his organs lurched with vertigo as the darkness swept past at a dizzying speed.

He was going to keep on falling and falling and falling and falling and….

And then it stopped.

Just like that. There was no bone shattering impact or endless pit just waiting with its maw wide, ready to consume him.

Jobe gasped, staggering backwards, but both feet were firmly on solid ground. He opened his eyes, looking down just to make sure it was really there. Grey, dull tarmac stared blankly back at Jobe and the man was unable to stop a wild smile from spreading across his face. Jobe had never before truly appreciated just how wonderful firm ground was.

 Terra firmer, he could quite happily get down on his knees and kiss it.

However this still left the question of where he was and how the hell he was going to get to Blue Creek Apartments…

Jobe managed to tear his eyes away from the o so beautiful soil that he'd been avently worshiping and looked up to find himself standing before the steps of yet another of Silent Hill's decrepit, dingy hellhole of a building.

He had to do a double take when he saw its name.

Jobe gawked in dumb disbelief as he let his eyes run over the words Blue Creek Apartment again and again. The more times he read the worn, chipped words scrawled across the plak above the door, the more real and tangible they became.

'But how…how is that even possible?' When he'd left the church, he'd been on the other side of the lake, let alone anywhere near this place. He sure as hell hadn't sleep walked here. If anyone moving around this town could get from 'a' to 'b' in one piece while not in complete control of there senses, let alone unconcious it would be a miracle. Even if he had, how would he have bypassed the lake?

 Another thought began to take root in the dark corners of his mind, the touch of its ever-growing tendrils chilling him as they slowly took a stronger, choking hold.

Had Claudia deliberately dumped him here after they're far from warming trip down memory lane? Did she actually want him to find Phil?

Jobe let out a curt bark of laughter, forced but only to reassure himself. Why on earth would she want or care if he succeeded in finding his friend? All she seemed to care about was the coming of her beloved god and next to her holy crusade; his affairs must seem damn trivial.

He steeped up to the door of the apartment, leaving the though behind him as he ascended the weather-beaten steps. Gingerly, Jobe pressed a finger against the door, his digits registering how the wood had swollen from damp, as if stricken by some bubonic disease. He pushed and it swung open as effortlessly as a rope swing caught in a breeze.

Jobe watched as the wooden panel slung back silently, revealing nothing but an empty black rectangle. He almost wished the door had let out an ominous creek as he'd opened it. Somehow, the silence seemed so much worse. With a click of the torch, he stepped inside the mausoleum; the only thing he heard was the nagging voice that resided in he back of his mind, quietly asking if this really was such a good idea…

The second he drew the door too, the whole room died. Even the stale air seemed to size up, the heavy molecules falling instantly still as he sealed the entrance hall off from the outside hall.

Jobe let the small circle of light travel over the mildew stained walls, wrinkling his nostrils as he let them grow accustom to the thick stench of damp rot that hung lazily in the air. Slowly, he made his way towards the staircase that lead to the next floor, ignoring the small, lonely office that occupied the meagre hall.

'I already have everything I need…' Jobe let his hand slip into his pocket; his fingers closing around the keys that lay within as he slowly began ascending the stairs.

'I'd love to see what the estate agents have to say about this place.'  

Jobe passed silently down the narrow hallway, his eyes not truly able to register all the foul details in all their glory. Like a man thrust into open sunlight after spending years in the dark, the initial, scaring glare had begun to were off; he hardly noted how the bare carpet occasionally gave way, exposing the bare floor boards beneath. Nor did he notice the black, charred holes perforating the wall paper (bleached a sickly pale by years off darkness) like bullet holes. Occasionally, his eyes would flick from door to door, barley resting on the brass numbers as they blurred by but he was blind to all else.

"Shit"

He stopped, cussing his ignorance. This was the first floor; he needed to be on the second. Jobe lifted the key from his pocket and read the digits emblazed upon it, trying not to notice how the teeth of its filed head had dug into his skin. He'd been clutching it so tightly that its fangs had dug a line of holes into his sweaty palm.

'217'

Jobe exhaled, snapping up the key as he began to walk, shoving it back into the depths of his pocket. His tongue darted over his lips and he could feel the thin lining of perspiration mist his brow. He was so close now to ending it all. Now, all that was left was to ascend the stairs to the next floor and put a key in a lock. Easy as pie, right?

Jobe sullenly doubted it as he reached for the knob of the stairwell's door. He was sceptical that the town wouldn't throw at least one last nasty little surprise for him before he escaped from these nine ever decreasing circles he'd got himself trapped in…

Jobe pulled the metal pole from his belt as the door clicked too behind him.

Now there was no other way but up…

Jobe had barely planted a foot on the first stair when something above him stirred into life. Correction, roared into life would be closer to the truth.

The man arched back, projecting the light onto the ceiling as tiny specks of dust fell away from the boards above him, pupils dilated in dark anticipation.

Gradually, the familiar, morbid stillness crept back over the stairwell but Jobe seemed to have frozen with it, staring transfixed at the ceiling.

'You can't just stand here forever, move!'

His feet stayed solidly rooted to the spot, his ears straining for the faintest noise to give some idea of what was lurking upstairs, waiting smugly in its dark, invisible habitat.

'Come on, we're so close. What's a little noise to some of the shit you've wadded through so far on this crazy escapade?' 

After what felt like a little short of an eternity, he finally managed to build up the courage to progress to the second step.

'CHHHHRRRRRCK'

Even through the sole of his shoe, Jobe could feel the vibrations travel through the worm-eaten boards as something thundered upstairs. It sounded as though some warped giant was padding directly above him…

The resonating footsteps paced over-head, the floorboards above him groaning furiously with each heavy step. Jobe tightened his on the pole, holding it like some great bat while his heart hammered away in his chest like some caged bird. He watched the dark plateau, not even daring to blink as he waited for the second floor's occupant to finally make its entrance. 

Jobe froze when the long, gratuitous head slowly slunk into the trembling circle of light that hovered on the small landing.

"Oh shit…" The words creaked over his lips and for a second, Jobe could have sworn that the tireless rhythmic beating of his heart actually stopped.

The beady eyes that seemed to small for the centaur's head blinked stupidly as the torchlight glistened of the liquid orb. Slowly, the bestial head turned to him and those undersized eyes locked onto him. Jobe felt himself shrivel back under the gormless gaze; his grip on the metal pole gave way.

The rest of the centaur's form slowly filled the pathetic arc of light and for a painful stretch of time and everything was hideously still.

A/N- My god, I spelt disease right for once!