Well, E.P.O, you'll be glad to hear the next few chapters are just sitting on my computer just waiting to be put up but I think I'll space them out a bit. I'm glad that Phil's tranformation was as creepy as I intended it to be…

Chapter 23: Hello darkness, my old friend

'BOOM'

Miles away, Claudia jerked, as if the gun had been set off right next to her ear, yet somehow Jobe didn't seem to be able to hear the shot as it tore through his friend's middle despite being right in front of him. Nor did he see the torrent of innards that hit the adjacent wall with a wet splatter, dying them red in the crimson shower. All he could see was the look of agony that twisted his Phil's already corrupted face.

"I knew you had it in you…" He hissed like a dry breeze and fell back, sliding free from the shotgun.

He was still smiling when he hit the floor.

Jobe collapsed against the nearest wall and his legs gave beneath him, as if the bones within had dissolved away to some milky liquid. He felt sick.

The world swam before his eyes and he vomited dryly, trying to reign in the torrent of feelings that viciously yanked him this way and that. Above all, self-loathing rose above the others.

Jobe grabbed the shotgun, resting his chin on the double barrels, feeling the rings of metal bite eagerly into his chin. He didn't deserve to live after doing that…

But did he deserve to die?

He was already in hell. Surely being stuck here was a fate worse than any death. Slowly, he lowered the long gun. He stood up and softly, Vanity's final words came floating back to him.

'Nothing but a monster…' Yes, he could see that now.

"I'm so sorry" He whispered to the empty room for all the good it would do and vanished back into the hallway.

The centaur's fall had not gone unnoticed by one of the town's inhabitants. The creature that could have once been a dog had wondered into the lobby, enticed by the aroma of spilt blood.

It had its head buried in the corpse's gut when Jobe came down the stairs with his head bowed, lost in a world of memories that now tasted so bitter. He was brought back to this one by the sound of the dog's chops smacking wetly on ripe flesh. Jobe looked up and found himself untouched by the usually nip of fear.

"Kill me." He whispered, moving down the stairs. Jobe stepped onto the lobby, closer to the oblivious hound.

"KILL ME!" He roared and this time the dog's head snapped up, dyed with gore. Its sharp eyes fixed on him momentarily before it turned and trotted out the door, leaving Jobe to stare after it in disbelief.

'Even they won't touch me.' He thought sourly. In truth, the dog had gouged itself to the point of bursting and couldn't be bothered with this strange, screaming creature.

Jobe followed it out into the now pale light that feebly strained through the sheets of falling rain, batting against the pavement to a rhythmless beat. With in seconds, he was soaked.

"What now?" He asked the empty air as he wondered aimlessly down one of the empty streets. He stopped.

Why should he satisfy this damn town by crawling into some dark corner? It had taken Phil from him, tearing him away with greedy, eager fingers. It sure as hell wasn't going to snatch him up as well.

He was going to get out of here if it was the last thing he ever did…

"Jobe?" His head snapped up at the sound of the scarred voice.

"Virgil?"

Indeed, it was. The hooded girl crouched above him on a wall running parallel to the street. Jobe saw how she kept her head bowed low, a small river of water streaming from the peak of her hood.

"Did did you find him?" She peeked up from under the hood. She didn't need an answer when she saw the look on his face. "Oh…I'm so sorry."

"What for?" Jobe asked echolessly. It wasn't like she was the one who pulled the trigger…

"Well…" She garbled, trying to think of something to fill the empty sentence with. "For earlier. II don't' know what happened…"

'You tried to lop my hand off, that's what'

"Don't worry about it. This place is getting to me too." He let out a short, soulless bark of laughter, just as cold as the near freezing air that swirled about him.

She leapt off the wall, landing beside him with a surprising grace he wouldn't have expected from her. Virgil got to her feet, yet still refusing to unfurl fully.

"So what are you going" Jobe cut into her submissive sentence.

"Shhhh" He held a finger before his lips and Virgil shut up, listening to whatever Jobe had tuned into. However, she found herself unable to hear anything over the endless patter of rain that seemed intent on drowning out anything else.

Wait…there was something. A low, monotonous rumble, and she could more than easily visualise the prowling abomination lurking in the mist from the obscuring air. The sound of metal on metal cut the air as Virgil pulled the kantana from its scabbard.

"No, listen!" Jobe's hand grabbed her shoulder and he began gently dragging her in the direction of the sound.

She grinded her feet into the slick wet ground, panic fluttered in her chest like a trapped bird.

"Have you gone completely insane?!" She hissed, but Jobe paid her urgent tone no head. With a certain foreboding, Virgil began to wonder what on earth Jobe saw in 'Blue Creek Apartments'.

When he began to laugh, she really did begin to worry. Her hold on the kantana tightened and all the while, that chugging groan grew ever louder.

"Look!" He pointed to something through the rain. A large, ominous shadow lay where his finger fell. Without warning, he let go of Virgil and tore off towards it.

"Jobe!" She called after him but he'd already melted into the grey mist by the time she'd gathered herself. She took off after him but then the very air before her exploded.

Virgil threw her arms over her face as the harsh light engulfed her, skidding to a halt. Blinking furiously, she slowly peeked over her arm, her eyes burning in the glare of the sudden illumination.

"Come on!" Jobe's voice came from behind the large, blinding halo. "It's alright, it's only a van!" Something cheery had seeped back into his voice.

He pushed the side door open to reveal a soaking Virgil staring up at him with suspicious apprehension. Slowly, she crawled into the passenger seat.

"How…"

Jobe smirked.

"The key was already in the ignition. All we have to do is drive as far away from this town as possible…what's wrong?" He stopped when he saw the girl's quietly growing reluctance, festering away like a bad seed.

"II don't think I can come with you…"The word were so quiet Jobe barely heard them. Not that he wanted to.

"What?!"

She wheeled around to him, holding her hands up in a sign that implored peace.

"Don't think I don't want to, II just can't." She melted back into her seat, hanging her head limply. "Please Jobe, please don't make me…"

"Why?" Jobe asked monosyllabically, glaring over the dashboard at the rain cascading against the windshield. Virgil opened her mouth but abruptly shut it again, as if she couldn't quite shake the silent words from the tip of her tongue.

"What, you can't tell me? If it's that important why don't you just spit it out!" Jobe didn't mean to raise his voice, but after the day's events, he was finding it hard to act compassionately. He was sick to death with this town and the horde of skeletons in its deep closets.

"You…it…" She shook her head and made for the door handle. "Just go, it's for the best."

'click'

The lock snapped down.

"I've already lost someone very close to me, I'm not going to let this place ruin anyone else."

Before Virgil got a word in, he'd already slammed his foot down on the accelerator and the van lurched forward.

"Don't you understand?! It won't matter where you take me, it's still going to find me wherever I go and I don't want to drag you down with me!"

She broke into a furious fit of violent coughing as her mangled throat burnt from her passionate words yet Jobe ignored her plea, skidding dangerously into a corner.

"Or what?" He snapped sarcastically. "You're also going to turn into some freak and try to gouge my eyes out?" He turned again, the motion slamming the girl into the side-door. "At least let me drop you outside the town. I won't make you go any further than that, ok?"

There was a silence, filled only by the mechanical sounds of the van and the rain beating against it.

"Alright…" Her voice sounded small and defeated. Virgil drew her knees up to her chest. "Just go as fast as you can…please."

Jobe smiled to himself. "Nothing would please me mo SHIT!" His foot came down on the brake and the van grinded to a halt, throwing the pair forward. Jobe slowly lifted his head, praying he hadn't seen what he though he had.

He swore again as his eyes confirmed his initial, blurred sighting.

"What was that for?" Virgil slowly followed his locked gaze and then she too froze.

Out in the rain, someone horribly familiar was stood in the middle of the road…

"Run her over," Jobe broke his staring and looked at Virgil in shock of the aggressive notion in her words. "Run that bitch over…"

She stared transfixed at the figure she knew all to well, her eyes narrowed into fine slits.

"II can't just kill her…" It was Jobe's turn to find himself weak with words. As much as he hated Claudia, he couldn't just run her down like some animal on the highway.

"Do it now, while you still can." A tinge of naked terror crept in to Virgil's wavering voice. Jobe noted how tightly her hand was locked on the dashboard.

'She's petrified of her…' But what could the woman do apart from get in the way?

"Hold on…" Jobe rolled the window down, sticking his head out into the cold morning air and squinted as the rain rolled into his eyes.

"Get off the road!" He called hoarsely through the ambient drumming. Oh yes, she was as likely to comply with that as someone was to come to Silent Hill on vacation…

The only move Claudia made was to raise her arms in a simple act of defiance, stretching across the road. Jobe saw this and sighed before he ducked back into the dry atmosphere of the van.

"She's not going to move…" He stated morbidly. He glanced at Virgil, her eyes still radiating malice as they stayed rigidly stuck on the woman. Her knees had started to dance as she tapped her feet against the floor to a mad beat.

"You have to…it's the only way for either of us." 

"…Just hold on." Jobe revved the engine in shallow hope it would scare the woman from the road. Needles to say, he wasn't surprised when she made no move to get out of the way.

Claudia squinted through the sheets of rain at the van; the sound of the mechanical roar finally reassured her that Jobe wasn't going to back down.

It looked as though she was going to have to employ a different ploy to halt this escape…

With a sigh, Claudia shut her eyes, wishing deeply that her course of action wouldn't be necessary.

Deep down, the woman knew it was. After all, she had worked so hard for this. She wasn't about to let these two pivotal figures go when her goal was so close to being achieved, even if she died trying.

"To hell with this." Something had snapped in Jobe's brain and he suddenly realised how pointless any more blood shed would be, even if it was their shared antagonists that was spilt. Anyway, it would be a hundred times easier just to take another road out of town.

That was when Virgil screamed.

The sound tore through the comfortable silence that had fallen over the car, shattering Jobe's concentration. He jumped, his foot wedging itself on the accelerator and the van ploughed forward. The oversized vehicle bumped and rose onto the pavement, its low base grinded against the rise of the kerb as Jobe swerved out of the imminent collision course he was on with Claudia. She went by as nothing more than a black blur against a background of pallid grey.

But the screaming hadn't stopped.

He glanced at Virgil but found once he'd taken one small glimpse, Jobe was unable to look away. Sheer horror trapped his eyes when he saw what was happening to her.

She writhed in her seat, pushing against the chair with fingers hooked into claws. Virgil let out dry gasp that rattled up from her throat, as if some invisible force was slow and mercilessly crushing her windpipe. She arched her back, letting out another of those moaning, death-like breaths and the hood fell back.

That was when Jobe saw the worst of it. And it was no longer the burnt skin or rancid bandages that made him want to look away in privet disgust and pity…

Her milky eyes had rolled all the way back in their orbs, and he could see the surface of them glistening as they thrashed too and fro. Her lips had ridden back, revealing bone white teeth clenched together tight enough to shatter. They grinded against each other like hard rocks, squealing like a knife on glass, the sound alone was enough to make Jobe cringe.

"Not again" Jobe's eyes zipped from the road to Virgil and he found him self-wishing he had time to kick himself as well. Hadn't this happened last time he'd tried to force the girl to do something? He should of let her out of the car when he'd seen what a state she was in…but noooo, he had to go and try to redeem himself for blowing his once best friend's guts out. Guilt, it seemed, only lead to more guilt.

"GAHHHHRAG!" The cry rose in her throat, a wet, and horse sound. Something else rose with it. A torrent of muck projected itself from her mouth with enough force to slam Virgil's head back in the headrest. The muted brown and crimson mass hit the windshield, showering her side with the sickly smelling gore.

"Holy" Jobe watched in muteness, trying to think of something he could do…

The tension suddenly seemed to leave Virgil's body and she sunk back into the chair, her head lolling limply on her chest.

'Oh GOD! She's dead…'

"Virgil?" He tried; panic twisted his voice as he pleaded with the still body next to him. He could have kissed her when he saw her head jerkily lift itself from its resting place, her matted, black hair sliding over it. Her eyes slipped onto him, moving slowly as if she were some drunk woken before they've had time to sleep off the previous night's merriness.

Jobe felt the breath catch in his throat when his own caught them.

Gone was the soft, blind look that had previously occupied them. Instead, they had taken on a cruel, metallic quality that bored hungrily into Jobe. There was something else in them, horribly akin to the mad aspect that he'd seen in Phil's during that hideous transformation.

Her cracked and burnt lips were pulled back into a sadistic grin, the teeth unnervingly still now.

"Haven't you been paying attention?" A voice that creaked like ancient wood grated from her mouth, sounding far too low to come from Virgil's mangled voice box. "You can't leave YET!"

Before the final word had escaped her maw, Virgil lunged at Jobe.

The van screeched, riding even further up the pavement until it kissed the walls of the shops and houses that lined the street. The metal let out a hideous scream as it grinded along the brickwork, twisting and warping under the tremendous friction. It was a single lamppost that brought it to a halt, the bonnet of the high automobile wrapping around the sturdy post. There was the sound of glass shattering and then lonely street was reclaimed by silence.

You'd think your self-mad to believe such a seen had occurred on it only a few moments earlier…  

A/N: what, you thought I was acttually going to let him go that easily?