Chapter 11: Shelley's relapse

Shelley woke up on a warm, dusty armchair with a thin blanket covering her curled up legs. The silence around her was only broken by some guys' light snoring and the soft lapping of Toluca Lake's calm northwest shore. The woman's eyelids withdrew from her bleary orbs to reveal a first floor room of Lakeview Hotel. Dean and Kyle were snoring on two cots across the room. In the corner to Shelley's left, Beth slept silently in a wooden desk chair, her head and forearms resting uncomfortably on the cold desk top.

Shelley recalled they had arrived in Silent Hill late last night, probably at 1 A.M or so. Dean, having grown up in the town, easily guided Kyle to the hotel parking lot. They had meandered through the deserted building for a few minutes before finding this room, where they'd just collapsed on the most comfy-looking furniture in sight and fallen asleep the moment their legs were relieved of the arduous task of walking.

"How long did I sleep?" Shelley scanned the walls for a clock, but the peach-coloured wallpaper was as bare as her wrists. Through the large windows to her left, she contemplated the view of the snowy, mist-shrouded forest landscape with the icy lake shore. It had to be about 6 or 7 A.M. "So I must've had six hours of sleep at most. This can't be healthy for my … Well, it can't be healthy for any part of me."

Yawning, Shelley got up from the armchair and walked across the room as stealthily as possible, trying not to yank her temporary roommates out of their sweet dreams as well. She slipped unobserved into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. The room was dimly lit by a row of small lamps above the mirror and washbasin in the right wall. An oval rug lay on the middle of the white and green floor tiles. A bathtub concealed by a green curtain was situated at the left wall opposite the lamps, and the toilet itself was in the far right corner. Shelley walked up to the bowl and sat down on the cold black seat.

After taking the leak, she walked up to the washbasin and let the faucet water stream over her hands. Above the sink, her mirror image gazed back groggily. Shelley closed her eyes and swivelled her neck. For a brief moment, the only three things still existing in this weary universe were her swivelling neck, her feet on the floor and her hands being washed clean by the tap water. Cool, clear water caressing her skin, slowly turning warmer and thicker, filled with little dry grains, pricking her hands like hot needles …

"What … no!" Shelley recoiled from the washbasin, staring at the gooey mass slowly pouring from the faucet. It was obviously anything but normal H2O – more like a yellowish mix of pure fat, milky-white grains of sugar and streaks of blood.

The young woman's face was suddenly obliterated by a familiar, chubby fist bursting out from her gaping mouth. Fortunately, this was only happening to her mirror image as the Devourer smashed its way through the glass surface above the repulsive washbasin.

"No … no … I killed you in the hospital, tra la fucking la, you're dead …"

But the Devourer strongly disagreed with that thought. In the blink of an eye, it had wriggled out of the mirror and slid down to the bathroom floor, immediately scrambling to its feet.

Shelley didn't waste any time to grab the green rug and throw it over the creature's deformed head. The Devourer roared in confusion and tore at the rug, but the green wool seemed to be clinging to the sticky grease covering the obese body. As the blinded monster reeled back and forth, Shelley dashed for the door and ripped the small bolt aside. She was about to turn the knob when the a rudimentary hand slammed down on her shoulder and tossed her across the room with awe-inspiring ease.

Shelley landed in the bathtub, pulling the curtain down with her. The bright green fabric covered her body like a shroud. Agony seared from her coccyx and up her spine as her back collided with the bathtub bottom. Letting out a piercing scream, she tore the odd winding sheet away only to find her grotesque enemy towering above her. The Devourer had simply gnawed through the rug, and the remains of the oval of wool hung from its fat torso like a somewhat comic dress. The creature stooped down and sunk its teeth into the edge of the bathtub, effortlessly chewing and swallowing a large portion of the white marble. Paralysed with repulsed fascination and a feeling of deep hopelessness, Shelley could only lie in the tub and watch the Devourer take a bite of the thin curtain before letting its voracious tongue slide up the woman's leg, its mouth twisting wide open to reveal the hideous travesties of human teeth within …

The door burst open with nearly enough force to rip it off its old hinges. The Devourer craned its head around in time to see Kyle aim his handgun and fire the last remaining bullet at its mouth. A couple of rotten, sharpened teeth audibly clattered on the floor tiles in the few silent seconds that followed. Then, the Devourer uttered a deafening, guttural roar and staggered backwards, collapsing on the toilet. Succumbing to the monster's incredible weight, the bowl was smashed to pieces, its yellowish liquid contents washing over the once perfectly clean floor.

"You okay?" Dean ran to the bathtub and extended a hand to pull Shelley up.

"Do I look fucking 'okay'?!" Shelley yelled as she limped out of the room, supported by Beth and Dean. Behind them, the Devourer ingested a few pieces of the toilet bowl before standing from the filthy floor and scrambling towards the doorway. Kyle slammed the door shut and wedged the room's desk chair under the knob. "What was that thing?" he asked Shelley.

"How should I know?" Shelley said, opening the adjacent door to the hotel hallway. "All I know is that we have to get outta here before ---"

Her sentence was interrupted by the Devourer's head smashing through the fragile wood of the bathroom door.

"Fuck!" Shelley screamed, running out of the room and down the cozy woodwork-hallway. With each step she took, a sharp pain throbbed up her back, but she forced her injured and weary body to keep sprinting. Kyle, Beth and Dean followed. The quartet's eight feet pounded into the faded red carpet, while the Devourer's obese arms tore the barricaded door down. The creature skid out of the hotel room, ramming clumsily into the opposite wall. The entire hallway shook, grey clouds of dust and rubble falling from the ceiling.

Shelley burst through the wooden double doors at the end, down a wider hallway, through another door and into the immense lobby. Her lower back pain and the heaving agony in her chest made the far wall seem nigh impossible to reach. Leaning her side against the right wall of the lobby stairway, she half walked, half staggered towards the exit.

"Shit, that thing's gaining on us!" Beth said as she and Kyle laid Shelley's arms around their necks and dragged her exhausted body across the hall. Dean opened the double doors in front of the large music box and they exited the building.

Lakeview Hotel was U-shaped, and the parking lot was located in the square between the south and north wings. Fortunately, Kyle had parked right next to the entrance last night, and there weren't any other vehicles around, so finding Beth's Honda only took a few seconds.

The moment Kyle stuck the car key in the lock, the Devourer burst out from the lobby behind them. Kyle flinched, but managed to turn the key and rip the door open, scrambling to the driver's seat. Dean took the seat next to him, while the two women hurried into the back seat. Shelley and Dean pulled their doors shut one splitsecond before the Devourer flung its enormous body at their side of the car, pressing its obese belly against the pane next to Shelley. A cobweb of cracks spread out in the glass. The vehicle screeched and groaned as a landscape of deep valleys was moulded in the car door. The horribly familiar teeth sunk through an inch of solid metal above Shelley as the abomination began eating its way through the roof.

"Go, dammit, GO!" ordered a panicky Shelley. Kyle started backing out, but the Devourer kept hanging onto the roof. Beth pulled out the pericardial scissors from the hospital and leaned in over Shelley, flicking the switch to roll down the window. "What the hell are you doing? You wanna get us all killed?!" Shelley said.

Beth didn't answer. Instead, she tightened her grip around the surgical instrument and stabbed it into the bloated double chin at the top of the window. The Devourer let out a pathetic squeal and finally went tumbling off the car, landing on the asphalt below. The two right wheels soon came crushing over its limp body as Kyle made a 180 degree turn and drove out of the parking lot. Tire marks filled with blood and matter cut through the otherwise pristine snow.

Shelley leaned back, breathing a deep, relieved sigh. "Thanks. I don't think I'd have made it out of that bathroom if it weren't for you guys …"

"Well, I owed you one after you saved me from that freak in the big chrysalis," Kyle said. Beth and Dean had no idea what he was talking about and didn't bother asking.

They were heading south, down Nathan Avenue to the west of Toluca Lake. The misty waters rippled softly to their left, while the pine woods stretched out across the mountain landscape to their right. You could even catch a glimpse of the idyllic sunrise in the horizon. "Wow, look at that," Kyle said. "Easy to see why this was once a tourist resort. It's beauti--"

"Stop," Dean interrupted.

Kyle frowned, glaring at the man to his right. "What's the--"

"Stop the car!"

Kyle looked back out the windshield and immediately slammed the brakes, cursing. Shelley and Beth, having forgotten to put on seatbelts, flew forward and smacked painfully into the backs of the front seats. The car skid two metres before coming to an abrupt halt a few feet from Louise. The young teenager stood motionless in the middle of the road, smiling her usual annoying smile. Kyle was pretty sure the Honda's skidding length should be much longer at this speed, and the slippery layer of ice covering the road should be extending that length several metres. And yet, the car had inexplicably defied these common laws of physics by stopping one splitsecond before it would've crushed the girl's body. Apparently, Louise's shielding powers had interfered once more, miracolously rescuing the kid like some ridicolously obvious deus ex machina.

Her voice soon broke the silence, seeping through the cracked, open window next to Shelley: "Why, hello there! I hope I didn't startle you?"

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A/N: Happy New Year! Yes, I know the Devourer's basically just an Insane Cancer with a face, but it has a reason for popping up in this story. Some of you may already have figured it out - it's way too obvious … Anyway, as a special new years' gift to my readers, I've uploaded a sketch of the Nymph monster (the one with the chrysalis). You'll find the link in my profile, enjoy ... And don't forget to tune in next year, -E.P.O.