Chapter 3
Leaving the hospital
Steven entered the ground floor and looked out the door, he couldn't tell if the creatures were down the hall or not. His flashlight didn't provide enough light to scan the whole hallway so he slowly exited the stairway. He slowly crept up to the hallway towards the examining room. Making sure not to step on the broken glass and hospital equipment that was laying all over the rusty colored tile.
Eliza gripped his arm tight squeezing it in fear and letting out little whimpers as they neared the front door. He tried to keep calm as they drew nearer and nearer the door but he was too tense. He feared what might be lurking around the next corner because he knew it wouldn't be human. He hated knowing that more then he hated walking through the hallway itself.
Suddenly they heard a shriek and he turned just in time to see one of the nurse creatures charging at him. It leaped for him and he pushed Eliza out of the way just as the thing rammed into him knocking him over. He grabbed it by the face and pushed it back as hard as he could. He clutched the crowbar tightly in his hand. He brought it up as hard as he could hitting the creature in the face. It let out another shriek and as it did he swung the crowbar at it's head. It fell to the ground twitching and making little grunts and other disgusting noises. He kicked it in the head as hard as he could and then repeated the kick with another. It stopped moving. He grabbed Eliza's hand and they walked slowly down the hallway.
They approached the end of the hallway and turned the corner to the front desk and more importantly the front door. He let out a sigh of relief and grabbed the handle. It was stuck. He panicked and then remembered that the key was in his pocket. He grabbed it and with a shakey hand he unlocked the door. He looked at Eliza with uncertainty and stepped out into the fog filled streets of Silent Hill.
"I'm afraid it might be worse out there." She said to Steven as they walked out of the front doors of the Brookhaven hospital. He tried to smile again and managed a thin smile that lacked any real emotion.
"We'll be okay, after all what could be worse then what we just faced in there?" he said. He knew that there could be similar creatures lurking outside but it was too late to take back what he just said.
They continued down the street and then he stopped her, "Where is the high school?" he asked her. She looked up at him and then pointed south. They started to walk down the road that led them to the high school.
"How did I end up in the mental hospital?" he asked her suddenly. She looked at him surprised by the question.
"You were in a room on the third floor, I don't know how you got there. I was checking all of the rooms for any other normal people and I saw you laying there." she said. They continued to walk further down the road.
"So you have no idea how I got there either huh?" he said. He felt disappointed by the answer he was given. It seemed to him that he was just magically transported to the hospital. Nothing made sense to him anymore.
"So you saw my sister in the hospital?" he asked her. She nodded and then clutched his arm again. She seemed to be almost in an almost child like fear of the town as they started to walk through it. They continued down the road until they reached the corner of the street they were on. The road turned off leading to a huge chain link fence.
"Your sister was in the second floor when I saw her. She knew that you were there on the third floor and asked me to find you and tell you to meet her in the high school, that's all I know." she said. Her grip on his arm relaxed as they continued down the foggy street.
It was then that he noticed that she held a book tightly in her other hand. It was a leather bound book, the pages were yellow and worn. She clutched so tightly that he could see the white in her knuckles. He reached down to grab it when she pulled away from him.
"Can I see that book please?" he asked her. She reluctantly handed him the book and he took it and looked at the cover. It was a fairy tale book, one that a mother might read her child before bedtime. He flipped through it briefly and then noticed that there was a book mark on a story called the knight and the worm. He
briefly scanned through the story and then handed the book back to Eliza.
"Why are you holding onto that book?" he asked her. She looked up at him and then put her head down as if embarrassed by it.
"I found it in the garden at the hospital. I don't know why I took it, I guess it reminded me of my childhood. You know something normal, not at all like this disgusting town." she replied. He noticed she was a little more calm now that they were talking.
He was about to ask her where she was from when they heard a loud howling sound coming from an alleyway they were passing by. They stopped and looked at each other, Eliza let out a shriek as they heard another ear piercing howl. Steven grabbed her and held a hand over her mouth quieting her, then he started backing slowly away from the alley. He backed up as far as he could, they were right near the entrance of a grocery store. He quietly opened the front door and slowly eased he and Eliza's way into the dark building.
The building was empty and the light outside was enough to light the whole inner building up. The shelves were filled with assorted goods such as canned food and bags of potato chips and other things. Other then that it appeared to be empty. Steven slowly walked to the checkout counter and peeked behind it, nothing back there but a few bags and a checkout register. He was about to inspect the store further when he saw a small handgun laying underneath a shopping bag on a little shelf in the counter. He picked it up and put it in his coat pocket knowing that he'd be using it before too long in this town.
He went back to the front entrance and motioned for Eliza to follow him. As she walked to where he was standing another howl broke the silence. She suddenly stopped a look of fear suddenly rose up across her face. He slowly turned around and saw what instilled fear into her. A huge creature that looked like a skinless wolf stood at the entrance of the grocery store. It stood tall nearly four feet off the ground and it had huge gnarled fangs sticking out of it's blood filled mouth.
Before Steven had a chance to move, it lunged at him knocking him into a isle shelf. . . (Special thanks to SilkHope for the review!)
