This is just a teaser for chapter 3, the full version will be available later, feel free to review the teaser in the meantime
Chapter 3: Loco-motion
Douglas blinked in confusion, one minute he had been starring out over some impossible hole, trying to find a way down to the girl, Heather, as she had fought for her life against some sort of monster movie reject, the next he had been grabbed by something and then… then it was all a blur until 'waking up' here, at the mall exit, no one for company but the looped ambience track the complex played as a 'shopping aid'.
Even stranger, there was no sign of the insidious decay that had seemed to spring out of the walls in the corners of your eye, so that you couldn't say for sure whether it had always been there, or snaked out in a moment of distraction.
All the lights were on and functioning and a quick test had shown that the doors were still open and working, so he could leave at any time… but what about the girl? The one he had been sent to find, where was she, had she died fighting that thing, or was she too somewhere in the restored mall, perhaps even more dazed and confused than he was… and more importantly, did he really want to stick around to find out?
Douglas glanced back down the main corridor, at all the closed stores and those still dimly lit indicating that there were still perhaps people in there, closing up for the day as if nothing had ever happened.
He took off his hat and ran a hand through his thinning grey hair, Douglas liked to think himself an honourable man, but this job wasn't paying nearly enough for this kind of weird shit.
Whoever wanted this girl they were going to have to do without his help.
"Leaving already detective?"
Heather woke slowly, almost peacefully, like she had just settled down to take a quiet nap, and was just rousing after an uninterrupted sleep. The plain wooden bench beneath her wasn't exactly a mattress, but it was well designed enough not to be uncomfortable, and at that moment she had the overwhelming urge to lay her head back down and sleep. Indeed something told her that would be infinitely better than waking up, but she was used to that feeling from numerous tardy slips it had earned her over the years, and so she mentally shrugged it aside and allowed her mind to grasp at its most recent memories for orientation.
Her next response was more in keeping with her current experiences, she sat bolt upright instantly, awake in seconds and pulled up her jacket and top so that she could see her side.
The skin was smooth and unblemished, not a trace of the wound the spilt-worm had inflicted on her before she had finally killed it, in fact, there wasn't a sign that any of her ordeal had ever occurred, all her cuts and bruises were gone, the blood and grime that had covered her clothes was missing, even her hair seemed to have been neatly rearranged as she remembered it.
And there was no sign of the gun which had saved her life.
Heather leant back against the bench and sighed thankfully, whatever had happened to her it was over now, and for all intents and purposes might never of happened. She would have preferred to think this, only the location in which she had awoken prevented it, but that didn't really matter anymore, it was over and she could go home at last.
Heather grinned happily and stood, bathing in the sounds around her, the corny ambience track, the gurgle of the water fountain behind her, the quiet chime of the clock as it chimed ten o'clock…
'Ten o'clock?', she thought, frowning as the implications of this wormed their way into her mind, 'Oh crap, dad!'.
When she had phoned her father it had only been six or so, even in bad traffic the bus she had been planning to catch home would have dropped her off hours ago, and her father tended to panic when she was only a few minutes late, never mind a few hours.
The buses had probably stopped now, so she'd have to try the subway instead, it was either that or walk and it was Heather's belief that no sane young woman walked around alone at night when there was another option.
Quickly orientating herself, Heather set off in the direction of the subway access point located by the mall's exit, muttering unhappily to herself as she went.
Lost in thought she almost shrieked when Douglas stepped out from around the entrance to the subway as she was about to reach it.
"Heather?", he said somewhere between relieved and surprised.
"Ugh, not you again", she hissed irritably and with an edge of anger, she still blamed him for starting her little nightmare, although how any person could have caused that, was beyond her.
"Heather stop", he said, catching her arm as she walked by, "What the hell is going on here? That monster…"
"Monster, I knew it! You are in on all this! Let go of me, you're probably helping that crazy witch lady!", she shouted, yanking her arm away and rubbing at it in disgust.
"Witch lady? What the hell are you talking about? Look, don't you think it would be a good idea to stick together here, we still don't know what the hell happened", he said, glancing around nervously as if expecting the worst at that very moment.
"Do what ever you want", she said over her shoulder as she walked towards the subway entrance, "I'm going home, and you better not follow me".
Douglas watched her disappear down the steps into the subway, and shuck his head cursing softly. He didn't know what was going on here, but he couldn't let that mule-headed girl walk blindly into it alone.
Heather walked at a brisk pace down the cheerfully lit tiled corridors of the subway, grumbling to herself about being late and occasionally looking back to make sure that 'detective' wasn't following her.
There were a number of neon lit advertisements on either side of her but she paid them no mind although usually she would stop to check out the new movie releases.
Only one caught her eye anyway, and all she really caught was the name, 'Centura', before she had passed it by as well.
Heather whistled softly to herself as she made her way through a number of corridors, her tune slowing every time she passed a locked entrance before suddenly picking up with renewed vigour.
Slow she began to realise that she could no longer hear anything, no trains, no cars, no people….
'It's ok' she told herself, 'it's late and this stations never busy anyway'
Still it came as a relief when she finally reached the terminal map that would direct her to the Bergen Street Train at Platform 3, she didn't need it of course, but seeing it there buzzing away happily took away some of her mounting anxiety, everything seemed to be working, it was just a little quiet, no need to panic.
Heather arrived at the turnstile and was only mildly surprised to find no one at the ticket booth. No big deal, a few minutes later she had purchased a ticket from the recently installed self-service machines and was sitting on a bench to pass the time as the ticket informed her she was in for at least an hours wait for the next train.
Unfortunately this soon became irritating for the blond hair teen. She was an active person by nature, and didn't do well waiting with nothing to do.
Spotting a discarded newspaper on the other end of the bench she scooped it up without a second thought and opened it to a random page.
Subway death!
The title of the article leapt out at her and she let out a nervous laugh. Someone up there really had it in for her it seemed. Reading on the article detailed the suicide of a local man, reported to have been seen hanging nervously around the fourth platform of the Hazel Street station and…
Heather re-read the last part to ensure her mind wasn't playing tricks on her. No, there had been a suicide in this station. Heather really wasn't sure what she felt at that moment, she just hoped that the man stayed dead, a cruel thought perhaps but after her recent little trip it made a kind of sense.
Heather closed the paper again, hoping that the front page would have something less morbid on it.
Indeed it did, the latest political ramblings in fact… that is to say the latest from nearly six months ago according to the date at the top of the paper.
Heather threw the paper down in disgust, just her luck, there would be nothing new or interesting in that paper.
Heather glanced at her watch, still over forty minutes to go.
Getting up Heather began to pace irritably, thus distracted she didn't notice when the first light began to flicker.
When it exploded with a loud pop however it caught her attention, followed rapidly by the distressed flickering of its immediate neighbours.
Two more went the way of their late companion, triggering the destruction of adjoining lights as they died.
"No, no ,no ,no", Heather breathed as the encroaching wave of darkness drew nearer with each neon passing. This couldn't be happening, not again.
Heather backed against the turnstile as the lights began to explode more frequently and with increasing violence, spraying glass in all directions.
The blond teen all but vaulted over the steel barrier, the darkness picking up it's pace to match her.
Unbeknownst to her it stopped at the turnstile as soon as she was out of sight, light suddenly flooding the room from impossibly repaired fixtures, a deep brooding silence descending on the waiting area…
Heather kept running until she found herself in the nexus area, the large squat room that led to each of the stations many platforms.
She slowed only long enough to find the sign telling her which staircase to take to get to platform 3 and bolted down it like a woman possessed, tripping at the first landing slamming violently into the opposing wall.
Heather let out a cry that was equal parts pain and frustration. She felt herself sliding down to the floor, when the lights at the top of the stairs began to flicker, a low growl echoing from every direction at once.
Pulled upright by her now familiar friend, adrenaline, the blond darted right, leaping stairs three at a time to reach platform 3, no mean feat in modestly heeled boots.
Leaping the last few stairs, Heather stumbled before regaining her footing and nearly lost it again when she tried to turn and back at the stairs while moving.
Eventually protesting leg muscles forced her to a halt on a nearby bench, and she sat, head between her knees, panting heavily.
'Why me', she mentally lamented, 'What the hell did I do to deserve this?'
Heather leant back on the bench and rubbed her throbbing temples. Opening one eye to the semi-darkness of the waiting platform around her Heather took a cautious survey of the area around her.
As she had feared she could see no one on either this platform or platform 4 in the distance, and the only sounds that echoed around the cavernous room where those she herself produced. Just like the mall before everything had begun to change.
Heather let her head loll to one side, hoping against hope that this was all just a coincidence, that her train would pull up any second now and carry her away from this recurring, waking nightmare.
What she found instead was a gun.
More specifically, her gun, or at least the one she had found in the mall, it was slick with a mix of purple and red blood, giving it a grotesque sheen. There were to clips lying next to it, lacking similar decoration.
Heather looked around. She was sure that the gun hadn't been there before, and there was no one in sight who could have retrieved it from the pit she had left it in along with the dead worm.
It had vanished along with all her wounds, so what was it doing here?
Picking it up awkwardly, trying to avoid touching the blood that seemed to coat most of its surface, turned it over and over, as if seeking an explanation from the weapon.
If it had one it dined to give it.
'So its all starting again' Heather thought sadly, 'I went through all that, killed that monster and I'm back here again!'
There was more anger in her thoughts now, this was not how such things were supposed to go, she should have been free to go about her life after escaping that nightmare shouldn't she? That was what happened in films and stories, so why had she been brought back? Had she performed too well perhaps…
"I got out of this once, I can do it again", she said, surprised by how confident she sounded. Loading one clip into the handgun and stuffing another into her pocket Heather thought back to everything she had seen recently. If this was like last time she would have been given a clue of what she had to do to progress. The first thing that came to mind was the newspaper article. Suicide…Platform 4
Heather was forced to remember her earlier thoughts, and prayed she hadn't inadvertently jinxed herself.
Standing, Heather was made painfully aware of something else that had returned along with the gun.
She lifted her top and found herself starring at a line of inflamed flesh along her side, where the worm had caught her previously. The skin looked barely healed and likely to split if strained too much.
'I get it', Heather thought, hissing as the cloth of her top rubbed the scar on its way down, 'I beat you, so now I have to play with a handicap'.
Getting a firm grip on the slippery gun and experimenting as she moved, trying to find out how to least aggravate her side, Heather was half-way to the stairs when the lights suddenly blacked out.
Before she could panic a light snapped on, emanating from the front of her jacket. Her flashlight was back, snapped in place exactly as it had been before her encounter with the split-worm.
Heather made her way cautiously back up to the landing area, ears alert for any sign of the monsters that had infested the mall, and constantly checking behind her, half expecting to find a Closer poised and ready to strike.
The landing came and passed without incident, and Heather paused at the base of the stairs to platform 4. There had been a low growl from somewhere nearby, not like the one she had heard earlier, no, this was more like that given of by the dog-like creatures she had encountered earlier.
Heather leant carefully around the corner of the stairwell entrance, her light showing nothing more than a few metres away. In the distance, at the other end of the platform one of the emergency lamps seemed to be working still, shading the spot it illuminated in a harsh red glow.
'Red marks the spot', Heather thought mirthlessly, not even registering her internal pun.
She stepped swiftly around the corner and made her way toward the light at a light jog, she knew better than to linger in the darkness under the circumstances.
Another growl.
Heather spun quickly, wincing at the pain caused in her side and played the light behind her, gun arm sweeping in the same direction.
Nothing.
Heather waited a few more seconds before resuming her jog toward the lit area, hearing no more growls before she reached it.
She began searching every inch of illuminated space, finding nothing obvious from casual observation.
There was nothing, she had looked over every spec of visible ground and there was nothing to be found. Then why had she been led here?
She turned to leave when something bloody and trailing bandages lunged from the darkness. Instinctively Heather through up her arm to defend herself, and screamed as the powerful jaws of the double headed canine closed around her forearm as its full weight slammed her to the ground.
Heather screamed as it dug its claws into her shoulders while savaging her pale appendage. With an incoherent cry of rage she jammed the barrel of her gun into its temple and pulled the trigger, showing herself and its second head with gore. The monster roared in pain and confusion as the right-hand side of its body went limp, a noise promptly stopped by two more shots from Heather's new best friend.
The blond scrambled at the dead weight of the beast, quivering muscles barely able to heave it off her and move herself a barely satisfactory distance from the corpse.
Heather dragged herself upright again, eying the dead animal with open distain. "Is that the best you've got!", she shouted, her eyes probing the darkness around her as her body slowly began to shiver, the adrenaline rush fleeing her body.
In hindsight she would realise the folly of her challenge.
Heather took a deep breath, preparing another tirade, when something unseen shoved her roughly from the side.
Balance lost, and surprise locking her reactions, Heather stumbled towards the tracks. Her arms flailed widely, only succeeding in turning her way from the tracks as her heel caught on the edge of the platform.
As she fell Heather heard the ear splitting blare of an air horn, as a tiny light appeared in the darkness.
The train was here.
Douglas scanned the waiting room from where he crouched in the shadows of the corridor, only standing when he was certain that Heather wasn't present.
The waiting room was completely empty.
All things considered this understandably did not sit well with the private detective. Subways always had someone in them, no matter the time of day, but Douglas hadn't seen so much as a street punk loitering in the halls.
The grey haired man made his way over towards the ticket booth, already knowing no one would be there, when something crunched underfoot.
Douglas lifted his shoe and starred at the shattered glass beneath it. His eyes were still keen enough to see that it was too fine to have come from a bottle, and the shards weren't shaped right for that either.
He glanced up, shielding his eyes against the indifferent glare of the lights overhead. None of them seemed to be broken, perhaps one had fallen down and been replaced recently, but why was the glass still there?
Coopland: Here you go, sorry this isn't a full chapter, but between this, Uni, coursework, other fanfics and the manga/webcomic I'm trying to start, this has become a low priority as of late, but the full version and other chapters should be up soon
Heartilly: Glad I could help, definitely recommend buying SH2/3
Earl McFlanders: Thanks for your support
J Warren: I'm happy to hear that, it was my intention that this story be enjoyable to those unfamiliar with it or it's background, as well as fans of the game. I probably won't write anymore SH fics, although there is a shortish SH story I have floating around in my head called "Crown of Thorns", which may or may not be written down, depending on how long this fic takes to complete
To be continued soon 21/11/05