Chapter 7
Narro Nex

Nursie tell me true

What the hell happened to you?

Did the desease have your name?

Written into its sickly game

-Windwalker

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On either side the walls seemed to stretch forever. Closed doors spanning the entire length on one side, barred windows opaque with something other then soap on the other fading into the mist ahead. A kaleidoscope of rust and grime covering every visible inch, even the floor was a giant bloodied stain. An unpleasant sheen was apparent on top of the aged, corrosive mould and above, the ceiling was hidden by a blanket of shadow. As for the teenage girl, there was no sign, she had vanished as completely as before.

In Sirius's minds eye a vision came to him. The girl they had just seen was walking through another door. This time it was not in the Hospital but on the sidewalk staring an a building its door hanging like a limpet to its hinges.. Above the entrance half destroyed was the end of a word '? ique' Sirius thought could be 'antique'. She took light steps into the black void. Sirius shook the vision from his head. The image he had just envisioned and the sight of her minutes earlier overlapped to seem as though one. How could she be in two places at once? Sirius sensed that they coincided, instantaneous of each other. One was real, one was a vision but was the vision real or was the real the vision? Maybe both were real? Sirius shook his head and looked towards Harry.

Harry took a few cautious steps into the gloom. The movement somehow inducing a reaction as the sound of a click echoed from behind. Harry spun around, gun raised and Sirius too turned to look, but all that was there was the door they had passed through, now closed. Harry looked suspiciously at the door and more particularly on the handle with bated breath. He removed the revolver from his waistband, raising it even as he took a wary step forward. With his free hand he slowly gripped the handle, taking a deep breath as he did so. Patiently he held the handle while dipping his head to hear better but nothing, at least to Sirius ears (and his hearing was far superior), could be heard. A gulp and another intake then Harry smashed down the handle, his muscles tightening and contracting with the sudden movement. Harry leaned forward intending to rush back into the room but he did not count on the resistance. He jarred his shoulder with an oomph when the door failed to part even a millimetre. The seriousness his face had portrayed thus far withered away to other emotions, first surprise then confusing finally passing all the way into fear and distress.

Again he shifted the handle and once more without success. Unbridled panic set in, he shook the handle with ever greater force even shoving his sore shoulder against the timber that blocked his way but the door was unforgiving. It held fast and would not budge even a little. After repeated failure he slumped where he stood, somehow the door had been locked, there was no where else to go but forward. Harry peered into the mist before him, taking little comfort in it's very ominous presence. If the door behind was not locked and the way ahead was not so keen to hide Sirius was sure Harry would balk but as it stood the only choice was a precautious not precipitate step forward. He marched down the path, Sirius in rearguard, rattling door handles down the route but none were open for him. He came to the end when the corridor jutted around a corner coming face to face with a similar door to the one in which he had entered, then with a prayer and a wing he tried this one. An enormous sense of relief filled him as it swung open on it's hinges but one look inside evaporated that. Within was a corridor, the same as what he had just walked through. Except to Sirius it was different, the mist had given way to darkness, dirtier and more dangerous looking too, an emanation of greater evil. It was then that the Raven realized that the town had shifted. The were now in darker Silent Hill where nastier creatures lurked. He took another look into the next room, on retrospect it was more ominous then before.

Once more the walls, floor and doors were the same even the entrance locking behind them was replayed to lesser effect the only difference was there were no windows. However the potential cruelty in running forever down monotonous rusted halls with no escape was thankfully relieved when Sirius spied a descending staircase. On the empty wall an emblazoned number four sat and odd looking markings but Sirius discarded them. He looked down the staircase but it gave nothing, it was of the darkest sable. The only way to find what was below was to descend them. Harry was desperate for his daughter, he looked apprehensively but crossed onto the first step anyway. The only way was down, conveniently the way hell lay.

Harry with gun drawn entered the door from the stairwell into level three of the hospital. The decor was like the fourth, full of rust and dried blood. The room was in fact a u-shaped corridor, one way stretching around a corner while another direction lay to Harry's immediate left. Leading down the light faded to become as black as a crow in midnight. The floor had diverted from concrete into grating covering a bottomless pit of seemingly unending descent. Sirius thoughts sprung to mind a hand reaching out from the cracks, beseeching someone to join them, down into that eternal abyss, down into a nightmare where the dark things walked and the devil whispered sweetly in your ear whilst your flesh crawled and burned.

A single step forward and the radio began to emit it's static. Harry's other foot was left poised mid-step when it reached his ears. Sirius safely high above the ground peered into the gloom, shadows looming at every corner. The decadent room was perfect for hiding within and almost instantaneously in time with Harry, whose foot slumped from its suspension, Sirius noticed one such hidden person. Standing just beyond the light of Harry's torch was a nurse, the uniform she was wearing typical of her profession. The nurse would have been considered an expected resident if not for the theme that was present, hardly a time for a nurse to be doing her rounds. Her demeanour appeared odd and unnatural too as she stood swaying from side to side on the balls of her feet in response to some inner rhythm. She had her back turned and responded to no stimuli, just the heavy, zombie-like rolling as if on a ship like the Marie Celeste, where ghosts haunted and fog hallowed the decks. Harry took a cautionary step forward and the nurse so far in her mindless world reacted with an instantaneous, almost predatory sharpness that defied her state of melancholy inertia a second before. She stretched up to full height allowing the light of Harry's torch to gain better presence on her. Harry gasped in revilement while Sirius blinked. A extruding lump squirmed, expanding and contracting from the base of her neck. Its fleshy, bulbous form writhing under the scrutiny of the light, moving of its own volition. A cancerous lump that had no place at all on the human anatomy. Thankfully the nurse revolved so the thing was no longer visible but the slack jawed, glaze-eyed facial features of the nurse was almost as bad. She looked dead.

The gun in Harry's hand shook as his frightened face was locked onto hers. A deep moan parted from her corpse lips, the sound more from the vibrations from her throat in imitation of life rather then from the normal use of vocal chords. In one slack hand she held the handle of a rusted knife swinging haphazardly as though her arm had no power of its own. She moved and acted like a caricature of a human being. She lurched towards Harry, her body moving curiously out of sync, limbs acting out of symmetry of each other as though not sure how they were supposed to act.

"Christ...!"

Harry put his finger down on the trigger when the nurse after appraising him with her dead eyes struck up with frenzied speed toward him, the hand with the knife raising to attack. The thud of tearing flesh echoed loudly as each bullet hit home. The nurse shuddered at each intrusion but headed on regardless. Harry found himself with his back to the wall when he reversed from the oncoming fiend in woman's form. Apparently sensing victory she put on one final burst of speed to bring her directly face to face with Harry. The stench of rotting flesh greeted Harry's sinus's and caused his eyes to water and nose clench in retaliation. The hand with the knife that had steadily been raising in approach was now held high above the slouched figure it was attached to.

Sirius had counted the bullets that left the weapon and knew there was but two more left, not enough to defeat this thing, he thought but then Sirius was not always right. The second last bullet pounded into more flesh and the nurse finally sagged a little. The last completed the damage to the walking corpse, muffled by such close proximity to its target. The knife hand did not finish its intended arc, instead falling lifeless to the nurse's hip as she too faltered before at last collapsing into a boneless heap.

Harry sighed and leaned back in relief but it was short lived for the nurse started convulsing on the ground. She had landed face first so the protrusion stood out in stark contrast to the blue and white uniform. While the nurse's body shuddered and squirmed the lump did to, the zombie life of the nurse apparently its sustenance. A final gasping moan was elicited by the woman, not forced like the other she had emitted, but more human sounding like the groan of someone waking from slumber. It was the last sign of life within her. The thing on her back increased its movements as it felt the loss of its host before eventually the inevitability of its demise caught up to it and the thing shivered into death too.

Harry produced a pipe from his inventory and proceeded to pummel the corpse in release of all the rage and fear the nurse had caused him. It was an expression of the terror, frustration and suffering he had thus far been forced to endure. Sirius watched with a dispassionate eye. He understood the need for the mindless violence, everybody needed to let go sometime and it was better now for Harry then later when this tantrum equivalent might mean his immediate demise when something greater and more terrible came upon him. Harry slid to the ground as his energy left him still holding the pipe in one tight-held fist, his knuckles as white as the unusual summer snow. He clutched it like a child which reminded Sirius of the little girl. Her being alive was becoming a very remote possibility now with more and more of these abominations appearing and perhaps deep down Harry was beginning to realise it too. Time was becoming selective again as it felt like an eternity before Harry found the energy to rise from the floor. The panic and various emotions were now safely hidden again only the determined but still starry-eyed look was once more in place on Harry's increasingly haggard face. He whacked the pipe to his palm in a heavy slapping movement before replacing it with the gun he had procured some time ago. A cracking of Harry's spine and he was ready to delve into the many rooms of the hospital. Being ready for what lurked there was another matter.

Harry entered one of the rooms on the corridor and almost gagged at what he saw. They found themselves in a bathroom the walls papered with tiles rather then paint or wallpaper and on top of that some one had conceived the idea of splashing the walls with blood, an inordinate amount of it, not one tile appeared to be devoid of the haemoglobin substance. Sirius was far used to blood, he had seen a copious amount of it, but it still disturbed him to see it smearing the toilet walls. There was no body to account for it, and it looked violently shed too. Harry had managed to withhold his gagging instinct and cautiously entered further until he reached with effort the end of the bathroom. On the blacked out window sill at the end was a curious looking item. Sirius peered from his end to see what looked like a stone tablet, blue in colour. Harry rolled it on the palms of his hands before errantly putting it into a pocket. He scanned the room with wide eyes and on seeing nothing more departed quickly not keen to stand in a room where death had so obviously occurred. As he went through the door the sharp shock sound of something breaking embedded itself into his hearing. Harry turned to look with out right terror but the room was still empty of life. He fled.

Harry and Sirius were now in the basement staring at the fallen corpse of yet another nurse, her face though bloody had a serenity on it that had been missing when she had been walking. The flaccid features had entirely gone.

Level three of the hospital had not offered anything of possible use. The occasional sound followed in wake of Harry's footsteps, a clunk of falling chains where there was nothing at all, and the nurses that peppered the hospital were the only things thus far that contained any semblance life here. Innumerable items had been come across but they only offered confusion. What was a bird cage doing in a hospital? Sirius thought. Not only that there was a working VCR, Harry with no use for it paid it little attention but Sirius could not help but look back on it wondering why this piece of electrical equipment was the only one that could be used in the whole of the town, and there was no sign any electrical current was available to make the machine work either. Harry had pocketed while searching the rooms another tablet to the blue one he had found and a bag of blood which he had picked up for no apparent reason he could gather. Sirius could have told him, if he could speak, that Harry was relying more on his instincts and subconscious now, something that Sirius was beginning trust more of himself while in Silent Hill.

Harry glanced back at the elevator. He had found it whilst systematically checking the rooms to level three and on seeing no option, except to travel all the way back to the stairwell had hopped in. Harry had randomly pressed the button for the basement and here they were.

The last visit had left an ominous feel but the darker and messier walls heightened that feeling even further. The doors were as before there but the rancid smell had tripled. On experience from the school both knew that doors that were locked before may not be so now, so continuing his thorough searching Harry tried every room. The generator room was pretty much the same apart from the deadened skin the walls had altered to. Leaning against one side was a hammer similar to what a fireman would use. Harry strode over and gripped its handle, rolling one side to other before taking a couple of meaty swings with it. A hint of a smile creased his face. It was the first sign of joy, albeit a dark joy, that entered his face since Sirius had caught sight of him. Nothing else lay around for Harry to take a perverse and ironic sense of happiness from, so he left with barely a glance.

Only one other room was open for Harry to use, another locked tight. The radio blared its familiar tune as he walked through the doorway. Two nurses rushed from either side of him and Harry throttled his way past further inside. His reactions quickening Sirius noted from his safe vantage point. Harry turned, still holding the axe he had gotten from the generator room. He planted his feet firmly on the floor then began to raise the axe against the walking dead. The first held aloft another knife, the preferred weapon of choice it seemed, and ran straight at him. The axe came down in its completed arc and buried deep in her soft fleshy shoulder. Harry pulled it back again causing a squelching sound as it was ripped from the nurses body. Dumbly the other nurse tried to get to Harry through the first, which stood in her way. Sirius laughed in his head despite the severity of the situation, he couldn't help it. Harry's axe came down again this time hitting both nurses sending them staggering back. Again and again he raised and descended his weapon until they shook into stillness on the ground. For good measure he kicked their inert bodies like pigskin footballs, the wondrous sound of yielding meat greeted his ears. There was satisfaction in every grunt he produced from the kicks. Sirius was beginning to get worried, Harry was getting less lucid by the hour, he hoped to god it would pass or trouble would loom.

Now with the room clear of nasties both man and bird got a better look at the room. It was the hospitals equivalent of a mausoleum. Rows of cots lined either wall covered in cloth where beneath the obvious shapes of cadavers rested. Harry violent streak gave way to his more usual dread face. He avoided eye contact with the resident deceased while he scoured the room with a less then normal intensity he had done others. Sirius was far more used to dead bodies.

Harry charged to the door. Sirius intended to follow but the sound of movement tempted his ears. He knew better the to turn around but like the horror movies where the stupid victim knew better then to run up the stairs or the idiot who looked down when told not to, Sirius could not help himself. On one of the very last bed's one of the corpses was now sitting upright, facing Sirius from beneath the covering. As Sirius stared the thing raised one gnarled and formless hand to pull the sheet from its head. The glimmer of blonde hair was closely followed by a sweaty forehead , then the eyebrows until the sheet fell away completely revealing the haggard, bloodshot face of a man. Death had not been kind to him, flesh hung loose and lank on his face defining a rather pronounced skull below. Skin and meat had slithered off entirely down one side and Sirius could see the clenching of his/its jaw. His/its eyes were so bloodshot they looked like pools, only the hint of an iris floating in their centre.

Welcome to death.

Sirius was startled as a deep voice bounced off the inside of his head. He looked in wide eye astonishment at the man/thing. Sirius had not experienced telepathy before.

You bring me your soul. Come closer please. Let me touch it.

Sirius was not going to comply.

Ah so afraid. Bird you fear what you don't need to. I like birds, very pretty. Come closer please. I do not bite.

The corpse asked a second time and Sirius reversed instead. He would not get close enough for it to grab him.

Very well so be it. You will never get answers by holding back. I'm no different to the ghosts. I am a ghost in my own way.

# Your dead#

Sirius's thoughts somehow gained a more physical substance. He could feel it form into something more palpable.

You see. We are the same. Both dead.

#You're not as dead as they are.#

Quite right. I can live again, they are forever dead. I'm not like the others.

The corpse spoke the last part in such a way that Sirius doubted he was now talking about the ghosts.

I am more but also less the nothing. I am whole but incomplete. Death is not my purpose but I am dead just the same.

Sirius could not make sense of what the corpse was talking about.

Time cannot hold forever, my time is always brief here. I must leave now but we will meet again. Remember this my little blackbird, a watcher waits while the witness writes, neither as one 'til all is done.

#Who are you?#

We do not know. Yet.

A flash of light crossed Sirius's eyes and when his vision cleared the corpse once more rested on the table, cloth covered and still. Sirius looked long and hard at it but no movement occurred then he remembered Harry. He must be long gone by now. Sirius turned in panic that the man had indeed left him far behind. Harry was just opening the door. Sirius blinked a few more times. Surely the man should have been gone by now, he was obviously eager to leave this place then he remembered the corpse had said something about holding time. By the still present Harry it must have been so. Sirius looked back once more before departing behind Harry. He wasn't sure but he thought he saw blood soaking into the pristine white sheet that covered the man's dead body.