Chapter 4: Reptilian Undertones

When she woke up, the faint smell of smoke still lingered in the air. The fire had gone out, there was barely any trace that it had been there in the first place. The window behind her was letting foggy light in. How long had she been asleep? It wasn't night when the siren went off. Everything had gone back to normal, the room was dusty and the couch still fairly filthy but the walls were still painted and solid looking. On the other side they were peeling and stained with God knows what, looking aged to the point of falling over. She realized that Nobody wasn't there and quickly got up, holding the tire iron as she inspected the other room. He wasn't in the apartment at all, what happened? Uneasily she checked the door but it was locked. The window? No, it didn't open. Maybe he had found a key and locked it from the outside. That made sense.

She put her pack on and checked her map. Same way, just follow Nathan Street. Be alert, don't let them get the drop on you. You can do it Julia. Don't quit now. She unlocked the door and peered carefully into the hall. Nothing seemed to be out of place, she tip toed out and shut the door behind her. The faint sound of paper rustling caught her ear and she turned back around. On the door a piece of writing had been attached with a simple thumb tack. She took it off, curious.

"She is an angel no one knows only,
I can see the Lady of the Door,
they cannot walk along her Bridge,
of Thread, they fall from the weight,
of their crimes."

"Did you put that here?" she asked Nobody, wherever he was. There didn't seem to be another explanation. What did it the note mean? It was kind of scary, but on the other hand, it kind of made her feel better knowing that it was there. Why, she couldn't explain. Shrugging, she went out into the street.

There wasn't any trace of the world she had seen before. Everything seemed to be exactly the way it was right before she heard the siren yesterday. Was it yesterday? She dug through her pack and found the sports watch she used on her jogs. Strange, it read '77:34' for the time and all of the days along the bottom had been lit up. The watch otherwise seemed to be ticking along as normal, so she held onto it. The fog didn't seem as bad as the day before, allowing slightly more visibility. That would be a help getting all the way to Sagan.

Walking along almost casually, she kept her senses alert. It was almost comical how numb people became to the simple things when they lived life without that primal instinct, that fear that made everything else seem dull. It hadn't been even two days and already she was adjusting to living like it was her last. Everything seemed sharper, clearer, even the smell of things that she would have passed by at some other time she picked up from a distance. Even though she was still scared, she felt…ready.

She went along Nathan, watching the smoky mist on the lake to the right. It was so tranquil, quiet, if this wasn't a hell on earth it would be pretty. A sound to her left jerked her straight out of reverie, body frozen, hand up. There was a doll poking around a car, sniffing the air. Odd, since it didn't have a nose that she could make out, but that's what it seemed to be doing. Slowly she bent down to the street and picked up a small piece of rock. It scraped the concrete ever so slightly and the doll's head snapped around, probing for more sound. As hard as she could without moving her feet, she threw the rock back the direction she had came. It bounced off a building and clattered to a halt in the mist behind her. The doll immediately took off in that direction, shuffling away. When it was out of eyesight she forced herself to walk, not run, moving as quickly as possible. When she felt far enough away she jogged a little bit, but not far. She didn't want to inadvertently run into something else trying to get away from a different monster in the first place.

After nearly half an hour of walking by her figuring, Nathan had turned into County Highway 26. On her right was a small, dilapidated building that seemed about ready to fall over. There was a small sign out front that read "Silent Hill Historical Society". She snorted derisively, what could possibly be more foul? She merged onto Sanford, the only traffic on the desolate street. Some massive building was taking shape on her right, curious she watched it emerge from the fog. Easily the largest building she had seen so far, it was a shell of its former grandeur. A massive hotel with rows upon rows of windows, the sign proclaiming its name had fallen apart or torn off. It appeared to be mostly burned but still standing. There was a collapse at the main door, if she wanted to get in then she would have to find some other way, probably a broken window. Old hotels were scary enough when you were all alone, large empty halls possibly containing any manner of creatures. She wouldn't go in there if she didn't have to.

She turned onto Bachman, heading north. It was a residential area now, there were many traces of life that had suddenly just stopped. A bike here and there, lots of cars, even some children's toys outside a couple houses. Whatever happened to the townspeople, like Pompeii it had taken them by surprise and had taken them all. It must have to do with the Darkness as Nobody called it. She couldn't think of a better name for it or a better explanation for where everyone was. Had they brought this horror on themselves? No one deserved to be trapped here unless they had done something wrong. Well, she hadn't done anything wrong, but she came here on her own will.

The spire was visible first, then the rest of the church. It was a simple building, very New England in its style. Painted a stark white, the four corners of the building rose into small steeples, covered in slate gray roofing. The roof was dominated by the central steeple, almost larger then the base of the building, a cross at the very top. It had large windows along the side, it was too misty to see into the center. The courtyard was terse, a brick wall encircling the grass that lay on either side of the stone path leading to the steps of the church. The wall had an additional row of black iron fencing, spiked at the top and running along the top of the wall to the gate, a framework of the same metal with a small latch. She wasn't a religious person, but she found herself going through the gate and up the path. The large double doors had been spared the white paint, showing the ancient splintering wood that was didn't have the ability to hide its age like the rest. She tried the handle and it swung easily open, inviting her inside.

Thankfully deserted, it seemed to be in perfect condition. There was a small altar at the front, everything else very basic and unadorned. She walked over to the altar, a large bible sitting on it, closed. A page had been marked, she opened the book to it. A small box had been placed inside, someone had cut a section of the pages out to accommodate it. Julia took it out, the box was thin and well made, something you might put jewelry in. There was a lock on it she realized, the tiny keyhole barely visible in the dim light coming in. She put it on the floor and dropped the tire iron straight down on it, smashing the lid in. Picking apart the pieces, she pulled something metal from the box, a key. It was three inches long, a shiny copper and unmarked. She pocketed the key and searched for something else of value, but it was otherwise empty.

The bridge wouldn't be far now , just a little further down Bloch. There was a gas station right after the church, she almost stopped to check around but decided against it. She wasn't sure how much daylight she had left and she could always come back. Without a pen to mark her map with she would just have to remember that it was on Bloch. Walking on, it wasn't very long before she could hear the sound of water and the drawbridge came into view. The streets were lifted up by the cables, making crossing impossible until she lowered them. Peering across the lapping waters, she looked for the other bridge that was supposed to be on Finney St. It didn't seem to be there at all, that can't have been good. There was a hut where this bridge began, a mostly glass structure that was probably the controls. She let herself in, as she assumed there was a large panel with all kinds of buttons just waiting to be pushed. In the center was a large red button without a helpful label like the rest, next to it an opening for a key. She punched the red button but nothing happened, no gears churning the bridge back down. Was it out of power or…she remember the key and tried it on the hole. It slid in perfectly and when she twisted it gingerly the red button lit up from underneath. She hit it again and the silence was broken by heavy hydraulics coming to life. It was so sudden she jumped, taking a deep breath to calm her nerves. Julia went out onto the road and waited for the drawbridge to flatten out and the noise to stop before making her way across.

She was thinking of a conversation she had with a friend a few days ago when she almost passed by the police station completely. It was a fairly unimpressive building, squat, barely two stories. It went on quite a bit behind the front but just looking at it straight on was disappointing. It had a large stone staircase leading up to old fashioned doors with "Silent Hill Police Dept." lettered on both the opaque glass insets. Even the brass handles were worn with age, the door creaked ever so slightly when she opened it.

It looked like a hurricane had gone through the station a long time ago. Papers and pieces of the walls were scattered across the lobby floor, smashed glass and garbage strewn about. It was hard to tell if this had been the work of a person or something else, the creatures here were violent but not against most inanimate objects. There was a reception desk in front of her, rows of offices and desk to her left and a staircase on the right. She tried the offices first, getting the obvious out of the way first. She set down her pack in the hallway leading out, if she had to make a quick escape this time she could nab it on the way. The offices were musty, the smell of paper and the old building permeating the area. She checked underneath every desk she came to carefully, like a scared three year old checking under the bed for things to go bump in the night. There wasn't anything of use in the desks she found until she tried the last one against the wall. The butt of a gun was sticking out from a holster, she almost dropped the iron she was so excited. It was a high quality .45, slightly customized. She popped out the clip with practiced ease and to her utter delight found it full. The safety was on of course, but this gun was loaded. Awkwardly she tucked the iron into a loop on her belt, pulling the holster onto her shoulder. Rummaging through the cabinet, she found a small flashlight that attached to the underside of the barrel. Things were looking up, for once.

She twisted the light on, swooping the gun around the room. She almost wanted to pop a round to make sure everything was in working order, but she didn't want to expend bullets in case she couldn't find any extra ammo. There had to be some lying around here somewhere, the gun ought to take regulation bullets. The flicked off the safety with her thumb and inspected the other desks, but nothing interesting was inside. The door leading to lock up was behind the lobby area, but she had no reason to go there. Coming back to the lobby, she moved steadily, both hands around the gun, holding it pointed at the floor. The staircase groaned under her weight, far too loudly. She winced, hoping if anything was in the building it hadn't heard the sound. Her fear turned to reality when she almost reached the second floor and she heard a noise, another part of the building creaking under something's weight. She peered up over the top of the stairs, the long hallway empty. She was about to start moving again when a crashing shot pierced the air, sending her to the steps. The bullet ripped into the wall not too far away from her, splinters raining down.

"Hey!" she shouted angrily.

"Hello?" someone called from the hall beyond. It was a man, but she couldn't see him.

"I'm coming up the stairs, don't shoot." she said, working up the nerve to walk into someone's ambush line. "Okay?"

"Do it, slow."

She put her hands up, still holding her gun, and advanced up the stairs. When she left the stairwell she could see him, crouched behind a desk in the first office to the right, pointing a handgun at her.

"If you're still a human, say something." he asked.

"Something." Julia said. "Can I put my hands down now?"

He made a face, but took the business end of the pistol away from her. "Sorry, its just sometimes you never know." He stood up from behind the desk to full height. He was a bit taller then her but not as tall as Nobody. His face was round and pock marked with acne, hair blonde and short, curling heavily like sheep's wool. He seemed composed but there was fear in his eyes. She wondered if she looked the same way.

"What's your name?" she asked, holstering her weapon.

"Chuck. Chuck Taylor." he extended a hand, and they shook. "You?"

"Julia. Sorry to scare you."

"Don't worry about it." He took a seat on the desk, laying his gun down. "Tell you the truth, I'm glad to see someone else. You're the first person I've seen here that's normal."

"Normal?'

"There was some other guy that was just babbling to himself about 'head juice'. He was kind of creeping me out, I saw him a few hours ago by the park."

"What did he look like?"

"Oh I dunno, looked like one of those freaks that shoot up a school, trench coat, black clothes, goatee, Latino or something, definitely not white. Freakin' weirdo, he didn't even look at me when he was walking by. He was saying something about a man trying to get his head juice."

"You ever seen someone named Nobody? Wears metal armor?"

He looked at her like she had grown an additional head. "Uh, no sorry. There's some guy running around here with armor on?"

"Yeah."

"Jeez, this place is so messed up."

"He's one of the good guys, believe me. Have you seen…the other Silent Hill yet?"

Chuck's eyes widened slightly. "Yeah, I've seen it. Don't suppose you know what's going on here?'

"No, sorry. I just got here yesterday, all of this is just crazy."

"Know what you mean. You haven't seen anyone else have you? I'm looking for a friend of mine, his name's Troy. We were lost, we drove into town and hit a dog or something. He's about my age, brown hair, brown eyes."

She shook her head and Chuck frowned. "Damn. It was so weird, one minute we were looking at the dog, then I was somewhere else. I don't remember all of what happened, but the next thing I knew I was locked in this creepy fucking padded room."

"Whoa, really?"

"Yeah. I had to break out the window with my elbow, thank God there wasn't wire mesh in the glass or I would probably still be in there."

"Then what happened?"

His visage grew dark, it was unbecoming on his gentle face. "I don't want to talk about it. Just believe me when I say, stay the hell away from the hospital."

"Thanks for the advice. What are you doing here anyway?'

Chuck smiled sheepishly. "I was lookin' for a gun. I used to shoot game with my Dad up in Canada, just makes me feel better havin' a piece with me."

"That's kind of why I came here too. Don't happen to know where I can find some extra bullets do you?"

"Sure, the armory is down this way. You know how to handle that thing?' he said, jumping back onto the floor.

"I have a Glock at home I take to the range every month. When you're a woman in the city by yourself, its just a good idea to have protection."

"Can appreciate that. C'mon, let's get you loaded up."

He led her down the hall, not looking too concerned but eyeing every corner and hall. Julia kept behind him, their footsteps light along the hall. There was a door down a flight of stairs pried open, their destination.

"Walk along the edges of steps by the wall or railing." Chuck explained. "You won't make them creak that way like you would if you walked right up the middle."

"That's good advice. You might have blown my head off if I snuck up on you though."

"You just gotta know what you're firing at. When you do a lot of shooting you get a built in safety that ought to kick in when you see another person in your crosshairs."

She let that settle in as he brought her into the room. There were dozens of boxes of 9mm ammo, standard issue handguns resting in a row on the wall. Cabinets had been marked with officer's names, more equipment probably waiting inside.

"Seemed to like locking their own stuff up." Chuck said as if reading her mind. "I'd shoot one of them open but if one of the bastards has something that can explode, well…I'll just try to find the key."

Julia pulled two boxes of sixty bullets each off the shelves. They would get heavy to be sure, but running out was something she didn't want to do. She didn't see any spare clips, so she pulled them out of the guns she wouldn't need, an extra two would do.

"Hey, what are you doing?"

"Just getting some spares in case I have to reload fast."

"Yeah but what about the guns you're taking them out of?"

"Yeah?"

"Now they won't work."

"So?"

"I'm just saying maybe other people will come in here looking for a weapon, and those two will be useless without clips. I mean, I'd kill for a shotgun but it looks like someone already raided all of the ammo for themselves." She hadn't thought about it like that, others coming through here.

"But…"

Chuck raised his hands up. "Do what you want. I'm just saying someone that came here before us left stuff for other people to use."

"No, you're right." she said, replacing the empty clips. "I don't want to do that to someone else."

"Well, what now?"

"I need to find any records I can about a murder that took place in this town."

"Probably find it in archives. C'mon, its down the way a bit."

"Sure know your way around here." she commented.

Chuck chuckled. "I've been hanging out here a couple days. After I got out of that hell hole down the street, I wanted a gun bad. Actually, I think Troy might be across the drawbridge, but I don't know how to lower it. One of them is just totally gone, looks like an earthquake or something took it out. I've been here trying to find a way to lower it."

"Don't worry, I just did it on my way over here."

He stopped walking and turned to regard her. "Really?"

"Yeah. I came from across the lake."

He started walking again, excited. "Wow, great. You didn't happen to see a motel over there did you?'

She thought about this, trying to remember the sights as she went by. "A couple, actually. I saw one on Sanford and the sign for another on Nathan. Then there's that big one."

"Big one?"

"The huge hotel over by the water. It looks like it was burned."

"Lakeview…" Chuck breathed. "Here's the archives." he said, shaking out of his thoughts. It was a large room, filled with boxes stacked on boxes. The smell of moldy paper was strongest here, pages of histories and tragedies filling the "UNSOLVED" section.

"Thanks. Any chance you can help me look through all this crap?"

Chuck shook his head. "Hah, if you had told me that before then I probably would have. Sorry though, I have to get to Lakeview. I'm pretty sure Troy will be there."

"What makes you so sure?'

"A hunch, I guess. Look, I hope you find what you need. I have to get going. I hate to leave you like this, but let me give you some advice. Find a walkie talkie, there ought to be one lying around here somewhere. If you turn it on, you can hear static when one of those things is nearby. They're attracted to light and sound but not movement, if you can stay quiet and don't use your light often, you won't need to fight so much."

"Okay…thanks Chuck, I hope we run into each other again."

He beamed, nodding. "Me too Julia. See ya." His footsteps moved unerringly out of the hall and down out of hearing. It was kind of sad the way she kept meeting people that she wanted to stay and help her but had problems of their own.

"You just attract all kinds of stable men don't you Jule." she said with a sigh. It was this place, when she was in control of her life and had a problem she didn't need someone to help her overcome it. Here, where nothing was in her control, she needed all the help she could get and it made her angry. At herself mostly, for not being able to handle it.

The boxes were well organized thankfully. She found several boxes in the year she needed, but they didn't seem to be in any chronological order. She sat in the center of the room with the boxes, taking out stacks of folders and leafing through them. Most were small, only a missing persons report or minor violation that was only one or two pages. They were interesting, but she stopped reading them after the first dozen or so, it would take all night to go through every single one with more then a glance. Two boxes later, she opened a thicker folder to find her parents' names in a report. Slowly she put the rest of the stack down, reading the report almost reverently.

HOMOCIDE INVESTIGATION CASE NO. 181212.

INCIDENT LOCATION 112 SAULSTREET

REPORTING OFFICER J FEELEY

---INCIDENT SHEET REPORT---

911 call responded by units at 10:34 am. Paul Opporo of 117 Saul St. phoned dispatch after finding a blood trail leading from 112 Saul. Officers J Feeley and D Severn discovered two victims inside home with multiple stab wounds. Victims were identified as Jason Stormson and wife Emily Stormson by neighbors. Crime scene units discovered murder weapon EVIDENCE #2321 hunting knife used on both victims. J Stormson suffered trauma to the back of the head prior to death. Complete fingerprinting of both victims and home led to no unidentified parties. Children aged 13 and 3 years of age were missing from the home, sliding glass back door open upon officer's arrival. Case transferred to Homocide Detective H Aaron.

---END REPORT---

There was an additional sheet of paper behind the initial report, stating that the case had gone unsolved and transferred the records to storage. She lifted that one back and quickly dropped it. Behind was a graphic photo of the crime scene, one she did not wish to look at or any of the other details. She knew where she had to go, her old house. If any clues could be found that would lead her to Jon…Alex…it would be there. She carefully replaced all of the files she found, Chuck's reminder coming into her head again.

112 Saul, back across the lake. She wouldn't make it before nightfall, but she would be damned if anything Silent Hill could throw at her would stop her now.