I.

In normal circumstances, darkness was nothing more than the absence of light. It was in fact a necessary part of life—there could be no light without darkness. However, in this instance, the darkness represented much more than the other half of a complete idea—it now represented the unknown. The dark served as a shroud for things that rejected the light. There was no up, down, high, low, near, or far—just a vast nothingness.

It was there that Tina suddenly found herself. And she knew she was in trouble.

Only a few minutes ago, she was behind Harry Mason, whose timely intervention saved her from something horrible at the hands of Dr. Killian. They left the hospital together then found themselves in a large house. Upon investigating a bathroom, Tina heard a strange noise—something like a dying siren—echoing in her head. Before she could call out to Harry, he vanished. In fact, everything simply vanished and for a moment, there was only the dark. Then everything slowly reappeared, but it wasn't the same as before.

The walls and ceiling became streaked with mold and decay. The floor morphed into a rusted, grated platform. The decorations in the bathroom vanished, leaving behind grotesque and warped versions of pictures, magazines, and any other small item in the bathroom. The tub overflowed, bathing the room in a metallic, repellant odor.

Tina took a step back, wondering exactly what had happened. Was she hallucinating? Maybe she was daydreaming—or had somehow fallen asleep. Yeah, that had to be it. She was asleep and in a nightmare world. That's the only way that she could explain what had happened. But she didn't feel asleep. That strange feeling of knowing that she was dreaming didn't even faintly come to her. This world felt as real as the other and that in itself sent a shiver down Tina's back.

"Harry?" Tina squeaked out. She couldn't believe how weak and frightened she sounded. All she could hear was the pounding of her own heart as she took another step out of the bathroom. But then, she bumped into something—something large, maybe a person, but much more solid than a normal person.

Tina froze, scared to turn around—scared to confront the thing that now stood uncomfortably close to her. But she was afraid of not knowing what loomed over her. If she were attacked, she would die without ever seeing the face of her killer. She quickly spun around, and instantly regretted it.

She now faced a man's body with a red pyramid for a head, which now loomed dangerously over her. Its hunched shoulders moved silently up and down, as if it were breathing, but without a mouth or nose, there was no way it could breathe. Its tattered long white coat reminded her of a doctor's coat, but the long fingers and knotted hands were those of a killer, not a healer.

She tried to back away, but the creature moved quickly. It grabbed one arm, then the other. Against a normal man, Tina's aggressive reaction would have succeeded in her escape. She wrenched against its grip and tried to lower her center of gravity, but the strength of the creature was unbelievable. It gripped her arms tightly and dragged her out of the bathroom.

"No, no—let me go! No!" Tina screamed through gritted teeth as a means to give herself strength—to help her believe she was going to get away.

The thing dragged her toward the stairs. Her mind instantly went to the horror stories about people being dragged down to the basement and terrible things being done to them—anything from being bathed in wax to becoming a crazed family's dinner to being sliced to ribbons by a psycho with knives for fingers.

In a quick move, Tina reversed her struggling and rammed her shoulder into the chest area of Pyramid Head. It stumbled back, caught off guard by the maneuver. Its grip loosened and Tina quickly pulled back, freeing herself from Pyramid Head.

She turned to the left, but as fate would have it, her ankle twisted and she flailed helplessly. Tina's momentum caused her to slam against the balcony, then that same momentum carried her over the banister. Tina couldn't even scream as she hit the unforgiving floor.

II.

Harry Mason felt his pulse quicken and sweat begin to trickle down his back. Maybe it was instinct or maybe he was just paranoid, but something told him that Tina was in horrible danger. And now he knew that the stakes had just gotten higher.

"Tina?" he shouted down the hallway. His voice was absorbed by the narrow corridor decorated with shabby, blue wallpaper. From what he could tell, there was no one else there—yet, he distinctly felt as if he were being watched.

Pulling out his gun, Harry took deliberate steps down the hallway, scrutinizing every aspect of the hallway: the locked doors, darkened corners, and foggy windows. Slowly, he made his way back to the top of the stairs then continued on to the other part of the hallway. As he walked he began to notice a putrid stench creeping into the air.

A blinding pain crippled Harry as he stepped out into the hallway. He felt like a scorching poker had been shoved through his eye and left to sizzle inside of his skull. The world felt as if it were spinning, rocking, and bouncing all at once causing vomit to rise in his throat. Harry choked it back reflexively and tried to crawl away from the torture.

As quickly as the spell washed over him, it abated, leaving him drained and confused. As Harry climbed to his feet, he realized exactly what had happened.

The floor no longer sported a pale green carpet lined with mildew yellow, but now existed as a rusty, grated pathway down a hallway now lined with gritty walls and sprayed with unidentifiable human stains. The smell of decay seeped through the area, giving Harry the distinct feeling that something else was now in the house with him.

Before Harry could assess his next move, he felt a small vibration in his pocket. He reached in his pocket and pulled out his phone. It vibrated only slightly at first, but slowly intensified. Something was coming.

Harry gazed back toward the bathroom while slipping the phone back in his pocket. A slender shadow moved cautiously in the bathroom. The long shadow fell across the hallway onto the wall, totally distorting the true size and shape of its owner. It swaggered back and forth for a moment then began to shrink as its owner came closer to the doorway.

From the doorway came a four-legged creature—something that remotely resembled a canine, but there were obvious signs that it was completely wrong. Its midsection had what looked like medical tape wrapped repeatedly around a sleek but slimy, gristly body. It plodded along like an old dog, loudly sniffing the air then returning its eyeless head back to a natural drooping position. For whatever reason, the dog creature let an elongated tongue drag on the ground, only narrowly missing stepping on its own extra appendage. Thick, heavy saliva trailed behind it, and its breath came out in short, yellow puffs. The dog creature randomly stopped to uncontrollably shake as if jolted by a strong shock, but would continue on afterward as if unaffected by the seizure.

Harry lifted his gun slowly. If he timed it right, he could fire off quite a few rounds before it even noticed him. But Harry froze as another leaped from the doorway, landing in front of the first. They snapped at each other and growled angrily, a low primal growl that sent a shiver up Harry's spine. A third moved carefully around those two then stopped, its head reared toward Harry.

His mouth went dry and his muscles tensed. With three of the creatures lurking together, Harry was sure as soon as he fired at one, the other two would rush him. So, shooting them was out of the question. And there were no doors left for him to duck into. So, Harry did the most logical thing he could think of—run.

III.

Despite being lost in a fog of unconsciousness, Tina felt a firm hand on her arm. The grip tightened and became an urgent shake accompanied by muffled whispers. As unconsciousness slipped away, the whispers became hushed but urgent pleas.

"Wake up—can you hear me? You've got to wake up."

The grogginess was quickly replaced by an ebbing pain in her head. She slightly shook her head, but stopped when the world felt as if it were spinning at hundreds of miles per hour. "Harry?" she mumbled.

"No—Henry," the unrecognizable voice responded.

The only other voice she should have woken up to was Harry Mason's calm and reassuring voice. But this one was filled with weariness, fear, and uncertainty.

Her eyes allowed her to escape the vast darkness, and enter a blurry haze, which then quickly focused into normal vision. Now, the voice was matched with a face.

In front of her now sat a reasonably handsome man, with shaggy brown hair and an unshaven face. His dark brown eyes reflected urgency and concern, but also slight reservation, like he wasn't sure of what he was doing. She felt his eyes study her for a moment before addressing her again.

"Can you walk?" Instead of waiting for an answer, he followed with, "We've got to get out of here. Now."

Tina couldn't quite catch what he was saying, or why it was so important for them to leave. Besides, should she really leave with some stranger, especially after what just happened? Tina shifted slightly, but then hesitated. Going off with a stranger definitely wasn't a good idea.

"No—I mean, yes. I don't think anything's broken. I can walk, but who—who are you?"

He grabbed her hand. "I'm Henry Townsend and we're getting out before that thing notices us."

Henry pointed toward Pyramid Head. It now stood in front of another door and there was someone in front of it. No, there was something horribly wrong. Tina's eyes focused and she figured out what was wrong. The woman standing in front of Pyramid Head wasn't standing—she was impaled with a large blade, stuck to a door. Her feet dangled almost a foot from the ground. Strange gurgling noises managed to escape her throat as blood dribbled down her chin.

Tina froze again, imagining herself falling victim to the same fate. That thing—Pyramid Head—it was dragging her off to do the same thing. But something must have happened while she was unconscious. Regardless, she was alive and now had the chance to escape again, without the worry of panic taking her over another ledge.

Henry felt the woman tense up for a moment then she gingerly but swiftly got to her feet. He grabbed her hand, intending on leading her out of the bedroom and hopefully out of the house without incident.

A queasy feeling suddenly settled in Tina's stomach, but she took a slow breath and continued to trail behind Henry as he carefully made his way through the room. He carefully stepped over anything that even had a remote chance of making a noise: books, clothes, shoes, and anything else that looked even slightly noisy. Then, the door was only a few feet away—maybe they could make it out without being seen.

Everything was happening too fast. Tina's mind raced in an attempt to comprehend what exactly happened and what was presently going on. Who was that woman? How did the pyramid thing get into the house? Where was Harry? Hell, for that matter, where was she? And how did Henry find her?

Though the mind can process information at a high speed, the body was a much slower entity—it needed time to get back to peak performance. The disconnect between her mind and body created uncharacteristic disorientation and clumsiness. In normal situations, Tina was light on her feet and quite agile. But now, as her foot caught the leg of a chair, she could do nothing but gasp before she pitched forward, falling heavily against Henry. The unexpected force threw Henry forward and they both hit the floor.

As soon as Tina hit the floor, her eyes went straight to Pyramid Head. If it had eyes, they would have made eye contact, an assessment of each other's intentions. But Tina already knew—Pyramid Head intended to kill them.

IV.

The low, guttural growl seemed to reach into the depths of Harry's soul and shake him to the core. These creatures were unnatural—something created with killer instinct. Their slender, almost malnourished bodies, the long and sharp teeth, and dark coal eyes told of relentless hunting and painful feasting.

Harry knew if he decided to fire, it would be a short battle. One shot would quickly alert them to his presence and send them in a charging frenzy. He presumed they were fast—too fast for him to even wound all of them, let alone successfully kill them. His only chance would be to run.

An unsteady step backward and the consequent creaking of a loose floorboard was enough to alert the rabid hellhounds that they had another victim. They perked their head up, loudly sniffing the air. They caught Harry's scent—shower fresh deodorant, cologne, and slight perspiration.

The three hellhounds immediately broke into a sprint towards Harry.

In a quick move, Harry spun on his heel and pushed forward, pumping his arms and legs as fast as possible. He was running too fast to go back down the stairs—the hellhounds would easily overtake him as he clumsily tumbled down the stairs. Instead, he kept running straight then made a sharp right turn at the end of the hallway.

The first hellhound attempted the sharp turn, but slid on the hallway rug and smashed into the wall with a slight yelp. The other two negotiated the turn well and made a loud sound—a cross between a bark and howl—as they closed the gap between them and Harry.

The end of the hallway loomed close—closer than Harry wanted. Most of the doors were probably locked—the only way out was the open window at the end. Adrenaline pushed Harry forward, clouding his sense of judgment. Right now, the only thing on Harry's mind was survival, despite the irrationality of any action that would ensure his safety.

Never breaking his stride, Harry leaped out of the window.

V.

Henry hadn't seen anything so strange in all his life. Yet, his mind managed to come to terms with the fact that the thing that now stood across the room was dangerous. And somehow, it was responsible for the death of the poor woman that now hung from the door, impaled with a large bladed weapon.

As he swiftly pulled Tina to her feet, Henry cursed himself for not having more of a plan.

After he mysteriously awoke on the couch, Henry heard commotion from the back area of the house. Instead of finding a suitable weapon, Henry ran to the back and found where the commotion came from. Someone with a mask or helmet on stood gawking at something weird on another door.

Henry almost shouted at the person, but his eyes fell on the woman slumped on the floor. The morbid thought passed through his mind that she was dead, but when a small moan escaped her lips, he knew she was alive.

Could that be Tina?

It was surely possible. Tina was obviously a woman—someone that was in some kind of danger. Maybe the person with the mask on was some kind of sick psycho and Tina was his next victim.

Deciding against calling out to the masked individual, Henry slipped into the room and snuck to the woman's side. It wasn't until he glanced back that he realized another woman had been in the room, but sadly, Henry was too late to save her. She dangled about a foot above the floor, suspended by a blade sticking grotesquely from her chest.

Henry then realized that the masked killer wasn't in fact masked, but the pyramid was actually attached to its neck. And now, that thing stood in some kind of morbid trance, fixated on the corpse.

Instead of slipping out of the room unnoticed, Henry and Tina fell to the ground, drawing unwanted attention.

Now, as Henry stood in front of Pyramid Head, he knew that they didn't have a chance if they confronted him head on. But what could they do? Run—that was the only thing they could do. Henry didn't have a suitable weapon, no escape plan, no nothing. He could only hope that luck was on his side.

Henry made the first move—grabbing Tina's hand, he made a dash for the door.

Pyramid Head grabbed another knife from somewhere and threw it with deadly accuracy. Henry and Tina proved to be too quick as the knife sunk into the doorway, right where Tina's head flew by only a second before.

"Come on!" Henry shouted as they dashed down the hallway then found themselves back in the living room. Henry turned sharply, almost lost his balance, and ran into the kitchen doorway. Despite his panicked haste, Tina stayed behind him, determined not to fall again. Henry turned to enter a door, but once he saw it lead down into an uninvitingly dark basement, he changed his mind. There was a door on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"Quick!" Henry said as he led Tina through the door. He closed it quietly and surveyed the hallway they were now in.

There were only three doors—one on either side and one at the end of the hallway. Henry and Tina immediately split up, trying the doors on either side. When they met each other's gaze only a moment later, they knew the other one's door couldn't be opened. There last hope was the door at the end.

The door opened easily and quietly. Henry and Tina moved into the dim room and closed the door behind them. They backed away from the door, anticipating their pursuer bursting in and overtaking them before they could even scream.

Tina glanced back and forth, swearing she heard ragged breathing coming from somewhere—then she realized it was coming from her. Tina held her breath for a moment then let out a soft exhale. So many things had happened in just a short time—it was hard for her to get a grasp of what was going on.

Henry turned to her and asked, "Are you okay?" This time he paused, giving her a chance to answer.

Tina tried to speak, but her voice caught in her throat. Hot tears stung her eyes and Tina blinked them away. She gave a short nod as she clenched her eyes closed.

Despite what happened, Henry was shocked at Tina's reaction. "Hey, hey—we're safe now. That—thing—it isn't going to find us in here."

Tina nodded only to appease him, but the house wasn't that big. Surely, Pyramid Head would find them and who knows what would happen to them then. Maybe they would have the same fate as the poor woman impaled in the bedroom. Maybe it had something worse in store for them—especially since they ran away. Oh yes, it would make their deaths slow and excruciating.

She tried desperately to push her fears away, but each time, they fought to envelop her in their irrational nature and mind-numbing anxiety. Tina rubbed at her temples, a reactionary but futile attempt to alleviate her headache and calm her imagination.

"You're Tina, right?" he timidly asked.

She narrowed her eyes suspiciously, "How did you know that? Who are you?"

Henry saw her take a step back as if she would bolt at any given moment. "Wait—I know this is strange, but I can explain—kind of."

"Start talking."

"Believe it or not, I've been trapped in my apartment for the past few days," Henry began. He then relayed his experiences up to this point, including rescuing Harry, which seemed to pique Tina's interest, and his sudden appearance in the house.

"I know it's strange and hard to believe. Hell, I don't believe it myself, but here I am and here you are. And that thing is lurking around somewhere out there."

Tina seemed to relax slightly, though suspicion still remained in her expression. "If what you said is true, then you were responsible for saving the man who saved my life." Tina told her story as well, up to the point where she and Harry were separated.

"So he's alive?" Henry asked.

Tina nodded. "What if that thing found him?"

Henry didn't want to think about anyone running into Pyramid Head and what it would do to the poor soul that did.

"Tina—we should—" Henry was cut off by a piercing scream and heavy thudding coming from the other end of the house.

"Oh no—someone else is in here! That thing—" Tina shouted.

They dashed at the door, but the knob wouldn't turn. "We're locked in!" Henry shouted. A sudden feeling of danger caused Henry and Tina to turn around.

At the opposite end of the room stood a little girl.

"You're not leaving here—ever."

Notes:

Centurious: I appreciate the review. And the update is finally here.

Crazyb1tch85: Glad you are catching the fact that all these folks are in the house together. They are just missing each other. Since you read Silent Hill" Lost Souls, the diary entry should make more sense now—it wasn't Claudia's diary but Maria's.

Richard B. Sampson Jr.: Thanks for always reviewing. As you can see, the two stories are beginning to overlap and will have some huge ramifications on each other soon.

Shortey: Tina's okay for the time being, but it looks like she and Henry are due for a little pain from a familiar little girl. I'm not planning on adding anyone else from Silent Hill 4. I think the story is a little character saturated, but I like them so much, I can't get rid of them.

PJ: Glad you came across the story. Walter won't be showing up (this happens before Silent Hill 4), sorry about that. If you have any other suggestions though, let me know.

Rodarian: Yes, you hit the nail on the head—well kind of. This actually started out as a one-shot for Harry, but it developed into a whole other story. The two stories do/will impact one another and characters will cross between the two plots. It's my first time trying something like this, so I'm glad you like it. Let me know what you think of this chapter.