Dummy

Sour Times
By Scrunchii

Author's Note: The rewritten version of my old Resident Evil/Silent Hill fic is finally up and running! I hope this time the read is more satisfying. There are new characters, new secrets, new monsters, new, new, new! I really hope there are new readers too as well as old ones (although I think I've lost almost all of them since I took so long!) Please read, review, and enjoy!

Much love,
Scrunchii

1. Chapter One

Emilie van Sickle ran her hand through her thick dark hair and bit her lip until it began to pound with pain. She kicked the overturned car and cursed loudly. She thought Umbrella Corp. had taken care of this. Her two companions, two idiots by the names of Roger Bridges and Walter Sullivan, exchanged nervous glances.

"Quit it you two!" Emilie yelled. She frowned at the disaster of a city and cursed again. "How long has it been like this?" Walter was the first to answer.

"Eh, about five hours, give or take," he said with a casual shrug. How could he be so nonchalant when the cars were either bumper to bumper and smeared with blood or on fire or overturned, the buildings had blood along the sides, spray-painted messages on windows calling for help, bodies laying dead on the street?

"Five hours," Emilie repeated in a hushed voice. In her eleven years of dedicated work to Umbrella, she'd never witnessed a disaster as huge as this one. Raccoon City had been taken care of, that much was for sure, but now this? "This" had turned international. Canada was as gone as the States. Mexico would be next and before anyone could blink an eye, it would spread to Europe, Asia, Africa, Australia, maybe even Antarctica. The world destroyed because of the idiots Emilie had worked for without ever questioning their motives.

She'd known about the projects The Hive had been working on down there, she'd even known about Project: Nemesis. Emilie was high up there in Umbrella, but not high enough obviously. She knew that if she'd been high enough, this wouldn't have happened. But Timothy Cain had ignored her when she'd finally spoken up and look where he was now. Probably shuffling along as mindless as half of the rest of the population, dead but not entirely gone.

Emilie refused to become one of those. If it meant leaving Roger and Walter behind, she would do it. Emilie sighed again, grabbed her gun, and marched away from the pile of rubble that had once been a bustling city called Raccoon City.


Geri Walters took the plug out of the bathtub and pulled on her dark blue half-sleeve shirt and black pants. It was a cheap imitation of a police's uniform but Geri wanted to look as professional as possible. The gurgling noises of the water going down the drain were the only noises in the house. So far, the town was as silent as the name on the sign, "Welcome to Silent Hill." Her team downstairs was keeping watch while they each took turns bathing. So far they'd seen almost no sign of infection in the town yet it was completely abandoned.

She took a few moments to calm herself down, just relax before she went back downstairs to the madness that had become her every day life since the Umbrella/Raccoon City incident. She'd heard something about a few people - two women, a child, and two men - who had escaped Raccoon City unharmed and uninfected but she believed it to be nothing but a hopeful rumor. Everyone believed that it was they would could save them from the outbreak. Everyday Geri wished that she believed it to be true but she couldn't even imagine believing in such a far-fetched story.

No, she just went along every day with her team, an ex-Umbrella genius named George Weston, a weapon freak named Tony Ellison, and a blond who knew her guns named Staci Brooks. They searched from town to town for survivors, hoping to bring back civilization, maybe defeat the damn zombies - for Geri could find no other word to describe them - or at least learn to live daily knowing that the zombies were about.

Some tried to create "safe spots" where they collected survivors and attempted to recreate towns and live normally but the zombies were learning. They had begun to travel in groups and would attack the safe spots at night, starting with the guards, and moving into the actual town. This was what really scared Geri - they were learning. Before long, they'd know how to pick them all off and soon the world would be a pointless mass of zombies. And soon enough they would die off, they only had a lifespan of about three months anyway, and then what would the world be? Just another empty planet circling the sun.

But Geri had a plan. She and her team would collect survivors, but they wouldn't stay in the same place. They would travel and wait the zombies out. They couldn't go on forever. She knew they were outnumbered but eventually the zombies would die. Meanwhile they stole ammo and guns from abandoned shops and picked off a few of the millions of zombies and just searched.

They had just arrived from Ashfield where they'd found Staci with her dead boyfriend and rolled into Silent Hill shortly. Staci proved to be a little useful. She claimed to have been a weapons expert on an elite squad she refused to name. Geri couldn't help but find it suspicious that the girl wouldn't say anything about herself other than that she'd lost her boyfriend when he'd tried to save her from the zombies but she didn't pry any further.

She took a deep breath and quickly shook the extra droplets of water from her red hair and stepped out of the bathroom. "All done," she called down to the others. She heard a confirmation from Tony and then more silence. Then a gunshot.

"Shit," Geri hissed, grabbing her gun, and ran downstairs. "What happened?" Tony smirked and shrugged.

"Just another zombie," he replied smoothly, pointing to a bloody woman laying in the street. Geri shivered. She was usually fine with zombies, but this woman didn't look much older than twenty. She had something in her back pocket, Geri noticed. Without thinking, Geri flung the front door open and ran to the dead woman. She reached into the back pocket and pulled out the lump. It was a wad of papers. Rolled up in the middle was the black ballpoint pen the woman had been carrying with her.

Geri looked up and realized she should go back inside. The fog in Silent Hill was dangerously thick. Anything could sneak up on her and she wouldn't know it until it was practically on top of her. She ran up the steps and closed the door behind her. Finding a comfortable position on a stranger's couch, Geri unrolled the papers and began to read.

"My name is Erin Luch," the papers read. "There's something really wrong with this town. I hate it. It's not just those creatures. There's something else. The zombies are like a nightmare, but I've seen other things that aren't just zombies. They're like my worst nightmares. They're not like the zombies. They're attracted to light and loud noises. They aren't killed by just a bullet to the head. They take a lot more than that. One of them is really big. I'm really scared. I hope I don't see that thing again. But now I know it's out there. And that's enough to scare me to death. I think that's what's happening. I'm being scared to death."

Geri unfolded the paper just a little more. There was something in the paper. A small, golden cross fell into the palm of her hand. Geri bit her lip sadly. Erin Luch couldn't have been much older than twenty, twenty-one.

"What's that?" Tony asked, peering over Geri's shoulder. He reached into the palm of her hand and took the little cross. Studying the little cross, he said, "Cute. Good lil' Christian girl, of course." He dropped the cross back into Geri's hand. "You can keep it." He took the paper and read it with little interest.

"What do you think she was talking about," Geri asked casually. "The really big thing that can't be killed by a bullet to the head?"

Tony shrugged. "A licker?" he guessed. "They aren't killed by a bullet to the head. It takes a lot more than one." Geri nodded. The licker definitely couldn't be killed by a single bullet. Geri wasn't entirely sure what a licker was but it was big and bad. It had almost killed Weston at one point. The licker had a long tongue, about six feet in length, that it used as a whip and another arm. It had long claws that it used to climb and kill. Overall, it reminded Geri of some sort of sick combination of a lion, human, and something else.

"Yeah, but lickers aren't attracted to light and sound," Geri said. "They don't like light at all."

Tony shrugged. "Maybe she was hallucinating," he said, not really interested. "She sounded like she was going crazy anyway. Just forget about her. She's just another poor thing that didn't make it because of Umbrella." He looked up at Geri with a very serious expression. "You have to remember that, Ger, you have to blame Umbrella for all of this. Not anyone else. It's all Umbrella's fault."

Geri nodded and pocketed the note and - after a moment's hesitation - the cross as well.


Emilie shushed Roger and Walter with a single look and peeked back out through the crack in the closet door, watching the undead man shuffle through the office. He turned to the closet and snarled. Emilie screamed and kicked the door open, shooting with her 9mm as she did. The zombie fell back and onto the desk. Emilie motioned to Roger and Walter. The three made their way out into the main hallway. Why had they gone into this building anyway? What had Emilie thought they'd find?

"We have to get out of here," Roger whispered loudly. Emilie shushed him again.

"We will," she said in a fierce whisper, knowing she was being just as loud, if not louder than Roger. "This is harder than you'd think." Roger glared at her.

"Do you know what you're doing?" he asked doubtfully. "Maybe Walter and I should take over."

"Shut up and follow," Emilie ordered.

Roger and Walter silently obeyed, following the small dark haired woman without question again.

This building was so familiar, Emilie knew it from somewhere. How could she not remember it?

"There's something in here..." she said quietly to no one in particular. Roger immediately answered with an angry reply.

"How could you know that?" he said with a sneer. Emilie shrugged and ignored his question. The three silently moved along their way. It's down there...was all Emilie could think. There was something in the basement, she knew it. Something was calling her. She pulled out her 9mm and turned to the men.

"There's something in the basement," she said quietly. "We're going down there but I don't know what we're going to find."

"Well, duh!" Roger said loudly.

"Shut up," Walter said, finally speaking up. "Lead the way," he said to Emilie. Emilie smirked at Roger and began moving ahead again, trying to ignore the little voice in the back of her head, warning her.


The crunch of Weston's Cheetos was all Geri could hear as she lay in the bed upstairs. She'd pulled out the sleeping bag Tony had found in the trunk of one of the cars in the garage of the house and was trying to sleep but nothing worked. All she could hear was...

The crunching was too much, she couldn't stand it much longer. Geri rolled over and breathed in deeply. She had to relax, she knew it. She pulled out the little cross she'd found with Erin Luch's body and held it close to her body. It didn't work. She sighed with resignation and stood up, pocketing the cross. Grabbing her gun, Geri quietly snuck downstairs.

"Weston," she whispered. "I can't sleep." The short, plump man grinned up at Geri and made room. It was his turn for watch. Geri was supposed to take over in two hours.

"Morning," he joked. "Sorry, am I being too loud?" He motioned to the Cheetos bag sheepishly. "I'll stop if you want." Geri smiled and shook her head. Weston never ceased to get her in a better mood. She wasn't sure how he managed it as she was always the one with the bad temper.

"No," she replied kindly. "I wouldn't want to deprive you of your snack time." She reached into the bag and took out a handful of Cheetos for herself and looked out the window. "It's still really foggy," she noted. "I hope it doesn't stay like this. It'll get dangerous."

"Yeah, but maybe it'll clear by tomorrow. We're gonna have to go anyway, we've been here too long already," Weston added. "If we stay here much longer we're going to attract too many zombies." Geri nodded.

"I know." She looked down at her lap and bit her lip. "I just...I wish that, you know, we could just stay in one place for once. Just live normal lives again." She looked up at Weston. "I guess it's stupid. It's obvious we'll never live normal lives again."

"No, I don't think it's impossible," Weston said with a faint smile. "I think that those survivors of Raccoon City can help somehow. I think they'll be able to save us."

"You really believe that?" Geri asked, raising an eyebrow.

"What else do I have to believe?" Weston said, looking at Geri sadly.

"I don't know," Geri replied truthfully, and for once, she wasn't lying to herself.


"We have to get going," Weston said loudly, trying to get Staci and Tony to hurry. The two were still getting dressed upstairs. For some reason, they thought it necessary to continue to sleep in pajamas. Geri thought this stupid, what if they were attacked in the middle of the night? Would the two still be changing clothes while fighting back? "Now!" Weston added with finality.

"We're coming," Staci said as she came down the stairs, sounding annoyed. She was in the middle of tying up her glossy blond hair in a ponytail when she reached the bottom, her hair tie in her mouth. "Tony's just about down." Just as she finished her hair, Tony followed, holding both his and Staci's guns in his hand.

"Ready," he announced proudly. Geri glanced at her watch. It was already nine. They should have been out four hours ago but Staci had fallen asleep on her watch - again - and they all slept in. Geri shuddered to think what would have happened if a zombie had tried to get in.

"We're taking that van," Geri said, pointing to a dark green mini van outside the house. "I've already got it going, we were just waiting on you guys." She looked pointedly at Tony and Staci before leaving. The four filed into the van and started their drive through Silent Hill.

One building in particular caught Geri's eye. Spray-painted on the window of a fast-food restaraunt called Happy Burger was the message, "Help! Alive inside!" Geri grabbed Weston's shoulder.

"Look!" she said excitedly. "Maybe they're still alive! Pull over!" The minute the van stopped in the parking lot, the four leapt out of the car. Geri and Tony went to the front of the building while Weston and Staci took the back. The front door was locked to their disappointment but Tony took his gun out and shot it easily. Geri gingerly pulled the door open even though Tony had already made enough noise shooting the lock.

"Hello," she called out. "Is anyone alive in here?" A small bark from the back of the room made Geri jump. "Hello? We're here to help!" She turned to Tony. "Well, there's a dog in here," she said matter-of-factly.

"Yeah, but dogs don't spray paint messages on windows," Tony replied solemnly. He froze and grabbed Geri's arm. "Look," he said softly. Geri looked down. A dried blood stain went from one booth to the one across from it. Geri nodded.

"Hello?" Geri called again.

"What do you want?" a voice said from the back of the room, near where Geri guessed the dog had barked.

"W-we're here to help!" Geri replied, looking over at Tony excitedly. "Come out, we just want to get you out of here safely!"

"What are your names?" the voice asked. It was obviously female, definitely younger, probably in her teens. The voice had an accent but not overly strong, definitely Spanish.

"My name's Geri and the man with me is Tony," Geri immediately replied. She refused to lose her only survivor so far. "What's yours?"

The girl came out from the back booth into the open holding a red leash in her hand that connected to a collar, worn by a small, furry dog. The girl was short and skinny, wearing a small white shirt with an open plaid shirt on top. Her jeans were too baggy for her, revealing her underwear and a very flat tummy. Her hair was held in a messy ponytail, falling in front of her large, brown eyes. "Maria," she said. She held a 9mm in the hand that wasn't holding the dog's leash.

"Maria," Geri said smiling.

A scream that obviously belonged to Staci broke their introduction.

"Staci!" Tony yelled, running past Maria toward the back of the building. Geri ripped her gaze away from Maria and followed Tony. She heard Maria follow at a casual pace. She stopped dead in her tracks when she saw what Staci was staring at. Tony pulled out his gun.

It wasn't a zombie, that much was for sure. The thing had visible arms although it did seem to have elbows sticking out of its sides. It had a recognizable head but no face. The tall, skinny figure shuffled toward Staci, its walk slow and unbalanced. Staci screamed again and shot it twice in the head.

The thing didn't seem to care much. It paused for a moment then continued forward.

"Shit!" Geri heard Maria curse. "Just run past it, you'll waste too many bullets trying to kill it!" Staci looked up, surprised at the new voice, but she didn't hesitate to follow Maria's orders. Weston followed the blond into the main room. The two rushed past Tony and watched Geri as she pulled out her gun despite Maria's advice to ignore it. She shot the thing three more times before it fell the ground. But even after it hit the ground, the thing wriggled and began using its feet to crawl around. Geri recoiled in disgust and shot three more times. The thing finally stopped moving and Geri used her foot to kick it out the back door. She slammed the door shut and locked it, taking a deep breath.

"That," she said panting, "was definitely not a zombie."


Good? Bad? Ugly? Please review and give me some feedback, I'm always looking for good advice!

Much love,
Scrunchii