-Chapter 6 - The Scientist-

"Ngaah!" shrieked the stranger inside the cell, then afterwards settled into weak laughter. "Heh, Sweet freakin' Christ, I thought you were one of those monsters…"

Rod's eyes scanned the prison cell that the strange man was occupying, as well as it's occupant. He was a scrawny twig of a man who looked pretty disheveled and dirty as if he were homeless. His hair was long and shabby which seemed to curl and stick out in every other direction other than down, making him look almost clownish. His long, hooked nose with a large pair of glasses slipping down them didn't help his image either. Around the room were notes, letters, newspapers, but most noticeable were the long white candles that surrounded the man in an almost 360 degree angle. They also had a strange symbol engraved in them.

The man had seen that Rod had noticed them. "Huh? Oh yeah, those? Oh yeah, you're gonna need those, man. You can bet your bottom dollar that you're gonna want one of those around, man."

"Who are you, man?" asked Rod.

"Oh!" The man threw up his arms as if he had just remembered something and then walked up to the bars, and shook hands with Rod.. "Right. You must be Mr. Alessandro. Rod Alessandro, right? We talked on the phone?"

"Ooh, thank God, man…" Rod whimpered as his head slid down the bars. "You have no fuckin' clue how nice it feels to have a likewise mind around here."

"Was it easy getting here?" asked the man, either out of sarcasm or misplaced words.

"What do you think? You know, it's not every freakin' day one of your buddies comes out the floor, crawlin' up your leg with no mouth!"

"Yeah, well it's good that we finally meet." the man replied with a relieved smile on his face.

"…You were the one that left Jake's tag on the statue, aren't you?" inquired Rod.

"Yeah." the man answered. "That was the very least I could do. I hadn't been there for 3 minutes and already they jumped me and dragged me here to rot."

"They? Who the fuck's they?"

The stranger only glared at Rod, as if Rod should already know.

"…It's the Government, is it?"

The man shook his head. "Yeah. It's bad. Real bad. But if you wish to know more, you gotta get me outta here."

"Wha? How?"

"Th-there's a key around here, I'm sure of it… That's it! Of course!"

"What? You know where it is?"

"Yeah. I think I saw Frank with the key! I'm sure he has it!"

"Frank?" Rod was insulted. "What the hell you m--?"

The prisoner gave Rod another glare.

"…Oh." Rod was silent for a moment. "He's here, too. Isn't he."

"Rod, I'm sorry about your friends. But if you want me to help you, you got to help me first."

"…Okay. You know where he could be?"

"The courtyard; I'm positive he's there. As I was dragged down the hall, the doors were open a little and I could see a glimpse of him on the other side; dangling the cell keys as if it were mocking me!"

Rod looked at the man, then at the floor indecisively. Rod didn't want to see him again. Not as a…

"Please." begged the man. "You're my only hope at redeeming myself. If you help me escape, I promise you I'll make them go away forever! I know how! I've done it before!"

"So you're telling me you can make these things vanish? No more creatures?"

"Yes! But first, you have to get me somewhere safe. Afterwards, I'll spill everything to you."

Rod stared at him with eyes that would speak only betrayal and doubt.

"…The truth. You deserve to know that much."

Then came the sound of an iron door slamming. And then the rattling sound of metal against metal as if it were a hellish xylophone. And then, in the lightened vision of Rod's flashlight, came the masked man in the black coat. Wielding a pick axe. The masked demon lifted the pick axe effortlessly with a single arm and aimed the head at Rod. It chose Rod as the first to die.

"Oh, Jesus, man! C'mon! What am I supposed to do?"

"Make a run for the courtyard; you won't do any good against that devil!"

"What about you?"

"It can't hurt me with this barrier up. Besides, it still needs me."

"Alright. I'll come back for you, man. And then you're gonna start given me answers."

"GO!"

As Rod left the prisoner and ran past the man in the coat, it swung it's pickaxe with a force that would have torn him in half if it would have connected. Thankfully, Rod ducked at the last minute, almost tripping over himself and continued his sprint out the door and back to the courtyard. Once Rod had disappeared out the door and down the hall, the shrouded creature turned it's attention to the lighten jail cell. It calmly walked up to the bars, but stopped 12 inches from them.

The thin prisoner quickly retreated to the center of the blazing candles and stood his ground with a triumphant (yet nervous) grin. "All right, you piece of human waste! You know the rules…!"

The masked figure in the black coat stood silently and said nothing in return. And then it took a step forward. And another. And another. And to the prisoner's shock, it leaned forward; forcing it's covered head in between the bars first. With a symphony of sickening pops and cracks of it's bones shifting and stretching, it then slipped through it's right shoulder. Now it was in midwaist. It then reached for the closest candle and picked it up. Holding it at eye level with the frightened prisoner, who was now slumped on the floor urinating on himself, the man in the coat turned it upside down. Before the small flame had a chance to eat its way up the wax, it went out. The man in the coat then released the candle and let it fall to the concrete floor; breaking it in half once it landed. The prisoner stared at the candle in horror, knowing that he was indeed completely defenseless against this demon.

"DREAM ON."

---

Once Rod made it to the courtyard doors, he clutched his knees; panting in short breaths. "This… is not very fun…" As he was catching his breath, Rod noticed a piece of paper taped to the left door that wasn't there before. It was a note written in cursive red ink. He pulled it off and began to read it. It read:

The ring; the one that's around Frank's finger with the keys, is an old relic that I found here in this town. It has a spell written into it to bind a spirit into a suspended state of animation. You should be able to take the keys easily. That is, if you're able to escape back inside with them before he wakes up again… because the ring won't work twice.

I painted the correct key red.

At least the ring would by him some time, Rod thought. Even though he felt the helpful note to be suspicious. But even after Rod got his bearings back, he was still hesitant to open the doors outside. Rod thought of Frank hanging in the bathroom again. It was an image he tried to block out the most, even more than the jawless Jerry. Frank was more than just a friend to him. He was his brother. And the more he thought about his demise, the more he grew to no longer fear the monsters, but hate them. He wanted to make these things, whatever they are, to suffer. Just like they made Frank and the rest of his friends suffer. Most of all. He wanted to make the political pigs responsible for whatever part they had in this to pay, too. Rod reminded himself that if he could last in the jungles of Vietnam, he could survive in the dark of Silent Hill.

And at last, he pushed open the doors.

The sky was red. Night was beginning to set in, so he left his pocket light on. The courtyard was pretty vacant, just as he expected a prison courtyard to be like. As he walked further and further out, he spotted the gallows. And hanging from it, was the shirtless corpse of Frank La Salle. As well as a ring of keys attached to he's first right finger. The noose, and the keys. And as the note said, Frank did not move; he's lifeless face as porcelain as it ever was.

Rod reached out to the keys, hesitant at first, and then quickly yanked them off of it's finger. Then came a strong headache; a migraine so bad that it brought Rod to his knees. Frank began to slowly rise out of the gallow and then quickly propelle toward Rod, but was halted with a loud crack as it's noose prevented him from getting any closer to him.It moaned louder and louder as it struggled to get him. Rod pulled himself to his knees and ran back for the door screaming back to Frank that he was sorry.

Rod ran back up the hall, with the keys gripped firmly in his left hand and the baseball bat at the ready in his right. Reaching the cell block door, he swung it open with a loud bang that echoed throughout the hall. "Hey, man! I got the keys, let's get the hell out of here!"

Then Rod noticed that there was no longer any light coming from the man's cell. Alert, Rod crept over to the cell with his bat drawn for any surprises. And it was a surprise indeed that he found once he made it there. Inside, the candles were out. And the man was still inside alive. But in the arms of another wall man, like in the subway. But it made no attempt to drag him in. Only to hold him in place; one of it's freakish hands covering the mans mouth. Holding him so he can watch.

Rod turned around and nearly lost his head when he ducked out of the way of the huge pick axe as it hit the bars with a force that would have broke ether the bar or the handle. Once Rod got to his feet and backed away, he realized it was the masked man again. But Rod didn't feel like running this time. Now he wanted to be the one to cause pain. With a fit of anger, Rod swung his bat downward at the masked man with all of his might. And the bat broke on contact in between the creatures neck and left shoulder, slightly dazing it.

"Shit." Rod cursed before the masked man's hand shot forward and wrapped around his neck with an iron grip. It then lifted him off the ground, suspending him in the air, and then threw him across the hall. Rod hit the ground as his body rolled out sprawled on the floor. The creature wasted no time as it walked quickly over to it's prey. It went to swing again, but Rod rolled out of it's path yet again. The pick axe struck the floor, cracking the floor's surface.

But the pick axe did not come back up. It was stuck. The monster struggled at wedging it out of the floor. Rod used this to his advantage and tackled the masked man to the floor. As Rod straddled the cloaked figure, he brought his fist up to strike it, but the masked man grabbed his fist. Then his other fist. As it gripped his knuckles, Rod brought his forehead down with a smashing force and buried it into the masked man's face. Finally free, Rod jumped up and pulled free the now loosened pick axe. It was indeed heavy, but as the masked man began to get back on it's feet, Rod thrusted all his strength into his arms as he swung down the mighty pick axe and buried it into the masked man's chest, nearly ripping him apart as a spray of blood bathed him. The masked man collapsed to the floor with a grunt and fell silent. It moved no more.

Instantly, the wall man released the prisoner and sunk back into the depths of the wall. The man ran to the bars screaming. "Hurry, hurry! Get me outta here!"

"Hold on a sec.!" Rod fumbled for the crimson key, stuck it into the cell door's lock, and freed the thin man from his prison.

Then came the sound of bubbling again. Back down the hall, Frank's now free body, with the noose still around his neck, emerged from the door quickly. Once out, it didn't float towards Rod like the others did. This one flew. Fast. As it darted towards them, Rod and the stranger made their way towards the opposite door. They had barely made it through before Frank had reached them. As they then ran towards the visitation room, the spirit had already began to melt through. Rod and the man ran away from it, but to no avel, it would always be making it's way inside well before it. Once back inside the visitation hall, they quickly sped towards the front entrance of the prison from Frank's ghost that was now behind them.

Once back outside, both Rod and the man ran towards the hill where the outside gates were. Three skinless hounds immediately gave chase after them with snapping jaws. Once back at the gates, Rod remembered that they had been locked in. "Shit, the gates are locked!"

"Boost me up over the gate! I'll break the lock!" said the man.

"What?"

"Just do as I say!"

Rod gritted his teeth as he helped the man over the wall. After an excruciating two minutes, the lock to the gates shattered. And Rod pushed himself out it as the dogs made their way into view. Then both Rod and the other pushed the gates back closed, sealing the demons back inside. They were tired, hungry, dirty, and shaken. Otherwise, they both made it out unharmed.