Thank you for reviews! Whether or not Alec killed anyone is in my head, and possibly in a chapter in the future.

Here's where my favorite part of the story starts: Complete and absolute confusion!

Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill.

Chapter Five: World of Literacy, World of Death

For the second time, Steve woke up in a disturbing version of the area he was just in. He was lying on his stomach, and all he could see was one bloody, rusty wall. He put his hands on the floor and pushed himself up. Red strand of something stuck to his face as he got up. The entire floor seemed to be covered in it, and was sticking to any part of him that touched it.

Orange light from an unknown source was the only thing that let him see. Steve made his way to the door, and pushed it open to see more houses in what looked to be the same condition. It was dark again, and a large fence surrounded the area. Atop it were coils of barbed wire that seemed lethal. A scrap of blood-covered clothing confirmed that theory.

Steve walked forward a few feet before he noticed that some paths between houses were also covered with the fence. It looked like his walking path was pretty limited. Aside from the entire area from being surrounded, the place he was in was constricted to only having access to four houses. Deciding there was no better choices, Steve walked into the closest house.

Inside, aside from the usual decoration of this version of the town, were three of the torso-monsters from before. Steve readied the pipe and beat them all down without much effort. He walked through the kitchen and through another door.

He was in a small bedroom. On the stand next to the bed were a few handgun bullets. Steve put them with the rest. He looked around the bedroom. His stomach churned as he looked to the right. The entire right wall of the room was fenced off.

On the other side of the fence was a bed. It was a twin. The sheets were messed up and pushed to the end of the bed. The pillow had a teddy bear resting on it, indicating that the bed most likely belonged to a child. In the center of the bed, on the mattress itself, was a large pool of blood.

Steve backed up out of the room, and tried to mentally block an image of a child locked away disappearing and leaving only blood. Something was seriously wrong with this town.

The next house was similar to the first. No backdoor, a dark bedroom, and another image to put on Steve's unwanted list. The last house had to have some way out of the fenced area; otherwise he was going to have to try to jump the fence, and that seemed impossible.

Fortunately, the last house had a back door. Steve turned the handle, but the door didn't open. He pushed against with his shoulder, and it flew open. Steve was surprised to see Diana, the woman from the department store standing in the yard. She turned when she heard the door open.

"I'm here because of you," Diana said. Steve watched her for a little. "I'm trapped in this town because you're still alive!"

"Why is everyone here insane?" Steve muttered to himself.

"Steve," she started. "You have to die…" Steve backed up a few feet.

"What?"

"I can't be free if you survived. They went down for it, and no one will ever know any different…" Diana started walking towards Steve. Steve took a step back. Diana was close enough for Steve to feel her stale breath. "Soon. I'll be free," She walked past Steve and closed the door of the house behind her.

Steve stared at the door, and decided it would be best not to head that way. Meeting her again couldn't go over well. Steve walked around the new area for a little while. He decided to enter the first of a new set of houses.

In front of him on a dining room table was a human body. It was tied down to the legs of the table, and a large knife protruded from the neck. The knife looked like it had been dragged up the back from the mid-point. Taped to the head was a note. Steve reluctantly reached forward and pulled it off.

When the iron gates lock in the dark, your sanctuary will lie in water.

Steve read it over a few times. The note didn't make much sense (if any) to him. He slid it in his pocket and walked towards a back door, ignoring the limbs on the ground around him. It looked like some type of sick feast had gone on here. Yummy.

The door led to a small backyard that connected to another house and a door in the edge of the fence. Steve ran towards the gate only to find a padlock. It looked to thick to try and brake. Then he remembered the note he found. Maybe the 'sanctuary' part referred to a key?

Steve walked through the other house in the area while avoiding the sites. On the other side he saw an above-ground swimming pool. "Sanctuary in the water, huh?" Steve sighed to himself. Looked like he'd be getting wet looking for that key.

Steve walked to the edge of the pool and peered in. He felt sick as he noticed the body on the surface. It looked like a child. A little girl who was about five…in a school uniform…

"Alice!" Steve cried. He jumped in the water and waded over to the girl. Steve came to her and turned the body on its back. He threw a hand over his mouth and backed up a few feet. This was her. Alice was dead in the water in front of him. "No,"

Steve felt an overwhelming sorrow build up inside him. This innocent little girl who seemed so carefree was now gone. She never even got to live her life. Some sick bastard had made sure of that.

The sorrow turned to rage. It was Mark. It had to be. No one else was so deranged as to kill a little girl. Who the hell was he kidding? Everyone in this town was insane. The killer didn't matter right now. She was gone. Alice wasn't here anymore.

Steve grabbed the shining keychain at the bottom of his feet and crawled out of the water. He collapsed to the ground and let his back rest against the edge of the pool. He just stared ahead of him for a little while. A tear or two managed to escape his eyes before he wiped them away. He stood up. As long as he was in this town, it wasn't safe to mourn.

He turned to say some kind of a good bye to Alice, only to see she wasn't in the water anymore. Steve jumped back into the pool. He walked around the black water for a little while, but saw no trace of Alice. He jumped out of the icy water on the other side, and looked around a little. The body wasn't there. He took a few steps forward before turning around.

Ice cold hands grabbed the sides of his face, and pulled him down to stare at a face covered with black hair. Pale lips were practically the only feature visible. The water logged school uniform dripped as Alice spoke to Steve.

"You don't understand, do you?"

Steve struggled to free himself. His heart felt like it was going to burst out of his chest.

"Why don't you get it?"

Alice released him, and Steve fell onto the ground. He crawled forward a few inches on his stomach before finding a way to turn to his back. Alice was gone. There was no sign of her being there or of having ever been there.

"What…the hell?" was all Steve could manage to mutter. He sat still for a while before pushing himself of the ground. He grabbed the pipe off the ground next to him and walked toward the gate, avoiding the now empty pool.

One of the keys managed to fit inside the lock after some persuasion and the chains fell to the ground. Steve pulled open the gate and walked outside onto a street covered with rubble. He was in another part of the town, and another gap in the road to his right was just barely visible in the darkness.

A morbid orange glow came from the street lamps randomly placed on the side of the road. Broken-down cars in a few places looked like someone had taken to them with a sledge hammer. Steve didn't even know where he was going in this dark environment.

He took the keychain out of his pocket and looked at the second key. A small inscription was on it. Steve couldn't make it out in the darkness. He walked a few yards to the closest lamp, and tried to read the message.

Silent Hill Library, Main Branch

Steve didn't exactly have anything better to do. The houses around him practically forced him to stay on the main road. If he had a map of the town he might be able to figure out where he was going. It would definitely be better then following what seemed to be a predetermined path.

For a while, Steve was sure that something was following him. The area was definitely getting to him.

Then he heard a scraping noise.

Like hell it was the area! Steve broke into a run. The sound of the scraping picked up speed as soon as he did. Steve glanced over his shoulder and still saw nothing. The sound was definitely louder. Whatever it was, it was getting closer.

Steve ran as fast as he could, looking around wildly for the library. For all he knew it was in another part of town. Steve felt claws scrape against his leg. He looked down to see three rip marks and blood coming from the wound. He looked around but there still wasn't anything there.

The scraping had stopped after he was attacked. It started only a few seconds later; coming this time from in front of him. Steve ran to his right. He gave up hope on seeing the thing chasing him. Running seemed pointless now that he knew it was faster.

Steve ran between two buildings. The small ally way limited the area the thing had to attack him. He turned around and raised the pipe. When the scraping got close enough to him, Steve brought it down as hard as he could. To his complete surprise, he heard a whimper. It sounded almost like a dog would whine after being flicked on the nose.

He didn't give the dog-creature a chance to resume chasing him. Steve turned and ran down the ally. Further down, it connected to another path that seemed darker. To his left, Steve could see the main road again. Steve went towards it and finally came out of the ally near a large building.

Three pillars about forty feet high supported the Greek-style roof for the first couple of feet before a large set of doors appeared to lead inside. Written on a plaque next to the door was a message that made Steve's heart soar.

Silent Hill Library

Steve ran towards the door and pulled it open. It opened easily aside from its immense size and revealed one of the largest collections of books that Steve had ever seen. Expensive-looking furnishings covered every inch of the area. Brown carpeting matched the tall book shelves and tables with evident signs of age were placed in the far right corner. The stair case near them led up to a small balcony like area with several doors and a few more book shelves built into the walls. The overall feel was surprisingly morbid for such a gently looking area.

Steve had only walked a few feet forward before he felt cold metal against his skull for the second time in his life. Behind him, a stale voice of an old woman spoke quietly.

"You have to die,"

Steve was quiet. He breathed in.

"I'm sorry," the woman readied the weapon. "But it has to be this way. No one can know what happened then,"

Steve jerked his foot and tripped the woman. She flew back, and the gun went off. Dust came out of the new hole in the ceiling. He ran towards the book shelves. Steve just managed to get behind one before Diana took another shot.

Steve took out the gun from his belt and flicked the safety off. He had no intention of killing the woman. But if he could hit her in the leg or something he might be able to get away. Even that wasn't on his priority list. He wasn't a regular with a gun and his accuracy was far from perfect. It was too much of a risk that he might hit a vital point.

The clicking of a gun from his left alerted Steve to Diana's location, and he ran around a few of the shelves, trying to lose her. Steve was in the middle of rounding one of the shelves when he saw a one-arm.

"Shit," he muttered. The creatures were here. Steve backed up, and ran around to another isle. He didn't have time to waste on these things. He ran to the last book shelf and leaned against it for support.

"I'm sorry," Diana was on his far left blocking one of the exits to the isle. She moved fast for an old woman. "You can't live. You should have died back then. You're parents can't know…"

"What?" Steve stared intently at Diana. "You know my parents?"

"No more questions," Diana was smiling with a regretful look in her eyes. "You have to die, now," She raised the gun, and something else rose behind her. Steve recognized it as the clawed arm of the creatures. It was brought down too quickly for Steve to warn Diana.

The arm scratched her shoulder badly. Diana swung around and wobbled out of view. "What are these things? Nooo!"

Steve ran out of the isle just to witness something he wished he hadn't. A chain woman threw one of the useless arms at its sides up and around Diana's neck. Diana was dragged to the ground and then the chain-woman dragged her away with unnatural speed. When it assumed it had captured its prey successfully, it raised one chained foot as high as the chain would permit above Diana's head.

Steve looked away as the woman's final screams echoed throughout the library. Steve shot the one-arm and quickly ran by three or four creatures on the floor of the library. He made it to the stairs before he finally realized the extent of the scratch from the creature outside.

He couldn't climb the stairs with the way it hurt. He limped over to the elevator next to them. Steve pushed the button to call it and replaced the gun to its original position. The elevator doors opened and a cage of sorts posing as the elevator responded. Steve looked up to the skylight above him and stared at the black sky. The candlelight of the library flickered as the doors closed with him in the elevator.

Steve collapsed on the ground with his back to the elevator door. He jabbed the button for two, and closed his eyes. He opened them when the elevator downward. He looked wildly to his left at the panel. There were only two buttons for the first and second floors. There was no basement.

The speed picked up and Steve watched as something came into view. A coffin was vertically attached to the elevator with the side where a body would go facing him. In the casket was the body of an old woman. Her pale skin had some type of insect crawling in the rips and tares of it. A black growth appeared in the center of some of them.

A large bolt went through the left eye and attached her to the back of the coffin. A tattered old dress like something a school teacher from the fifties would wear covered her body. Suddenly the arms lurched forward and grabbed onto the side of the elevator. The head was kept back by the bolt.

An inhuman noise gurgled out from a tare in the throat and the thing continued to grab at the elevator. The elevator continued to move downward at a faster pace. "Let me the hell off!" Steve stood up, ignoring the pain in his leg, and banged on the metal door.

The thing kept banging on the side of the elevator. Steve yelled again, and then the thing finally wrenched the bolt all the way through its skull. It made a crying sound as blood spattered forward and hit Steve's clothes.

Steve slammed his eyes shut. The noise of the elevator dropping and the gurgling stopped. The elevator came to a halt, and the doors opened behind him. Steve opened his eyes to see the second floor of the library. It wasn't the dark brown area lit by candles anymore. Faint light shone through the skylight that revealed a cloudy sky.

Scorch marks were in random places on the floor, and the white walls were almost blinding compared to the darkness of the elevator. Steve turned to look at the elevator he was just in and saw a normal elevator with smooth steel walls and a carpeted floor.

"What the…" Then Steve remembered the last time this happened in the department store. He was back in the real world. Not exactly normal, but as close to normal as this town could get.

Steve limped forward a little to the railing of the balcony. Charred bookshelves and ashes of books occupied the floor. The decor from before now only glimpses of what they were before. He limped towards a door marked as 'bathroom'.

The door was locked, but the key Steve had from before took care of that. He stumbled inside and grabbed some paper towels that were on top of a toilet. He twisted the sink's handels and cool water started to flow. He wet the towel and dabbed his wound with it. It stung a little but that was to be expected.

After he was satisfied that he had cleaned it properly given his surroundings, Steve walked towards the other door up there. He stuck the key in the lock without even seeing if it needed to be there and opened the door.

On the other side were several small tables and a few books that seemed to have survived the fire that was here. In between two of the shelves was a steep staircase leading towards a door with a red 'EXIT' sign hanging over it. Sitting at the end of one of the tables reading a small book was-

"Alice..." said Steve quietly. Alice looked up from the book. She looked perfectly healthy and started to smile.

"Hello!" she said cheerfully before standing up. She was fine. Alice was living and walking towards him, and all Steve could do was stare.

Okay! There is the extremely delayed fifth chapter! I think there are two or three chapters left. I'll try for more, but this story is wrapping up quicker thenI thought it would.

Anyway, reviews are appreciated greatly, and I'll see you next chapter!

P.S. Sorry this one took so long. Hope you liked it.