Mona goes to the hospital.
Mona found herself in a bit of a predicament.
After her brief meeting with Sable, she'd gone wandering down what she managed to identify as Simmons Street. Though she wasn't aware of it, her exit from the bathroom had seemingly placed her into a totally different area of the town. Regardless, she had come to a point of acceptance for these kinds of things by now and wouldn't have really cared. Hardly a predicament or even an annoyance.
No, her predicament was the two creatures chasing her. They appeared to be similar to if not the same as the first she'd encountered. Foolishly, she'd already blasted through all ten bullets stored in her gun's magazine, missing with seven of them and only managing to strike glancing blows with the other three. Neither of her pursuers seemed too discouraged by that; if anything, the fact she now had nothing to defend herself with almost seemed to embolden them to move faster.
She hung a right down Koontz Street, still gripping her shoulder from the pain. In hindsight, that probably threw off her aim even worse than her inexperience, but there was no time to consider that kind of stuff now.
Sprinting down the street, she skidded to a halt after spotting a large building with a seemingly open courtyard. The sign outside declared that it was Alchemilla Hospital. Immediately, she ran towards it, figuring it to be both the perfect place to lose the monsters as well as hopefully find some medical supplies to better treat her wounds.
She moved through a gap in a metal fence, closing it behind her. There wasn't any lock (at least not one she could find in her panic), but a heavy barrier like this would at least slow them down, she hoped. More importantly, she had to find her way inside the hospital. At least in there she'd be out of sight.
Looking around the courtyard, things were still just as empty and desolate as the rest of the town appeared prior to the monsters. There was the possibility that this area might have been quite lovely at one point, but given that all the grass and even the trees here had apparently been burnt down to nothing, that point certainly wasn't now.
Finding the door, the stench of something burnt escaped into the outside. Mona held back of a cough, eyes watering as she crept inside and closed herself in. The atmosphere was musty and thick, whatever had apparently been set on fire in here never being allowed to air out prior to that very moment. Beyond that was the general chemical scent of hospital things, bleach featuring most prominent among the unpleasant odors.
Though rundown, this place at least seemed to be a normal building. The tiled floor was cracked and grimy to match the peeling paint and general disrepair of the rest of the waiting room. The remains of posters still hung on the walls above some damaged couches, their images long since faded and stained with smoky residue.
Rounding the corner, she started to notice just how loudly her footsteps echoed through the vacant halls. It was to be expected, but even so these seemed abnormally and uncomfortably loud, almost as if this place wanted to drive home just how truly alone she was here. At least for now.
The smell of scorch still hung heavy in the air, though it did seem to grow thicker as she continued forward. While following it might be her only option for advancing, her main concern was to find medical supplies.
Trying the first door she came across, it miraculously opened. Though the indicator had long since been broken off, it revealed itself to be some kind of examination room, complete with two bed frames where patients likely once rested. Whoever had once occupied those beds likely wasn't in good condition judging by the remnants of a veritable pool of blood near the center of the room, though.
Given the blood had long since dried, it was unlikely whatever happened here was recent. This emboldened Mona to thoroughly search the room top to bottom. Almost as a cruel joke, she found a single bullet tucked away in a cabinet. Cruel or not, she still needed it, clumsily popping it into her gun's magazine as quick as she could.
Through another door in the same room, she found a cramped little room with barren shelves and a single desk. Uncomfortably, the desk lamp was still lit. Checking through the shelves, she found a single bottle of pain pills. Ripping off the top, she found a pitiful one tablet waiting for her, the sadism of this place seemingly knowing no bounds.
Regardless, she dropped it into her mouth and chewed it to pieces before swallowing. Whether it would do any good or not, it was better than doing absolutely nothing to help the gaping wound on her shoulder.
What caught her eye after that was the desk. Sitting in the beam of light was a yellowed newspaper page. Approaching it to examine more closely, it was a story about some kind of house fire. A family of four was caught in an inferno, only the youngest child surviving and currently (relative to whenever this report was written) recovering in the hospital.
Just like the pictures from before, Mona had the distinct feeling she remembered this. Why did she remember it, though? More importantly, this didn't seem to have anything to do with Silent Hill, so why was this paper here in the first place? It was far too convenient for someone from who knows how long ago to have left this here just in time for her to find it.
Her head began to ache, feeling her own heartbeat behind her eyes as a dull thudding inside her skull. The stench of burning was growing stronger, too, though there wasn't any smoke or other indications a fire had been lit.
Leaving through a door inside the room, her head immediately snapped in the direction of the smell. It was almost overpowering now, but that didn't seem to matter. For some reason, she just continued down the hallway until finding a set of stairs leading to the basement. She was determined to find out what was causing this.
Finally finished. Following the layout of Alchemilla and making sure I got the details right by retracing the rooms through Silent Hill 1 was a lot of work. Certainly more than just going down streets.
Thanks for reading. Share if you're enjoying. Always remember to aim when you shoot.