A/N: Sorry, but this chapter is going to be draggy in spots. Feel free to click the back button, cuz I'm not rearanging or modifying this anymore...unless it's for spell check or if I forgot to take a note-to-self out. 83c

Heather stared into the fog. "We should get onto the main street, then move towards the records office. We should probably look for any people still around. I mean, we didn't see any in New Silent Hill, but who's to say that there aren't any people besides us?"

"Good idea. If we see any signs of people, lights, silhouettes, whatever, then we should investigate. Quiet, careful investigation though. We don't want anyone getting hurt by jumpy people or whatever we find." Chris nodded and everyone started moving towards the school.

"…That is one old school bus. Do they even use those cheese wagons anymore?" Claire stared as they walked past the school.

"I think so. In smaller towns and cities they still use them… Aw shit. Another hole….Ok, let's fan out and look for a way around this." Jill motioned with her hand as she started trying back gates. "Maybe we can go through someone's back yard?"

Heather frowned. They had moved through New Silent Hill into Old Silent Hill already and they'd only found two craters in the road. That was odd, and it made her worried. And worried Heather was paranoid Heather.

"What's wrong?" Rebecca walked over to Heather who was glaring at the cliff. "Are you ok, Cheryl?"

"….I'm fine." Heather replied, pulling her gaze from the hole and walking over to a gate she knew would open.

"I've tried that one already, Cheryl!" Barry called out. "I think we're going to have to go back and find another way."

Heather shook her head. "Are you sure Barry? 'Cause there's a key for the lock right there." She pointed to where a key was hanging on a string, tied to a nail on the side of the garage. "Shall we try it?"

Barry shook his head. "I can't believe I missed that. Although that blends in really well. You've got good eyes."

Heather smiled softly. She was just lucky. She briefly remembered the owner of the house, her old teacher, K. Gorden, telling her that the key was there and that she could use it if she needed to when she was Alyssa. It was weird recalling memories from her 'other selves'. It was super disorientating.

As Barry went and called the others over, Heather pulled the key down. As she grabbed it, she noticed something else. There was a note taped next to the nail. She hastily grabbed the note and stuffed it into her fanny pack as the others approached. She'd read it when she got some time alone. Maybe when they stopped for the night, or when they left, if they hurried.

"Good job Cheryl. I was almost worried that we'd have to find another way." Heather silently handed Chris the gate key and let him take the lead.

They all entered the small back yard, and Heather and Douglas both smiled. Douglas briskly strode forward and gathered up the shotgun shells on the ground and Heather picked up the three health drinks that were sitting on the outdoor table

"What are you guys doing? What is that Cheryl?" Claire was handed a health drink. "'Uncle Bob's Premium Health Drink. With Rhubarb and Lemon Juice For Improved Taste.' Why are you picking up this stuff?"

Heather stopped. Yet another question she couldn't really answer. "Because….uhm…well, who would leave a thing like this out here? I think I should grab them just in case. Plus I encountered these the last time we were here and they came in handy…"

Everyone except Douglas gave her a strange look. "Really? How can a heath drink come in handy? Well, anyway, let's get moving. It's getting…nasty looking out. I don't want to be outside here if it decides to start raining."

Everyone nodded and headed to see if there was a way from the back to the front yard. Unfortunately there was no way, making going through the house the only option.

"What are we going to do if the doors locked?" Rebecca asked before Chris tried the knob.

"…We'll knock loudly. If no one answers then I think I'll break in. We can always apologize later." Chris gave the knob a wrench, but it didn't turn. "Knocking loudly it is then."

Chris banged loudly against the door, yelling out that they just wanted to go through the house for the benefit of the non-existent people. After waiting around fifteen minutes, in which Rebecca and Claire looked around for the house key that might have been hidden outside like the gate key and Heather sulked at the thought that the super helpful heath drinks were silly to pick up, Chris smashed in the window with a decorative garden rock and unlocked the door.

"Watch out for the glass, ok?" Jill said, stepping over the shards. "I'm going to look for a broom to push these out of the way. Wait a bit, ok?"

Everyone waited for Jill to come back with a broom and sweep the mess out of the way. Once Jill had deemed it safe for the rest of them to enter the house without a chance of impaling their feet on a shard of glass, they entered.

It was a simple kitchen, and as far as Heather/Alyssa knew, Mr. Gordon wasn't married. She'd never used the key when he first told her of it, but she was glad she still remembered. As everyone started looking through the kitchen, Heather headed straight to the closets then front door. She appreciated a good look around as much as anyone, but this time she was focused on finding Cybil before anything else.

She opened the first hall closet and stared. A hunting rifle and ammunition were sitting inside, almost like they were waiting for someone to come and get them. Heather motioned Douglas over and pointed out the gun.

"Do you think we should take this?" Heather asked.

"I think so. You want me to hold onto it then?" Douglas picked up the rifle. "This is a beautiful gun. Someone took really good care of it."

"…Yeah. It is. I'd take it but I just don't have the room right now." Heather turned to the other closet and opened it as Douglas gathered up the ammunition. The second closet had several coats and a small hatchet. Heather grabbed the hatchet and one of the coats, a bright orange rain slicker.

Heather tried the door and it swung it open easily. "Hey! Guys! We can go through here on to the main street. Do we wanna get going now?"

Heather stood by the door as everyone trundled out, and shut it behind her before falling in to step with Chris. "Did you find anything good in the kitchen?"

Chris grunted. "Not really. Couple of cans of Tab and two more of those Health Drinks, but nothing useful. You?"

"Just some jackets and a hatchet. Oh, and Douglas got a hunting rifle that was in one of the closets." They all turned onto the main street, and Heather sighed. One step closer to finding Cybil. Now if everyone would just move to the right place instead of loitering on the street, looking into peoples windows.

As they grew closer to the café, Claire commented on the lights coming from up above.

"Those are some bright lights. What's up there? Do you know what store is up ahead?"

"I'm not sure. Maybe a café or restaurant?"

"Somewhere with a phone or TV or current newspaper maybe?"

Heather wasn't paying attention to who was speaking. She just started moving at a brisker pace to try and get there first.

"Remember what I said people! Let's be careful. We don't want any misunderstandings or accidents." Chris called ahead as Heather, Rebecca, and Barry drew closer.

"Yeah yeah! Don't worry, we won't startle anyone on purpose!" Claire called as she jogged up to join Rebecca.

Heather ignored Chris though. They were almost there and if Cybil wasn't there, Heather wasn't going to be very happy. She got to the café first, but waited for the others to catch up. Heather looked through the window and could make out a humanoid shape inside.

Barry was the next person to reach Heather and the café, and Heather turned to him. "It looks like there's someone in there, so I figured I'd wait for the rest of you guys." She smiled thinly.

"Good idea. Then if we're attacked then it's all of us and we can help, not just you." Barry motioned for everyone else to hurry up.

"What is it?" Jill asked.

"It's unknown. It looks human, but we never know." Barry replied.

Jill looked through the window as well. Thankfully the figure was not facing them, so she wasn't spotted. "Looks like a female. Are we waiting for the others before approaching?"

"Yeah. And maybe if they'd hurry up…." Heather began waving her arms, trying to get everyone else to hurry and get over there faster.

It took several minutes, because, for some reason, Douglas had stuck his head inside of a video store.

"What were you doing?" Claire asked.

"I thought I saw someone in there…I guess my mind was just playing tricks on me, it was just a cardboard standup of Doctor Who. Sorry about that."

"…Hmm…ok, well, should we go in now?" Rebecca asked.

"Yeah. I wanna ask that person what's going on here." Jill pushed open the door as everyone else readied their weapons, just in case they were dealing with someone of….unknown mental state.

The person obviously didn't hear them enter, and when Jill rested a hand on their shoulder, they flipped out.

"Oh shit! Who!" They spun around in a panic, and Heather smiled, happy that she was correct and things were turning out somewhat ok.

"Chief Bennet? What are you doing here?" Chris asked as Cybil rested against the counter, a hand pressed to her chest as she tried to calm down after seeing that it was only them. "Last we saw, you were right outside the city. And then we found your crashed bike. What's going on?"

Cybil was quiet for a moment, before replying. "I don't know what happened. You guys left, and I know I was supposed to stay to keep those boneheads in line, but I couldn't let you guys go without me…So I just jumped on my bike and went after you. Well, I did pack some stuff, but probably not enough."

"But why did you crash? And how did you get here?" Rebecca asked, moving forward. "Are you hurt or anything from the crash? I can try and help…."

"I honestly have no clue why I crashed, or how I got here. And I don't seem to be hurt or anything. Thank you though." Cybil pushed away from the counter, and cracked her neck. "Where have you been so far? Looked in anywhere?"

"Just in a house and here so far, Chief. We were looking for the Public Records Office…." Jill replied.

"Well, you guys are in the wrong part of town for the Records Office." Cybil said. "And call me Cybil, not Chief. It makes me feel old, and we are stuck here together, so rank doesn't really matter."

"Oh, ok. Uhm…. Cybil, you didn't happen to bring any maps with you?" Rebecca asked, shuffling her feet.

"Yes, I have the maps no one brought. How did you guys forget these?" Cybil smiled at them, as they all looked away.

"Er… We all thought someone else was bringing them?" Douglas supplied. "So, where is the Public Records Office then?"

Cybil moved towards the door. "You went over a bridge, right?" Claire nodded. "Yeah, we have to go back over that again. It's between Alchemilla and the Theater."

"Alchemilla? What's that?" Barry asked.

Before Cybil could reply, Heather butted in. "Alchemilla is a hospital. It's old now. People go to Brookhaven instead."

"Oh. Thank you Cheryl. So I guess this means we have to head over there then?" Chris asked, motioning to Cybil, "Can we take a look at those maps? It'd probably be easier to go by map rather than by trying to figure out by street signs and guess work."

As everyone crowded around a table, Cybil pulled out one of the maps and they all began speaking, gesturing and waving around black and red markers. Heather moved away though, after pointing out where the big craters were, and stood near a broken window, staring out into the fog.

It was hard for her to think of her father in this mad place, and now that she was back for the second time….Heather shook her head and moved toward the counter. She had seen some things on it when they had entered, and Heather figured that now that everybody was focused on the map she could take a look.

It wasn't much, just some ketchup and mustard bottles, an old, rusty kitchen knife, and a notepad. The condiments and kitchen utensil didn't interest Heather, but she could see writing on the pad. She picked it up, and started to skim it. She stopped after the second sentence and started to really pay attention to the words.

"It's only been half an hour since I crashed and Cheryl disappeared. The only person I've seen is a lady cop named Cybil and she knew as much as me about this place. This town is strangely eerie. After what I saw in that alley, and that girl in the road….I don't know what is going on, but Cheryl is missing and I need to find her. I can't let anything stop me from finding her…"

Heather finished reading two and a half pages of writing, dimly realising that it was her father who'd written the words, who'd decided to document his experiences. She was still looking at the notebook when Jill called to her.

"Hey, anything interesting over there?"

"No, nothing. Just a kitchen knife and some mustard. Are we ready then?" Heather shoved the notepad inside her jacket and hoped that no one had noticed.

No one had, apparently, as Claire nodded to her. "Yeah. We've mapped out several routes, just in case the first one doesn't work out. I reckon we should hurry, I mean, it's getting pretty dark out."

Everyone turned to the windows, and Rebecca frowned. "It's not even that late….It shouldn't be getting this dark this soon. I think we should start moving now…."

As they filed out of the café, Douglas, Cybil, and Heather all sent worried looks to each other. If it was getting dark in Silent Hill, that meant something was up, and something was going to happen soon. Heather moved towards the front of the group, keeping pace with Rebecca and Cybil.

"So, do you expect us to run into much trouble on our way over to the public office?" asked Cybil, who was warily scanning around, not even bothering to hid her unease.

"Well," began Rebecca, "We did deal with two major holes so far. And from what Cheryl and Douglas said, we'll run into many more. So it's best to be prepared rather than to be without any alternate plans."

"True. But doesn't it worry you, having to make so many back up plans?" They worked their way up the main street, only encountering minor detours, only once having to completely rethink their route, before reaching the bridge. By this time, Cybil, Rebecca, and Heather had moved on to talking of more pleasant things, like work and 'that guy who always stands around the water cooler talking and you're not sure if he really works there or if he's just popped in for the water and food in the canteen'.

By the time Rebecca and Cybil started talking about sports, with Heather only commenting about how she didn't understand how it was entertainment, they had reached another major hole. This time, it was a new one.

"This wasn't here on our way into town. Where exactly are we?" Barry asked, as everyone pulled out their copies of the maps.

"I think….We're not too far off from the Public Records Office. If we cut through that alley…." Jill pointed towards an entrance not far from Alchemilla. "We'd just have to get over there…."

"Through that alley, then? And then up the street a bit?" Rebecca pointed towards the alley.

"Yeah. That should be where we need to go…" Cybil squinted. "So, are we going to move?"

"Yeah. I think the faster we finish with this shit, the better." Barry was the first to move, edging along a broken piece of sidewalk to get to the alley. Once everyone else was in the alley, Cybil and Chris took the lead, moving through the rubble and debris that was littered on the ground.

They all tromped along the alley, peeking into an opened backyard before exiting onto the street. The road outside of the hospital and on the main drag was cluttered, cars haphazardly parked and paper flying in the non-existent wind.

"….What happened here? I mean, I know it's been empty everywhere else we've been, but this is…It shouldn't be this quiet." Jill started walking, intent on reaching the Public Records Office first.

"Wait up!" Heather jogged up to her. "Is there something wrong?"

Jill shook her head. "No, it's not that. It's just….There's something about this place, more so than just the fact that there's no one here. I think I can see why no one wanted to come here with us."

Heather was silent, letting Jill finish what she had to say.

"Last I felt this was in Raccoon…It's just…this feeling that we're being watched, almost. It just doesn't feel right." They reached the end of the alley, and stepped into the street again, abandoned cars and paper flying in the fog.

Everyone was quiet, Heather and Douglas looking and listening for any signs of trouble, as they walked down the middle of the street. As they grew closer to the Public Records Office, they paused to listen to the sounds of something large being scraped across the ground.

"What do you think that was?" Heather heard Claire whisper to Rebecca, who didn't really have an answer. The sound went away soon, and no one had seen anything that could have made the noise so they just continued. Walking up to the office was easy; other than the hole there was nothing to obstruct their way.

The door creaked when they opened it, and several people sneezed in the dust, but the office seemed quiet and safe. The S.T.A.R.S went straight to the records on business and companies, while Cybil lingered near the front and Heather and Douglas went to dig around in the files of the cult members.

Heather started with Dahlia Gillespie, for obvious reasons, while Douglas pulled out a file on a guy named Joseph and began flipping through it. Heather had moved on to Claudia Wolfe, and Douglas on to Michael Kauffman when Chris began to swear.

"Something wrong?" Cybil asked calmly.

"Yeah. They don't have the files we need here. They have them somewhere in the back I guess." Jill turned over the file folder for Umbrella Corps., the only thing falling out a gum wrapper and a reference card. "Do you think they've got the door locked?"

"I'll give it a try. Here, can you take these in your pack?" Heather passed the folders she'd amassed to Douglas for safe keeping.

"Yeah. Be careful." He shoved them into his bag, taking care not to smush them up, or bend the files.

Heather shot a smile over her shoulder. "What's the worst that can happen?"

Cybil and Douglas just stared at her, before Cybil replied, "Silent Hill, remember? …Just be careful. And remember now, if anything happens, you brought it on yourself for saying that."

Heather chuckled as she yanked at the door to the back, wrenching it open. "See? Nothing here but us dust bunnies." She stepped into the back area, looking in both directions. "There's a whole bunch of rooms back here. Is there an archive room number on the reference card?" Everyone piled into the dusty hallway, and Chris read out exactly what was on the card.

"'Reference Card for: UMBRELLA CORPORATION. Complete file to be held in: ARCHIVE 4, BOX 34-8.' Someone's added a bit on the bottom too…. Let's see…" Chris squinted at the spidery handwriting. "'Loraine. We moved the entire file into Archive 4. Apparently the Umbrella people think it's dangerous or risky to have some of their info out where someone in the public can request to see it. Let Sal know? – Kerry.'" He paused. "So I guess that this means they had some risky stuff around. Maybe bribe stuff? Or something worse?"

"Worse than bribes? In Silent Hill I can think of several things worse than taking bribes…." Heather shook her head. "So, Archive 4. Let's hope you're unlocked too…." Heather moved past Barry and Douglas, and checked the door. "Looks like it's unlocked….Also looks like someone's been here recently. Look at those foot prints."

Heather ignored the prints and turned her attention back to the door, and opened it with ease. Then a wave of static from Heather's radio washed over the group.

"SHIT! Not again! CHERYL! Do you know what's causing this? Can you see it?" Everyone pressed their hands to their ears. Not Heather though. She stared in horror, the one thing she didn't want to encounter on their trip standing there, staring at her, although she doubted that it even had eyes.

It shifted slightly, the meagre light glinting off of the helmet on its head, and Heather could almost hear the sirens over the static. She started moving back from the door, dimly hoping that it wouldn't strike if she stayed calm and quiet and slow.

"Cheryl? What's wrong?" It was Barry who first noticed Heather backing up. He had to yell, the static sound almost too much for them all to bear.

"…..We….we need to go now." Heather stopped, not moving her eyes an inch away from the monstrosity that stood before her. Moving too fast would provoke it, and even if she managed to escape it, there was no way everyone would come out of this encounter alive, with them standing in a narrow hall.

This time, Chris objected. "We can't go! Cheryl, we need to get into that room. It may have some vital documents that we need! Whatever is in there, we can deal with. This static is just freaking you out."

Heather started trembling. "I don't give a flying fuck about those documents! Even if they held the cure for cancer I wouldn't care. We need to leave now! Before…." She stared at the executioner, not moving in front of her. Heather took a step sideways, to align herself better, so if she had to make a break for it she could without hitting the wall.

"Why do we need to go, Cheryl? What do you see?" Claire made to move forwards, to peer around Heather into the room, but Douglas grabbed her shoulder.

"If Cheryl says there's a reason for us to get out of here now, I trust her. I think we should listen and leave. But… What is it that's scaring you so much?" Everyone was starting to get edgy, in part because Heather was so freaked out, and in part because the strange scraping noises they'd heard before had returned.

"….I…It's the executioner. It's the remorse and guilt and pain and suffering that people hide from themselves. It's the reason why people come into Silent Hill and don't return. It's a monster and it's going to kill us all if we don't move NOW!" It took a step towards her, and Heather spun and ran towards the rest of the group. Or, at least, she tried to.

"….Ahhhh….ghnk" Heather stood there, eyes wide, staring past everyone, into nothing. It had moved faster than she'd expected, and she could feel an almost dull pain spreading across her chest.

"Cheryl? What's….?" Barry shouted as she collapsed, dark red rapidly spreading on her chest, blood rapidly pooling underneath her. A blood stained blade scraped across the floor, gathering dust as it moved away from Heather.

Then the thing that the blade belonged to stepped out into view, pulling it's almost comical looking knife behind it, getting ready for another swing, and then everyone understood why Heather was so keen on leaving. This…thing had taken out Cheryl, taken out Heather, and as it turned from the wall to the group, Douglas knew they were fucked. He didn't know what it was, but it had taken out one of the most knowledgeable people in their group and that didn't mean anything good for the rest of them. The weapon it carried scraped on the floor as it took a shuttering step forwards, obviously hindered by the rusted contraption on its head.

Cybil then said the one thing everyone was thinking, as it made to step over Heather and come closer to them.

"We are fucked."

A/N2: ... I'm sorry this chapter sucks. I don't really have much to say. Enjoy? (Uhg too tired to think of anything important?)