Heather was holding the medallion to her light, trying to see though it, when she heard a scream. Startled, she dropped the disc and it shattered, sending pieces of glass skittering across the floor.
"Shit!" Heather scowled, angry with her clumsiness.
"Hey, don't worry about it," Barry said, touching her shoulder. "I think you were supposed to do that. Look, everything's…different now."
Heather took a look around, realizing that the room was no longer as filthy as it was before, and noticing a new door.
"What's that lead to then?" She asked, but Barry only shrugged.
"Who knows. My map is gone now, so I can't check that." With that, Barry moved forward and yanked open the door, revealing a stairway.
"Well then, shall we go up?"
"Well, I don't know if we can head out of here safely." Jill shook her head, as she peered out into the hall. James could see that it was pitch black, and somewhere, out there, there were those leg things.
"Then we'll just have to wait here. Anyways, look at this. I found it in her pocket." James started to hand over the medallion, but before Jill was able to grab it, a scream made him fumble, and it fell to the ground and shattered.
"…Well I hope that wasn't important," Jill said with a strained smile, before she turned away to look out into the hallway again. "Huh?"
James shook his head, annoyed with himself, before bending to grab one of the larger shards of glass. He picked it up, only for it to crumble away into nothing.
"James, look at this. I think we can get going now, and it looks like there's a stairway out there now." Jill stepped out into the hall, and James hurried after her.
Chris sat on the couch, slumped back against it as he tried to figure a way out of their predicament. "So, why would Valtiel be coming after us? I mean, it helped Cheryl, so shouldn't it be friendly?"
"Well…" Lisa fidgeted slightly. "He only helped because of Cheryl. She is 'The Mother' of everything in this town, really, and the rest of us are unimportant. He might even see us as a threat, because we want to get out of town, and take her with us, away from him. "Lisa shook her head, fiddling with the medallion. Before her or Chris could speak again, a scream caused Lisa to fumble, the medallion falling to the ground and shattering.
"Oh!" Before Chris could stand, there was another flash of light. When nothing showed up, Chris stood and opened the door, and looked out in to a dirty but different looking hallway from before.
"What's happened?" Lisa asked, but Chris just shrugged.
"Who knows, but there's a set of stairs now. What do you bet we have to use 'em?"
As the three groups moved up the stairways, they started to run into each other. Heather and Barry were the first to run into James and Jill, relieving all four of them.
"God, I was worried it was just going to be us two in this place," Jill said with a small laugh, while James rubbed at his head.
"Yeah, this place was…interesting. Did you guys have to do anything weird while we were separated?" Heather asked, and James nodded.
"Yeah…It was a little odd, to say the least. Some lady killed two people then herself." James replied.
"Have you two seen anyone else?" Jill asked, but Barry shook his head.
"No, I was hoping you'd run into Chris or Rebecca."
"Well, there's still two more floors, right?" Heather asked, before starting up the stairs ahead of the others. "They're probably just higher up."
They continued climbing, and caught up with Chris, Lisa and Rebecca on the top floor, by the door to the roof.
"Shit!" Chris was running at the door, trying to knock it down, while Lisa appeared to be comforting an upset Rebecca.
"Chris! What's going on?" Heather asked, worried. "Where's Douglas?"
"He, he's out there, with that Executioner thing!" Rebecca said, looking down at her clenched hands.
"What?!" Heather pushed past Chris and peered through the window. "Out there?"
Rebecca nodded. "I tried to go out there with him, but he shoved me out here and slammed the door. I couldn't get it open, and Chris can't get it open either. And you can't even see anything out there anymore, the fogs so thick!"
"Oh no…" Heather felt a strange twisting in her stomach, and sat down with Rebecca. "Well, then there's nothing we can do, right? I mean, it's Silent Hill. If the town doesn't want us somewhere, then we're not going there. We'll just have to wait…" But she really didn't want to wait.
Barry switched with Chris and was trying to knock down the door when someone, Douglas, let out a piercing cry of pain.
Everyone stood and faced the door, waiting for anything to happen, when there was a loud thud and the door swung open. A wave of fog swept through, and Heather closed her eyes against the unnatural chill. When she opened them again, the area was clear, and Douglas way lying in the middle of the roof.
Heather, Lisa, and Rebecca all rushed in, while the others followed at a more cautious pace, and as Heather skidded to a stop and knelt by Douglas, she was relieved to see he was still breathing.
'What the hell happened?' She mentally asked and Rebecca and Lisa started checking him over.
"Cheryl, come over here for a minute." Jill called her over to the edge of the roof, where almost everyone else was gathered. Heather noticed that James was hanging back by the door, with an odd look on his face.
"Yeah, what's up?" She asked, clenching her hands. Until Douglas was up and moving, Heather wasn't going to be calm.
"Look, down there. Isn't that the Executioner?" Jill pointed down at a wooded area, where something with a triangular headpiece had fallen.
"Yeah, that looks like it. Did Douglas manage to toss it all the way down there?" She wondered. "And it looks like it's got something stuck in it. A spear maybe?"
"They kill themselves." James had crept up behind Heather, and when he spoke, scared the crap out of everyone.
"Jesus! James, you scared the shit outa me." Barry said, taking a deliberate step back from the edge.
"Wait, what do you mean, they kill themselves?" Chris asked.
James moved back towards Douglas before speaking. "Once you realize your guilt and accept responsibility, what you did wrong, then they die. They have no purpose anymore, so they kill themselves. Mine, they stopped moving, before putting their spears in front of them and impaling their heads. And I hadn't seen one again until…" James shook his head, much paler than he was before.
"You had to fight two of them?" Jill asked, but before James could reply, Rebecca called everyone over to Douglas.
"He's going to be fine, I think." She and Lisa had unbuttoned Douglas' shirt to check the damage, and the blood made Heather waiver for a moment. "His shoulder is a little busted up, and he's got some minor wounds and a concussion, I believe."
"But I don't think he should be out here anymore." Lisa took over while buttoning up Douglas' shirt again. "With a concussion and this shoulder injury, he shouldn't be out here. Once he's awake, I'm going to take him back to the motel."
"Why?" asked Jill.
"Well, unlike when Cybil was injured, Douglas is still wounded, and he needs medical attention. The others at the motel might have some rudimentary medical knowledge, but it won't be enough." Lisa replied.
"Ah, okay then. Will you two be fine heading back by yourself?" Chris asked, and Lisa nodded.
"Yeah, I think we should be okay, so long as we don't run into anything. But we should be good. I don't think the motel is that far away…"
But Barry shook his head. "No, you can't go back alone. I mean, He's gotta be heavy, so it'd be slow getting back, not to mention if anything does come across you, you'd both be pretty helpless. I'll go back with you too."
"Okay…" Lisa smiled and nodded, before realizing that Douglas was starting to stir. "Ah! Douglas, can you hear me? It's Lisa."
Douglas was a little groggy, but managed to sit up himself and talk a little.
"I honestly can't remember much of what happened, to tell the truth. I remember waking up, and seeing Rebecca. Then there were some bloody hallways, but I can't really remember anything else." He said, sounding annoyed with himself.
"It's okay. You're mostly okay, and that's what matters. Do you feel well enough to go with Lisa and Barry back to the motel?" Jill asked, antsy to get moving again.
"Yeah, I can mostly function. Here, you should take some of the ammunition I have with me. I get the feeling you'll need it more than we will."
With everything settled, the group heaved back down to the first floor, before splitting. As Barry and Lisa left with Douglas supported between them, the others went down to the basement, in search for the sewer access.
"I just want to get out here," Rebecca said with a shiver. "I am so done with this building, and I don't care how we get out of here, so long as we do."
"Agreed," James said. "I definitely don't want to spend any more time here than needed."
Luckily, the sewer access wasn't too hard to find, although it was hidden in the same room the bricked up solitary cell was, to Heather's discomfort. As they all splashed through a few lengths of tunnel, everyone was acting touchy and jumpy, double checking behind them and listening for any out of place sounds.
"I'm assuming we've all had a bad experience in sewers then?" Heather asked once, only to be shushed by everyone else. She didn't blame them. Silent Hill's sewers were filled with nooks and crannies, where anything could be hiding.
So when they all made it out, after Chris noticed a ladder leading up, they all breathed a sigh of relief.
"God, that was almost worse than dealing with the damn monsters, the anticipation was really starting to stress me out." Jill said, stretching. "Where do you think we are now?"
"Uhm, I'm not too sure…" Heather said, pulling out the maps. "Are there any street signs around?"
"No…" Jill said slowly, "But there is a big sign pointing out to the Umbrella plant." Everyone turned to where she was pointing at a weed-covered tin sign.
"'Umbrella Research Plant #256 ahead. NO TRESPASSING.'" James read out. "Huh, seems like a lovely place to go and investigate."
Heather put her no longer needed maps back in her pack, and everyone started up the path to the plant. Gradually, the pavement turned to dirt, then back to pavement, before they all found themselves standing in a tiny parking lot.
"So, why were you guys looking for this place?" James asked as they walked towards the chained up front door.
"Well, do you know about Raccoon City?" Rebecca asked, and James nodded.
"Yeah…I think so anyways. Some kind of chemical spill from one of these kinds of plants, right?" He replied. "I was more preoccupied with Mary, to tell the truth. I didn't spend much time watching the news."
"Oh, it was much more than a simple chemical spill. Umbrella was mucking around, and created zombie juice." Jill said, sour. "Thousands of people died just in Raccoon, and we're still hunting down the ones who started the company, as well as the people who've gotten their hands on the virus. Bio-terrorism has made a leap in progress since you've been stuck here."
"Anyways," Chris interrupted, "What Jill is trying to say, is that we came into town to check out the plant and to see if it really is deserted, and if it has anything to do with how messed up this town is."
Him and Jill started working on the doors, prying them open and working around the chains, testing the keys that Lisa had in her bag, as James turned to Heather.
"They do realize that one tiny plant didn't do this, right? I mean, Silent Hill's probably been like this for hundreds of years."
Heather shrugged. "Eh, they don't think the town is capable. Anyways, I wouldn't be surprised if the town killed the people who worked here off. If they were doing weird experiments, the town wouldn't like its food source being siphoned off."
"I understand the town has an oppressive atmosphere, and some of the stuff we've never seen before, but the only logical explanation is the Umbrella plant. The town can't be conscious, it's not a person." Rebecca said, an odd look on her face.
"Maybe, maybe not." Heather said, before Chris let out a shout.
"Come on! Let's go look, and then get back to the motel. I am done with this place."
As everyone moved between the chains and the busted wooden doors, Heather looked behind her.
She could have sworn she'd heard a voice.
Claire was starting to get a little bored, stuck in the motel room. Cybil was sleeping, and Laura was all curled up under a musty blanket, scarfing down stale M&M's, when something or someone banged on the door.
"Ah!" Cybil jolted awake, and Laura shrunk under her blanket. Claire looked back at both of them before drawing her handgun and attempting to look through the peep-hole. Unable to see anything, but able to make out noises, she called out.
"Who's out there?"
"Claire! Can you let us in please?" came a muffled reply, and Claire recognized Barry.
"I'm going to open the door, okay?" She said to Cybil and Laura, who nodded. With a deep breath, she unchained the door, threw the deadbolt, and unlocked the door, before opening it a crack.
It was definitely Barry, and Douglas and the weird nurse, Lisa, were with him. She opened the door all the way, and Barry and Lisa helped Douglas over to the second bed.
"Douglas! What happened to you?" Cybil said, concerned.
"Oh nothing. I just had a bit of a run in with that Executioner thing. Apparently I pushed it off a roof, but I'm not sure." Douglas replied, and Claire listened as they recounted their trek back to the motel as she relocked the door.
Lisa was rechecking Cybil and Douglas as Barry joined Claire by the window. It was fair-sized, showing nothing outside but fog and darkness, but it worried Claire. What if something came through it?
"Claire. How are you doing?" Barry asked, and as he surveyed the fog, Claire felt a tiny bit safer.
"A little bored, to tell the truth. And kinda hungry. I think Chris had most of the stuff we picked up in that convenience store."
Barry laughed quietly. "Don't worry, I have some stuff, and I'm sure Douglas does too." They stood in silence for a few minutes, listening to Lisa explain to Laura how to properly help someone with a concussion, when Barry spoke again.
"Why did you stay, Claire? I know you and your brother; you're not the types to be easily spooked once you're on a mission. I mean, you both get in this mindset, like nothing will shake you up, so why'd you stay?"
Claire sighed and fidgeted. "I didn't lie, not really, and I'm not as unflappable as you think. This place really creeps me out. With Umbrella, at least I knew what to expect, but here, it could be anything. Ghosts, monsters from hell, giant mice. Plus, I couldn't just leave these two here. Cybil's injured and Laura's just a kid. What if something had attacked?"
Claire took a breath, looking behind herself to make sure Cybil hadn't heard her. "Plus, Laura reminds me of Sherry. She's so young, and this place is pure hell. And she's been here for so long; she needed someone to stay with her, to play a game or something. Not to mention I did a smash and grab of a vending machine out there a little while ago. She said she was feeling hungry, and when I asked her when she'd eaten last, she didn't know. What would have happened if I wasn't here?"
"And you're still hungry?" Barry said with a smile, before sobering. "No, I understand. I was a little annoyed that Chris didn't ask anyone to stay with the two anyways. Hell, he almost let Lisa and Douglas come back, just the two of them. Admittedly, there wasn't anything we couldn't outrun, but it's still dangerous."
"He's just worried about this plant," Claire replied, before sighing. "Was everyone else okay?"
"Yeah, everyone else was great." Barry replied, and Claire smiled and tried to ignore the nagging feeling that that might not be the case next time someone came to the motel.
The entrance was stark and empty, reminding Heather of cold doctors rooms, but there was still electricity running at least.
"Looks like they cleared out in a hurry," James commented, looking at a wall of ruined shelves, their contents tossed everywhere.
"Maybe they were worried about ramifications after Raccoon?" Rebecca said. "A lot of small towns made the Umbrella plants shut down after the spill in Raccoon. After people learnt that Umbrella was behind everything, they didn't want them around."
"Makes sense…" Heather said slowly, looking around. There was something wrong with the room, but she wasn't sure what it was. As she prowled around, trying to figure out what was bugging her, Chris and Jill started digging around in a mess of papers, looking for information on the plant, the people, and what they were working on.
"Wait, guys, is there someone in here with us?" Rebecca asked, casting a suspicious eye around the room. "I thought I heard someone say something, and it didn't sound like any of you."
"I, I didn't hear anything, but maybe one of the employees is still around?" James said, and Heather narrowed her eyes. There was something…off about him now, and she resolved herself to watch him closely.
"Yeah…Maybe." Rebecca went back to leafing through a stack of pamphlets, but everyone else now was listening for something.
"Aha!" Jill cried out, startling Heather. "Perfect. This says that most of their research findings were kept in Block C. Rebecca, do you still have those blue-prints?"
"Yep." Rebecca laid them out, and pointed out Block C. "It doesn't look like we'll have to hard of a time getting over there, unless there's been any significant structural damage."
"Perfect," Chris said, and he started for a pair of doors. While the electricity and lights were still online, a few of the electronic doors were working, so they were stuck shut. Luckily, they were made with cheap glass, and Chris smashed through them.
This time Jill didn't insist on sweeping the glass to the side, and everyone hurried after Chris as he strode through the empty halls. As they walked, the halls turned to large open spaces, but they were still empty. Dusty imprints showed that there might have been shelving units and desks, but there was nothing else, not even vermin.
Half-way to Block C, Chris jumped and drew his gun. "Shit! I think Rebecca was right, there's someone else in here. I just heard…something."
"What was it?" Heather asked, looking at James, who was fidgeting and much paler than before.
"I think it said that we were all going to die, but I could have misheard it?" Chris said with a shrug. "You guys didn't hear anything?"
"No…Are you sure you aren't just anxious to get out of this town?" Jill said, worried. "We can't let it get to us."
Chris scowled and continued walking, but he didn't holster his gun.
They made it to the doors of Block C, and Chris and Jill pried them open so everyone could slip through. It was then they found where all the workers and cabinetry had gone.
"Jesus!" James recoiled, staring at the pile of bodies on one corner. "What the hell happened here?"
"All these people…" Rebecca bent down and grabbed a notebook away from the nearest corpse. She opened it to the last pages, and started to read.
"'Spoke with Dwight today in the holding cell. He told me that he didn't shoot his team, he was shooting at the monsters. I asked him to elaborate, but he refused. He still insists that it was monsters that killed them.'
'There was another incident. Maria pulled a knife and stabbed half the kitchen crew before we stopped her. Three of them died, and we can't get her to wake up. Starting to wonder if we're not just synthesizing animal fats here.'
'Dwight died, stabbed himself in the stomach 5 times and bleed out before anyone found him. Wondering how he got a hold of that knife when we took it from Maria.'
'I thought I saw something last night following me from the security room to my quarters. Will investigate later.'
'I saw…something today. I pulled my gun on it, only for Brian to start talking. Made myself put the weapon down and I let them take me to the medical room. 4 more people are in coma's there, and the doctor couldn't find anything wrong with me, so I went back to my quarters to sleep.'
'All I seem to see now is monsters…The tap oozes blood, and I can hear screeching all the time. The medical wing is full, too many dead and too many in coma. What the hell is happening here? God help us…'
'They attacked me! I had to shoot, I had to take them down…Wait I hear something, is there still someone out there? I have to go, I can't let them kill me. I'll bring the monsters body here with all the others, so I can prove it was real…'" Rebecca looked up at the rest of them. "What…what happened?"
Heather shivered, "'They look like monsters to you?'," she said, and when everyone turned to her, she explained. "I met someone, the first time I came here, and he said that to me. Then he said he was joking, but…It looks like that's what happened here. They thought their coworkers were monsters and fought back."
Rebecca looked sick. "So…those things we've killed, they could have been normal people, not monsters?"
"Ah…" Heather realized she'd opened a whole other can of worms. "No, I'm sure the ones we've encountered were real monsters. Otherwise we'd be attacking ourselves."
"Oh, right…" Rebecca still looked ill.
"Anyways, we need to find their research notes." Chris interrupted. "That notebook said they were synthesizing animal fats, but we need to know what for. Come on."
They carefully edged their way around the pile of bodies, which, for some reason, looked well-preserved despite the fact the plant had been closed for years, and opened a door to the records room.
It was reasonably well-kept, and to everyone's surprise, they were able to find exactly what they needed. Unfortunately for Chris and Jill, it wasn't what they wanted to find.
"…" Chris read and reread the papers on the desk, trying to twist his head around the fact that this particular Umbrella plant really was manufacturing anti-wrinkle creams instead of death rays, when Jill jumped and screeched.
"Jesus!" She yelled, whirling around to look behind her.
"What, what's wrong!?" Rebecca asked, and Jill started to shake.
"I take back what you said when you heard a voice, Chris. I definitely heard something just now…"
"Did it say anything to you?" Chris asked, and Jill shook her head.
"Nothing I could clearly make out. Let's just hurry and get out of here though."
James was starting to look ill, Heather noted, as they hurried, Jill collecting several papers and Chris carefully taking the journal Rebecca had found and slipping it into a plastic bag. Once they all had what they needed from the records room, enough to prove that this was a harmless Umbrella plant, they exited to Block C's main room.
This time, as they moved around a pile of filing cabinets, Heather heard the voice.
"James…James…"
Heather grabbed Jill's arm, and everyone stopped.
"What is it, Cheryl?" Rebecca asked.
"I just heard that voice…" She said slowly, letting go of Jill and turning to face James. "You can hear it too, can't you?"
"Ah…I don't know what you mean." He replied, but Heather shook her head.
"Yes, you do. Every time someone mentions a voice, you get pale and look sick. Not to mention the voice was saying 'James' to me. What's going on?"
"Right…didn't you mention hearing voices before, James?" Jill asked, concerned. "Who are you hearing?"
"I…I…" James looked at the ground, before taking a deep breath and starting to talk. "It's Maria…"
"What?" Said Jill, "Like, the crazy lady we saw in the prison place? And that person here who was stabbing people?"
James shook his head. "No…I met her here, when I first came to this town. She looked like Mary, sounded like Mary, but she wasn't my wife. Then she died, three times." James shuttered, listening to some voice, perhaps. "She was a construct of this town, and when I wouldn't choose her over my wife I had to stop her from killing me."
"Really, James? Did you really have to stop me? I only wanted to be with you…" A woman's voice echoed through the large room, before a woman in a miniskirt and chunk boots stepped out of the shadows. "Or did you just want to kill me like you killed your wife?"
A/N: EDIT: I fixed one thing, after going back to see if I'd written something, I noticed that I'd put in a set of keys with the umbrella symbol...and then didn't use them at all.
A/N: :B
Yeah, so here's the next chapter. Its way shorter than the other one, but I had a much easier time finishing this one.
I have not had anyone look this over, and while I have been considering finding a beta reader from this website, I found that looking for one was...uh...hard.
But I hope everyone enjoys this update, and I'll try and get another chapter up soon~