Outside again, horribly outside. That's the fucked-up thing about this place. When you're inside, you're hemmed in on all sides, trapped in a mess of filth and grime with such ugly bloody creatures you couldn't begin to... Well, I guess that's the point, really, isn't it? Beyond your nightmares and all that. I guess the school really taught me that. Dunno really if I'll ever be able to walk into a classroom again after that. God help me, I don't know how I'd survive outside this place, but I can't go on staying in here. One way or the other, whatever's outside this town, I have to get out. One way or the other. Maybe I shoulda listened to that Dark Man, that damn bastard. Whatever else you can say about him, at least he tried to warn me. Again and again. But we'll get to that.

Outside again, and I noticed a trail of blood right next to where I had stopped running. It didn't start there, but ended there, as though the object had simply... what? Been picked up, maybe, or flown away? A bloodied bird, dragging its way along, suddenly taking flight? Yeah, old man. And I'm the King of Sweden. Since it hadn't gone anywhere I could follow, even in my mind, I headed to where it had begun. Off to my right, around the corner of the building, that's where it had come from, so I followed.

Further along the building, and it began, in a massive pool of blood, not fresh, but still wet, still warm. And smeared up the wall in drops and drags. Down the wall, perhaps? If you drop a ripped bag of flour off the side of a building, you get pancake-spatter on whoever's looking out a window it passes. We learnt that one hot July afternoon, me and the kids. Subbing for the science teacher's good fun when the physics work is that easy, not to mention that messy. We had great fun up on the roof that day, even when we almost killed the deputy principle. She was cool about it, though I got my nuts pretty chewed over letting that many kids up there at a time, it all worked out. That was back in Ashfield, after leaving the Brahms post. Even Laura, the bratty little kid who always gave me hell when she was in a class with me, let up for a bit on that time. I coulda sworn there was a smile on her little face when her... I guess you'd call him 'legal guardian'... Sunderland picked her up at the end of the day. Yeah, I watched the kids go home, leave the school. Who wouldn't? They're leaving one world for another, and that's always when they're in the most danger, in the crossover.

We never played pancake-gravity with blood, though. Someone else had thought that one up all themselves. Going by my map, I was just outside the office of the security guard I'd found dead, up on the second floor. Which was where the spatter started, where I'd been standing when that... that thing thumped into me and the world went dark. Oh yeah, that was a very dark time in all ways, class. The window had been intact when I'd been up there, though, so it musta been broken afterwards. Maybe that thing I'd heard in the passageways with me. God, that still gave me the creeps, I tell ya. Being alone with the corpse was bad enough, but at least it was definitely dead, and the dead have the decency to stay dead. Being alone with sounds in the darkness, though... That's the trouble with the dark, or fearing it, anyway. That constant fear that something's always near. Never being able to see it, it's always just outta reach, always on the very edge of your flashlight beam, dancing away when you turn to catch it out. Maybe that's just as well, really, would I be able to see that face without dying? Would the object of fear not be so much worse than the fear itself that you'd rather claw your eyes out than see its true face, even for a second, even if it were the last thing you'd ever see? My father always told me its best to face your fears, that a man must always face his fears, and face his demons down. The old buzzard had never been on vacation here, though, I'll bet.

The blood-spatter, though, told me nothing more than the end of the trail. At some stage something terrible and bloody had burst through the window, crawled along, and taken flight. The anti-phoenix, death born of life, terror and despair born of... I don't dare imagine. I followed it as far as its end, and left its bloody path for the exit from the mall. Kate, the blonde kid I'd followed into this whole mess, hadn't followed me out. Before, I woulda gone back, hunted for her, but the other kid had looked so terrified last I saw her, and now she was out here, barefoot and alone. She reminded me more and more of the little kid in the locker room, little Suzy, so scared and alone, so lost. I'd been too late to save Suzy from the worst, though I'd done what I could to level things out, but maybe this time... Maybe this time the whole mess could be avoided. I've got no savior complex, me, I'm a humble man, but when you can do something to keep evil things from happening... what kinda man are you if you don't do them?

So I set off to follow her. Trying to think. The fog has that in its favor, at least, it's damn cold. Perks your mind up somewhat, so at least you're awake enough to think, even if the thoughts are... cloudy sometimes. Like just now outside this burger joint. What happened at Annie's Bar was real enough, I still have the pool cue I took from there as a weapon. But the black cats I've been seeing all over the place? It's just too fucked up. I mean, nothing moves in this place except monsters and the few people here running from them, like me and Katey. But every now and again, when something really bad's just gone down, if you look real close at the place, you can always see at least two of them. Just sitting there staring. I tell ya, nothing stares half so well as a cat does. Creepy fucking things, too, if you walk towards them they just vanish, like a Cheshire cat, if you walk away, they sometimes follow you, but without moving. I saw a corpse of one once, looked like it had been just... ripped apart. Maybe they don't play well with others. Or maybe I'm going crazy.

At that stage, though, back at the mall, all I could think of was getting to the girl before something got to her. So I followed the main road, figuring she'd head back to town, and that meant going through the amusement park.

Lakeside amusement park. Mascot, Robbie the Rabbit. Most popular ride... the carousel.

Lakeside, the unhappiest place on earth.

A/N - Yeah, another filler, but it'll get better once we hit the amusement park. Come on, you didn't think a fic inspired by SH3 wouldn't have the park?

Raptor Jesus - Thanks for the review. Shortness of sentences etc is mostly down to the fact that he's narrating it himself, but I'll bear the suggestion in mind. I see you changed your sn etc, does that mean you didn't get my email?

GLBT - Thanks so much for the raving reviews. It's great to know you really enjoy my stuff.

MLS - Coming from you, that's a great compliment. You really made my day with that comment.

Gaia - Special thanks to you for your beta-ing. You still rock.