The night just kept getting better and better. In what had to be an impossible feat, the road before the two travelers just stopped and became a cliff. Broken pieces of concrete signified the street's end. Ryan was helpless as he just looked down into the void. Their ticket out of town had just been torn to shreds.
"That's just brilliant" he said, staring over the edge. "How does something like this happen? I mean, it's not like we're in goddamn California or anything. Cause I didn't feel any earthquakes"
He looked at the young woman that was with him. Her eyes were wide and unbelieving to their current status. It was as if she was trying to deny the scene in front of her.
"No, no, no. This is wrong. This wasn't like this when I came into town", she said, attempting to wrap her mind around the phenomenon. "I had a car and it was right over there!" she almost yelled, pointing into the darkness. She hissed in pain and started to nurse her arm.
"Well, it's not here now" Ryan replied, glancing at the woman's arm. "Hey, let me take a look at that" he said, extending his hand.
The woman looked at her left arm and then at Ryan before slowly complying. He didn't even have to touch it to know she was in a world of pain. Whatever that creature had done to her, it had broken her arm. It was cocked at a weird angle in the forearm. The woman winced even as he gently examined her. Shining the light on her, he could see that her arm was puffy and red, obviously inflamed.
"That's not good" he said. "Looks like you've got a pretty good transverse fracture along your left ulna"
The woman looked at him and asked in an aggravated tone "What are you? A fucking doctor?"
"No, I'm a fucking nurse" Ryan replied nonchalantly, continuing with his examination. He soon stopped.
"There's nothing I can do about it now. I don't have any medical supplies on me or anything. We should get out of the street and get you somewhere safe"
Ryan started moving down the street. The woman wasn't so quick to move. She just stood near the edge of the road, hesitating. He looked back at her and noticed she wasn't following. She just stood there, frozen in terror and cradled herself.
"What?" he asked
"You mean you want to go now? Tonight, with God knows what out there?"
"Look, if you want to stay here and get eviscerated, be my guest. But I want to go somewhere where I don't have to worry about what's hiding in the dark. Now lets get moving"
He took the woman by her hand and led her back the way they had come. Initially, she felt that she didn't need to be treated like a kid. But the warmth from his hand, as well as the physical contact, reassured her that she was safe and not alone. It was a feeling she clung to and hoped that it never let go.
It was quite a long trek for the two of them. They were both scared out of their minds but unwilling to let the dark fog blind their courage. Along the way Ryan had given the woman the flashlight as he found it too difficult to hold it and the shotgun at the same time. Uneasily, she juggled the light and the steel pipe in one hand.
She cut through the darkness with the light as they continued along the road way.
III
"Do you know where we're going?" Julia asked as she walked behind him and cradled her arm.
"Not really" he replied, following the path of the flashlight. "I'm just walking until we find somewhere safe. You ever been here before?" he asked her as they walked down Finney Street before turning back onto Ellroy.
"Yes. It's been a long time since I last came here but I remember this town. I was only a little girl. About five or six."
"Was it ever this messed up?" he inquired, gripping the shotgun tighter.
"No. It was never like this. It used to be a nice tourist town. Nice, quiet, beautiful scenery. But now… I…I can't imagine how it got like this"
The man stayed silent for a few moments.
"Do you know if this place has a hospital?"
Julia's heart leaped as a memory worked its way into her head. A hospital. That's where Aunt Lisa had worked. She had been, or still was a nurse. Maybe the hospital was where she would find some answers.
"Yeah. Yeah it does. But its not here."
"What?" he asked, confused and annoyed at the same time.
Julia furrowed her brow as she tried to think of their location in relation to the rest of the town.
"We're in Old Silent Hill. I think the hospital is in Central Silent Hill. We need to go over the bridge into Central" she said, pointing away from their location.
"Sounds like a plan" he said and then paused. "You remember all this from when you were a kid?"
Julia nodded in agreement.
"Wow, that's pretty impressive" the man replied.
From above the flashlight, Julia smiled a bit. She remembered from one of her college psych classes that laughter and smiling helped lighten a mood, releasing endorphins into the body.
"Okay, lead the way" he said.
"What if we run into anything else?" she asked. "We won't be able to see them"
"True" he said lowering the shotgun. "But we'll have a good idea of where they're at"
"How?"
He pointed to his MP3 player.
"I don't really understand it, but every time one of those things gets closer, this little gadget starts spewing white noise. I'm guessing your phone does the same right?"
Julia nodded.
"So all we have to do is keep our ears open, stop, blow away anything that we come across, and keep moving."
Julia looked at him uneasily. He noticed the look on her face and put his hand on her shoulder.
"I know. I'm scared shitless myself. But if we can stick together we can get out of here. Besides, this" he said pointing at the gun "seems to do an awful lot of damage to those things. They also don't like getting hit with metal pipes"
Julia took a deep breath, reassured, and made a quick nod with her head. She gathered her courage.
"Alright, lets go."
They jogged as quickly as they could, unwilling to run without knowing full well what waited in the dark fog. Every once and awhile, the white noise of the MP3 player would go off and the man would stop. Instinctively, she pointed the flashlight into the dark in the same direction that he pointed his weapon. Then the sound would die out and they kept moving. Once or twice they had almost run into some walking monstrosities. They looked like the love children of a Swiss army knife and a testicle. The things made terrible nails-on-chalkboard noises with their blade legs as they walked along the ground. The man had dealt with them using surprising ease. Loud thunderous blasts ripped through the air and the creatures. Dark gore shot out of their bodies as the shotgun rounds tore into them.
They made horrible crying sounds as they squirmed on the pavement. Before leaving them to die, Julia pushed past the man and ran up to them, hitting them with the pipe she carried, the flashlight held with her wounded arm. She made loud angry grunts as the pipe impacted with the hard exoskeleton of the creatures. She almost lost herself to her terror and anger as she beat the things to a messy pulp on the pavement. The pipe made audible crunching sounds as it made contact with the creatures. The man came from behind and stopped her. She gasped as she was brought out of her trance.
"Okay, I think you got them" he said. "Feel better?"
"Much" she replied, breathing heavily.
They continued along Ellroy until making their way to the bridge that would lead them to Central Silent hill. Running the length of the bridge, the two of them noticed some sort of office thing sitting on the side of the bridge, metal stairs leading up to it. The man pointed at it.
"That's gotta be a control room for the bridge" he said, breathing heavily. "You need to take a break?" he asked Julia.
"No, no I'm fine" she replied, bending over and breathing heavily.
The man started to walk and Julia came to her senses.
"Alright, I do need a break" she called out to him, holding up an arm.
The man returned to her side, put her arm around his shoulder and helped her towards and up the stairs. Grabbing the door knob, he twisted it and opened the rickety aluminum door. The room was small, only a few feet by few feet. There was a control panel underneath a viewing window. Papers were strewn across the floor and console. A chair lay in the middle of the room on its side. The man went to it and turned it up before sitting Julia down on it. Then he flopped down to his butt on the floor, trying to catch his breath. He shut the door with his foot, grabbed the steel pipe and propped it against the door, barricading themselves in. The two of them sat in silence for some time while they tried to regain their composure.
III
Ryan finally started to break the silence.
"So" he said with a sigh. "What's you're name?"
Julia looked up at him.
"I'm Julia, Julia Garland. And you?"
"Ryan Simota" he said, wiping the sweat and blood from his forehead and jerking a thumb towards himself.
"Where are you from?" Julia asked.
"Pittsburgh" Ryan replied as he leaned his head back.
"Really?!" Julia asked in surprise. "I'm from Gettysburg"
"Small world" he chuckled. "What brings you to hell?"
Julia gave him a funny look as she let the joke pass right over her head.
"I came here looking for my Aunt Lisa. I haven't seen her since I was a kid."
"Hell of a reason to come to this place. Didn't she ever come and visit, you?" Ryan asked, looking out the window into the night.
"Well, thing is" she stammered, "…she kind of disappeared 17-18 years ago. And I want to know where she is. She lived here" she pointed to the floor, "in this town. So I figured that she would still be around here or at least have left something that told me where she went."
"Maybe she died" he said.
"I don't think so. If that had happened someone would have notified us."
Ryan looked at her and his expression turned grim.
"That's not how it always works out" he said. "At the hospital we tend to get Jane and John Does from time to time. Sometimes next of kin or other people can ID them and sometimes they can't. Or don't"
"Well, I still have to look for her" Julia replied.
He half smiled and said, "I admire your strength then. I don't think I would have the courage to do what you're doing right now. I've seen too many people die on the operating tables or die hooked up to machines to just leave my faith in anything but medicine"
They sat in silence for a few minutes, Julia mentally going over the man's words. He must have had a hard, sad life to be speaking like that. Ryan spoke up again.
"Do you even have a picture of your aunt we can go on?"
Julia looked at him with confusion.
"You want to help me find my aunt?" she asked.
"Yeah sure. Why not?", he shrugged "I mean, it's not like I'm going to let you go wandering around this town by your lonesome. So? No picture?"
"No" Julia shook her head. "But I remember exactly what she looks like. She sort of resembles me" she pointed to herself, "But a picture would definitely help in asking others about her."
Ryan sighed.
"So, Julia. What did your aunt do?"
"My aunt? She was a nurse."
"Ah, a woman after my own heart" Ryan replied with a small smile. "And what do you do for a living?"
"I'm a twenty-three year old waitress" she replied with a sigh.
"Huh, two years younger than me" he said with a hint of surprise.
"And what about you Ryan? Do you have a wife?"
He held up his left hand and she shined the light on it. There was no ring on his ring finger. The man was single.
"Do you have a girlfriend?" Julia asked him before kicking herself mentally. She shouldn't have asked such personal questions.
He looked away from her and shook his head before answering.
"Afraid not. My life has just been too structured to allow for any sort of relationship. To be quite honest, it's kinda hurt me. I've always wanted to find that special someone, settle down, have some kids. But life as a nurse really takes its toll on you, you know?"
Julia didn't know, but she thought it would be best not to push the subject. She thought that it was really sad that he didn't have anyone to care for intimately. A sad, tough life in both work and play. It must have been hard on this man.
"What about you? Anyone back home that you crawl into bed with" Ryan asked her.
Julia looked at the floor and bit her lip. Her face turned a subtle shade of red.
"Nah" she said, tapping her foot on the floor, "I'm too busy working and going to school. Plus I tend to get hit on a lot by ugly old men at work and creepy college boys."
"Yeah, that'll happen" Ryan said, chewing on his finger nail. "Same thing happens to me sometimes"
She looked at him before continuing to learn about him.
"So, a male nurse huh? Looking at you that would be the last thing to crawl into my mind. You look more like you would fit in with the Marines or something"
"Well, looks can be deceiving. And we do live in a country of equal opportunity. Besides, I like helping people. Always have. Always will"
"That's very admirable of you" she said and noticed that Ryan was loading the shotgun. He inserted a few slugs and pumped the pump handle. It mad a loud "chik-chak" sound.
"Where did you learn to shoot like that?" she asked him as he handled the firearm.
"Truthfully? Boy scouts." He said with a smirk.
"You were in scouts?"
"No, but my brother was. He would go on shootouts every year with the troop. I was allowed to tag along. Just as long as I took the safety training."
The oddity of his answer made her question him, "Why would you do that and not be in Scouts?" Julia asked, pushing some of her hair out of her eyes. She reached into her pocket, grabbed a scrunchy and pulled her dirty blond hair back into a pony tail.
"Well, when you're a kid you tend not to pass up opportunities like that. At that age, you don't know how many other chances you'll get to fire a live gun"
"Men" she scoffed.
"Women" he shot back, offended.
"Testosterone" she fired back.
"Estrogen" he said glaring at her.
Soon, they both started to chuckle at the exchange. It helped lighten the mood, but not by much. They were soon brought back to the realization that they were still in a world of nightmares. A hard wind whipped at the small shack office they sat in. From somewhere outside a deep gurgling cry rang through the dark, making Ryan aim the shotgun at the door. His aim was steady and unwavering, like he was preparing for the worst. Julia looked at the exit with unease and trembled.
"What are they?" she asked
Ryan lowered the gun but didn't take his eyes off the door.
"Hell if I know. Demons, mutants, monsters, or something manifested from our own freaking nightmares. Take your pick. All I know is that they're out there" he pointed to the door, "…and we're in here. What they may or may not be does not change our situation one bit. They still die when you shoot them"
Ryan took a look around and noticed a few drawers were open and there were some small objects lying around. He spied a roll of duct tape lying underneath the control desk. Getting up, he went over to it. Julia rolled to the side as he stooped down to retrieve it.
"Let me see the flashlight" he said, extending his hand with the palm up.
She handed it to him and he went right to work, tearing off strips of duct tape. He took the tape and applied it to the flashlight.
"What are you doing?" she asked.
"Freeing up your hands" he said as he wrapped the flashlight around the barrel of the gun. "Start looking through these draws. Their might be some useful stuff lying around"
They both went to work, going through each of the small drawers. There was nothing of importance in the first few draws. Just some condoms, old pamphlets, magazines, instruction manuals and a bottle of Jack Daniels of all things. Then Julia found something that made her heart jump.
"Ryan, check this out!"
Ryan turned around and stared strait into the business end of a 9mm handgun. He leapt back and fell to the ground.
"JESUS FUCKING CHRIST WOMAN!" he yelled at her.
She lowered the gun, setting it down on the console.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry" she said, backing away from the gun.
Ryan got up and grabbed the gun in is hand. He walked to Julia and pushed it to her chest. She grabbed it and held it in her hands. For something so small, it was pretty heavy. She looked up Ryan. He was shaking.
"Lesson one" he said holding up his index finger, "Never, ever point a gun at something you don't intend to kill. You're gonna give a man a heart attack."
"I said I was sorry" Julia replied, quivering.
"It's alright. Man, who the hell leaves shit like this lying around?" Ryan asked as Julia handled the 9mm, turning it over in her hands. "Where did you find it?"
Julia pointed to a small locker near the floor.
"Any ammo?" Ryan asked
"What's ammo?"
"Ammunition, magazines, clips. You know? Bullets" he asked, rolling his hands in a "is this getting though to you" gesture.
Julia stooped down and looked into the locker. She reached in and found a few small, heavy boxes with the words 9mm written on them.
"That's it" Ryan said. "Take it, and hope you don't have to use it" he said.
"No way" Julia said, pushing the gun away. "I've never fired a gun before"
"Look, its easy" Ryan said as he pointed to each part of the pistol in her hands. "Barrel, trigger, grip, breach, hammer, slide, and safety. You press this little button and the magazine pops out. Then you slam in a fresh one. All you have to do is point and shoot. And it will probably be a lot more effective than that pipe"
Julia looked at the metal cudgel lying by the door.
"Should we ditch it?" she asked.
"No, bring it along. It won't run out of ammo"
Julia cocked an eyebrow as Ryan walked towards the door and grabbed the pipe. He turned back to her.
"Ready for this? We go, look for what we have to and get the hell out of town. Alright?"
Fear gripped Julia's chest as Ryan pointed to the door. Up until this point, she thought that they would just stay in the control room and wait it out. Now that she had to go back outside and face hell, she didn't know if she could do it. Ryan noticed her unease and tried to calm her down.
"Look, just stick by me and we'll make it through this. I promise. Say a prayer, count to ten, take a breath."
She looked into his caring eyes and relaxed a bit. Julia took a big breath and let it out. She gave Ryan a stern nod and gripped the pistol in her hands. They exited the control room and walked back down to the bridge. They had to make it to the hospital. It would be their sanctuary. Julia just hoped that things would get better before they got worse. If she only knew what was waiting for them.