Chapter Two

I

October 8th, Monday 10:02 a.m.

"When do we get to stop?" Staci's whining voice came from the back seat. Geri closed her eyes, hoping to block the annoying blond out. "I seriously have to pee really bad."

"Silent Hill is literally five miles away, Staci, you can hold it," Weston said patiently, like a father talking to his daughter. Geri opened her eyes in time to see the green sign passing by, "Silent Hill – 5 Miles" written in bold, white letters, the bottom of the sign decorated in colorful graffiti. Geri turned in her seat to see how everyone was doing. Weston had volunteered to drive with Geri as his navigator so the rest had just filed into the car, rather like cattle being ushered into their pens. Staci and Tony had taken the middle seats of the minivan, leaving Elliot by himself in the very back. Elliot hadn't seemed to care, he just stretched out and fell asleep, his pink hair falling in front of his eyes.

"What's with the pink?" Geri had asked Elliot once.

"It was supposed to be red but it turned pink because of the green and blue dye I had already used on it," Elliot had said with a shrug. It had only been a few days ago but it seemed like years. With every passing day Geri felt as though a year went by. Awake, Elliot looked like a typical punk teenager, living only to rebel, but when he was asleep he looked like a little boy, his head resting on his hand, the other hand resting on the pocket of his jacket that held his gun.

The van was silent for the next ten minutes until finally it turned, driving down the silent road that would lead them to the town. "We're just getting some food, let Staci go to the bathroom, and then we're out of here," Weston said, his voice quiet, as though afraid to break the silence.

"Hurry…" Staci said, bouncing up and down in her seat like an impatient two-year old.

Finally Weston turned the van into the parking lot of a yellow and red restaurant called Happy Burger. "Be quick," Weston said. "Anyone else gotta go?"

Elliot sat up tiredly. "Me," he said, holding back a yawn.

Geri shrugged and said, "Me too, I guess."

"Tony and I'll wait here." Weston turned the keys and the engine of the van was silenced.

The three climbed out of the van and Staci ran toward the already open door of the fast-food restaurant. "The door's open," she said tonelessly.

"Duh," Geri said, rolling her eyes. She took out her gun and held it out in front of her cautiously. Elliot followed her lead and watched Geri carefully. Geri eased the door open wider and poked her head in slowly, looking first left, then right. She took a step inside and paused to listen for the softest of noises. She stiffened when she heard something – a soft shuffle of footsteps coming from the back of the restaurant, the kitchen? She took another step and stopped again. There was another noise, the clicking of claws on tile. There was definitely something in the kitchen – two things at least, a person and probably a dog.

But are they dead?

Geri breathed in silently. She had no way of knowing, but there was only one way to find out. She turned quickly and nodded her head, motioning to her gun. Elliot nodded while Staci crossed her legs frantically.

Is the bathroom safe? she mouthed to Geri, her eyes wide.

"I don't know," Geri whispered, frowning. She turned and to her horror heard the sound of a door opening. Were the zombies smart enough to open doors? Geri prayed it wasn't a zombie and turned. To her right was the hallway that led to the bathrooms and most likely the door to the kitchen, if this Happy Burger was set up like most fast-food restaurants. Geri hated making assumptions but it was all she could do. She squinted but the hallway was pitch dark. "Flashlights?" she whispered, turning to Staci and Elliot. She turned her head back to the hallway as quickly as she could, not wanting to take her eyes away from the unknown.

A moment later Elliot was poking Geri's back with a flashlight. Geri took it from him wordlessly and clicked it on, shining the light down the black hallway. She felt her heart skip a beat – it was empty. A door opened, she thought to herself. She knew she had heard it. She took a step cautiously toward the hallway, expecting a dog or zombie to leap out at her any minute. It was unlikely that a human zombie would leap out at her – they were slow – but the dogs were as fast as they had been before they were killed and they were dangerous.

She was halfway down the hallway when she finally turned around for a moment to see Elliot and Staci following her cautiously. She motioned to the bathroom door next to her. Staci passed Elliot and Geri and open the door quickly, hardly bothering to check for safety. Geri waited a moment to see if Staci would scream for help but there was nothing so she kept going, keeping her eye on the kitchen door at the end of the hallway. Elliot followed her, obviously more interested in what Geri was looking for than going to the bathroom.

Usually Geri avoided the zombies at all costs but there was something telling her this wasn't a zombie. She knew there was something alive back there. And then she heard the one thing she had been waiting to hear.

"Shh!" came from the kitchen, a voice. A human voice. A low, guttural growl came from the door and there was a soft, clicking sound as the knob of the kitchen door was turned. "There's nothing out there," a girl hissed.

"Hello?" Geri called out, her voice loud and clear.

"Shit!" the girl screamed.

Geri shined the flashlight at the door and the kitchen door was pushed open, revealing a girl about seventeen or eighteen. The girl squinted at Geri and covered her eyes to shield them from the light. Geri lowered the flashlight. "Who are you?" she asked.

The girl stepped completely out of the kitchen, followed by a small, white dog. "My name's Maria Rodriguez, who the fuck are you?"

II

October 8th, Monday 6:30 a.m.

Emilie could feel Silent Hill even now, in the car Josh and Joey had found in the parking lot. The only car in the entire hotel parking lot. She grinned, feeling proud. She hadn't asked Josh how he knew how to hotwire a car, she was just glad to be with them. At first the boys had been annoying – they weren't even boys, Joey was in his early forties and Josh wasn't a day younger than thirty-five – but they had kept her sane. What Emilie would have done without human companions, she wasn't sure. They had been able to see clips of the news in the places they'd been staying the nights at for the past six days. They knew what the things were and even how to kill them but the news hadn't been able to explain how it had happened.

"Almost there," Emilie announced cheerfully. She had put on a happy-go-lucky face for the men so they wouldn't be so concerned for her all the time but all she felt was dread as she drove closer and closer to Will. Would he be okay? Would he be dead? Alive? Dead/alive? She had told Josh and Joey about Will and the idea kept them sane. They had to be doing something, just driving around waiting for things to be normal again wasn't enough.

"So, this Will guy, what's he look like?" Joey asked, leaning back in his seat. Emilie grinned, genuinely happy for a moment.

"He's beautiful," she said breathlessly. "He's got really thick brown hair, it's kind of past his shoulders…or at least it was when I last saw him. I hope he hasn't cut it. His eyes are this amazing blue, like those pictures of Greece, you know how the water's always really blue, they're like that. He's super tall. I come up to about his chest."

"You're tiny, Em," Josh said with a laugh. "He's probably not even that tall."

"I am not tiny!" Emilie shrieked indignantly. The men laughed. This was how they coped. The only way the three could handle what had been happening for the past week. When their car had been stolen the other day they had been sure they would die. It was rare to find a car that actually worked anymore but there was a perfectly fine one right outside the entrance of the hotel that morning. It hadn't been there the night before when Emilie and the guys had arrived but they figured whoever owned it was either dead or had abandoned it because there were too many people in it.

They passed a large green sign that said, "Welcome to Silent Hill." The "Welcome" had been crossed out by blue spray-paint and written above it were the words, "Stay out of" so the sign read, "Stay out of Silent Hill." Emilie almost laughed. That hadn't been there when she'd last visited Will a few months ago. Her moment of happiness was cut short when she realized it probably hadn't been there a few days ago either.

Silent Hill was as silent as always, but a thick fog rolled across the streets, making it almost impossible for Emilie to see.

"What the hell?" Joey said, as though insulted by the fog. "It's like they don't want you to see anything!"

Emilie rolled her eyes and tried to concentrate, driving as slowly as she could. "We'll try the grocery store where Will works first, maybe he's still there."

"Uh, honey, why would your man be hiding out in his grocery store a week after a bunch of zombies start eating people? Don't you think he'd have run away by now?" Josh said gently. Emilie shook her head. Josh was always saying things like this, trying to tell her to give up on Silent Hill.

"He knew I'd come for him," Emilie said with finality. "He'd never leave Silent Hill, he always said so."

"I don't think he took these circumstances into consideration when he told you that," Joey said, but he shrugged anyway, obviously not really caring.

Josh sat back with a sigh of defeat and waited patiently for Emilie to find the grocery store. The fog rolled past the car, so thick it was as though they were driving through a cloudy sky.

"Is it always like this here?" Josh asked, wrinkling his nose in distaste.

"No," Emilie said, shaking her head. "At least, not when I lived here. There were always some foggy days, 'cause we're so close to Toluca Lake, but it was never…this bad." She paused for a moment then let out a groan of frustration. "Guys, this isn't working. We'd better just walk. At this rate we're never going to get anywhere."

"Walk?" Josh yelped. "Out there? Are you crazy? We can't go out there – in that fog! Who cares if we take forever, at least we're safe in here."

"We're not safe in here, Josh," Joey said, rolling his eyes. "We're in just as much danger in here as we are out there."

"You're agreeing with her?" Josh said exasperatedly. "I'm not going out there. I'll meet you at the grocery store, just hand me the keys."

"Josh, we've got to stick together," Emilie insisted. "Come on, we've got guns. In here we can't even shoot the zombies."

Joey opened his door, holding his gun out in front of him, and started walking. Emilie followed suit, pulling out her own gun. Josh sighed, running his fingers through his long blond hair, and sighed, pulling out his gun as well and following the two. "Suicide," he muttered under his breath.

"Stop being so dramatic," Emilie said. A few days ago she had abandoned her heels for a pair of running shoes, better suited to escaping the groping fingers of the hungry zombies. She stopped for a moment to tie the laces, feeling them loosen, and remembered to call out to Joey who was a few steps ahead of her. "Stop for a sec," she said and Joey turned. Josh stopped where he stood, crossing his arms and tapping his foot impatiently.

"Josh, watch out!" Joey suddenly screamed, pulling out his gun. Emilie stood and turned, ready to shoot, but it was too late. The zombie wrapped its arms around Josh's neck and bit before Josh had time to react. Josh screamed and pulled at the hair of the zombie, but it kept its mouth firm against Josh's neck. Joey ran forward and grabbed the zombie away. It landed at Joey's feet and he prepared to shoot it when it grabbed his leg, biting quickly.

"Shit!" Emilie screamed and shot the thing in the back. The zombie didn't notice and Joey finally shot it in the head, tearing his leg away from its still mouth. Josh fell, clutching his bleeding neck.

"Shoot me," he managed to say as blood and drool dribbled out the sides of his mouth. Joey closed his eyes for a moment, then raised his gun, aiming for Josh's forehead. Josh closed his eyes, Emilie turned away, and Joey pulled the trigger. Emilie turned back to Joey with tears in her eyes and her jaw dropped. With the gun pointed at his own head, Joey wordlessly pulled the trigger again and Emilie was alone.

III

October 2nd, Monday 10:45 a.m.

The restaurant was out of sight when Will heard his name being called. He turned in time to see chubby Arthur Armstrong jogging after him, waving his arms for him to wait for him. Will sighed, wishing he could keep going without Arthur, but he didn't have the heart. He waited for a moment, looking nervously around him.

"Thanks," Arthur said, breathing hard.

"Don't get too comfortable, we're going into the woods," Will said, walking as fast as he could without breaking into a run again.

"Why're we going to the woods?" Arthur asked, struggling to keep up.

"Because that's where Josie is," Will said with finality. Or at least I hope she is…he added silently. What if the reason she hadn't shown up at Happy Burger today was because she had been killed by one of those…things? What if she wasn't at the Flannings' house? He tried to shut out the doubt but he couldn't entirely keep them out. The path through the woods was in front of him, covered in snow. The long, dirt driveway up the Flannings' house wasn't far but there weren't any trees covering it so Will figured the snow was probably even deeper there. He looked down at his jeans regretfully. His legs would be numb by the time he got up there, but he didn't care. He trudged through the snow, hearing Arthur struggle behind him.

"Can't this Josie girl come down here?" Arthur muttered irritably behind him.

"I didn't ask you to come with me," Will said, wishing Arthur would turn back.

Arthur didn't speak again. For the next fifteen minutes they struggled up the snow-covered dirt path in silence until Arthur worked up the courage to speak again. "What do you think they are?" he asked softly.

"How should I know?" Will grumbled.

"I think they're zombies," Arthur said, as though he hadn't heard Will. "You know, like all those Romero movies. They're eating people, they look dead. They fit the description."

"In Dawn of the Dead they could run," Will muttered.

"So?"

"I haven't seen any of them run."

"So maybe it's not just like the Romero movies but they're zombies, right? So they're already dead." Arthur paused for a moment, letting Will digest this. "But they can die. By shooting them in the head. It's the zombie movie rule. To kill a zombie you shoot them in the head. And besides, that Dawn of the Dead was a remake. They didn't run in the original and that was the good one."

"This isn't a zombie movie, Arthur," Will said, trying not to raise his voice. "Zombies are just as much a fantasy as unicorns and elves. One person says elves are little people who work in Santa's workshop, others say they're blond guys with a bow and arrow. You can't just say because Romero thinks a zombie dies by a bullet to the head that real zombies…what the fuck am I saying? Real zombies…" Will laughed. "These guys are just crazy people. They're not zombies."

Before Arthur could argue back there was a low moan from the woods. Will froze. Heavy breathing. Was it Arthur or the zombies? No! Not zombies…just crazy people. The crunching of snow. Something was definitely in there.

"Run!" Will shouted. Arthur followed without hesitation, the tree branches whipping by them, hitting Will in the face, grabbing at his jacket. He could practically see them behind him, stumbling through the deep snow, flesh hanging off of white bone, arms hanging uselessly at their sides, mouths open, hungry moans, blank, lifeless eyes.

Zombies.

IV

October 2nd, Monday 11:35 a.m.

Arthur waved his arms, ushering the group in the basement as the front door was pushed open by the crowd of zombies. Lucy and John were the first ones in, then Josie, and finally Will. Arthur turned, about to close the door, when the zombies pulled him back, biting into his shoulder and legs, ripping away clothes and flesh, chewing on both. Arthur screamed, begged for help, but Will could only close the door to keep the rest from getting in.

"What are those!" Lucy screamed, clutching John's arm, the sleeves of her sweater covering her small, white hands.

"They're zombies," Will said, hating himself for saying it.

"Zombies?" John repeated doubtfully. "Zombies aren't real…there must be something – "

"That's what I thought at first," Will interrupted. "But it's true, they're zombies. What other explanation is there? I've seen a person killed and get back up as though she was fine and then kill someone else."

"Who?" Josie asked softly.

"Shaina," Will said, not looking her in the eye. Lucy choked back a sob.

"Who's died?" John asked, giving up.

"Shaina killed Kim and Artie, and I think a lot of others…I left before I saw anyone else die but with that crowd…there's a lot." Will took a deep breath. "We should get out of here before they find a way in."

"We're safe in here!" Lucy argued.

"No we're not," Will scoffed. "There's just one door to keep us safe and you saw how quickly they got in through the front door. Arthur's keeping them busy for now." Will paused for a moment, disgusted, then continued. "But it'll only last a few more minutes. We have to leave."

"I won't leave," Lucy said stubbornly. "Someone will come help."

"That's what Arthur and I were trying to do and now look what's happened!" Will yelled. Lucy buried her face in John's chest and sniffled.

"Let's just wait a few more minutes. They might not try to get in here at all. Maybe they'll forget about us and leave," John said in his soft, calm voice. Josie nodded and took Will's hand.

"Have you seen Maria?" Josie asked later when John had gotten Lucy to calm down and fall asleep. The zombies had apparently left because it was silent upstairs so the group had agreed to just stay in the basement until help arrived.

"She was at work this morning," Will said. Josie's younger sister, Maria, worked for Will at the Hahn family grocery store as a cashier. "She was pissed, as usual."

"Did you try to find her?" Josie asked.

"What?"

"Before you came here, did you check the store to see if she was okay? Why didn't you bring her here?" There was an accusing tone in Josie's voice and Will realized he had made a huge mistake.

"Uh…no," he said softly. "I didn't think about – "

"Didn't think about it?" Josie yelled. "You mean you didn't even think about seeing if Maria was okay? Oh God…she could be dead…Oh my God. Why didn't you check on her? Shit…"

"Jo, I'm sure she's fine," Will said, trying to keep Josie quiet. Lucy stirred on the couch in one of the corners. John looked up, Lucy's legs resting on his lap, and looked Will over, his message obvious: Make Josie mad, make John mad.

"Why didn't you check on Maria?" Josie hissed.

"I was worried about you," Will whispered back. "You didn't show up at Happy Burger and then when Shaina, Kim, and Artie were attacked I thought maybe you had been attacked so I had to make sure you were safe here…"

"If Maria's dead you'd better know that it's all your fault for not trying to save her first," Josie said through clenched teeth.

"What was a supposed to do, Jo?" Will asked exasperatedly. "I didn't even think…I mean, shouldn't you be grateful that it was you who came to my mind first?"

"Grateful?" Josie repeated loudly. Will looked over at Lucy and John, watching Lucy stir in John's lap as John stared daggers at Will.

"Shh," Will said softly, motioning with his hand for her to be quiet but Josie ignored him.

"Grateful? I should be grateful that you don't give a damn about my little sister? That you'll condemn her because you're more interested in the sister you fuck?"

"Josie…" Will sighed. "I'm sorry, I just wanted to make sure you were okay."

Josie said nothing, just turned away. "Are we going to be stuck in this fucking basement forever or are we getting out of here?" she asked, obviously directing her question to John.

"Why doesn't someone check upstairs and see if they're gone?" Lucy suggested groggily, rubbing her eyes and arching her back, like a kitten waking from its nap.

"I'll go," Will volunteered, eager to get away from Josie.

"Don't come back," Josie said as he started up the stairs.

Will rolled his eyes but ignored her, his heart pounding as he took each step slowly, carefully. The old, basement stairs creaked, the wood bending, and for one surreal moment Will was sure he was about to fall through the stairs. Finally he reached the top step. He didn't have to open the door to hear that they were still out there. Maybe you can run past them, Will thought. He opened the door slowly. The kitchen was crowded with the zombies, all standing there, looking around. They had filled the entire house, leaking through the rooms like a flood. Will slammed the door shut when one of them looked him in the eye.

"What's it like up there?" John asked as Will ran down the stairs, praying the zombies wouldn't try to get into the basement.

"No way we can get out. It's full of those things."

Lucy sniffled. "We're going to die down here," she whimpered.

"We're not going to die," John assured her, rubbing her shoulders gently. "They'll leave in a few hours and we can get out of here."

"They won't leave," Lucy said, shaking her head, growing obviously more and more upset by the minute. "We're going to starve in here."

"You're not going to starve," John said, rolling his eyes. "Go back to sleep."

"I have to pee," Lucy muttered, her face red.

"Oh," John and Will said at the same time.

The four looked around the room. "What about that little hole in the corner?" Josie asked. "The one we used to hide our dolls in."

"I guess," Lucy said.

Will and John turned away. "Uh, so…how's life?" Will asked, trying to make things less awkward for Lucy.

"Well, as of now it's pretty bad," John said with a shrug, catching on.

"Mine too," Will said softly.

Author's Note: I wouldn't trust me to update soon, sorry :( If you want to know why, check the News section of my profile or email me. Anyway, there's the second chapter :)