Silent Gulch Chapter 13
Caboose rounded a corner, looking around frantically.
"I'm telling you, Caboose, Sheila's not here," Sister said, following him.
"I know, that's why I have to get out of here," he responded. "If Sheila isn't in here then she has to be outside here."
"That's actually logical. The problem is we don't' know which way is out." Sister continued to follow behind the blue soldier.
"Hey, Caboose, why are you here?" Doc asked in his normal cheery tone.
Caboose and Sister turned to see the purple medic standing at the end of the hallway before a set of double doors. A half-broken exit sign hung above the door by wires that were half chewed away.
"Doc, why are you here?" Sister asked, confused, and then turned to Caboose. "Are you here to give us another physical?"
"A way out!" Caboose shouted, running toward Doc, not really having noticed the medic. He slid to a halt as he realized there was a wide gap between him and where Doc stood.
Sister walked up beside him and looked down. "Why is there a hole?" She looked up. "And when did Doc get here?"
"You can jump it, Caboose," Doc assured him, holding out his arms as though he would help catch the blue soldier when he reached the other side.
"Sounds like a plan to me," Caboose said, taking a running start and jumping without a second thought. He didn't completely make it to the other side, leaving him hanging onto the edge of the hole and trying to grip onto the smooth floor. "Help me up," he said, looking up at Doc.
Omega's evil laughter was what answered the scared man. "Doc isn't in at the moment, please leave a message after the beep. If you'd like to mark this message as urgent please press one. If you'd like to translate this message into Spanish press seven. If you like to see a sheep be fucked by a 21 year old Swedish man press four. If you want to switch to the church of Scientology press ten. If you want your eyes scratched out by a raven press six. If you'd like to stuff a killer whale in a pig press twenty."
"Oh, I choose the one with the sheep, or maybe the one with the word 'church' in it," Caboose said excitedly.
"I'm sorry, the option you've chosen isn't available at the moment," Omega replied.
"Don't worry Caboose, I'll save you!" Sister shouted before she jumped. She grabbed onto Caboose's waist. "That didn't work out the way I hoped," she said as Caboose's grip started to slide. Caboose lost his grip and the two soldiers plummeted into the darkness. Above them, evil laughter echoed.
"Well, that was fun," Omega said with a slight sinister chuckle as he gazed down into the darkness.
"But that wasn't very nice," Doc said.
"But that's what makes it all the better," Omega declared, laughing evilly again.
"Well, I don't think it was fun at all," Doc replied.
"Quiet, you fool; no one cares what you think," Omega said, silencing his other half. "Now then, there's evil work to be done." He turned and walked out of the hospital.
~Church~
Church stared down at his destination from the broken window of the house.
"Are we going to be safe here?" he asked, turning to Alessa.
The girl nodded. "Yes, they have no interest in this house. We will be safe," she assured him.
Church turned to look back out at the town hall building. It was surrounded by grotesque monsters that walked around in small groups or just meandered around the courtyard. "It's not going to be easy getting in there."
"Are you still determined to get in?" Alessa asked.
Church nodded. "I have to get in there. I have to find out why I'm here; find out what's going on, though only god knows why."
"You aren't going to like what you find," Alessa said. "No one ever does. The man that lived here went looking and he didn't like what he found."
"Yeah, well I'm used to not liking what I find," Church said. "As long as what I find isn't Caboose with a tank or another alien to molest my teammates, then I'm fine."
"Well, how far are you willing to go to find out?" Alessa asked, toying with the hem of her school uniform. "Are you willing to pay a price for finding out?"
Church looked over at the girl, eyeing her. He had a feeling she knew more than she was telling him, but he wasn't sure if he wanted to know what she knew. "What's with all the questions? I told you I'm not leaving until I find out what I want to know."
"It's your choice, your neck," Alessa said. "You might want a better weapon, though. That little knife won't save you from some of the things around here."
"I checked the whole house. There are no other knives or any guns," Church said. "We'll have to do with just the one knife. Though you might want something to protect yourself with. I don't know if I'll be able to protect you."
Alessa gathered up the sheets that they had ripped up into strips and tucked them away in a bag. "I'll be fine, they probably won't attack me."
"Why wouldn't they?" Church asked, stuffing some of the strips into his pocket and tying a few to his belt and wrists.
"Well, you're the intruder here. They'll probably attack you first. If they kill you I'll just run for it while they are hacking up your body," Alessa said simply.
"Good to know you've got my back," Church said sarcastically. "Well, let's get going. There's no point in hanging around here. Those patrols aren't going to get any weaker."
He moved down the stairs and looked around the lower level of the house from the entry way. It seemed so simple and homely and it made him wonder what a place like this was doing in this hell. He wondered what the man who had lived here had been like and what he'd found that he disliked so much. He paused before opening the front door. A part of him didn't want to leave. This was a safe place and they would be all right here. Maybe if he waited, it would all just go away and he'd be back in Blood Gulch. For the first time he actually wanted to be in the box canyon with all his stupid fellow soldiers, even the Reds. He wanted to go back to yelling at the Reds from a distance with Tucker while Caboose stood in the base because they'd tricked him into leaving them alone.
He turned and Alessa looked at him, confused. "We're going out the back way," he told her.
"Why?" She followed him as he moved through the kitchen to the back door. Church jiggled the knob, but it wouldn't open. "It must be locked. There's a way to the back yard through the basement."
Church turned, looking down at her. "How do you know so much?" he asked.
"Because I live in this town, I live in Silent Hill," Alessa replied. "Because I was the first reason someone fought. Because I've seen all that have fought it and all they went through." She looked at him. "And when this is over you'll just be another one of them. Though how this ends is up to you."
Church just looked at her, feeling a bit on edge. "You're creepy, you know that?" He sighed. "So how do we get to the back yard?"
Alessa smiled as though he'd told a joke that only she knew about. "You have to go into the basement and then go through the door. It leads to the back yard."
"Great, a basement, because that doesn't sound like it's from a horror film and will be filled with demons," Church said, making his way back into the house. He found the door and looked down the stairs that descended into the darkness. He could swear he heard some sort of sound coming from below. "Are you sure there's no other way out the back?"
Alessa nodded her head. "I'm sure this is the only way out. The kitchen is locked and there are no other doors.
"You're killing me kid, or whatever might be down there is going to be killing me." Church turned back to the stairs. "Well, there isn't any rest for the wicked," he muttered before he started down the stairs.
When he reached the last three stairs, he cursed as he stepped into water. He shined the flashlight into the basement and it reflected back off the murky water. The surface was still, but Church had a bad feeling. Just as he stepped down onto the last step a lurker sprung out of the water, taking a swing at Church. He backed out of the way just in time to avoid the long sharp claws. It pulled itself forward taking another swing. This time Church was ready and moved out of the way before he swung his knife, and it hit home. The blade cut through the creature's shoulder and it cried out in pain. While it was distracted, Church swung a few more times until the creature fell below the surface, dead.
Church turned to look back at Alessa. "I think it's clear now."
Alessa nodded and walked down the stairs, wading through the water to a door, and opened it up. "This is the way." She stood off to one side.
Church nodded and walked out into the back yard. It was oddly silent, though there was no movement. In the back there was a play set and for a moment Church wondered if the man that had lived here had had kids and what had happened to them.
"Hey Alessa, who did you say lived here?" Church asked.
"His name was Alex; he had a brother, and a mother, and a father that lived here as well." Alessa moved over, running a hand over the rotting wood of a broken-up dog house.
Church huffed as though brushing off the information. Somehow knowing the man's name only made it worse. This was Alex's back yard now, not just some foggy yard that could be crawling with monsters. It was Alex who'd fought like he was going to, who'd found something awful in the end. He turned toward Alessa, suddenly looking down at her.
"I know they didn't like what they found, but were they glad they fought?" he asked.
Alessa smiled up at him. "I don't know. I never asked them. I know two of them were happy. One of them wasn't for sure, another didn't have any other choice and the last; well, I don't really know."
Church nodded, satisfied with the answer. It didn't mean he'd be happy he'd fought in the end, but as long as he didn't ask he could at least trick himself into believing that he and Alex would both have been happy with choosing to fight.
He moved out into the yard and to the side where the fence seemed weakest. Something rustled nearby. What little military training Church had kicked in and he moved low and toward a bush for cover. He was surprising himself a lot today. First he took down a giant tank monster, then he cut up a lurker, and now he actually remembered any of his training. He hadn't used any fighting skills in forever and he had just been winging it when he'd fought the creatures before.
Once he was sure the coast was clear he motioned back to Alessa and she moved over to his side. Together they crept along the fence and Church pried one of the boards loose so that they could get through. He looked at the wood and after a moment decided to keep it with him. At least he could hit things with it. He slipped the knife into his belt and nodded to Alessa. She slipped through the hole first and Church followed. They moved along to the side of the next house and through its unfenced yard.
Slowly they made their way around to the side of the town hall building. They met up with two creatures that had no arms and staggered toward them. Church killed them easily with a few good hits from his board. After sneaking past a few more monsters they made it to a set of doors that were on the side of the building, like a tornado shelter.
"Not another basement," Church muttered as he opened the doors and looked down into the darkness. He took a deep breath and started down the stairs.
"Are you sure about this?' Alessa asked as they descended into the darkness. The wood stairs creaked with each step and seemed to get louder the deeper they went.
Church clicked on his flashlight to show their way and prevent them from falling on the stairs. "Stop asking that." He slowly moved down the stairs.
"Damn, how deep does this go?" he asked, looking around. He noticed that the stones of the wall were noticeably redder then the ones from when they'd started. He reached out and touched the stone, relived when he found that they were dry. The last thing he wanted to find was more blood. He'd had enough of that for one day.
They continued on for a while, though how long it was, Church wasn't sure. The stairs finally stopped and after a short walk down a hallway they came to a door. Church clicked off the flashlight, not wanting to give away their position right away. Slowly, he opened the door and he slipped through.
Church found himself in a mostly dark chamber. Exactly how big it was he couldn't really tell. The only light came from a lamp that hung from the ceiling.
"What was that?" Church asked, looking around into the darkness. The sound of something large being dragged over stone echoed around him and he couldn't tell exactly where it was coming from.
Church turned on the flashlight and pointed it out into the dark. He moved it around until it finally landed on something. What looked like large dirty teal sheets of metal that were laid like scales reflected the light back. The scales started moving and Church's attention was caught when something above him moved. A large snake head appeared out of the shadows looking down at him.
It wasn't any normal snake. Its lower jaw was split into four parts, two on each side, like an alien. Two sharp fangs shined from its upper jaw while a pair of giant fangs pointed skyward like spears from its lowest mandible on either side. Four eyes stared down at him as the creature moved into the light. Behind it, row after row of dirty teal scales appeared with three large fins along its neck.
"Hoooooonk, hooooonk, blaaaaaarg," it hissed, outspreading its mandibles.
"Oh, shit," Church muttered, looking at the board of wood in his hands. "I need a bigger stick."