chapter 4: alternate midwich elementary

Harry pushed on the door, which was covered in rust. He had to lower his head because of the low ceiling. He pushed the door again, and it broke open. Harry stepped outside. It was dark now, and the snow was replaced by rain. The concrete of the courtyard was now wire mesh.

"Oh fuck…" Harry said quietly. He was back at the school, only it looked different. The brick was cracked and broken. The windows were all boarded up. Both sets of double doors were now large, metal, and completely covered in rust and blood. In the middle of the courtyard was a large symbol that was a large circle and in the middle was a triangle with different symmetrical designs around the outside of the circle and inside the triangle.

"This wasn't here before…" Harry whispered in question. He pulled out the map of the school, hoping the floors and design plans of the school still matched the map. Harry shook his head. In all of his 32 years of living he has never seen anything like the events that had happened to him since arriving in Silent Hill. He decided he would try the front doors.

He rushed out of the courtyard and back into the hallway. He sucked his breath in as his eyes took in the surroundings. The tiled floor was now rusty wire, with blackness beyond that. The walls were yellow and rust stained, with dried, black blood splotches here and there. It was incredibly dark to, his flashlight giving him his only vision. The lockers now were all dark brown and rusty instead of blue. The ceiling to was wire, and he jumped as something wailed in the distance.

His radio emitted low static, and Harry just realized. He was terrified. More terrified than he had ever been in his entire life. Midwich had just turned into a living hell, now he was hearing demonic screams in the distance and the building had just transformed into a decaying place of death…of nightmares.

His worse nightmare was Disneyland to what Silent Hill had thrown at him. The shriek came again, closer and he darted to the doors leading to the lobby. As he struggled to close the door, he stopped. The lobby was now just a tiny wire walkway to the front doors, littered with hospital equipment. Dirty syringes with caked on pus, overturned hospital gurneys, broken wheelchairs, and bloody dolls in nurse outfits.

"What the hell? That shit belongs in a hospital…" Harry said out loud. He took his pipe and pushed some of the stuff away, letting it fall on both sides of the walkway. He stepped over one of the wheel chairs, and pushed the gurney down to. He reached the front doors and pulled on them. They were shut firmly. He cursed darkly, and pulled on them again.

"Shit…c'mon!" He said quickly, pulling on the double doors again. He kicked the doors, and wiped the rust off of his hands. A sound close-by made him freeze.

It sounded extremely heavy, like metal scraping against metal. Following the screeches were heavy footsteps of something big….something close. He took several steps forward, and peered through a crack in the door. He held his breath, and had to stop himself from screaming. It was a creature from the nightmare no doubt, but it resembled a human.

It easily stood seven feet tall. From its waist down it was covered by a yellowed, bloody apron, almost like you'd see a butcher wear. It was leathery looking, like it was made of human skin. Its upper torso was extremely muscular, with muscles on its chest and stomach that Harry didn't even knew existed. And it was no surprise the thing was so strong.

In its right hand was a giant sword, easily the length of the creature and at least half its weight. It was double bladed and was covered in blood. And instead of a head a large metal pyramid shaped helmet was the crowning horror. It was pointed and engulfed his head, if he even had one. Harry was immediately more terrified of this new monster. It took another step, dragging the sword behind him. He saw the bulging arm muscles flex as the pyramid headed creature dragged it. Harry took several steps back-

-and his heart stopped as his foot hit a wheel chair. The loud clang seemed to bust his ear drums cause a long drawn out silence followed. Harry hated wheel chairs now. For a second he thought that maybe the creature didn't have ears and couldn't hear him. He was quickly mistaken as the sword pierced the door and came inches from his face. He backed up to the double doors. Either the sword was longer than he thought, or the room was smaller. There was a terrible screech as the pyramid creature pulled the sword out of the door. Harry covered his ears.

"Oh shit…shit shit shit shit shit!" He looked around in panic. There was no where to go. He picked up a spare piece from the wheel chair and swung it against the front doors. They barely moved. He hit it again, and the wheel chair broke. Harry then saw another option. Falling into the blackness and hope it wasn't too far. The creature drove his sword into the door again, this time twisting it to make a hole. Harry pulled the handgun out, and aimed it at the door. The monster stuck his hand in, feeling around. He shot several times, hitting the thing's arm once. It then went to the door handle and opened the door, ripping the huge rusted metal off its hinges. "No fucking way…" Harry thought. He stuck the gun back in his pocket, tossed the pipe down into the blackness, and leaped off after the pipe.

After falling several feet Harry hit the ground. It wasn't as far as he looked, but it still hurt like hell when he landed. He tried his hardest to land on his ass or feet, but it was a mix of both. Now he had to walk with a small limp. "Better than being shish-ka-bobbed by that thing." Harry thought.

"I wonder what the hell that thing was…?" He sat there for a moment thinking, until finally deciding to call it Pyramid Head. He winced as he stood up, using his pipe as a sort of cane. He looked around. It looked like he was in the basement.

He pulled out the map and looked around. Even though everything was decayed and alternate, the design plan did match that of the basement of the school. Harry smiled at that fact. So to his left would be the boiler room and up ahead would be a storage room and an employee restroom. Above him he could still faintly hear Pyramid Head dragging his sword.

Oddly enough his radio didn't emit static when he had attacked Harry. He tried the door to the boiler room, and it was locked. He sighed and continued forward. The next two doors were jammed and impossible to go through. He started up the stairs, all his senses going haywire. He was initially dreading Pyramid Head, but saw he was opposite that wing of the front doors.

He sighed, hoping he'd never see that thing again. As soon as this relief went through him, his radio emitted the white noise. He looked down the hall, and noticed that the floor was…moving.

He breathed out quickly, and saw it basically looked like mutant cockroaches. They were the size of his palm, and were making odd croaking noises. In the middle of the floor was a wheelchair and in the wheelchair was a yellow card of some sort. Problem was the bugs were swarming around the bottom.

He decided it wasn't worth his time and entered the Infirmary to his right. His gaze immediately fell to the wall on his right. Instead of the grotesque picture of the odd door he had seen earlier, the door was actually there, a cage on each side and all. He groaned, thinking that somehow they would come to life.

Now that he had a better view, he saw it wasn't a peep-hole in the middle of the door, but a horizontal slot. "Shit…" He said breathlessly, only instead of a curse it sounded like a plea. Apparently the card in the wheelchair was the way to open the door. But outside he couldn't see the other side of the door, it looked just like the rest of the decayed wall. He pushed on the door, and it moved a little. "What the hell?" He exited the Infirmary and his radio began acting up again. He turned toward the wheelchair, and the flashlight fell on the bugs. It seemed like they all froze-

-and then began a quick march toward Harry. He took two massive steps forward, hearing and feeling then pop and squish under his weight. Some latched onto his foot and began a stride up to his crotch. He yelped and began shaking his legs, almost like some sick dance. He wanted to laugh, but the bugs were quickly overcoming him. He reached forward and grabbed the card-

-and the bugs just cleared, spreading out every which way. It suddenly grew very quiet, and this was more unsettling than the bugs. And then he heard it to, even felt the vibrations. Up ahead, obscured by darkness came the long, terrible metal on metal screech of the giant sword Pyramid Head had been carrying. Harry didn't wait until he saw it, he just darted back into the Infirmary.

"Oh God no no no no no…" His mind began screaming in panic. Aside from some deteriorated couches and rotten medicine cabinets, there was no where to go in here. He hoped this weird door just led somewhere. He inserted the card, and heard something click, and then throughout the walls heard the sound of gears shifting. He pushed on the door again, and it flew open.

He closed it, hoping Pyramid Head couldn't get this door open. He looked around and felt his stomach sink into his knees. It only led to a bathroom. At the opposite end was on stall, barely visible in the darkness. Beside him was a sink. He walked over and turned the faucet. It groaned, and then rust colored water came pouring out. After a second however the water had a slimy texture, and was the color of blood. Something else came out. He turned off the skanky liquid and picked it up.

It was a key. It was old and rusted and looked like it was ready to break. Etched on it was "Boiler". Harry smiled again and stuck the key in his pocket. Something crashed in the stall, and he saw it was the door. "Oh my…" His eye's widened. The janitor he had seen in the bathroom in the normal school was here…only now he was moving. He was still in his deformed, twisted pose, dragging himself along the ground as he tied up feet bobbed by his head. His tongue lapped around his mouth like a snake trying to smell something. "Waaahh!"

He wailed, his voice deep, gravely, and scarred by death. It made Harry shiver. The janitor monster reached out and grabbed the wall, and a putrid red stain spread from his hand. Harry stumbled backward, reaching blindly toward the odd door unable to take his eyes from the corpse he was sure was dead twenty minutes ago. He opened it, expecting the Infirmary and Pyramid Head waiting on him, but instead he stumbled out into a hallway. "What the hell…!"

There were lockers lining the hallway, with several doors as well. He heard the creature call out again, and he ran down the hall, the flashlight moving around wildly, making his vision blurry as hell.

He stopped at the end, breathing in and out heavily. He pulled out the map, checking each floor. Where he was at resembled the second floor. Harry didn't even start to wonder why he was on the second floor. He quickly checked the two closest doors, which were a classroom and a library. The library was jammed, but the classroom opened. Inside, several rotten desks were strung to the ceiling with rusty barbed wire.

On the teachers desk was a blue phone. "Very out of place…" Harry whispered. He turned and walked back across the classroom to the door he had entered in when suddenly a ringing from behind terrified him. He let out a small yell, followed by dark curses. He stormed over to the phone and picked it up and slowly brought it to his ear. The voice that followed made his heart swell with sadness and determination.

"Daddy…help me…Daddy, where are you!"

"CHERYL!"

Harry cried out. There was a click followed by a dial tone. Harry slammed the receiver down and saw that the cord to the phone was dangling off the desk. "Damnit Cheryl, where are you!" He said aloud, promising that if some creep had his daughter…He pushed the thought away, he needed to stay clear-headed.

With the boiler room key he really wanted to go back down to the basement, but didn't want to run into Pyramid Head, or the swarm of bugs. He walked carefully down the steps, looking around. His radio erupted, and immediately he expected Pyramid Head. Instead, several of the gray children were scrambling toward him.

The charred skin glowed dimly, the ember light almost peaceful. He hit the first one twice, successfully hitting it both times. It wailed, falling into a pile of ash. He then heard the dark wails for several more, and was frightened at the thought of how many lurked in the darkness. So instead he made a run for the steps leading to the basement. He glanced over and saw at least twelve stumbling toward him, reaching out with their Nosferatu-like fingers.

He almost tripped on the metal steps, the echo of his footsteps in his ears. In the basement he quickly looked around for the boiler room. He spotted it and pulled out the rusty key. He inserted into the lock with a little struggle. The door opened roughly, the key breaking in the lock. He closed the door, and saw the room was about the size of a large walk in closet.

He pulled on the door, but found it firmly locked. "Shit the key!" He yelled, kicking the door in anger. Maybe, by some wonderful miracle Cybil would come by and get him out. "Wonder how Cybil is…She probably thinks I'm still at the café…" He thought sadly.

Also, did she even see this twisted alternate world? Harry slid to his knees, placing his face in his palms. He saw a tattered book on the ground, and noticed it was from his favorite childhood fairy tale. He had even read it to Cheryl. He smiled, but was a little unsettled at why it was in this room. It belonged in the library if any place. The title was "The Monster Lurks" Harry smiled and picked it up. The book opened up to a page near the end. Harry was compelled to read it.

Hearing this, the hunter armed with bow and arrow said, "I will kill the Lizard." But upon meeting his opponent, he held back, taunting, " Who's afraid of a Reptile". At this the furious Lizard hissed, "I'll swallow you in a single bite!" then, the huge creature attacked, jaws open wide. This was what the man wanted. Calmly drawing his bow, he shot into the Lizards gaping mouth. Effortlessly the arrow flew, piercing the defenseless maw. And the Lizard fell down dead.

He finished the last line and the floor seemed to shake, and it began to slowly descend. He dropped the book, looking around wildly. Wire gratings went by in a blur, and Harry pressed himself against the back of the hidden elevator to keep his balance.

Finally it stopped, and an odd silence filled the room. A metal prison style door was in front of him, and he was hesitant to just wait and see if it would go back up. But then he remembered the door was locked, and at least down here he could maybe find stairs. He opened the door, and beyond was just blackness. His flashlight didn't help to much, so he concluded the room was fairly large. He took a step out, and the door closed and he heard the elevator start ascending.

He turned and started banging on the door. "No! Fuck stop!" He screamed at the elevator. He turned back around, feeling like a cornered animal. There was an ember glow in the middle of the huge room, and it was slowly getting bigger. Harry pressed himself against the door, wishing and praying the elevator would come back down.The ember glow developed into fire, and light filled the dark wire cavern.

Harry's eyes soon became fixated on the fire in the middle of the room. A body was strung up in a mummified fashion, and the flames were starting to engulf it. Harry got a little closer, and saw it was of a young girl! "What the…" He was cut off by a monstrous footstep, and then a deep, low growl. He looked around, pulling the handgun from his belt.

"What the hell was that?" He said aloud, looking around quickly. Something massive stepped from behind the burner, which was smoking now that the body was on fire, and the smell of burnt flesh filled his nostrils. The monstrous thing stepped into the light of the fire, and Harry swore his heart stopped. It looked like a Komodo Dragon, only the size of the trailer.

He couldn't spot eyes, but there was white foamy drool around what he could vaguely see was a mouth. He immediately raised his weapon and fired four shots, connecting with the monster.

It did an odd howl, and Harry was worried that he had only pissed it off. He kept backing up, pumping with lead. Finally it stopped moving, growling continuously, drool pouring from the mouth. While it was stopped, Harry removed the clip from the handgun and reloaded some bullets into it. Suddenly, the giant lizard rushed toward Harry, and he stumbled backward as the thing nudged him with its snout-

-and suddenly the mouth Harry had thought he had saw split open vertically, revealing an eight foot gaping hole of saliva, slime, and teeth. It howled and went down to swallow Harry. But in this instant Harry remembered the fairy tale for some odd reason.

"Effortlessly the arrow flew, piercing the defenseless maw. And the Lizard fell down dead."

Harry raised the handgun and shot several times into the gaping jaw of the monster. Its tiny four legs seemed to collapse, and Harry had to roll out of the things way so it could fall down. The fire in the middle of the chamber was slowly dying, and Harry could hear the siren in the distance.

The chamber grew darker and darker. The siren blared loud as ever, until silence. Harry looked around, the flashlight giving him minimal light to such a large chamber. He made out a figure propped against the decayed wall. It looked over and noticed him to, and it stood up.

Harry saw it was a young girl, maybe around the age of 14, wearing old time school cloths. It was a navy blue dress with white cuffs around the neck.

Her black hair was short, and she actually resembled Cheryl… "Huh…?" Harry breathed slowly. Suddenly the girl smiled, and his flashlight went out. "Hey wait!" Harry called out. He hit the on/off switch several times on his flashlight until it came back on.

The girl was no where to be seen, and everything looked normal. Instead of the fire contraption in the middle of the room, he saw a….boiler! "What the…What's going on…Who in the hell was that?" Harry quickly headed over to the door and left the boiler room.

Sure enough, he was back in the basement of Midwich Elementary School. He hurried up the steps. In the far distance he heard the repeated ding of a church bell.

"Who's ringing that bell…?" Harry pulled out the map to Old Silent Hill and looked around. Across the road on Bradbury Street was the Balkan Church. He stuffed the map back in his pocket and went over to the double doors leading to the outside world.

He pulled on the door, and sure enough it opened. Harry took several steps outside and then broke into a run, wanting to get as far away from Midwich Elementary as possible.