Silent Hill: The Inner Monster
Page 26
By John Priest (Efrit, Drake, Noctros, etc)
*Tai's story*
"What do you think we should do, Tai?" Questions Jake, staring at her as he awaits an answer.
To be frank, she has no real idea on what to do now. She's been completely dumbfounded by the plane they've been transported into. Anxiety courses through her veins as the chilling atmosphere around them continues to lower the temperature of their bodies, slowly forcing a gloomy, foreboding feeling unto Tai's conscious. She treads carefully inside the room, making sure to look around so she won't be ambushed by any hidden monsters.
"Tai, you listening?" Asks Jake in a mild tone, as he looks at Tai and wonders what she's doing, a bit annoyed due to her lack of immediate action.
"Hm? Oh, yeah...just...thinking..." Explains Tai as she notices Jake.
What should they do? They could dig through the rubble located in the north part of the room, but if they do that, they may chance an encounter with a number of monsters, who may be waiting above the collapsed roof. But, then again, she's been surprised before on how oddly placed some important items are in this town, assuming she's still in Silent Hill. As such, she may discover a new item that could help her on her journey.
"I think....maybe we should see what may be under that rubble" Directs Tai as she points to the collapsed ceiling.
Jake's brow rises curiously, clearly showing that he questions her decision "You do realize that, the very perch above the remains of the ceiling, has a damn good chance of containing a monster on it, right?"
"Listen, I know that, alright? If you don't want to come, you don't have to." Asserts Tai with her eyebrows raising in accordance to her shrug, in which she moves away from him, intending to go to her desired location.
This sudden assertion of dominance aggravates Jake, causing him to sternly walk towards her and nearly force her to turn around. But he stops himself as he comes close to her, swallowing his anger and letting out a small, barely audio-able huff of air from his nose as he suppresses it. Tai doesn't really hear him or his huff, having shifted her focus onto the task implanted in her mind. As such, she just keeps on walking, arriving at her destination in a matter of seconds, oblivious to what has just occurred with Jake. Jake on the other hand, has taken residence upon a lonely chair, not wishing to be near her. He can't figure her out. Why is she so mistrusting of him? He's helped her countless times, shouldn't that be more than enough proof that she can trust him? Then, their's her clear unsteadiness around him. What could have possibly have made her so wary of him? Is it because he's black? Jake balls his hands into a couple of thick, strong fists as this thought races through his mind. But, as fast as it came into his mind, it dissipates and he let's go of it.
He stares at her as she begins to search through the rubble, only offering a distant hand in case something bad happens. As he contemplates the possible things about him that may make her wary of him, Tai is scrounging through the rubble. She made sure to look above her as she came into view of the gaping hole above her, checking for monsters before starting her search. Satisfied with how things looked, she began. Her stomach lurches and contorts as she is forced to endure a horrid, nauseating smell as she searches. That's when, she comes upon a grisly discovery. A humanoid shape, partially decayed. The top half of its torso and up has been frozen, so necrosis hasn't been able to touch upon that area. She comes to her feet in a jolt of energy, repulsed by the hideousness infront of her.
Meanwhile, Jake has begun to doze off, almost fully asleep before Tai's sudden activity is caught in the corner of his eye and catches his attention. He arches his right eyebrow in curiosity, wondering what possibly could be her reason for such an action. He walks over to her slowly, taking his time, yawing as he closes in "What'd you find?"
"J-just...that" responds Tai as she points towards the corpse.
"Yikes. Poor bastard." Comments Jake as he pokes and prods the frozen corpse, feeling a minor pang of sorrow for the unfortunate victim that lay's before both he and Tai.
Jake looks up at Tai, waiting for any possible comments, but her mouth remains still. So, with a decision in his head, he tightly grips the shoulders of the figure and pulls. It takes a lot of effort, since the figure is trapped under so much rubble, but Jake manages to pull it out and out into the open.
Just as it comes out, the corpse's stomach rumbles a bit before exploding, horrid fumes being shot up into the air, covering the room like a poacher's net. Tai is lucky enough in that her tender reflexes activate instantly, in which she instinctively turns a 180-degree angle and covers her nose from the horrid fumes. Jake isn't as lucky, having been still in close proximity of the body. As a result, his face and nose are both blasted by the cold, blistering fumes of the corpse. Jake instantly falls to the ground in a heap, cursing and gagging, barely able to control his stomach from emptying out onto the floor around him. He spins on the floor, moving erratically as he tries to regain his composure, but to no avail.
"Jake!" Reacts Tai as she rushes to his side and tries to help him.
Jake loses control of his stomach for a moment, accidently spewing out a little bit of his own bile onto the floor, almost onto Tai. Deciding he needs something to ease him, Tai looks for a drink. She finds one in her left pocket, taking it out and taking off the lid. She then pours it all over his face, trying to wash the clinch of the fumes away.
It works luckily, allowing Jake the ability to sit up and wipe his face with his hands, wiping the remnants of the fumes mixed with the liquid inside of Medical Health Drinks off his face and onto the floor.
He shakes his head, regaining some of his composure as everything seems to go back into place "Thanks Tai" says Jake as he wipes his face with his big, burly hand once more.
"No problem..." Responds Tai with a light, almost invisible smile. But Jake sees the smile, and responds with one of his own.
They both quickly resume what they were doing previously: Inspecting the rubble and the body they found inside of it. Tai volunteers to look at the corpse since Jake just got sprayed with the stink that laid dormant inside of it, but he gently shakes away her offer, knowing that he has a stronger stomach than she, which is required for what he has in mind.
Not wishing to strain or stress him, Tai agrees albeit hesitantly. While she heads over to the rubble, Jake crawls over to the body and gets onto his knees before grabbing a broken piece of glass and using it to cut open more of the stomach. Inside, only mush is seemingly present. It's likely, that since the upper torso was frozen, that it was more exposed the surrounding arctic atmosphere, while the lower torso and below were separated from it by the massive amounts of rubble, which acted as a sort of makeshift barrier to separate the frost from consuming the rest of the body. As a result, when the body was finally made whole once more, the conflicting temperatures and decaying remnants inside of the body, cultivated inside of the stomach and exploded after a few moments.
After a few moments of prodding around inside of the stomach, Jake finds something. Unsure of what it is, he uses the glass to wipe away the surrounding mush, managing to clear away enough of it to get a good gripping point on the object. Placing his hand inside of the corpse's stomach, he grips the object and quickly pulls it out, trying his best to avoid the insides out of disgust. With the item in hand, Jake brings it up close and finds a key. Perplexed by his find, he takes to Tai. Tai in the meantime, has had an easier time with finding stuff. While searching the rubble, she founds a varying amount of papers, each having clear, legible writing on them.
"Find anything?" Asks Jake in a calm, questioning manner
"Yeah, a couple pieces of paper. You?" Responds Tai in an equally curious manner, albeit slightly more timid.
With those words exchanged, they both show each other what they've found. They both agree that the key is important and should be kept, but they are unsure about the pieces of paper that Tai found. So, being curious, Tai reads both notes aloud.
" ----- f-u-d the key I- the –a pot, what I- w-s doing there, I don't —w. –e told me to hide it securely, saying that the –b-ing would be done later on. I don't know why — continues to play a charade on these idiots, but whatever — plan is, I just hope — gets it over with soon.
---- Timothy Kasik"
Some major parts of this piece, have been damaged badly, making some important words, indistinguishable. But, luckily, the next piece has not been damaged too badly.
" Shit, shit, shit, shit! Someone's heard our plan. — told me —'d handle it, but I'm not sure. I know, I'll get my gun, kill the old man myself. We can then -------- the ------- and get the hell out of this damn town. I just hav--(The rest has been torn and muddled with blood)"
"What do you make of these notes, Jake?" Question Tai as she looks at him, not sure what to think herself considering all the missing words and letters, which have all been obscured by either dirt, dust, rips, or blood.
"*Sigh* Not sure. Personally, I think we should get out of here for now, try to figure out what they both mean later on. Hopefully, in a safer environment." Responds Jake as he moves over to the rubble.
Tai nods her head in agreement, feeling unsafe in the room too. When Jake gets to the rubble, he finds a secure spot and places his feet on it, making sure that it won't give away under more pressure. With his mind satisfied "I'll go up first, in case something's up there. Don't run off, okay?" Jokes Jake, climbing up before Tai could retort a proper rebuttal.
After a few moments, she hears "Clear" coming from above, signaling for her to come up. She uses the same spot as Jake, securing her feet at the same place, before climbing herself. She's halfway there before she hears "Turn around" and obeys it, turning around a bit so that she doesn't lose her grip and fall. She comes face to face with Jake's hands, which are opened out for her to jump into. With this gesture present, she reluctantly accepts it, lunging into his hands and being lifted onto the floor, safe and sound.