Title: Drag Them Into Hell
Author: HouseJackBuilt
Rating: NC-17
Warnings: Swearing, violence, gore, horror, slight slash *SPOILERS FOR SH5 AND SH2!*
Chapter Warnings: Strong language
Pairing: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or any of its characters or creations. All credit goes to the makers. I am not making any money off this story.
Author's Note: Well you should already expect it from me by now, but again, apologies for the delay. I've been having a think of what direction to take this next chapter in and I've finally decided so I hope you all enjoy it. As always, thank you all very much for every read and review you are kind enough to give me, it really motivates me to write more.
Summary: It's been five months since Alex Shepherd left Silent Hill and he is trying to rebuild his life. Things are going well until children start to go missing from his hometown and he hears voices calling him back to Silent Hill. James Sunderland is still in Silent Hill, continuously being tormented. His spirit is faltering and he is growing weaker by the day, considering suicide daily. Pyramid Head won't allow James to leave and wants Alex to come home. You cannot escape who you are.
Beatings cleanse the soul, they say, and that is what he'll do.
If you don't control your anger then you'll feel his anger too.
As James and Alex sprinted east on Rendell Street, wisps of fog gathered at their ankles and caressed their clothes as if to stop them from running and engulf them the mist, never to find their way out. James knew that they shouldn't be running blindly through the streets like this. Their footsteps echoed off the pavement and seemed to stretch on forever, dangerously close to alerting the beasts of their presence. They could barely see a few feet in front of themselves and running this fast without knowing what was lurking ahead was a disaster waiting to happen. But they still ran, they ran because the demon from hell was on their heels. The static from the radio had subsided for now but Pyramid Head had a habit of showing up in the most impossible of places. If they stood still for long, his blood stained gloves could appear from the mist at any moment and drag them both down into the darkest depths. Better to take a chance and run like hell than to be taken to hell.
James made a sharp left onto Munson Street with Alex following close behind, Katz Street straight ahead and Woodside Apartments not far off. He still had a few bullets left but didn't feel like stopping to use them. He just wanted to get back to his room where he had a whole arsenal of weapons at his disposal. The fog was making this journey considerably more difficult but he'd navigated these streets a hundred times before and could make the journey with his eyes closed. That thought however was a terrifying one yet it was practically what he was doing.
"How much farther?" he heard Alex cry breathlessly behind him.
James could see the intersection up ahead. "It's the next right, we're almost there!"
They both turned right onto Katz Street, both out of breath and weak at the knees but they kept on going. Blue Creek Apartments flew past them in a blur and Woodside Apartments came into view. James thought he'd never be so happy to see the shabby, disintegrating building in his life. They were both making their way up to the main door when a sharp burst of static hissed from James's radio. Alex and James spun around, their back's to the door and James holding out the gun in front of him but there was nothing there, yet the static continued to hiss softly. The silence was so thick that it began to unsettle James and Alex too apparently.
"Let's get inside," said Alex nervously.
James turned around to get the door open when a dreadful pulsating, suckling sound filled the air. He knew immediately what it was, a Patient Demon. The tortured beasts, bound in strait jackets made from their own skin, twitching awkwardly on two legs and spraying acid from their stomachs. The cousin creatures of the Smog beasts, just as horrific, just as dangerous. The static began to increase in volume and James tried to open the door but it appeared that something was jamming it. It wouldn't budge. He looked back over his shoulder and could just make out at least six of the creatures in the distance, advancing slowly but surely up Harris Street. Alex turned to face him.
"Hurry up James, what the hell is wrong?" He tried to force the door himself but to no avail. "Shit! We need to get this thing open now or we're done for! Is there any other way in?" he asked, all the while casting nervous glances back over his shoulder.
"This is the only way. Take the gun, I'll get the door open," answered James, shoving the gun into Alex's hands. Alex pointed the gun in front of him, ready to blast anything that came close. The Patient Demons were not far off now.
James turned his attention back to the door and kicked it with all of his might. It groaned under the pressure but did not give way. He kicked it again, cursing when it wouldn't move. Goddamn it! What a perfect moment to jam shut! Just my fucking luck! He kicked it again violently and thought he felt something give way. He flinched when Alex fired off a shot next to him.
"Come on James, they're getting closer!" he shouted, letting off another shot.
James gave one last mighty kick and the doors bent inwards but still didn't open. He looked behind him and the creatures were terrifyingly close, just on the other side of the street. In ten seconds they would be on them and that would be the end of everything.
"I'm running out of ammo!" Alex shouted frantically.
James took a few steps back from the doors and ran at them at full speed. He winced in pain as he shoulder bashed them, throwing his full weight into the assault. The doors flew inward and James landed on the floor in the lobby. Alex followed close behind just as a Patient Demon let off a spray of acid. He slammed the doors shut and James could hear the hiss from outside where the deadly liquid was surely biting into the metal. Alex helped him up and they made their way up the stairs. Thankfully there were no Mannequin creatures to contend with in the darkened hallways and they made it to room 205 in one piece.
James cautiously stepped inside and was relieved to find his duffle bag full of weapons by the dressing table where he'd left it, untouched. He turned to face Alex who was looking at him intently, the gun still in his hand.
"You've got some explaining to do Sunderland. I want the truth and I want it now," he said in a voice which left no room for argument.
"Okay... Just let me have a look in the other rooms first okay? We won't be able to say anything if we're interrupted by a Mannequin will we?"
James took Alex's silence for a yes and began to move toward the bedroom. He had a look around and there were no monsters hiding under the bed or in the closet. He then moved across the living room and made his way to the bathroom.
"Do me a favour Alex," he said. "Put the gun down, you're making me nervous." Alex took a seat at the kitchen table and put the gun on top of it. It was still too close for James's liking but at least he'd let go of it.
James inspected the tiny space in the bathroom and it was empty, just as he thought it would be. He was about to go back out to face Alex when he caught sight of himself in the mirror and stopped suddenly. He stood in stunned silence for a few seconds and then placed his hands on the sink, leaning closer to his reflection, fearing to look but not being able to turn away. The closer he looked, the more scared he became... what the hell was happening to him? He remembered doing this very same thing when he'd first gotten out of Silent Hill and found the diner. He'd noticed tiny changes in his appearance but they weren't big enough to bother him, but this... this was something else entirely.
Where he'd noticed small flecks of black in his blonde hair in the diner, the black now seemed to be turning a silvery colour and the colour had spread rapidly. He ran a hand through his hair and there was definitely more silver than blonde. To anybody who didn't know him it would seem as if silver was his natural colour with the occasional fleck of blonde every now and then. Soon he knew that the blonde would be engulfed completely and his whole head of hair would change colour. He felt confused and frightened.
He brought a hand up to his face and felt his skin, which he'd noticed straight away had gone considerably paler, almost as white as snow itself. He noticed tiny blue veins beneath his skin stretching out over his temples and crawling up his neck. His lips had gone an even darker shade of maroon now, they almost looked black. But his eyes... his eyes were what scared him the most. Where they were once a healthy shade of green, they had darkened considerably, almost to the point where they were as black as midnight. He didn't recognise them at all, there was a darkness lurking behind those eyes, a darkness that was dangerous and frightening.
The change in his appearance unsettled him tremendously, he wondered if anything else had changed on his body. With trembling hands he lifted up his shirt and gazed down at his stomach, and yet again felt a stab of fear. Where he was once gaunt and skinny, his ribcage poking through his skin from lack of food, he now had a well defined six-pack. His skin was the same as that on his face, pale and veins visible beneath. He lowered his t-shirt and felt his arms, his fingers squeezing firm muscle that wasn't there before. He didn't need to look to know that his legs had probably bulked up too.
He placed his hands on the sink again to steady himself; a million thoughts were swimming round his head. What was he becoming? He didn't even recognise himself anymore, but there was an ugly familiarity about his appearance that made him feel sick. He cast his mind back to when he was hiding in the pantry in Alex's house, just before he'd almost killed Officer Stanton. When he'd heard the whisperings in his head, when the darkness began to creep in. He remembered what his hand had looked like on the door knob, it was pale and he could see the veins beneath his skin. He held his trembling hands up in front of his face. Exactly how they look now. What the hell had Pyramid Head done to him when he'd given him his blood? And how long had he looked like this? He knew who would be able to tell him.
He walked out of the bathroom with trembling legs and stared at Alex. He was still sitting at the table, the gun in his hand once more and a fresh box of bullets on the table where the gun had been moments before. He must have gotten them out of the duffle bag.
"Judging by the look on your face, I'm guessing you've seen your reflection," said Alex.
"How long have I looked like this Alex?" asked James in a trembling voice.
"Ever since the hospital," he answered. "I noticed that your appearance began to change right after I killed that Order member. Everything happened so fast after that, I didn't get a chance to bring it up. I need answers James, no more bullshit."
"We can talk without the gun Alex, I felt better when it was on the table and your finger wasn't on the trigger."
"Well I feel better when it's in my hand James. Until you start telling me everything, my finger stays on the trigger." Alex pulled up a chair and placed it opposite him. "Have a seat."
James knew he was going to have to come clean. The whole situation had gotten way out of control, he was a fool to think that he could just bring Shepherd back and Pyramid Head would just let him walk free. He had been played and his fear of the red demon had made him desperate to believe any possibility of escaping his fate. He sat down opposite Alex, his onyx eyes flitting back and forth between the gun and Alex's intense stare. He took a deep breath, he was already in deep shit, how much worse could it get?
"I haven't been entirely honest with you Alex. I was sent to Oakley by Pyramid Head to find you and bring you back here, and I still don't know what he wants with you... or me, that's the truth. But the reason I wanted to get you back here so badly wasn't to save those kids... it was to save myself."
James began to tell Alex everything. About how he found Toby Griffiths wandering the streets of Silent Hill alone and frightened, about how he ran away like a coward while Pyramid Head had dragged the child screaming into the fog. He told Alex about the deal he'd made with the red demon, bring Alex back to Silent Hill and James would be free to go. How the monster had passed some of his blood into James to prevent him from escaping whilst he was in the real world. How he'd almost killed Stanton and the whispers in his head, the darkness in his mind. And about how the Order members were also looking for him, and he still didn't know why.
By the time he'd finished telling Alex everything he didn't know how he was going to react. His face was a mask of stone, his expression giving nothing away. But he noticed with a slight unease that Alex's finger still remained on the trigger.
Alex needed a minute to take everything in, to process the information that both scared and angered him at the same time. He knew something wasn't right with James ever since they'd had the scuffle out on the highway and James had told Alex about how he'd murdered his wife. There was a look in his eyes that was dangerous, that made him seem like a different person. He'd been wary of him ever since that point and his wariness only increased in the hospital when James couldn't kill the Order member and looked like he was talking to a voice in his head.
Then there was Sunderland's appearance. The way he'd changed so rapidly in such a short space of time was frightening. His hair had almost completely changed colour and his skin was deathly pale, like he belonged on a slab in the morgue. When he'd first met James after the asylum, his clothes were hanging off him but now they fitted him perfectly, as if he'd put on a considerable amount of muscle since the hospital. But his eyes were frightening and Alex found himself feeling very uncomfortable if he looked into them for more than a few seconds. They were blacker than black and Alex could see a calculating and cunning swimming behind those dark pools that was almost alien. He knew now that it must be the blood of Pyramid Head running through James's body that was causing this change, but the reason for the change and what he was changing into he did not know, and dreaded the moment when he would find out.
James was looking at Alex with an anticipation of dread, anxious of what Alex's response would be. Alex tightened his finger on the trigger. He was royally pissed off at James for lying to him. He had pried into his conscious, making him feel responsible for the lives of those kids, making him feel that if he didn't go back to Silent Hill with James, then the fate of those children would be forever on his shoulders. And while Alex wasn't forced to come back to this town and did genuinely want to find those kids alive, James had gotten him here under false pretences. James just wanted to save his own skin and now Alex didn't know what he was dealing with. While they had Pyramid Head, and the Order to deal with, as James had revealed, they now had James himself to deal with. Neither Alex nor James knew what was happening to him or what he was becoming, but after what he'd done to Officer Stanton, they both knew that he was becoming something dangerous. How the hell could Alex trust him? Finally, after what seemed like an hour long silence, Alex broke it.
"Well... anybody else would be beating the shit out of you right now for the way you've lied to get me here. But that's not going to solve anything; it's not going to help us find those kids. So we need to decide where we go from here and after everything you've just told me, I'm all out of ideas."
James shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "I'm sorry I lied to you Alex... but I'm not as much of a heartless bastard as you think I am. Yeah, I left the kid and that was wrong. But I did go back for him, I tried to find him!"
"Yeah, when your conscience got the better of you," Alex replied bitterly.
"You're right okay? I ran away like a coward but I went back, I wanted to the right thing for once in my life. Then I made the deal with Pyramid Head despite being fucking terrified of him, I genuinely wanted to save the kid alright? So I can't be that much of a coward. If it weren't for the Order trying to find me I would have went in there all guns blazing, my life be damned."
Alex's head began to hurt; the Order had slipped his mind. It was just one thing after another in this town, why couldn't anything ever be straight forward?
"Do you have any idea why they might be looking for you?" Alex asked.
James shook his head. "I don't know. I heard them say that they 'have his protection' so maybe Pyramid Head has sent them to find me and bring me to him. They see Pyramid Head as a punisher. We're upsetting the order of things Alex, disturbing the balance, and they'll do whatever they can to bring us to their idea of justice."
"And what about you James? Do you genuinely care about what happens to those kids?" Alex asked.
James hesitated. "I don't know. I don't know who I am anymore... One minute I want to do the right thing, and the next I'm thinking thoughts that I shouldn't be thinking... dangerous thoughts."
Alex frowned and asked the question he was dreading to ask, "But are they thoughts you shouldn't be thinking?"
James snapped his head up sharply and stared at Alex.
"Who are you James? Why were you called to Silent Hill?"
"Because... because I killed my wife. I told you that Shepherd."
Alex just stared at James, silently willing him to continue.
"I killed my wife... and I enjoyed it. God help me, I enjoyed it," said James in a hushed voice, placing his head in his hands.
"Then that's why you were chosen James. Because you already had the darkness inside of you, that's why you can never bring yourself to leave this town. You keep trying to fight it, but now that you have his blood inside you, you're finding it harder aren't you? Pretty soon you won't be able to fight it anymore."
James was silent for a long time and then looked Alex directly in the eyes, "That's why you have to kill me."
Alex was taken aback. "What?"
"You have to Alex, I can't be trusted. If I come with you to try and save these kids I don't know what I'll be capable of. You're right, pretty soon the darkness will overtake me completely, I can already feel myself giving in to it and what happens when that moment comes? What will I become? Will you be able to stop me Alex?"
Alex just stared at him. This was insane! He knew James was right, he wasn't going to be able to fight the shadows that were growing within him much longer but killing him? Alex didn't know if he could do it... he couldn't do it!
"I'm not going to kill you James. What do you think Pyramid Head would do if I ended your life? He's spent God knows how long trying to prevent you from killing yourself; we both know he wants you alive. What do you think he would do if I did what you haven't been able to do? He'd kill those kids, that's what. And then this whole thing will have been for nothing."
"And why do you think he wants me alive?" James shot back. "He wants me alive so I can finish turning into whatever it is I'm becoming! You or those kids don't want to be around when that happens Alex, I'm beyond saving."
"But the kids aren't! We still have time to find them, you know this town better than me and two guns are better than one. I won't have a chance of finding them alone, I need you alive James."
James was silent for a long time, his brow furrowed. Alex could see he was having an internal struggle, he was finding it hard to come to a decision and Alex just hoped it would be the right one. He needed James to help him, if he killed him, Alex did not want to be around to feel the wrath of Pyramid Head, he would kill the children for sure. He thought of William's family. He thought of Bill and Iris and his little sister Molly. He thought of Toby Griffiths and his family who were going through the same unimaginable pain that Bill and Iris must be going through. The pain only a parent can understand. He had to find them, even if it did mean risking his own skin with James's unpredictable behaviour.
"... I'm in. I'll help you find them... but you hear me now Alex, I cannot be responsible for what I do. You know the risks, I'm going to try and fight this thing inside of me as best I can but if anything happens-"
"I understand James," Alex cut him off. "Let's just hope you can hold out a little longer."
James nodded.
"So where do you think we should start?" asked Alex. "You said that when you went back for Toby you were heading to the Lair... I've been there before." Images of Order members, torture chambers and flames that one would only find in the depths of hell flashed through his mind.
"Yeah but now that I look back on it I don't think I was on the right track. That's the first place Pyramid Head would expect us to go, it's where he wants us to go. I think, if they're still alive, those kids will be somewhere else entirely."
"Well that could be anywhere," said Alex with exasperation.
"I know how we could find out," said James. "The Order. If they're working for Pyramid Head they'll know where he's been taking the kids."
"That takes us back to the Lair again and they'd never tell us. They'd have their fun first and then kill us," replied Alex.
"We won't go to the Lair. There's this one Order member I've seen a lot, he's always running around the town on his own. One day I followed him, curious to see where he actually goes. Turns out he's a fan of Dargento Cemetery. He goes there almost every day. I don't know what he does there or why he goes but it's worth a shot. I'm surprised he hasn't been killed by a Smog or a Feral yet."
"So when we find this guy, you think he'll know where the kids are? What if he won't talk?"
"Then we'll make him talk," replied James. Alex looked at his eyes again and quickly looked away feeling uncomfortable. If they were going to try to coheres this guy into talking, he'd have to keep a close eye on James.
"Okay, Dargento Cemetery it is," stated Alex.
They both crouched down beside the duffle bag and began to sort through the weapons and ammunition. Alex was admiring a shot gun when James spoke.
"Alex?" Alex looked up at James. "If we find these kids and they're okay, you'll get them out of here won't you?"
"I'll do my best," replied Alex.
"Good. I don't want all of this to have been for nothing but I can't promise I'll have yours or those kids' best interests at heart when we find them. I don't know how long it's going to be before I can't fight this darkness anymore."
Alex was looking at James, a feeling of dread heavy in his stomach.
"Pyramid Head keeps telling me to embrace this darkness inside of me and I don't want to. I don't want to stay down there with him and become like the things I've been afraid of for so long. I've wished for death for so long but have always been scared of what's on the other side. When the darkness overcomes me, I don't think I'll be afraid anymore."
"James-" Alex began to speak but James cut him off.
"What I'm saying is, when the time comes, you'll take care of it, won't you?"
Alex could only stare at James, the words caught in this throat. A feral howled somewhere in the distance, the fog clawed at the windows.
"Alex. When the time comes, promise me that you'll kill me."
Alex didn't like it, but he knew what he must do when the moment came. He nodded.
"Alright James... I promise."