Chapter 7 is here, sorry for the delay! Previously, Rebecca and Cheryl suffered an attack by the leader of The Order, Reeve. Unfortunately, things are about to get worse. FAR worse. Plus, someone new joins the cast...you'll recognize her if you played SILENT HILL: DOWNPOUR!

RESIDENT EVIL X SILENT HILL: JUDGEMENT DAY

written by Charles Spencer,
inspired by Ygure

CHAPTER SEVEN:

"TAKEN"

-1-

Brahms, Maine

At the same moment Cheryl Mason and Rebecca Chambers were attacked in their minds, at 4:14 PM that Friday afternoon, Captain Cybil Bennett felt an inexplicable unease. She didn't know why...truthfully, she was afraid to ask what brought the sensation on. But it was as she sat behind the desk of her office in the Brahms Police Department building that Cybil felt like something terrible was happening. Or was something about to happen? What she felt made her think of Silent Hill, in spite of the fact she didn't want to. That town had always haunted her, even during her happiest days in the years afterward, when she became a wife and mother, was promoted up the ranks to Captain. The darksome memories of Silent Hill never faded, and only made her hold all that was good in life even more precious. Cybil knew how truly blessed she was to be alive because of a truly remarkable man named Harry Mason, who she still mourned, and the power of his extraordinary daughter, Cheryl.

But Cybil Bennett wasn't the only one to suffer the fog and darkness of Silent Hill...and she was about to meet another.

As her disquiet eased, a knock came from the other side of her office door. Cybil said, "Yes?"

The wood door opened, and a woman looked in carefully. The pretty woman had short black hair in contrast to her porcelain skin, which made Cybil think of the cute bioterrorist agent who visited her last Sunday. But the lady was dressed for business, her slender frame dressed in the dour blue uniform of a corrections officer from Wayside Maximum Security Prison. The woman asked, "Captain Bennett?"

Cybil looked at the woman with curiosity. "Yes, can I help you?"

The black-haired woman entered further, but there was so much unease governing her. Tentatively, she said, "This is going to sound very strange, but...I needed to talk to you about something."

Cybil asked, "You work for Wayside Corrections, right?" The visitor nodded. "Why would you need to talk to me?"

The woman looked down, suddenly uncomfortable. "What I do doesn't matter, ma'am...I-I just felt the need to see you."

Cybil Bennett could feel it then. An unspoken connection. The blonde Captain offered softly, "Please tell me why you're here."

There was such a haunted quality in the lady's strong eyes. "Not too long ago, I...I was in this place called Silent Hill. I still don't understand so much of what happened there, and I need to. I really need to." The need was so clearly there in her eyes, as well. "I've asked around, looking for someone else who has been there. I heard your name mentioned more than once, Captain."

Cybil Bennett stood from behind her desk...her soft expression on her face reflected that same need. "Close the door behind you." The visitor did. "And please...call me Cybil. What's your name, officer?"

The black-haired beauty nodded gently and answered, "Anne Cunningham. I mean, call me Anne, Cybil."

They both had a lot to talk about.

-2-

Black Falls, Vermont

"Rebecca!" Head Nurse Gwen Park was on her knees next to Rebecca Chambers as she was on all fours. The pain had finally, thankfully began to subside for the agent, as it had for Cheryl Mason after the invisible attack from the leader of The Order, Reeve. Still, Rebecca was so overwhelmed she couldn't answer Gwen at first as she stared at the ICU floor, trying to get her bearings. Gwen gently asked the agent, "Rebecca, what's wrong?!"

Then Rebecca felt Cheryl Mason's voice softly reach into her mind: "Becca! Are you all right?"

"Ohhh...I-I don't know," Rebecca answered. "I feel like someone opened my skull and took an ice cream scoop to my brains...!"

"I'll be right there! Stay where you are!"

Rebecca suddenly thought, "No! No, it's all right...I'll come to you! Just stay outside, okay?"

Reluctantly, Cheryl answered, "Okay, I...I'll be right here."

Rebecca looked up shakily at Gwen and managed a nervous smile. "Hey...I-I'm sorry..." As Gwen was focused on her face the brunette's hands, which still held the Aglaophotis and her handbag, moved and she quickly put the vial in her bag without the Head Nurse or Doctor Young noticing. Rebecca instinctively felt it might be very important to hold onto the mysterious substance.

Gwen smiled back, her eyes full of concern. "Don't you dare apologize. What happened...?"

Then Doctor Young stepped up to them both and said nervously, "Ah...uh, help Agent Chambers out of here, Gwen! I mean, for her safety. I-in her state, she might agitate the creatures, remember!"

Gwen gave the doctor a glance...a deliberately neutral one...and then turned fully to Rebecca, who she began to help stand. "Here, Rebecca...come on, I'll help you out of here." Slowly, Gwen did just that and put a supporting arm around the petite girl's shoulders...the Head Nurse slowly helped the agent out of the ICU. Doctor Young watched them leave...

...and then he felt Reeve speak into his mind with cold urgency: "Burton!"

"Ahk...!" Taken off his guard, Young responded angrily in both thought and voice. "Reeve, you know I hate when you invade my mind like this - !"

"Oh, shut up. I just saved us both a lot of trouble. The time is coming soon, and nothing can interfere with that!"

Young frowned. "The time for what?! Y-you told me again and again that today is important to you, but I still don't know - !"

Reeve cut him short by communicating ominously, "It's best you don't, Burton. You have played an important role for me and my followers, so take my word for it. It's best you don't know." A brief pause. "For the time being, I think you can volunteer at least a little of what you remember about Silent Hill to the Chambers girl before she leaves."

Perplexed, Young asked, "A-are you serious?!"

"Relax. The information isn't critical to the plan, and it won't endanger you. Just listen carefully..."

Not far from the elevators, in a lounge area outside of the ICU, Gwen helped Rebecca sit in a chair. The brunette looked considerably better than she did before, but Gwen wanted to be sure. The Head Nurse knelt close to the agent and asked, "Rebecca, are you okay? What happened just now...?"

Rebecca managed a smile and shook her head as she gripped the top of her handbag in her hands. "I think I had the mother of all headaches, or pretty close to it...but I'm okay." She managed to stand, and so did Gwen. Rebecca reassured, "Really, Gwen, I'm okay. I'm feeling better..."

"I-I'm truly happy to hear that, Agent Chambers." Doctor Young entered the lounge, and his expression was one of gentle nervousness. "Eh, just in case though, maybe Gwen can check you over to be sure? I-I can get you a Tylenol - !"

Rebecca said quickly, "No!" But she looked at Gwen with a grateful gaze and told the Head Nurse, "You don't have to do anything for me, Gwen. I'm really feeling better." Gwen nodded, and then Rebecca looked at Doctor Young with unkind, accusing eyes. "Make no mistake, Doctor Young, we're not done with this conversation, you understand? I still have questions you need to answer!" She frowned then and said to Gwen, "I-I need to go."

Gwen nodded but asked, "Are you sure?"

Rebecca nodded. "Yeah, I need to see someone. Thank you."

Rebecca moved to the elevators and hit the call button to take one down. But...Doctor Young followed her and said, "Agent Chambers!" She turned to him, and the look in her eyes said she wasn't in the mood to talk then. Still, Young said, "You mentioned Silent Hill. It's been a very long time since I've called that place home. How are things there?"

Rebecca stared at him and said quietly, "Silent Hill is dead, Doctor...but I'm sure you already know that. I'm here because I don't want what happened there to happen again."

Young nodded. "I...I remember this woman, Dahlia Gillespie. A very strange woman." The elevator chime sounded, and one of the sets of doors opened. Rebecca turned to it and began to enter it, not caring to hear about someone she knew was dead. Young then said, "I-I'd always wondered how her daughter Alessa was!"

In the middle of the elevator car's threshold, Rebecca stopped cold. She slowly turned to Young again, and her eyes were full of confusion. "Excuse me?"

Young said, "Alessa Gillespie. If I remember right, she was a very quiet girl. I-I was there to help Dahlia deliver Alessa into the world. That would have been...oh dear, this makes me feel old. In 1969, if I remember correctly." The elevator's doors almost closed twice as Rebecca simply looked at the doctor with a strange expression...and then she turned quickly into the elevator, punched the button for the ground floor needfully, and the doors closed.

Head Nurse Gwen Park then entered the elevator area from behind Doctor Young, and her high-heeled steps were brisk as she moved to the call button and hit the button to go up. Her posture was ramrod-straight and tense. Young asked nervously, "G-Gwen? Are you all right?" The lady didn't answer, but she did turn to look at Young. The frown on her face, the curious gaze in her eyes, spoke volumes. Young felt a sudden apprehension as he asked carefully, "Gwen...?" But Gwen Park only looked at him...and then a chime sounded again just before another set of elevator doors opened, and she moved into the car quickly. Its doors closed with finality.

Then Burton Young felt a presence behind him and a smooth voice said, "Doctor." The old man turned, and immediately his nervousness became something close to terror. The man named Reeve looked back at him. "It seems your Head Nurse questions you now, but she should have little impact on the plan as it unfolds."

Young asked, "Why did you want me to tell Chambers about Dahlia and her little girl? Th-the way she reacted just now..."

"Ah, yes. Rebecca Chambers and the woman she knows as Cheryl Mason need each other, and therefore need to believe in each other. What would happen if their faith in each other is damaged?" The smooth voice didn't wait for a response from Young and gave the answer: "They become vulnerable." Reeve then hit the speed dial on the cell phone in his hand, lifted it to his ear, and waited for an answer. The smooth voice then said into the cell, "The time has finally arrived, so would you kindly proceed? Wait until you judge to be the best possible moment. Preferably with no witnesses!"

As Reeve spoke, Doctor Young realized something with a burst of shock...the Chambers girl took his vial of Aglaophotis! However, he kept what he knew to himself. Young didn't want Reeve angry with him.

-3-

Rebecca Chambers quickly walked out of the hospital...Cheryl Mason, who still held her Huey the Horse plush animal in one hand, saw her and smiled with elemental relief and rushed to her.

But when Cheryl reached the brunette, her smile fell.

The blonde felt a sudden, inexplicable dread as Rebecca looked at her with wide eyes full of confusion...and worse, there was doubt in those lovely eyes.

Rebecca's face became a mix of emotions as she moved from Cheryl then to walk across the street. The blonde asked after her, "Becca...?" Cheryl's dread increased as she followed Rebecca across Barker to the west side of Kubrick Street. The pace of the brunette's steps were quick, and the blonde had to catch up. Cheryl called to the agent then, "Rebecca!" It didn't help Cheryl's mood she didn't receive an answer. "Rebecca...!"

They walked almost a block before Rebecca turned into an alley between a laundromat and a hardware store...Cheryl followed close behind. She tried again: "Rebecca, please stop for a minute!"

Softly, fearfully, Rebecca finally responded. "Not now...please!"

They walked a short distance further until they intersected with another alley, and Rebecca turned right. The brunette finally stopped behind the employee parking for the hardware store...only a couple of vehicles were parked there. Otherwise, it looked like they were alone. Cheryl walked up to Rebecca and asked impatiently, "Oh, we can finally stop now...?"

Rebecca turned to Cheryl, and the fear and doubt were so bright in her eyes...the blonde fell silent. The agent said with foreboding, "Cheryl...I...I needed you alone for a minute. Far away from anyone else."

Faith, like love, had a value that couldn't ever be calculated. It was literally precious, and therefore it was just as fragile. Faith could be easily bruised, even shattered with enough force.

The faith these women had in each other, for each other, was about to be tested.

Rebecca Chambers asked quietly, reluctantly, "Why did that voice call you Alessa Gillespie?"

Cheryl Mason stared at her. "Y-you heard Reeve's voice, too?" Rebecca nodded. She should have realized Rebecca heard...they were connected by thought at the time. The blonde frowned sadly as she answered truthfully, "Because that was the name Dahlia gave me when I was born. Alessa." The blonde quickly added, "Rebecca, that's not important! Reeve has powers, like Claudia did...!"

Rebecca gently but firmly interrupted: "Yes, it is important. Cheryl, I need you to start telling me everything right now. I mean everything, you understand?"

"Rebecca, please, I told you that you can believe in me - !"

Suddenly, the brunette said loudly, "Can I?! Can I really?" The blonde girl reacted like she had been slapped in the face and visibly flinched, and her eyes expressed a sudden, soul-deep pain. The BSAA agent felt terrible then and she said, "I-I'm sorry, Cheryl...the last thing I want is to hurt you. You've never lied to me, I know that." And yet...she couldn't help but look down and say in frustration, "I know that, but there's still so much you're keeping from me, things I need to know!" Rebecca then looked into Cheryl's eyes again and asked with worry, "Or maybe you still don't trust me...?"

Defensively, Cheryl said, "Dammit, Becca, you know I trust you! But I warned you long ago that you'd never believe so much of what I haven't told you yet!"

Rebecca frowned. "And I should just take that on faith!"

"Yes! And I swear you can have faith in me, Becca! I would never, ever lie to you! I'd never do anything to hurt you!" Cheryl Mason meant every word of what was an oath to the one she held so dearly.

Rebecca Chambers looked at her with a soft, needful expression and promised, "And I'd never hurt you...I promised I'd never, ever fail you." However. The frustration was still in her heart. The nagging questions. "Cheryl, you've got to understand that what I do know doesn't make much sense when it's put together! You've told me so much about Silent Hill, about your mother and The Order, about that other doctor who worked for them, Michael Kaufmann! All of the stuff you told me fits, but you were born when the town died, when Harry Mason took you from Silent Hill as a newborn baby! But you were born in 1983, and that means you couldn't know so much!"

"Becca..." Cheryl was suddenly unsure of what to say.

"You told me you were born in 1983, Cheryl...you said you were in high school at the time I was in college in '98!"

Cheryl nodded. "I was in high school that year, but...but I never told you when I was born."

"Well, Doctor Young just told me that Alessa - I mean you were born in 1969! So either he's wrong or you are, because you couldn't have been born in 1969. If that was true, you'd be in your forties now, and you told me last night you were a few years younger than I am!" She laughed nervously, "U-unless you're older than you look...!"

Cheryl said softly, "You'd be surprised." There was so much knowledge in the blonde's sad eyes. "Becca...I said that there was so much about this, about me you couldn't believe because you haven't lived my life or seen the same things I have..."

"Wait," Rebecca said, and there was even more uncertainty in her voice. "I never asked you about the other Cheryl Mason who was born in 1977. The girl Harry Mason's wife Josie had before she died a couple of years later - "

Cheryl nodded, her expression suddenly mournful. "From an illness, yeah. I wish I was given a chance to know her. I know dad loved her so much. But Harry was all I had, the only one who ever truly loved me before he took me back to Silent Hill - !"

Rebecca stared at her with wide eyes. "What did you just say...?"

Cheryl realized. "B-Becca, I..."

In spite of the elemental need, the desire that grew between these young women, in spite of her faith in the blonde, Rebecca Chambers suddenly said, "Cheryl, flush your being worried about what I will believe and won't believe and tell me the truth! Tell me who I'm talking to, please!" Her lips trembled as she asked, "I-I mean, am I talking to Alessa, who was born in 1969?! Or am I talking to the Cheryl Mason who was born in 1977?! Or the one born in 1983?! Tell me!"

Cheryl Mason was silent for a moment as her sad, haunted eyes looked into Rebecca's...and she answered, "I'm all three, Becca." The BSAA agent could only stare at her. The blonde said quietly, "You said you have an open mind. You said you believe I haven't lied to you, and I would never lie to you. So here it is." And Cheryl Mason began...

"I was born Alessa Gillespie in 1969, a child who grew up without love. Then my mother Dahlia performed a ritual on me, and I wasn't just raped...I wasn't just made the Mother of her cult's God...I was burned alive. I was in so much horrible pain, I wanted to escape...I wanted to defy my mother and The Order, keep myself from giving birth to their God. And I got my wish...in a way.

"I-I think my power made it happen, I can't be sure...I do know my soul was divided in two: one half of me stayed in Alessa's burned, ruined body in Silent Hill...the other was reincarnated as a newborn baby, a baby found on the side of a road outside of town by Harry and Josie Mason. They adopted me and named me Cheryl, and they both gave me so much love...then Josie died, and my father and I only had each other. He made sure I didn't want for anything...I knew love as the other part of me, Alessa, was trapped in Silent Hill, kept alive and in constant torment. The suffering I went through caused...other things to happen, not just the fog. In 1983, I - Cheryl, I mean - felt the need to go to Silent Hill...maybe I sensed my other half there, maybe Dahlia used magic to lure me there...I'm not sure."

"Magic...?" Rebecca Chambers couldn't help but nervously breathe that word as she stared at Cheryl Mason, incredulous. "Y-you're seriously talking about magic." All of this time Rebecca, a prodigy who graduated from college at the age of 18, had automatically placed a firm foundation of reality to everything Cheryl told her thus far. She believed in science, what was natural, what could be seen, what could be proven. Even the fantastic horrors Rebecca survived in a forest mansion in 1998 were creations of genetic engineering or the victims of viral research.

But magic was the stuff of fairy tales...or horror stories. It took more faith to believe in magic than to believe in a given religion. The mystical things from ghosts to lei lines, what was supernatural, what couldn't be seen or easily proven. Things that so many believers in science wrote off instantly as constructs of imagination. To hear the word magic made Rebecca feel a frightening uncertainty in her soul.

And the brunette thought of what the haunted blonde girl said about The Order and human sacrifices in the name of protection and power, wanting Cheryl to be the mother of their God...she meant all of those things literally. Rebecca's wide eyes were troubled as she asked nervously, "Cheryl...your power...i-is your power magic, too...?"

Cheryl looked down and said quietly, "I meant it when I said there was so much that would be beyond you, Becca." The blonde looked up into Rebecca's eyes again and continued. "Harry took me to Silent Hill...and The Order trapped us. We were separated by the fog and by...worse things. My dad fought one horror after another to save me, to make me safe again. And dad did save me, but again it was only in a way. Dahlia forced Alessa and Cheryl to become one again, I gave birth to a partly formed God, and..." Cheryl paused, her eyes full of fear and pain. "What Dahlia and The Order believed in was a monster, an ancient and terrible horned demon. But the thing was still partly formed, and fortunately dad killed her before she could gain real strength. And I...I-I was dying...but I used all of my power to create an infant child I could reincarnate in. You could say I became my own mother. Then Harry and a police officer who helped him, Cybil Bennett, took the baby away as I died...and then I was born. I-I mean, I was born again.

"I didn't remember my past lives and all that happened to me in Silent Hill. Dad must have thought it was a good thing...looking back, he thought I could start again with a clean slate. Have a normal life. But I still felt...different as I grew up. I felt like something was wrong with me, something that set me apart from everyone else. It was why I was a loner, and why I never felt like I could fit in anywhere." Her eyes closed as she said, full of sorrow, "When I was 17, Claudia and The Order had my father killed in the name of revenge. They still needed me to be the Mother of God, but I defeated them. But because of them, because I had to return to Silent Hill, I remembered everything...and I wish I didn't. I'd give anything to forget what I went through again. Ever since all I've wanted was to live a normal life like my dad wanted, but as long as The Order lives, I'll always be threatened...and no one will be safe."

Rebecca continued to stare at Cheryl. She tried to understand, to really accept everything Cheryl told her. The agent knew again in her gut the blonde wasn't lying. She wouldn't. But it was all so unreal to her: magic, reincarnation, demons...she was still trying to take Cheryl's word that she brought a never-ending fog to Silent Hill on faith. But everything Rebecca just heard...she truly struggled to believe it, but...

"It's too much, isn't it? Even for an open mind." Rebecca focused on Cheryl Mason, who smiled sourly. "It's okay...it really is." Then sadness overwhelmed the blonde girl as she looked down and whispered, "By the way: pigs can fly."

Rebecca Chambers couldn't think of anything to say. What could she say to someone she wanted with all her heart to believe in, but she couldn't put faith into so much of what she told her? Didn't that weaken her faith in Cheryl as a consequence? Rebecca realized she couldn't accept that! In the name of the feelings they both felt for each other, she wouldn't. Rebecca softly began, "Cheryl...!"

-4-

How quickly can a beautiful Friday afternoon go completely, horrifyingly wrong?

Before Rebecca could say another word, a man's voice shouted, "FREEZE! NEITHER OF YOU MOVE!" Both Cheryl and Rebecca looked to see three people marching down the alley from Kubrick Street toward them, and the women froze. The trio, two men flanking a woman, all wore dark clothes and black ski masks over their faces, and they each carried a small handgun they pointed at the blonde and brunette. Rebecca, who knew a lot about guns, recognized them as old Smith & Wesson .38 Special revolvers of blued steel.

The female gunman in the group focused on Rebecca as they approached and shouted, "You, put your hands up RIGHT NOW! We know you're a government agent!"

Rebecca's entire being tensed, but she didn't raise her hands...she demanded, "What do you want - ?!" She knew she was in a terrible position: these masked people had the drop on her, and her Beretta was still snugly in her handbag.

The female of the three yelled, "Shut up! We came for the Mother! Step away from her!" And Cheryl Mason knew without a doubt. They were Order Soldiers.

The other man in the group looked at Cheryl and said, "We don't want to hurt you, but you're coming with us!"

The three got closer, and Cheryl's being stiffened as she held Huey at her side. Her eyes became cold and she said, "I'm not going anywhere with you."

Rebecca stepped closer to the blonde, wanting to defend her. "You leave Cheryl alone - !"

The first man shouted at the agent, "DON'T MOVE! You move one more time, WE'LL KILL YOU!"

The lady leading the Soldiers snapped, "Kill that interloper anyway! She means nothing!"

The group was only twenty feet away. Cheryl said harshly, "Don't you threaten Becca!"

As she thought desperately to think of a solution for Cheryl's sake, Rebecca turned to the blonde. "Cheryl - !"

The female Soldier gestured at Rebecca and ordered in a cold voice, "Kill her!"

Immediately, the man on her right obeyed and he thumbed the hammer back of his .38 and pointed it at Rebecca, and the agent knew she lost any chance -

BLAMM! The moment the first Order Soldier squeezed the trigger of his gun, it exploded and his gunhand went with it - but the blast wasn't just of fire and blood, but of a bright blue energy that made the detonation of the weapon happen. There was only a gory, ragged stump where his hand once was. Rebecca could only watch as the man clutched his wrist above the stump with his other hand and screamed, and then she saw that shrapnel from the gun had also hit his comrades. The woman was screaming too, and she had dropped her gun to lift both hands to clutch at her bloody masked face...one of her eyes was literally gone. The other masked man was far, far unluckier...a piece of metal from the gun tore into his throat. He was staring at Cheryl with wide, childlike eyes as his ruined jugular vein in the ragged tear of his neck fired a jet of blood into the air at a fast, pulsing pace that matched his weakening heartbeats.

Rebecca Chambers was stunned. How the hell did that happen?! She looked at herself quickly and saw no shrapnel or anything had hit her. Rebecca then looked at Cheryl...and she froze, her own eyes widening with fear and wonder.

Cheryl Mason's once-hazel eyes - not just the irises but the pupils, as well - had literally brightened to become a luminous, supernatural blue and rivaled the intensity of the sun above. Their brightness was only matched by the pure anger in her beautiful face as she looked at the three masked Soldiers. Cheryl snarled, "You bastards. You wanted to hurt Becca. I can't forgive that...and I won't." She looked at the man with the ravaged neck and watched him crash to his knees...and then he keeled over onto his face as he went into shock; in only moments, he would be dead. "No great loss," Cheryl said coolly. Then she turned to the two surviving Soldiers and said, "You're not getting off so easily." Cheryl focused on the masked woman and said, "You. Ignore your face and pick up your gun. Right now."

Rebecca could only watch numbly as the masked woman did what Cheryl wanted, her expression suddenly blank...except that there was a helpless, trapped horror in her remaining eye. Rebecca was seeing only a sample of the power at Cheryl Mason's command, the same power the blonde said she had always been afraid of. But there was no fear at that moment in Cheryl's bright eyes as she said, "Take that gun and shoot your friend."

Rebecca watched the masked woman point her gun at the man with one hand. She fired once, and a bullet tore into the man's head. He fell limply to the ground, executed. Rebecca could only speak in a whisper... "Cheryl..."

"Your turn now," Cheryl said to the masked woman. "Shoot yourself in the head. Go on." The woman did as she was told and quietly lifted her gun to her own head.

Rebecca shook her head slowly as she tried to speak in a louder voice, "Cheryl, what are you doing...?"

Cheryl stepped up to the woman who held a gun to her own head, and her smile was cold. "Go on. Take your medicine now." Then, in a surreal moment, the masked woman with one eye smiled back at Cheryl...before she squeezed the trigger and blew her own brains out. She fell in a heap, and Cheryl said softly, "Good girl."

Cheryl Mason looked at all three of the dead Order Soldiers with elemental satisfaction as the bright blue of her eyes dimmed to nothing, and she looked at the world through hazel eyes again. Cheryl turned to Rebecca. And she felt a sudden, terrible cold.

Rebecca Chambers looked back at her with wide, terrified eyes as she lifted one of her hands to her mouth. The petite brunette could only feel then, and what she felt was pure fear. A fear of all that was beyond her. But worst of all, in that moment, Rebecca was afraid of Cheryl.

Cheryl breathed, "Becca...?" But the brunette suddenly turned and began to walk away, past a parked pickup truck behind the hardware store. Feeling a terrible, desperate fear of her own, Cheryl called out, "Becca, wait!" But then Rebecca began to launch into a run, and Cheryl felt her heart begin to break...and it was breaking slowly, so terribly, terribly slowly and she felt all the guilt and self-hate again, and perhaps Rebecca was right to leave. Wasn't she a monster, after all? But her need, her desire, her feelings for Rebecca demanded Cheryl shout, "Rebecca, please wait! I-I couldn't let them hurt you! Please don't go!" But Rebecca didn't listen and Cheryl Mason felt like she was dying inside as she feared she lost the beautiful brunette, lost the only one she knew could make her happy, lost any chance to make her happy in turn, and she screamed, "PLEASE DON'T GO! I-I CAN'T LOSE YOU!"

And Rebecca Chambers stopped. She heard Cheryl's pleading voice, and it was a mirror of her own...because deep in the core of her soul, Rebecca knew she couldn't have left Cheryl. She would sooner have cut out her own heart. As she breathed shakily, it again felt so damn wrong, it hurt terribly for there to be any distance between them. The brunette fought against her fear, a fear that led to the single greatest regret of her entire life, a regret she couldn't focus on then because it was Cheryl who was important, and she swore long ago that she would never let her fear compromise her choices or decide the direction of her life again, ever. And she couldn't have been afraid of Cheryl...really thinking about it, she hated herself as she realized that all that amazing girl did was defend her. Cheryl would have given anything to protect Rebecca, and that was what she did...if she only had given the chance, the slightest opportunity to use her gun, Rebecca knew she wouldn't have hesitated to kill all three of those masked, armed Soldiers to protect Cheryl, as well.

Rebecca felt all the things Cheryl did, how warm and perfect and so amazingly right it was for them to be together...and oh, that far-too-brief kiss itself in front of the hospital was perfection, and promised things they couldn't even imagine. Rebecca had found the one, the only one in this chaotic world who could make her happy...no, they made each other happy on levels they knew no one else could have. What they felt at first sight had indeed evolved in a short time into something extraordinary...something that, if only it was given the chance to grow further, would become something perfectly beautiful and eternal.

Rebecca couldn't lose Cheryl, either.

That elemental truth made Rebecca Chambers turn back to Cheryl Mason. The agent's eyes were full of apology and regret, but she saw relief and happiness flood the beautiful blonde's face. As she started to walk quickly back to Cheryl, Rebecca began to yell, "Cheryl, I'm so sorry - !"

Cheryl suddenly heard a strange noise behind her as she felt a sudden, sharp pain that drove deeply into her back. She didn't understand at first, but suddenly her body felt weak as she dropped Huey the Horse...the entire world, even Rebecca, began to fade away. Cheryl lifted her arm and reached out desperately to Rebecca, but she was losing all of her strength as she felt her body fall...

...and as Cheryl fell, as the tranquilizer dart full of a highly powerful sedative did its work, her very soul reached out, as well.

Rebecca bolted into a run as she saw Cheryl fall, as she saw a man in the alley far behind her with what looked like a rifle, and she felt the blonde touch her mind again. But in this disorienting moment as she lost her consciousness, Cheryl Mason felt the desperate need to erase any doubts Rebecca Chambers had. The need to help her believe in all she told her...and that simple, innocent need combined with her power in the fleeting moment Cheryl had to use it. And she didn't just touch Rebecca's mind.

Rebecca Chambers felt sudden, total disorientation as her feet stumbled and she collapsed to the asphalt of the alley as the world around her disappeared, and she was suddenly both blessed and cursed with knowing the compressed, encapsulated memories of Cheryl Mason's previous lives in a single moment, she grew up as Alessa Gillespie in a large, dark and empty house with a mother who in spite of her youth was turning into a crone, a heartless creature obsessed with her faith and her leadership of The Order, and she knew even further loneliness in school from those who hated her for being special and subjected her to every form of abuse, but it wasn't as bad as not knowing love at all from Dahlia, who terribly for the sake of her god sought to make Alessa into a sacrifice, and she was strapped down in her own bedroom to suffer the ritual and then the nova-white agony of being burned alive, and then

!division!

something happened and Alessa was kept alive no only half-alive in the hospital with one person to care for her, the nurse in red Nurse Lisa who tried to comfort her in spite of the man who ordered her around, that heartless man Kaufmann, and she felt the embryo of the demonic god inside of her and she knew she was better off dead...and then Rebecca looked through Cheryl Mason's eyes, and central to her world was Harry Mason, the man who adopted her with his wife Josie, who passed away too soon and she never got to know her new mother, but her new father was a truly compassionate, caring man who managed to make ends meet as a writer, to never let Cheryl want for anything, and she felt so happy all of the time with her father, who encouraged her to draw, to express herself in crayon and paint, and then Cheryl felt her other self, she felt the need to return to Silent Hill, and Harry took her there not knowing what was waiting, and then there was the crash in the fog, and Harry sought his daughter out desperately, sought to protect her from Dahlia, and Silent Hill was a living nightmare, it turned from a world of endless fog to one of endless darkness and blood and decay and terror as Cheryl tried to help Alessa, to use

!Seal of Metatron!

something incredibly important but she and her father were tricked and Cheryl was captured, but Harry was relentless, his love for his daughter made him fight one terror after another as he and the brave lady in blue Cybil Bennett searched in the fog and the darkness and dear Nurse Lisa turned red and finally

!fusion!

Alessa and Cheryl became one again and she was forced to give 'birth' to the winged, horned god, a hellish beast from the worst kind of darkness, and she watched with satisfaction as the loveless Dahlia burned brightly and she felt so much pride as Harry no her father the only one who truly loved her killed the god picked the demon-beast apart with a rifle and the demon fell and died and as Kaufmann was dragged down by the red red nurse, Alessa gave herself a second chance a rebirth - !

And then the flood of memories stopped as Cheryl Mason fell to the ground, unconscious.

Rebecca Chambers was also lying on the floor of the alley, her petite form on her side and trembling, and she was beyond overwhelmed by the memories that had been given to her. She moaned softly, "Oh...oh, my...god..." The memories would have disappeared over time, they had already begun to, but the knowledge they imparted to her would never fade. Rebecca's breaths were shallow as she remembered all of the loneliness and pain and worse that Cheryl Mason had to suffer in her two previous lifetimes. She remembered what it was like to be in Silent Hill, in that endless fog, and she was so thankful she didn't satisfy her curiosity and enter that damned town. Rebecca also remembered the town could turn into something worse...something so terrible she didn't want to remember. But most importantly, experiencing all that she did helped her understand once and for all that it all truly did happen. It was all true...the magic, the terrible horrors, everything...and at least some things were no longer beyond her.

Full of regret, so sorry she couldn't have had faith before, Rebecca whispered, "Oh Cheryl, forgive me...forgive me for...for not believing you...!"

She heard voices then, distant:

"Move! Hurry!"

"We need to get the Mother!"

"C'mon, back it up! C'MON!"

Still trembling like she was suddenly dropped in the middle of the freezing white of the North Pole, Rebecca looked toward the voices...toward Cheryl. She saw a new group of several masked people, more Order Soldiers, converging around the blonde girl's unconscious body. One of them, she realized, had the kind of rifle used to shoot tranquilizer darts...but some of the others were armed with revolvers. Further in the distance, at the mouth of the alley, an ambulance was backing up slowly into the narrow space, its lights flashing furiously as another Soldier guided its driver with waving arms from behind.

They were coming for Cheryl, Rebecca realized...they were going to -

"N-no...no..." It was an act of tremendous will on Rebecca Chambers' part to make herself stop trembling, to begin to rise from the asphalt. But it felt like she was moving in slow motion as she saw the ambulance back up closer. Rebecca was finally on her feet then, and she shakily opened her handbag to get out her Beretta 9mm pistol. At first, she weakly cried out, "Stop!"

The ambulance stopped not far from Cheryl Mason and the Soldiers surrounding her. Its back doors opened, and two paramedics got out. The men carried with them a collapsible gurney as one of the Soldiers ordered, "Pick her up carefully!" Two of his fellows did as they were told and knelt next to Cheryl...one lifted her up under her shoulders as the other lifted her legs. The gurney was almost there...

"STOP!" Far too slowly, Rebecca was getting her strength back. She was still so far away. Rebecca began to march back toward Cheryl as she readied her pistol and she screamed, "LEAVE HER ALONE!"

The Soldiers took notice of her as Cheryl was placed on the gurney. One of them yelled, "Kill that bitch, dammit! DON'T LET HER STOP US!"

Rebecca Chambers lifted her Beretta in both hands and screamed, "I SAID STOP - !" But some of the Soldiers lifted their revolvers and pointed them at the BSAA agent. Rebecca wanted to open fire, but with a horrible realization stopped herself. Cheryl was among them, and if she made a mistake, Rebecca might accidentally shoot her! Unfortunately, the ruthless Soldiers didn't have the same problem, and they were guided by the most evil of intentions. They began shooting at Rebecca, who had no choice but to dash to the nearby pickup truck parked behind the hardware store, and she just barely made it and was forced to cower behind the passenger side front tire for cover as bullets tore into the other side.

As those Soldiers fired their guns, another barked at them, "Keep her pinned down!" That masked man then turned to the ambulance, where Cheryl Mason was being loaded into its back doors. He yelled, "Take her out of here!"

Rebecca cried, "Cheryl?!" The back doors of the ambulance closed, and it moved forward, back toward the mouth of the alley. Rebecca risked peeking over the hood, and almost froze as she saw the ambulance leaving. They were taking Cheryl, oh they were taking her! The agent screamed with horror, "No! God, NO!" But a new volley of bullets from the armed Order Soldiers forced Rebecca to duck again.

The Soldier in the lead shouted, "Let's go, there's nothing she can do! Fall back!" The masked enemies then rushed away, and they followed the ambulance out of the alley.

The kidnapping had happened far too fast, within the space of a minute, and Rebecca Chambers had tried with all of her soul to do what was right, she tried desperately to help the one she adored, but she rose from behind the truck and saw how terribly she had just failed. As the enemy retreated, she screamed, "NOOOO! CHERYL?!" She ran furiously after them, but as she got closer to the three dead Soldiers the enemy left behind, they were already gone. "CHERYL!" And Rebecca knew she'd never make it to the street in time to see where they went, to even be able to follow them...she felt a terrible, nightmarish helplessness as she screamed her throat raw, "CHERYL!"

Cheryl Mason was gone.

Rebecca was there where the blonde girl had just laid when the Order came for her. Much of the asphalt was wet with blood, but on a part where it wasn't, the agent saw Huey the Horse lying on his side. Rebecca Chambers had begun to cry from a soul-deep agony, from a sudden and terrible loneliness without Cheryl, and she lowered to her knees and picked up the plush animal...and she embraced Huey in her arms, held it tightly as she sobbed heavily and tears flowed down her cheeks.

And that was how quickly a beautiful afternoon could go straight to Hell...

...in no time at all.

TO BE CONTINUED