Chapter 8: Rites of Passage
The two men entered the small sanctuary with no resistance from the posted guards. They'd already long since been cleared to come and go as they pleased. Right now they were only focused on getting into the commander's temporary office. Despite his men's objections there were no permanent guards in front of or near his room. Hulme preferred an open door and a loaded assault rifle to keep himself safe.
Swiftly the two men swept into the cluttered office. Reports, statistics and supply charts littered the desk Hulme reclined behind. Even without his combat armor he emanated an air of authority that few among the mercenary group would dare question. With his darkling, hard lined face and permanent frown the commander always seemed to be in a foul mood even when he wasn't. It was not an image he tried hard to change.
The second in command, Lt. Colonel Matthew Westfall was a smaller, much less imposing figure but nevertheless a capable officer in his own right. The conversation between the two ended when the men presented themselves before the commander. "At ease." Hulme gestured. "Gentlemen, what is the situation?"
Neither man wanted to speak but the one on the right cleared his throat. "Um, not good is the only way I can describe it, sir. Every attempt to contact the outside has failed."
"We climbed an old antenna station." the second spoke up. "Hoping maybe we could get a better signal. We picked up nuttin' but static on all frequencies."
"Phone lines are all dead." the first took over again. "And...we have confirmed the earthquake phenomenon is present at all exits of the town."
"Show him the compass."
The first mercenary opened his large, survival style compass and set it on the desk. The needle was spinning around counterclockwise like a toy top. Hulme peered at it before leaning back in his chair, troubled. "The only other land route not blocked off was through the thick forest on the westernmost edge of town in the residential area. It is possible there is traversable land beyond it but...we did not scout far into it."
"Why not soldier?" Westfall demanded to know. "That might be our way out of here."
The two men exchanged a look. "We...were scared sir. We'd need back up and rope to go in."
"Rope?"
"We were only ten feet in and became lost. It took us 20 minutes to backtrack out. And there were...noises...coming from farther in that we didn't think we were prepared to handle."
"Go get some rest gentlemen." Hulme said. "Then get back to your regular posts. Not a word of this to anyone else."
"Sir!" the two saluted before exiting the room.
Westfall turned back to Hulme and rubbed his forehead. "What the hell have we gotten ourselves into?"
"A fair bit of trouble it seems." the commander admitted. "But we're not totally screwed just yet. Give me the facts again."
Picking up a well worn clipboard Westfall read out the report that never changed for the better. "Food supply on track, thank God, ammunition and medical supplies considerably depleted. Another month's worth, tops. One dead, four injured with one critical."
"How's he doing?"
"He's alive. Took a stinger or something through the chest. We have medics on him 24 hours a day but who knows with those goddamn things out there. Situations like this where we don't even know what we're fighting are eating through our stock. To say we weren't prepared for the conditions here would be a significant understatement."
"There are a great many things we did not expect, yes."
"What did they say about getting us out?"
"They were clear on no one leaving until our contract is up. I wonder though."
"About?"
"If he's lying." Hulme ruminated. "If there really is no way out and we're stuck here forever."
"There has to be a way out." Westfall said firmly.
"You sound very sure for a man with no evidence, Matthew."
"They cultivate that crap here. The flower. It would be no use to them otherwise. Have to be getting it out somehow. Besides, there's no way you can live on the food still in town. You'd have to resupply at some point. These creeps have been here for years at least, if not decades."
"Hmm. But how? Everything's blocked, everything's dead. If our radios don't work then a whirly bird sure as hell wouldn't fly either."
"Yes but we drove in here like normal. All that didn't happen until later." Westfall pointed out.
"Right...they have to have a switch or something. A drawbridge back to the real world."
"You might be onto something Commander."
"Keep eyes open then in case we need a contingency. Was there anything else?" Hulme asked.
"Ah...one more thing. I've had scattered reports of the...clergy I guess we can call them...talking to some of the men about permanent employment with their organization."
"With them? Here? Ridiculous." Hulme scoffed. "I'm having a hard enough time as it is convincing the men they'll be going home at some point."
"I'd pay attention, sir." Westfall warned. "They're offering a substantial pay increase even over our own high premium."
This genuinely angered the normally unflappable commander. It was one thing to keep them stuck in this hellish nightmare of a town until their contract was up; it was quite another to try poaching his men to boot. He regret for the thousandth time and at least the fifteenth time that day that he ever agreed to this assignment. "I'll have to talk with that son a bitch. He needs to learn that there will be consequences if we don't get what we were promised in every way."
"What do you think he'll say?" Westfall asked worriedly.
"Doesn't matter. I didn't get to where I am by being pushed around and harried into an early grave. If our employer needs to learn that the hard way then so be it."
For them it was like a particularly happy Christmas morning and each one felt like a 9 year old looking over the biggest stack of presents they''d ever see. It was not quite euphoria, not quite actual happiness but something akin to it that only Silent Hill could produce. It was a tempered excitement that even though one was stuck in a bad place they had at least found a small comfort. Chuck helped himself to a single barrel hunting shotgun which had enough buckshot around it to start a land war in Asia. He didn't know what use they would have for a grenade belt but he added it to the growing pile at his feet.
"What are you two doing?" Victor asked.
"Huh?"
Chuck looked over to see Julia doing much of the same thing with a couple top of the line pistols and piles of ammo. "Uh...dibs?" she said.
"There's no need to section off your choices. We're the only ones here." the spoil sport sniffed.
He started peering at the suit of armor and Chuck mouthed to Julia "Mine!" as he held up the grenades. Julia gave him the thumbs up and nodded approvingly.
"Does anyone else find it a tad off that all of this is covered in dust?" Victor asked.
"Hmm...now that you mention it yeah. Seems like this stuff has been sitting here for quite some time." the only woman said.
"What are you trying to say?" Chuck asked.
"He had to have set this up years ago." Victor explained. "Almost like he knew we would one day come here. Not just anyone but the three of us."
"Maybe he did." Chuck shrugged. "I wouldn't say it's impossible with the Dark Man."
"He's a demon, not a fortune teller." Victor asserted. "Chuck raised his hands up with palms out to indicate he wasn't going to argue. The knight from years ago turned out to be a bit of a cranky old man it seemed.
Taking the note off of the armor Victor opened the letter and read it aloud. "Now we are come to the end. Begin anew with the promise of steel and white heaven. Alone the wandering warrior knows the misty land. This angel sleeps bound in a promise only green leaves can break."
"Any idea what that's supposed to mean?" Julia asked.
"Ah...sort of." Victor scratched his head. "Now we are...something about starting over here? White heaven must be White Claudia. This part makes sense, he's talking about me knowing my way around."
"How do you know?"
"Silent Hill is the 'misty land'. The Order refers to it like that. And I'll assume I'm the wandering warrior...not completely sure what this last part means. He's talking about himself, I think, when he mentions the angel but I have no idea what if the leaves part is literal or not."
"Doesn't he keep referring to us as leaves?" Julia asked.
"Now that you mention it I think so." Chuck recalled.
"Well, at any rate we need to track him down so we can be done with this." Victor said irritably. Setting the note down he picked up the black scabbard while Chuck and Julia watched. Pulling the blade just a quarter of the way out everyone could see it was silvery and gleaming even in the scarce light. It made the other weapons they had used look like cheap imitations up to that point.
"This...is a masterpiece." Victor whispered to no one in particular.
"What kind of material is this I wonder?" Julia asked as she lifted up the massive circular shield. It was big enough to cover her from neck to almost her kneecaps. "Hey, this thing is pretty light. What kind of metal is it?"
Chuck took a good look at the suit but it was a dark green, almost black color that he couldn't identify. Victor shrugged but started putting the different pieces of the suit on anyway. There were a number of kevlar-ish chest plates that looked sturdy so the Canadian started strapping one on.
"This equipment fits." Victor remarked as he clamped the first bracer over his left forearm. "Well, too."
"You guys don't seem to mind too much where this stuff came from." Julia remarked as Victor pulled on the mideaval looking helmet. It covered his entire forehead and had large eye openings with a spade shaped center piece that ran down the length of his nose.
"Fits quite well." Victor said again and clicking on a small flashlight built into the front of the helmet. He swung it around to point it at Julia's not pleased face. "This will be useful. Why worry about it?"
"Well if your friend left it here for us and had us come in the first place, don't you think he might be behind some of what's happened to us?" she reasoned.
"I would be more surprised if he was genuinely innocent." Victor shrugged.
Eying the two of them Julia nevertheless picked out a pair of glossy metal knuckles from next to a heavy mace and crossbow. Sliding her fingers into one of the gloves she flexed threw a practice cross. "Huh. They do fit."
Rounding up what they could easily carry Chuck was quite happy with his gear. A small satchel of buckshot crisscrossed a 9mm strap that fit snugly by his left arm. Loading and dropping a few clips into the satchel Chuck felt properly geared for Silent Hill for the first time. He sat on a crate of napalm gel while the other two finished their preparations. Julia packed a messenger bag of 9mm clips and gave herself one on each leg. She had put on a vest like he did and wrapped a bandana on to keep her hair out of her eyes. With the fingerless fighting gloves covering the backs of her knuckles she actually looked pretty bad ass.
Once he was done putting the suit on though Victor took the prize for intimidation. He looked like something out of a history book encased in all that metal with a helmet that wrapped under his chin with a thick black buckle. The body piece covered his torso and upper arms while bracers protected his forearms. A pair of greaves and the giant shield rounded out the full body protection and gave him the appearance of a warrior straight out of Homer's tales.
"That looks heavy." Chuck commented.
"Quite light." Victor said. "I feel very safe though. Doesn't make too much noise either. Hard to believe it wasn't made just for me."
"Well it probably was." Julia said with a touch of annoyance in her voice. "Don't suppose your party pal could have gotten three of them for us."
"Perhaps he knew you would be more comfortable with your loud guns." Victor commented dryly. "If we're all ready then let's get going."
"To where?" Chuck asked.
"Whatever is going on I'll bet the Order has something to do with it. They were the ones who raided my apartment for sure. If anyone could find a way to stop Nothing it would be them."
"So we're going to ask them nicely to tell us where he is?" Julia wondered.
"No. We're going to find them and beat it out of them." Victor said matter-of-factly. "The longer we stay here the tighter grip Silent Hill has on us."
"Agreed. So we visit their base first?" Julia suggested.
"No." Victor shook his head. "If it's still the same as it was years ago their main base will be well protected and well runed. I can't fight back without my sheets. We'll have to check out some lower security areas first."
"Can't you just make more sheets?"
"No. It's already almost the end of winter. They have to be made in the fall." he explained.
"Fall? Why?" Chuck asked.
The knight shrugged. "That's just the way it works. You prep the wood in summer, make the paper in early autumn and consecrate the sheets the sometime September or October."
"Who figured out how to do that?" Julia said.
Victor turned his hands upward. "I don't honestly know. The Order claims to have discovered how to make them when the town was founded by witch hunters but I think they''re older. Maybe the Native Americans originally made them but the who has been lost to time. The important part is that they work."
"Hm. Interesting." Chuck said.
"There's a couple of spots I'd like to check before committing to their base." Victor said. "I'd rather not head there if we don't have to. We should be able to pick up some clues about their activities in the surrounding area. The Order so loves their traditions."
"And there's no chance these places are crawling with monsters, right?" Julia chimed in.
"Where would the fun be in that?"
Chuck had seen enough 'fun' to last him a lifetime. He sincerely hoped there wouldn't be any.
They stealthily approached the rear of the church through the thick mist. Even with all the armor he was wearing Victor made no more noise than the others. Leading them up to the once gleaming white building the Silent Hill native was not pleased to be in the front of the pack again. He would have been much more comfortable with his shield and sword filling distance in between him and Charles Taylor. As far as Victor was concerned he was a self admitted liability and possibly a dangerous, treacherous tool of Nothing's. That he was given a shotgun only intensified Victor's paranoia and resolve to keep an eye on the Canadian.
Flattening himself again the building Victor waited a moment in the cold air. There were no sounds coming from inside or around the church and his senses could not pick up anything. While he was worried that it would be dangerous roving the town without his telepathic radar he had to remind himself that he had survived for years without it. Listening a few more moments he waited for the tell tale creak of a hiding occupant or the shift of weight from a crouched assailant. Satisfied that there was no immediate danger he motioned the other two over.
Pointing at himself Victor then gestured to the right. Stabbing his index and middle fingers at the two of them he gestured left and they nodded in understanding. Waving Chuck to come with her Julia crouched low to avoid the building's windows and went left. Looking around he did so and they both slipped quietly around the corner. Keeping his shield back and putting a hand on the pommel of his sword Victor peered around the edge of the building before going past it.
Sliding up alongside the wall so close he almost grazed it the knight kept his steps even and ears open. The oppressive lack of noise was the only thing that greeted him as he came up to a large stained glass window. Gradually moving his head in line to look inside he saw only a darkened chapel with no one around. Relaxing ever so slightly he crept to the front side of the building where his companions waited.
"No one here." Julia said under her breath,
"Stay alert just in case. I have to look inside."
The worn doors to the church creaked loudly as they let themselves in. The old building smelled of dust and decaying wood with just a hint of mold. The light coming in from the windows seemed almost unwilling to fully illuminate the shadowy rows of pews. The pulpit was the only other piece of furniture in the room and it was wholly unremarkable.
"As cheerful as a graveyard in here." Chuck said. "At least it's empty."
"It is now." Victor's expert eyes picked out the signs even in the low light. "Look at the floor."
Along the aisle there were many footprints in the thin dust. They were varying shapes and sizes but had to have been made in the last week or so judging on the lack of dusk in them. Crouching down Victor studied the patterns and shapes of the prints which lead to a simple conclusion.
"A number of men were here at some point. Boot wearing types." he remarked.
"Is that odd?" Julia asked.
"The Order aren't boot wearing types but that isn't the most important thing here. Look at the prints. Must have been a dozen or more."
"And that's unusual I'm guessing."
"They never send more than a few at a time." Victor explained. "More people are easier to spot. The Order certainly didn't want to be spotted in Silent Hill. I guess they didn't learn their lesson after all this time."
"What do you mean?"
"Your 'friend' Nothing carries a mighty grudge against the Order. He used to be one of them long ago before he became...whatever it is he is now. Every time they set foot in Silent Hill they would be risking an encounter with him. One that would almost certainly end with being beaten to death."
"But they're the bad guys right?"
"If you're trying to imply that Nothing is a 'good guy' you would be sorely mistaken." Victor snapped. It was one thing to tolerate Chuck but quite another to listen to him glorify what had to be one of Silent Hill's most prolific murderers.
They checked around the church for any more clues but there was nothing else that could tell them anything about the most recent visitors. "Well, we know they're around. What next?" Julia asked.
"There's one more place I'd like to check. Our last alternative after that is their base and I'm in no hurry to get there." Victor scratched his chin. "It might even be a death sentence."
"That...doesn't sound promising." Julia balked.
"There's always a way." Victor said. "It's just a matter of how much you're willing to give up to get what you want."
Thinking on the ample defenses the Order would have in place the knight had to think of the consequences of going against them. Alone they might have been at a disadvantage but with the monster on their side there was little that could be done to stop them. All they had to do was find him and point him at the Order and the rest would sort itself out in a bloody mess.
At least that was what he was counting on. He motioned them out of the church and towards the next of the Order's safe houses that dotted the misty land.