Chapter 18: Fright Night
Walking briskly in the cold air Chuck kept the large shield at the ready. There was no telling what could be waiting for them in the mists and for a haunted, deserted town there certainly appeared to be quite a bit of foot traffic these days. They'd been heading away from the water until they reached the end of the asphalt where the trees took over. It was the absolute south end of the town and they would walk along this path east to get back to where they started from.
"You're sure we'll run into something if we go this way?" Chuck asked.
"I'm sure. I can't say when but I generally know the area. Wish I'd memorized the streets like Victor suggested when we were living on the outside. Seemed like a silly idea at the time but then here we are, huh?" his companion answered.
"Did you have a map of the town?"
"Just Victor's mental one. Didn't figure that I would need it following him around. Give him a piece of paper and he could sketch out for you the whole place."
"That might have been a good idea to do like, before we came here." the Canadian pointed out.
"Yeah, yeah, hindsight's 20/20. I didn't hear you mention anything this whole time."
They pressed on. Chuck remembered little of the town's layout besides the major sections on both sides of the lake. Other than the buildings he entered in hopes of finding his imaginary friend his recollection of the rest of the town's structures was hazy at best. He thought back then that he was wandering randomly from place to place in search of Troy but in reality he was led like a dumb animal by the Dark Man to the places he needed to go. It was likely that without the assistance of the dead cultist he would have never left this place alive.
They'd been walking for what had to have been the better part of an hour when they found themselves at the opposite end of the tree line. Stopping as she realized they gone past where they should have stopped Julia looked behind them in confusion.
"This...doesn't make sense. We should have passed by Nathan by now, right?"
"Should have." Chuck agreed. "That doesn't mean much here though."
"Maybe we just have to-"
Interrupting her from far off in the distance was a long blaring horn that rolled in from across the water. Chuck's heart sank as their situation went from bad to worse. Not only were they lost but things were about to get much worse in the very immediate future.
"Bloody hell..." Julia cursed as the light of day began to darken and the sound of grating realities filled the air. The killer held the wide shield a little tighter to him in anticipation for whatever was about to happen. He felt at least a litter safer with it on but still wanted to be somewhere less tactically vulnerable than out on the open streets. The ground shook under his feet as the light faded completely and Chuck did his best to shake out his jitters. He'd seen this nightmare before and theoretically should have been used to the ghost town. While that was somewhat accurate of its semi-peaceful, normal version its true form was a different story altogether. In that place, soon to be all around them, the town stopped playing by the rules.
"Stay calm." Julia advised in the dark.
"Yeah friggin' right." he said while fumbling for a pocket light.
The dark haired woman found the flashlight on his shotgun first just before he clipped a forward facing one onto his vest. The powerful beams lit up what the ordinary streets and buildings had become but would draw monsters to them like a beacon. It could not be helped if they wanted to navigate the rusted grating the pavement had turned into with an endless void just a thin layer of metal below.
"What do we do now?" he asked.
"Find somewhere to at least put our backs to a wall. I don't like standing out here waiting for something to attack us."
"Amen to that. Let's head towards that burned down building."
Treading carefully on the chain link ground which had an unnerving, ever so slight amount of give they headed towards what appeared to have been a mansion consumed by flame. Chuck was expecting something bad to happen and he did not have to wait long for it to come crashing down. It was not nearby but far and above them that he heard a sound he couldn't quite identify. The sound repeated again, closer, but he still could not recognize it. Looking up at the pitch black sky he doubted he could see anything not directly in the path of one of their lights.
"What the hell is that?" Julia asked.
"I'm not sure...can't be good though. We should hurry."
They resumed their short walk to the charred structure at a light jog but then the sound came again much, much closer. It sounded like a pair of wings but it was too big and too slow to be a flying creature. A moment later something landed up ahead so hard that Chuck could feel it shake the grating under his feet. Julia pointed her light up at the disturbance at nearly the same time he did and the two of them revealed a skittering horror from the darkness.
Perching on the largest piece of the burnt mansion still standing was a giant, airborne monstrosity. Despite having a pair of ten foot, shimmering black wings covered in feathers it resembled a snake with flesh colored scales. It didn't seem to have a traditional head but instead had a set of nostrils at the end of its thick neck. It glared at them with red, lidless eyes larger than a fist from up on the ruins.
"Holy fu-" Chuck started to say but its face split open in four pieces and blasted them with a high pitched wail that had the Canadian bringing up his shield in a knee jerk reaction. Almost stunned by the physicality of the roar Chuck barely had the wits about him to dive out of the way when the beast came swooping towards them from above. Dodging it just in time the creature passed by with the force and mass of a bus. Rolling painfully against the rusty grating in a dazed tumble he shook his head and scrambled back to his feet. Julia was on one knee pointing the shotgun at the sky but the monster was already winging far into the sky out of range.
"Not good!" she shouted without taking her eyes off the darkness above.
"We gotta get out of here!" Chuck yelled back. Sweeping his light around he saw a brick building across from the burned one. The front had morphed to resemble a screaming face with windows for frightened eyes and a twisted door for the mouth. Not particularly excited to go inside it was better than being out on the street, at least for the moment. "This way, come on!" he yelled and made a dash for the entrance.
Throwing open the door and heading in shield first the killer found no immediate danger and turned to wave Julia onward. The compact woman sprinted towards him and just after she skidded into the building he slammed the heavy door shut behind her. Panting inside the threshold Chuck looked around at their new surroundings. Everything was made from wood, the carpet, the furniture, even the lamps that hung from the ceiling. It was like someone had taken an ordinary building and had transformed everything inside to lumber.
Outside the creature could be heard cawing far above. Julia caught her breath and motioned for them to head deeper into the face building. "You ever see anything like that before?" she whispered.
"I've never even heard of anything like that before." Chuck scoffed as loud as he dared. "It looked like a butterfly had sex with a mutant earthworm."
"Ugh. Visual." she shut her eyes and grimaced in mental pain. "Do you think we can kill it?"
"Hell if I know." Chuck shrugged. "Let's try shooting it in the face. If that doesn't work we'll come up with a plan B."
"A half baked plan is better than just running away in random directions. Should be somewhat safe in here though, right?"
"Yeah." he nodded. "I don't see how something that big could get through the doo-"
The sound of a wrecking ball smashing into the front of the building stole the thought from his mind as entire floors were obliterated just feet away. He looked on, stupefied by the total destruction in front of him as the door they had come in and a good portion of the structure above it was simply crushed from above. A cloud of dust and debris rushed out of the chaos ahead and Chuck just barely got the shield up in time to block it. A hundred flecks of dirt, wood and glass went ptnkptnkptnk! off his protective circle. Julia grabbed his shoulder and pulled him away from the blast radius and hopefully to somewhere safer. They came to what looked like a dead end but his companion darted into an obscured stairwell and he followed without hesitation.
Charging up the stairs they came out into a hall on the second floor and could see most of the damage done to the building. The front third of it had been hit by a meteor that rent everything in its path from the roof to the ground. Their flashlights shone on the tips of glittering wings as the creature a floor below attempted to lift itself back into the air. Chuck was right about it not fitting through the door so apparently the monster decided to dive bomb the entire building with its bulk.
Julia kept going and disappeared around the corner off the stairwell to what he assumed was more stairs. Just then the monster regained its composure and its neck-head came up to eye level with him. Chuck's pocket light shone directly into its menacing, red orbs and he gulped as the creature seemed to drink in the sight of him. His mind screamed at his legs to move but he stood there in paralyzing indecision. The monster lifted its head high into the air and leapt forward to drop its long neck on what was left of the building like a rope slapping water.
The blow threw the Canadian to all fours as the monster destroyed a long line into the very center of the already shaky building. He was at least still relatively safe and he attempted to back up to the stairwell to avoid falling down to the ground floor with the beast. Underneath him though the frail wood groaned with his weight and its new found frailty.
"Oh goddammit." he said and the rest of the hallway collapsed with him riding on top of it. He lost vision as he tumbled headfirst into a pile of rubble that was as unforgiving as it was dark. Landing awkwardly and painfully on his upper body he hit his head on something hard and most disagreeable.
Thoroughly dazed he saw doubles of the immediate area by his face as he blinked under a pile of lumber. Something was running down the side of his cheek and his head began to thump from the hard crash it had taken. The vest thankfully absorbed some of the body trauma but his legs and arms were going to be bruised for days if he didn't get eaten first. His aching body protested as he attempted to pull himself from the rubble pile and determine whether or not the worm thing was waiting to devour him.
As he righted himself Chuck unwittingly gave the monster his exact location as got to his feet in front of it. Had he waited under the pile he might have been able to hide but the beast was standing in front of the building waiting for him. Pocket light shining on its pale forehead and hateful eyes the monster's face split open again to scream so loud the killer swore he felt his ear drums split. Rushing forward at him the beast slammed into Chuck's raised shield and drove him back onto the pile he'd just crawled out from under with battering ram force. Rocked for the second time in under a minute and with the wind knocked out of him he could do nothing but hold onto the shield for dear life.
The creature's rancid breath filled the air and every lungful Chuck fought for almost made him gag. It reeked of garbage and maggots even as its terrible teeth scraped against the shield just a thin inch away. The worm thing was crushing the air out of him even if it wasn't getting to use its four piece mouth to eat him and for the first time since his last visit to Silent Hill Chuck knew he was going to die. He had hoped for something more glorious than being smeared into rubble by a flying worm but with it cutting off his air it was only a matter of time before he lost consciousness.
He felt rather than heard something go off nearby and for a moment the pressure on him stopped. It happened again and the creature let out another howl that had him squinting in pain. Thrashing wildly it incredibly backed up away from him instead of finishing the job. Chest rapidly heaving to get air Chuck kept the shield high as the floor rumbled with the monster's spasms. Its great wings beat down on him and the killer risked a peek over the top of his protection. Julia's light was pointing down on it as it whipped its head back and forth before taking to the air.
Waiting until the creature's beating faded into the nightmare sky Chuck then allowed himself to collapse on the ground. Sliding the shield off of himself and curling into the fetal position he got his wind back as quickly as he could. Each ragged breath hurt his chest and he was worried that perhaps he'd suffered a broken rib. His whole body was well bruised, arms useless, knees pained and head throbbing but on the bright side at least he was alive.
"Chuck?" Julia called down.
"Ugh...I...I'm here!" he said as loud as he could.
"Are you all right?"
"No dude...no I'm not." he called up. He heard movement above and it took her a minute to pick her way down to him. He felt like he should have been on his feet and ready to go but he simply wasn't. It was slightly embarrassing when she shined her light on him as he lay on the ground.
"Holy hell." she remarked. "You okay?"
"I'll be fine. Just let me lay here a minute."
Setting down the shotgun she bent down to tend to him. Using her shirt she wiped the side of his face and Chuck closed his eyes for a moment. "Hey, don't you fall asleep on me." she warned and snapped her fingers.
"Wha? No I'm okay..."
"Really? You've got a nasty gash on your head and you're bleeding all over yourself."
"Oh...is that what that was?"
"Can you walk?"
"Ugh, rather not...all right, all right, help me up."
Leaning on her heavily for support the Canadian made it to his shaky feet. Stooping to retrieve the shield he slid in on and angled it to inspect the front. There were a few scuffs but the metal had little evidence of the trauma it had just warded off. "This thing is the only reason I'm not dead." he commented. "Well, that and you scaring it off. What did you do?"
"Gave him something to think about." Julia grinned in the low light. "Shot it right in the eye. Plan A worked pretty well."
"Huh." Chuck mused. "Damn thing still flew away under its own power. Wouldn't have minded burying that fucker."
"One thing you can say about the monsters around here, they can take a beating." Julia said. "Ready to get out of here? Or at least away from here?"
"Yeah."
Shuffling forward out of the ruined building they moved along the darkened grating up what passed for a street. Going several blocks they passed by bizarre business fronts. Shining his light on one of them Chuck illuminated a signboard that read 'Easy Exit Noosery – When You Just Want It Over With'. Inside were many displays featuring a bevy of nooses with complicated knots and high quality rope.
"Check it out."
"Yikes, that's grim." Julia said.
"I know it's in bad taste but some of those ropes look kind of tight."
"If this is your attempt at humor Chuck I don't have the energy to smack you."
"Eh?"
"Never mind. Let's keep going."
Keeping a mindful eye on the darkness ahead of them Chuck was the first to notice the anomaly after they'd gone another several blocks. It was a little blur of white against the utter gloom that was partially obscured by what passed for buildings in this version of the town.
"Hold on. Look at that up there." he said.
"Where?"
"Right there." he pointed. "What is that?"
"Uh...I have no idea. It's not a light...I can't tell what it is."
"Let's try getting a better look."
Moving closer to the object another block didn't help identify what it was. They simply got a better view of it but the blur didn't seem to get any bigger no matter what they did. Like a careless drop of white paint on a black canvas it was notable for no other reason than that it did not fit in with everything else.
"It's a...a...damn I have no idea." Julia said. "It's not glowing or anything...it's just like...sitting there."
"I can't even tell how far away it is." Chuck said as he squinted at it.
"It's almost like a...blank spot." the woman said. "Doesn't it look kind of 2-D? Like it's super flat?"
"Now that you mention it, yeah." the Canadian scratched his chin. "What the hell is that supposed to mean?"
Unable to shake the feeling that something was very wrong about that they decided to head in the opposite direction of it. Checking over his shoulder Chuck saw that it did not get any smaller even as they headed at least fifteen minutes away from it in the darkness. He was disturbed by what the white spot was but just then the town began to sunder itself. Entire pieces of the black sky fractured to reveal gray underneath and further disintegrated into floating motes. The caged streets stretched, peeled and cracked to reshape into familiar concrete and twisted buildings hurried to shrink back to more traditional square ones. They stayed where they were and in less than a couple minutes the entire town had reshaped itself back into the sleepy, almost normal variant. The darkness melted away into nothingness and just like that they were back in the real world.
"Never going to get used to that." Julia said.
"Can't imagine how you would." Chuck shook his head.
"Victor did, I bet. We should find him now."
"Lead the way. I need a MRE in the worst way." Chuck said as he trudged ahead. "That and a vacation."