Chapter 20: Uninvited Guests

Sitting on the worn stool the Cerberus Unit guardsman felt like literally twiddling his thumbs to somehow make up for the large amounts of metaphorical twiddling he was doing. Posted at the most well staffed and invasion ready building in all of Silent Hill he was forced to ennui by his own safety. With the kooky cultists drawing up their magic little circles no monsters would be coming in anytime soon. The only action was out in the town itself and no grunt had ever been in the shit like that. One could hope for something exciting but around here exciting usually meant lethal too. Sometimes men just disappeared from right next to their squad mates. Creatures descended like locusts during the unholy periods of darkness to almost overwhelm them. There was that helmeted thing they had been warned to stay away from which wiped out anything that was stupid enough to go near it.

Then there were primary targets, a random pack of humans who kept running into the CU and led the man the cultists called "the greatest evil". The former were crafty, unafraid to shoot first and at least one was bulletproof. The latter had killed three dozen men at the start of their operation in Silent Hill in one of the worst losses of life in company history. Wearing a harness with a seemingly endless amount of knives in it the man in black had ducked, dodged, flat out disappeared and slid in between almost forty well trained, fearless men. Their employer lost four of their wizards or whatever they were whose red circles did nothing to slow the creature's rampage. The only thing that stopped the whirlwind was a blonde man whose nature was never made clear to the guards. It was he who plunged a sword in the chest of the man in black and even that didn't kill him for good. They never saw the blonde man after that and wished to never see again the man he'd defeated either.

They were told that the creature would never, ever break free of his icy prison and they were half right. But the CU was not told nor did they plan for a rogue element to overcome their scant garrison at the paper mill. The three humans still at large were responsible for undoing CU operations hopefully for the last time. If they were smart and had indeed survived the trap set for them on the bridge they would have left the ghost town already. The only true threat left was the man in black and their cult employer assured them that it would be years before he could ramp up to the kind of dangerousness he was previously capable of.

There was not much to do but sit around and keep at least one place in Silent Hill safe. "You make a new pot of coffee, Jim?" his partner Wally asked.

"Nope. Commander says to cut back to one a day 'til we get resupplied."

"Fuck are we supposed to drink? Hot water?"

"Yeah, actually."

"You gotta be kiddin' me." the other guard complained. "Hulme's always been a tight ass but this is ridiculous."

"Can't blame him." Jim sighed. "No one could have predicted how screwy things have gotten. Two days ago Rivers told me his dead grandma was talking to him while he was trying to sleep."

"Damn, that's nothin'. First time everything went tits up everyone in D squad had skeletons in their beds. They were all wearing matching dog tags with our names on 'em."

The first guard shook his head. "I hate this place. The waiting is the worst. Sentries are watching the only bridge and those mooks have got their crazy shit warning them if anyone comes within two blocks of this place. What are we doing here instead of out hunting the primary targets?"

"Gettin' paid."

"Yeah and that pay will be really useful when a thing without a face covers your ass in burning tar."

"Man, you sound like a bitch." Wally sneered.

"Fuck you. I'm done with this shit. When I get out of here I'm quitting."

"Huh!"

"I'm serious. I'll take a job at a mall or something where the worst incoming I'll have to deal with will be some punk kid stealing gum."

"Jesus, I'd rather die here."

"That can be arranged." someone said behind them. The first guard turned and someone stuck a metal tube in his eye. Blinking he realized that it was in fact the end of a shotgun barrel that a youth in kevlar was holding up to his skull. He couldn't have been more than 23 but there was a deadened, expressionless quality to his eyes that suggested he would not hesitate to pull the trigger. On his forehead a dab of dirt or ash had been applied and the guard made a squawking sound as it was the only reaction he could possibly summon.

A short, dark haired woman – a woman here in Silent Hill! - had place a giant .45 on the back of the other guard's neck. Strangely she was wearing what looked like a pair of heavy fighting gloves crafted from black leather and metal. For whatever reason she had them on they didn't seem to affect her ability to handle her gun as she kept a steady finger on the trigger. At this range a single trigger pull from either assailant would blow both of their heads into little pieces. Holding up their hands the guards were still as a man in a suit a blackish-green armor complete with sword and shield stripped them of their weapons.

"So you're them." Wally said as the knight relieved them of their spare ammo clips. "We were all wondering when you would show up again."

"You're all making a serious mistake working for the Order." he said as he continued to disarm them. His voice wasn't threatening but more matter of fact, almost professor-like. He might as well have been lecturing them on the differences between stratus and cumulus clouds. "You will suffer a fate worse than you can imagine here."

"This coming from a guy walking straight into suicide. You don't fuck with us and live to talk about it."

"Bold words for a man a few pounds of pressure from a bullet to the back of the head." the knight said disinterestedly.

"Wally, I've got a 12 gauge in my goddamn eye socket. Kindly shut the fuck up." Jim growled.

When the armored guy was done he brought their hands down behind their backs and lashed them together with an uncomfortable pressure. The kid holding the shotgun did nothing but watch him closely in an unnerving, detached sort of way that someone so young shouldn't have been capable of. Finishing tying them up their captors lead them deeper into the building. The man in armor seemed to know right where he was going when he led them to a small office room and pushed both of them down on their knees.

"Where's Marcus Stone?" the man in charge asked. When they didn't answer he sighed to himself. "Look, I'd rather not fight you. There's more dangerous things in Silent Hill to worry about. The sooner we find Stone the sooner we all go home."

"And not get paid? Hell no." Wally grunted.

"You would trade your life for the empty promise of stacks of paper?" the knight gestured with his hand. "You won't be paid anyway. None of you are leaving this place alive. The longer you remain the longer Silent Hill has to feed off your soul."

"Like we're just gonna bend over 'cause you say so." the second guard spat. "You're a smooth talker son but we're pros. Ain't nothin' you say or do is gonna make us crack."

"I told you." the shotgun toting youth said. "Let me shoot them."

"You'll alert the rest of them." the woman said in a low voice that would have been sexy in any other situation. "Slit their throats. It's quieter." she added and Jim immediately lost any desire he had for the short woman. She was arguably scarier than the other two combined.

"We're not killing them." the armored man said as he turned his head back to his companions in a clear tone of command.

"You three ain't shit." Wally said and Jim would have slapped the man if he could. "You ain't got the balls to scare a fifth grader. You-"

The knight stepped forward and thumped his shield into Wally's helmet so hard there was an audible cracking sound. When he stepped back the guard's mask was split in half and he teetered on his knees. "Yuh...hit like uh...bitch...muhfucker..." the uppity guard managed to half slur. The shield came up again and the knight dropped it hard on the guard's brow. The short attack knocked him out cold and guard hit the floor face first.

"So we can't kill them but giving them brain damage is okay." the woman complained. Her blood thirst was almost as disturbing as the fact that the other kid had yet to show any trace of emotion during the proceedings.

"He'll come to in a few minutes." the knight said defensively. "Now I'll ask you again, where is Marcus Stone?"

Jim mentally calculated what the odds were that he would be physically maimed if he didn't cooperate and assumed they would be very high. Suddenly the woman said, "Fuck this, gimme that thing." and reached for the knight's sword. She had it halfway out when Jim blurted, "He isn't here."

Scowling the woman slid the blade back down while the knight glared at her. "Go on." he ordered the guard.

"He's rarely here, just comes to check on us and talk to the CO." the guard revealed.

"Then he's set up elsewhere and left you mercenaries as decoys." the armored man surmised. "But someone here will know how to contact him."

"We got what we need. Can we kill them now?" the woman asked eagerly.

"No, no. This one's told us what we need to know. Bind them more thoroughly and let us be on our way."

Jim was greatly relieved to hear that even as they put a gag in his mouth and hog tied his hands to his legs. At least he was still in one piece.

Swiftly and quietly they gathered at the building's rear stairwell to skip inside. Though it was day there were no windows nearby and Victor clicked on his helmet light as they spoke in whispers.

"Things are about to get rough." he warned the other two.

"Can't we go invisible again?" Chuck asked.

"Don't want to risk it. The ash seems to defeat any runes nearby, even mine. If we take it off we become vulnerable to whatever traps the Order has set up around this place. They will have their former base well protected, Chuck."

"No magic then, just bullets." Julia nodded in the gloom.

"Looks that way. Just don't hold back. These guys will shoot first if we let them. Aim for their body armor if you don't want to permanently hurt them but take the shot if you have it."

The fourth floor stairwell opened and much to the surprise of the four men set to guard it three hostiles came pouring out of it. They were so sure about the security of the building the mercenaries weren't even carrying their rifles. Still the guards were trained soldiers and one of them went for his sidearm as a matter of relfex. A shotgun started barking.

The sound was unmistakable to the old solider. He's heard it a hundred, a thousand times in the course of his life. Somewhere all too nearby a buckshot hand cannon was going off repeatedly and it was certainly not one of his men taking practice shots. Worry gripped Hulme as he pulled on his mask and picked up his carbine.

Chuck wasted none of their tactical advantage and blasted two of the mercenaries at almost point blank range. Julia did not see blood but they looked like they were each hit with a sledgehammer to the chest from the force. Victor barreled into the third guard while the fourth charged the Canadian. Tying him up and jerking the shotgun up at the ceiling the guard forced the killer's third shot to shred the roof as they fought for control of the gun. Without a clear shot on either guard Julia acted quickly and holstered her .45. Kicking the back of the knee of the man Victor was fighting she created a momentary imbalance in his posture. The knight used the opportunity to topple his opponent over and proceeded to brutalize him with his shield.

Swinging around to help Chuck she smaller woman jumped onto the back of the mercenary trying to wrest the shotgun from his hands. She snaked a muscular appendage under his helmet to his neck and got the blade of her forearm pressed against his carotid artery. The metal gloves gave her no trouble as she attached her right hand to her left bicep and used the other arm to cinch in the blood choke on the back of the man's head. When properly done it would render someone unconscious in a few seconds and she had it done with practiced, textbook perfection. Squeezing as hard as she could she felt the man scramble to tug at her arms but it was too late. After a couple seconds of frantic clawing and Julia crushing his throat the man's knees gave out. Tipping forward onto the floor Julia rode his back on the way down and let him break their fall. Holding onto his neck just a couple of seconds longer than she normally would in the gym she let him go before she did anything more permanent.

Getting to her feet she saw Victor pummeling the last guard into a similar, inert pose as hers. Chuck was hurriedly reloading as he kept an eye on the hallway ahead. "Well, that was awesome." he commented as he pumped the shotgun to go chchkk!

"We had the drop on them, don't get careless." Julia warned as he drew her gun again.

"These guys are going to be back on their feet soon enough. Let's find this leader and then we'll get out of here." Victor said.

Leading with his blade her man brought them further ahead to where the building had a L shaped turn. There was a set a double doors around the corner with about a foot of wall on either side. Pointing silently at both ends with his sword Victor waited for Julia and Chuck to take up positions before setting himself in front of the doors. Kicking them open Victor immediately dropped down behind his shield. Julia had a half second to peek around the corner and saw a barricaded hallway in front of them with a contingent of mercenaries waiting. Spinning away from the ledge she flattened herself against the wall as the horrid memory of the bridge ambush came rushing back to her. The racket of a dozen rifles opening fire filled the hallway like a thunderstorm erupting and so many bullets filled the air they started blasting the walls into kindling.

The sound echoed much louder in the confined space than outside but Julia could still hear the sound of dozens of bullets ricocheting off of Victor's shield. This is what actually stopped the punishing salvo as the mercenaries ostensibly took cover from their own attack. Inching towards the open doors Julia stuck her gun around the corner and fired blindly into the hall for no other reason than to give the guards something to think about.

Uncoiling himself as the guns ahead rattled less Victor inched forward with the methodical pace of a turtle. Concentrating their fire on him the mercenaries tried to stop his advancement but the knight's shield held steady. Dropping a clip to the floor Julia popped another in and cocked her pistol before risking a look around the corner. There were defensive barricades of furniture and scrap metal forming crude but effective positions for the mercenaries to take cover behind. She could see the red glow of their masks from where they were ducking behind and she squeezed a few rounds at the ones with rifles on Victor. If they could keep him covered he would get behind their barricades and from there she was positive he could cause enough chaos to give her and Chuck open shots.

When there seemed to finally be a break in the crossfire Victor poked his head up over the lip of his shield to see. The most awful few seconds of Julia's life followed and she had a front row seat for all of it. A rifle was lifted from some fifteen feet away and let out a short burst at the knight. His shield absorbed the majority of bullets harmlessly but one lined up with perfect timing and aim to hit Victor in the forehead and snap his head back. Julia screamed as he fell back like a rag doll and crumbled to the floor. One of the mercenaries jumped up from the foremost barricade to finishing him off and Julia's hand came up all on it's own. Howling in rage and pain she emptied what was left of the clip into the black clad soldier without care to his safety. She whipped herself back away from the doors as her enemies returned fire and bullets splintered the edge of the doors.

Sobbing uncontrollably Julia reloaded and regret ever setting foot in his hell forsaken place. Hardly able to see her pistol through the tears she looked up to see Chuck on the other side ashen faced. Resolving to at least take a few of them with her she waited for soldiers to come to them so she could put a slug in their foreheads.

Sensing their advantage she could hear the mercenaries boldly moving out of cover to rush the threshold. The first one ran right into a buckshot shell and this time Julia did see blood spray. Pumping the shotgun Chuck fearlessly if suicidally met their charge and waded forward with his shotgun doling out sonic booms at the charging guards. Julia wiped the moisture away blocking her vision and decided to follow the Canadian into death.

Chuck blew the top of a mercenary's skull off and in that moment Julia noticed something strange. Victor's head rolled to the side and she saw his mouth moving. It took her a critical second to realize there was no blood around him and that while he'd take a savage blow to the head the round had not penetrated his helmet. Hope exploded through her body just as Chuck was drilled by return fire and went down. Their adversaries were too well trained, too ruthless to let her drag Victor to safety and if she went around the corner she likely wouldn't survive. She had to escape and find a way to save him rather than perish here.

"I'll be back for you!" she called to her man even if he was in no condition to hear her. Sprinting away from that terrible hallway she rounded the corner as bullets buzzed angrily by her. Coming up on the four men they'd incapacitated earlier she capped a couple of them on the way by who seemed to be recovering.

"After her! Go!" she heard a loud voice command and Julia practically jumped into the dark stairwell. Moving down the steps without the aid of light she heard men coming up the stairs towards her and the pilgrim realized too late that she was trapped. Fumbling for the door when she reached the third floor she opened it expecting more mercenaries to be waiting for her. By some luck the hallway was empty and she ran down it in search of a way out. Rounding the same L shaped corner as the floor above she found a long path of moldy carpet leading to an elevator. Charging forward she ran into the wall where the buttons where next to the elevator and mashed the call button.

Her heart sank when she realized that the old piece of machinery wasn't operational. She heard the door open from the stairwell on the other side of the building and accepted the fact that she wouldn't be making it out of here alive. Choosing a random door she hurried past it into an old filing room with its large wooden desks still inside. Crawling under one of the desks she put her back to the inside wall of the sturdy desk and held her pistol tight. They were going to find her anyway but the first one would at least take one to the face.

Chest pounding at a million miles a minute Julia forced herself to slow her near hyperventilation-level breathing. Everything had gone so wrong so quickly but she had to hold out the mad hope that somehow she would get free and save her friends...if they were even still alive.

Boots trampled up and down the hallway in search of her. Calming herself she was still even as that same loud voice said, "She's on this floor somewhere! Go door to door if you have to!"

Closing her eyes she could not see even the faintest light from under the desk. It was a shame though for things to end this way. She had promised her dead parents that she would be buried in the plot next to theirs just off Toluca Lake. "Mom, Dad, looks like I won't be able to keep up my end of the deal after all." she whispered.

They started checking doors and it was only a matter of time now. If only they had more people to fight the mercenaries and the Order. Where the hell was-

"The Dark Man!" she said out loud and her eyes popped open. Closing them again she furrowed her brow angrily and hissed, "Dark Man, Nothing, whatever the hell your name is, get us out of here! I'll pay whatever you want, just save us!"

The sounds of the soldiers kicking doors down was the only answer she received. Well, it was a least worth a try. Resigning herself to her fate Julia didn't notice the first drop of water hit her arm. The second one she did and shook it off as she listened closely to the men coming for her. The pilgrim was too concerned with her immediate future to question why she was being rained on under a desk inside of a building. Just then the door to her room was knocked wide open and she opened her eyes again, ready to send the first man to find her straight to hell.

Only she saw nothing but darkness in front of her.