Me: Chapter 8! Whoo!

Rendan: Insanity, insanity, insanity. Will you ever run out?

Me: Not a chance in Hell.

Zero: Do we need to mention just how fucked up in the head you are?

Me: Won't do you any good.

Zero: Why do we put up with you?

Me: 'Cuz you have to.

Everyone else: The things we do for love...

Me: Anyway, I don't own Silent Hill or Hey Arnold! They are the respective properties of Konami and Craig Bartlett. All I own are the OCs, plot and the monsters I create. Btw. MORE SPOILERS! Read at your own discretion.

Rendan: I don't know how often you're going to have to say that.

Me: It doesn't matter. Read and enjoy!

Chapter 8: Path of Victims

Helga groaned as she managed to sit up. She rubbed the sore spot on the back of her head as she opened her eyes to see just where she was. To her surprise, the Otherworld was nowhere in sight. Had she been unconscious throughout the entire thing? Helga glanced around to notice that she was in an empty room. Looking up, she nearly had a heart attack.

A various array of sharp implements were hanging just out of her reach above her. When she looked to the floor, all she could see was a massive amount of dried blood. When she finally noticed what she had been laying on she immediately leapt off to the floor. She had been laying on a lab table, a lab table that had been cut, scraped, and covered in blood at least once before. Helga began to pale until she noticed something else. She was alone.

'Where's Arnold?' Helga franticly thought. She began to check any possible spot in the room she could think of to find him or, she dreaded, his corpse. Finding nothing after a moment, she looked to the door that had to lead out of the room and hopefully somewhere safe. Doing a quick check of her equipment, which was all missing, Helga left the room in search of her gear and, more importantly, Arnold.

Helga found herself walking through an underground base of sorts. There were hallways leading to more hallways with several intersecting paths that crossed and didn't seem to really lead anywhere. Letting out a small sigh, Helga started to check the rooms and started with the closest one. In the room was what looked like a dentist's chair... if it were meant to be in an insane asylum anyway. There were straps on the chair meant to bind the hands and legs to the chair to prevent any violent thrashing. Above the chair was another array of sharp objects, all bloodied from apparent use.

As she looked around the bloodied room Helga noticed a small vial stand with several vials on the stand and one of them was full. Helga looked at the vial and noticed the strange, crimson liquid inside. Her mind wandered back to Dr. Kauffman's forms and remembered the description of the 'purification liquid'. A crimson colored liquid he called 'Aglaophotis'. Believing this liquid to be the concoction, Helga found a lid for the vial, capped it and took it with her. She smirked slightly at possibly having the one weapon that could kill the 'all powerful' Guardian. Now she had to find Arnold so she could tell him about it. The only problem was, she had no idea where she was and even less of an idea about where he could be.

Before Helga could leave the room, she heard the doorknob to the room jiggling rapidly. Whatever emotion she had been feeling immediately turned into dread as the jiggling became more violent. Helga looked around for any sort of place to hide but could find none. Helga had almost lost hope of getting out of this situation without being discovered when she had a single thought, hide in plain sight. It was risky, insanely so, but there was no other option. Helga leapt into the chair and shut her eyes, pretending to be unconscious. She had just closed her eyes when two figures walked into the room.

"This one of the brats?" One of the figures asked. The voice sounded feminine, which partially worried Helga. Sure men could be stupid but she'd hoped that a woman would at least have some sort of reasoning to know this cult was crazy. Apparently that wasn't so.

"I'm surprised that he chose to put this one here, but there must be a reason," the second voice said, clearly a man's voice. The two figures walked around the room for a moment before the female shouted.

"Where the fuck is the purification liquid!" She cried, sounding frantic and terrified.

"D-did one of our brothers take it?" The man asked.

"No, that liquid is too important to be carried around like some sort of accessory... Maybe... the Guardian has it." Helga listened to the two while barely resisting her desire to grin at how stupid these people were. She had only barely succeeded thanks to the knowledge of what they'd do to her if they found out she wasn't unconscious.

"We have guards walking around this place day and night! If he'd gotten in there would be a trail of bodies to show for it! He wouldn't spare one soul in this place. Someone must have taken it." A slight growl from the female signified that she had given up.

"What are we supposed to do then? We are so close–"

"We may be close but now we've reached a setback. Without the liquid we'll have to try killing him the old fashioned way."

"Can that be done?"

"If it bleeds, we can kill it. He's bled before. We can do it." The female nodded slightly to the man as she attempted to open the door, finding it stuck.

"We need to fix these damned things," she groaned. The man in her company walked up to the door and kicked it open only stopping to turn around to see if the girl had woken up. She hadn't.

"We just need a new door," he said calmly as he walked out with the female following shortly behind. Once the sound of their footsteps faded Helga opened her eyes and walked out the door.

'That was too close!' Helga thought. Helga left the room and began to check the others. Like the hospital, many of them were locked or bolted shut from the other side. Helga was lucky to find one of the rooms that was open and she entered, only to see something that she'd hope she'd never see.

Arnold was laying on a table like the one she woke up on. He was currently shirtless and blood was smeared over his chest and stomach. Next to him on the table were several bloodied tools, all seemed to have been used recently as well as several of the tools above his head dripping with freshly spilled blood. Helga took a step back, slipped on the blood that was spread out on the floor and hit her head on the back wall. The sudden impact left a sound that woke Arnold from his slumber.

Arnold shot up the second the sound reached his ears. The second he sat up he felt a wet substance dripping on his head. Looking up he noticed the bloody tools and knew exactly what liquid was dripping on him. He scrambled off the table and reached the floor, finally realizing that not only was he was shirtless but also covered in blood. He glanced around to a nearby sink that was in the room and rushed to turn it on, hopefully to wash the blood off his person. Fortunately for him, the water came as he turned the handle and he washed himself of the life-giving fluid that rested on his torso and head.

Helga, while rubbing her head, rose to her feet to see Arnold in a panicky state as he washed himself. As Arnold turned around Helga noticed that he hadn't been wounded. There were no cut marks, no stitching, no anything that could lead her to believe that Arnold had been harmed... any more than a whack on the head anyway. Arnold looked over his body quickly before his gaze leveled on Helga, who was in a mix of shock and euphoria at seeing her secret crush was alright.

"Football Head, you okay?" Helga asked. Even if his body appeared to be okay, his mind was a different story. Arnold took several deep breaths and looked around the room, listening to the dripping blood hit the table.

"I- I'm fine, Helga," Arnold replied with a shaky tone. Anyone with a brain could see Arnold was rattled beyond what was normal for the boy. Helga could only nod dumbly. She knew Arnold was bothered much more than he was showing. A lot more. The only problem was that she didn't need to fight with him at this point and time and their primary concern should be to get the hell out of wherever it is they were. Arnold found his shirts on the counter near the table. He quickly slipped them on and looked around for his bat.

"They took our stuff, Arnold," Helga said. Arnold looked to her with a near frantic expression on his face. Helga could almost sense his upcoming question and replied before he had the chance to ask. "I was looking for our stuff when I found you. I don't know where they put them." Arnold had to hold on to the counter to steady himself. Waking up as he did was not something that existed in even his worst nightmares. After a moment Arnold seemed to visibly calm down to the point he started to act like his old self again. 'He's trying to be strong,' Helga mused.

"Okay," Arnold stated, his voice finally rid of its shaky tone, "we have to find our gear and get out of here." Helga nodded as she reached into her shirt and held out the vial for Arnold to see. "Helga, what's that?" Helga smiled slightly.

"Our weapon against the Guardian. Aglaophotis." Arnold's eyes widened as he stared at the vial in Helga's hand. Without thinking, he rushed to her and embraced her. Helga's expression took on something akin to pure bliss which thankfully went unnoticed by Arnold. Helga quickly slapped herself to rid herself of her dreamlike state.

"This is incredible! Where did you find it?"

"I found this in a room I checked out before I got here. But, there's a problem." Helga quickly removed herself from Arnold's arms, though she would never admit she liked the hug, and hid the vial of Aglaophotis. "Two of the cult members came there looking for it. From how they sounded I guess that they've gotten the Guardian restrained for a while. They think they can kill him even without the liquid." Arnold sighed.

"I don't know what to think about that," Arnold stated truthfully. "On the one hand, the Guardian is an unstoppable killer that will kill anyone that he sees fit. On the other, he's clearly against The Order and seems to do all in his power to keep them from succeeding. As for The Order, they're clearly against the Guardian but," Arnold paused to rub his head where he was struck and look back to the bloody tools, "it seems like they hurt or kill whoever they think can get in their way... and they have no problem doing it. I don't know who I want to win."

"Let's focus on us winning and getting out of this crazy town alive," Helga said. Arnold nodded and began to walk out of the room. Just as he was about to open the door, something caught his eye. There was a small sheet of paper sticking out of one of the drawers, something he could swear wasn't there before. Considering most of the information he'd gotten on the town came from forms like these, Arnold pulled the form from the drawer and read it. This one was... different, however. Instead of it being like the others, with a date and information, it seemed to be directed to him.

I'm sure you are wondering where you are, right? You're wondering just where you are or what kind of town you've stumbled in. You're probably also tearing yourself up over how to escape. Don't lose hope, people have escaped before. But those that have escaped have been forced to nearly give up everything in order to obtain their freedom.

They've had to accept that inner darkness all of mankind possesses while others denied and succumbed to it. The question is... Can you do it? Can you accept what you have inside of you? Can you escape from this nightmare? Will you walk the paths of Silent Hill's victims? Should you decide, go to the designated spot and locate the next form. By doing this, you will take the paths of Silent Hill's past victims, both the survivors and the damned, and finally see just what it was that brought about their escape or demise. Here is your first destination: Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. Good luck.

Arnold stared at the paper in his hand. In his mind, he contemplated following the notes to see just where it could possibly lead him. It could very well be the thing that led him to the answers he was looking for. It could help him figure out to escape. In all of Arnold's reading, he hadn't noticed that Helga was staring at him quite curiously. He looked toward Helga and smirked.

"I think I've just found a clue to getting out of here," Arnold said. Helga dropped her jaw.

"You're kidding, right?" She questioned. Arnold shook his head and handed the form to Helga. She read over it and looked back at Arnold. "So are we going to do it? Are we going to follow this... 'Path of Victims' to find a way out?"

"We are," Arnold replied. Helga nodded and handed the file back to Arnold. "But let's find out stuff first." The two proceeded to walk around the base, resuming in the activity of checking each door to see if it was locked or not. As they kept going, they discovered most of the doors were locked, or the locks were broken beyond repair, just like anywhere else in the town. With the way the male handled the troublesome door before, Helga wondered why there weren't more doors kicked in that they could explore.

The duo approached an intersection where one hallway became four, well, three considering they checked one, and stopped immediately as voices reached their ears. It seemed that two Order members were talking, both male this time if the voices they heard were any indication, but one of their voices Helga recognized. Helga peeked around the corner to see the members dressed up in common garb, which surprised Helga. When she thought of a cult member, she thought of someone dressed in a black robe with the hood of the robe covering his or her face. Instead, one of the figures appeared to be in his late twenties while the other seemed to be in his late teens.

"What happened?" The voice Helga didn't recognize, belonging to the older cultist, asked.

"The Guardian's escaped, but he didn't do it alone," the teen stated. "He had help. It seems the previous assumptions made by our brothers were correct, he can control the monsters here, even the supposed strongest of them. He sent them to protect that other brat that came with the other two we have here."

'Protect? That can't be right... but... if it's true, just who was he trying to protect?' Helga thought. That didn't seem to fit what appeared to be the Guardian's main objective.

"I don't think that was the case," the first voice stated. "I think the brat got lucky and managed to escape. The Guardian spares no one, brother. Aside from that, she does have that other brat helping her."

"But isn't that other brat–"

"We don't know for sure. Any documentation on him was lost years ago."

"Years? Just how long has he been here?"

"Again, I don't know! I'm not so old that I'd know about everyone the Order or the town itself brings here! The fourth brat may not even be who we assume he is, but there is one thing I know for certain. The Guardian has his eyes on that boy."

"How can you tell?"

"Our canaries, boy. They always chirp lightly whenever that boy was near, but he himself isn't making them frantic, meaning that a monster must be following him but is keeping its distance for one reason or another. He's managed to escape us multiple times thanks to... interferences and I believe the Guardian is watching him, almost like a scientist watches a specimen. He may be waiting to see if the boy manages to escape, but why escapes me." The teen seemed disturbed by this as he let out another sigh.

"Regardless, those two are on the loose again and we have no idea where they went." The older cultist sighed.

"Get more of our brothers and sisters out there," he said. "Make sure those brats are found and brought back. On top of that, find the missing vial of the purification liquid your partner was screaming about earlier. After we get them all here we'll figure out just what is true and what isn't."

"What exactly do we need the four of them for?"

"In case we're wrong, we have four sacrifices to appease the Guardian with. Hopefully it'll get him back on our side as was originally intended."

"And if that doesn't work?"

"We'll have to kill him."

"Which is why we need the liquid."

"Correct," the older cultist confirmed while nodding his head. "Now get moving!" The teen cultist nodded and ran off, leaving the older cultist alone with his thoughts. The older cultist paused for a moment and walked into a nearby office. Arnold and Helga made a silent pledge not to go into that room and watch for him coming out. They turned and headed down the opposite hallway, if only to get further away from that cultist. Luckily, the closest door they checked was unlocked and they quickly moved inside. The room appeared to be something like a supply area for the members of The Order. Along the shelves that lined the room were several cases of ammunition for shotguns, rifles and pistols, but no guns were in sight. The two kids figured that every cultist must have had some type of gun on them if they needed this much ammunition.

This was perhaps the only room in the compound that didn't have blood smeared all over the floor. The room was fairly clean, save for some dust on the floor. With no idea what else they would find in the room, they began to search the shelves. They a few health drinks and even a first aid kit, but those things paled in comparison to what they found on the final shelf in the room. On the final shelf they found Helga's slingshot and ammo as well as Arnold's metal bat. There was, however, one thing about the bat that made Arnold hesitate slightly as he reached out for it. On one part of the bat was a small red splotch. It didn't take much for the two kids to figure out what that was.

'Must have been from when I hit that monster at the hospital,' Arnold reasoned. He grabbed his bat and Helga grabbed her slingshot. The two peeked their heads out of the door to look into the hallways if only to check for nay order members that may have been wandering around their base. Seeing no one, the two took the same path they felt was the correct one, the path the teenage Order member took earlier. Fortunately for them, the path led to a staircase and led them out of the lair into what appeared to be another hospital. When they walked through the exit, the wall behind them closed. As they walked further away, they heard the sound of gears clanking behind them. They turned to see the wall being sealed with an intricate lock that only a key could open.

Taking one final look at the lock, the two walked out of the hospital and found themselves surprisingly close to the building they were looking for. Pete's Bowl-O-Rama. The building appeared to be in okay shape, considering only the windows were boarded up and the door itself was gone. Seeing that they had an easy way inside, they entered. Arnold wasted no time and started to look around for a sheet of paper that held his next clue on it.

Helga had other things on her mind and decided to bowl a little bit, to see how many strikes she could get before she ran out of lanes. She picked up the closest ball and hurled it down the lane as fast as she could. The ball smashed the pins with a resounding crack as all of the pins toppled over. Helga was slightly surprised when the mechanism that reset the pins started working and she heard her ball being returned. As the ball rolled out, she found a white piece of paper sticking to the ball and a key fell out of one of the holes. She removed the form and glanced over it quickly. Looking back down at the key, she picked it up.

"Hey! Football Head! Look what I found!" Helga shouted while waving the form in her hand. Arnold stopped what he was doing and rushed over. Taking the form from Helga, he began to read.

So you decided to take the Path of Victims, eh? Well, this little tale is about a young man named Eddie. Eddie Dombrowski to be exact. This young man was an interesting one. Just a simple victim of bullying really. Poor boy was constantly tormented due to his weight and snapped. He shot a dog dead and shot a football player at his high school in the knee. He escaped the authorities and made his way to Silent Hill.

Sadly, the town seemed to be too much for his troubled mind and he slipped slowly into madness. This is the place where Eddie had an encounter with the man who would eventually end his life, James Sunderland who, incidentally, is your next assignment but I'll get to that eventually. Eddie finally snapped completely and attempted to kill James, only to be shot dead by the man he attempted to murder. Eddie succumbed to the madness of Silent Hill due to his unstable personality and his destroyed state of mind.

I wonder which state you're currently in... But I digress, your next location is a spot very near and dear to the man you're now following, James Sunderland. Your next target spot is the Lakeview Hotel. The key I've provided you should be able to get you into one of the entrances. Now that you have your clue, find the next form. But be warned, you may not like what you find.

Arnold stared at the form before nodding a silent confirmation to Helga. Helga nodded back and walked out of the Bowl-O-Rama with Arnold at her side, both dead set on reaching their next destination.

Me: And that's the chapter!

Rendan: Now someone's writing directly to Arnold?

Me: Yep. Keep the mindfuck coming!

Zero: Why exactly are people reading this again?

Me: Because some people are just as fucked up as me!

Rendan: Understatement.

Me: I like to keep the mindfuck going, just to have a little fun.

Rendan: It doubt anyone will be able to figure you out with this fucking story.

Me: With any luck they won't. It's all meant to be quiet until the chapters come.

Zero: And when they do, everyone's brain starts to hurt.

Me: Damn right!

Zero: I guess that'll do it for this time.

Rendan: Be good and be safe everyone!

Me: I'm outta here!