Chapter 14 – The Standoff

The group was all in the living room of the Shepherd family home, taking an eerie silence before the eye of the storm. Out in the thick fog moved various shadows—thirty, maybe more. Deputy Wheeler peered through the window before turning back to the others with a look of fear.

"There's got to be at least thirty of them out there!" Deputy Wheeler yelled, voice with dread. "They're spreading out, surrounding the house!"

Alex clenched his fists in anger. First Joshua, then the monsters, then the cult, everything that was tearing the town apart. Now this. He turned to Adam, his father. The man who had been so distant now stood tall, grim but determined to face the threat head-on.

"Wheeler, James, Alex, take cover," Adam ordered, snapping back to his army days, and not flinching at the situation. "Elle, Lillian, downstairs. Now!"

"No!" Elle interjected back. "I'm not leaving you guys. Not this time!"

Lillian, pale and shaking, places a hand around Elle's arm. "Elle, please-"

"I said now!" Adam ordered, cold and sharp. He softened up for a moment, almost pleading with Elle. "We need you safe. Just trust me. Go!"

Elle paused for a moment before nodding reluctantly. Lillian grabbed her hand and they headed towards the basement. As they descended the stairs, Adam, James, and Alex followed behind them before entering his hunting room where he kept his weapons. Adam had always been a gun enthusiast, it was one of the few things he shared with his sons.

Alex hadn't been down to the basement in years. The memories came flooding back, such as being kicked out of the hunting room when he wasn't supposed to be in there, Joshua sneaking around, pretending to be a soldier. He had always talked about how he'd like to grow up to be like Dad and his older brother. All of that felt like a lifetime ago.

Adam took out his key ring and unlocked the gun cabinet. There he pulled out an old M1 Garand rifle for himself and quickly slung it over his shoulder. He grabbed a hunting rifle and handed it over to James. His brother-in-law took it and with practiced hands, checked over the weapon.

"Thanks," James muttered. There was something in his voice that spoke of a shared pain between the two men.

Finally, Adam took out an old M1 Carbine and handed it to Alex. "Remember how to use this?"

Alex's heart was pounding as he took the gun. He nodded, tightening his grip around the stock. "Yeah, Dad. I remember."

The trio then made their way upstairs, the tension thick in the air as the shadows outside grew nearer. Wheeler was ready in position, his shotgun ready, but he knew the four men were outmanned and outgunned.

"What's the plan, Adam?" Wheeler asked urgently.

"Adam glanced over to Wheeler, then towards the windows. "We hold them off for as long as we can. We can't let them take the house. If it comes down to it-"He hesitated, and looked back to the basement door, thinking of his wife, Lillian, and his son's friend, Elle. "We retreat and head for the lake. But not before we send a message to the Order and Holloway."

James shifted uncomfortably, the hunting rifle now resting in his lap. He exchanged a glance with Alex and Adam. "Then we make a stand here," James said quietly. "Together."

Alex's mind was racing now. He couldn't stop thinking of Elle, how it must feel for her knowing she has to fight her mother. Yet she was very determined to stay by Alex's side which had surprised him. As much as he wanted to be with her, he knew what had to be done. If they didn't hold the line here, none of them would survive.

Adam moved to the front of the room, taking the lead, his hands steady on the rifle. "They're coming."

They could see the first of the cultists stepping out of the fog, their dark silhouettes, faces obscured by some kind of masks, some gas masks others something more animalistic. Then another cultist stepped forth, and then another. They kept their movements slow, and deliberate almost like a ritual as they crept closer to the Shepherd's home.

Then, suddenly they rushed forward.

"Now!" Adam shouted.

Gunfire began to erupt from the house. Adam's M1 Garand was the first as it barked out rounds fired through a broken window. Wheeler let loose with his shotgun, barely making a dent.'

Alex gritted his teeth, took aim with the M1 Carbine, and squeezed the trigger. The recoil hit his shoulder, but he didn't care. All that mattered was keeping these bloodthirsty animals away. Keeping his mother and Elle safe.

James was calm under the pressure, and under Adam's careful tutelage, managed to pick off one of the cultists that had gotten too close. "There's more of them coming around the back!" he shouted.

Alex cursed under his breath. The cult wasn't like the monsters he had encountered, nor a bunch of crazies. They were well-trained, and well organized, strategic. Holloway had trained them for this very moment. Sending them out like wolves encircling their prey, and they weren't going to stop.

"Adam! We can't hold them off forever!" Wheeler called out. "There's too many of them!"

Suddenly, there was a loud crash of breaking glass from around the back of the house. Alex and Adam both turned, their blood running cold as they realized they were trying to batter-ram the back door of the house.

"Damn it, we're out of time!" Adam growled. "Alex, James, go help Wheeler around back! I'll hold the front!"

Alex exchanged glances with his uncle. Both men knew what they meant. If they didn't stop the cultists from breaking through, they were all dead.

James clapped a hand on Alex's shoulder. "We've got this, Alex. Let's go."

As they ran toward the back, Alex's mind was a whirlwind of fear and adrenaline. This was it, the moment that would decide everything. And through it all, one thought kept nagging at him: Holloway was behind this. She was pulling the strings. And if they didn't stop her soon, none of them would make it out alive.

But right now, all that mattered was keeping Elle and his family safe.

As the battle raged on, Adam glanced at Alex, his grip tightening on his rifle. The sounds of gunfire echoed in the house, but amidst all the chaos, Adam's voice was steady. "Did they teach you how to fight crazy cults back in basic?"

Alex managed a chuckle but his heart still racing. He raised the M1 Carbine and fired a couple of shots. "No, they didn't. But I swore an oath to defend from all enemies, foreign and domestic."

He paused and gave his father a smirk. "I guess this counts as domestic, right?"

Adam shot him a quick look, one that might've been approval, or something like it. "Yeah," he muttered, reloading his Garand with another clip. "I guess it does."

They shared a brief moment of understanding, this wasn't the kind of enemy either of them had ever trained for, but it was an enemy nonetheless. The cult wasn't going to stop, and they had to protect their family and each other.

"Just make sure you live long enough to tell that to the brass," Adam added, aiming at another cultist approaching from the fog.

Alex gritted his teeth. "I plan to."

The air was becoming thick with tension, gunfire, and the eerie howls of the cultists outside the Shepherd family home. The cult was relentless, their voices chanting in unison "Sator arepo tenet opera rotas", no quarter was to be given, blending with the sound of boots stomping toward the house through the heavy fog.

Deputy Wheeler took cover near a side window and fired his shotgun. "These freaks don't know when to quit!" he shouted, strained with exertion.

Alex stayed close to the main entrance, keeping his sights trained on the shapes in the mist. His heart was pounding in his chest, but his sweaty hands were steady as he pulled the trigger again, dropping a figure that came too close. He wasn't going to let them take anyone else.

James was just a few feet away. Though he was calm on the outside, inside he was feeling a fury of focused anger. He crouched behind the cover, holding the hunting rifle Adam had given him. His face was a mask of rage, old wounds reopened as he finally faced the cult responsible for taking Mary from him. "You bastards," James. "You think this ends with us?"

He fired a shot, the bullet finding its mark. A cultist fell, collapsing into the dirt, but James's rage was far from satisfied. His hatred wasn't just for the cult, it was for everything that had been stolen from him. For Mary, for the years lost, and for the madness he had been dragged into because of Silent Hill. This was his chance for revenge, to make them pay. To make them all pay.

"James, stay focused!" Adam barked, squeezing off another round from his Garand. He was trying to keep his brother-in-law focused, knowing full well that this fight wasn't just about revenge. They needed to survive. "We can't let them break through!"

The cult was circling, testing the defenses from different angles, and returning fire of their own. But each time they pushed forward, they were met with gunfire. Still, their numbers were overwhelming. Wheeler was running low on shells for his shotgun. "We can't hold them forever!" he warned, glancing at Alex.

Back In the basement, Elle and Lillian huddled close together. Elle could hear every gunshot, every yell, but the worst part was knowing her mother was behind all of this. The question hung heavy in her mind "Just how far would her mother go?"

Upstairs, Alex took a deep breath and steadied himself. "We won't need to," he called back to Wheeler. "We just need to hold them off long enough."

"For what?" Wheeler asked, barely hearing over all of the chaos.

Alex didn't answer, he didn't have one. But his gaze shifted towards the fog, scanning for something, anything, that would give them an edge. He couldn't let himself think about what would happen if they failed. He had to keep fighting. For Elle. For his family. For the future of Shepherd's Glen.

"We'll make them regret coming here," Alex muttered to himself, as the next wave of cultists charged through the fog.

James raised his rifle. "Let's end this."

The night dragged on as the battle raged, each side locked in a deadly stalemate. The cultists were relentless, pressing forward wave after wave, their eerie chants growing louder as they tried to breach the Shepherd family home. Alex, James, and Wheeler were holding their ground, but the strain was beginning to show.

Adam kept firing his M1 Garand with the precision of a seasoned hunter and soldier, firing upon cultists who dared come too close. His eyes darted between his son, his brother-in-law, and the chaos outside. "James!" he barked, seeing the man's rifle drop to his side as the last round was spent.

"Damn it!" James growled, "I'm out!"

Adam tossed him a small box of 30.06 ammunition. "Here! Make every shot count!"

James caught the box and began loading the hunting rifle as quickly as he could. "You don't need to tell me twice," he muttered, slamming the bolt forward and popping back up to take another shot. Each round was like a piece of his vengeance, a long-held grudge against the cult that had torn his life apart. His bullets were driven by anger and sorrow, and he could feel it in every trigger pull. He wanted them to feel his and Mary's pain.

Wheeler, breathing heavily and slick with sweat, had fired the last of his shotgun shells. He cursed under his breath as he slung the empty weapon over his back and switched to his sidearm, a Glock 17 handgun, firing off a few desperate shots toward the advancing cultists. "We're getting low here, Alex! We've got to think of something!"

"We need to fall back!" Wheeler shouted, ducking as gunfire began to tear through the windows and walls.

But Adam shook his head, reloading the Garand. "We stay right here. If they break through, nothing is stopping them from getting to Lillian and Elle in the basement. We hold this line."

His words hung in the air, reminding Alex of what was truly at stake. His eyes flickered toward the basement door, where Elle and his mother were hiding. He felt a pang of guilt. He had sworn to protect them, but now, here they were, pinned down by a cult that had already claimed too many lives. Was this how it was going to end?

James glanced at Alex. "You still with us, Alex?" he asked.

Alex nodded. "Yeah. I'm still here."

"Good," James replied, his voice low. "Because this isn't over."

A barrage of gunfire erupted again as more cultists advanced. They were getting desperate, throwing everything they had at the Shepherd house. But the defenders held their ground, each shot ringing out in defiance.

James fired a round, the rifle kicking against his shoulder as another cultist fell. His mind was racing, memories of Silent Hill flooding back as the faces of the monsters outside blurred with those from his time in Silent Hill. "This is for Mary," he whispered under his breath.

Adam glanced down at the dwindling pile of ammunition near him and frowned. "We're not going to last much longer like this," he muttered, reloading one more time. "They're going to break through if we don't find a way to push them back."

Wheeler fired off the last few rounds from his pistol before ducking back behind cover. "You got a plan, Shepherd?"

Alex's mind raced. The cult was too strong and too organized. But they couldn't retreat. Not with Elle and Lillian downstairs. He looked at his father, at James, at Wheeler. This was his family now, his only family. He couldn't let them down.

"There's an old generator in the shed out back," Alex said suddenly, an idea forming in his mind. "If we can get it running, we can use the fence to electrify the perimeter. It might give us the edge we need."

Adam hesitated, scanning the battlefield. "It's a long shot."

"It's all we've got," Alex replied firmly. "I'll go. Cover me."

Before anyone could protest, Alex darted for the back door.

Adam watched his son go, the knot in his chest tightening. "Goddamn it, Alex," he muttered, firing another shot at the approaching cultists.

James moved next to him, his voice grim. "He'll make it."

Adam's grip tightened on his Garand. "He'd better."

As the gunfire momentarily subsided, the quiet that followed was almost more unnerving than the chaos. The sound of footsteps shuffling through the fog and the crackling of the fire on the porch filled the silence. Alex, still crouched near the back door, froze in his tracks, his heart pounding in his ears.

A crackling voice on a megaphone boomed through the night. "Cease fire! Cease fire!"

The echo of the command sent a ripple of confusion through both sides. Alex glanced back, where Wheeler and James exchanged wary looks. Adam, still aiming through the window, didn't lower his rifle, his eyes scanning for any signs of deception.

"What the hell are they playing at?" Wheeler muttered, keeping his gun trained on the yard.

"Stay sharp," Adam said through gritted teeth. "This could be a trick."

Alex slowly inched his way back to rejoin the other men.

The voice over the loudspeaker echoed again. "We have you surrounded, Shepherds! You've fought well, but this doesn't have to end in bloodshed."

Adam's grip on his Garand tightened. "Doesn't have to end in bloodshed?" he muttered with contempt. "They've been trying to kill us for hours."

James shook his head. "I don't trust them. This is just another one of their games."

The voice continued, louder now, closer. "Judge Holloway offers you a chance to surrender. Lay down your weapons, and no harm will come to you."

Adam let out a harsh laugh. "No harm? After everything they've done? They think we're just going to hand ourselves over?"

Wheeler stood up from behind his cover, wiping sweat from his brow, and turned to Adam and James. "We've got two options here: either they're bluffing, or they're planning something worse. We can't sit on this forever."

The tension in the air grew thicker as the voice on the loudspeaker crackled again. "We propose a ceasefire... a parlay. Adam Shepherd and his son, Alex. The Judge wishes to speak with you, and only you."

Adam's eyes narrowed, suspicion crossing every thought in his mind. He exchanged glances with Alex. This wasn't just an offer for peace, it probably was a trap, another twisted move in Holloway's game.

"They think we're that stupid?" Wheeler spat, reloading his shotgun and taking a step forward. "What makes them think we'll just walk into their hands?"

James looked toward Adam, his face a mask of barely contained fury. "This could be a distraction to get us out in the open. They don't want us alive."

Alex shook his head. "It's not like Holloway to ask for parlay. There's something she wants... something specific from us." He glanced at his father. "What do you think?"

Adam remained silent for a moment, staring out the window and at the cultists waiting in the dark. His jaw clenched his grip on the Garand tightening. His mind raced, he knew this could easily be a trap. But Holloway wouldn't risk exposing her position if there wasn't something crucial at stake.

"I'll go," Adam said finally, his voice steady and calm.

"No way," Wheeler cut in, his eyes widened with disbelief. "You're not walking into their hands like that. It's suicide."

Adam moved with resolve. "She wants to talk. She needs something from us. If we don't at least hear them out, we might not get another chance to figure out what she's after."

Alex stepped closer to his father. "Then we go together," he said firmly. "If she wants to talk to both of us, we'll do it on our terms."

James's expression darkened, but he stayed silent. He knew as well as anyone what kind of danger this posed, but the Shepherds had always been at the heart of this conflict. He glanced between Adam and Alex, then nodded. "If you're going out there, be smart about it."

Adam took a deep breath, then returned the nod to James. "We go out, we listen, and we come back. No heroics. If anything feels off, we fight our way out."

Elle suddenly appeared from the basement, having overheard part of the conversation. "You can't trust her, Alex," she said softly, eyes filled with concern. "Whatever she's offering, it's not what it seems."

"I know," Alex replied. "But we need to understand what her plan is. This could give us an edge."

Adam and Alex exchanged one last look before stepping toward the door, weapons still in hand. Wheeler positioned himself near the entrance, ready to cover them if things went sideways. James stood behind, watching, ready for anything.

James immediately stepped forward, voice filled with defiance. "There's no way in hell we're giving Alex to them!" His fists clenched tightly, fury flashing in his eyes. "They already took Mary from me. They won't get my nephew."

Wheeler didn't hesitate either, keeping his shotgun trained on the cultists. "I don't trust a word out of their mouths. This is just another trap." He turned to Adam and Alex. "You can't seriously be considering this."

Alex remained silent, and yet, there was something deep inside that told him he needed to hear them out. Something was pulling him towards this.

"I'll go," Alex said, breaking the silence.

"No," James snapped, stepping in front of him, refusing to let Alex get closer to the cult. "You're not going anywhere with them."

Alex met his uncle's gaze. "I need to know what she wants, Uncle James. This isn't just about me. There's something bigger happening here, and we're not going to stop it by hiding."

Before James could protest again, Adam raised his hand. "If Alex is going, then so am I."

James's expression hardened, but he stayed silent, knowing there was no point in arguing with Adam anymore. Wheeler looked between the Shepherds and the cultists, his grip on the shotgun tightening, clearly uneasy with the decision.

"Fine," Wheeler muttered. "But we'll be watching. Anything goes wrong, we light them up."

Adam nodded at Wheeler, then turned to James. "Cover us. If anything goes sideways, don't hesitate."

James didn't like it, but he relented, stepping back to join Wheeler. His gaze remained locked on Holloway and her cultists, his fingers itching to pull the trigger if need be.

With a final look back at James and Wheeler, Adam and Alex stepped forward to face Holloway and her followers. The heavy fog swirled around them, and as they walked deeper into the mist.