Dark Descent

Disclaimer: Silent Hill and any recognizable characters belong to Konami. I'm just doing this for fun.

 

Chapter 9: Through the Threshold

Underground Passage/The Hilltop Center

 

The train stop was dark from a lack of lights, and made of nondescript concrete. Alessa looked around. Where the hell was she?

This certainly wasn't her intended station. She remembered that station well, despite only having seen it once. The place looked more like a maintenance station than a regular train stop. There was graffiti nearby, carelessly painted on the walls. The phrases were so jammed together Alessa could barely make out what they were. There were gang symbols in between the scribbles, that much was obvious. Great. Good to know she was in a good location, she thought sarcastically. At least she had a shotgun with her, and a handgun. There was no one else around, from what she saw.

Alessa started walking down the platform. There was a feeling of being alone that Alessa didn't like at all. She never expected to find herself in a place like this, and even without the demonic aspect of the situation, who knew who could be lurking down there? She wasn't sure she should be down here at all, regardless of whether it was the only way through.

There was only one door in the whole place, and it looked like it led to a storage closet. It turned out the door was an entryway to a stairwell leading down from the station. Strange, she would've thought it would lead up from the train station. She descended the stairs with some trepidation. Halfway down the stairs, Alessa noticed the air was growing colder around her. Something was happening to the stairwell too. The ground felt spongy beneath her - she dared not look down. Somehow she managed to block out what was happening around her, amidst the growing chill that seeped into her bones. It wasn't until she caught a glimpse of the nightmare lurking around her, despite her best efforts, that Alessa drew back sharply. They were veins. Lining the walls, under her boots - a nightmarish tableau of interweaved red lines numbering in the hundreds.

Alessa hurried down the stairwell, partially closing her eyes to block out the nightmare around her. She couldn't handle this. The darkness was all around her, not allowing her to see beyond the barest of details. Growls and the sounds of presences echoed around her; she was almost afraid to see what they were. Shadows moved in the periphery of her vision, and she only just managed to avoid them. There was a horrible, awful sound like a drilling dentist's instrument or a power saw coming from around here, and she had only one guess as to what it could mean. There were veins all around, she was almost certain. It ground at her sanity, making her cold in ways she couldn't describe. She felt disoriented as she ran, heart pounding in her chest so hard it hurt, until she ducked into a door that was unlocked.



The nightmare continued as she went deeper into the underground. Loud stomping sounds came from the darkness. Alessa was horrified to see large creatures emerging from the shadows, intent on crushing her with their brute strength. Alessa desperately tried to dodge them, knowing she could waste all her ammo on these things and leave herself defenseless. The walls around her were grotesque and moldy, literally living in the way the decay moved over them. Alessa almost couldn't withstand the assault on her sanity, monsters and rotting disease everywhere.

One area was particularly bad. She had stepped into the area by mistake, thinking it would lead to something she could use, only to find herself trapped among various monsters. The stench was awful; the ground was spongy beneath her boots. She didn't even want to contemplate the filth she was wandering in, but the growls and rumblings of the monsters told her there were greater things to worry about. She was almost on auto-pilot, dodging and running from the monsters, and trying to keep herself from being overwhelmed by the reality of it all.

A brutal gale force struck her out of nowhere, knocking her to the ground. She looked up to realize one of the giant monsters had caught up with her, towering over her with its six foot frame. She fired several rounds at its head with her handgun, holding her upper body while she fired. God, it hurt. But she couldn't allow that to distract her. Grabbing her shotgun, she fired a blast at the monster's skull, sending it flying back. Alessa watched the dying creature flailing on the ground, but she didn't bother to finish it off. Summoning all of her energies, she ran towards the door the thing had been keeping her from reaching.

~

Alessa walked through a tight dark corridor she had found herself in. The rocky ceiling was low to the ground and the walls were tightly packed in. She found it strange there would be a place like this under a train station, at first, but then she realized this was a sewer. The train station must near or connected to an underground passageway somewhere. She was glad that at least there were no monsters following her. Suddenly, she felt a strange feeling in the pit of her stomach. A hazy vision took hold in her consciousness...

"Stay back!" Cybil Bennett shouted, pointing her gun at the barred door. A tremendous force pounded against the door, accompanied by a growl that sounded like a bestial roar.

Cybil backed away from the door. Powerful blows rained down on the door, cracking the wood with brutal force, until the sound of the door getting cracked open jarred the ambience in the room.

The police officer fired several shots. There was the sound of metal being dragged along the ground, and then a sickening thud as something heavy connected with flesh. The sound of a body hitting the floor echoed in the room.

"Cybil!" a female scream sounded across the room.

Alessa dropped to her knees. The vision was overwhelming in its intensity. Her family was in danger. The life she had built for herself was in danger of falling apart. She needed to get out of here, and return home where she could defend her loved ones from whatever the hell was happening. With renewed purpose, Alessa set off further into the cave.

There was a large barrier in place, blocking further entry into the passageway. The wall was flesh toned with organic-like textures, and seemed almost like a feature in some living organism. Alessa stabbed the barrier with her knife and slit downwards, ripping the skin-like substance and exposing some pink, fleshy textures inside the vertical opening. The image they presented was of things Alessa would rather not think about, but she had no choice. She squeezed through the makeshift opening, cringing at the moistened textures rubbing against her.

The following experiences were a collage of horrors that Alessa wouldn't recall clearly later, save in her deepest, darkest nightmares. Creatures came out of the shadows, and she struggled to evade them.

Using a wine bottle she had found, she collected some fuel for a machine of some kind and poured it into the fuel tank, once she went back to the room where the peculiar contraption lay. There was a moment where she hesitated when she took the bottle - a body was crushed under the crates where it lay on, the gruesome mangled remains jutting out from the crates in a macabre display of gore. Alessa held her hand over her mouth to avoid throwing up, but managed to take the bottle she needed to hold the fuel for the machine. Once she poured it in, the machine drained the water from a nearby opening that had been flooded up until now. The ladder obviously led down to the lower level of the sewer; this place was like a puzzle, with one obstacle after the other. Alessa hesitated, before venturing into the dark passageway below.

The stench was nearly unbearable, just as she expected a sewer would be. The underground passage above wasn't that bad, but this was absolutely hellacious. Alessa felt nausea, dizziness, and an insufferable lack of air hit her all at once. She winced as she walked over the muck, her boots making squishy, disgusting sounds as she stepped on the sewage. "Oh, God," she mumbled to herself, needing to cover her mouth and nose. She couldn't get out of there fast enough.

There was one section in the area in which she completely lost it. The walls were pulsating with blood, monsters stomped in the distance, and she was entirely surrounded by gore and pulsing flesh. There was no light in this corner of the sewers, save what little was afforded her by her flashlight, which revealed the horrors that lay around her. The scene was utterly nightmarish, and Alessa felt her sanity deteriorating the more time she spent in that gruesome blood covered hell, until she couldn't stand it anymore. She ran. She ran through the hallways, rushed past the monsters that couldn't even touch her and were lumbering all around her, frantic out of her mind, until she finally found a room that was unlocked.

Alessa stumbled into the room, nearly overcome with fright. Her heart was pounding thunderously and she was absolutely drenched in sweat. She couldn't go any further. She wanted to just lie down and curl in a ball with her knees close to her chest. Her body was exhausted - too many battles, too much strenuous ‘fleeing for her life' she wasn't used to. But something drove her on. She didn't know what it was - maybe it was love for her parents, the ones she had claimed for herself. Maybe it was a desire to survive.

Alessa looked at the workbench nearby. She was obviously in some kind of storage space for the workers to get ready before entering the tunnels. Near to that was a sight Alessa never expected to see in a sewer facility. There was a mace with thick metal spikes, like the ones in a medieval movie. It looked like the type of weapon that could cause some damage, but Alessa decided to skip it. She couldn't even lift the thing, never mind use it as a weapon. It was super heavy, and she could barely budge it beyond a few inches. Distantly, Alessa wondered who would use this as a weapon, but she had given up trying to figure out the why's of this ordeal long ago.

There was one other thing of notice, though. There was a bloody outline outside the locker, and Alessa could see it was crusted over the door. Oh God, had someone killed someone with that mallet and stuffed them unto the locker? It was a very likely possibility at this point. Alessa wanted to look inside, and yet at the same time, she didn't. It was a very curious sensation, like when you watched a horror movie while peeking through your hands, afraid of what was to come, yet unable to resist the temptation.

The ordeal continued, offering trials and tribulations, until she reached a room that looked like an office. There were memos and papers scattered all about the room, most of them about sewage work, no doubt. And there was that symbol again, in the corner of the room. Ignoring it for now, Alessa focused on the more important thing. She saw that a few of the memos were curiously different from the others. They were handwritten, and looked to be letters from someone. Alessa picked them up, curiously examining them.

About the monster in the water

There's a monster in the water. The

bastard's killed 2 of my buddies.

I should never have doubted that

old urban legend about alligators

in the sewers. That was no myth.

But no one believes me. They were

drunk and slipped? We're not that

damn stupid.

Even calling it a monster isn't quite

right. This is something else. All I

know is...something's in there.

I'm going in now to beat that thing's

head in. If you find this note,

consider it my will.

Revenge is futile -- or so you may

think, reading this. But Jose and

Jaime were my best buddies.

Wish I knew how to do the deed.

Guns won't work underwater.

Even my famous knifework won't

do much. If only I had a hand

grenade...

Alessa set the papers down with an ominous feeling. So these were pages of someone's journal. And she had a feeling about what had happened to its owner. It didn't take a genius to figure out. Alessa knew she had to go into the other room. But the question of a monster being a presence in the sewers bothered her. If this sewer worker was to be believed, then monsters were already filtering unto the real world from this place, long before this ever started. And then there was the fact it had killed three men. Alessa wasn't fazed by it, though. She would go into the other room with the monster and kill it. It was what she did.

However, the question of ‘how' was relevant. Guns and knives didn't work, obviously. She could blow it out of existence with her shotgun, but first it had to come out of the water, and there was the problem. She had to lure it out of the water, or at least close enough to the surface for her blasts to have an effect on it. But how was that accomplished?

And then she got an idea.

~

Alessa stared at the pool filled with tepid brown water. So, there's something in the water, she thought. She stared at the object in her hands. She had seen it earlier, lying in pile of junk while passing through a filtering chamber. She had gone back and gotten it from the garbage pit as quickly as she could, while formulating a quick plan in her head. As she'd expected, the power outlet in the room provided the perfect resource. She hoped it worked as expected. Well then, why don't we see how it handles this!? And then, she threw the hairdryer she had gotten into the water, after making sure it was firmly plugged in. The effect was instantaneous. The water sparked with electrical currents as the electricity passed through the blower. At first there was nothing unusual. Moments later, a tentacle emerged from the pool of brown water, laying limply on the surface. It was dead.

Yes! Alessa gave an internal shout of satisfaction. She knew that would get the job done, or at least she hoped it worked as well as it always did on TV or the movies. A pity the sewer worker trying to destroy the thing hadn't thought of it. She crossed the bridge with the fallen tentacle floating nearby, barely giving it a passing glance, as she passed by the lifeless corpse.

The next area was devoid of creatures, thankfully. The tunnel was brightly lit and didn't smell as foul as the ones that preceded it. It seemed she was coming out for the sewers. And never was Alessa more relieved than when she realized there was a ladder at the end of it. She climbed the stairs with a sense of giddiness and anticipation as she focused on not losing her footing while climbing.

~

Alessa experienced a distinct lack of light as she climbed out of the passageway. She used what strength she had left to hoist herself out of the sewer entry, as she found her footing on the ground. Standing up wearily, she breathed a considerable sigh of relief. Finally she was away from that dank, garbage smelling underground hell.

Alessa looked around at her surroundings. The night sky loomed above her, a black, featureless tableau that stretched over the area in all directions. No stars were visible, perhaps a product of the city's lights. Or maybe it was just cloudy tonight. Alessa looked back at the structure behind her, enclosed by a fence with plastered walls. It seemed she was in a construction site of some kind, behind the back of some building. Good. It should be easy to find a way out of here.

For a weary moment, she let the warm night air simply brush across her face invigoratingly. Never had she been so glad to be in an open environment. Just being out here, away from that place, served to refresh her energy and imbue her with a sense of purpose.

Despite everything she had endured, she was still all right.

Now all she had to do was find a way out of here, and she could go home like she planned. She took a large breath of air, gulping air into her lungs. It wasn't that clean, but it was better than the rank sewer atmosphere in the underground. Now she didn't have to hold her nose anymore, or restrain herself from retching due to the nauseating smell of the sewer air she'd encountered down there. God, never had she thought she would ever go wading through a sewer system, searching for a way to get home.

She knew it was a necessary task, but she almost pitied those who had to work down there. The lack of light, the grimy and soiled environment, and God forbid, the stench, was almost more than she could bear. If she had stayed 15 minutes more in that hellish tunnel system, she would have vomited all the contents of her stomach, not just some.

As she rounded the corner, another of the tall grotesque creatures came lunging at her. Alessa quickly shot at it with her shotgun, and the blast was strong enough to knock the creature to the ground. Alessa breathed a sign to calm herself. She was getting used to these animals coming out of the woodwork, but not quickly enough.

The building was clearly still half under construction. Alessa saw building materials scattered around the site. She went up to the others floors via the stairs, since it was obvious the elevator was not working.

Alessa was frustrated as she went up the stairs. All the doors were locked, preventing the exploration of those floors as a way to get out of here, leaving only the top floor as the only option. The last thing she wanted was to go to the top floor of the building, but it seemed she had no choice.

She kept her senses ready in case there were any unpleasant surprises waiting for her. Thankfully, that wasn't the case. There were a few boxes around of building materials around, and a bathroom for the employees. Strangely, the bathroom showed signs of use. It wasn't what she expected to find, considering this was another dimension. Alessa wanted to use the sink to clean herself up, but there was no water coming out of the faucets. Damn. It looked like she would have to stay caked with dirt and sweat for a while longer. She went through a blue door close to her and found herself on a floor that was still under construction. The gray walls of the floor had not been painted at all, and framework was still sticking out of the walls.

Some feature that didn't appear to be part of the design was a large hole in the middle of the room. Alessa took a look at the small makeshift home set up nearby and the collection of bottles surrounding it. So someone was living here. One of the walls appeared to be of a distinctly different color than the others, and a different texture. Alessa went closer to it and her eyes widened at the sight before her. This was definitely not something she expected to find at a construction site. Jesus, Alessa thought in disbelief. The legs sticking out of the cement wall made it clear just what had happened. Someone had been buried completely inside the cement wall. Alessa prayed they weren't alive when it happened, but she had a sinking feeling that wasn't the case. Shaking away the thoughts of murder and disposing of bodies, she focused on what she needed to do, ignoring the thoughts of people suffocating under a thick layer of cement.

She needed to get down to the lower floor. The floor was not anywhere close to her, though. It was at least 12 feet in the drop. Alessa knew she couldn't risk going down from that height, or else she would break her leg. She needed a padding of some kind. And then, she got an idea. The person who was living here had set up a makeshift tent for their home, but they weren't sleeping on the cold hard floor. She dragged the mattress the squatter had been using to sleep on inch by painful inch, and then threw it down the hole with no small effort. Alessa hated to touch the thing, but she needed something to cushion the fall. Praying she didn't fall on her neck, Alessa jumped down to the mattress below.

The consequence was actually rather anti-climatic. She landed perfectly on her feet, using the mattress to cushion her jump. Breathing a sigh of relief, Alessa moved off the mattress and looked for an exit. The door was locked, as usual. Her heart sank as she realized there was only one exit out of this place: a hole torn into the concrete of the wall, leading to the outside of the building.

The scaffolding outside surrounded the whole building, and was obviously left there as a part of construction, connecting to a building nearby. Alessa carefully set foot on the scaffolding, holding onto the concrete for balance. The scaffolding was wide enough to walk on, but if she took a wrong step, she would fall into the black void below. She was trembling as she began to walk the scaffolding step by solitary step, using her arms to try to balance herself. Suddenly the sound of the worst nightmare she could have pierced her auditory sense, as she heard the sound of drilling nearby in the air. No, not here! She screamed to herself. She struggled to remain calm, and had to force herself not to fire her weapon as the spinning bladed creature glided much too close to her. If she didn't bother them, they wouldn't bother her; or so she hoped. It wasn't fair. How could they get up here? They're not supposed to be able to fly! She took perilous step by perilous step, until she reached the corner where the ramp was pinned by two buildings. She sped up her steps and then rushed into an open window of the nearby building when she saw one.

Once inside, the relief resonated in waves all over her body. Alessa took a deep breath, and placed her hand on her chest. Oh God, that was too tough. Climbing scaffoldings while monsters circled the building...this place wanted to kill her. There was no other explanation. It was throwing challenge after challenge at her, until one moment she would slip - and that would be it for her existence. She needed to find a way out of here. She couldn't take much more of this. She had half a mind to close the window, but she doubted they could get in there. They wouldn't fit, and she wasn't going to be here long.

She cast a cursory glance around. So she was in a mannequin store: she could see the papers for ordering pieces of them, and boxes of them stacked high in the office. This was their headquarters, and she presumed they had a display room around here or something. She didn't really know anything about how a company like this was really run, or what they required for their business. She just wanted to get out of here.

She roamed the halls searching for any room that was open, noticing how little space there was available for her to defend herself. She couldn't help but notice all the memos and notes posted along the walls, indicating that this building was very much in use. She tried door after door in the hallway, until she found one that was open and ducked inside. Only a minute too late did she realize she had wondered into a mannequin storeroom. Alessa jumped back a bit, startled by the sight of plastic and limbs scattered before her. She didn't jump easily in fright, but the sight of a plastic mold with limbs outstretched in the form of a person was something that could easily startle one into thinking there was someone in the room with them. Ew, Alessa cringed, looking at the rows of shelves stacked with mannequin parts. She had imagined there was a display room for them, but she didn't expect to run headlong into it.

Alessa stared at the rows of mannequins arranged on the shelves. It felt like the eyes were literally alive as they stared at her. It was creepy. She could almost feel them following her, as she walked around the room. There was one in particular that really gave her the creeps. It was only a bottomless mannequin with no legs, settled in the back on a stand, but the top half seemed like it was almost alive.

Alessa shuddered as she checked out the other side of the shelf. All these disembodied hands and legs...how could anyone stand to work in this place? She almost felt like they were going to come alive suddenly and grab her.

Settle down, Alessa, she told herself, it's just a group of mannequins. That was all they were. Plastic body parts, in the shape of well-proportioned females - creepy to the nth degree, but only body parts nonetheless. She tried to use humor to settle down her nerves, as she usually did when faced with an abhorrent situation. She wondered whether anyone ever molested the mannequins; they certainly had enough room in here to do so. Locked in here, a pervert could easily make use of these hideous things. People would think the door was locked, and they needed maintenance to open it, when really, it was just some sick guy having his jollies. Suddenly a scream startled her out of her wits and caused her to raise her gun in alarm. Alessa hurried to the other side, and what she was flabbergasting.

The mannequin was settled over a pool of crimson, and it was headless. Somehow, something had knocked the head right off its shoulders; an invisible force that decapitated the poor thing instantly.

And it was bleeding...

Alessa felt her heart seize in her throat. No, it wouldn't be...she was joking earlier, wasn't she? Alessa knelt down to examine the puddle, and her stomach began to churn. It was blood. Human blood. She would recognize that coppery smell anywhere. Somehow, someone had filled this thing with human blood in order to frighten someone, or...

Alessa felt a nauseous feeling beginning to take her over. She backed away from the gruesome sight, fighting to keep the contents of her stomach. The images formed in her mind unwanted: pale white bodies...bleeding as they were slashed...flesh under the guise of plastic...

She couldn't get out of there fast enough. Alessa turned and walked out of the room, eyes never once looking back to the rows of mannequins behind her.

The next room she gained access to wasn't much better. "Monica's Dance Studio" was the name of this corner of the building. Hmm, curious. She had never been inside a dance studio before. Alessa turned the knob carefully, although without readying her shotgun in case of an emergency; there didn't seem to be much danger in this particular building. She quickly shut it back again when she saw the giant mass of tumors near the back of the room and the dogs wandering on the ground, searching through bandaged eyes for their new meal. Oh God, Alessa shuddered. She wasn't prepared to be faced with that that at all. She brought a hand up to her chest, feeling her heart hammering underneath. She couldn't walk into any room without being prepared. She shouldn't be feeling surprised, she supposed; she was worried about the monsters from outside getting in here, and the monsters were already in here with her. God damn.

The office building suddenly took on a whole new, intimidating demeanor. How many of these rooms held monsters in them, waiting to attack her? Alessa shuddered to think of the rooms in this office building being filled with those creatures. She needed to go into some of them, to figure out a way out of here. It probably wasn't as easy as just taking the elevator down. But how could she do that if they were everywhere? She was beginning to feel like she would never find a way out of here, but she knew if gave into that feeling she would be screwed. She had to keep going, no matter what the obstacle.

The office of the dance studio didn't yield much, except a map of the office building. A big help that was, considering half the doors were locked in here. It seemed she was on the third floor of the building: it made sense considering how she had crossed from another building through the window, literally. By mere chance, she stumbled into the locker room of the dance studio. She examined her surroundings closely, hoping she could find anything useful inside the lockers. There were two magazines sitting on a table top nearby, left behind by some employees. One of the magazines featured a scantily clad woman in a risqué pose, and the other was a periodical about fashion. Alessa had read one of them already, and she wasn't interested in fashion. Unfortunately, there was nothing else worthy of notice in the room. Disappointed, she left the locker room.

She searched the other rooms she found on the floor, before realizing this part of the building had nothing left to offer her. The only bounty she had found was a screwdriver. Alessa took it; it would do in a pinch, she supposed, if she ran out of ammo and needed something to stick the eye of a creature with. There was another thing too, but she doubted it would come in useful. She felt like she was almost stuffing things into her backpack at random by now, hoping they would come in useful. She needed to get to other floors. There had to be a way of reaching the first floor, without breaking a window and trying to climb down some fire escape, which wasn't even an option at this time - considering most of the offices were locked.

She also had to find some weapons that she could use. She knew they were coming; it was only a matter of time. She really didn't want to use up all of her shotgun bullets in this building. If it was this bad in these buildings, she didn't want to imagine what it would be like out in the streets. She hadn't even looked outside through the windows, for fear of what she would see. But what could she find in a place like this? This place was a set of office, not an armory or a gun shop! Damn it, she had really gotten into it this time. She couldn't think of any easy solution, and the fact this place was so confined scared her. If she got into trouble, there was no way anybody would be able to reach her to help her, even if there was anybody left to answer her call in the first place.

She sighed as she fell to her knees, feeling tired from the night's ordeals, which seemed to have no end in sight. How was she going to get out of here?

~

The fifth floor was deserted like the others, but it proved to be a bounty among the leftover debris and scattered remnants of business that defined the others here. Fortunately for Alessa, the business here proved to be more useful, or at least one of them did, and she was able to find quite a treasure in the most unlikely of places.

There was a door at the end of one hall. Alessa stared at it curiously: the sign read "Gallery of Fine Arts", and was something she most definitely didn't expect to find in a drab office building like this. Curiously stirred, she went inside, hoping to find something wondrous and beautiful to distract her from her current troubles, for a moment or two. She couldn't help it: she was curious to see what kind of paintings the artists here had gifted the galley with.

The room was small, like others in the complex. Alessa was disappointed: there were only a few paintings in the gallery. She surveyed the objects around the room. There were a few ceramic vases on display - they weren't really Alessa's thing. One of the paintings was a nice green and white, grassy, hilly scenery called "Mountain", and radiated a nice calm and soothing effect to look at. One of the paintings instantly caught her attention, and Alessa immediately rushed up to it. A dark backdrop dominated the canvas hanging on the wall, and a detailed image of a beautifully crafted nude woman with flowing dark hair and piercing brown eyes stood out from the swirling shadows, in an almost reclining pose against the void. Wow, now this is a good image, she thought in astonished approval. Whoever painted this picture did exquisite work. It was so lifelike! Alessa felt her face warm a bit. She was getting a little turned on herself now, staring at the lifelike image of the gorgeous, mysterious creature in the painting. The painting was called "Harbinger of Midnight", and the creator was apparently an up-and-coming artist on the art circuit. Strange, it kinda looked like her. The face was near to her features, and the wavy black hair was a little too close to hers. Alessa shuddered; suddenly, she didn't want to know where the artist was getting his inspiration from. Visions of the artist being able to ‘see' into her destiny filled her mind. She moved on to the next painting.

The small frame was nothing more than a colorful collection of squares, a collection of Navajo weaves that went down for several rows about a foot in length. Alessa stared at the price and gasped in shock. $5,000...! What the hell!? Man, what kind of world was this, where someone could charge $5,000 for this?

It wasn't that she disliked it or anything, but still...

And there was one more thing that captured her attention. The area where the painting should have been was blank, with only a faint outline visible on the wall. Wherever the painting had gone to, there was only the name plaque left. "Flame Purifies All" - Oh, she didn't like the sound of that. Memories of flames consuming her assaulted her mind, and she forced herself to think of something else. Shit, this couldn't happen; not now.

There was one more painting to review, hanging near the registration desk. The painting was a mass of swirling green and black colors, with the almost-shape of a human in the middle obscured by all the chaotic colors around it. What the hell kind of painting was this? She read the title of the painting, "Repressor of Memories". Oh, that wasn't a swipe at her, was it? She didn't repress anything in her memories; she just chose not to dwell on things that drove her insane in the past if she thought about them. She checked the registration clip on the desk. There were a few names written there, but no one that she was familiar with.

She brushed past the directory, going through an exit from the art gallery, casting one final look at the blank space on the wall where a painting should be. She found herself in a small, cramped corridor. It seemed that this whole area back here belonged to the art gallery, apparently serving as a storage space. Almost all of the doors were locked, except for a single door that led to a storage area. Alessa wandered into the room, drawing her weapon in case it was necessary.

The room was filled with wooden crates, stacked on shelves and set on the floor for storage. Art objects covered in tarps and fragile vases lined the room. The shelves were full of paintings, and large frames were stored close together on the bottom shelve. Alessa used a crowbar she had found to pry open the lid of the huge crate in the middle, not sure what she was expecting. Some antique statues, perhaps, or some vases and collectibles. She reached through the shreds of packing material and pulled out a beautifully crafted sword, completely with a black ornate handle and gleaming from the metal sheen. Oh my God. It was a long katana, complete with a sheath to store the sword on her back. Alessa's eyes widened and her jaw fell open in awe. She had seen her father use one of these things, but she never expected to find one in an office building!

She swung the sword around experimentally, holding it reverently in her hands. She knew a bit about wielding weapons of this caliber, but she wasn't an expert, and the prospect actually filled her with a little trepidation. It was a katana. Alessa couldn't believe it. It was a katana, and she had actually found it here in a deserted office building. She needed a break, and she found one in the most unexpected of places. Someone had to be looking out for her, for her to find a weapon like this. Alessa's lips twisted in a smirk as she stared at the gleaming blade and held the sword carefully. Oh yes, this would do to turn the tide against those creatures, very well indeed. She smiled at the carnage she could wreak with this thing.

She strapped the leather sheath onto her back; with the backpack under it was a bit difficult, but she would manage. For an advantage like this, she would easily accept a little inconvenience if it meant having a permanent weapon to use against those things. She slid the sword into the sheath, suddenly feeling a bit more emboldened than she was before.

Her resolve was tested when she in the hallway heading back to the stairway. The creature came out of the corner and into her line of view. It was one of those purple veiny things from the subway, and it was heading straight for her. She knew these things weren't really a big threat, but that didn't mean she wasn't going to defend herself. She gave it one chance, in case the creature wanted to do something else and thought to preserve its life. It didn't. And that was enough of that. Alessa drew the ornate sword from its sheath. Let's see how this thing worked. Alessa slashed the pale creature across its torso, drawing a cry of pain from the creature. She struck a second time with the sword, catching it along the same area. She watched the blood splash across her face, but she didn't care, as she creature stumbled against the wall. She slashed a third time with the sword, this time sending it to the ground. The creature struggled to breath, as the blood poured from the wounds Alessa had inflicted on it. Alessa bared her teeth, and then she drove the katana point first into the creature's torso, impaling it on the metal sword. The creature drew breath one last time, and then lay still. Alessa withdrew the sword from the creature's body, still breathing heavily as she glared as the demon. She knew she should have felt some hesitation or revulsion at her actions, but all she could think of was how glad she was that this thing was dead. She felt a thrill different from any other she had felt before, the adrenaline in her system still keeping her in a state of increased awareness. She marveled at the power of this weapon, before she finally started to calm down.

If these things wanted to mess with her, then they were going to learn she wasn't going down without a fight. She was going to kill them, it was a simple as that. And she would enjoy doing so; every single minute of it.

~

Alessa surveyed the lobby around her, looking for any hint of where to go next. She had arrived down here in the third floor after climbing down from an elevator shaft with a rope, after retrieving a jack from an auto company and using it to pry open the doors of an elevator. This place was like a labyrinth, placing well thought out obstacles in front of her she had to think through in order to continue her progress. On the plus side, she was glad to know her instincts weren't becoming dull. The rope had indeed come in handy.



So did the screwdriver, although not in the way she expected. Rather than stabbing someone with it, it was a tool, using it to pry open the drawer in the auto shop. She didn't know who had left the damn thing locked, but she would kick the hell out of them right now if she could for making things so damn difficult for her.

Alessa looked around for any clue where to go next. That fifth floor had been useful, but she was on her own now. She knew there was no way to climb up that elevator again, without considerable effort, and she didn't have the energy to try. Alessa simply hoped she hadn't missed anything of value up there. Whatever was down here, she would have to make do with it. She was nearing the end of this little journey. All she had to do was find a way down to the first floor and find the exit, and she was out of here.

Alessa pulled out her map to see what was on this floor. Oh great, she was caught between a mental clinic and a furniture store. She decided to go through the furniture store first. Naturally, all the exits were locked; it wouldn't be that simple, and the other elevator didn't have any power. She would have to go through the store. Perhaps she could climb out a window; it was only the second floor, and she only needed to reach the first floor. She didn't have to drop all the way down. Even if she did, she would take her chances rather than being stuck here all day.

The lights were turned off in the furniture shop, save for some small lamps on the walls in the form of antique lights. The floor was done in all mahogany boards, which she was supposed was fitting for a floor and furniture shop. Her boots clacked loudly on the wooden boards as she walked. She hated this absolute silence. There was something unnatural in not hearing anything: any speech, the ticking of a clock, activity of any kind...it just wasn't right for things to be so quiet. It made her feel like something was going to jump out at her out of every corner. There were some assorted pieces of furniture positioned about the room: a colorful striped couch, a reddish brown reclining chair, tables, bookcases, and other home furnishings. Alessa found the pieces rather gross, to be honest: this was obviously a display center for the company's various pieces, rather than someplace for buying them off the floor, but everything here needed a good cleaning over in her view. She sure wouldn't buy anything here, that was for sure. There were two dog statues beside the couch, in the shape of Dalmatians. Alessa smiled: she didn't like dogs much, if they were large enough, but these were nice enough, until she saw the price. 500 dollars...!? She thought in shock. What was with this building and the number five followed by several zeros!? Alessa shook her head in astounded disbelief. There were no windows of any kind, so her plan was not possible for this portion of the building.

The next room in the furniture shop was for bathroom fixtures. Alessa surveyed the fixtures in mild approval: they made good bathtubs, she had to admit, staring at a bathtub in the middle of the room, although they could certainly use a good cleaning too. She went into a nearby bathroom hoping to get some fresh water and to her surprise water actually came out of the sink! Oh thank God. She drenched her face in the purifying liquid, feeling it running through her fingers in a cool sensation she had missed. She felt a lot cleaner now. Although she didn't have soap, at least her hands weren't drenched in blood anymore. Her face felt sticky with the stuff, too. Only for a moment she did she stop to question why water would come out of this place when so many other places were completely dead with regards to functionality. This whole place was screwed up, anyway. What she wouldn't give to be lying in a bathtub filled with bubbles right now, in a quiet, relaxing environment where she knew she was safe. She owed it to herself to take a long, relaxing bath after this was over.

Yes, there was the good kind of quiet and the bad kind, and Alessa was definitely looking forward to the good kind. She just had to find a way out of here.

The final room in the furniture store's neck of the office building didn't hold much, just some shelves and some cardboard boxes scattered across the room. This was obviously a storage area, and not one that had seen much recent use, judging by the level of cleanliness. The room was just as grimy and dirty as the rest of the store, and Alessa wondered just what kind of store would allow their space to fall into such conditions. Was the building undergoing renovation, or was the store just in that much trouble to bother with cleaning the shop space? Alessa felt a little grimy herself just standing in it. There was a single bathtub placed in the middle of the room, which baffled her. She supposed they were storing it, but she would have thought there would be others here. She looked about the storage room. There was no way out of the room, beside the one she came through. Her attention turned back to the bathtub. There was something about her that was unsettling her. The bathtub was just as filthy as the rest of the store, with rust and grime staining its porcelain white body.

She knelt down to examine the tub. It seemed to have no extraordinary features of any kind, and for all intents and purposes, was just a regular bathtub. The drain cover was unplugged, but other than that, there was nothing unusual about it. She got up to her feet. There was nothing in here for her, which meant she was going to have to go to the mental health clinic. Great, she had been avoiding going there, fearful of what she might find, but it seemed she would have to check it out to see if she could find a way out. Suddenly, a gurgling sound made her turn back to the bathtub. She peered close into the bathtub, wondering what the hell was happening. It seemed like something was coming up. Out of the blue, a burst of black sludge rose up from the drain, bubbling, and began to rapidly fill up the bathtub's white form. The smell was awful, and immediately struck her senses with an almost physical blow. Alessa tried to get away, but the door was locked. Shit. Suddenly, a knifing pain assaulted her mind. Alessa cried out as the most painful headache she had ever had tore throughout her brain. She was knocked to her knees by the force of the effect, and watched, in horror, as all around her the storage room began to decay. A powerful wave of rotting effect swept throughout the building, layers peeling off the walls in a dripping organic mess, as the effect revealed a hideous decayed atmosphere underneath and the building literally rotted itself from the inside out. No, not again! Alessa cried out mentally in feverish denial. She wasn't going to go through that again! She tried to get up, but the pain was simply too great.

She couldn't even draw her weapon, in case something was attacking her. She cried out in anguish, holding her head and trying to stop the blinding pain that was literally bringing tears up to her eyes. She thought her head was going to explode, and she sobbed as she felt her stomach doing wrenching turns from the pain. Mercifully she passed out before the pain became even worse, and the last thing she saw was Hell above her, welcoming her with its blood red walls and all encompassing rust that defined its gruesome characteristics.

The darkness overtook her conscious self. A voice made its way into her mind, sounding distant and clear simultaneously. "It's being invaded by the Otherworld. By a world of someone's nightmarish delusions come to life..." She recognized the voice, and she wondered what it was doing in her mind at this time. She gave herself over to complete sleep, as the brief moment of subconscious clarity slipped away from her.

She didn't know how long she was out; how long she laid there on the dirty building floor. Eventually her senses returned to her, gradually making her aware of her surroundings.

Alessa woke up in a haze of disorientation. She winced when she realized she was touching the bloody storage room floor, drawing back in disgust. Alessa pushed herself up tiredly, straining as she stretched her ravaged body into standing position.

And it was then Alessa awoke into a nightmare.

~

* The note from the worker, who got eaten by the monster: from Silent Hill 3

* The voice at the end is the same one from Silent Hill 3, to avoid any further spoilers

* The paintings are all from the game, with the exception of the one with the nude woman: that one's all mine!  ;D