Dark Descent

Disclaimer: Silent Hill is owned by Konami. I make no money off this fictional story.

 

Chapter 11: Into the Nightmare

Alternate Hilltop Center

 

Alessa slammed the door shut behind her, breathing a huge sigh of relief. She was glad to be out of there, away from that sicko. She waited until she was sure he wasn’t going to be following her, before relaxing her hands’ fairly tight grip on her weapons. What a creep. She felt her skin crawl in absolute disgust at what his thoughts were towards her. She was shaking from the encounter, unable to control her hands as the reality of the situation hit her. She had almost gotten raped. She had thought she had almost become numb to the horrors this Otherworld could offer her, but the thought that she had almost gotten raped in this small office, just like that, completely out of the blue, was more horrifying than almost anything else she had encountered thus far. What other things was this world capable of, if it could throw this at her without any warning whatsoever? She hadn’t even seen it coming, and that was what made it so scary. If she hadn’t had her weapons, any of them…she was horrified to think of what might have happened. Vincent was an asshole, but it was the unpredictable nature of this world that really had her concerned. She tried to put him out of her mind. She wouldn’t go back into that room again, and if he did come after her she would shoot him. End of story.

The room she found herself in now was an office of some sort, with shelves and a desk located around the space of the room. There wasn’t much of interest on most of the shelves, only knickknacks of various sorts scattered around on the shelving. Lamps, pens, mugs; common items that were nothing of any use to Alessa. There were two first aid kits and one health drink in one of the cabinets. Even though the health drinks seemed to be able to cure almost any injury, she took them anyway. They might come in handy. Suddenly, she noticed there was a thick textbook on the center of the desk, and it was open to about the halfway point. Taking a good close look, she realized that it was a junior high school biology textbook. That was when she realized that there was a passage that was outlined on the page in a circle, in a deep purple marker. She started to read from it, her eyes skimming down all the lines of text on the page. “When you pour diluted hydrogen peroxide onto manganese dioxide, oxygen is produced. Although oxygen will not burn on its own, it will help other things to burn.” It was then that Alessa noticed that there was a bottle on the desk next to the book, darkly toned with some type of liquid inside it. Alessa picked up the bottle, and noted that it was something labeled Oxydol on the front. She looked back at the medical cabinet, taking in the fact that this was the only substance of any importance that was available here.

Yeah, real subtle, guys, Alessa smirked sarcastically. It was obvious the Oxydol was going to be useful later on in this place. And whoever reigned here wasn’t good at doing subtle. They may as well have left a map for her detailing where to go and what path to take, and exactly what to do about everything in what order. Not that she didn’t appreciate the orderly, linear guidance she was being given.

Alessa cautiously exited the lobby room. She knew they were still out there. The creatures that had resonated through the hallway, whatever they were – she could hear them as they scrambled through the area. Whether they were one or two or ten, Alessa didn’t know. But she was in for a rough time when she tried to get past them. She felt fear overwhelming her little by little. She didn’t want to go out here, but she wasn’t going to let it overcome her. She stopped it in its tracks and took the next step forward.

The noises grew closer and close in proximity, step by step, as the creature closed the distance between them. Alessa readied her shotgun, waiting for the creature to reveal itself. It was hunting her – she could tell, scrambling about in the darkness trying to sense its prey. The cacophony grew in power as the creature approached, filling the area with that horrible sound. Finally, the creature revealed itself. A rapidly crawling figure emerged out of the darkness, rushing toward her position. Alessa tried to hit it, but the creature moved faster than expected. Alessa screamed as it tried to knock her down, and sent her sprawling to the ground. The sudden burst of power had allowed it to succeed, and had caught her completely off guard. The creature was shaking uncontrollably, as if it was wracked with spasms of some unending excruciating muscle pain. Alessa screamed as the creature apparently tried to climb on top of her. There was a cylinder covering its face like some type of mask, preventing Alessa from looking into its face. Not that she wanted to, but the presentation was made even more disturbing because of it. Alessa had to struggle to keep its misshapen limbs away from her, the shaking of the creature’s body making it extremely difficult. Summoning her strength with her legs, she was able to throw the creature away from her. She rapidly rose to her feet, quickly getting her bearings.

Backing away, she got a good look at the creature. The grotesque creature was skittering around on the ground, trying to encircle her apparently to gain an advantage. This close in, she had a great view of it. The creature had a human-like shape, with some type of garment covering its lower regions and large sandbag-like appendages for arms. How it possibly worked, Alessa had no way of knowing, but it was obvious it was incredibly adept at hunting down prey. Despite being human shaped, it seemed slightly smaller than the average grown person. But its speed made up for that. Alessa knew she had the overhead advantage, with it being low to the ground, but she had to move fast. She struck the creature with the sword, cutting a slash deep into its back, but the creature didn’t seem receptive to pain. It continued skittering and trying to capture her in its grip, even as the blade was buried deep in its back. Alessa yanked it out for another stab. She backed away some more, to avoid the swipes of the being. She didn’t want to waste her shotgun shells on something small, but she knew if she needed the help, it was probably best to use them. She fired once at the monster, making it cry out in pain. The monster slowed down, temporarily knocked down to the ground in a stunned position.

Alessa stabbed it again with her sword, burying it deep into its back. The monster howled in pain, thrashing around in agony on the ground. Alessa stabbed it again, until the creature finally fell dead, spilling its lifeblood onto the floor. Alessa breathed a sigh of relief, backing away from the corpse. That was a close one. That creature was a challenge, more so than many of the other monsters she had encountered thus far. It moved quickly, and it seemed it was able to detect her position through the darkness. She didn’t want to think about what would have happened if it had climbed on top of her, and sunk its hooks into her. She would have to be careful.

She was so relieved about the creature no longer being a threat that she missed the other coming out of the shadows, and the shock jolted her out of her complacency in a hurry. The dog came out of the darkness with its jaws ready to thrash, causing Alessa to roll out of the way to avoid its dangerous bite. Alessa pushed herself up from the ground, picking up her shotgun and aiming it as the dog turned around to do another sweep at her. She fired two shots at the dog, putting the animal out of its misery, as she got up from the ground. Alessa wiped the sweat off her brow with her forearm, shakily breathing a deep breath in and out to calm herself. She was getting tired; her muscles weren’t responding as quickly. She was going to be in trouble soon, if she kept this up for much longer. She needed to find a way out of here, and soon, before she got overwhelmed by the dangers in this place.

She explored the hallway further. There were two bathrooms nearby. She didn’t need to go to the bathroom, so there was no point in exploring them further. Besides, they were locked. There was no way to know what was in there. This place had the habit of leaving her ammo in the oddest places, but she would have to find some elsewhere. She went up to the elevator. There was no way to know what was on each floor, so she just pressed the button to the top floor.

Alessa jumped as a rusted gate slammed down over the doors as the elevator went up. Damn place. Why did she feel like she was going down into Hell itself? (Or was it the upper level of Hell?) The elevator doors opened up into another darkened corridor. She stepped out, wondering what was next.

Alessa looked around, analyzing every inch of the new area. There was a billboard nearby. It didn’t seem to have any important information, though Alessa noted a few names. Michael F., Lisa R., Willard L., Leonard R., Sam B., John K. Curious. There was something about those two names before the last that touched off something in her, but she didn’t know what. Oh well. There was another of those hanging bodies, too. Alessa knew there was something about them that was significant, but for the life of her, she couldn’t figure out what. It was disturbing, though; to look at it like this for an extended period of time. The melted face, the baby hanging off its left hand…it sparked something that was familiar to Alessa, but she didn’t want to know what it was. It was just too disturbing.

There were only two doors to go through, and one was locked, so she took the left. Alessa looked around, once again analyzing every inch of the darkness she found herself in now. The walls were some kind of wood, reminding Alessa of something from long ago that she longed to forget. The walls and floor looked bloody, like it had dried into the cracks long ago. There were blotches of blood on the wall boards, reminding Alessa of a horror movie. It looked like a dungeon from somewhere that had gone neglected, or a basement…that was it. She stopped there. Too much memory. The air was stale, like nobody had attended to it in years. Suddenly, she detected a familiar sound, like the crumbling of paper, making its way around in the darkness.

Oh no, Alessa thought, getting disheartened. They were back, and it sounded like there was more than one of them. Alessa readied her shotgun. Wipe out the enemy first, then explore. There were too many potentially useful things lying around here to just run. She saw the creature coming around the corner and she was about to fire, when she felt a hesitation.

She decided to stay still for a few moments, for some reason. And to her surprise, the creature bypassed her entirely. He can’t see me, Alessa realized.

This was a powerful advantage, and she realized it instantly. The creatures must have been hunting through sound, and that was the way her footsteps gave away her position. As long as she kept quiet and still, they couldn’t find her. A smirk slowly spread across Alessa’s face. She knew what to do.

She lured the creature with some steps, waiting for the movement. As expected it responded to her. She lifted herself using the bars on the ceiling, just in case it decided to charge her feet again. It didn’t, so she lowered herself down, barely touching the ground as she settled gently onto her boots. The creature ambled curiously toward the noise, stopping to see where it had heard it from. Alessa fired on the creature, downing it with one shot.

She sidestepped the spot where she had been, shifting to another position. The creature got up again; it was apparently only stunned. It rushed to where the sound of the shot came from, completely bypassing Alessa as expected. Alessa shot it again, downing it once more. And then she remembered the silencer for her handgun. Popping it onto her gun, she aimed her sights at the reddish figure on the ground. The creature got up again, struggling to regain its bearings. Alessa shot it once with her handgun, putting the creature out of its misery. She breathed a sigh of relief, wiping her brow of the sweat that had accumulated there. There. That was pretty easy.

Using that same method, she took down the other two monsters in the hallway. For the first time since this all began, Alessa smiled with hope. Maybe things weren’t getting worse, after all. Maybe she could overcome this and come out through it all alive.

Now that the threat was eliminated, Alessa decided to explore the rooms in the area. There were only two doors that were available to be opened, so she took them one by one. Once again, she couldn’t help but wonder why so many locks were broken in this world. After all, if the rooms behind them were the same as in the real world, then it should be all right, presumably. Did they want her to stay on course, or was it that the world just couldn’t replicate everything that was in the real world?

Alessa looked around at the room she found herself in. There was a large table in the center, with a few chairs surrounding it over the chain-link floor, and a partition of chain-link in the back that allowed her to see into the darkness beyond. There were cigarettes on the table on an ashtray, and there was a book of matches as well. Ugh. Alessa frowned in revulsion at the smell of cigarette smoke. She had always hated it when people smoked. It stemmed from her childhood, when being burned and being exposed to smoke gave her a lifelong aversion to it. Heather had smoked and she had always had a problem with it, even though it was long before she met Alessa. They had even had a fight about it, which resulted in the former not speaking to her for a few days, and vice versa. She was a little harsh, because she was judging Heather for things she had done in the past. And ultimately, she was forced to apologize for it. Harry didn’t have a problem with it, because she had quit. But the thought that Heather had willingly put that smoke into her body, it…definitely made Alessa question her girlfriend’s intelligence. Peer pressure or not, only a stupid idiot would get into something that could kill you, knowing how dangerous it was. But then, people had different ways of dealing with peer pressure, and she supposed Heather just hadn’t been strong enough to stand up to it. She had been looking for acceptance, for closeness, and smoking was just a way to get it, from kids who otherwise wouldn’t have looked twice at her. It burned her, to know that had taken place, but she had no control over it and she had to let it go for her own sake. Still, Alessa told Heather that if she ever lit up while she was around, they were breaking up instantly. Of course, Heather wasn’t her girlfriend at the time that took place, but their friendship would have been breaking apart, instantly. For the matter of her own health and her sanity, Alessa couldn’t be friends with someone who smoked. She picked up the book of matches. Maybe it would come in handy.

She left the empty room. There was nothing else there, and the last thing she wanted was to smell like cigarette smoke for the remainder of her time here.

~

Alessa looked at the hallway she found herself in. There was an amber colored partition of some sort blocking off a part of the hallway, sectioning it away from the rest of the place. It was transparent, and was apparently made of a glass of some sort, allowing her to see into the hallway beyond. There was a wheeled chair several feet ahead of the glass, lying immobile among the shadows at the entrance to another room. Despite the overwhelming darkness, it was bathed in light, which seemed to be emanating from somewhere in the vicinity. Alessa wondered what the meaning of it was. There seemed to be some meaning to it, but she couldn’t figure out what it was. Alessa felt a little strange as she stared at the other side of the window. Her gaze was fixated on the chair, and for some reason, she couldn’t look away from it. There was something like a howl, emanating from somewhere in the background as she stared at this transfixing image. There was something in there, on the other side. It was calling her. She stared transfixed at the dark passageway beyond, unable to turn away. The more she stared at it, the more she felt like she was being sucked in. It was an eerie, disorientating feeling. The world around her seemed to fade or take on an air of non-existence, as only the tableau of yellow glass existed. She felt herself being drawn in, as the world rushed by around her, closer and closer, until she finally realized what she was doing and made a great effort to finally pull back.

Alessa pulled back from the frozen moment in time, rushing to catch her breath. What just happened there? It was like she was in a trance, unable to do anything except look at the scene before her. She didn’t know what was behind that wall, or why it was calling her, but she knew it was probably best to look away. She knew, somehow, that if she continued to stare into that void and got fully enthralled into whatever was waiting there, she would never come back. She couldn’t break the glass, try as she might; it wasn’t an issue of wanting to confront whatever was in there, it was a simple matter of curiosity. Still, it didn’t work. The wall that was placed here was obviously no ordinary structure made of glass, and she was starting to wonder if it was even glass or if it was some substance that was unknown to her or anyone. Some things were just better to just walk away from, though the questions remained. What was on the other side that needed such protection, or was it intended to keep her out? And why did it seem so familiar to her, almost like she had met it before or experienced it? Something was there in that other side of this world, and the more she thought about the unbreakable wall and what had almost taken place here, the more unsettled she became.

Alessa walked away from the confounding thing. She didn’t want to know. Sometimes it was just better not to ask.

~

The art gallery lay transformed before her, turned into a shabby and decayed version of its former self. Alessa surveyed the new environment. That creepy naked painting of her was gone, thankfully, and so were all of the others in the area, their frames laying empty. There was only one left, and it was the worst one. There was a picture with a white-clad woman in the center, large and imposing in its frame, with followers surrounding the woman in the painting, and there was a being of white light behind her. Alessa approached the painting, as she read the caption below it. “Flame Purifies All. By those remains may a believer find the road to Paradise.” Alessa shivered. She had been terrified of fire ever since she was a kid. Flames licking at her skin…the heat of an inferno enveloping her – the grotesque imagery it conjured up was horrifying, and it made her feel nauseous and repulsed all over. And she reeled back in shock as the full meaning of the painting hit her. She was struck with horror at the mention of Paradise in the painting! She should have recognized it before. And indeed, there were flames surrounding the woman in the painting, as followers knelt before her and worshipped her as a goddess. The image was grotesque and horrifying, and she couldn’t believe it could appear so casually in a painting like this. That wasn’t the worst part, though. A closer examination of the woman in the painting confirmed what she suspected. The face was miniature compared to the rest of the painting, but the features were incredibly familiar.

She was starting to wish they had kept the other painting, she thought to herself. The attempt at humor was poor, and she couldn’t help but feel disoriented as the horror overwhelmed her.

No! She was not going down that road again! That place led to misery and death…if she pondered her life too closely again, it led to feelings she wasn’t prepared to deal with right now. For the sake of her well being in this place, she needed to keep her mind focused.

That horror slowly turned to outrage. How dare they! The presences in this place knew how devastating her past was to her, and yet they still felt compelled to drag it up in front of her! She wanted to lash out at the forces behind this place, but unfortunately there was no one to lash out at; nothing save the empty silence of the Otherworld in its lingering stillness.

She had to calm down. She took a deep breath to calm herself, and let go of the anger that was flowing through her. For now.

She was obviously expected to burn the painting. The problem was there were no available materials to burn. Then she remembered the Oxydol! That would provide a source of oxygen to make something flammable, but there was still the matter of an actual material. She thought about tossing the remaining ottoman and burning it, but that would probably just create an out of control fire that would kill her, or bar entry into the room again. She needed something small, something that wouldn’t create a blazing flame.

It looked like she would have to explore the rest of this place in the hope of finding something. Sigh. They just couldn’t make it easier for her, could they?

~

She went through the hallways of the building, hunting for some object she could burn to move forward. She moved through them quickly, just in case some monsters were tempted to appear, not looking at the window as she passed by it. That window still creeped her out, so she just wasn’t going to look at it. It was a frustrating search. Despite appearing hellish, there was actually nothing of substance to burn in this nightmarish place.

She tried to test the billboard she had seen to see if it would burn, but when she used one of her matches, it was obvious the thing would never produce a big enough fire to burn the painting.

She somehow ended up on the first floor, where she found the answer to her problem. To her surprised bemusement, it turned out to be a piece of steak. That wasn’t the only thing she found, though. There was something else on that floor, something that was much more concerning than a piece of meat in a hellish office building.

Alessa roamed down the hall looking for any room that might be accessible to her, when she heard some noise that sounded bothersome. Rounding the corner, Alessa saw something shifting in the distance. She peered through the darkness, inching ever closer towards the source of the noise. And then she saw it. There was a monster there in the corridor, lurking at the end of the hallway. Alessa stopped, unwilling to go any further. It looked like two giant pillars of flesh, entangled in a frame laid out over the expanse of the corridor, with some type of circle twitching spasmodically in the center. Alessa drew back in shock. She had seen some strange things on this journey, but none of them were quite as horrifying as this. Alessa aimed her shotgun straight at the beast, ready to shoot. This thing was huge! If it chose to charge her, she would be forced to hightail it back to the elevator and hope the doors could stop themselves from being forced open. She was panicking now, ready to run for her life if it was necessary. But them she realized the creature wasn’t approaching towards her. In fact, it wasn’t moving at all. What the hell? She took a closer look at the thing and realized the reason for its lack of movement. It was bonded to the wall.

Alessa was confused more than she had been at any other point throughout this. What the hell was this thing? That was when she noticed that there was a series of papers sprawled out on the ground at the foot of the monster, a few feet away. Alessa timidly tiptoed towards the foul nightmarish creature, never letting her careful grip fall from her shotgun too much. The worst part was the noise the creature made as it stood there. It sounded horrible; there was a hissing sound that sounded deep and disturbing, like a snake, or some monstrous predator hissing at its prey, and Alessa felt herself shake all over in fear, despite not wanting to. She kept her distance, even though the creature was immobile. She knew, somehow, that if she tried to approach it, the creature would try to eat her. She just knew it. There was no how or why. It just wasn’t a question. She could almost imagine the tentacles coming towards her, dragging her body towards the monster so that it would eat her slowly, painfully. They were probably stored in those two fleshy columns that surrounded the monster, side by side alongside the wall. Reaching down to pick up the papers, she realized that they were part of a story of some kind. She read through the lines, keeping one hand on her gun at all times.

Once upon a time, there was

a monster living at the gates

of a village.

It was a very scary and

a very bad monster.

It would catch people and

crunch them up with its big teeth.

The villagers were afraid of the

monster, and no one would dare

approach the gates.

Everyone was stuck inside

the village.

When the king heard about this,

he summoned his knights.

The knights eagerly rode out

to defeat the monster.

“Ha! Take that!”

Their swords slashed and their

spears flashed, but the monster

wouldn't die.

The monster tossed the knights

into his mouth one by one,

horses and all.

What was the king to do?

He fretted and fussed and paced the

floor, but could think of no solution.

Soon after, the village priestess came

to the castle. She was a very kind

and good person. The king asked

her to defeat the monster guarding

the gates.

Alessa stood back. So they were a fairy tale. Something about this latest discovery bothered her, though. She thought the fairy tale sounded familiar, but she couldn’t remember from where. The pages looked like they were written by a child, with drawn illustrations to match. Where had they come from? Most importantly, she couldn’t remember how it ended. She searched for more of the fairy tale among the pages, any other scribbling from the same author, but there were none. Bah! Hadn’t she read through to the end?! The monster was obviously a stand-in for the creature in the story, and the tale was obviously a message to tell her that she couldn’t defeat it by normal means. She had to find the other pages of the story in order to figure out how to get rid of it.

Alessa pulled out her map. To her surprise, it turned out that she was near to the exit of the building, and this monster was standing in her way. Great. She had finally found the exit to this place, and now this monster was blocking her path! She was tempted to shoot it, but recalling the monster in the story, it probably wouldn’t do any good, and it might even make it angry enough to come after her, tentacles or not. She had to be calm about it, and find another way to defeat this monster without brute force, by figuring out how the priestess did it in the fairy tale.

She finally located a room she could enter. There was a large counter wrapping around the room, made of oak of some kind. This was obviously a bar or food service area of some kind. There was something that was definitely unexpected, though. There was a large amount of cash spread all over the counter, like someone had robbed the register and smashed it open. Alessa was tempted, but decided not to take it. She already had all the money she needed.

Besides, this place reflected sins, or at least some parts of it did in certain areas, some of the time. If she committed a major one, like stealing the money when she didn’t require it, it might unleash something absolutely monstrous in response. And then she would really be in trouble.

She spotted something in the back. Going closer, she realized it was one of those creatures, the kind she hadn’t seen since the regular office building. The huge, lumpy shape of flesh and mass laid leaned back against a table, just as revolting and hideous as Alessa remembered. And the smell was horrific. Ugh. Alessa didn’t really want to confront this thing, but she needed to explore the room further and she didn’t really feel comfortable doing so with that…thing nearby. She would have to take it down. Alessa tiptoed towards the creature, carefully watching her every step. The creature was lying with its ‘head’ staring down at the ground. It seemed not to notice her approach. She tried not to make a sound as she took one step after another. The creature seemed not to be aware of her presence. Alessa gripped her shotgun tightly. She would have to make this quick. She pressed the shotgun against the massive flesh, immediately jarring the creature. She was almost methodical as she fired the shotgun at the creature causing it to stand from the floor, and fired again with a thunderous shot, driving it to the ground. She drove her sword into its skull brutally, not pulling back until the creature stopped moving. Alessa grimaced in disgust. That was as close to a murder as she had carried out on this trip. She felt sick to her stomach, and she held her hand over her mouth while holding her stomach to keep herself from throwing up. She shouldn’t feel bad about this; really, she shouldn’t. But beating them down like this, without them being predators coming after her, while they were sitting helpless and didn’t have a chance to defend themselves, wasn’t a pleasant experience at all. She didn’t want to do this again.

She went back to her search. It was then that Alessa noticed that there was a light coming from an open fridge. Alessa approached the appliance and drew back in shock at what was inside. There was a steak sitting in the fridge, but it was rotten to the core and sitting among what appeared to be a sea of blood. Was this the answer to her questions? It looked like someone had bled to death in the refrigerator, or something had exploded in a mass of blood, or blood had seeped out of the bag the steak was in. Surely they couldn’t expect her to burn something like this! Ugh. The stench was horrible. She didn’t like the smell of spoiled meat at home, and she couldn’t stand it here. She held her hand over her mouth and nose, trying to hold back the roiling sensation in her stomach. She took step by forced step, willing herself to go closer to the fridge. She picked up the steak in the plastic bag, holding it between her thumb and index finger away from her. She had to burn this thing before it got worse. She would have to cleanse her hands thoroughly as soon as she got a chance. There was probably salmonella, and bacteria, and god knows what else on this bag. She wished there was another option, something else to burn that didn’t look as hideous. But no, knowing this place, this was probably the only thing she was going to find. Picking up a box of shotgun shells from a nearby table, she went to leave the room, past the dirty glasses on the counter, and the monster that reminded her too much of a defenseless animal struck down in cold blood. In fact, she couldn’t get out of here fast enough. She vacated the area as soon as possible.

This room could keep its cash.

~

She made it back to the fifth floor, passing by the window again, down the hall into the art gallery. There was a bucket under the painting, apparently waiting in anticipation of her burning something in it. How convenient. She tossed the meat into it, doused it with some Oxydol, and took out her book of matches. Here goes, she thought. She threw the match in. A slow flame began to roil inside the bucket, and Alessa took a step back as the flame expanded. As expected, the flame consumed the painting. The painting disintegrated from the charring effect, until there was nothing left of the frame. Surprisingly, it turned out there was a door behind the painting. The two twin doors sat on the middle of the wall in the form of pull-away doors, like a vent leading to some other part of the building. Alessa knew she needed to check it out.

Before that, though, she pulled out a health drink and doused it all over her hands. She couldn’t stand all those microbes from the meat being on her hands. She hated to waste a health drink, but this was something she needed to do for her sanity and for her overall health, after she got out of this.

Alessa groaned inwardly. She couldn’t crawl well in these jeans, but she needed to get up there and go through the passageway to see what was on the other side behind this doorway. She pushed herself up into the passageway and crawled to whatever was waiting on the other side.

~

Alessa jumped out of the small crevice in the wall. She immediately raised her shotgun, as she thought that a monster had found her. But it was just a picture. She sighed in relief. That relief immediately turned to being disturbed as she saw the body next to the picture. Oh. There was another hanging body, no surprise there. This one was a little different, though. It was hanging by a cord wrapped around its neck, entangled in the pipes of the construct. It seemed to have been burned all over, but the hanging cord seemed to be the main cause of death. Alessa felt sorry for them, since it looked like it had been an excruciatingly painful death, but there wasn’t much she could do about it. And there was something squiggling all over the body, like some kind of blood flowing all over the body. That same thing was also on the bars and beams surrounding the picture. What the hell was that? Alessa looked at the picture. There was something about that smile that was familiar, but she couldn’t figure out what. Where had she seen it before? It was supposed to be a positive image, but instead it looked downright disturbing and creepy in this place. And there were so many of them too, little ones encircling the big picture. Why? What was the purpose of it? Sometimes the logic of this place was beyond her understanding.

The room was obviously a sub-section behind the art gallery. She went down the stairs and as she was descending she spotted something to her left. She stepped off and saw a group of papers on top of a table. She rejoiced to herself when she got closer. Yes! These were the missing pages of the fairy tale. She picked them up and eagerly began reading the familiar tale.

The priestess accepted the king's

request and went to the village gates.

But when she saw the monster, she

tried to convince it with words

instead of killing it.

“Shut up, you! I'm going to eat

you up!”

The monster didn't listen to

a word the priestess said.

But she kept trying to convince

the monster to give up.

“It's wrong to eat people,

you know.”

The monster grew very angry at

this and attacked her, killing her

with a single mighty blow.

Again, Alessa was struck by how familiar the story seemed. Where had she seen it before? Who had written it? It was clearly from her childhood, but from where was the big question. Although she marveled at the stupidity of the priestess trying to negotiate with the monster. There were some things you just couldn’t negotiate with, whether it be a ravenous monster, members of the Order, or bigots who disapproved of her life choices. She had learned that long ago. There were just some people that would never change their minds, no matter what. She wanted to be nice to everyone, but the truth was there were just some people who didn’t deserve compassion or consideration.

Two down, one to go. She needed to find the last section of the story.

~

Alessa shot two of the four-legged creatures as they crawled towards her. The creatures came out of the darkness, hunting them as usual. But by now she had figured out their routine, and took them out quite easily. They came out of the darkness looking for food, only to be met by her shotgun instead. She placed down some beef jerky on the floor, and lured another one to the area. She shot it when it showed up, making it sprawl out on the ground permanently. She knew how to conserve ammo, and once she figured out their patterns, it was pretty easy to nail them without wasting ammo. The creatures were major obstacles, so they had to be made dead.

She smiled gleefully as she killed the creatures. They were becoming less of a threat the more she went on. She was gaining the upper hand here. This world would have to throw a lot more at her than these, if it wanted to throw her off-track. They reminded her of anteaters, with their noses and their scurrying about. Except anteaters were cute. These were grotesque, and she wouldn’t hesitate to kill them.

There was also a sexual connotation to them, it seemed. She didn’t want to think about that. She really didn’t want to think about it.

After she had gone through the door in that room, she found herself in this hallway faced with an army of those things. It turned out she was on the fourth floor. That passageway led to a section that was underneath the art gallery, leading to the fourth floor. And that was when they came. Luckily, they were just as dumb as the other ones, so she was able to deal with them pretty easily. That beef jerky she had found in the mall also came in pretty handy, even if she didn’t have any actual dogs around to give it to. Or, if she couldn’t eat it herself.

She found one underneath a bed in a room where there was nothing but the old frame. The stupid creature thought to hide underneath the bed in an attempt to ambush her. Alessa wasn’t fooled for an instant by the charade. She simply shot the creature underneath the bed, and then jumped on top of the bed to finish it off from there while it scurried along on the ground. Apparently, climbing up on its hind legs was not an option the creature considered viable. She grabbed the first aid kit that was on top, which had been her true objective all along.

She pocketed the box of ammo on the ground on her way out.

The hallway was empty. There was a large cage on the side of the hallway, or at least that was what the wall separating her from the void looked like. Alessa paid it no mind, simply marveling at the odd structures of this place and its lack of sensibilities.

There was a room that had the oddest assortment of items Alessa had seen thus far. Alessa stepped inside not knowing what to expect. There didn’t seem to be anything notable of interest at first, until Alessa noted the room’s contents. Alessa turned to the right and saw a sight that astounded her. Whoa. There was a huge mountain of coins scattered around on a table, with the coins so many in number that they were overflowing onto the floor. They were rare ones, too. Alessa didn’t know much about coin collecting, but it was obvious that these were extremely rare coins, from what little about coins her father had taught her. Again, Alessa was tempted to take them, but she decided against it.

If these coins were actual collectibles, they probably had a counterpart in the real world, and somebody would notice that they were missing. The last thing Alessa wanted was for someone to track them down to her, and come after her for taking the coins. Even though she had no idea how that would actually happen, she wouldn't put it past this place to engineer such a cruel prank on her. Or maybe she was just getting paranoid. Either way, she wasn’t willing to chance it.

And that wasn’t the only odd item in the room. There was something else that put the coins to shame in terms of being unexpected here.

There was a vending machine in the room. It was tucked into the corner of the room, away from the table mass of coins there. Alessa stared at it to make sure she was really seeing what she thought she saw. What was a vending machine doing here? She expected to see it in the regular office building, but not in this hellish version of it. This place was weird, and it was getting weirder by the second. What use did she have for a vending machine? It wasn’t like she needed a drink right now. Alessa looked at the vending machine. It was obvious she was expected to use it somehow. There was a message on the wall next to the vending machine. “Thus one’s life turns to riches: What was a bag of silver coins is now the number in a book. Yet faith hath no price…Ah, but do people know this?” Heh, that was right, Alessa thought. Not. Actually, faith did have a price, in the case of the people tormenting her. She supposed that here it meant that there was no risk in taking a chance, with this unexpected find. She supposed the fact that it was in this place also meant that it was vending something other than the normal items one would find.

Alessa looked back at the coins. It wouldn't hurt to take one, she supposed. Nobody would miss it. It wasn’t like she had much of an option.

She put one of the coins into the machine. There was a thunderous sound as something was delivered down through the machine. To her surprise, an actual can came out into the cubby at the bottom! Alessa picked it up and stared at it. She’d half-expected the machine to be empty, and for this all to be one big joke. Alessa stared at the can. It seemed awfully light, and she was thinking she could hear something inside. Alessa shook the can violently. There was definitely something inside, and it appeared to be metallic in origin. Alessa popped open the can and turned it over. To her surprise, a metallic key fell out of the can! She picked it up. The key was small and silver colored, with a small tag attached to it. There was something written on the tag. Looking closer, it was a simple name. It read: Elberton Life Insurance.

Alessa thought about where she had seen that before. Elberton Life Insurance…the life insurance office that was on the end of the first floor! Alessa thought excitedly.

Before she left though, she was struck with a curious thought. She wondered if the machine would vend anything else. She looked back at the coins. She supposed it wouldn’t hurt to take one more. The chance was that nobody would miss only two coins.

She put the coin into the machine. The rumbling of something coming down the machine once again tore through the room. To her surprise, another can actually came out of the machine. Alessa picked it up and looked at the can. It certainly looked normal. There was no tint of rust or anything. The can was heavy with a sloshing sound, indicating there was something inside.

She popped the top of the can open. Alessa smelled a whiff of the liquid inside. It smelled normal too; like soda, she thought to herself. Alessa looked at the product for one moment, before she made a decision.

Ah, what the hell, she thought. She was probably going to die anyway. She might as well go down having some enjoyment. She took a full drink of the soda, not hesitating to taste it as she tilted her head back. She aah’d in relief as she savored the taste. That was cool and refreshing. Her mouth was getting dry, so she definitely welcomed the drink.

At least this place was kind enough to provide a drink for her. The only question was whether it would do something hideous or transform her in some grotesque way.

She left through the door she came through. The room was at the end of the hall, which meant she had an anticipating view of everything that was awaiting her. The crawling creatures were all dead, so she had nothing to worry about. She was still thinking about the vending machine she found, wondering how such a thing would even come to be here.

Suddenly, a dog emerged out of the darkness. Alessa screamed in shock, taken aback completely by the sudden surprise. She sidestepped the mauling attack from the dog, allowing it to completely bypass Alessa. She shot the dog with her shotgun, downing it with a gruesome wound as it slumped close to the wall. In a rage, Alessa went and kicked the dog against the wall, sending it down to the floor whimpering until it expired. Shit. Every time she thought she had this new place figured out, some new surprise came out barreling at her.

Alessa looked at the hallway. Apparently the dog had come from that cage she had seen lining the hall, seemingly just a feature of the wall. Shit. She knew it was there for a reason.

~

Alessa found her way back to the first floor. She now had determination to finish the last piece of this puzzle and find out how to rid herself of that thing in the hallway. She rounded the corner and ran into another problem, one in a long line of them.

Shit. There were two more of those creatures.

They were there at the end of the hall. They were munching on some meat, vigorously chewing at it like savage animals. Yuck. So that was what those chunks of meat she kept finding throughout the building were.

She would have to do this carefully. She moved slowly with each step. She observed the environment around her for any signs of danger, noting how different it was from the usual floor. For some reason, this segment of the building looked slightly different from the others in the building, looking more like a dirty kitchen filled with grime and blood stains, rather than an office building. Overall it was rather gruesome and left her feeling even more disgusted with this place than usual, feeling like it was going to contaminate her with its grime. It was rather fitting, considering what she was about to do.

She walked right behind them. The monsters still hadn’t noticed her presence. Ravenous with their appetites, they obviously were too distracted to respond to her. Alessa wasn’t going to waste any more time. She pulled up her weapon and aimed at the foul forms. She shot them with her weapon, sending the monsters stumbling. The monsters struggled to breath and push themselves into preying form, but this close in the wounds inflicted on them were too great. Alessa stomped them both to death.

She went through the door into the final piece of the puzzle.

~

Alessa looked at the room. There was a table surrounding the entire length of the room, circling the expanse of it with a hollowed out opening in the center and a few chairs surrounding it. Alessa went over excitedly as she spotted the final missing pages of the fairy tale. Yes! She picked up the tattered pages and eagerly, anxiously began reading.

The king and his people shed tears

at the death of the kind priestess.

God took pity upon them and,

granting their wishes, healed the

priestess.

The priestess opened her eyes just

as she had done every morning of

her life. She went once more to the

monster's lair.

“Fool! You wish to die again?”

“No... this time it's your turn.”

The priestess had come to defeat

the monster once and for all.

As the priestess was very very

kind, she felt sad about this task.

But it had to be done.

“Swords and spears won't work.

Arrows and bullets will just bounce

off. You can't kill me,”

the monster laughed.

But the priestess used neither

sword nor spear. She chanted

but a single spell.

“TU FUI, EGO ERIS.”

Do you know what happened then?

The monster let out a huge cry

and then died and vanished!

Thus the villagers were able to use

their gates once more. Everyone

lavished their gratitude upon the

priestess, and they all lived

happily ever after.

Alessa put down the pages. That’s it? All that work and fighting, all the suffering and close calls with creatures, all for a spell from a children’s story? “Tu Fui Ego Eris?” Alessa read aloud in confusion. She knew it: she should have just shot the damn thing.

Suddenly, there was a loud groan that echoed through the area. Alessa drew back in shock, shaking a bit in startled befuddlement. “What was that?” she asked aloud.

Alessa rushed out of the room with her gun in hand.

The hallways outside were quiet, and the noises coming from the floors above had disappeared, like all of the monsters were gone. Alessa gripped her handgun tightly, searching for any signs of trouble. She was about to run into that monster that was troubling her with its inconvenience, and dreaded the thought of glimpsing it thoroughly again, when she realized the monster was gone. The glass doors of the office building stood out proudly amid the drab walls and stained floor of the building, beckoning for someone to cross their threshold. The monster was no longer blocking it with its body, and had apparently been destroyed by that uttered spell she had poached, unwittingly, from the fairy tale book.

Alessa stared in disbelief. It couldn’t be that easy, could it? The only weapon that was needed to kill that gruesome monster was a set of words from a children’s story, written by a person she didn’t even remember? But it was sound as she looked across the area, realizing that the monster was completely gone and no trace of it whatsoever was left. The other monsters were gone as well, somehow she sensed it. Cool, Alessa thought. Nifty spell. Alessa rejoiced silently in triumph, glad beyond belief more than she had been at any time in the past few hours. She wasted little time in getting moving out of this place, finally letting the grip on her weapons ease into cautious relaxation. The glass doors of the exit for this building were awaiting her, gleaming like a reward for all her hard work and the struggles for survival she had done in this place. She crossed them gladly, never once looking back as she gladly left behind the dank blood and darkness of this place.

It had taken a long time, but finally she had her wish. The building still hadn’t changed back, but that would probably happen gradually over time. With all the monsters gone and no tasks left for her to accomplish, the Otherworld would recede gradually over time. That didn’t matter, though.

Finally, she was free.

~

Alessa emerged through the glass doors of the office building in a rush, stepping onto the sidewalk outside. She looked back at the building.

To her surprise, the exterior of the building appeared normal. There wasn't anything wrong with it, or anything that appeared odd. She didn’t go back inside, to check whether the Otherworld had disappeared. There wasn’t any need to go back there.

She noticed there was a plaque nearby on the concrete. The Hilltop Center. Hmm. So that was what this place was called! She had gone through all that and never even found out the name of the building she was in.

The streets were fine. There was no blood, no rust, or any signs of decay on the streets and the surrounding area. That was a hopeful sign. It was nighttime. She was amazed at how long it had taken her to navigate through that maze of obstacles in this location. Wow. How long had she been in there? Her watch had stopped functioning a while ago, probably because of the effect of this place, so she had no way of knowing what time it was. The night sky stretched above her like a featureless black shroud and the nighttime area was quiet around her, not a surprise considering everyone was probably asleep. Her cell phone didn’t work, so she couldn’t call her mom, her dad, or anyone else for help.

Suddenly, she realized where she was. This place was very nearby with regard to where her house was, and she had driven past it many times as she was going to some place. She didn’t know she was so close to her home now, not having any general idea where she was underground! It was funny. She had been through so much of the city and so much of its back passages and secret areas reserved for employees, she probably knew this city now better than most of its residents!

The street to where her house was located was open. But unfortunately, her car was still stuck back at the mall. She would have to walk. It was a long road ahead of her, but there was no other way. It was going to take a lot longer on foot than it would in a car, but she had no choice. She had to get home, and there was no one who could give her a lift at this late hour. Not that she would trust them anymore, after what she had been through tonight.

Those walls were still there, the ones she had seen before, white and covered in plastic, but there didn’t appear to be anything dangerous about them, and there was nothing out of the ordinary at the construction site. At least judging from the outside, from what she could see. Maybe she was wrong and they were just ordinary construction walls.

She began to walk, following the darkened asphalt path to her home.

~

Alessa strolled into the driveway, pushing her body to take the extra steps.

She had walked for about an hour. That building may have looked close in a car, when she was passing by it, but it was a lot longer on foot than she had ever realized! Since she was entirely exhausted from her adventurous journey and the dangers she had faced on her route here, she was forced to maintain a casual pace at the most as she made her way up the long, long road. She was dead. Her entire body felt like it was going to collapse into shattered little pieces of her form at every movement.

And when she thought that she was going to die if she went any further, she finally saw the outline of her house.

Alessa crossed the distance with excitement, glad to finally have a piece of good fortune. She was home. After all the dangers and all of the wondering if she would ever get back here alive, she had gotten back to her home. She had encountered absolutely no traffic on her way here, but who the heck was going to be crazy enough to be awake at this hour, outside? That didn’t worry her too much.

The gate wasn’t working. That was the first hint that something might be wrong. She didn’t let it bother her too much. They might have been having trouble with it. She simply scaled over it, hoisting herself using her last bits of strength to land swiftly on the other side.

The area was quiet and still, looking relatively normal to her eyes and ears. She passed by the fountain, nothing that there didn’t seem to be anything amiss. There wasn’t any blood, rust, or anything else lying around that indicated there might be trouble. Satisfied, Alessa proceeded further into the house, though she kept her grip on her shotgun, just in case.

The home that Alessa resided at had been inherited from her mother’s side of the family, and was an old house with a rich background of family history in its past. It wasn’t that large compared to other houses in that area, but it was still a steal for the price it was worth, even if it hadn’t been gifted to them, more or less. Two stories high in its architecture, it had massive space for the price and was more than adequate for a three member family. And there were some unique quirks to the house, which the previous owner had seen fit to install. It was rather sophisticated, but homely, much to Alessa’s liking. She didn’t want just any old simple home.

She entered the foyer, scanning around for any signs of danger. There were none, so she allowed herself to relax. She placed her shotgun on the nearby table. God, she couldn’t believe it was 1:00 am. The clock on the wall revealed the time. She was looking forward to doing nothing but collapsing onto her bed and sleeping for the next three days. They had to get out of here first, though.

“Guys, we have to talk about something,” she called out, stretching lazily as she moved through the entranceway, working out the kinks in her muscles. There was nothing that looked out of place. There was no coppery smell, of the type she would associate with trouble, or anything else. In fact, everything looked downright good. Still, she couldn’t relax too much. That place would return, and until they figured out what was going on, it would continue to plague her. They had to get out of here, fast. They could go to their other house, until this was all solved.

“Guys, we have to get the hell out of here,” she tried again, wanting to see if anybody responded to her.

She knew she should have been panicking, but she had to keep her calm about this. Her guardians would be worried enough about her, and she didn’t want to upset them right away by bursting in with a panic. If it had been the beginning of this, she probably would have done the panicking reaction, but she was too exhausted and worn down from her travels and tribulations. Besides, she was armed. She could take on anything this world could throw at her, if the Otherworld chose to manifest here and they had to protect themselves.

“Mom? Dad? Anyone in here?” Alessa called out a third time. No one was responding. She was starting to get worried now, especially since someone should have heard her by now. She walked carefully through the home, looking around for any signs of danger. “Kayla?” she called out her aunt’s name. Maybe they had gone out, and left her in charge. If she was around, she could help her.

She stepped into the living room. The furniture wasn’t overturned, and she saw nothing that was out of the ordinary. She rounded the love seat and that was when she saw it.

There was a bloodied woman’s form lying on the ground, just covered completely in the crimson life force flowing from her wounds. There was a large pool of blood around her, and it had stained the carpet deeply. There was blood splattered around in droplets through the carpet. She was wearing a police woman’s uniform, and it was one that Alessa would recognize anywhere. The uniform was drenched in fluid, stained to a dark brown beyond its original colors from the trauma. Alessa put her hands over her mouth, overcome with the horror of it all.

“Cybil!” Alessa cried, rushing down to the bloodied woman. She placed her hand on the woman’s chest searching for a pulse, but it was a waste of time. She was long dead. Alessa couldn’t believe this. She hadn’t seen Cybil in a year, and now she was dead. Who was responsible for this?! Why? And then she saw the blood stains leading to underneath the sofa. Alessa felt a sense of dread overtake her, but she followed the blood trail to its end, needing to see what was behind it. She crawled the few precious feet from the bloodbath to the sofa, until she saw something that caused her heart to absolutely stop. There was a severed arm lying almost underneath the sofa, ripped from the end of some unfortunate body with the end a frayed mass of nerves and bloodied tissue. But it was what was on the hand of the arm, on one of the slender manicured fingers that tore a hole in the fiber of Alessa’s being.

Her mother’s wedding ring.

There was a small trail of blood leading away and Alessa glimpsed another limb, also dismembered, but she didn’t look further. With the massive amount of blood loss on the floor, there was no way anybody could have survived that. Not to mention, the separated limbs. She didn’t need to look, under the couch or behind it. She already knew what she was going to see, and she had no desire to see her mother in that state. She would rather freely hold onto her memories of her mother, than have them tainted with the horror of what was lurking there. Alessa screamed in numbed horror, in agony, in extreme mental anguish, processing a thousand different emotions and thoughts in that moment. The tears came soon after, falling down her cheeks as she was unable to rise from her knees, crushed by the burden of what had happened here. She had been far too late. She had ignored the warnings of her mother and her friend being in danger, and had allowed the Otherworld to pull her into its little games, providing her with distractions and petty troubles galore; time wasting obstacles, all of them. She should have torn through the walls, ripped through the doors in the buildings, shot out the doors at the mall…done everything and anything she could to get home on time, and save those who were closest to her. Now two people were dead because of her, people who she loved and was close to, and they were just the latest in a long line of people. First Harry, then Cybil, and now her mother…how many people were going to die for her? How could she be so cursed by the goddamn universe, that everyone who got close to her met a gruesome death? She had no idea where her dad was, but he was probably dead too. He would have contacted her somehow if he wasn’t, and there was no way he would have allowed this to happen if he was here. He cared for her mother too deeply.

She stayed there for the longest time, stewing in her grief. It might have been minutes that went by, or it might have been hours, she didn’t know. She stayed there until she was completely drained of energy. She felt numb, like a powerful blow had hit her and left her unable to feel anything more than fleeting memories of sensations. Not only were two people dead, in addition to probably a third, but her existence as she knew it had come to an end, in a most grotesque manner.

The life she had built for herself was gone.

Alessa got up when she noticed the blood trail leading to the back yard. She ran in the direction of the trail, filled with a furious new determination. Whoever was behind this, they were going to die. She was going to kill them, in the most brutal manner she could think of. She didn’t care about the consequences of acting rashly, or whatever the repercussions were, later on. She couldn’t change what had happened, but she could ensure that whoever did this regretted it immeasurably, to their dying breath. She ran through the living room, into the kitchen, and out through the door leading out to their backyard, following the trail to wherever its end lied. She held no fear in her, fully determined to find the end of this trail and confront whoever was waiting there.

Their backyard was a large expanse, more like a courtyard than a backyard really. Shrubs and trees surrounded them in the area, giving them some measure of privacy like their own little retreat. They were overgrown and somewhat wild, since they hadn’t had time to arrange them in a more pleasing design.

And there Claudia was waiting for her, standing solitary amid the courtyard. The pale woman turned to her and looked at her with dark eyes.

“You’re late,” she accused, almost sounding annoyed.

Alessa looked at her in disbelief. Her childhood friend was standing before her, looking quite smug. “How could you?” she asked, her voice breaking from the grief.

The woman was not remorseful. “Revenge, for one thing,” Claudia replied, acting completely indifferent. “For taking you away from us, six years ago. That man, Harry Mason, already met his deserved fate six years ago, and now it was their turn. Don’t be worried, one day you will understand why things had to be this way,” the blonde woman intoned.

“Where’s my dad?” Alessa questioned harshly, railing at the blonde woman. She needed to know where her father’s body was.

The woman turned her head. “I don’t know. I was only able to confront that woman, passing herself off as your guardian. Her, and her alone. Unfortunate. Alas it seems that he has escaped our vengeance. He will have to be dealt with, later on,” Claudia said seriously, getting a foul expression on her face.

“Liar! What have you done with him?” Alessa screamed outraged, incensed at this woman’s denial when it was visibly obvious what had happened. Did she think she was stupid? She was the only one who could have done it.

“I am not lying. I have done nothing to him. Like I said, I have confronted only one person here. I am not aware of what has transpired outside here, whatever his fate may be,” Claudia said, causing Alessa to frown. If he wasn’t dead, where was he? But the slim woman continued. “I do not understand why you are so worried about them. They were interlopers in your life, and had no place in your rightful destiny in your life. I have done you no actual disservice by trying to get rid of them, eliminating their influence from your life.”

“They were my family! What right did you have to take them away from me?!” Alessa screamed, outraged beyond reasoning. She had hoped that somehow, it wouldn’t be Claudia that she encountered here, but realistically, she knew in the back of her mind it was probably her responsible. Her worst nightmare had come true. And now she had to deal with the repercussions, even if it meant killing this onetime good friend. She had no choice.

“You do not make a compelling case. You must understand this was inevitable, but it must be this way. I am simply returning to you the life you should have had: to birth our God and build an eternal paradise. That is your destiny,” Claudia intoned. The woman’s unshakable tone of voice grated on Alessa’s nerves. Did this woman care nothing for the lives of the people she had taken?!

“They were my parents! I chose them to take care of me!” Alessa screamed. She couldn’t believe this. Her childhood friend had turned into a twisted monster, and now she was every bit as deluded as those other loonies in the Order, which she had come to hate. There was nothing left of the old Claudia. Worse, she was a horrible murderer, who had dared to come into Alessa’s house and take away the one thing that was most precious to her.

“They weren’t your parents. They were simply pretenders, meddlers placed there by some power that had no right to interfere with the right way. Our greatest teacher was your real mother, and you disgrace her memory by dishonoring her teachings. You turn your back on her, and forget about all the lessons she ever taught you. You should be thanking me for getting rid of them for you,” Claudia said, sounding a bit irritated for the first time since Alessa heard her speaking. There was a foul mood in her stance, like Alessa had committed some unspeakable crime against her faith. She radiated menace, a crazy way of thought, and she was absolutely sure in her thoughts.

Alessa stared at her in disbelief. She didn’t hesitate. She loaded two shells into her shotgun and aimed her weapon at the intruder. She fired.

Her emotions were all over the place, so her aim was off, barely missing Claudia by an inch. Claudia dove to the side in an attempt to avoid the forceful blast, straining to move her body fast enough. Still, the pellets grazed her as they sailed by her, sending her to the ground. Claudia cried out in pain as they left a nasty flesh wound, eating away the cloth material of her clothes at her side, although non-fatal. Claudia stared at Alessa with a look of hurt, as though Alessa had committed some great betrayal of her and wounded her deeply. She cradled her side gingerly, watching her hand becoming covered in the blood pouring from her wound.

Alessa looked at her in disbelief. Did she think she was going to be thankful to her for ruining her life? If she did, then she was truly as deluded now as the rest of those fools in the Order wasting away their lives; even more so. She settled in for another shot; this time she wouldn’t miss. She was about to fire again, when the woman started speaking from her corrupt mouth.

“I didn’t kill your so-called parents, or that police officer,” Claudia said indignantly, gently cradling her side. “He was the one who did it. I made a deal with him,” she said, pointing at something far beyond Alessa’s back. “He had his own intentions for them. If you have an issue with it, take it up with him.”

Alessa looked behind her, searching to see what fool Claudia had roped into doing her bidding. Whoever he was, he was soon about to join her on the other side, whether he was ready or not. She turned around, ready to fire all her shotgun ammo on the cretin who had dared help this woman destroy her life, and stopped short at what she saw.

There was a gigantic figure marching across the yard. Seven feet tall, it was covered in blood that coated almost all of its entire body, and left only stringy patches of tan skin-like area visible. He wore a butcher’s smock that appeared to be made of human flesh, leaving his pale arms exposed. He wore a triangular crimson helmet that covered his entire face, although the helmet was smaller than what she remembered, allowing him to navigate the terrain easily. And it was what he was armed with that was scary. In his hands he carried a huge blade. The knife was long and thick, resembling nothing less than a sword than any actual knife. The figure was muscular and powerfully built, easily intimidating to the slim young girl, making it quite clear to Alessa that it could easily crush anything in his path, if he so wanted to. His dark boots stomped heavily on the ground. And he was coming straight at her.

The Executioner had found her.

~

* The part from the chemistry book, explaining about oxygen: from Silent Hill 3

* The fairy tale written by Claudia, found by Alessa in three sections: from Silent Hill 3

* The infamous painting from the game, showing Alessa bathed in fire: from Silent Hill 3

* Some dialogue is borrowed from Silent Hill 3.