Drag Them Into Hell

Title: Drag Them Into Hell
Author: DiamondInTheRough
Rating: NC-17 eventually
Warnings: Swearing, violence, gore, horror, slight slash *SPOILERS FOR SH5 AND SH2!*
Chapter Warnings: Strong language, some violence
Pairing: None
Disclaimer: I don't own Silent Hill or any of its characters or creations. All credit goes to the makers. I am not making any money off this story.
Author's Note: I know each chapter normally includes both Alex and James but this one only includes James this time. I promise Alex will be in the next chapter =] Again, thanks for all the reads and reviews.
Summary: It's been five months since Alex Shepherd left Silent Hill and he is trying to rebuild his life. Things are going well until children start to go missing from his hometown and he hears voices calling him back to Silent Hill. James Sunderland is still in Silent Hill, continuously being tormented. His spirit is faltering and he is growing weaker by the day, considering suicide daily. Pyramid Head won't allow James to leave and wants Alex to come home. You cannot escape who you are.

Remember to always behave, for sins he won't abide.
He wields a rusty, jagged blade, to cut out your insides.

James awoke to the rough feeling of gravel underneath his left cheek and the taste of blood in his mouth. He opened his eyes groggily but immediately squeezed them shut again when bright daylight stung his sensitive eyes. Daylight? No thick fog obstructing the skies but natural daylight. Was the light he saw when he opened his eyes really that of the sun? Or had he fallen asleep in his room with the flashlight on again? Which he often did when the constant cries of the tormented became too much to bear in the dark.

James opened his eyes again, more slowly this time letting them adjust to the light. He saw his right hand sprawled out in front of him and after a few seconds realised that he was lying on his stomach on an unknown road. With considerable effort he pushed himself up into a sitting position, unconcerned for the moment that he was sitting in the middle of the road like an unaware rabbit. Still squinting a little, James took in his unfamiliar surroundings.

A long stretch of deserted highway was laid out before him, surrounded by trees as far as he could see. Crows cawed in the distance and circled overhead, like vultures waiting to swoop down and attack their unsuspecting prey. Another person might have found the overhead crows menacing but James was amazed. Partly because it was the first normal animal he'd seen in months but more so because he could actually see the animals that were making the noises. They weren't obstructed by thick fog and their cries weren't drowned out by that of beasts. He was back in the real world. James felt overwhelmed, he almost felt like crying. Not once since he became confined to Silent Hill did he think that he would ever wake up to the world he once knew. He never thought he'd be happier to hear the rustling of leaves in the wind or the sun on his face. We take so many things for granted, he thought. We fail to see the beauty in things until after they are taken away from us, until they are no more than a memory.

James moved his attention from the crows up above to the sky were they flew. It was cloudless. So blue, so vivid... so beautiful. He felt like a child, amazed at everything that his new world had to offer, appreciating the beauty like only young eyes can. He felt the sun warming his pale skin and closed his eyes but opened them a second later. He wanted to experience everything, wanted to take everything of his old but new world in because he didn't know how long it would last. This could just be a wonderful dream for all he knew.

James knew it wasn't a dream though. The details of the previous night came flooding back to him and he knew that Pyramid Head had made good on their deal. He had opened the door for James, had let him leave Silent Hill behind him for the moment until he found the man called Alex Shepherd. James dreaded the thought of even finding this man. The sooner he found him, the sooner he would have to go back. Go back to that fog filled hell and go back to his tormentor to meet a fate that was yet uncertain. Even if he did find this Shepherd guy, he didn't have a clue how he was going to convince him to go back to Silent Hill with him. If he'd already been to the town once, he was going to be less than enthusiastic about going back there again. James knew that if he was in the same position, the only way he'd go back would be kicking and screaming.

James got to his feet and looked out at the road before and behind him, the highway stretching for miles both ways. He didn't even know where to start. He knew he had to get to Oakley but he didn't even know where it was. Hell, he didn't even know where he was. He began to head north, following the road until he came to a gas station, a house or another car that he could maybe hitch a ride from. He put his hands in his jacket pockets and felt something in the left one. He pulled out his hand and produced a wad of dollar bills, tens, twenties and fifties. He counted the money and all in all he had three hundred dollars.

I guess Pyramid Head remembered that even though money ain't worth shit in Silent Hill, it's still pretty important in the real world. He could have fixed me up with a car though, thought James bitterly.

James had been walking for the best part of an hour without seeing a single passing car. He was about to give up hope when he finally spotted an empty looking gas station in the distance. As he approached it he saw that the forecourt was deserted and the place looked pretty worn down but despite its dishevelled appearance, there was an 'OPEN' sign on the door. James went inside, the bell sounding as he did, and he saw that there was a mini diner inside. Stools lined the counter and a few booths were littered about the place. He could smell coffee and bacon and his stomach growled hungrily. There was only one member of staff that he could see, a red haired middle aged woman whose name tag read 'Betty'. She looked at him with a hint of suspicion and James didn't blame her. He felt filthy and probably looked it. His clothes were dirty and stained, his hair dishevelled and his stubble heavy. To her he probably looked like a hobo or a crack head.

"Do you have a bathroom I could use?" James asked.

She looked at him disapprovingly, as if he was not going to the bathroom to piss but to shoot up. "Just round there. Don't make a mess, it's just been cleaned."

Despite her sarcastic tone and rather hostile manner, James would have happily sat there and let her insult him all day. She was the first human he'd had contact with in a long time and he was just happy that she didn't have two heads or razor sharp teeth. James smiled at her and made his way to the end of the counter and into the bathroom. He wanted to try and clean up as best he could until he got to a more populated area where maybe he could buy some new clothes and take a long needed shower. He leaned over one of the three sinks that the bathroom accommodated and splashed his face with cold water. The sensation felt good on his skin and he splashed his face a few more times. When he stood up and looked in the mirror that hung over the sink, James was shocked. He almost didn't recognise himself.

There were no huge differences to his face; to anybody else they barely would have been noticeable. But to James who knew his face more than anyone, the differences were huge to him. His cheekbones were more defined for a start. He knew that he'd lost weight since he had been in Silent Hill but he'd only studied his reflection the night before and even then his cheekbones hadn't been as defined as they were now. He looked as if he'd lost a few pounds since last night and he knew that weren't possible. His lips looked darker too, a deep shade of maroon. He noticed that he had a cut on his lower lip from where Pyramid Head had bit him the night before. He shuddered at the memory. He ran a hand through his hair and noticed tiny flecks of black mingled with the blonde. He examined his hair more closely and he definitely had some black hairs, they were very subtle, only noticeable if you were to look up close but they were there alright. What the hell? How was it possible that he'd start growing different colour hair now? After all he'd been through; his hair should be grey if anything.

"What the hell is happening to me?" James wondered out loud. He felt confused and frustrated. He had enough on his plate right now, the last thing he needed was another mind fuck.

James left the bathroom and was intending to leave the diner all together but couldn't resist the smell of food. He hadn't eaten properly in what felt like years and he couldn't resist ordering eggs, bacon, sausage and French toast with coffee. While he was eating he found out from Betty that they were in Maine and conveniently enough, not too far from Oakley. He should have known that Silent Hill was in Maine; after all he made the trip up there after... after Mary. But he couldn't remember even making the trip up there and that scared him. He thought he'd only been in Silent Hill for a few months, he was almost sure of it but if he couldn't even remember travelling there, could he have been there longer? He didn't want to think about it, he just wanted to finish his breakfast.

Just as James was finishing up and paying, a truck pulled into the diner's forecourt and a well built man wearing a red baseball cap stepped out and began filling his vehicle with gas. James thanked Betty and made his way outside.

"Excuse me. You wouldn't happen to be going to Oakley would you?" James asked as he approached the trucker.

The man looked at James with disdain. "No I ain't. And I don't have any money for your next hit either so why don't you just piss off?"

He turned back to the gas pump and James walked closer. He pulled out some money from his pocket and held it in the man's line of vision.

"I don't need money, I need a ride. Now, are you going to Oakley or not sir?"

The man looked at the money and James could almost see the dollar signs in his eyes. He plucked the bills from James's hand. "Well I suppose I could always take a little detour. Oakley it is, it's on my way anyway."

"Good." James got into the passenger seat and watched as the man went into the diner to pay for the gas. He saw a photograph on the dashboard of a pretty young woman holding a young baby in her arms. He guessed they must be his family. James looked at the baby beaming at the camera. So full of innocence, just like Toby. The man in the red cap, who later revealed his name to be Ralph, re-emerged from the diner minutes later and they were soon on the road.

It only took about forty five minutes to reach Oakley and the whole ride was pretty much spent in silence. Ralph had his money and he was getting paid to take James to Oakley, not to make conversation. James didn't care though, although he would have liked a bit of human conversation after spending so much time alone, he was more than happy to look out of the window at the sights that he didn't realise he'd missed so much until now. He felt like a convict recently released from prison, so glad to be out of the cage he'd been trapped in for so much time.

Ralph dropped James off in Oakley's town centre with no more than a "See ya around." It was a nice town, a little bigger than Silent Hill but less touristy and more community based. A lot of people seemed to know each other and were friendly. The architecture was quaint yet modern and the air was clean and fresh. After exploring for a little more than ten minutes, and getting a few strange looks off the locals, James found what he was looking for, a clothes store. James found something within the first five minutes, he wanted to change as fast as possible, the looks people were giving him was beginning to get ridiculous. He picked out a pair of dark blue jeans, a black t-shirt and a light grey jacket. He decided against buying new shoes, his boots would do him just fine.

After exiting the store with his old clothes in his shopping bag, James stopped and stood for a minute. He didn't know where to begin to look for Shepherd. He didn't know anything about the man so how the fuck was he going to find out where he lived? He needed access to records or something, but what kind of records? Pyramid Head should have given him more information! Did he think that he was just going to turn up at Oakley and the first person he'd bump into would be Alex Shepherd? While James was standing on the sidewalk, he was too busy cursing the whole shitty situation that he was in to notice that the answer was staring him straight in the face.

Right in front of James was a phone booth with a phone book attached to it. James snatched it up hastily and immediately began looking for Shepherds name. He was dismayed when he found that the guy was unlisted.

"Damn it!" said James fiercely, throwing the book down in frustration.

He began to turn away when another name popped into his head, the only other name that had a shot of getting him anywhere. He rifled through the book and silently cheered when he found the name he was looking for: Oldman. There were four Oldman's listed. Alison, Burt, John and William. James hoped to god that the kid was named after his father and it wasn't just pure coincidence that there just happened to be another William Oldman in the town. He memorised the address, 105 Autumn Street and asked the nearest person for directions. It was only a ten minute walk and James set off. The sky was still blue but it was getting late and flecks of gold and orange began to paint the sky as the sun began to set.

While he was making his way to Autumn Street, he went through in his mind what he was going to say to this man. He didn't know what to say. He couldn't just turn up on the doorstep and ask if he knew where Alex Shepherd lived. The chances were that he probably wouldn't even know him. If he didn't, James could always just say that he'd gotten the wrong house and be off without any trouble. But then he would be back to square one again, no closer to finding Shepherd.

James was still at a loss of what to say when he approached William Oldman's house. There was a little blonde girl; James guessed she must have been about seven, sitting on the front lawn playing with some teddy bears. James walked up the path and the girl walked over to him cautiously.

She looked up at him with huge brown eyes and spoke in a timid voice. "Are you a police man?"

"Um... no I'm not," James replied awkwardly.

"Have you come to tell us about my brother? Have you found William? Mommy won't stop crying, she says a man has taken William away."

James looked into the girls eyes and felt a stab of sympathy. If only you knew kid, he thought grimly.

"Molly? Molly come here right now!" James looked up and saw a man descending the porch steps that led up to the house with a worried but angry expression on his face. He put his arms protectively around the girl and spoke in a concerned voice tinged with fear, "How many times have I told you not to talk to strangers?"

The man who James guessed must be the girl's father and therefore William Oakley, looked at James suspiciously and put his arms even tighter around his daughter's shoulders. His anger was understandable. One of his children was missing, the last thing he needed was his other one being taken from him.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly.

James said the first lame excuse of an answer he had thought of in the first place because he didn't know what else to say, "I'm... looking for a man called Alex Shepherd. Do you happen to know him by any chance?"

William looked at James through narrowed eyes. James expected the man to rush indoors any minute now and call the police on the crazy lunatic that had just been talking to his daughter. But James didn't expect to get anywhere near as lucky as he did.

"Wrong house, Alex lives next door. Have a good day sir," replied William, clearly trying to get rid of James as fast as possible.

James couldn't believe the lucky break he'd just gotten. He thought he'd have to search every inch of the town for Shepherd while he only lived one door away from the kid who'd gone missing. He suddenly realised that he was taking pleasure in the fact that he'd just gotten lucky at the expense of a missing child. He felt ashamed of himself and had to keep reminding himself why he was in Oakley in the first place.

James walked up Shepherd's steps and before he could even think about what he was going to say when the man answered, he knocked on the door. He could hear a dog barking somewhere inside and knocked again but still nobody answered. He walked over to the front window and peered through. The living room was empty except for a black Labrador who was looking at him curiously. He knew Alex mustn't be home but he still wanted to take a look inside. It might help him learn more about this guy and what Pyramid Head wanted with him.

He walked around the perimeter of the house until he found an open window and squeezed through as quietly as he could. He was in a small room which appeared to be the study yet there was no computer in there. Just boxes piled high from floor to ceiling filled with papers and such. He stepped out into the hall and the dog that he'd saw just moments before came bounding in from the living room. James thought it was going to savage him but it only jumped up and began licking his face enthusiastically.

James petted the mutt. "Not much of a guard dog are you?" A closer inspection of the dog's name tag revealed that the Lab was called King.

He walked in to the living room with the dog close behind and took a look around. The room still looked like it was half decorated so James thought that he mustn't have lived in the house long. There was a photograph above the fire of a young dark haired teenager with his arm around a young boy who looked strikingly similar to the teenager. They were both smiling and James guessed that the older guy must be Alex Shepherd. Finally he had a face to put with the name. The photograph looked a little old though. On the coffee table behind him, next to some car keys, James found a small bottle of pills. The label read, 'Alex Shepherd, 107 Autumn Street, Oakley. Anti-depressants, Dr M Fox.'

Whatever happened to this guy in Silent Hill must have affected him badly, James thought. He turned his attention to the computer in the corner and logged on. He cursed when he saw that it was password protected. He tried Alex Shepherds name first, then his first name alone, then his last name alone. He was denied each time. The dog whined softly next to him and James began to type four letters. K-I-N-G. It worked.

"Not a very good guard dog but you're a lucky son of a bitch, literally!" James patted the dog on the head.

James snooped around in Alex's files but didn't find anything of much importance. He decided to search for this guy on the internet to see if he could find anything that would help him get a better idea of what his role was in all of this. He found his answer on a webpage which contained an old newspaper article from Shepherd's Glen newspaper. Shepherd's Glen, he knew that town. It wasn't far from Silent Hill. The article was over five years old. James read with interest.

Tragedy struck yesterday when a resident of Shepherds Glen drowned in Toluca Lake in a horrific accident. Joshua Shepherd, 9, was out on the lake in a boat with his older brother Alex Shepherd, 17, late last night when he fell overboard and drowned.

James looked at the photo on the mantel piece. The little boy must have been Joshua and the older boy Alex, when he was seventeen. He continued to read.

The details of exactly how he fell are not yet known. It is also unclear at this point what the two brothers were doing out on the lake at that time of night and in such heavy fog.
The boy's father, Adam Shepherd, 49, who is Sheriff of Shepherds Glen, found and retrieved Joshua's body from the lake when he went after his son's after he noticed they weren't in their beds. Adam and his wife Lillian, 43, are said to be devastated.
In a statement from Adam Shepherd regarding his sons tragic demise he said, "Me and my wife need this time to grieve the loss of our son Joshua. We loved him so much, he was the best son that a man could ask for and our lives will never be the same without him. There will forever be a hole in our hearts that nobody but Josh could have filled."
When asked about the condition of his eldest son Alex, who witnessed his brother's death, Adam Shepherd simply stated, "He's enlisted in the army, he's gone now."
Nobody in Shepherd's Glen has seen or heard from Alex since Joshua's death. Residents are being told by police to take extra caution whilst out on the lake.

Jesus, thought James. This guy has got some baggage. James knew that there had to be more to this guy than met the eye. Everybody who was unfortunate enough to end up in Silent Hill always ended up there for a reason. Something else must have happened the night his brother died and he wasn't going to find out until he asked him. But how was he going to do that? Where the hell was he? James supposed he could just wait until he turned up, but that would just be wasting time that he didn't have.

James's thoughts were interrupted by a loud banging on the front door of the house.

"Alex! Alex Shepherd are you in there? It's Officer Stanton!" came the loud voice from the other side of the door.

"Fuck!" whispered James. Had somebody seen him climbing in through the window and reported him? The last thing he needed was the police on his case.

"Alex if you don't open this door I'm going to kick it in. You have ten seconds Alex."

Stanton began to count down and James frantically closed the web pages and logged off the computer. The officer was on number five when James bolted from the chair and ran into the kitchen intending to escape through the back door. He pulled on the handle but the door wouldn't budge. It wasn't bolted from the inside so Shepherd must have locked it from the inside with a key. Stanton was on number three now, he'd be bursting through the door any second. James scanned the kitchen desperately and his eyes came to rest on another door he hadn't noticed before. He flung it open, relieved that it wasn't locked and saw that it was a pantry filled with shelves and canned food. He squeezed inside and closed the door just as Officer Stanton made his entrance at the front of the house.

King started to bark and James could hear Stanton checking out all of the rooms. He heard footsteps upstairs and then down again. He heard the cop in the living room and then making his way down the hall, opening doors as he went. Stanton finally made his way into the kitchen, his footsteps echoing loudly off the linoleum floor. James held on to the door knob, pulling with all of the strength he could in such a small space just in case Stanton decided to look in his hiding place. He prayed silently that he wouldn't. He then heard the officer speak, presumably into his radio.

"Yeah this is Stanton here. I'm in the Shepherd house now and there's no sign of him. Are you sure our witness saw what she saw?"

James strained to listen as the crackly voice on the other end responded.

"We're sure. She saw a man fitting Shepherd's description being bundled into the back of a van by two heavies and she swears blind that Dr Fox was with them. Hold on one second..."

There was silence for about two minutes and then the crackly voice on the other end of the radio burst into life again, talking excitedly. "Stanton, Stanton are you there?"

"I'm here. Go ahead."

"We've been trying to track down the van using the licence plate number that our witness managed to get and we think we've found it! It was seen heading west-bound a few hours ago and it's come to a stop at..."

James listened as the officer on the radio gave an address to Stanton. He mentally stored the address in his mind and began to frantically think of a way to get there.

"Okay, I'm going to head over there now. I'm going to need backup so I want you all to follow me down there right away. Understood?"

No! James knew he needed to get to Shepherd before the police; otherwise he'd have no chance of bringing him back to Silent Hill. He could always steal a car and try and get there before Stanton and his buddies, he just needed to get to Alex first. But he knew the chances of outrunning the police were slim.

"... what you have to do."

James jumped. Whispers in his head again, whispers that didn't belong to him. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block out the sinister voice.

"You know what you have to do James... You have to get there first. Alex is mine... Alex belongs to us."

"No," James chocked out. "Get out of my head!"

"Kill him my Creator... get rid of him!"

The green in James's eyes was suddenly swallowed by a deep blackness. He looked at his hand that was holding the doorknob and it seemed paler. He could actually see the blue veins that ran underneath his skin but he felt strangely calm, he felt very at ease. His blood felt like it was on fire but he didn't feel any pain. He looked at the doorknob once again and the silver metal that his hand was touching began to turn to rust. The rust continued to spread, enveloping the doorknob and creeping up the door. James turned the handle very calmly and stepped into the kitchen.

Officer Stanton had his back to James but as soon as he heard the door knob turning he spun around, his hand reaching for his weapon. James was too quick for him though and grabbed his hand, sending the gun flying across the room. Stanton tried to strike at James with his other hand but James grabbed that one too and began to squeeze it. Stanton's face twisted in pain and James smiled as he heard a few bones crack. Stanton let out an agonised cry and James swiftly grabbed him by the neck and bashed his head against the kitchen counter, once, twice until the cop lost consciousness and fell to the floor.

James knelt down and put his hands around Stanton's neck and began to tighten his grip. Violent thoughts flashed through his mind as he began to squeeze tighter. Tighter. Harder. Crush him. Feel him die. So beautiful. Kill him!

Another voice spoke to him from the depths of his mind, "That's it my Creator... feel his last breath. Embrace the darkness."

James squeezed his eyes shut and a switch flicked on in his head. The darkness in James's eyes began to clear, the emerald shining through once more and he realised with horror what he was doing. He withdrew his hands from Stanton's neck as if he'd just been burned and sat back on the floor, panting heavily. He felt nauseous and sat there in a daze. He looked at the body of the officer before him and forced himself to focus long enough to check the man's pulse. He let out a shaky breath when he felt a faint pulse and got to his feet seconds before running to the sink and vomiting violently.

What the hell had he just done? He'd almost killed a man! Had he come to his senses seconds later the man would surely have been dead. But that wasn't him! He knew it wasn't, it was that bastard in his head. He was making him do these terrible things, him and his fucking whispering! But James knew he was capable of murder, he'd done it before. And what terrified him more than anything was that when he was squeezing the life out of Stanton... he enjoyed it. He loved it. What if he couldn't control the darkness in him next time? But he would! He wasn't going to go back to the person he used to be, he was going to do something right for once.

He knelt over the still unconscious Officer Stanton and spoke into his radio.

"Officer Stanton is down and needs assistance. 107 Autumn Street, I repeat, Officer down."

"Who is this? Where's Stanton?" came the reply but James ignored it. Instead he picked up Stanton's gun and put it in the waistband of his jeans. He then picked up the car keys that were on the coffee table and made his way toward the front door. He noticed that King was sitting at the top of the stairs, regarding him cautiously.

"Someone will be along soon to look after you boy."

James walked down the porch steps and over to Alex's car that was parked near the sidewalk in front of his house. He started the engine and drove off in the direction of the address he'd remembered earlier. He risked going over the speed limit, he needed to get there before the police. The incident with Stanton would have delayed them a little but it only gave him a small head start. He felt confused and scared; he didn't even know who he was anymore. He was beginning to lose trust in his own mind. He only hoped he could retain his hold on the person he knew he was until this whole thing was over.

He didn't even know how he was going to persuade Alex Shepherd to come back with him, or how he was even going to get him out of this place to begin with. He'd been kidnapped by his own doctor so he was obviously being held by some dangerous people. James knew he had to be careful when approaching the building. He also knew that if he didn't get Alex to come back to Silent Hill more kid's lives would be on the line, and so would his life. If Alex Shepherd wasn't going to come to Silent Hill willingly, then James was going to drag him back.