Dark Descent

AN: I don't know if anybody still cares about this story, but here it is! Sorry it took so long to update. This is mostly a transitional chapter, so there isn't a lot of action. There's no sex in this chapter. However, there's a major showdown with a certain monster from the mall coming in the next chapter.

I've tried to take a different approach with this chapter, by having Alessa experience some unusual phenomena. It's an attempt to implement a more psychological type of horror into the story, and to stir up some excitement in the subway area. Hope you enjoy it!

 

Chapter 7: Eerie Desolation

Hazel Street Station – Part 1

 

Surrounded by white tiles, posters of myriad films and products, and a distinct lack of monsters, Alessa thought she might have finally escaped that disturbing nightmare from before. The subway station was like any other she had seen. A bit cleaner, perhaps. There was not a speck of any litter around. There were no hints of anything supernatural. Yet. All in all, it seemed like she had finally returned to the real world for good.

Except for one thing.

The subway station was eerily quiet. There was not a hint of sound anywhere, save for her own steps. Alessa was more unsettled than she cared to admit. Her footsteps echoed loudly in the desolate environment, serving as a warning to anything nearby that she was coming. Even if it was late, shouldn't there be people around? At the very least, there should be people disembarking from the incoming and outgoing trains.



After several minutes of wandering around, Alessa still hadn't seen anybody. She noted the station seemed larger without people. It would be easy to get lost without a map. Fortunately Alessa was somewhat familiar with the layout. She had been here before a couple times. Not enough to know every nuance of the station, but enough that she had a vague impression of where to go.

She came to the central lobby of the station. Again, there was nobody in sight. The nearby assistance booth was vacant, and it looked like no one had been there in quite a while. Strange.

There was nobody around, so she simply went over the turnstile. One benefit to there not being anyone here, at least - she didn't have to pay the train fare. As she looked around, Alessa could not help but wonder. Where was everybody? Her mind refused to accept the possibility that she was still in the Otherworld. That was over and done with. She only the trains were still running.

There were numerous token machines nearby, but she had no use for them. Alessa spied a newspaper article on top of a token machine and checked it out.

Fatal Accident at Hazel Street

At about 11 PM on the 4th, a man

waiting on the platform at the Hazel

Street station fell onto the tracks

and was decapitated by the arriving

St. Renata College-bound train.

The victim died instantly.

While the police have not yet determined

whether the death was an accident or

suicide, witnesses report that the victim

did not look inebriated and seemed to

jump off the platform deliberately.

The victim's identity is still

unknown. He was approximately

40 years old, 5 feet 10 inches tall,

and wearing a black jacket.



Nice, Alessa thought with some sarcasm. I'm in the middle of a crime scene. Just great!

So she wasn't alone. Someone must have put the article there. But who? There wasn't anyone around that she could tell. No signs of disturbance by anybody. Unless the article just appeared out of thin air? But that would lead her toward the conclusion she really wanted to avoid.

Regardless of the circumstances, she supposed the content was the most important thing. She made a mental note to avoid that platform. It wasn't one she needed to take the train on, but all the same, she didn't want to disturb what was probably a very off-limits area.

She picked up a map from the side of the sales booth. "Hmm," Alessa examined the map, nothing there were five levels to the station. Strange. This wasn't a huge map like the ones on the wall somewhere. This was a tiny map more befitting a shopping mall than a subway station. Why would someone leave it tacked to the side of a wall, when chances were that no one would need it anyway? She didn't recall anyone ever handing these out before, though her experience was limited. This is getting weird, Alessa thought, itching to pull out her gun. She wouldn't draw it yet. There was no trace of anything dangerous. But she was on her guard.

There was nowhere to go but down. Left, right or middle? Those were the choices for the stairways. She decided on the middle. At least, she was going towards the center one. Suddenly, she got the feeling something wasn't right. Her mouth fell several inches as she saw what the source of that feeling was.

An unusual form made its way up the stairs, causing Alessa to pause. She thought it might have been a person at first, until she saw this was no ordinary being. It wasn't even human. The rustling sound it produced was something no human being would make, unless they were dragging themselves on the ground.

The formless mass was pale olive in color, writhing in hypnotic movements as it shambled up the stairs. Alessa was at a loss until she realized it was a body bag. The bag was dripping blood onto the floor, and she thought she saw a limb or two protruding from the fabric, guiding the creature or creatures inside up the stairs. Unearthly sounds emanated from the bag, telling of indescribable struggle and aguish. To Alessa's horror, she almost thought she could detect a hint of a human voice underneath the groaning. It almost sounded like there was a woman in that bag, wracked with the torment of a person bleeding out their life onto the ground.

Alessa reached for her gun, only to find herself paralyzed. No matter how hard she tried, her body simply would not reach. And then, as soon as it appeared, the specter was gone. Alessa blinked her eyes rapidly. She looked around wildly for the creature, in case it decided to sneak up on her, but the body bag was absent from the station. It was gone.

What the hell just happened? She thought to herself. It was impossible to explain. One minute the thing was shambling up the steps, she closed her eyes, the next thing she knew, it was gone. Was she hallucinating the whole thing?

There was not a drop of blood on the floor. Neither was there that coppery smell usually associated with blood. No scent of a corpse either. Unsettled, Alessa thought it better to just go down into the second level.

The fact she went down another stairway was just a precaution.

~

It was definitely more difficult to navigate the second level. She was surprised by how hard it was to find her way in an empty subway station, until she remembered she had her map. Somehow it was easier to find things when she saw where people were going. Not to mention, the constant feeling that she might get jumped at any moment. As if worrying about regular dirt bags weren't enough, now she had to worry about things that weren't human.

It took her a while to find the right entrance. She stuck to the corridor until she came to a door at the end, next to a dull metal barrier.

There was something about this station that was always a little creepy to her. Most of the stations she'd seen were open in design. Not so here. These barriers were scattered throughout the areas in unlikely places, some of them inaccessible to the public. Alessa wondered why. What were they hiding? She supposed they could be workers' areas, yet somehow she didn't think so. After all, the workers' areas were clearly labeled in the sections. It was almost like they wanted people to be trapped in case of an emergency.

Some things were better left unsaid, she supposed.

She found herself in the large 2nd level lobby. There was a giant map on one of the support pillars, dealing with the stops each subway route made. Just as she expected, the second level was the information center of the subway station. It was a nice touch, but Alessa didn't need to consult a map for this part. She knew her way home.

In order to get back home, she had to take the Bergen St. train on Platform 3, until she neared the end of the route. Her dad had made sure she knew how to ride the subway, in case she found herself without access to her car. A good thing too, as she was sure her car was probably stolen by now. Stolen, or towed away. There was no way a car would stay that long past parking hours without it getting stolen or towed.

There was an odd noise emanating from somewhere. It sounded far away, like it was muted in some fashion. As she listened closely in the lobby, the noise suddenly picked up volume. It sounded so unfamiliar in the current environment that for a moment, Alessa didn't even recognize it. Then she realized what it was: a telephone ringing.

Alessa stared back at a row of pay phones. There was a set of them that she'd bypassed completely when she came in. Much to her disbelief, the central telephone was ringing with a persistent tone. Alessa was sure this had to be a one-of-a-kind occurrence. How often did a pay phone ring in the real world?

Another thought occurred to her. Was it for her?

She didn't want to answer it at first. The ringing persisted, becoming more annoying with every subsequent one. By the time it hit the eighth ring, Alessa decided to take it.

"Hello?"

The moment she answered, there was the sound of someone hanging up followed by the dial tone. Alessa pulled back in befuddlement.

What the...? Who would call a pay phone and then intentionally hang up? This didn't make ant sense.

She was about to leave when yet another unexpected thing happened. The telephone rang again.

Alessa stared at it. Common sense dictated that she not take it. It was a cliché in almost every horror movie. As soon as she answered it, some psycho on the other end would burst out with insane laughter.

But common sense did not account for Alessa's curiosity. Against her better judgment, she did the unthinkable. She decided to answer it.

"Hello?" she answered.

There was an instance of silence, just before a blast of sound poured over the telephone. Alessa drew back from the deafening rattle, waiting for the shock to pass. When the noise died down, Alessa put the payphone closer to her ear. The prattle sounded like a collection of moans and gurgles bereft with pain - a cacophony of suffering ongoing in its misery.

Alessa dropped the phone. What the...? Was this someone's idea of a sick joke? It seemed unlikely. What kind of people could produce those sounds?



Suddenly the atmosphere changed into an almost sinister presence. The air went down several degrees in temperature, becoming frigid in its bite. It was like a dark presence had awoken in the subway, overtaking the environment with its malice. Alessa was horrified at the change; how the station had gone from a nice, quiet location into somewhere where she could literally feel the evil permeating the place. Oh shit. What did I do? She asked herself, wishing now more than ever that she hadn't picked up that stupid phone.

Alessa shuddered from the cold, and from the dread that permeated itself into her bones. She could not identify where that dread came from. She only knew that whatever it was, the telephone call had awakened some incredibly potent and unidentifiable danger in the station.

Where was that danger going to come from? The possibilities were limitless. The subway station was a huge place. A monster could come from any corner to attack her. She stumbled away in a daze, feeling overcome by the sudden change in the environment. This place was radiating evil so much it was almost nauseating.

She looked back and saw the phone was bleeding, dripping sticky streams of blood onto the ground. Alessa reeled at the grotesque sight. Her heart was pounding thunderously in her chest. The world was spinning around her. She felt like the walls were closing in on her, and she would be crushed from the tension of the palpable menace. Alessa whimpered as she dropped to her knees, holding her head in her hands, her body trembling from the bone chilling coldness that she couldn't seem to resist. She was drowning in her fright, unable to breathe, certain the encroaching darkness would garrote the life out of her.

And then it disappeared.

Alessa looked up and glanced around. No darkness, no monsters; the sense of menace she had felt was gone. The phone was hanging by the cord, but it was no longer bleeding. The oppressing aura she had crumbled under had disappeared. It was all an illusion. A hallucination.

Alessa shakily stood up. God, that had taken a lot out of her. She took a moment to recover, still a little unsteady on her feet. She was scared, more scared than she'd been in a long time. She had half an urge to just run back to where she came from and try to break through the doors in the mall. But there was nowhere to go. Who knew if that entryway was accessible anymore? And there was the other reason she came down here. She didn't want to run into Douglas again. She was surprised he hadn't followed her down here. She went ahead, but not before sighing at the terror this place was putting her through once more.

There was nowhere to go but down. It didn't take long for her to find the area she needed to go to. Unfortunately there was a problem.

"Damn," Alessa swore.

The gates were locked. Already in a fairly rusted state, there were large rusted chains binding them closed, barring the Bergen Street platform from entry. A large imposing padlock secured the two gates. It was obvious someone did not want her to enter the Bergen Street platform, or anyone for that matter. She stared at the padlock in disbelief. What was she supposed to do now?

The answer came instantly to her. Ordinarily she might have looked for the key, had she any idea where it was. But Alessa didn't have time for that. On closer glance, she realized the setup wasn't as intimidating as she thought. The chains looked rusty and weak. So did the padlock. Should be easy enough. Grabbing the pipe she carried with both hands, she lifted it over her head and brought the pipe down hard on the padlock. She smashed the lock again and again. The padlock rattled but showed little sign of giving way. She began to wonder if there was some way she could shoot the lock from a distance while hiding beside the nearby stairway. Finally the lock gave way, falling to the ground with a metallic thud.

Alessa smirked to herself in triumph. She didn't need a key. Necessity was the mother of improvisation.

The stairway was somewhat dim. Suddenly a howl emanated from below. Alessa froze in her tracks. Were there dogs down there? There were sounds of growing and rumbling coming from below. Alessa shuddered at the thought of going down there. What if it was dark? What if the dogs were able to get to her before she was able to draw her gun? On the other hand, she needed to get to the platform. There was no choice to be made, though. She had to go down there. Gripping her pipe tightly, she descended the stairway and found...nothing. No dogs, no darkness; just another poorly lit hallway leading to yet another set of stairs.

Alessa breathed a sigh of relief. Perhaps that was just a trick of this place. At any rate, it was almost over. Once she got on platform 3 and caught the train, she could go home and forget this ever happened to her.

The stairway was dark, but she wasn't worried anymore. Gripping her rust laden pipe, she descended into the darkness.

It was barely three seconds before the nightmare struck. Alessa was just taking her first steps on platform 3 when a fearsome mass came barreling out of nowhere. She dropped to the ground as the creature sailed by, barely avoiding being bitten. The creature whirled its gaze on her, ready to pounce once again. Alessa held the pipe like a bat. When the dog was a mere few feet away, she swung the pipe hard, connecting with a sickening crack. The dog crashed to the ground, writhing in agony. Another howl joined the cacophony, followed by a growl as another dog tried to take a chunk out of her. Alessa realized there were more dogs down here than she expected, and she could not win this fight. She fled back up the stairs. The dog went after her. Alessa ducked just in time to see a bandaged form fly over her head and land nimbly on the ground.

If there was one thing to be grateful for about these zombie dogs, it was their predictability. They always did a loop before attacking again. And just when the dog turned to charge again, it found itself the recipient of three shots in the head that ended its life permanently.

Alessa leaned back against the wall, breathing a big sigh of relief. That was close, too close for comfort. She was not going down there again. Maybe there was another way to get to platform 3. There were plenty of stairways, after all. And this was no ordinary world.

Sighing, she dusted herself off and collected her wits. She was definitely on guard now.

~

She was in the stairwell to platform 4. It seemed like the most reasonable place to start. Maybe that was what the article in the newspaper was really about. It was trying to tell her that that was where she needed to go.

It gave her the chills a little, setting foot where someone had died. But it was either that or the dogs back in platform 3. She would stick with the crime scene. At least it was a less dangerous alternative.

All she had to do was find a way into platform 3 from where she could see down the length of the platform, rather than from beside it. If she could do that, her chances would be much better of defending herself. Or maybe a place where she could shoot at the dogs from across the platform. That option would work just as well.

Alessa saw something on the ground of the stairway. Kneeling down to pick it up, she realized it was a magazine article.

The souls of those who died

suddenly by suicide or accident

don't realize they're dead.

Sometimes they stay put and

haunt that particular place.

These spirits have lost their human

senses and memories and can only

keep replaying the pain and sadness

of the moment they died.

The pain can get so bad that they

turn to humans for salvation -- or

they begrudge humans their lives.

At such times they can possess

humans.

Places known as "famous suicide

spots" or "high-accident areas"

are often to blame.

You should be careful when

approaching such locations,

especially on the day or at the

time the death occurred.

That is, if you don't want it

to happen to you, too.

Alessa felt a chill go after her. Suicide spots - she had heard of them before. Places where a suicide had taken place and the ghosts of the individuals could not move on from the experience, exactly as the magazine said. The spirits of the dead lingered after their deaths, prompting human visitors to follow the same fate. If one was not careful, the result was a never ending string of death and misery.

And now she questioned the certainty of going down there. What if...what if the presence of that victim was still there? What if it prompted her to do something she would never otherwise do, something she would not escape from?

But there were the dogs at the opposite stairs, waiting for her...

Fine, she decided. She would go down there to check things out. But if she felt anything amiss, she would get out of there as if the whole damn place was on fire.

There was nothing unusual about the track, she noted, as she surveyed the surroundings, standing safely away from the track. No police tape, no indications of a crime scene. There wasn't a way to get across, and the second part of the platform was sealed off that she could tell. Out of the blue, the hairs on the back of her beck stood up. The atmosphere seemed to chill several degrees in temperature. It was cold all around her. And there was something else too, an utter feeling of dread that told her it would be a very bad idea to remain here.

Alessa didn't need anything else. She quickly scurried back up the steps. Once she was safely away, Alessa let out the breath she'd been holding.

Was that...was that the spirit of the victim? She didn't know, but she was sure of one thing. She wasn't waiting around to find out.

She would just have to find another way into platform 3. Too bad. From the angle that platform was at, it would be perfect for shooting across at the dogs on 3.

She pulled out her map of the station. There were five sections to the station. She'd already covered two of them. One of them was just a hallway and a series of steps. That left only platforms 1 and 2 and their basements, if she could call them that.

~

The sounds of feet in motion set Alessa on edge. She searched frantically for the source of the noise. Out of the darkness, a monstrous form emerged to quickly charge her at full speed. It was human sized at least, possibly bigger than her by several inches. Alessa quickly shot one round after the other into the monster, but the creature kept coming through the hail of bullets. Finally, a shot to the head was enough to bring it down.

Alessa took a closer look at the monstrosity. Christ, what was this? She wondered in horror. It looked like it was infected by something. Grotesque tumors were scattered over its body, covering the brown neck and torso with a horrid mass of pustules. The skin beneath the chest wasn't much better. The legs and stomach were visibly inhuman, and there were no distinguishing features of male or female gender.

And its face - there was barely one to begin with. The skin was stretched so taut, she could barely tell where the skull ended and the neck began.

She quickly scanned around for any more of them, but there were no more to be found. Or so she thought.



Out of the shadows emerged a fearsome canine monster ready to pounce on its latest victim. Soon another dog came to gnaw at her, this one with the same voraciousness as its companion. She didn't bother to fight them. Alessa swiftly maneuvered between them, dodging and weaving her way through the monsters to avoid their menacing grasps. She ducked into a nearby stairwell.

~

Alessa stared at the man lying on the ground from underneath the newspaper. It was obvious was he wasn't sleeping. She wished she could do something for him, but it was obvious he was beyond help at this point.

She was in platform 1's lower level, in the basement of the subway station. Or what she assumed was the basement. The place was filled with trash, blocking the passageway ahead. There was little to note of interest. She found two health drinks and a box of handgun rounds, but that was about it. There was nothing but garbage and the victim of circumstances she preferred not to think about.

She turned to walk away. Suddenly a most unusual thing occurred. Out of the corner of her eye, she thought she saw something move. Alessa stopped short in her tracks. Was that a tail coming out from under the newspaper? It almost seemed ridiculous. And yet, she was sure she hadn't imagined the pointy dark object slithering down on the ground. Was she going crazy? It reminded her of that movie she'd seen, except she wasn't exiting from the train, she was trying to a find a way to take it.

She quickly scurried away. She didn't know if that was her imagination and suddenly, she didn't want to know.

The ‘dead' homeless guy could help himself...

~

* The newspaper about the dead guy, who was in the train station: from Silent Hill 3

* The article about suicide spots, in the rag magazine: from Silent Hill 3