sermocinare (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
sermocinare) wrote2010-10-29 05:13 pm
sermocinare) wrote2010-10-29 05:13 pm
Entry tags:
Nachtmahr, pt. 5
Fandoms: Watchmen/Silent Hill
Title: Nachtmahr (5/6)
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, gore, horror
Characters/Pairings: Adrian, Dan
Disclaimer: Watchmen belongs to Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons. The Silent Hill franchise is property of Konami.
Summary: Still shaken by what happened at the church, Adrian makes his way to Silent Hill's hospital, and discovers the true nature of the mysterious creature that was following him around. Meeting Dan at the hospital, Adrian then descends down into the heart of Silent Hill...
Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4
Author's note: The next chapter will likely take a little while longer, since most of my writing time will be gobbled up by NaNoWriMo. I'll try to get it done before December, but I can't guarantee anything, sorry!
He never should have come here. He should have endured the dreams, the insubstantial fright, instead of trying to assuage them by following their call. After all, he had endured the months of nightmares after killing all those innocent people. He had endured, and the nightmares had faded away.
This one wouldn't fade away, though. Ever since he had gotten here, it had just gotten worse and worse. And now... Adrian's mind recoiled from the thought, even though the pain was still fresh in his body. Of all people, it had to have been the one person whose death had never weighed on his conscience. Even before he had turned into that thing, Edward Blake had been a monster. A cruel, heartless monster who had killed for no reason other than that he'd felt like it. Oh, Blake might have had the public fooled by his patriotic act, but Adrian had never bought that one, not for a second.
Shivering, Adrian looked around. He couldn't stay here, curled up in the cold, wet fog that seemed to penetrate everything, until it was seeping into his very bones. But he didn't want to get up. He was hurt, cold and tired, and all he wanted was to close his eyes and hope that when he opened them again, he would be back home. Safe.
The hospital. He would go to the hospital, and hope that the townspeople hadn't cleared out the beds. There, he would lie down. Just for a little while. But what if the sirens wailed while he was asleep? Then again, what more could this town do to him.
Adrian fastened his pants with shaking hands and tried his best to ignore the pain that seemed to flare through his body with every movement he made. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would find some painkillers at the hospital, too. He had dropped the flashlight when the tortured body had begun to move, and, looking at the great knife still sticking out of the wooden door, he felt no desire to go back inside to get it. It was probably broken anyway, and at the moment, he preferred the gloom that surrounded him. The darkness had something comforting to it, and the streetlights gave off enough illumination for him to find his way around.
It was only when he was at the middle of the small bridge that crossed the river into the central part of town that Adrian noticed that he was being followed. He wasn't surprised at seeing the animal behind him, hanging back a bit but shadowing his every move. As if it were watching out for him.
And why hadn't he seen that before? It had never made any move to attack. It had growled, yes, and barred his way. Barred his way to the church, and maybe, if he hadn't been there when the sirens had gone off, it would have never happened. And he'd shot at the creature. He had been so blinded by terror, fog and paranoia that he hadn't been able to see the truth, and for some reason, that realization scared him almost as much as the monsters that inhabited Silent Hill did.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered into the fog, holding out his hand toward the animal. The creature gave a short, almost mournful yowl and shook its head, taking two cautious steps towards him. But just as its silhouette seemed to finally solidify, to free itself from the unnatural fog surrounding it, it stopped. For a moment, Adrian thought he could make out long, tufted ears on its head, and he choked, his still outstretched hand trembling. This couldn't be. He had seen her die, ripped apart into subatomic particles. It couldn't be her. Adrian took a step forward, and the animal growled, recoiling onto its haunches.
It didn't want to be touched. She didn't want him to touch her. Adrian let his hand sink to his side. For a moment, his chest felt like it was being clawed apart from the inside, and he let his gaze fall to the wet asphalt at his feet. When he looked up again, the animal was gone.
When Adrian arrived at the hospital, he found that the door had already been forced ajar, the fog creeping in through the opening. Inside, he stood for a moment, trying to get his bearings and figure out where he should turn to first. Maybe Dan and Laurie were still here. Adrian was tempted to call out for them. He was desperate for human contact, for seeing a normal, alive person, but at the same time, a part of him was afraid of meeting them again. He didn't know what to tell them.
His decision was made for him when the beam of a flashlight came dancing around the corner of one of the hallways, along with the sound of Dan's footsteps.
“Adrian?” Dan blinked in surprise, obviously not having expected to see Adrian again so soon. Or maybe at all. Taking in Adrian's disheveled, harrowed appearance, Dan's face creased into a worried frown. “What happened?”
Adrian looked away, clenching his jaws, his hands curling into fists before he forced himself to relax. It was none of their business.
“This town is what happened,” he replied, trying to keep his voice from trembling. “We have to get out of here, Daniel. Now.” When Dan didn't say anything, Adrian went on: “Have you found Sally?”
Dan sighed, shaking his head in a way that seemed almost defeated: “No. And what's worse, Laurie got attacked by some kind of... some kind of dog. It's not that bad, she's sitting back in one of the examination rooms, but I want to treat those wounds properly. I figured that since this was a hospital, there might still be something left lying around. But no luck so far.” Looking at Adrian, there was a glimmer of hope in Daniel's eyes: “Did you find a way out of here?”
“No.” It almost hurt, seeing the light in Dan's eyes die. Hope had become a precious commodity, and Adrian had almost none of it left. “Still,” he tried, “we could just head out into the forest. We're bound to come out somewhere.”
Dan shook his head: “You'll have to go alone. The thing caught Laurie's leg, and I don't think she'll be able to stumble through the forest at night.”
Adrian set his jaw, looking in the direction from which Dan had appeared. He wasn't ready to accept defeat, not yet. Nor was he ready to just leave Dan and Laurie to fend on their own in this town full of monsters. “We'll find a way. But first, I'm going to help you find some medical supplies.”
Daniel gave him a weary, almost tired smile: “Still trying to fix everything, right, Adrian?”
Adrian found himself smiling in spite of himself. “I assume you've already checked most of this floor?”
Dan nodded, then said: “How about you take the basement, and I check the first floor?”
“There's only one problem. I'm going to need some light down there, and I lost my flashlight when...” Adrian looked away, then returned his gaze to Dan: “I lost it in the church.”
“Well...” Dan made a face, seeming not too happy with what he was about to do, then handed his flashlight over to Adrian: “Take mine. Laurie's got another one, but I guess she won't be needing it as much as either of us. Just don't lose it, ok?”
“Thank you. I won't.” Heading off in the direction of the stairs, Adrian called over his shoulder: “And if you find any painkillers, save some for me, will you?”
“Will do, Adrian.”
As soon as he was on the stairs, Adrian readied his gun, pointing its muzzle towards the floor while he wearily descended the stairway. He didn't trust this town any more. It had done everything it could to destroy him, and he wouldn't be caught unprepared by its next attempt.
The stairs seemed to go on forever, but Adrian wasn't sure if the basement really was that deep down, or if it was just a combination of nerves and imagination. Finally, he found himself standing in front of a large double door, its paint chipped and peeling, the wire glass windows in its upper half blind with dust. There was no lock on the door, and Adrian slowly pushed it open with his shoulder, his eyes trained on the corridor that lay beyond.
There were no movements in the hallway beyond. Adrian relaxed a little. This place seemed to function as something of a repository for old furniture. He could make out a desk, something that looked like an ancient office chair, and a filing cabinet standing in some distance.
Walking slowly down the hallway, Adrian stopped in front of the first door. Putting the safety back on, he pushed the gun back into the front of his pants, then opened the door. The room seemed empty, except for something standing in the corner.
Something humanoid. Quickly grabbing his gun, Adrian backed away two steps, training both the light and the gun on the figure, which made no movement. The figure was dressed in an old nurse's uniform, with a short skirt and a cap. Its body looked perfectly normal, which made its disfigured face seem even more horrifying. It was featureless, its head seeming as if it had been wrapped in bandages that had then become part of the face itself, so that there was nothing left of its mouth and nose except for a vague shape underneath the wrappings of rotting skin. Even its eyes were covered, the bandages haven sunken into the caverns of the eye sockets to form two shallow pits. It seemed to be completely oblivious of Adrian, which made him shudder in relief.
Keeping his eyes and gun on the thing, Adrian backed out into the hallway, closing the door to the room, careful to not make any sound. It was when he turned to move on that he discovered that there were more of them.
He hadn't been able to see them from the door at the stairway. The first had been hidden by the filing cabinet, and the other had been too far away for the light to reach. Two more, both as still as the first one in the room. Blind, disfigured shapes, lurking in the hallway. He should turn back. Turn back, leave the hospital, leave the town. Leave Dan and Laurie behind. But he couldn't do that. He owed them to at least try. Besides, he'd never make it on his own, without something to dull the pain that was still coursing through his body, making him limp slightly with every other step.
Carefully, he crept onwards, past the two silent figures, checking the rooms as he went. More empty rooms, and more of the strange nurses standing in corners. One was even standing right in the middle of the hallway.
He had passed the fifth one, holding his breath, his hand trembling slightly, when she twitched her head.
Adrian didn't wait around this time. His gun had been trained on her head, and he put a bullet through her without hesitation. It was the loud crack of gunfire that woke the others.
Silently, without even a scream or a rasping breath, they began to move, stiff-limbed like puppets whose joints had rusted shut from disuse. Even though they had neither eyes nor ears, they seemed to know where he was.
Swiveling around, ready to take off down the corridor, Adrian was stopped short by the sight of three more of the creatures coming down the hallway from the opposite end. Raising his gun, he shot the first one in the shoulder, throwing her back a pace, but his second bullet missed its mark entirely, as did the third. Pain, exhaustion and sheer terror were finally catching up with him, causing his hand to shake wildly.
One of the nurses jerked up her hand, the scalpel she was holding glinting in the light. At that moment, Adrian knew that if he chose to fight, he would lose. There was no chance of survival. There never had been.
Turning around, Adrian bolted through the door that was only a few steps away, the faded numbers on the plate barely legible.
The first thing Adrian noticed was the smell of fire. The iron-plated walls were covered in rust, dented and gashed. A voice that seemed to come from every corner of the room at once greeted him, so loud that it was booming in his ears, yet its inflection was surprisingly calm and gentle, almost emotionless.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Chapter 6
Title: Nachtmahr (5/6)
Rating: R
Warnings: violence, gore, horror
Characters/Pairings: Adrian, Dan
Disclaimer: Watchmen belongs to Mr. Moore and Mr. Gibbons. The Silent Hill franchise is property of Konami.
Summary: Still shaken by what happened at the church, Adrian makes his way to Silent Hill's hospital, and discovers the true nature of the mysterious creature that was following him around. Meeting Dan at the hospital, Adrian then descends down into the heart of Silent Hill...
Previous chapters: 1, 2, 3, 4
Author's note: The next chapter will likely take a little while longer, since most of my writing time will be gobbled up by NaNoWriMo. I'll try to get it done before December, but I can't guarantee anything, sorry!
He never should have come here. He should have endured the dreams, the insubstantial fright, instead of trying to assuage them by following their call. After all, he had endured the months of nightmares after killing all those innocent people. He had endured, and the nightmares had faded away.
This one wouldn't fade away, though. Ever since he had gotten here, it had just gotten worse and worse. And now... Adrian's mind recoiled from the thought, even though the pain was still fresh in his body. Of all people, it had to have been the one person whose death had never weighed on his conscience. Even before he had turned into that thing, Edward Blake had been a monster. A cruel, heartless monster who had killed for no reason other than that he'd felt like it. Oh, Blake might have had the public fooled by his patriotic act, but Adrian had never bought that one, not for a second.
Shivering, Adrian looked around. He couldn't stay here, curled up in the cold, wet fog that seemed to penetrate everything, until it was seeping into his very bones. But he didn't want to get up. He was hurt, cold and tired, and all he wanted was to close his eyes and hope that when he opened them again, he would be back home. Safe.
The hospital. He would go to the hospital, and hope that the townspeople hadn't cleared out the beds. There, he would lie down. Just for a little while. But what if the sirens wailed while he was asleep? Then again, what more could this town do to him.
Adrian fastened his pants with shaking hands and tried his best to ignore the pain that seemed to flare through his body with every movement he made. Maybe, if he was lucky, he would find some painkillers at the hospital, too. He had dropped the flashlight when the tortured body had begun to move, and, looking at the great knife still sticking out of the wooden door, he felt no desire to go back inside to get it. It was probably broken anyway, and at the moment, he preferred the gloom that surrounded him. The darkness had something comforting to it, and the streetlights gave off enough illumination for him to find his way around.
It was only when he was at the middle of the small bridge that crossed the river into the central part of town that Adrian noticed that he was being followed. He wasn't surprised at seeing the animal behind him, hanging back a bit but shadowing his every move. As if it were watching out for him.
And why hadn't he seen that before? It had never made any move to attack. It had growled, yes, and barred his way. Barred his way to the church, and maybe, if he hadn't been there when the sirens had gone off, it would have never happened. And he'd shot at the creature. He had been so blinded by terror, fog and paranoia that he hadn't been able to see the truth, and for some reason, that realization scared him almost as much as the monsters that inhabited Silent Hill did.
“I'm sorry,” he whispered into the fog, holding out his hand toward the animal. The creature gave a short, almost mournful yowl and shook its head, taking two cautious steps towards him. But just as its silhouette seemed to finally solidify, to free itself from the unnatural fog surrounding it, it stopped. For a moment, Adrian thought he could make out long, tufted ears on its head, and he choked, his still outstretched hand trembling. This couldn't be. He had seen her die, ripped apart into subatomic particles. It couldn't be her. Adrian took a step forward, and the animal growled, recoiling onto its haunches.
It didn't want to be touched. She didn't want him to touch her. Adrian let his hand sink to his side. For a moment, his chest felt like it was being clawed apart from the inside, and he let his gaze fall to the wet asphalt at his feet. When he looked up again, the animal was gone.
When Adrian arrived at the hospital, he found that the door had already been forced ajar, the fog creeping in through the opening. Inside, he stood for a moment, trying to get his bearings and figure out where he should turn to first. Maybe Dan and Laurie were still here. Adrian was tempted to call out for them. He was desperate for human contact, for seeing a normal, alive person, but at the same time, a part of him was afraid of meeting them again. He didn't know what to tell them.
His decision was made for him when the beam of a flashlight came dancing around the corner of one of the hallways, along with the sound of Dan's footsteps.
“Adrian?” Dan blinked in surprise, obviously not having expected to see Adrian again so soon. Or maybe at all. Taking in Adrian's disheveled, harrowed appearance, Dan's face creased into a worried frown. “What happened?”
Adrian looked away, clenching his jaws, his hands curling into fists before he forced himself to relax. It was none of their business.
“This town is what happened,” he replied, trying to keep his voice from trembling. “We have to get out of here, Daniel. Now.” When Dan didn't say anything, Adrian went on: “Have you found Sally?”
Dan sighed, shaking his head in a way that seemed almost defeated: “No. And what's worse, Laurie got attacked by some kind of... some kind of dog. It's not that bad, she's sitting back in one of the examination rooms, but I want to treat those wounds properly. I figured that since this was a hospital, there might still be something left lying around. But no luck so far.” Looking at Adrian, there was a glimmer of hope in Daniel's eyes: “Did you find a way out of here?”
“No.” It almost hurt, seeing the light in Dan's eyes die. Hope had become a precious commodity, and Adrian had almost none of it left. “Still,” he tried, “we could just head out into the forest. We're bound to come out somewhere.”
Dan shook his head: “You'll have to go alone. The thing caught Laurie's leg, and I don't think she'll be able to stumble through the forest at night.”
Adrian set his jaw, looking in the direction from which Dan had appeared. He wasn't ready to accept defeat, not yet. Nor was he ready to just leave Dan and Laurie to fend on their own in this town full of monsters. “We'll find a way. But first, I'm going to help you find some medical supplies.”
Daniel gave him a weary, almost tired smile: “Still trying to fix everything, right, Adrian?”
Adrian found himself smiling in spite of himself. “I assume you've already checked most of this floor?”
Dan nodded, then said: “How about you take the basement, and I check the first floor?”
“There's only one problem. I'm going to need some light down there, and I lost my flashlight when...” Adrian looked away, then returned his gaze to Dan: “I lost it in the church.”
“Well...” Dan made a face, seeming not too happy with what he was about to do, then handed his flashlight over to Adrian: “Take mine. Laurie's got another one, but I guess she won't be needing it as much as either of us. Just don't lose it, ok?”
“Thank you. I won't.” Heading off in the direction of the stairs, Adrian called over his shoulder: “And if you find any painkillers, save some for me, will you?”
“Will do, Adrian.”
As soon as he was on the stairs, Adrian readied his gun, pointing its muzzle towards the floor while he wearily descended the stairway. He didn't trust this town any more. It had done everything it could to destroy him, and he wouldn't be caught unprepared by its next attempt.
The stairs seemed to go on forever, but Adrian wasn't sure if the basement really was that deep down, or if it was just a combination of nerves and imagination. Finally, he found himself standing in front of a large double door, its paint chipped and peeling, the wire glass windows in its upper half blind with dust. There was no lock on the door, and Adrian slowly pushed it open with his shoulder, his eyes trained on the corridor that lay beyond.
There were no movements in the hallway beyond. Adrian relaxed a little. This place seemed to function as something of a repository for old furniture. He could make out a desk, something that looked like an ancient office chair, and a filing cabinet standing in some distance.
Walking slowly down the hallway, Adrian stopped in front of the first door. Putting the safety back on, he pushed the gun back into the front of his pants, then opened the door. The room seemed empty, except for something standing in the corner.
Something humanoid. Quickly grabbing his gun, Adrian backed away two steps, training both the light and the gun on the figure, which made no movement. The figure was dressed in an old nurse's uniform, with a short skirt and a cap. Its body looked perfectly normal, which made its disfigured face seem even more horrifying. It was featureless, its head seeming as if it had been wrapped in bandages that had then become part of the face itself, so that there was nothing left of its mouth and nose except for a vague shape underneath the wrappings of rotting skin. Even its eyes were covered, the bandages haven sunken into the caverns of the eye sockets to form two shallow pits. It seemed to be completely oblivious of Adrian, which made him shudder in relief.
Keeping his eyes and gun on the thing, Adrian backed out into the hallway, closing the door to the room, careful to not make any sound. It was when he turned to move on that he discovered that there were more of them.
He hadn't been able to see them from the door at the stairway. The first had been hidden by the filing cabinet, and the other had been too far away for the light to reach. Two more, both as still as the first one in the room. Blind, disfigured shapes, lurking in the hallway. He should turn back. Turn back, leave the hospital, leave the town. Leave Dan and Laurie behind. But he couldn't do that. He owed them to at least try. Besides, he'd never make it on his own, without something to dull the pain that was still coursing through his body, making him limp slightly with every other step.
Carefully, he crept onwards, past the two silent figures, checking the rooms as he went. More empty rooms, and more of the strange nurses standing in corners. One was even standing right in the middle of the hallway.
He had passed the fifth one, holding his breath, his hand trembling slightly, when she twitched her head.
Adrian didn't wait around this time. His gun had been trained on her head, and he put a bullet through her without hesitation. It was the loud crack of gunfire that woke the others.
Silently, without even a scream or a rasping breath, they began to move, stiff-limbed like puppets whose joints had rusted shut from disuse. Even though they had neither eyes nor ears, they seemed to know where he was.
Swiveling around, ready to take off down the corridor, Adrian was stopped short by the sight of three more of the creatures coming down the hallway from the opposite end. Raising his gun, he shot the first one in the shoulder, throwing her back a pace, but his second bullet missed its mark entirely, as did the third. Pain, exhaustion and sheer terror were finally catching up with him, causing his hand to shake wildly.
One of the nurses jerked up her hand, the scalpel she was holding glinting in the light. At that moment, Adrian knew that if he chose to fight, he would lose. There was no chance of survival. There never had been.
Turning around, Adrian bolted through the door that was only a few steps away, the faded numbers on the plate barely legible.
The first thing Adrian noticed was the smell of fire. The iron-plated walls were covered in rust, dented and gashed. A voice that seemed to come from every corner of the room at once greeted him, so loud that it was booming in his ears, yet its inflection was surprisingly calm and gentle, almost emotionless.
“Hello, Adrian.”
Chapter 6