Chapter 5

Steven has entered Silent Hill, and must now try to find his brother.But as we all know, things in that town are a lot different than most believe.

Steven walked out onto, Lindsey Street, and saw that a massive gate now blocked off Nathan Avenue.While he had been inside of the clinic, a gate had erected itself.The weird part is that it seemed to come up out of the ground.Giant metal bars stood as tall as the surrounding buildings and were so tightly together, it was impossible for anyone to move through.The gate went from the clinic to the building across the street.A rather large padlock was in the center of the gate, but there was no keyhole.It was blank.

Making his way onto Sanders Street, Steven crossed paths with several of the Bound Children.But instead of fighting each one of them off, Steven chose to simply bypass them.He turned left and eventually came across a building with the name, Neely's Bar.Surprisingly, the front door was unlocked.Steven went inside and found that it really was a bar.What's more, it appeared that it had recently been renovated, all nice and new interior.The floor was done with beautiful tiles, the walls were covered in fresh paint, and the bar plus tables were also new.

"Wow,"Chuckled Steven."haven't heard this one in years."

A jukebox was playing an old song that had come out years ago.For Steven, it was actually quite refreshing to hear.Since moving away and starting his own life, Steven found that all modern music was full of nonsense and bad language, so this was a nice change. It made the entire bar seem very retro.

"I wonder where everybody is.This place has a lot going for it, so why up and leave?"

Out of nowhere, voices could be heard talking to one another.Actually, they were all yelling at each other.When listening closely, Steven could only make out mumbles and unintelligible chatter, but as time went on, the voices became much clearer.

"Hey bartender!"Yelled a males voice."Get me another Whiskey!"

"You've had enough."Snapped the bartenders voice.

"Who the f**k do you think you are!?I'll tell you when I've had enough, not the other way around!"

"Listen buddy. Either you shut up now and leave quietly, or I will get my friend to make you leave!"

There was an uneasy pause in the bar.Whoever or whatever was causing the noise, suddenly stopped.It didn't last very long, though.But as odd as the whole scenario was, Steven felt he knew who the males voice belonged to.He just couldn't quite put his finger on it.

"I ain't leaving without one more drink!"

"Leave...now."

"Make me."

"Trust me, you don't want to do this."

"Oh trust me, I really do."

The sound of a fight erupted inside of the bar and spread to the rest of the building. Steven watched as tables were flipped by invisible forces, chairs were thrown, and glasses exploded from within themselves.It was all quite frightening.

"You had best watch your back!"Screamed the male voice.

"Is that a threat?"Laughed the bartender.

"I know where you live and what routes your kids take to school.It would be so unfortunate if something happened to them, especially when they were alone."

"Stay the f**k away from my family you piece of s**t!"

"Watch your back, old man."

Then, just like that, everything went dark.The jukebox turned off, the lights blew, and every surface became covered in the grey dust.The same dust from the clinic.Just as it had done in the clinic, the dust fell away and left behind a more rundown bar. Neely's bar was nothing more than an abandoned building.The only thing that remained was the bar itself.On one of the windows were some words, but they were faded due to time.

Steven checked behind the bar and found an old number safe.

"Huh.There appears to be  safe here but no combination.Oh well, I'll keep an eye out for it while I'm in town."

Even though there was no combination for the safe, a piece of paper was stuck to the side of it.It instructed that the stock needed to be taken out back and checked fully, not half a*s.So, Steven went out the back of the bar and found that there was an unusually large number of bags of ice.It was strange because none of them were melted, even when the temperature was quite warm.But still, the note had instructed on checking the stock, obviously meaning the bags of ice.

Steven went through each bag of ice one at a time.He ripped them open to see if there was anything inside, discovering a metal rod used in construction.Upon closer inspection, Steven noticed that something was carved into the rod.It was a written message.

"When one door closes, another opens.I wonder what that could mean."

With nothing left to go on, Steven added the rod to his inventory and left Neely's bar.He followed Neely street until coming across yet another obstacle.There, smack bang in the middle of the street, was a wall of metal.Nathan Avenue was blocked off this time.However, when Steven looked to his left, he saw that the door to the Pet Center was slightly ajar. Steven pushed open the door and crept inside.Compared to Neely's bar, the Pet center was poorly lit at first glance.

"What the hell happened to this place?"

Cages were scattered all over the place, bags of animal food were ripped open and thrown everywhere, and there was concerning number of dead cats throughout the store.It looked like a tornado had been through the Pet Center. What ever had caused all of that damage must've been pretty angry, especially for the bodies of the dead cats.But this question was about to get answered for Steven.

Steven cautiously made his way further inside of the Pet Center.His nerves were on edge, every sound spooking him.He held the pipe at his ready, bracing himself for anything that might jump out at him. Steven made his way past  the main desk and to the back of the store.He froze when he heard an unexpected noise.A cat hissing.

"Here kitty..."

A horrifying sight unfolded before Steven's eyes.A black cat was pinned in the back of its cage, hissing at something trying to force its way inside.Once he got close enough, Steven saw that it was the dog from his nightmare.It was, The Hell Hound.But it was missing the four extra eyes.

"Oh s**t."Gasped Steven, quickly scrambling to hide behind a wooden crate.

The Hell Hound explained why there were the dead cats and ripped open bags of animal food.It had obviously made its way inside looking for food, killing anything it saw as a target.Even ripping open the bags of food, not knowing what it was.And now, to add one more to its collection, The Hell Hound managed to get hold of the cat and kill it.Once the cat was inside of the beasts powerful jaws, there was no saving it.The cat was then swallowed whole.

The Hell Hound began to walk in Steven's direction, yet there was no way of knowing if it knew he was even there. Steven wasn't taking any chances and crept around the crate, moving every inch as the Hell Hound did.As it moved, Steven moved.It was like they were doing the Tango.The only difference being this ended in disaster.The Hell Hound caught  a glimpse of his shoulder move over the top of the crate, immediately turning into attack mode.It went back round the opposite way and came face to face with Steven.

"Oh f**k..."Whimpered Steven.

At this point, The Hell Hound stood tall and flexed every one of its muscles.It growled at, Steven, sending a wave of fear crashing through him.

"Nice doggy...you wouldn't hurt little ole me now would you?"

This pathetic attempt to try and appease the Hell hound, failed.It planted its paws down and allowed its claws to protrude forth.Suddenly, the Hell Hound lunged at, Steven, missing him by an inch or two.He reacted with a small but powerful swing of the pipe, cracking down on the hounds head.It was enough to cause it to stumble backwards in confusion. Steven took the opportunity and ran with it,  sprinting to the rear exit.He burst through the door and ended up in the back alley behind the Pet Center.

Steven acted quickly and pushed a dumpster in front of the exit door.The Hell Hound pounded against the door in defiance, snapping and snarling as it tried to rip open the door.The whole scene was pretty intense. But, after trying for too long, The Hell Hound gave up.The door closed and everything went quiet.

"Jesus Christ!That thing would have taken my f*****g head off!"

Even though he didn't know it, Steven had successfully fought off the hound.However, he felt that it wouldn't be the last time  he saw it, that was for certain. Steven followed the alley and came across another Health Drink.It was conveniently placed on top of a trash can.Not one to be picky, Steven took the bottle then went on his way.He exited the alley and saw that the road leading back to the, Observation Deck, had a massive hole in it.This completely sealed off Nathan Avenue.Well, the way Steven had come through.

Not far from there was Rosewater Park. Steven could not travel any further up, Nathan Avenue, simply due to a wall of metal blocking the road.He was now forced to go through Rosewater Park.And yet again, to his unfortunate run in so far, Rosewater Park was shut off by a metal gate.It was tall, had rust all over it, and in the very center was the place for an object.It was shaped like a human skull with horns on either side. 

"This is too freaky.One point in my life, I had been into this kind of stuff.The whole satanic and disturbing s**t.It feels as if someone is messing with me.Almost like someone knows of my past."

Although frustrated that he couldn't travel any further into Silent Hill, Steven did happen to notice that the lights were on in the building across from Rosewater Park.The building was, Silent Hill Savings Bank.He thought it was odd that the lights were on inside, but there was little to go on at that point. Steven went inside of the bank and saw that it was still designed as if it were the 90's.Everything was down to the last detail.The old tellers, the velvet rope waiting lines, the faded carpet, and even the giant safe.

"This place doesn't seem to have changed itself in years."

And he was quite right.The bank hadn't seen any changes since the 90's.Once the fog descended on the town, nothing changed much.No matter how much someone tried to change something about the town, nothing would happen. Almost as if locked inside of some weird time lock, preventing anyone from restoring the town to its former glory.This spelled trouble for Silent Hill.Without the much needed tourism, the town fell into disarray.The bank being one of them.

Steven investigated behind the tellers desk and came across a piece of paper with something written on it.It said that something important had been brought to the bank, something very valuable, and it needed to be kept locked inside of the vault.It was of the utmost importance that nobody get near this item, especially those who were not deemed fit.

"So, something important is hidden inside of the big vault?I wonder what it could be.There was a safe at, Neely's Bar, and the locked gate at Rosewater Park.It could be either of them."

Steven walked over to the vault door and tried to open it with his bare hands.He tried so desperately to open it, but failed.It was apparent that a key was needed to unlock the vault, but its whereabouts were unknown.So, with this in mind, Steven ventured to the second floor to see if it was up there.After searching through three or four offices that were unlocked, Steven found yet another piece of paper.This one had a series of numbers on it.

"These numbers could be of use.After all, the safe at Neely's Bar, required a number combination.I need to go back and see."

There was but one problem with this.In order to get back to the previous area, Steven needed to go through the Pet Center.Also, the Hell Hound was inside of there.If he wanted to go back and see if the combination worked on the safe, Steven would have to face off with the hound again.Remembering from his nightmare, the only thing that could kill the Hell Hound, was the switchblade. This was a rather large problem.

Steven decided to look around the bank some more in hopes of finding something to help him along the way.Oddly enough, one of the offices on the second floor had something stashed in its drawers, which wasn't even locked.Steven opened the drawer and pulled a pistol out, along with some ammunition.He took both of them and placed the pistol in the back of his pants.He was now equipped with a firearm.

As Steven explored the rest of the bank, he came across one room that was completely empty.This was suspicious since every other office was in use, or had been. Steven entered the small room but instantly regretted his decision.The door slammed shut behind him, locking itself immediately.Voices started to speak very quietly but soon grew louder.From what he could hear, Steven understood that two people were discussing credit history.

"I'm sorry sir,"Sighed  one of the voices."but it appears your credit history does now allow us to grant any loans at this time."

"You don't seem to understand!"

"I understand perfectly sir, but I cannot give out loans to those who have poor credit ratings.It could prove disastrous to the bank."

"All of you fuckers are the same!More worried about the f*****g bank balance than actually helping people!"

"I'm going to have to ask you to leave."

"I ain't going no where without that loan."

"Do I have to call security?"

"Call them, b***h!I f*****g dare you."

There was a sound of a struggle as security entered the room and detained the person.Swearing, punching, things being thrown about, and even the sound of a broken bone, could be heard.That's when it became clear that the voice of the person who had started the fight, was also the same person from the bar.This guys seemed to have a problem.

"I don't know who this guy is, but he seems to have a real problem in life.Probably some dead beat."

As fast as the illusion had started, it stopped.The walls, floor, and ceiling, were now covered in the grey dust.Just as it had done before, the dust blew away as if touched by a gentle breeze. Steven was now standing in a room full of normal office stuff.Desk, filing cabinet, chairs, and anything else you would expect to find.No matter how hard he tried to ignore the nagging feeling, Steven couldn't shake it.He felt that he knew who the angry person was.

Steven left the room and saw that something was written on the wall in front of him.

"We know who you are, what you've done, and what you will do.Maybe it would be better for you to just end it all."

The message was written in bold letters made of blood.From the message alone, Steven knew now that someone had knowledge of his past, but what was it?As far as Steven could recall, only his father had been abusive, not him.After all, Steven was always the one who copped his father's rage, not his brother.Why was someone trying to point the finger at him for something he hadn't done?

With the distraction put aside, Steven carried on with his journey.He left the Savings Banks, then returned down the alley to get to the Pet Center.To his horror, Steven saw that the dumpster had been forced out of the way and completely torn apart.While it wasn't much of an up side, the Hell Hound was gone.A bloody trail led from the back of the store and out the front entrance, even having a few limbs from the dead cats.

Steven made his way back to Neely's Bar, and immediately went to the safe.Twenty four left, thirteen right, twenty three left, and five right.The combination was entered correctly.The safe door swung open and revealed the treasures inside.Along with several bits of ammunition for a shotgun and the pistol, Steven also found a strange looking key.It appeared to be an older styled key, meaning it could go to anything in town, but there was still the vault door.

As Steven left the bar to return to the bank, he was assaulted by several of the Bound Children.He pulled out the pistol and shot them all, saving himself from melee damage.Once that was out of the way, Steven carried on his way to the bank.It was a quick journey back but a fruitful one.He found a few more items of use, then returned to the bank.He inserted the key into the vault door and unlocked it.With a few squeaks, the sound of grinding gears, and a violent quake, the vault door opened.There, on a pedestal, was a human skull with devil horns.

Steven approached the skull and went to pick it up, however, was stopped by a very deep voice.The voice belonged to a man.Steven spun around to see who it was.

"Holy s**t!"Steven coughed, choking on a bit of spit.

"Stay away....things...I remember...."

Jamie was standing at the vault door.He appeared confused and disorientated.

"Jamie.You need to calm down.Take a deep breath, relax."

"St...Steven?Is that you?"

"Yes."

"How...when did you get here?"

"I've been here for a few hours now."

"A few hours?But I only got here a few minutes ago."

"No, you've been here for a few months."

"Really?Could I have been here for so long that I can't remember any of it?"

"It appears that way."

"I don't even remember how I got into town or why I came here."

"You were reported missing months ago.Everybody from home has been looking for you, especially Silvia."

"No!You're lying!I've only been here a few minutes!"

Knowing that he now had to defuse this ticking time bomb, Steven decided to change the topic.If he didn't, who knows what might happen.

"Ok, ok.I'm here to find Chris."

"Chris?"

"My brother.Have you seen him?"

"No.What makes you think he'd be here?"

"My mother told me that he received a letter instructing him to come to Silent Hill."

"So he came here as well?I came here under the same instructions, but don't really remember much."

"Mum told me to find him so that her mind could be put to rest."

"Oh okay.

"Yeah."

"What do you mean when you say he is missing?Because I also tried to track him down, but nothing came up."

"Chris received the letter and immediately went off to do as told.Unfortunately, he never came back."

"What do you think happened to him?"

"I don't know.It kind of worries me a little."

"It appears that all three of us were called her for a specific reason."

"Such as?"

"Fucked if I know."

"Maybe if we continue our little journey through this hell hole, then we might find some closure together."

"How far would you be willing to go?"

"As far as I need to.This is of the utmost importance."

Jamie looked around the room as if he was being watched by some invisible force.Then, Steven did something he thought he would never do.To try and make sure he didn't do anything foolish, Steven invited Jamie along for the ride.

"You really want me to come with you?"Asked Jamie.

"Look.I know we haven't gotten along in the past, but I think we stand more of a chance if we work together, not separately."

"How are we going to get further into town?The next area is fully blocked off."

Steven turned back to the skull and took it from its place.He showed it to Jamie.

"I think this will open the gate to Rosewater Park.We can make our way through there."

"Sounds good to me."

Coming to an understanding, Steven and Jamie set off to finish the journey.They exited the bank and went straight to Rosewater Park. Steven took the skull and placed it into the gate, getting a fright when a loud clunk came from it.The gate became rusty and unusable, easily falling down onto the ground.The two of them entered the park and made their way directly to the waters edge.As odd as it was, the entire area came across very relaxed.

"Beautiful, ain't it?"Sighed Steven.

"Don't get all gay on me."Growled Jamie.

"You really know how to ruin the moment, don't ya?"

"Shut up."

"Sure.Whatever."

Jamie picked up a stone and threw it into the water.He was about to wish he hadn't.The Hell Hound breached the surface of the water on the shore, snarling at the pair.Even though only a short amount of time had passed, The Hell Hound had grown in size.It had seemingly grown an extra foot in height, also having spikes protruding from its spine.

"Jamie,"Stammered Steven."I think we should slowly back away..."

"Nah."

"Don't be stupid.This thing can easily kill us both!"

Instead of listening to the warning, Jamie pulled a switchblade out of his pocket.He had a disturbing smile on his face, almost as if he had gone insane.The Hell Hound had no effect on Jamie.He stood tall in defiance, showing that he was not afraid.

"Come on you b***h!"

"Shut up, Jamie!"

The Hell Hound did not find this amusing.It slowly emerged from the water and made its way towards them both, snapping and snarling at the same time.Once it got close enough, The Hell Hound leaped at Jamie.All he did was quickly move out of the way and slash the blade across the hounds side, causing it to let out an almighty cry of pain.It glared at him with rage in its eyes.But instead of fighting further, The Hell Hound chose to flee.It ran off into the fog and vanished.

Steven couldn't process what just happened.The whole scene was something straight out of an action movie.

"How did you do that?"Asked Steven.

"What?"Jamie laughed, evilly.

"Where did you get the switchblade from?"

"When I arrived in Silent Hill, I hadn't expected it to be so dangerous.We had all heard the rumors of the town, but all thought of them as bullshit."

"Tell me where you got the switchblade from!"

Jamie didn't like the tone that had been taken with him.He pointed the knife at, Steven, trying to show a sign of dominance.

"Don't take that tone with me you little s**t!If you think throwing your weight around will make you top dog, then you've got another thing coming!Do it again, I dare you."

Steven wouldn't take the intimidation.He had put up with bullying his entire life and wasn't about to let it go back that way, especially not from Jamie.They both stood their ground, neither of them giving in.But, Steven saw that being the better man was the right approach.He took a step back and let them both cool off.

"Sorry."Steven Apologized.

"Whatever."Snapped Jamie.

Once they had time to calm down, Steven came up with the next decision.If they were going to stand a chance in that town, they would have to work together.

"Maybe we should carry on our way now."Steven ushered, pointing off into the fog.

Jamie didn't care much for the calm moment.He pushed past Steven, then carried on his way. As they journeyed through Rosewater Park, Steven came across a few useful items.He pocketed them before carrying on.They eventually made it to the other end of,Rosewater Park, and arrived in the parking lot.Against one of the cars was a pool of blood.From the amount of blood on the ground and car, it was clear that someone had lost  a decent amount of blood.

"Look!"Jamie shouted, pointing  at the ground."There are droplets leading away from here."

Following the droplets, Steven and Jamie went on the pursuit.They went all the way to the last drop of blood, finding that it ended at the Texxon Gas Station.

"The blood trail leads inside of the gas station."Said Jamie.

Steven ran over to the doors of the gas station and saw someone lying down on the ground.Whoever they were, they appeared to be unconscious.Jamie tried to use his switchblade to open the front entrance, but failed.Steven solved the problem by smashing the windows with the pipe.Now that they both had entry to the gas station, Jamie raced inside to see who it was.

"No way."Gasped Jamie.

"Who is it?"Shouted Steven.

"Look for yourself!"

To his utter surprise, Steven saw that the mysterious person was none other than Chris.He had lost a lot of blood.

"Chris?How is that possible?"Whispered Steven.

"Get over here and help me!"Demanded Jamie.

Steven knelt down next to Chris and gently nudged him in his stomach.Like something out of a horror movie,Chris sat forward and let out a scream of terror, shocked by the presence of the unexpected two.But, as certain as it was that he was okay, Chris fell back unconscious.

"What do we do?"Asked Jamie, clearly panicking.

"Hold on."

"For?"

Steven took out one of his health drinks and gave it to Chris.The unseen wounds immediately healed.

"What is that crap?"Asked Jamie, snatching the bottle out of Steven's hands.

"It's called a Health Drink."

"What will it do?"

With one good slap, Chris awoke.He slowly sat up and shook his head, trying to bring back some sort of sense.Chris had no idea what was going on and mumbled unintelligible words.Then, he turned to Steven.

"Steven?"Asked Chris.

"Yes."

"What the hell is going on?"

"Tell us what you remember."Jumped in Jamie.

"I remember arriving in town to try and find someone but got ambushed by some strange creature."

"That's it?"

"Bullshit!"Yelled Jamie, unable to accept the short truth.

"Look.We don't have much time to waste, so we need to carry on with our journey."

"Journey?Asked Chris.

"Now that we've found you, we can get the hell out of dodge."

The three of them left the gas station and headed off.But that's when they remembered that Nathan Avenue, was blocked off.The only option was to find another way out of Silent Hill.And once again, heading towards Northern Silent Hill, Nathan Avenue was blocked off by a large wall of metal.Now the only road that they could  travel on was Carroll Street.

So, the trio made their way down Carroll Street, choosing to investigate a door that entered Heaven's Night.Both Jamie and Chris, were too eager to get inside and tried to open the door without checking it if was locked.They were angry that the door was locked, going so far as trying to kick the door in.It was obvious that the two of them hadn't changed after all those years.For Steven, this was evident.

Steven continued down Carroll Street.He eventually came to,Brookhaven Hospital, and got an uneasy vibe from the outside.It felt forbidden.While every part of him screamed not to approach the doors, Steven was drawn in.He couldn't help but get closer and see what was giving him the feeling, still hesitating with caution.As crazy as it was, a note was stuck to the main entrance.

"Freedom has a price and if you want to find it, Steven, all you have to do is enter."

Steven entered the hospital and found that it was very well lit.He expected it to be dark and miserable, not warm and inviting.Unfortunately for Steven, it was a ruse.The second he let his guard down, the doors slammed shut behind him.Steven tried to open them but found they were now locked.

"Well s**t."