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Dark Descent	By : PyramidHead316 Category: +S through Z > Silent Hill Views: 8632 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Silent Hill, nor any of the characters from it. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 17
- 18
- 19
Disclaimer: Silent Hill is owned by Konami.
Chapter 15: Specters of the Past
Brookhaven Hospital/? - Part 2
Alessa walked down into the basement area of the hospital. It was creepy down here, she realized, as she surveyed the area from around the corner. She crept down the stairs, shining her flashlight around the deserted corridor.
She had come here after solving the latest series of riddles. After Lisa’s impromptu little meltdown, Alessa had spent the next several minutes trying to find the door the key belonged to. She tried every door in the building, until she finally discovered the right door that the key belonged to. Sure enough, it was the basement and the roof, just like Lisa said. Alessa tried to ignore the fact the nurse had been right, despite her attitude. Alessa still resented the nurse for leaving her here alone, and running off like that. It wasn’t that Alessa needed her for anything; Alessa didn’t need her for this. She was just afraid to be alone here. It was creepy, and it was getting creepier by the minute.
“Hello?” she called out to the atmospheric hallway. Nobody answered, of course. There was nobody here to answer. But she had to try anyway, just in case there was somebody here. There were only two places to explore, the roof and this, and she really didn’t want to go up there right now. There was a weird sound coming from somewhere. Alessa thought it sounded like a squeaky wheel. She raised her firearm and turned the corridor to try to find out what the odd noise was. It was close, whatever it was. It had to be. She could practically hear it next to her ear. Alessa stopped short when she saw it.
An overturned wheelchair was lying in the middle of the hallway. It was turned on its side, and looked to be a much older model. A solitary wheel was spinning on the machine, ceaselessly revolving at a high speed at first. Alessa shivered: something about the sight was unsettling. Because the wheel spinning meant that someone had been occupying it recently. Alessa shivered at the disturbingly creepy sight. It was obvious that the wheelchair had been occupied until recently, and yet there was no one else around. Alessa was confused. Where was the person who was on it? The wheel continued to spin, as it slowed down really gradually, until it stopped.
Alessa carefully approached the wheelchair. The air was frigid in the basement, and it only added to the disturbing atmosphere in the corridor. The wheel had come to a stop, and was now lying still like some kind of ominous warning. Looking closely, Alessa saw that there was a pool of blood on the seat. Alessa’s heart fell to the bottom of her stomach. Where was the person who was on it? And looking past it, Alessa saw that there was a trail of blood leading away from the chair. Alessa’s heart froze in her chest. What the..? She shuddered, as the atmosphere suddenly felt very unsettling in this frigid place. The blood was leading to somewhere, and she didn’t want to know where. And that wasn’t the only thing. Looking closely, Alessa saw that the wall was riddled with bullet holes. Where had they all come from? She looked back and realized that there was something shiny lying on the floor near the beginning of the hallway. Going back to the beginning, Alessa saw that it was a sub-machine gun of some kind, and she had missed it when she originally came down here! She picked up the weapon and held it experimentally in her hand. It was a simple sub-machine gun of some kind. The chamber was empty, but it seemed simple enough to use. Unfortunately she’d have to find some ammo for it, if she hoped to make any use of it. She shuddered at the damage it could inflict on something, possibly a human being, if she was not careful. And suddenly a thought occurred to her. The gun was all fine and all; she needed more weapons in order to defend herself. But if this weapon was here, then where was the person in the wheelchair…?
Alessa went back to the blood puddle. She knew she had to follow it, if she wanted to uncover the mystery behind this. She followed the blood trail carefully, firearm at the ready in case there was trouble waiting. Her heart was hammering at a thousand miles per hour in her chest. She was almost sweating from the chill, and she was unable to hold her gun steady. The blood trail led into the elevator, rounding the corner into the still niche. It was a morbid sight, and whoever had been the result of this unfortunate mess was inside. Alessa had no idea what she would see in there, but she wasn’t sure she wanted to see it. She approached closer and closer, moving inch by painful inch, awaiting the seemingly inevitable discovery.
And suddenly Alessa lost her nerve.
No, she couldn’t see what was in there. It was…it was just too horrible, to think of a person like that, stuffed inside that elevator. She didn’t want to know what was in there.
Suddenly, she realized there was something more important than that blood puddle. She ignored the blood trail, carefully stepping past it without looking back. There were two doors here. One of them was locked, but the other was open. This had to be the solution to the puzzle of what she was supposed to find. She looked back at the elevator.
She shouldn’t want to look in there. It was only a horrible sight that was awaiting her. It was obvious whoever had been occupying the wheelchair was in there, and probably in a very bad, mangled state. She knew her curiosity was stirred, however, and it wouldn’t leave her alone until she settled it. Against her own will, she found herself taking step by slow step toward the elevator. Her heart was hammering in her chest. She had to look in there before moving on to the other rooms. The elevator doors were open in a slit, the darkness preventing anyone from seeing any details inside. Alessa shone her flashlight and looked inside.
Oh God! Alessa backed away in shock. She really shouldn’t have looked in there. That would haunt her ‘till the rest of her days.
Alessa backed away from the elevator in a hurry, trying to keep herself from losing control amid her cold shaking. She put her hand to her mouth, trying to keep the contents of her stomach from rising upwards. Oh God, why did she look in there? This was stupid.
She had seen enough horror movies to know it was a bad idea. Why did she think she could handle it? Monsters and demons were one thing. Human gore and massive blood loss…was an entirely different story.
She was never doing that again.
~
Alessa surveyed the closet room that lurked in the basement. The room was full of junk. The shelves were crammed with junk, and mops, buckets, and mattresses were crammed into the small space in a scattered display of randomness. Her first impression was not an encouragingly positive one. Alessa frowned; what exactly was she supposed to find in here? She was beginning to think that she was mistaken, when she caught sight of something. Suddenly, she noticed there was a slight blood trail leading behind the farthest shelf. Alessa shuddered at what could be behind, remembering her previous experience, but this seemed different somehow. She tried to reach behind it, but there was no moving the shelf, which seemed permanently stuck to the floor. Suddenly, she remembered something she did have, and that was the camera! She pulled out the Camera Obscura – there was a thought, a creepy one, from her backpack and put it behind the shelf, reaching to see what was behind there. Holding it steady, she pressed the button and switched the camera on. The sound of the photo being developed alerted her that the process had been successful. She pulled out the camera and shook the picture to make sure it developed properly. Finally, the picture cleared. And Alessa was surprised when she saw it. It was a code! The numbers were clearly developed on the photo, scrawled across the wall in a splotch of blood. Yes! This was what she needed to access the third floor. And to think she almost hadn’t come down here, because of her fear of the basement. She felt that she was one step closer to finally unraveling the mystery behind this place.
She was about to leave, when Alessa suddenly noticed something that caught her eye. There was a slight opening between one of the shelves, and the line where the shelf met the wall. And unlike the other, this one looked like it can be pulled away. Alessa pulled with all her might, and finally the shelf began to move. Alessa was surprised when she saw what was behind the shelf. There was an opening behind the shelf. Alessa sensed the different atmosphere inside the hole, and she knew it led somewhere other than the hospital. Alessa knew she should go back to look for Leonard, and finish up her task in the hospital. The curiosity was too strong, however. She had to explore what was inside the hole, if only to make sure that she didn’t miss anything vital to her cause.
With some trepidation and holding her firearm, Alessa ventured perilously into the passageway. The opening cut into the wall was rough around the edges, and easily allowed for a fully grown adult to venture easily past the crevice. Alessa crossed the threshold, and surrendered herself to whatever was waiting for her on the other side.
The world was dark on the other side, and Alessa was taken aback as she realized she had come out in a completely different place from where she had been. Where – where was she? It was too dark for her liking. The air was frigid and moist in the tunnel, causing her to shiver and grip herself tightly in the foreign hallway. Alessa looked back and gasped, as she realized the opening she had come through was gone. She was stuck here. There were wooden boards on the walls, and they were glued together in a pattern that made the whole thing look like a crude cellar in a house somewhere. Alessa shone her flashlight, and realized that she recognized the details of where they were placed. Wait a minute. She knew exactly where she was. And the question was now one of how she could have possibly gotten here by herself.
There was no mistake about it. This was…this was Alchemilla.
Alessa was taken aback in shock. How in the hell did she end up here? What had worked to bring her here? The glance back revealed that the exit was indeed gone. There was nothing but a wall there now. She was on her own. The wooden basement waited ominously ahead, reminding her of things that she rather cared to forget. There was a damp smell in the air, one reminiscent of mildew and things that developed when there was no one there to still care for places like this. It was a smell of things one cared to forget, and where things one didn’t want were left to rot, much as many had been before. The darkness was overwhelming, and Alessa had to keep her flashlight on just to keep herself from being completely enshrouded in darkness. The atmosphere was the worst. The air was chilly, and there was the sense that something was going to happen soon, regardless of whether she wanted it.
Alessa slowly walked further into the corridor. She was holding her arms close to herself, and shivering from the bone-chilling cold in the air of the corridor. She ducked into the first door on her left, choosing to start the exploration of this place one room at a time. She knew she would have to explore the building above in order to find a way out, and if she was truly at Alchemilla, she would have to hike all the way across town to make her way back. Most likely she wouldn’t have to do that, though. If a portal had brought her here, then there was probably another one that would let her get out too. She just had to find it.
The room was exactly what she expected. Alessa immediately recognized the formation of memories reliving themselves when she realized the details, but they stopped. It wasn’t exactly like her room had been, though. The room was much more like a regular hospital room. It was clean, organized, and devoid of rotted walls. The room was dark, but she could still make out some of the details of the room. There was a bed in the center, large and spacious for a hospital bed, and there was a medicine cabinet in the corner of the room. There was an I.V. unit attached next to the bed, medical implements on a table, and a cabinet next to the bed holding a few patient mementos. Overall, it was as non-threatening to her as a room in this hospital could possibly be, despite the place being dark and isolated.
Gradually, however, figures began to form around the bed. Alessa blinked her eyes, to make sure she wasn’t seeing things, but no, they were still there. The figures were transparent, and seemed to be like a flashback from some movie, or ghostly images like the ones presented in films.
Four figures stood in a circle around the bed, observing the still figure on it. Kaufmann and Dahlia were on either side of the bed, Kaufmann on the left and her mother on the right, while one doctor was at the head of the bed, and another doctor she didn’t recognize was at the foot of it. They seemed to be observing the patient lying on the bed, with a great deal of interest.
The gray haired woman began to speak. “Everything is going according to plan. Sheltered in the womb,” Dahlia said.
The doctor at the head of the bed disagreed. “But it’s not done yet. Half the soul is lost. That is why the seed lies dormant.”
“But what soul remains captured in that husk…is buried deep down in the subconscious,” the other doctor said.
Kaufmann angrily interjected. “Are you trying to say it won’t work? That wasn’t our agreement!” he demanded.
Dahlia tried to reassure him. “No, no. These are just stalling tactics. If we lend a hand we will be able to get power. Never fear. The promise shall not be broken,” she said to him. It was obvious that he appeared visibly angry, and she was trying to keep him from snapping at the other doctors. The gray haired woman smiled at the flustered doctor, and it was obvious she believed she had everything completely under control.
Alessa fought desperately the urge to move and swipe her weapon through those figures. She wanted to rush in and save the little girl on the bed from all the things that awaited her, but she knew that wasn’t possible. The girl was doomed to endure those events, and there was nothing she could do about it. Alessa once again fought not to shake with rage at the situation. How could her mother do that to her? People often asked her why she could love a woman who had only carried her to term, and didn’t share any blood relation with her whatsoever, as her real mother, and pretend like her real mother didn’t exist: she didn’t even look at her mother’s family tree. The truth was her mother didn’t deserve any compassion. Not after what she had done. The fact was as far as Alessa was concerned, all she had done was donate a little material, nothing more. She looked at the people and her and realized how they were looking at her. They were looking at her like an experiment. She was an experiment, a thing – something to poke and analyze for themselves, not a human being. She was an experiment, a curiosity; not a real live being. They had no soul for her whatsoever, and it was clear that they had never considered her a human being. She was just a piece of meat to experiment on, both for medical curiosity and to hearken forth their god.
…On the other hand, if she hadn’t gone through that, Alessa never would have met Lisa. Even despite the argument they had had, Alessa didn’t like that thought. On the other hand, Alessa preferred to think that she still would have met Lisa, somehow.
The other doctor surveyed the patient lying on the bed. “But the power we could get now would be very weak; almost nothing. Unless we get the other half of the soul…” It was obvious he did not share her mother’s opinion on the subject, and wasn’t convinced of the plan’s effectiveness.
The woman sought to reassure him. “We’ll use a magical spell. Feeling this child’s pain, it’s sure to come,” Dahlia said, seemingly not the least bit affected by their situation. She spoke with a devious tone, and it was clear she hadn’t lost an ounce of confidence in their plan.
Kaufmann seemed strangely disappointed. “But that will take time,” he said.
The figures disappeared from the room. Alessa moved further into the room, examining the details with a careful eye. The room was clean, stripped down, and decorated in the barest of minimum touch required for a hospital room. There were no personal artifacts on the dresser, aside from a small picture frame which was blank on the surface. Alessa picked up the picture frame, but the photo had been torn out of it, and there was no trace left of what had once been there. She didn’t know whether to be relieved the room had no surprises for her, or disappointed in the lack of items and creatures in the room despite her own better judgment.
That was too real. It was almost like a movie, she thought. Seeing her own past play out like that, in solid form in front of her, definitely left her with an unsettling thought, in the back of her mind. What had they wanted to do? Did they seriously not see the damage they were doing to that little girl; were they so corrupt and moral-less, that they just didn’t care? They had wanted power, but in the end the costs of it were just thoroughly despicable, in Alessa’s opinion. No power was worth torturing someone for seven years, and leaving them to rot. Alessa wanted to rush in and strike through Dahlia with her weapon, but she held back, knowing it would be a thoroughly useless gesture. What was done was done. There was no changing it.
Why was the town showing her this? Was it simply to torture her, with glimpses of the past, or was there a more complicated explanation for it? She didn’t see how, because she wasn’t learning anything from this. She didn’t want to remember the past, as many other people did, or even accept, she just wanted to forget it.
She headed to the door without looking back. Outside, the area still looked the same as before. Alessa was thankful it had not changed to an Otherworld version of its regular self. It was dark though, and she needed to keep her flashlight lit just to be able to see a short distance in front of her. The chill in the air lingered in the atmosphere, enveloping her with a fierce cold right down to her bones. She could see her breath in the air, slightly from the condensation that had formed in the atmosphere. It was damp and cold down here, a horrible combination that smelled of mold festering in the dark basement for several decades, as far as Alessa was concerned.
There was a door at the end of the hall. Alessa hoped it was an elevator out of here, if she was lucky. Or at least a ladder leading up, one that she could climb out of this hole. A shadow moved in the dark. There was a figure at the end of the hallway. Alessa tensed, as shr realized that she wasn’t alone in the area. Was that Leonard? Suddenly, the figure revealed itself. A flash of white cloth flew by, garbed in a blue sweater, and the figure moved quickly in the darkness. The figure rushed at her, and Alessa put up her weapon to defend herself. She didn’t want to waste a bullet until she was certain she could hit it.
The figure charged at her, wielding some kind of weapon, and Alessa moved as she realized it was aiming at her head. Alessa reeled in shock, as she realized it was one of the nurses that had been parasitized at Alchemilla. She could see the mass of flesh on its back that was the telltale sign, and knew the hideous creature that lay inside. The creature struck at her with a furious cry, and it moved much faster than the previous nurses she had encountered in the hospital. She struck at the creature with her weapon, burying her sword in the flesh of the vicious, mutated creature. She struck at it with a chunking sound, and the creature tried to strike at her with a swing of its weapon, gripping its scalpel tightly in its hand. She struck at it again and again, slashing at its uniform covered flesh, until the creature gave a shrill cry and collapsed to the ground, and died with a hideous crunching noise that was disturbing on several levels.
Alessa backed away, breathing hard from her encounter. What was this? These were the monsters that had been at the Alchemilla hospital during her childhood. What were they doing here? She was doing everything she could to figure it out, but there was no way this made any sense. She had overcome this part of her life years ago, hadn’t she? Why would they be here? There was no way she could have crossed all across town in a heartbeat, to end up at Alchemilla. This had to be an illusion. Even the town of Silent Hill, messed up as it was so far, had limits as to what it had done. It hadn’t transported her halfway across a city, choosing instead to let her remain in the same locations she was, only their other selves. The thought went unanswered in her mind though, because she already knew it couldn’t be real. This was too real to be a delusion.
There was only one way to find out. She had to proceed forward. She found a small passageway behind the door at the end of the hall. She climbed up the ladder she found at the end of the hall, and made her way through the room that had secretly contained the entrance to her room in the basement. Once again she wondered how Lisa had managed to bring her meals down here. It was easier when she was hooked up to an I.V., but even so, bringing the I.V. down here and replacing it must have been quite a pain. Climbing down and up here, struggling with equipment, how did Lisa do it?
It must have been a struggle every day, physically and mentally. Not to mention, being stuck in that damp basement all day. Alessa wondered if there was anywhere else Lisa would hang out at, to escape the hell of that place. She hoped so, because otherwise it was just too tragic a thought. Alessa tried not to think about it. There was nothing she could do to change Lisa’s past, regardless of how much she wanted.
Alessa emerged out of the storage room. The area was dark, shrouded in shadows just like all the others. There was a corner nearby, around which presumably there was an exit. Suddenly, a figure rushed through the shadows, barreling its way toward her in a blind frenzy. The shadows made it difficult to see exactly what the creature was. Alessa was taken aback and gasped, as she realized it was one of the male doctors from Alchemilla, with that same hideous parasite on its back. The creature lunged forward with a grunt, as it swung its weapon at her. Alessa slashed at him with her sword, and seeing that it wasn’t going down, she pulled out her gun and quickly shot him two times, causing it to fall to the floor in a wounded mess. Alessa stomped on it to finish off the monster, wincing at the feel of its body under her boot.
Alessa stared at the body lying on the floor. The gruesome visage of the doctor stared back at her, reminding her of things she didn’t care to remember. It was disturbing, and their strength only added to their intimidating nature. Damn. She had forgotten that the doctors were stronger than the nurses in the hospital. Harry had found that out firsthand, when he encountered them at the hospital. Her father was even worse. Chris had hit them hard with him being an experienced combatant, and they had hit him back equally hard. The only one who had escaped unscathed was Cybil. Either she had not encountered them, she had not gone into the hospital, or else Cybil was just that bad ass, that nothing fazed her. She would have to be careful.
The presence of the doctor in the basement once again reminded Alessa of her questions from earlier. Why were they showing up in here in the hospital? It made no sense. She had dealt with that part of her life, hadn’t she? Even if she truly was at Alchemilla, they shouldn’t be in this place anyway. The hospital should be empty. The town only reflected things that you left unsettled or kept hidden, unless it was intentional on the part of the town to torment you with, so why were they showing up here? Perhaps that was the case. She had to admit, that made sense.
She turned the body over with her foot. The features on the creature reminded her far too much of Kaufmann, and the creature’s size was intimidating, too. She looked at that ugly set of features, the features that reminded her far too much of her great enemy, and a time she cared to forget. The darkness in the basement, the moldy smell of the air down there…these things had haunted her for the longest time, and they still refused to go away in some respects. How Kaufmann had imprisoned her down there… How he had destroyed everything and everyone around her… She felt the anger build. Alessa frowned at the emotions in her mind. She felt heavy all of a sudden. Alessa couldn’t help it. She shot the doctor in the groin once, with her handgun. She may have been wasting a bullet, but it was worth it to clear her conscience of the rage growing there, before it grew too strong.
She left the body to sit there, not giving it a second look. It wasn’t worth concerning herself over.
There was something thumping in the basement. Alessa supposed it could have been the generator that was in the basement, but somehow she didn’t think so. She shuddered to think what kind of monster was lurking under the hospital, or perhaps it was machinery of some kind. It reminded her too much of rusted metal, and dark expanses of nowhere.
She turned the corner, and found herself facing an elevator. She lit up with enthusiasm inside. Finally, she had a way out of here. The elevator wasn’t covered with a metal fence inside, so that was a good sign so far. She looked at the elevator panel and surveyed her choices. There were four buttons on the floor panel, ranging from the first to the fourth floors. She wasn’t sure about the first floor, and she knew the number four was considered bad luck in Japan; she also knew full well Alchemilla had no fourth floor, so far as she could help remembering. She was probably best off avoiding that particular floor. She didn’t know where to start, so she settled for selecting the second floor.
The elevator hummed as it made its way upward, inch by painful inch. Alessa waited impatiently, holding her weapon while wondering what awaited her in this new set of floors. The elevator seemed to go slower than usual, as if it was making some incredibly long ascent rather than just going up two floors. Alessa got a bad feeling inside. Finally, the ding of the door sounded painfully loud in the small chamber, and the elevator arrived at its destination. The lobby she encountered was unexpected, until she remembered the layout. This was only the prelude.
Alessa stepped out into a dilapidated hallway. There were several doors lined along the walls, and the paint had begun to peel from the walls from years of neglect. Alessa didn’t know where all of them led to, so she would have to take them one by one. These were rooms, but what was contained inside the rooms was a different story. And if that portal that brought her here was any indication, she would have to be careful. She didn’t want to end up all the way at the lake, and have to make her way up under cover of darkness.
She tried the handles, but most of the doors were locked. One patient room was open, and Alessa found some useful ammo inside, but that was it. Still, Alessa had to give a sad look at the dilapidated sight of the beds and room. It was a pitiful sight, and Alessa knew it had been equally bad when she was a child. How had she ever managed to stand being here, in any capacity? How did people manage to live here, going day by day in this horrid place? These places were awfully dusty, considering they were parts of a hospital. Was there literally no cleaning staff here, so that they could afford to have the rooms cleaned? Or was the hospital being allowed to fall apart, because of the lack of many patients available? It just didn’t make any sense.
Crossing the door into the second part of the hall, it was the same thing with most of the other doors here. It wasn’t until the last room in the hall that she finally had some luck. Alessa picked up the unusual ring she had spotted in the bedroom, laying on one of the beds. It was a beautiful gold ring with a ruby inlet, and shimmering branches layering the outer band of the ring. The ruby in the ring was deep red, and reminded Alessa of something very rare and precious; something valuable. Alessa found there was something unusual about this ring, but she couldn’t figure out what was off. Hmm. She wondered what use this ring would have for her, if it was part of some puzzle. She stuffed it in her pocket and decided to worry about it later.
She found some more useful items including a set of bandages and a health drink in room 202, but that was all. Alessa thought she was almost getting bored with the lack of activity, but she had to admit there was something quieting in not running for her life every minute, that was almost soothing. Still, she felt like something was lurking on the horizon, something big and dangerous that would test her; like she was waiting for the hammer to fall. She hoped she could handle it.
Alessa noticed there was a picture of a woman’s breast on the wall, warning for signs of cancer. It was ironic how they maintained a helpful notice to the general public, when so many unspeakable things went on here. Perhaps it was just to maintain the façade of a functional hospital; they couldn’t be seen to be a bunch of uncaring bastards, after all. The general public needed to see them as a good, working hospital. Even if it was just the leadership that was corrupt. They couldn’t do that and not have at least a few genuine medical warnings around, after all.
Alessa ducked into the women’s room. She had some business she had to take care of, even though she hadn’t eaten or drank anything since that morning. Thank god at least the bathrooms still worked. She knew how crazy that would have sounded to some people, putting her skin on some of these grimy surfaces, but she really had to go. There was no way she was going out in the open hall: that would just be nasty, beyond thinking. It also gave her a few moments to think. She appreciated being away from that nightmare for a little while. She wondered how often Lisa came to hide here, away from her torments in the hospital. Hiding in the bathrooms, crying to herself wondering where her life had gone, and what had happened to it. It was a lonely existence, she realized, having such a secret and being unable to confide in anyone. She hated them for what they did to Lisa, more than for what they did to her, almost. She wondered if that was when Lisa had started to hate her.
Alessa let out a deep breath out in the hall. She needed to go up to the third floor. That was probably where more clues would be waiting. She stretched her hands over her head, working out the stiffness in her body. She was tired, and she desperately wanted to eat something; not to mention, lie down and rest. This had proven harder than she expected. So much exploring, so much languishing around the town, and all for one man? Who might have a clue that could help her against the Order? It wasn’t worth it, in Alessa’s opinion. She knew the wider question was referring not just to Leonard, but her decision to come here and avenge her loved ones.
Still, she had committed to the course, and she had to keep going. If nothing else, Douglas would kick her ass if she made him wander all over the town, and then decided that she was going another way.
As she passed through the door separating the second part of the hallway, Alessa looked back at the nurse’s station. Lisa couldn’t possibly be there, could she? But no, the nurse’s station was locked. Alessa held back the twinge of disappointment. She didn’t know why she had been hoping Lisa was here, because they had some serious issues to work out between them. Anyway, it wasn’t a realistic thought. Lisa wasn’t here. She wasn’t ever going to be here; she was probably still over at Brookhaven. Still, why wouldn’t Lisa be here? This was her home turf, after all…it was one thing to be at Brookhaven, but she would have expected Lisa would be at the one place that was most familiar to her. Maybe…it was too painful. Maybe…Lisa wasn’t ever coming back here again…
She really needed to get to the third floor.
She went all the way to the end and took the elevator up to the third floor.
The elevator hummed as Alessa waited in patient anticipation. She wondered if the third floor would be deserted too, or if there would be something else waiting for her.
The small lobby she found herself in held nothing interesting. Alessa was about to leave, when out of the corner of her eye she noticed something. A magazine dated from 1993 sat on one of the benches. Alessa frowned: why would this magazine be here? Was the hospital stuck in the way it was when she was here during her childhood? Or was it just reflecting her thoughts, which were focused on Alchemilla and her past currently, formed from that? She walked past it.
The doors opened to a darkened hallway. Alessa could see into the expanse of details, but it was still somewhat dark compared to where she’d been. Alessa cautiously stepped forward, surveying the area with a sense of cautious exploration. The place was already looking brighter, due to her eyes adjusting to the lack of strong visibility in the area. Something shifted in the shadows remaining, and the footsteps sounded on the tiled floor across the hallway. She wasn’t alone here. Alessa readied her sword and her handgun, waiting for the attack in whatever shape it came. It didn’t take long. They emerged from the shadows, three of them, hunched over and wielding sharp knives in their hands. They rushed toward their victim, crossing the hallway in the span of a few moments, much to Alessa’s horror. There were two doctors and a nurse, the blue uniform of the former and the white coats of the latter being very visible in the faint light of the hallway, ambling towards her. Alessa shot one of the doctors twice, and as it fell, she shot at the other one, stopping it in its tracks. She had to strike hard at it before it could reach her, burying her sword in the shoulder of the being and carving out several chunks again, slashing it repeatedly. She struck hard at the nurse approaching on her left, and the creature cried out in pain as Alessa proceeded to dismantle it with her sharpened blade. It was only a short time before all three creatures collapsed to the ground. When all three zombified creatures were down, Alessa breathed a sigh of relief, as she wiped her brow with her forearm.
Alessa looked at the parasite that was moving on the back of the nurse, just before it died. It didn’t appear to be a threat, but she was still being careful. She had no illusions that the creature couldn’t jump out and take her over, and that would be a big problem. She wondered how hideous it was underneath that mass of flesh, and how vicious it was. She wanted to step on it, but she didn’t dare put her foot on the back of it. It would just be too gross and disturbing. She watched it until it stopped moving. The bodies were all still, much to Alessa’s relief. She did not trust those things at all.
Alessa moved forward. She decided to start from the second part of the hallway first, so that she wouldn’t have to concern herself with this part of the hallway first. She needed to get away from these corpses for a while. She turned each of the doors individually, testing to see which ones may have held something important. The restrooms were both closed here, so it was a good thing she went downstairs. Hmm. Alessa smiled as she realized there was something unusual going on here. Room 303 was locked, but it wasn’t like the other doors. The others were all broken, but this one looked like it was being secured with a fairly decent look. It was obvious that a key was required to open it. Alessa smiled; now she knew what to look for. She could carry that knowledge into the other part of the hallway, and the rest of the building.
She found a health drink in another of the rooms, Room 301. There was a bloody stretcher in the room, and a giant mirror that covered nearly the whole expanse of the right wall. Ugh. Alessa surveyed the stretcher, running her eyes over the long plateau of metal. Blood was dripping off the metal, and a bloody shawl had been placed over it, which was now drenched with blood too. A white blanket was laid out over the stretcher, and it was equally bloody now. Eugh, gross. This was too much. She could smell the coppery scent of the blood, and it was making her feel sick. She turned away from the gurney to the mirror, in an attempt to divert her attention from the disturbing mess of the stretcher. The mirror was crystal clear, with not a trace of blood on it, ironically. Alessa touched the mirror to see if there was anything unexpected about it, but other than some static electricity (where did that come from?), she felt nothing unusual about it. She placed her hand on the mirror, and again felt nothing but the cold surface. Alessa sighed with relief; at least that was one more thing she didn’t have to worry about. She almost felt like the mirror should have triggered some transformation or something, but thankfully that wasn’t the case here.
Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed there was a small memo tucked into the side of the stretcher. It was typed on the hospital correspondence paper, and contained the official seal of Alchemilla.
She picked up the memo from the stretcher, skimming her eyes over the lines of text.
Patient has severe burns on epidermis, and
has sustained third degree burns to over 75% of her
body. Despite this, her internal organs all appear
to be intact; damage seems limited to the epidermis.
No major damage appears to have been sustained to
internal organs. This is an incredible observation;
further testing must be required in order to determine
the exact nature of these injuries. Will report at once…
Alessa threw down the paper with a grunt of disgust. Of course. Now she knew what patient had lain here: it was her. This was obviously molded after the stretcher she had been brought on, on that day all those years ago. Maybe it was even the same stretcher. Ugh. It made her queasy just thinking about it. Suddenly, she no longer wanted to be in this room anymore.
She was exiting the room when she saw it. As soon as she stepped into the hall, two nurses came rushing at her. “Shit!” Alessa cursed, falling into a fighting stance. Two nurses charged at her out of nowhere, rushing at her with the drive and the murderous rage. Alessa was forced to defend herself as one of the nurses swung at her with its sharp knife, waving the scalpel way too close to the side of Alessa’s chest. Alessa was caught off guard as one of the nurses grabbed her, and Alessa realized it was intentional, trying to restrain her from firing while the other nurse slashed her to ribbons. She had to get out of here, if she stood any chance of surviving.
“No! Get off!” Alessa screamed out in frustration, struggling with the horrid undead woman. The deranged look in her eyes told Alessa she wasn’t going to let go, and she was almost too strong to hold off any longer; her grip was like iron on Alessa’s wrist. Alessa kicked out furiously at the being as she struggled with the nurse holding on to Alessa’s wrist, catching the woman in the stomach. She kicked again, catching the woman in the groin, and once again in the stomach. The woman doubled over in pain, Alessa finally freeing herself from her grasp. Meanwhile, the other nurse was rearing back, getting ready to unleash another devastating swipe of her scalpel. She was most likely going to aim at Alessa’s neck, or face. Quickly pulling out her gun, Alessa shot her at close range, and the nurse began to fall. As the other nurse swung its weapon to strike at her, Alessa swung her sword and caught the brutal nurse in the neck. She buried her sword in the flesh of the creature, and slashed again across the chest at the nurse, until the creature was finally falling from its injuries. The twitching body gave a sickening crunch of a dying cry as it finally ceased moving.
Shit, that was too close. Where the hell did they come from? Alessa thought that she had cleared the hallway. Did that mean they could open doors? Alessa knew that they were walking around out there and wandering the hospital, but she was under the impression that opening doors would have been a bit too complex a task for them to figure out. Obviously she was wrong. Thoughts of the nurses turning the door handle into Leonard’s room, catching him by surprise, entered into Alessa’s mind. What if they caught Leonard off-guard, and he was unable to defend himself? What if she lost another source of information to the town, and Vincent wasn’t able to come up with another one for her to use?
She had better get to Leonard before they did.
Alessa went past the second part of the hallway. She ducked into a door on her right, one of the only ones that was open in the hallway. She was surprised to see a refrigerator in the center of the chamber. The room was not a regular storage room, but instead looked more like a kitchen, with dirty tiles on the floor, a refrigerator in the center, and countertops surrounding the room. What the…? Where the hell did this come from? The room was wide and large, easily allowing for all of the instruments to fit there easily. Had the layout of the floor suddenly changed from a storage room to a kitchen? However, why would they need a kitchen on the third floor? This was supposed to be a storage room! A point that gave her pause, if that was the case, since the kitchen being upstairs would only make it more difficult to carry patients’ meals downstairs, where most of the rooms were. That meant the change was only for the sake of her perceptions, not because the hospital itself had authorized the change. This was an Otherworld thing.
Alessa smiled to herself; she knew this one.
She marched right up to the large refrigerator. The refrigerator didn’t move, almost as if it was signaling its nature as a harmless appliance. Alessa wasn’t fooled. Bracing herself for what she was about to do, she marched right up to the refrigerator and pulled the door open with a jarring motion. She sliced her sword down into the creature without hesitation, sinking it into flesh and prompting a cry of surprise from the creature. She sliced off the tentacle from the creature’s body, letting it lay limp to the ground. She buried her sword in the shoulder of the creature, and struck again at the creature buried in the hollow of the refrigerator. She struck again and again, and the mass of flesh and gore finally fell silent. Its teeth running the side of its chest upwards, stopped moving, as the creature slumped in its strange hold. Alessa stepped back. The monster looked like a gray lump of flesh, formless and extended, with a tentacle for grabbing prey and luring it into its sharp awaiting teeth. It looked like an eldritch abomination of some sort, something out of a Cthulhu novel. The monster had nearly dragged Harry to his doom all those years ago, and her dad was attacked by it before he fired seven shots into it, killing it. Cybil hadn’t encountered it, but she probably would have killed it too if she had. The creature had probably been placed here to prevent any visitors from venturing out of the room, Alessa included. The creature would pretend to be asleep inside the common refrigerator, and then lure them to their deaths with the tentacle once they turned their backs. Alessa knew how these traps functioned, most of the time.
She had designed them, after all.
After exiting the room, Alessa knew she had to move on forward with finding her objective. She couldn’t afford to linger here too much. Still, she had to admit she was getting distracted by the barrage of memories that were being opened in front of her.
Why shouldn’t she in that situation? She had to admit, she almost didn’t want to find Leonard. Maybe because it made a convenient hiding place from the present.
The corpses were still there. Alessa hoped they would have disappeared like magic, but she knew enough to know that reality didn’t work that way. Still, she could hope, couldn’t she?
Alessa walked the hallway of the third floor. She knew her next destination was the elevator, so that she could find that key to the last room here. A loud stomping broke through her thoughts among the silence and decay of the hallway. Suddenly, fine debris in powder form fell from the ceiling. Alessa looked up, and her heart froze in her chest. There was something up there, she realized, on the fourth floor. Something big, and powerful. She could almost hear the dull roar of a powerful bestial form, just below the stomping. Alessa began to tremble all over with fear, as she heard the heavy steps above. That’s it! Nuh-uh, there was no way she was going up to the fourth floor. They would have to drag her there by her panties, in full Order regalia, to get her up there on the fourth floor. She began to hasten her steps, in full panic mode, spurred on by fear and by the dread of something she couldn’t name. She really didn’t want to see what was up there.
She rushed to the elevator, bursting into the compartment as soon as the doors opened. She looked at the buttons on the control panel, and the decision was obvious. There was only one place where that key for the room could be, and that was the first floor. She pushed the button for the appropriate level and waited for the elevator to go down. Alessa waited in fear, hoping that the elevator wouldn’t do anything like take her to the fourth floor mistakenly or regardless, or anything, like the mischief the town liked to cause. A few times the elevator seemed to almost sputter to a stall during the long ride down, and Alessa’s heart nearly stopped cold in her chest. Finally, the elevator arrived without aplomb, and the doors opened up to the new destination.
Alessa breathed a sigh of relief, one she didn’t know she was holding in.
She had made it. She had made it to the first floor, and she hadn’t gotten sucked up to the fourth floor, or fallen into a void in the elevator from which she could never escape. Amen to that.
She headed toward the lobby, which was on the other side of the hall. She remembered a large variety of items was usually kept in the examination room, so maybe there would be something there of interest. She was quickly running out of places where that key could be hidden, and she refused to absolutely consider that it could be on the fourth floor. There was no way she was going up there. If the key was on the fourth floor, then she would just have to find a way to break down the door otherwise.
Going to the door at the end of the hall, she crossed the threshold.
~
The lobby was expansive and well decorated for a smaller hospital. A large desk served as a check-in station, behind which receptionists would take people’s appointments and answer phone calls. The counter hiding the desk from view was actually rather large, and allowed for a large number of items, including a computer and phones, to be used. It wrapped around the expanse of the lobby, separating the receptionist from the room. There were two doors separating the lobby from the second part of the hall, which meant that there were three parts to the first floor, not just two.
Alessa looked at the doors leading to the exit from the hospital. She didn’t want to go outside. The Otherworld could be outside, and Alessa didn’t want to risk it at the current moment. She backed away from the door, unwilling to risk even the temptation to open it. The worst thing that could happen would be that the Otherworld would be in its nighttime form, and that would be an absolutely terrifying ordeal to Alessa. Alessa knew that the creatures in the Otherworld were meaner during the night, and the broken streets were much more difficult to navigate. The ordeal was such that Alessa knew she would never survive it, if she let it unfold. If Alessa went out there, she would die. Alessa could not survive through the ordeal unaffected.
She focused instead on the desk used for the check-in station. There were remnants of pencils, pens, and other assorted instruments on the counter. It was all useless trash, and Alessa wondered if there was anything noteworthy here after all. There had to be something useful here. The counter was closed off, so she couldn’t go behind it, and there was no little gate to the side to go behind the desk like in some hospitals. She had to search it as it was by leaning over it. There was no other way to do so. Her fingers skimmed under the length of the counter, searching for anything of interest. Her eyes skimmed over the notes, gum wrappers, and phone pads, but no health items or keys. Suddenly, her fingers came across a groove under the counter, with a hard object positioned between the two rough edges. There was something wedged inside.
Alessa gripped the object in the groove hard, and she pulled with both hands with all her might. Finally, when she thought the strength in her arms would give out, she pulled a glistening metallic object out of the hole in the desk.
Aha! Alessa exclaimed in her mind. She turned the object over in her hand and realized that it was a glistening green key, trimmed in a brilliant green color.
Hmm. Something about this key was familiar, but Alessa couldn’t put her finger on it for the life of her.
She pocketed the shimmering object. Ah well, it didn’t matter in the long run. Surely this was the key to that upstairs room in the third floor. All that was left was to go up there and open up this room, and she would finally be free of this nightmare and this unwelcome little trip to the past. The exit to this place wasn’t down here on the first floor, or some other place. It was upstairs in that room. Somehow, she knew it. There was something upstairs lurking there, waiting for her, in that room. And she meant to find out what. She had come too far to back out now.
She left through the doors in the lobby. The second part of the hall was still vacant, with none of the monsters having made their way down here. That same poster from the third floor was down here, once again reminding people that this was meant to be a hospital, not just a place where people tied down little girls, and tortured them, after leaving them in basements. Okay, so she was a little sarcastic. She couldn’t help it, she was a little bitter. Why did the staff of the hospital do this to her? How could they be so in human in compassion, and consider her nothing more than an experiment to be housed in some dark secret basement room? It was a question she didn’t know the answer to, and she would probably never know the answer to.
That didn’t make the thought more comforting.
It was too bad the director’s room was locked permanently, she mused as she passed by. She would have loved to see if there were any useful items in there. Oh well, what was done was done. There was no point in musing about things she couldn’t control, or situations that she couldn’t change.
Alessa walked the hallway of the first floor, carefully making her way towards the elevator. Suddenly, a vision began to materialize in front of her. It was like figures were appearing out of thin air, forming a scene that was startlingly familiar with regards to the persons involved in the act. Alessa stared with her eyes wide and her jaw open, looking in disbelief at the hallucination forming in front of her. The figures were astoundingly lifelike, and she almost felt like she could reach out and touch them.
A man in a gray suit followed a nurse in a white outfit and red sweater, chasing after her. Michael Kaufmann followed Lisa Garland through the hallway in a frantic rush, grasping her hand in an attempt to catch up to her. He winced as she shook it off, and glared at him fiercely like he was the biggest devil on the Earth.
“Get your hands off me!” Lisa screeched at him, waving her hands around in the air wildly. “That’s it! I’m done!”
“Ms. Garland…” Kaufmann started.
“No, I’m done!” Lisa shouted at him, her face a look of righteous anger. She gave him a smug look, full of rage. “I don’t need you anymore,” she said.
She went to leave.
“You know you need the substance in my possession, don’t you?” Kaufmann stated tauntingly. “You cannot obtain it from anywhere else,” he said in a self-confident manner.
She turned back to face him, and glared at him with resentful eyes.
“I don’t care. I’ll go on without it,” Lisa said defiantly. There was a slight shock in Kaufmann’s eyes.
A tense silence crowded around the two individuals in the corridor. Alessa wanted to run forward and slam her weapon through the figure that represented Kaufmann, but she could only stand on the spot where she was. How dare he talk to that nurse like that; it made her blood boil to see him again talking to another human being like that. But it was useless. This had already happened in the past. She could do absolutely nothing to change it. There was nothing she could do to change it, and so the only thing she could do was watch. She watched carefully, keeping her eyes trained on the two individuals.
“Are you insane? You can’t survive without it,” Kaufmann objected, looking panicked as his objective was slipping through the cracks.
Lisa shook her head. “I’ll take my chances. I’m through with this!” she screamed, getting right up in Kaufmann’s face. “I won’t go back to that hell down there! I can’t stand being down there any longer, and I’m growing worse every day I spend there. I’m going to go crazy if I stay there any longer!” Lisa clasped her hands over her face, like she was trying to clear away her vision. “I’ve had enough. You can’t control me anymore, and I’m not going to let you control me anymore. You can’t tell me to go down there and take care of that child anymore! It’s too much, holding back the bugs and the rust, and I’m not going to let you do it anymore. You can’t order me around, you miserable, sadistic, godforsaken, shit-faced, pathetic excuse for a man! I hate you! You hear that, I hate you, you sadistic shit-filled pig! I wish I’d never met you, that I’d never let you demand that I do all these things. I wish I’d never taken this fucking job! I don’t care if you give it to me. Please, just let me go. If you have even a shred of humanity in you, just let me go. If you do, I won’t tell anyone about this. But if you don’t, then fuck you. I’m going to tell them about what you’ve been doing here and they’ll come for you with all the rest! I’ll make sure you’re hated by everyone in this town!” Lisa screamed, threatening the doctor with all the vile hatred and anger she had kept inside over the past few years.
As she listened to the argument, Alessa wondered what substance they were talking about. Were they using something to control Lisa, something to counteract the effects of the Otherworld that Lisa was surely feeling? Or was it something to do with her? Alessa wasn’t crazy about Lisa’s idea of leaving her behind, but she understood. There was no way to get her out of there, and even if Lisa told the police, they wouldn’t be able to help her. And even if the police came, and the Order was prepared, Dahlia would make sure they would die before they even opened the door.
She was trapped.
Lisa began to leave. Kaufmann contemplated that for a moment, seemingly in thought. And then Kaufmann rushed at the nurse, arching his arm as if to strike her for her attitude. The vision disappeared after that.
Alessa gasped a bit, as the vision faded into nothing.
Whoa. That was intense. Alessa took a moment for herself, as she thought about what had just happened. That was an interesting experience. It was obvious that Lisa didn’t really know what she was saying anymore, but she was just furious and wanted to get out. Alessa had never really known the details of what had happened in those final days between Kaufmann and Lisa, beyond just a few basics, but it was obvious she was getting a close-up view here. She didn’t really know why she would be so affected – was it really that bad taking care of her, she wondered? – but she sympathized with Lisa’s desire to get out of her situation.
She had obviously been disturbed greatly by it. She knew there had been some after-effects of the Otherworld leaking out from her nightmares, but Alessa wouldn’t have thought the effects would be so severe.
Alessa walked the hallway of the first floor. Suddenly, she came upon a note lying on one of the benches to the side, to the right of the hallway. Alessa rushed up to the note, wondering when it had appeared. She couldn’t believe she hadn’t seen it before. Maybe she had missed it, being distracted by the thoughts of procuring that key? The note was a folded piece of paper, written on a piece of hospital stationary. Alessa picked up the note, her eyes skimming down the lines of text as she read the contents of the hospital memo with an open curiosity. The memo was apparently devoted to the overall state of the hospital, and was from a time from before her stay there during which the hospital was undergoing extensive construction.
CONSTRUCTION!
As you know, the renovations to the
upper floors have run into
problems! The plumbing leak and
substandard materials used have
forced us to close off the third
floor until further notice. We are
reminded of the familiar adage:
you get what you pay for!' We now
face six more months of work,
reducing our capacity for the
coming year. We will have to cut
spending on inpatient care and
consultancy fees by 50%.
Therefore we ask doctors to refrain
from committing patients and
encourage home stays instead.
Unless they're dying in your arms,
don't book 'em in!
STAFF PARTY!
Worry not! The staff party is still
on (our recreation budget is locked
away where no one can tamper!)
Everyone meet at Annie's Bar at
8pm on Friday. Alcohol (medicinal
of course!) and food will be free.
Arrive early to grab a trainee
nurse: they go quick!
Alessa set down the memo with a sinking feeling growing in her stomach. She had known this was bad, that the hospital staff was corrupt when it came to maintaining an actual helpful atmosphere, but she didn’t know just how corrupt it was until she read this memo. Alessa fought to hold down the urge to throw up, clasping her hand tightly over her mouth. The images of them dragging people to these, drugging nurses with alcohol, taking advantage of them. The image of Lisa in that situation, struggling against her captors, gave her little shivers inside, and she had to struggle not to think too deeply about it…
So not only were they letting the building crumble around the patients and holding little girls hostage in the basement, they were also raping nurses, plying them with alcohol, and making a sheer disgrace of the place. They had the money for construction, but instead chose to spend it on partying instead of fixing the place and purchasing medical supplies for their patients, who desperately needed it. And if any of the trainee nurses were underaged… Alessa felt something lurch in the pit of her stomach. Yeah, this was a quality establishment, Alessa thought with a sneer. She was glad no one else was here. Alessa frowned downward in a profoundly upset motion. This was sickening. This…there were no words. This place was deserted. She should just burn it down to the ground. The only thing that stopped her was the thought of what would happen to the people on the other side, if there were in fact any patients and doctors in the building on the other side of reality.
She wouldn’t have believed the callousness of these doctors and nurses towards the other patients, even the other nurses, if she hadn’t read this memo. Jesus, what the hell was wrong with this place, and the town’s people? Every time she thought she had discovered exactly what the town was capable of, she found something worse. It was one thing to pick on her, since she was Kaufmann’s little secret project. But the other patients? What was their excuse there? And the other nurses? What right did they have to abuse them like that? Not to mention, it was all being done under the most suspicious of circumstances. This place was filthy. It was inhumane, to keep people in these deplorable conditions! While the doctors wasted their money on booze and nurses, the patients lingered in subpar rooms, second rate equipment, filth. No patient should have to live in these dust-covered, poorly maintained, filthy rooms that were just a step ahead of a sewer. Bastards; the hell with them. She hated them all. She hated them utterly with every fiber of her being.
Alessa set the memo down. There was nothing she could do. She took a few moments to calm herself, until she was once again her calm self. She shoved the paper into her backpack.
It was better to focus simply on doing her task. These things were in the past; there was nothing that could be done to change them now.
She opened the doors into the elevator and went inside, closing them behind her.
~
Alessa stood in front of the door on the third floor, holding the key in front of her. There were no unusual noises emanating from under the door or anything like that, nor was there any light that shone underneath or something. The door to Room 304 looked like the door to any other room in the building. But Alessa knew it wasn’t. There was something waiting for her behind that door. She didn’t know what it was, and she didn’t particularly care. It was obvious that the way out of here was through that door. The front door and windows on the first floor weren’t going to be of help. She needed to find out what was in this room. With trembling hands she held up the key to the lock and pushed it inside. The shimmering key was glistening in the darkness, and Alessa wished she could remember where it was from. Finally, she heard the telltale click of the door that signified the lock was open. Steadying her resolve, she took a deep breath and calmed her nerves. She turned the door handle and went inside.
The room was much larger than she expected. The darkened concrete walls of the structure stretched around her, and there was a large pit in front of her, lurking ominously several feet away. It was almost like the reality of the room had stretched the confines of the hospital, and the room was somehow much larger on the inside than it was on the outside. Like it was magic, she thought distantly. She looked suspiciously at the hole, waiting to see if it was obvious that something was going to jump out, she thought sneeringly. There were various medical equipment devices and knick knacks scattered around like light stands, tables, files, and so forth, including two tables, a cabinet, and some scalpels laying around.
Alessa shone her flashlight around at the room, peering closely through the darkness around the room. Something was wrong here. She could feel it. There was the dirtied shape of a doctor’s robe hanging over the pit, barely recognizable. Alessa didn’t even see it until she looked closer. She tried to make out the I.D. on the robe, but it was indiscernible.
Suddenly, the ground began shaking beneath her. Alessa cried out and fell back, as the rumble of the building swept through the entire room. What was going on here?! Something big was coming up, that was for sure. Alessa shuddered to think what was responsible; what could possibly be causing the entire building to quake like this? It was a sensation so strong that she literally felt it in her bones, like the entire building was crumbling into ruin.
It wasn’t long before the culprit revealed itself. A massive flesh-colored creature rose up from the hole and anchored itself into the wall, grasping onto it with an expanse that covered the entire wall. The creature roared in a powerful gesture, generating a wave that swept through the entire room.
Alessa stared at the horror as she gasped in shock. What was this?! She took a moment to examine the creature, as much as it would allow to see what she was up again. The mass of flesh and eyes, and teeth that were razor sharp and misshapen, resembled nothing less than a monster out of the darkest cosmic horror novel. The figure at the center under the flaps of skin barely resembled a human being, and it was obvious the two parts were integrated into one hideous monstrosity. The creature growled low in its ‘chest’, if it had such a thing, awaiting the responses of its prey.
She grimaced in revulsion, as the grotesque monstrosity writhed in front of her. Well, this was going to be difficult. She kept her distance, unsure if the creature would take a step toward her if prompted.
Alessa pulled out her handgun and shot the creature several times. The loud shots echoed in the chamber, as they struck with devastating force against the pliant target of flesh that should rupture in response.
The shots appeared to have no effect. The creature remained firmly unfazed; eight shots had failed to make a dent in it, to Alessa’s horror. The creature roared in what seemed to be an enunciation of agony, to Alessa; it was obvious the humanoid form under the layers of flesh and muscle was in a great deal of pain. But that did not stop it from considering her a threat, and ruthlessly attacking her. The creature drew two tentacles from either side of its body, and aimed them out towards her, preparing to attack with the blunt shaped ends.
Alessa dodged out of the way as a tentacle slammed down beside her, and again as the left one came down. The creature reared back, and once again the creature brought down its tentacles to strike her. When the tentacle slammed down near to her right, Alessa sliced it down with her sword and cut the flesh in two. The creature retracted the limb back into itself, as it was injured in roaring pain. Alessa swung her sword to her left, and once again cut the tentacle there in two. The monster roared back in pain, as it retreated back into its shell.
The monster remained waiting for several moments. To her dismay, two more tentacles emerged from the fleshy husk, regenerated and ready to take action. The tentacles shot downward, and Alessa noticed that they were feeding on the blood that had been spilled from its own body with the first few shots, lapping up the fluid eagerly. It’s a parasite, Alessa realized, feeding on whatever was nearby. She wondered if she could use that to her advantage somehow, but she felt more repulsed than anything, and soon had no time to contemplate the thought further. Alessa shot the being several times, each shot laying into the monstrous creature with thunderous effect, shooting off chunks of its flesh. Alessa frowned to herself; she was running out of bullets in her current clip and needed to reload. She tried to cut off one of the tentacles again, but the creature knocked the sword out of her hand and tried to strike at her again, sending her back.
Alessa brought up her arm to defend herself, but the force of the blow was too strong and knocked her to the ground. Sprawled out in face-first position, Alessa realized the ring she had picked up had fallen out of her pocket and had struck the ground hard. The crystal that was inside had dislodged and shattered into a million pieces, splattering a large puddle of red fluid in its wake. What was this stuff? Alessa wondered. But whatever it was, she had no time to contemplate about it now.
The creature smacked on the hard tile beside her with a thud, once again having missed its mark. Without her sword, she had to improvise. Alessa pulled out her knife and pinned the tentacle to the ground in its center, holding it firmly in place. Suddenly, she was struck by a sudden thought that occurred to her, and Alessa smirked as she wondered whether it would work. Alessa pulled out her stun gun and pushed it forcefully at the other tentacle languishing in the air. The creature reeled back, retracting its tentacle as the stun gun sent a jolt of electricity through its body, and it roared in pain.
With the coast cleared and the other tentacle pinned, Alessa was free to reload. She took her time in slamming another cartridge into the gun, and reset her weapon on the being. Alessa shot the creature several times in succession, not failing even once in making her target. By now the creature retracted its long limbs and held them close to itself in a defensive position. Alessa knew she needed to finish this quickly; the longer she let this battle go on, the more she was going to risk running out of ammo, and have less available for when she needed it later. Suddenly, she spotted something that she hadn’t even noticed in her view up until this moment: a lighter, tucked into a corner of the hospital room in an almost nondescript way.
She decided it was worth it. Alessa dove for the lighter, sliding under the tentacle waving around in the air above her. She snatched up the lighter quickly and stammered back, before the tentacle could hammer her again with that hell of a punch. She now quickly had to figure out what to do, before the creature regained its focus.
The creature was now spitting up a reddish substance, one that flowed from its mouth like a river and spray of crimson. Alessa quickly stepped back to avoid getting hit or damaged from any of the spray. It burned slightly as it hit the ground, and Alessa wondered why it was somehow so familiar in her mind, despite never having seen it before. She noticed there was a type of fluid covering the body of the creature. Alessa looked down at the lighter in her hand. She didn’t want to think about the idea, but she had a feeling of what she had to do.
Alessa focused closely on the creature. She smirked at what she was about to do. And then, taking careful aim, she threw her lighter straight at the creature’s chest. The creature exploded into flames, its body bursting brutally with light as the fire spread around and consumed it.
Alessa shielded her eyes from the horrible image of the creature burning in a smoldering inferno, as it roared in the furious throes of pain. The sound was terrible, and she silently hoped that it would be over rapidly before she had to endure much more of this. The flames finally extinguished themselves gradually on their own, and Alessa dared to have a look at what damage her adversary had suffered from the heavy burning.
The creature was still intact in its overall form, but its surface had suffered severe burns all over its expanse. It was obvious that it was weakened, and now was the time to take advantage of that. Alessa shot the creature several times in succession, shooting off one burst of flesh after another in a smoking hole while the creature continued its cries of agony, until things halted. On the sixth shot, the creature collapsed on the ground, and the roar of its death throes was deafening as it came to rest on the hospital floor.
Alessa backed away in relief, but the sensation was short lived. Suddenly, she found the world changing around her, and she was helpless to stop it.
The flood of white overwhelmed Alessa’s senses, as she found her mind being pulled into unconsciousness.
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Dark Descent