FicWad

JOSEPH: HOST
We’re in Silent Hill, a small lakeside resort town in the American northeast, where twenty people are about to begin the adventure of a lifetime. This quiet, unassuming town was a popular tourist destination for many years until occult rituals and demonic invasions turned it into a hell on earth. Now the streets are filled with deadly monsters and visibility is reduced to zero by a constant, suffocating blanket of fog. At night the city transforms in unexpected ways, opening new pathways while closing off others.

For these twenty people, this will be home for the next thirty-nine days. They will be abandoned, forced to scavenge the remains of the city for food and supplies in order to survive. It is the ultimate challenge, living together in a nightmare realm as they compete with the horrors of the town and the horrors within themselves. While everyone here has been to Silent Hill at least once, many of them will find that their memories of their experience are blurred, incorrect, or entirely erased. They must learn to adapt quickly or else they may be voted out of the cult. In the end, only one will remain to claim the one million dollar prize.

Thirty-nine days, twenty people, one Survivor.




Two military supply trucks drove side-by-side down a foggy road. The bright headlights of the twin trucks were useless against the mist, illuminating only a short distance ahead. The streets were empty, except for a few abandoned cars parked on the shoulders of the road. In the backs of the trucks were the twenty castaways, ten in each truck. They sat on the hard wooden beds of the trucks, bouncing and jostling lightly. They were all dressed in their normal clothes and carried with them a small bag of personal items. None of them spoke.



HARRY: ALCHEMILLA CULT
I really think that everyone who comes to Silent Hill is at least a little bit crazy, myself included. But it takes a special kind of madness to escape Silent Hill once and then volunteer to go back again. There are some places in the world where man is simply not meant to go. I’ve had uneasy feelings before, premonitions of doom, and the like. But this is the first time in my life where I am absolutely sure that something terrible will happen. I don’t even think it’s a question of “if,” only “when” and “to whom.”



The two trucks stopped in front of a large, dark brown building. A sign out front read “Lakeview Hotel.” The twenty castaways jumped out of the back of the truck. When everyone was out, the trucks lumbered away into the mist. The red glow of their taillights looked like two pairs of eyes piercing through the fog. Like everything else, the phantom eyes were quickly swallowed by the fog, leaving only the distant rumble of the trucks’ engines as they rolled away. The castaways stood alone in awkward silence for a few seconds.

“Over here, guys,” Joseph called from the hotel’s backyard. There was a gravel walkway that slithered between the hotel and a high, featureless stone wall. The path was only wide enough to admit the castaways in single file. Walter took the lead, taking long strides that forced the shorter survivors to jog to keep pace.

The Lakeview Hotel’s backyard was wide and offered an unobstructed view of Toluca Lake, but the fog prevented anyone from seeing out more than a few feet beyond the shore. Waves rhythmically rocked a small rowboat that was moored to a run-down wooden dock. On either side of the yard were two dry and broken water fountains. A wide set of stairs led up to the rear entrance to the hotel and it was here that the host, Joseph, waited for the teams.

Joseph’s body and clothes were all the same uniform shade of black. He was hairless, eyeless, and his mouth never moved. His body seemed to phase through the wooden patio as if his body were made of the same mist that suffused the air. He emerged from the floor only as far as his shoulders, leaving the rest of his body unseen.

After their initial surprise at seeing a ghost, everyone seemed to calm down and accept it at as fact. Everyone, that is, except Lisa, who looked back and forth between Joseph and the rest of the castaways, wondering if they were seeing the same thing she was.

“Is… he a ghost?” Lisa asked.

“Yeah,” Eileen said.

“Like… no kidding, a ghost?”

“No kidding.”

“How is that possible?” Lisa asked. Everyone stopped and looked at her. “I mean, ghosts aren’t real, right?”

“Ain’tcha never been to Silent Hill before, lady?” Eddie said.

“Of course!” Lisa said. “I grew up here. And there have never been ghosts before. This fog is weird too. Never seen it so thick before.”

Dr. Kaufmann stepped through crowd of other castaways to reach Lisa.

“Lisa,” Kaufmann said. “Do you remember anything that’s happened to the town lately?”

“I remember everything!” she said. “I remember being at home, applying for the show, doing all their tests and physicals, getting accepted, getting on those trucks, and then coming back here to find a ghost at the Lakeview Hotel and…”

Dr. Kaufmann gripped her by the shoulders. “It’s okay, Lisa. I’ll explain everything shortly. Just hold on for now.”



DR. KAUFMANN: BROOKHAVEN CULT
It’s clear that Lisa doesn’t remember anything since about the time when things started to go bad around Silent Hill. This is quite possibly the best turn of events I could have asked for. Now I need only find out how much she remembers, then exploit her ignorance. If she were still able to recall the events leading to the town’s downfall, she might be tempted to blame me for what happened. But now I can more easily convince her that I’m her ally and pin all the blame on Dahlia and her followers.

This is a great start indeed.



“That aside,” Joseph said, “let’s get down to business. I’m your host, Joseph Schreiber. You’ve already been divided into two teams, Alchemilla Cult and Brookhaven Cult. If Alchemilla would step over to the fountain on my left and Brookhaven to the fountain on my right, we can get started.”

The group separated as instructed, forming the two cults. Standing on left for Alchemilla Cult was: Alex, Angela, Claudia, Dahlia, Heather, Harry, Eddie, Travis, Mary, and Henry. Standing on the right for Brookhaven was Douglas, Cybil, Eileen, James, Elle, Maria, Lisa, Walter, Vincent, and Dr. Kaufmann.

“Excellent,” Joseph said. “Welcome to Survivor: Silent Hill. First, check your water fountains. Inside you will find a black bag full of your cult’s buffs: red for Alchemilla and blue for Brookhaven. These buffs must be worn somewhere visible on your body at all times to distinguish between the teams.”

The two cults found their bags and distributed the bandannas among their group. The bandannas had the show’s logo printed on them in a repeating pattern. Most people wore them on their heads or around their necks. Heather chose to tie hers around her wrist and Eddie wore his on his face like a bandit in an old Western movie.

“Good,” Joseph said. “Also in your fountains there will be a larger red bag. Be careful with these bags because inside you will find your starter kit: three flashlights with batteries, a radio with batteries, a knife, a crowbar, a hatchet, a steel pipe, and an unloaded pistol. The ammunition for the pistol is located in the side pouches of the bags. Please do not load the pistols just yet. These are tools to help you search for supplies and protect yourself against the town’s monsters.”

Lisa flinched. “Monsters!?”

Dr. Kaufmann touched her shoulder and said, “Don’t worry, I’ll explain everything.”

Joseph continued, “These weapons can never be used against another survivor, under any circumstances. The penalty for violating this rule shall be harsher than you imagine.”

Walter scoffed.

“Once you’ve emptied both bags, return them to the water fountain,” Joseph said. “The bags themselves are not a part of your starter kit and must be left here. One last gift before we send you on your way. Inside the drainage pipe of each fountain you will find a basic map of Silent Hill. The maps include the major streets and buildings. Areas of note are circled in red: the location of Cult Assembly, where the cults will meet to vote off members, the location of the Water Prison, where cult members who are voted off will await challengers so they may return to the game, and the location of your respective camps. Given your cult names, you can probably already guess where you’ll be heading for camp. Aside from your ration of beef jerky, which is at your hospital, these are the only things that will be given to you. All other items must be found in town or won in challenges.”

As Joseph spoke, the two cults worked on emptying out their two bags and prying the filter off the drain pipe so they could reach their maps. The maps were slightly damp from the condensation inside the pipes, but were easily readable.

“Night falls quickly in Silent Hill,” Joseph said, “So I suggest you hurry to your new homes and start setting things up. The last thing you want is to be stuck out here in the dark.”

With that, Joseph soundlessly sank into the floor and disappeared.

After a few seconds, Lisa asked, “He’s not really a ghost, is he?”

“In due time, nurse,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “First, we should divvy up these supplies and get moving. Like Joseph said, we don’t want to be out here after dark.”

“Why not?” Lisa asked. Dr. Kaufmann shushed her.

After some debate, Brookhaven Cult gave their knife to Eileen, the crowbar to James, the hatchet to Douglas, and the steel pipe to Walter. Dr. Kaufmann was about to keep the pistol for himself, when Cybil stopped him.

“Excuse me, but how much experience do you have with a pistol, Doctor?” she asked.

Dr. Kaufmann looked at her, then smiled. “But of course. The pistol should go to the one with the most experience with firearms.”

Cybil wore her police uniform, so her profession was obvious even to those who had never met her before. She took the pistol and the ammunition from Kaufmann. There were two full clips of ammunition, with 15 bullets in each clip. She inserted one clip into the pistol, chambered a bullet, and stuck the other clip in her pocket. She tucked the pistol into her belt.

Dr. Kaufmann handed out the flashlights to Vincent, Lisa, and Maria and kept the radio for himself. Elle was given the map.

“We should be heading off now,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “It’s a long walk to Brookhaven and it’s already getting late.”

With that, the cult headed back down the narrow path along the hotel and returned to the road. They traveled westward in a loose cluster. The people with weapons walked in front while everyone else stayed back and watched for monsters. Walter took long strides to distance himself from the group, traveling along the edges of the road. With maniacal glee, he brought down his steel pipe upon any monster that came within reach.
As the group pressed on, he began wandering back and forth across the road to flush out and destroy as many monsters as possible. Because of his size and strength, it rarely took more than a single blow to slay any creature that he approached. The rest of the cult watched his actions with growing concern.


ALCHEMILLA CULT
DAY 1


Meanwhile, Alchemilla cult had given their pistol to Alex, their steel pipe to Harry, the crowbar to Travis, the hatchet to Henry, and the flashlights to Heather, Mary, and Claudia. Dahlia kept the radio and the map for herself. When Alex had attempted to hand Angela the knife, she shrunk away and said, “I… I don’t think that’s the best idea.”

“What’sa matter?” Eddie said, his mouth covered by his bandanna, “’Fraid of a little knife?”

“Well… no... but…” Angela replied.

“I’ll take it, man,” Eddie said, extending his hand. “I ain’t scared.”
Alex shrugged and handed the knife over to Eddie.

Eddie held the knife high above his head. “Any monsters mess with me, they get cut!” He took a few broad, clumsy slashes at an imaginary monster, treating his weapon more like a broadsword than a hunting knife. Alex caught his arm by the elbow and stopped him.

“Watch it,” Alex said, “You’re gonna hurt somebody.”

Eddie jerked his arm out of Alex’s grasp. “I was just playin’. Wasn’t gonna hurt anybody.”

“Just be careful with that, okay?” Alex said.

“Yeah, sure thing.”



EDDIE: ALCHEMILLA CULT
I ain’t a baby. I can carry a knife by myself for __’s sake. I don’t need a big brother to watch out for me. An’ speakin’ of that, I found out that he’s a year younger than me! Like, who does he think he is, man? Friggin kid tellin’ me what I can and can’t do! He doesn’t know __ about me or anything and he’s already judgin’ me. Pisses me off.



“We got everything?” Alex asked. He tossed the two empty bags back into the water fountain. “Let’s head out then.”

Dahlia unrolled the map for everyone to see. She traced her finger along the roads that they would need to take to get to Alchemilla Hospital, which was circled bright red on their map. It was going to be a long walk, but there weren’t many turns involved so it looked to be a simple trip. The group headed down the gravel path alongside the hotel, reached the road, and turned east.

They traveled in a tight group down the center of the road. The static on Dahlia’s radio rose and fell intermittently, but it was only on rare occasions that a monster came close enough to the castaways to be visible through the thick fog. Whenever one did, Travis and Henry would lunge at it with their weapons to bring it down.

Eddie attempted to help the first few times a monster appeared, but after a few minutes of walking he started coughing and wheezing. He stopped trying to help Travis and Henry and his pace slowed. Before they even reached the halfway point of their journey, Eddie was no longer able to keep up. He bent over forward, clutching his side and gasping. Everyone stopped and waited for him.

“What’s the… damn hurry?” Eddie said. “Ain’t gonna… ain’t gonna be night… for a couple hours… at least.”

“We gotta set up camp,” Travis said. “Clear out monsters, get a place to sleep. That’s going to take time. I don’t know about the rest of you, but I want that over and done with before this place gets all messed up.”

“Then go,” Eddie said, still gasping. “Don’t let me stop you. I can… handle myself.”

“We can’t just leave you,” Alex said.

“I’ll be fine!” Eddie said.

“I didn’t want to say anything,” Dahlia said, “But perchance I may be a bit old for these long marches. I could use a break as well, perhaps a slower pace too.”

“Well I ain’t waiting for you,” Travis said. “This is ridiculous. Why are you on this show if you can’t even walk?”

“No sense being hasty, young man,” Dahlia said. “And no sense laying criticisms on one you’ve just met. Maybe I am no athlete, but there are powers in this world that mere muscle cannot compete with. If you cannot wait, then go. I shall arrive in due time.”

“Gladly,” Travis said, turning around and heading back down the road.

There was a moment’s pause as the remaining cult members considered their options. Most of the cult saw no reason for delay and had little reason to side with Eddie and Dahlia. They followed after Travis. Harry started after Heather but she whispered to him, telling him to stay and watch Dahlia. Harry saw the wisdom in this, and waited behind.

Angela was paralyzed with indecision. Her arms tight across her chest, she glanced back and forth between the two groups.

“But… shouldn’t… Hey…” she said. Soon Travis and his group were lost in the mist and Angela, by default, was forced to stay with Harry, Dahlia, and Eddie.

“So, children,” Dahlia said. “I don’t believe I know your names.”



HARRY: ALCHEMILLA CULT
I’m glad Heather knew enough to make sure I stayed behind to keep an eye on Dahlia. Eddie and Angela seem… well, I’ll just say that they can probably be lied to rather easily. If Dahlia had gotten a lot of alone time with those two, she could have formed a pretty strong alliance with them. Heather’s really got her head in the game. She’s so smart.




Without Eddie and Dahlia to slow them down, the rest of the cult made good time to Alchemilla Hospital. It wasn’t until they arrived that they realized that Dahlia still had both the map and the radio.

“It shouldn’t be a problem,” Henry said. “I never had that stuff when I came to Silent Hill. The monsters always made enough noise on their own and I just drew maps on scrap pieces of paper. Hey! That reminds me…”

Henry set his hatchet down and opened his personal bag and dug into it. He pulled out a small sketchbook and two small markers, one black and one red.

“I came prepared,” Henry said.

“Oh! Can I draw the maps?” Mary asked Henry. “After all, you need to be able to use your hatchet and I’m not doing anything else with my hands, except holding this flashlight.”

“Go for it,” Henry said. He gave Mary his sketchbook and markers and picked up his hatchet. “Uhh… black for the walls and red for like, blocked passages and locked doors. That was always my system.”

“Huh, me too,” Heather said. “And I always had a single red line for doors that were locked and needed a key and a zigzag line for doors that were broken and couldn’t be opened.”

“Me too,” Henry, Alex, and Travis all said together.

“Weird,” Heather said.

“Lotta weird things here,” Travis said. “Let’s just get going before even more weird things start showing up.”

And with that, the group pushed open the doors of Alchemilla Hospital and entered. It was pitch black inside. Heather swept the beam of her flashlight slowly across the room. They were in the hospital waiting room. Two long, red couches were in the corner of the room. To the left was a reception area. On the reception desk was a large cardboard box with the words “OPEN ME” written on the side. Behind the reception area was a hallway. Heather continued to sweep the area, but neither she nor the others could see anything else. Without Dahlia’s radio, they couldn’t tell if any monsters were in the room either. They approached carefully. Heather checked down the back hall and found it empty, except for a few closed doors.

“Looks clear,” Heather said. Mary wandered the waiting area, drawing a map of the room in excellent detail. Alex went to check out the cardboard box. On top he found a note, which he read aloud to the group.

“Welcome to your new home,” the note read. “Inside the box you will find your entire beef jerky ration for the duration of the thirty-nine days you will be here. Ration it well; all the rest of your food will have to be found in town or won in challenges.”

“Is it really possible to live on nothing but beef jerky for a month?” Heather asked. “I mean, just how healthy can that be?”

“Guess we’ll find out,” Alex said. He opened the box and pulled out a small bag of some obscure brand of beef jerky.

“Don’t carry any of it around,” Heather said. “Some monsters really like that stuff. I found that out the hard way.”

“Point taken,” Alex said, dropping the bag back into the box. “So I guess it should stay here for now while we clear out the hospital.”

“I say we go floor-by-floor,” Travis said. “Clear out all the monsters, then rummage for supplies. Bring anything we find back here. Lather, rinse, repeat.”

“Sounds good,” Alex said. “Food, weapons, and bedding should be our priorities right now.”

The group headed down the back hallway. There were only two doors: one on the left and one at the end of the short hallway. The door on the left was locked. The other door opened with a loud creak. Henry and Travis went through first, standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the narrow hall. Heather stood behind them, holding her flashlight as high as she could so the light would shine over the two men and down the hall as far as possible. Alex stood next to Heather with his pistol ready, in case there were any monsters too big for Travis and Henry to handle. Mary followed behind, busily scribbling on the sketchpad. Claudia lingered behind the group, idly sweeping her flashlight around.



CLAUDIA: ALCHEMILLA CULT
Now is not the time for me to be calling attention to myself. It is not part of the plan for me to be a strong personality in this group, although I feel I could lead them as well as any other. No, my role is more passive in this game, and I must play my part accordingly or else it may all come to ruin. Fortunately, I am familiar with patience and humility, so I feel no pressing desire to stand out, or be a leader.



A freakishly large cockroach charged down the hall as soon as the group opened the door. Travis smashed it with his boot, but it was twice the size of his foot and as such, was only chopped in half. The other half continued charging at the group until Henry finished the job with a stomp of his own.

A deformed nurse, wielding a steel pipe, stumbled into the range of Heather’s flashlight. Henry adjusted his grip on his hatchet and took a massive arching overhead swing at the nurse. The edge of the hatchet buried itself deeply into the nurse’s shoulder. With a feminine cry, the nurse toppled over into a squirming heap, taking Henry and his hatchet with her.

“Aaaah!” Henry cried as he got pulled off his feet and on top of the nurse. The nurse was still alive, kicking and thrashing. Henry got to his knees and tried to yank his hatchet free of the nurse’s shoulder, but it was lodged in the bone and wouldn’t come out. Another nurse stumbled into the light and raised its pipe to swing at Henry.

“Move!” Travis yelled, pushing Henry aside and swinging his crowbar like a baseball bat. With a meaty crack, the nurse’s neck broke and its skull caved partially in. It dropped to the floor and lay motionless in a spreading pool of its own blood. With another strike from his crowbar, Travis finished off the first nurse, and all went silent in the room.

Travis and the others braced themselves for another attack, but none came. Henry climbed to his feet, planted his shoe firmly on the neck of the nurse, and yanked his hatchet free.

“I swear that’s never happened before,” Henry said.

Moving as one large group, the survivors went from room to room, killing any monsters they could find. Henry took much more conservative swings with his hatchet, aiming for the neck and head for quick kills. He and Travis made a pretty good team and neither ever got in the way of the other.

When they came on a locked or broken door, Travis would pry it open with his crowbar. The act would often tear the door and the lock right out of the frame, completely destroying both, but property damage was not anyone’s priority at the time.

As soon as every room was cleared of monsters, the group scoured the rooms again, this time searching for supplies. In the kitchen they found a few rusty knives, but they were too dull and brittle to be useful as weapons. They checked the ovens and the microwaves, but none of them were operational. The cupboards were bare, the shelves empty. A pot full of some mysterious rotting stew sat on a burner in the back of the room. No one was desperate enough to try eating it and they doubted they would ever be that hungry in their lives.

The rest of the first floor consisted mostly of offices and examination rooms. There were nothing in those rooms except documents and desks. There were a few usable chairs, however, and the group brought them into the waiting room.

The biggest discovery was in the supply room, when they found a large pile of tattered, stained bed sheets in a corner. The sheets smelled awful and the stains couldn’t be identified, but the group had not found anything else that could be used as bedding, so they brought the whole pile back to the waiting room.

“What the hell?” Travis said. “It’s been damn near an hour now. Where are the others?”

“I hope nothing happened to them,” Mary said.

“Something better have happened to them,” Travis said. “If they come in here with anything less than a horror story about severed limbs and near-death experiences, I ain’t letting them have any of our beds. Hell, I’ll vote their lazy asses off first chance I get. If they can’t even keep up walking with the rest of us, they don’t deserve to be here.”

“Should we go look for them?” Mary asked.

“Let’s just keep working here,” Alex said. “If it gets dark, we’ll send out a search party.”



HEATHER: ALCHEMILLA CULT
I really wanted to defend my dad. I know he’s not lazy and that if he’s an hour behind everyone else, it’s because something happened. Either they got attacked or Dahlia and that other guy are holding them up. But I had to bite my tongue. I gotta play the game. I know it’s really dumb to get into an argument on Day One over something as stupid as whether or not my dad is lazy. I have to be calm.

But it’s not always easy.


BROOKHAVEN CULT
DAY 1

Brookhaven Cult’s journey to their eponymous hospital was considerably easier than Alchemilla’s, due largely to Walter’s gleeful slaughter of any and all monsters he could find. The radio in Dr. Kaufmann’s hand remained quiet through most of the journey, as Walter ensured that no monsters ever came close enough to trigger it. The only signs of Walter’s presence were the occasional bloody footprints crossing the road, or a mangled monster corpse lying broken in the street.

The rest of the cult, minus Walter, all arrived together at Brookhaven, with no stragglers or weak party members. Vincent and Dr. Kaufmann were stiff and uncomfortable in their suits and Douglas found himself to be quite overdressed in his trench coat and hat. He removed both a few minutes into the walk and carried them under his arm.

“Has the guy in the blue coat already gone inside?” Maria asked, referring to Walter. No one in the group had seen him in quite a while, but two dead monsters adorned the front stairs of the hospital, their skulls crushed in.

“I think it’s safe to assume that he’s here,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “And if not, does anyone really want to go looking for that nutcase?”

No one responded.

“I didn’t think so,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “We should just get inside.”

Inside the hospital was pitch-black. Vincent, Lisa, and Maria all turned on their flashlights.

“We shouldn’t need all three flashlights,” Elle said. “Probably would be best to only use one. Save batteries and all.”

Vincent and Maria shut theirs off, leaving Lisa as the sole source of light.

“My watch has stopped, so I can’t say what time it is,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “But we really need to get everything set before dark comes. I don’t know this hospital very well, but I think there’s a kitchen and some patient rooms on the first floor. That should get us some food and beds for the night.”

“We should look for a map,” James said. “There’s usually a map right by the entrance. At least, that’s my experience.”

Lisa swept her flashlight across the walls and, as James had guessed, there was a map of the hospital taped to a chalkboard to the left of the entrance. The group pulled it down and examined it.

“I was right,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “A kitchen and some patient rooms, here on the first floor. Let’s go.”

Brookhaven Hospital did not immediately open into a waiting area like Alchemilla. Instead, the hallway split to the left and the right from the entrance and formed a long rectangle. All the rooms branched off from this rectangle, or were tucked inside the rectangle. Lisa’s flashlight revealed that every single door was wide open, except for the few that were broken. More monster corpses littered the hallways and the occasional room.

“Guess we know that guy has already been here,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “Fine by me. Just makes cleanup easier.”



EILEEN: BROOKHAVEN CULT
I wanted to tell everyone that, oh, by the way, Walter is a serial killer psychopath and he nearly murdered me—I still have numbers scarred into my back—but I don’t know any of these people. For all I know, they could all be serial killers except me. Unlikely of course, but I’m not taking any chances. Walter’s little killing spree is making it a lot safer and easier to get around, so no one’s complaining. The question is, what is he going to do when he runs out of monsters?



Aside from a few cursory glances into the rooms of the hospital to double-check for monsters, the group made a straight line to the kitchen, hoping to find plenty of food to tide them over for the next thirty-nine days. Knowing Survivor and knowing Silent Hill, no one had very high expectations.

The sight of the monster corpses, along with the rotting appearance of the hospital and the rank smell of mold and filth were all becoming too much for Lisa to handle. She’d been able to keep herself together for the walk to the hospital, mostly because the trip had been almost completely uneventful, but seeing the terrible state of the hospital and the bodies of monsters dressed as nurses—nurses like her—was too much for her to rationalize.

“I… I need to go outside,” Lisa said, turning around.

“What?” Dr. Kaufmann said. “What for?”

“I need some air,” Lisa said, heading back to the entrance.

“Come back here!” Dr. Kaufmann called. Without Lisa’s light, the group was swallowed by darkness. Maria clicked on her light as Eileen and Elle followed after Lisa.

“Women,” Dr. Kaufmann muttered. Cybil and Maria glared at him in the dim light. “What? You don’t see any of the men running off for ‘some air’ do you?”

“You know what?” Douglas said. “I need some air too.” He turned and followed after the girls.

“Damn it, what are you doing?” Dr. Kaufmann said. “Come back here!”

He sighed and looked at the others. “Anyone else?” he asked. No one said anything. “Good, let’s get moving.”



DOUGLAS: BROOKHAVEN CULT
You know, I can deal with a lot of things. Monsters? Fine. Crazy cults? Okay, sure. But I’ve never been able to put up with bigots. Never. Even if it ruins my chances for the million dollars, I won’t take the side of a sexist __hole. I’m gonna play this game straight and be the good guy, even if it kills me. That’s just who I am.



Minus four members and Walter, the remaining five survivors continued to the kitchen. The door was closed, locked, and partially barricaded by scraps of wood and boxes. They cleared aside the junk in front of the door, then James pried open the door with his crowbar. As soon as the door tore open, the five were assaulted with the intensely foul stench of rot coming from the kitchen.

“Aw god! Close the door! Close the door!” Cybil said, covering her mouth with one gloved hand. Gagging, James shut the door, but it wouldn’t stay closed since he had destroyed the lock to open it. He leaned against the door, pulling a heavy box towards him with his foot. He used the box to block the door shut.

“Guess there’s no edible food in there,” Maria said.

“Probably not,” James said, “But we might have to go in there eventually.”

Everyone looked at him, perplexed.

“Don’t you know?” James said. “The best things in Silent Hill are always hidden in the most disgusting and scariest places. Like, one time I stuck my hand in a clogged toilet and ended up getting a bunch of ammo out of the deal. The worse it is, the better the payoff.”

There was dead silence.

“You did what?” Maria said.

James paused. “You… you gotta look everywhere,” he said. “And it was clogged, but it didn’t look used. There wasn’t any… you know… anything in it.”

“Remind me not to shake your hand ever,” Dr. Kaufmann said. The group went back through the other empty rooms looking for supplies. There was a cafeteria adjacent to the kitchen, but it smelled almost as foul as the kitchen, so they quickly closed that door too. The rest of the rooms were offices and meeting rooms with nothing useful in them.

In the reception room, they found a large cardboard box with “OPEN ME” written on the side. The box had the same note and the same quantity of beef jerky that Alchemilla had received.

A long hallway extended from the main loop on the first floor and it was there that the patient rooms were located. This area had already been covered by Walter and was littered with monster corpses. The doors were wide open.

“Does he see in the dark or something?” Cybil asked. “He doesn’t have a flashlight.”

The group checked the rooms systematically, finding a usable bed in each of the four patient rooms. They also found a small restroom with a toilet.

“Does the toilet work?” Maria asked.

“I don’t know,” Vincent said. He looked at James. “Why don’t you check?”

James shrugged and went to the toilet. He pushed the lever and the toilet gurgled and rattled, but flushed adequately.

“Seems fine,” James said. His eyes widened when he saw Vincent’s sneer. “Oh, you were making a joke. About the toilets.”

“It just seemed like you’d be the best candidate for the job,” Vincent said. He shrugged. “Previous experience is important, you know.”

“I get it.”

“Quit screwing around, you two,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “The toilets work, so that’s good. We still need to decide where we’re going to sleep. If every patient room has a bed, then it shouldn’t be a problem getting one for everybody.”

“So we all get out own rooms then?” Maria asked.

“That’s one option,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “But there’s only four rooms on the first floor, and probably the same number on the other two floors. Which would mean we’d have to sleep on different floors. Could be dangerous, splitting us up like that.”

“There’s fourteen patient rooms on the third floor,” James said, consulting the map. “They’re small, but they should work.”

“Let me see that,” Dr. Kaufmann said, taking the map from James. He looked it over and saw that James was telling the truth. “Everyone okay with going up to the third floor every night?”

“Don’t see why not,” Cybil said. “As long as we keep the third floor, the stairwell, and the entrance area clear of monsters, it shouldn’t be a problem.”

“Guess we’re going up,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “I wonder if that guy in blue has cleared out all the monsters there yet.”

“I have,” Walter said from a few feet down the hall. Everyone jumped in surprise. His steel pipe was soaked in blood and dripping. His clothes were stained with patches of red and his shoes left bloody footprints wherever he went. “It didn’t take as long as I thought it would. There weren’t that many here.”

“How long have you been there?” Dr. Kaufmann asked.

“Long enough to hear the toilet joke. Not sure I get it.”

“You didn’t miss anything,” Dr. Kaufmann said. “It wasn’t funny.”

“I thought it was,” Vincent said.

ALCHEMILLA CULT
DAY 1

“Honey! I’m home!” Eddie called as he walked into the darkened hospital waiting room. He still wore his red buff around his mouth. Harry, Angela, and Dahlia followed in after him. The door closed on its own, leaving the four in near total darkness.

“Any a you got a flashlight?” Eddie asked. Eddie had the knife, Harry had a steel pipe, and Dahlia had a radio, but none of them had any source of light. A few moments later, Alex and Heather entered from the back hall. The sudden illumination from Heather’s flashlight made the four newcomers squint.

“What happened?” Alex asked. “It’s been almost an hour and a half since we split up.”

“We were stalled,” Dahlia said. “The monsters, it seems, grow bolder when faced with fewer foes. We were ill-equipped to handle such creatures and required a detour. My apologies for our late arrival.”

Meanwhile, Eddie had found the box of jerky on the reception desk. “Sweet! Food!” he said, taking out a bag of beef jerky.

“Hey, put that back,” Alex said. “We haven’t rationed it out yet.”

“Ration?” Eddie said. “What for? There’s plenty here. We’ll be fine.” He opened the bag. The smell of beef, pepper, and teriyaki seasoning filled the room.

“Damn it,” Alex said. He pulled the bag out of Eddie’s hands. “This has to last all of us for thirty-nine days. You can’t just eat whenever you want.”

Fortunately, the bag was re-sealable. Alex fastened it shut and tossed it back into the box.

“What the hell, man?” Eddie said. “I’m starvin’ over here.”

“You look like you could stand to starve a little more,” Alex said.

“What’s that supposed to mean!?” Eddie said. He took a step towards Alex.

“Do you need me to do anything?” Harry asked, stepping in between Eddie and Alex. “I’m sorry we were so late. I’d like to help out if I can. Just tell me what to do and I’ll do it.”

Alex calmed down. “Yeah, sure. Check with Travis on the second floor. They’re arranging the beds and getting ready for tonight. He could probably use a hand.”

“Thanks,” Harry said.

“C’mon,” Heather said. “I’ll show you up.”

Harry and Heather made their way to the elevator. Alex lingered behind for a few moments, sizing up Eddie. It was dark in the waiting room without Heather’s flashlight, but everyone was able to at least see each other’s outlines in the faint light.

“You wanna start somethin’?” Eddie asked.

“Look, I don’t want any problems,” Alex said.

“Who said anything about problems?”

Alex ignored him and picked up the box of beef jerky.

“Hey, where you goin’ with that?” Eddie asked.

“Second floor ICU,” Alex said. “We’re moving all the supplies there. That’s why I came down here in the first place.”

“All the supplies? How much ya got?”

“Come and find out,” Alex said, turning and heading down the hall. Eddie and Dahlia followed after him. Angela crossed her arms, paced back and forth, then finally decided to sit on one of the couches to think.



ALEX: ALCHEMILLA CULT
Eddie’s a nutcase. I didn’t want to start thinking about strategies and who I’m going to vote off until at least after the first challenge, but I know now that I’m writing his name down as soon as possible. I couldn’t possibly spent thirty-nine days with him. I could barely last thirty-nine seconds.



Heather and Harry were alone in the elevator. Harry pushed the button to close the doors, but didn’t select a floor. The elevator doors slid shut.

“What’s been happening?” he asked Heather.

“Travis and Alex are kinda the leaders here,” Heather said. She spoke quickly, knowing their time was limited. “They’ve been calling all the shots anyway. We’ve been moving supplies and beds to the second floor and Travis got the elevators working about fifteen minutes ago. There hasn’t been much talk about alliances, but Travis is pretty pissed at you all for taking so long to get here. Watch out for him.”

“I see.”

“What about you?”

“Dahlia is full of __ when she says we got attacked. Truth is, Eddie had to take a ten minute break every five minutes. He’s in no shape to be here and he’s insufferable to be around. There weren’t many monsters at all, honestly.”

“Why is she covering for him?” Heather asked.

“I don’t know.” Harry pushed the button for the second floor. “You’ve been over the hospital’s three floors? Nowhere else?”

“That’s it. Why, is there something I should know?”

“I’ll show you later. Hopefully I’m the only one who knows. If I am the only one, we might have a big advantage over the others.”

The elevator arrived at the second floor and the doors slid open.

“—And we’ve been bringing beds down from the third floor,” Heather said. The two of them left the elevator. “There are six single-patient rooms on this floor, and two of them are big enough for two beds. With two more in the operating room, that’s enough space for everyone. We’re gonna draw pencils later to see who gets what room.”

“Draw… pencils?” Harry asked.

“Oh, we couldn’t find straws, but we found a bunch of pencils. Alex put notches in them. The number of notches means what room you get.”

“Looks like you guys have everything under control.”

“Yeah, it’s been going pretty good. You ready to haul some beds, old man?”

“I’d love to.”

BROOKHAVEN CULT
DAY 1

Douglas, Elle, Eileen, and Lisa sat on the hospital’s front steps. Though the fog was too thick to see the sun, they could tell it was setting by the deepening orange tint the mist acquired.

“I must be going crazy,” Lisa said.

“No. No you’re not,” Elle said. “It’s… it’s a shock to everyone their first time seeing this stuff.”

“You know what?” Douglas said. “It’s the town that’s crazy. Not you.”

“What happened here?” Lisa asked. “It wasn’t like this when I left. And this isn’t a part of the game either, is it? This is how Silent Hill is. So why don’t I remember anything?”

“If it makes you feel better,” Douglas said, “I remember when Silent Hill was a nice little town too. So you’re not imagining it. And then one day I came back here and it was like this. I don’t know when it changed, but it must have happened pretty fast. That might explain why you don’t remember anything.”

“I guess,” Lisa said. “And there was that weird cult here. There were always rumors about black magic and devil worship. I thought they were just that: rumors. But maybe… maybe they weren’t. Maybe they cast a spell or something.”

“All I know is, there are people here, in this game even, who know more than me,” Douglas said. “Maybe you oughta talk to one of them.”

“Like who?”

“Vincent seems to know things. And Dahlia’s name has been brought up before, last time I was here. And if Dr. Kaufmann offered to explain things to you, maybe he knows something too.”

“Maybe I’ll talk to him then,” Lisa said. “I always trusted Dr. Kaufmann.”

“Even with that comment he made?” Douglas asked.

“What comment? What’d he say?” Eileen asked.

“When you guys left, he said ‘women’ in a real sexist tone of voice,” Douglas said.

Elle and Eileen rolled their eyes.

“That’s just how he is,” Lisa said. “You get used to it.”

“I don’t want to get used to that,” Elle said.

“It’s okay, let me deal with him,” Lisa said.

“Does this mean you’re ready to go back in?” Douglas asked.

“I don’t know. I just… felt like the walls were closing in on me. So claustrophobic in there. Don’t you guys get creeped out by this?”

“All the time,” Eileen said. Douglas and Elle nodded in agreement.

“So how do you deal with it?” Lisa asked. “How do you keep it from getting to you?”

“I don’t know about the rest of you,” Douglas said, “But I just remind myself that only a few miles away, outside of this town, things are still normal. If it gets to be too much, it’s only a short car trip back to reality. We can leave this madness anytime.”

Lisa sighed. “I guess you’re right.” She stood up. “Well, I think I’m as ready as I’ll ever be.”

“Don’t worry,” Eileen said. “We’ve got your back.”

“All right,” Lisa said. “Let’s play Survivor.”