Chapter 1

It wasn't hard to get there. Every road almost always lead straight to it. Despite what people say, you don't see the smoke until after you're baffled by the empty streets. The cars are all parked, every one dating back to the fifties, some as "early" as the sixties. The shops still have displays in them with the "latest" fashions that mirrored the age of the cars. The streets have a grime over them, thick with ash and yellowing dust, possibly stained by fog carrying particles, or heck even dust storms will happen on the fly in random cities. Why should Silent Hill be any different?

Donnie adjusted his bag over his shoulder, hugging the worn leather to his side. He's heard of this place, but never could find any research that lead to the actual existence of the coal town that was perpetually on fire. But here it was, right in their path. Him and Raph were to go on some sabbatical to help "team bonding" after the two of them got into a large fight back at home. It was out of nowhere, spurred on by seemingly nothing. But it was enough for Splinter to get an address from April and send them on their way.

The Mechanic moved his scarf up higher over his mouth mor against the cold than the possibility of being seen by anyone. This was a ghost town at its best and despite the fires burning hundreds of feet below them, it was very cold.

"Raph... I don't think we'll find a gas station that'll actually have fuel for the van."

Raphael grunted in reply. He was looking around as if working out if he could prove the genius wrong. As usual though, Donnie appeared to be right.

"I just wish I could see more than five feet in front of me." he waved his hand, trying to hopelessly dispel the thick fog. He rolled his shoulder and looked at his partner. "So what do you wanna do now?"

"Well, since the van is out of gas and it doesn't look like we'll be able to get non-combustible fuel... we'll have to just walk." Donnie felt his skin twitch. He silently hoped that Raphael would agree to just walk through town and go the last seventy miles by foot. After all, if they just carried everything then they could make camp if they got too tired to travel any further. To try and help convince the typical hot head he added, "It's really not that far."

Once again Raphael opted for grunting rather than speech. Sometimes it was just best to agree with his older brother. He just wished this place wasn't so cold. He turned away from Donnie and climbed into the back of the van. "I knew we should have brought my bike. Either one actually. Heck- if we had brought both my Nightwatcher bike and the Shell Cycle we'd be laughing!"

"Laughing at what Raph? Not having supplies because we had to make room for your bikes? Yeah, frostbite and exposure are very funny things. Just like stab wounds and broken bones, just hilarious." Donnie snorted under his breath. He was tired of this, it wasn't just Raph. It was everyone else as well, how they just took advantage of the fact they have a place to live and food to eat. They don't seem to understand where all their supplies come from, how much work it takes to keep them on the mend. Keep them entertained and sacrifice everything just so they could have things that go fast or look really cool.

"Okay, okay! Yesh!" Raph picked up his own duffle bag and took out his shell cell. "Maybe we could just phone the guys to come pick us up. It would be better than fucking walking." He flicked the phone open- no signal. He jumped out of the van and waved it in the air, still trying to get a signal. "Don- your techno-skills are declining." He pulled the phone closer to his face, pressing random buttons to try and get it to work. "I thought this thing was supposed to call from anywhere."

"Two things; Either you're not using it right or there is no service in this area. The shell cells only piggyback on satellite signals where receptors are placed. If there are no receptors here, then we'll get no signal. Despite best efforts even satellite phones have their blank spots." Donnie fished into his own pocket for his phone. Pulling it out he wrinkled his nose. There was something wrong.

"Let me see yours." Before Raph could reply he swiped the shell cell out of his brother's dark colored hand and looked at it. It matched his. "This isn't right..."

"I thought you said that cell have their blan-." Raphael stopped for a moment, looking up. "Did you hear that Donnie?" He dropped the bag in favour of pulling out his sai- his mind switching to ninja-mode.

"Here what?" The mechanic didn't look up from the phones in his hands. He pressed buttons in sequence trying to get down into the core programming. The batteries were almost dead even though they were fully charged. Despite having no programs up something was draining the power quickly. He had to locate the trouble making virus or whatever it was and shut it down or they would be left without contact. It was at this time that something he couldn't explain happened; despite having everything shut down and he was in the actual programming data only, one of the cells started to crackle. A strange foreign noise being carried in with the white noise. He could barely hear it. Lifting it up to his ear he closed his eyes to try and concentrate on what was being transmitted. It might be the source of their problems with their phones. If only he could isolate it; hear it.

The eerie sound of what was unmistakably the music of a fanfare could just be heard under the white noise. It loomed and galumphed as if out of tune- occasionally almost freezing as jarring static overcame the horrid music.

Raphael's eyes darted around. He couldn't see anything but he could hear something. While Donnie was listening to the phone Raph could hear something so faint he almost couldn't hear it at all. It was almost as if he felt it. "A... Carnival...?"

"Maybe... someone was doing some home broadcasting and got signals messed up or a CB is nearby?" Donnie pulled the phone from his ear and closed down both of them. It didn't matter he needed to keep them off or the batteries would drain completely. They would have to get out of range for it to be safe to turn them back on.

He looked over at Raph. "... Edgy much? It's just a carnival broadcast. It just means there are people here. So the sooner we start moving, the better."

Raph wrinkled his snout at Donnie's comment. "Yeah, yeah- whatever." He picked up his duffel bag and slung it over his shoulder. He pulled his hood up further and started to pull supplies into his bag- making sure to keep his sais on hand. "Somthin' feels funny 'bout this place." he picked up his MP3 player- he had been using is all the way here as a way to avoid talking to Don. Every time he talked to Don they argued. "You sure it's a good idea to leave the van here?"

"It's not like we have much choice. It ran dry of gas." Don went to the van and pulled out a wrapped up tent and balanced it on his shoulder. He locked the doors as he continued to talk. "We just have to leave it locked and come get it when or if we come across a gas station and get a couple of gas cans."

He looked over at Raph who already had his ear buds in. Sighing heavily he double checked to make sure it was locked up. He brushed by Raph to get his attention so they could start walking. This was going to be a very long, very boring, very unnecessary trip.

tbc...