A/N: I'M BAAAACK! Not that I ever went anywhere. Working two jobs is kind of time-consuming, y'know? Also, writer's block is a bitch. Thank you all for being so patient with me!

Well, as usual I finished a chapter at one in the freaking morning, so I better get on with it so I can catch some shuteye. Enjoy the next installment, everyone! ;D

Everything was cast in hues of orange and gold due to the fading light of the sun, which was slowly but surely sinking below the horizon. Though the temperature had dropped to a comfortable degree, the day was still warm and humid. The light combined with the haze caused my surroundings to look soft, almost out-of-focus. A small part of my mind was telling me that this weather didn't fit the season, and that I had no idea where I was, but somehow none of it seemed to matter.

"I think our waiter forgot about us." He spoke, snapping me back to the present, and I remembered just why everything else was inconsequential.

I looked up to see him smiling in that reticent manner of his, the smile that never quite reached his eyes. Still, this was a step up from what I was used to, and I couldn't help but smile back at the joke.

Sneaking a glace back inside the small cafe, I just snorted. "I think he just rearranged his priorities. Sweet-talking the girl at the counter seems to top the list at the moment. I guess getting a good tip is at the bottom..."

He chuckled slightly at my remark. "It's fine. I remember being that age."

"Of course. You were a regular Casanova, weren't you, James?" It was impossible to hold back a grin.

The blond shook his head, hiding his own smile with the rim of his coffee cup as he took another sip. It had been a while, but it looked like bantering with him was just as easy as it had always been.

We were sitting outside at a coffee shop. There was a sign bearing its name high up on the wall to my right, but I couldn't quite read it from this angle. The amount of cars passing by and the height of the buildings around us suggested we were in a city, though the name of this place still continued to elude me.

How odd, after all this time, to suddenly find myself having coffee with him. It seemed just like something we would do, too.

Conversation with him came naturally, though there were some moments that were a little awkward. We were strangers, and yet close friends; we had been side-by-side through some of our darkest moments, but we knew next to nothing about each other. He was twelve years older than me—hard to relate to in normal circumstances. We made it work somehow. Through the blood and the agony and the terror, a strong bond had been formed.

"...How have things been for you?" James asked after a moment, his expression sobering. I heard the meaning behind his words—how have you adjusted? The look in his eyes suggested that moving on from the horrors of three years ago had been hell for him too.

"Fine," I replied quietly. Then I realized how clipped the response sounded, and attempted to elaborate. "It's...a little easier now. I guess you could say I'm a little less jumpy. What about you?"

He cracked a weak smile. "About the same. Laura...she's helped. You had someone to help you through it all, didn't you?"

I thought of Matt, and then nodded. "I guess so. I missed you, though."

"Yeah..." His eyes grew foggy.

"Hey, James?" I frowned, remembering something. A sense of urgency...I was supposed to be doing something, wasn't I?

"Hmm?"

"I came looking for you because..." The reason danced just beyond my reach. "There was something I...I needed to..."

His brow furrowed. "What do you mean? I'm the one who came to find you."

Our surroundings abruptly darkened as the sun finally vanished behind the trees, the light deepening from red to violet.

"No." I shook my head, confused. How had James and I ended up here? "That's not..."

"I went to Silent Hill," he said. Then he faltered, placing his coffee cup down with a shaking hand. "But you weren't...no...you were never..."

"James?" I didn't like that lost look he suddenly wore; I remembered it all too well.

He looked up to meet my gaze. His eyes were pained.

"Brittany...you're dead, aren't you?"

My heart stopped.

In the background, a siren had begun its slow wail. Stiffening, I looked around, noticing the way the buildings around us had deteriorated. I knew where this was. When I turned back to the table, James was gone.

The tablecloth was soaked with blood. A large moth landed in my coffee with a loud plop.

"...I guess there are things worse than death," I mumbled, picking the insect up by one wing. It squirmed feebly, stirring up dark memories.

The siren had reached an ear-splitting pitch. Creatures moved in the fog. I got to my feet, and watched as the past closed in on me.

They've come to witness the beginning. The rebirth of Paradise, despoiled by mankind...

Awakening was not exactly a pleasant experience. It started with me drowsily shifting position and reaching for the blankets, only for my hand to meet empty air. There were no blankets. My bed felt suspiciously like carpet, and my back ached.

Memories crept into my mind as I slowly dragged myself out of sleep. Then came the image of a glowing red Halo at the end of a dark tunnel, and the vivid feeling of being devoured. I shot up into a sitting position.

There was a loud thwack as my head connected with something hard, and I fell back down with a hiss. What the...?

Finally I opened my eyes and saw solid wood above me. I shifted my legs, feeling one of them connect with the wheels of an office chair, pushing it aside.

...I was lying underneath a desk. Beautiful.

More carefully this time, I pushed myself up and ducked out from beneath the desk. I gripped the wood and pulled myself to my feet, standing up a little shakily. My flashlight was turned on and lying on its side on the desk, the only source of illumination in the room. I picked it up with a frown. My handgun was still holstered, but my bag was nowhere to be found.

Somehow I wasn't surprised. But that didn't stop the sinking feeling in my stomach. Had all of my preparation been for nothing?

No, I couldn't think like that...I just had to take the situation and make the best of it. I had been much worse off than this before. As long as I had a weapon and a light source, I could get by.

First of all, I needed to figure out where I had been dumped. Now I raised the flashlight, shining it around the room. The center of the room had a series of desks cluttered with papers, computers, and various office supplies. The wall behind me was lined with cubicles.

It didn't take much for me to figure out that this was some sort of office building. The Hilltop Center? But that wasn't even in Silent Hill, was it? Why would I have woken up here?

My brow furrowed slightly. Heather had to be here. Vincent wanted me to find Heather...did Claudia want me to as well? If they had different goals, that didn't seem right...I wasn't getting the whole picture.

The Hilltop Center. Well, this was just great. What was I supposed to do here?

James had been sucked into this by The Order as well. For all I knew, he could be wandering around a floor below me, looking for a way out.

James...

I paused, suddenly remembering the dream. My conversation with him, his words and his reactions...it had all been so realistic. So like him. Could it really have been just a dream, an invention of my own mind? It felt like I had been so close to being reunited with him, only to be yanked away at the last minute. The burn of longing was like a physical pain now—I knew it was because there was no guarantee I would ever see him again.

He had asked me if I was dead. For all I knew, he was the one that was...

I shook my head. Dwelling on that sort of thing wasn't going to get me anywhere; I was here now, I had crossed the threshold into unreality. Now that I was here, there was nothing I could do but see this through to the end. That meant finding him...whether he was alive or not.

Before anything else, I needed a plan. What was I going to do after I left this room?

An image from the dream floated to the front of my mind. The cafe we'd been at had been on a street corner...I could remember catching a glimpse of the green signs as I had looked around. They had read Katz St. and Neely St.

Neely, as in Neely's Bar. I closed my eyes, thinking. Across the street had been a restaurant called Big Jay's. Other than that, I couldn't remember anything significant.

I ached for my collection of maps now. Neely Street...the bar was on the southern edge of town, and St. Stella's Church was on the corner of Neely and Nathan Avenue. This cafe had to be somewhere near the center of town.

Okay. It wasn't much to go on, but it was better than nothing. I would go and find the place from the dream...maybe it would yield some clues.

First I needed to get out of here...and hopefully find my missing supplies along the way.

I frowned at the room, scanning my surroundings once more. Was there anything here that I could use as a melee weapon? No...I could probably hit something with a chair if I really needed to, but the reality was that nothing here would be worth taking. It looked like I had just the gun for now. It was fully loaded with the maximum thirteen rounds—still, I was going to have to resort to fleeing at every available opportunity.

Now I moved towards the single door out of the room. Words were printed on the front of the door's window; I shined the flashlight on them, reading them backwards through the glass. KMN Auto Parts.

That was familiar. I frowned slightly, thinking. This was where Heather got the jack, right? The jack was used to open up the elevator doors, so...this had to be the top floor. The fifth? Sixth? I couldn't really remember. Where the hell were those maps...

Lowering the flashlight, I leaned forward and put my ear to the door, peering outside the window as well as I could at the same time. It was a little too dark out there to see...and I couldn't hear anything big shifting around out there, so that was good. The last thing I needed was to get tackled by an Insane Cancer the minute I left the room.

I shuddered at that thought. If I was going to be dealing with those things, I was going to need a lot more firepower. Shit.

Finally I turned the knob. The door opened with a quiet creak. I let it swing open, standing clear of the doorway and holding my breath.

...Nothing.

Okay...okay. Nothing in my immediate vicinity. That was good.

Already I had broken out in a cold sweat. It had been so long. Though I was more prepared now than I had been before, the fear still hit me just as quickly.

I swallowed and stepped out into the hallway, shining the light around. Nothing jumped out to attack me.

Thankfully—or maybe not so much, considering my current predicament—the surroundings were familiar to me. I remembered that this office building followed a similar layout on every floor; there were small hallways with rooms devoted to each particular business, while the central area held two elevators and a door to the stairwell. I needed to access the elevators to get out of here. And if the same paths were blocked off like they had been in the game, well...I guess I was going to be doing Heather's work for her. At least there was no one around to get suspicious at my strange knowledge of the area.

Moving down the corridor, I held the flashlight in my left hand and the gun in my right. The hallway was dead silent. I turned the corner and reached the door I had been seeking. Using two fingers while keeping a firm grip on the flashlight, I slowly turned the knob until I felt the latch come free. Then I backed off, waiting a second before I nudged the door fully open with one foot.

For a moment all I was met with was silence and darkness. I tensed, listening, hyperaware.

There it was. The sound of breathing other than my own. Familiar—almost like...panting? Where was it coming from? Too close.

Left!

My mind screamed the answer at the last moment and I heard an earsplitting howl, understanding that the Double Head had been standing close to the wall just outside my line of vision. I heard claws scrape against tile and reacted immediately, holstering the gun to free up one hand. Lunging forward, I grabbed the doorknob once more and yanked it towards me.

The door closed on the monster's left shoulder—it had managed to get one of its forelegs in the doorway. It let out another choked cry, struggling to get through the door. I hit it on the head with the flashlight, using my other hand to hold the door shut as well as I could.

My heart kicked into overdrive when I heard an answering howl come from behind me. I dared to turn my head and saw a second Double Head barreling towards me—where the hell had it come from?! Shit, shit!

I was spread dangerously thin. I could feel the hot breath of the first monster on my leg, far too close for comfort. If I turned away, it was going to get through the door. But the second one—

It was on me. I kicked one leg out, catching it on the side of the head, but this only deterred it for half a second. The monster lunged forward and sank its teeth into the meaty part of my thigh.

The pain was intense. I took in a sharp gasp, too shocked to scream. When the monster let out a growl and braced itself, I knew it was going to twist its head and attempt to rip off a chunk of flesh.

I forgot everything else—my reaction was instantaneous. I let go of the door, reaching to my waist and pulling out the gun. I had just enough time to fire a bullet into the monster's head before the one outside attacked.

Just as my leg was freed, I was tackled to the floor. The Double Head opened its mouth, dripping saliva on to my face. Its breath smelled of rancid meat. I reached out and gripped at the thing's leg, only to have some of its flesh flake off in my hands. I felt sick.

Then it snarled and attempted to snap at my face, and desperation took over. I had dropped the gun—it was just out of reach—but there was the flashlight. I reached to one side and grabbed it, hitting the monster on the head with all my strength. It let out a yelp of pain, giving me just enough time to push it off of me.

I attempted to get to my feet, but slipped on the blood of the fallen Double Head. Its companion lunged at me again. I caught it by the shoulders, just barely holding it off. It was letting out horrible growling and whining sounds that were only vaguely reminiscent of a dog. Something else entirely was beneath those noises.

Finally gaining traction on the floor, I pushed the monster off of its feet. It kicked out, gouging my side with its back claws. The pain from my thigh drowned out everything else. Every movement sent bolts of agony from my leg all the way up my side, and my breath was coming in short gasps. As the monster struggled, I lifted the flashlight and brought it down. It connected with a loud crack.

The next few minutes were filled with that sound. The light coming from the flashlight became tinged with pink as blood covered the lens.

When the Double Head's movements finally slowed, I stood up, panting. My foot came down hard in one final blow, snapping its neck. Then the monster lay still.

A few moments passed. I leaned against the wall, waiting for my breathing to get back under control.

"...Fuck," I finally whispered.

Should've checked the whole length of the hallway before proceeding. Dammit. I brought this on myself.

I eyed the two corpses, shuddering at how close I had come to being killed just then. And it hadn't even been that long since I'd come to.

The leg of my jeans was slowly being soaked with blood. This was bad...wounded with no first aid kit. The smell would attract more Double Heads. I needed to staunch the blood flow somehow. This wasn't the place to do it. The office I had come from? No...nothing useful there. How...

Grimacing, I retrieved the gun and holstered it, checking the flashlight in the process. It was dented slightly, but otherwise perfectly fine. I had chosen well-this thing was nigh-indestructible.

Okay. Okay...just calm down. I needed to move quickly now. Find something useful...what was on this floor? I couldn't remember. Needed those fucking maps.

I took one glance behind me, double checking to make sure I wasn't going to get any more surprises. Then I pushed open the door to the main hallway and shined the light out into the darkness.

Nothing responded to the sudden illumination, and nothing had come to investigate all the noise. I moved slowly out into the hall, turning to the left.

Straight ahead, at the other end of the hall, was a second entrance to the KMN Auto Parts hallway. I ignored that. The entrances to the bathrooms were to my left; both of the doors were jammed shut, as expected. Running water would be good to clean the wound, but I wasn't sure I wanted to trust anything from here anyway. Who knew what it could be contaminated with.

Right turn. Now I was in the main area; on either side of me were elevators, and there was a vending machine against one wall. There was bottled water in the machine; I filed that thought away as a last resort. I didn't really want to stick around here for longer than I needed to after making so much noise.

Both elevators were shut. It wasn't this floor, then...did that mean the staircase door would be open? I'd come back to that. First I had to see what else was here.

I went back to the door I had come from, trying the door across from it. It opened easily.

The room I walked into was a large display area that I recognized immediately. It was the Gallery of Fine Arts. I paused for a moment, taking a breath and examining a few of the artworks. It was well-lit and...well, normal looking in here. Too bad there was really nothing of use in this place.

Except...

Oh, there was an idea. I headed for the doors in the top right corner of the room, knowing one of them would be usable. The second one I tried opened into a new hallway that was thankfully free of monsters. I turned to the left, trying the door at the end of the hallway, and was happy to find that I'd picked the correct one. This was the storeroom.

My happiness died pretty quickly when I saw that what I was looking for wasn't there. There was just an empty space on the stand where the katana should have been.

"...Of course," I whispered, shaking my head. Of course it wouldn't be here. Just my goddamn luck.

Well, that had been a complete waste of time. That left the stairwell. My wound was throbbing painfully...and this was really the wrong place for me to be looking for medical supplies. Dammit. I'd just have to head downstairs and hope for the best—

...That sound.

I froze, my thoughts grinding to a halt. There was a faint wailing coming from somewhere, a sound that brought back awful memories of feeling trapped and alone. Waking up in the basement's basement. Impenetrable darkness, abject terror. That was a siren I was hearing.

I leaned back against one of the shelves, feeling the strength go out of my legs. A siren. No. No...the shift was starting already? This couldn't be happening...

It was. The surroundings were deteriorating before my eyes. Blood and rust seeped into everything. The darkness thickened. I tried to fight the sudden feeling of faintness that overcame me, but it was futile. Suddenly everything gave out beneath me and I was falling into unknown depths, the last of the light vanishing in the blink of an eye.

There was no period of coming to. At some point I did lose consciousness, but I was mercilessly jolted awake by an absolutely repulsive smell. The scent conjured up mental images of rotting flesh infested with squirming maggots. When my eyes snapped open, I realized I hadn't been that far off.

The flashlight was beside me on the metal grate I was lying on, pointing to my right, tilted just enough to partially illuminate the face of the creature that was looming over me. It wasn't a face, not really; the head was a mass of deformed flesh, torn and stitched back together. It tapered to a snoutlike end, where a gaping mouth revealed a mass of thin, jagged yellow teeth.

Slurper.

Its breath washed over me again and I wanted to gag. The snout came closer to my face, seeming to examine me. The creature was emitting a sound reminiscent to that of a person being choked, its humanoid body jerking occasionally.

My heartbeat seemed too loud. I remained tense, trying hard not to breathe, understanding that my stillness up to this point was what had kept me alive. It had no eyes. Could it smell me? Smell the blood? Everything around me was slick with blood.

A few seconds passed, seeming to melt into an eternity. I watched the creature and waited for it to lose interest. It turned away from my face and hovered its snout down the length of my body, moving slowly towards my feet. Just a little longer. Just let it get out of range so I could—

A loud metallic screech met my ears. Horror flooded me and I jerked involuntarily, forgetting everything else entirely as I searched the corridor for Pyramid Head.

The Slurper was not so easily distracted. The second I jerked, it lunged, its teeth just barely missing my leg as I kicked out. It crawled on top of me, pinning one of my shoulders with a clublike limb. I let out a distraught cry, reaching up and placing a hand in the middle of its chest to hold it off. Its skin was cold with an odd stiffness beneath—like touching a cadaver. This thing was heavier than the Double Head. I didn't have the strength to push it off of me; I could barely keep it from devouring me on the spot.

Its putrid breath hit me again and I was dismayed to feel vomit creeping up the back of my throat. I was nearly choking on it and now it was impossible to breathe, and now I could hear the sound of more things approaching, and the corridor was full of noise.

This was the end, then. After everything I was going to die alone and defenseless, pinned down and ripped apart in the depths of the Otherworld. It was over.

...Was that static?

The monster above me jerked violently and let out a hiss. I found that my shoulder was no longer pinned, and immediately reached for the flashlight. One hard whack to the head deterred the monster, surprisingly, and I was able to push it off.

I had to shield my eyes at several bright flashes; I recoiled with shock when I recognized the sound of gun reports. When I turned my head to look behind me, I saw the other Slurpers collapsing to the floor. It was now that I noticed the bloody stab wound in the Slurper that had pinned me.

A girl walked past me, kicking one of the creatures hard with the heel of her boot. The static quieted and finally died off.

...Hold on, what just happened? Was I hallucinating? A second ago I had been certain I was going to die.

The girl returned the gun to a pocket on her vest, switching the katana to her other hand. The katana. That was where the screech had come from—she must have hit it against one of the many grates in the hall.

At last, she turned to face me, her hazel eyes meeting mine. She looked young enough to still be in high school, but the tired, grim look on her face suggested that this place had stolen the last vestiges of her innocence. It was almost like looking at myself. Painful to meet a kindred soul.

"...Are you okay?" she asked.

I grimaced. "I've...I've been better. Thanks; I thought I was done for."

She shook her head. "Don't worry about it, I guess."

Shifting slightly, I managed to gather my bearings and pushed myself to my feet. I couldn't stop myself from swaying a little when the pain from my wound reared its ugly head once more. The upper leg of my jeans was soaked.

"Who are you, anyway?" She pressed, frowning. Was that wariness I saw in her expression? Well, couldn't exactly blame her.

"My name's Brittany," I replied, wiping some blood off the lens of my flashlight. "You?"

"Heather," she replied. As I turned fully to face her, I saw her eyes widen. "Your leg..."

"About that..." I smiled sheepishly. "You wouldn't happen to have a first aid kit, would you?"

A/N: And Heather makes her debut! :D That's exciting, because I get sick of writing OC Brit's inner monologues when she's alone for too long. Also, y'know, she needs a breather after all that awful luck. Don't worry, things will get better for her! ...Not.

Love love love reviews! Comments, criticism and your own personal thoughts/theories are very welcome. Sometimes you guys are my inspiration!

Next time: Find the Holy One. Kill her?