"Through this fog they came along...dark creatures, singing a terrible song..."

Darren Linus stared at the rusted wooden sign in front of him, the paint starting to peel off, wood worn down and rotting. Turning his gaze up at the sky, he frowned, eyebrows furrowing and jaw clenched. The night was clear, but the sun had dipped low behind the mountains in the distance. Early evening, the darkness was fast approaching. But he couldn't leave her out here. Reaching down, he took the leather dog collar from his belt, looking at it, concern etched in his slightly wrinkled face. Kali, his German Shephard, was somewhere out there. He sighed, took a step forward.

The rest of the bar had laughed at the him, but I felt my hope grow dim. They found him dead, the very next day. "No more stories from him", I'd heard them say.

Daren Linus thought back to the bar where he sat, alone, drinking down a bottle of whisky. He'd overheard the conversation from those talking about the story on the news, a story apparently involving a regular patron.

They had blamed bad luck on his fate...but I felt terror...so great.

The man had disappeared around this town. The abandoned, derelict ghost town that Darren now stood before, his eyes glancing the sign up and down. "WELCOME TO SILENT HILL." A town where people go missing. A town locals call haunted. A town that has been cordoned off, and it is considered trespassing to enter. And this town is where poor Kali had taken off when she slipped her collar.

"Goddamn it," he muttered under his breath. Fastening the collar back to his belt, Darren sighed again and took a step forward. Then another. And another. Walking down the main road leading into the eerie town of Silent Hill. He just wanted to find Kali, and get back home, preferably before it got any darker. It wasn't that he was afraid of the dark or anything silly like that. Hell, he didn't really even know why he felt horrified watching that news story in the bar, overhearing the locals talking of the man that was found dead nearby. He just wanted to get home and go to bed, he'd been hiking all day. He was beat, tired. Worn.

And so Darren strode down the main road, seeing the decaying and worn buildings up ahead, the town casting it's silhouette against the darkening evening sky. Not wanting to spend hours searching for the dog, he yelled as loud as he could: "KALI!!! KALI, COME!!!" His voice echoed, trailing off into the distance. He listened. No familiar paw-steps could be heard rapidly approaching. The furry little bullet he loved was not dashing towards him at full speed like she always did when he called for her. He would be lying to himself if he were to say he wasn't concerned, worried for her. After all, she could get herself into trouble, rummaging around these old buildings--some of which were on the verge of collapse, as old as they were without anyone to maintain them.

And so he moved on, walking down the road, the sound of his footsteps on worn concrete the only audible noise breaking the stillness of the evening, as the man began the search for his trusted, furry friend.

---

---

Franklin had been standing at the observation deck for what he assumed to be nearly two hours now. Hands placed atop the aged and mossy cement divider as he stared vacantly to the lake and of the legendary town of Silent Hill. The chilly Maine breeze barely phasing him as it blew at his back. As if trying to goad him closer to the town. He'd left Brahms a little while ago to cool off after having a heated argument with Eris regarding topics about his late father.

His father.

The passing thought causes the man to scowl deeply and grip the divider tightly. It had been twenty years since he was saved from and rid of that vile excuse of a human being...and now he had to die. Not only that, but have the balls to request Franklin to attend his funeral and the audacity to be buried beside his mother? No. Not now. Not in his lifetime. NOT EVER.

"Fuck...Even after dying, that piece of shit still finds a way to make me suffer. Typical." He mutters under his breath quietly as he finally decides to step away from the divider. But just as he pushes himself away from the divider and take his car keys out of his pocket a magpie swoops in and causes the meek man to flinch and drop his keys, much to his annoyance; made worse by the fact that the thieving bird took the opportunity flew away with his keys deeper into the woods. "Great job Franklin, you jumpy klutz. You got robbed by a bird." He berated himself as he chased after the bird.

A brief jog later and he was still hot on the trail of the thieving bird until he hit the security fence, almost literally. He grumbled to himself as he could see the bird fly further into the decrepit skyline of Silent Hill but not far enough for him to loose sight of it. He was about ready to give up and turn back and call for Triple A when he saw a gap in the fence big enough for him to squeeze through. He really wanted to just cut his losses and head back to Brahms...but something was making him go onward despite it being a terrible decision. Upon reaching the other side of the fence he heard a voice call out in the distance. "KAL!!! KALI, COME!" Thinking that a state patrol had seen him, ran and hid behind a dumpster while he waited for a minute. Then five. Then ten.

Once he was sure that the 'patrol officer' had left, he finally gets to his senses and decides that paying 140 dollars for a towing service didn't sound bad after all. But as fate would have it, upon returning to the way he entered, the way was gone. "There was a hole here...it's gone now." Franklin held his head in disbelief as he tried to look at the fence from different angles to no avail. He could try to swim past the fence but with how little he worn and the chill of Maine, that could easily spell his demise by hypothermia. If he tried to climb over, he'd get badly cut up by the rusted razor and barbed wire. "Great. Franklin you colossal moron. You shouldn't have gone in. Now you're stuck in this ghost town." The man laid his head on the chain linked security fence in frustration. "Ok. New plan. Find a way out of this place before I get arrested or worse."

---

"This is stupid."

Jane whispered those words to herself even as she took the final turn towards Silent Hill, filling the silence her radio had left when it cut out just minutes prior. She knew that this whole idea was stupid - she should be out celebrating her promotion, kissing some woman she didn't know the name of or doing shots off of some random guys abs. Instead, she was here, the one place she promised her mother she would never go.

Not that promises to her mother held much weight, these days.

Her car came to a shuddering stop at the gates to the town, the drooping "WELCOME TO SILENT HILL" sign bringing a not unfamiliar feeling to her chest. It was the same feeling she pushed away every time it came to her, the same feeling that turned her to drink and work every day for the past decade. Unease, dread, fear, anger - it shouldn't have surprised her that the town was already reminding her of her father, even if she didn't know why. Her hand was seeking her flask even before she thought to take a drink, the vodka burning the taste of bile from her mouth in a way nothing else ever could.

"This is stupid."

She was stepping out of her car even as she said it, leaving it idling with the lights pointed towards that damned sign. She wasn't planning on sticking around long, after all. Part of her was still unsure why she was even here, why she felt so propelled to see this forsaken place now, on a night that was meant to be about celebration. About new beginnings. As she peered into the dark streets that lay before her, just barely illuminated by the lights of her car and the setting sun, she was struck by a sense of familiarity. Maybe it was all the stories her parents had told her before their divorce, or maybe it was the news articles that were branded into her mind ever since that day. Either way, the 'WELCOME' seemed less mocking and more true to her as she took her first steps into the town.

As she entered the threshold, she was pulled from her thoughts by a man's not-too-distant yells, and she thought she could see a limping silhouette up further in the distance. Clearly, she wasn't the only one stupid enough to enter this town at night. It caused her to hesitate, just barely, but she pushed on regardless - if Jane Wilder made up her mind about something, it was going to take a lot more than some crazy man yelling in a ghost town before she would change it.

"This is stupid."

It was with one more swig of her vodka and her whispered mantra that she set off on exploring Silent Hill, the Town that Takes All. She kept her distance from the man ahead, following the same path but choosing to take her time - taking in the derelict buildings, trying to picture what her father must have been thinking as he walked these same steps. His belongings had been found in the Lake View Hotel, as though he had checked in for the night, and that was exactly where she was headed. One final chance to say goodbye to her father, to try and rid her head of his grasp. One final night, and then she would push that man and this place from her heart forever.

She hoped.

Something told Darren to turn back. Something primal, something that went deeper than just that gut feeling. Darren knew to listen to that feeling; it's the only reason he was still alive. He knew that it was best to listen to that feeling. Those whispers in your mind, that tell you not to do the incredibly stupid thing that you are considering. This is where, under normal circumstances, Darren would have grabbed Kali and just gone home, called it a night. It was the same feeling he got when he was being watched by a terrorist disguised as a regular civilian going about their day. The same feeling that told him when a firefight was about to break out. The same feeling that told him they were walking into an ambush.

The same feeling he felt the day....well. He turned those thoughts around quickly. This is where Kali would normally come bouncing over to him, thrusting her big head in his hands, looking at him with those giant chocolate eyes. Her way of telling him everything would be okay, that all might not be right with the world, or with him--but right here, right now, he had someone to take care of and she had him. Kali was more than a pet, more than a friend. She was his anchor. That dog saved his life, and he was not about to leave her here.

So mentally telling that feeling to fuck right off, Darren got himself together. He had only paused for about 45 seconds, but it felt like 10 minutes. He breathed in, let it out. And then he called again. "K A L I ! ! !" His normally booming, commanding voice broke with the fear he felt in his heart, the fear he did not want to admit to. He was about to call again, but there was that feeling...like he was being watched. The question was, who's eyes were on him?

His hand instinctively went to his knife, though he kept it fastened in the sheath. His instincts began to take over. That primal fear, mixed with adrenaline, mixed with....joy? Some distant part of his mind, some distant part of himself, a darker thread of himself that he refused to acknowledge, loved the thrill of battle. The wondering if he would live or die, the bloodlust of combat. All of this flooded back for the briefest of moments--and then he came to his senses. He wasn't on the battlefield. He wasn't slipping behind enemy lines, scouting ahead, gathering intel. He was in what he thought was an abandoned ghost town. And yet he knew full well that someone was nearby, someone was close.

"Jig's up, I know you are there," he stated flatly, narrowing his eyes into the growing darkness. "I've been through the game a hundred times, and I know how to play. Show yourself!"

((I owe you all an extra post this week!))

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---

Franklin headed down the side road from the main road he heard the voice. Night was approaching at an uncomfortable speed and the last thing he wanted to do was to stay overnight in an abandoned town. God knows what kind of animals or dangerous people could be in this derelict town? He'd considered calling for help but getting arrested for trespassing did not sit well with the man, and even if he were willing the hills interfered with the signal and he doubted that the cell towers in the town were still functional after all these years of disrepair.

"I really really hope I get out of here soon."The thought of dying here sent chills down the man's spine and the idea of making his wife, best friend, and adoptive father suffer that way made him determined to leave this place alive. He didn't have to jog long before he made it into the town proper. The light of day had disappeared behind the hills and he was forced to use his phone as a way to see where he was going. At night, Silent Hill seemed even more creepy than it had any right to be. The overgrown buildings seemed to be like empty husks, the cracks on the road and sidewalks resembled spiderwebs, and even the shadows seemed to move and jump at him at times. But regardless on how he felt, he forged onward. "Silent Hill has loads of roads leading in and out. Bound to be at least one way where folks illegally got in. Of course there would be one or two near here...r-right?" The lone man muttered to himself as he wandered the dark streets of the cursed town.

Reaching the first intersection, it was revealed that the way out of town had been fenced off like the way he entered. Similarly for the next intersection. Franklin was getting disheartened. Then something fell on his head causing him to yelp before it fell to the road. Shining his flashlight to what it was, it was his car keys. Irritated he looked up to the night sky and berated the bird flying overhead that only now decided to return the keys. "Thanks so FUCKING much you little shit." He harshly whispered to the unseen bird. But before he even could utter another word, he notices something fluttering on the abandoned Happy Burger beside him. There was an old note taped onto the dust caked window he could barely look into. Approaching the worn paper, he began to read it.

Joey, I'm so sorry. I couldn't do it any more.
This town, no, this HELL is too much for me.
I really wanted to see you again, but the monsters keep getting mommy.
Mommy just wants to leave now.
Please. Mommy didn't mean to leave you in the bath.
Forgive mommy for letting you drown.
forgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgivemeforgiveme

LET ME GO.

"Creepy." He mutters under his breath as he steps back and steps on something. Looking down he sees a crumpled tourist's map of Silent Hill. "This...this could be useful in keeping track of blocked roads." He unfolds the map as best he can and takes a photograph of it. Once satisfied with the photo, he begins to squiggle red marks on the roads that he had encountered to be blocked. With that done, he begins to cautiously explore the town further.

---

---

Franklin's face scrunched slightly with confusion as he observes the clear evening sky gradually disappear and soon replaced by near blinding fog. "Fog?" He asked nobody in particular. Fog was not an uncommon thing in Maine but fog this thick was. "Forecast this morning didn't mention anything about fog today..." But regardless of the man's complaints about the weather phenomenon, the fog did settle and soon hindered even his ability to look across the street. The fog restricting his vision heightened his uneasiness. Only God knew what hid in the fog now that the man could just barely see ten feet in front of him. He needed something to make him feel safe even in the blinding fog. He needed a weapon.

But where? Most, if not all, of the abandoned buildings were potential death traps just lying in wait for their next victim that unwittingly assumed that the buildings were safe. Looking around the immediate area gave him nothing but rubbish. "God, c'mon give me something to work with here." He semi-prayed while he explored the area for something usable as an improvised self-defense weapon.

He could only hope that nothing hostile would interrupt him before he found something.