Reversal (Camren/Norminah)

Chapter 52: Shattered Memories

LII.

This is where she appears in the dark of night.

Damn right. I muttered, still making no vocal sound. And I've appeared here to bring her home.

The further down the road we got, the more I recognized the scenery from the time back in Miami as well as my reckless solo patrol. Large cracks in the ground invited smoke and leafy overgrowth, and the fog made it nearly impossible to see more than ten feet before us. Luckily, Normani and Ally had near perfect vision despite the obscurity, and seemingly knew exactly where they were going. Looking down, it was one disturbing display of street art after another.

Welcome to hell

Turn back if you can

The monster is loose

They're showing us the way

The five of us slowed to a casual walk, keeping quiet as a sharp wind picked up. The town came into sight through the fog, roped off by a large heavy chain that had been tied from one tree to the other. Picking up on some scuffling in the trees on the right side of the pavement, I held a hand up and stilled the team.

Shawn's crossbow was already prepped and ready to go, for before I could utter a word into the earpieces, an arrow went sailing clean into the bushes. It struck something, and the target fell to the ground with a human thump.

"Stay here." I told them, walking over to the trees and squinting through the overgrown foliage. Flexing the fingers of my left hand, I felt a cluster of jagged light appeared in my palm, lightning up the area like the fourth of July. "I can't tell what he hit."

"I can." Ally was at my side, a grim look on her face. She held out a hand, and the trees around began to twist and part to reveal the body splayed on the ground. It was humanly inhuman, covered in torn beige fabric and bearing a sick pale coloured skin. Without my asking, roots began to wind from the ground and lift the body up, snaking around its torso and suspending it off the ground.

"Wow." Dinah appeared on my other side. "I knew this was going to be all creepy and shit... apparently it's also going to be gross."

The state of the face was a close match to the state of the body. The only remnants of eyes that I could see were dark hollows, as if anything that had once been there had been forcefully removed. The arrow lodged into the side of the creature's neck was now oozing a dark liquid from it's entry point, while the face bore no mouth.

"Lucy has really outdone herself this time." I muttered, nodding to Ally who effectively dropped the creature back to the ground, then had a wave of earth erupt from the ground to cover it. "Let's keep moving. And Shawn, no more shooting blindly at things moving in the bushes. That could've easily been a cute deer."

"Yes boss." The boy teased as we hopped over the chain and traversed the fog, heading further into the town.

Silent Hill looked identical to the nightmare hellscape that I had forever been imaging in my head. Buildings soon came into sight, most of which were eroding and breaking down as the entire property was left to go back to nature. It didn't take much to see why people were so reluctant to explore.

"If there was any place in the world where Bloody Mary, Leatherface, and Pyramid Head all gather to grab a drink, this is it." Shawn muttered through his headset. "This is terrifying."

"I haven't seen these roads in years." Normani echoed. "Everyone needs to make sure to watch their step. The ground is more sensitive in some places more than others."