Chapter 18
As Linda walked through the gates of amusement park, she was ready for surprises this time. The park had the same demonic look as any location in this cursed town. She saw no creatures or any living soul so far, but another thing caught her attention. On the benches that stood on both sides of her, she saw strange looking pink rabbits of human size and splattered with what seemed to be blood. Linda wasn't sure whether these were just dummies or maybe dead bodies hidden in rabbit costumes, and she sure wasn't going to check it out. After all, she hasn't come here for the rabbits or any useless stuff like that.
Linda walked slowly, watching her step. The ground in this place seemed unstable to her, as it looked like she was walking on rusty iron lattice instead of standard floor. Something similar she saw while searching through the Alchemilla hospital. Only the streets had solid ground. Linda wondered whether all the buildings had such lattice ground in the Otherworld or not. But at least in the park it looked more stable that in the hospital, but the deep, dark holes were seen here and there, so the risk of falling into the abyss was present.
Looking around for a way to proceed, Linda noticed a door in the wall. She tried it, and lucky for her, it was open. The location she got into shared some similarities with an arena, as it had circular shape and in the middle of it there was another hole, this time surrounded with metallic fence, like the one you can see in cemeteries. Linda had no other option but to try every door she could get her eyes on, but neither of them budged. And while she pressed one of door handles, Linda thought that a sound of footsteps reached her ears. She listened carefully and became more than sure that somebody or something was coming towards her. Raising the pipe in combat stance, she moved forward to meet whoever was moving to her direction. But what she saw made her freeze where she was. The stranger didn't appear to be human, which wasn't surprising. So far she hadn't noticed any human being around here. The creature that stood before her was something that crawled out of depths of hell, and to Linda it seemed more terrifying than any other monster she had encountered before. This one was bipedal and was nearly two meters tall. The figure generally resembled a female, it seemed like it was even wearing some resemblance of a short dress, but most likely it was the creature's skin. The monster was definitely faceless, as Linda couldn't make out any features like eyes, ears, or nose. Its head also had a strange shape that she couldn't even imagine how to describe. But the monster's arms were the ones that stood out the most. If from the shoulders they began like normal arms, then the lower they got, the wider and more massive they grew. The lower parts of its arms looked like punching bags that are usually used in boxing. And the creature's skin had such colour like if it was burnt. All in all, the general appearance of this being was so bizarre that anyone who encountered it, would prefer to stay away from it.
Linda wasn't sure whether it was worth to begin fighting. Maybe it was better if she just ran? There wasn't much time for pondering, as the peculiar thing before her lifted one of its punching bag-like limbs, preparing to strike. Linda didn't lose vigilance for a second and dodged its attack by crouching and quickly rolling herself between the monster's slender legs. And while the abomination realized what was going on, she ran forward as fast as she could. Linda now understood and there was one advantage in her favour – the monster was slow, and it didn't seem even to run after her. She still could hear its footsteps, but they were slow as before. From this she concluded that this being was unable to run which was good. Moreover, it not just moved slowly, but it seemed to react slowly as well. Thus it was easier to evade these creatures without beginning a fight.
Linda reached what it looked like wooden fence and saw another door in it, and it was the only one of the doors open. Hoping to get away from the abominable creature, she rushed through the door, slamming it shut behind her. But peace was what she could only dream about. Turning around, Linda saw the new "company" of hers, consisting of another tall being with massive arms and an ugly resemblance of a hound with a snout sliced in two halves. Linda kept her steel pipe ready for a fight, determined to kill the demonic dog, as it obviously was much faster that this tall creature that she decided to call a Puncher. It seemed like a funny name for such a monster, but as its arms looked similar to punching bags, this was the only option that came to her mind. The hound spotted Linda and howled loudly which was definitely a sign of being ready for attack. As the dog pouched on her, Linda rolled on her side, dodging the attack, then got up quickly and ran a bit forward with a purpose to keep larger distance from the Puncher. Thus she could get further away from it and deal with the dog. Her plan seemed to work out well indeed. The dog ran after Linda, and when she made sure she was far enough from the Puncher, she stopped and waited for the dog's attack. And when the hellhound pouched on her again, Linda, being in her combat stance, managed to swing the pipe, hitting the side of the hound's split snout. The dog howled again, this time painfully, but it didn't stop the creature from wanting to kill its prey. It ran towards Linda again who was ready for the attack, and was unlucky again to get another strong blow on its head, this time she hit right between the halves of its snout, and it happened to be its weak spot. The four-legged abomination collapsed to the ground in pain, and Linda finished it off with her boot. At least there was one problem less, but she still wasn't safe. The Puncher was approaching her, and Linda just turned around and ran as fast as her legs could carry her until she reached rusty gates of metallic lattice.
Behind the fence was a rather wide square, and on its left side Linda found something that looked like a small amphitheatre with a stage in the middle. She presumed that when Silent Hill was still populated and functioned like a tourist town, they organized performances from children in this place. There was relatively nothing out of ordinary, and Linda couldn't find anything of use, so she moved to the right side of the gates she had entered through. There she saw only a merry-go-round with resemblances of horses, only now they looked like meat carcasses hung on large meat hooks. Linda stepped on the roundabout to explore and study it better when in a moment she felt like something was not right. Looking around, she realized that the carousel slowly began moving.
"What the hell? What's happening?" she spoke, but her voice was barely audible even to herself. "Who turned it on?"
She didn't get her answer of course, but the roundabout moved faster with every second, and a merry music began to play in the background. Now the object moved with such speed as a usual carousel does, and the horses moved as well, just up and down. Linda didn't know what to do, and trying to jump out of the carousel was dangerous, as she could damage herself in some way. She had to think of some other option.
"Shit! How do I stop this thing?" she muttered loudly. But then another sound reached her ears, and it reminded her of a neigh of a horse. Linda stepped closer to one of the horses on a hook. Did they make such sounds? She was more than confused. These horses aren't alive, are they? The how can they make sounds if that is the case? It didn't matter so much now, as even if they were alive, it didn't help Linda find a way to stop the merry-go-round. And before stepping on it, she didn't see any control panel near that could be responsible for the control of this carousel. Then, while staring at the moving horses, a thought flashed in Linda's mind.
"Hmm, and what if I try to use the pipe on them, just like I used it on the enemies I encountered?" she thought aloud. "After all, I have nothing to lose."
Thus she went to the first horse and started beating it with the pipe. The horse neighed with each beat and finally stopped moving. Linda then thought that maybe she should do the same with the rest of the horses. She didn't hope that it would stop the carousel, but it was worth trying anyway. So she repeated the same process with each horse that was still moving until all of them stood still. The music began slowing down and fading, and Linda felt the carousel slowing down as well, until it finally stopped.
"Really? Are you serious?" she giggled nervously. So this was all she had to do? Was it really that easy? Well, Linda couldn't be happier about making the right choice.
The carousel stopped, but what now? The ride, despite taking place in the Otherworld, was pretty much fun compared with the rest Linda had gone through in Silent Hill so far. But it still didn't do any good in helping her to find the entrance to the underground church. And in her vision it clearly showed that the entrance had to be at the carousel somewhere.
Making one last circle around the horses, Linda noticed a wide gap in the wall. She rubbed her eyes to make sure she wasn't hallucinating. She could swear that before she stepped onto the merry-go-round, there was no gap in the wall. So riding this carousel somehow activated a secret door? It pretty much looked like that. So maybe this is the secret entrance to the hidden church? If that was the case, she was incredibly lucky to find it so easily. Who would have known that riding a carousel triggered something that opened a secret passage? Anyway, whatever it was, Linda now had only one way to go.
The passageway was long and dark, and Linda had to illuminate her way with her phone. There was not much light from it, but it was better than nothing. At least she could see in the distance of a meter in front of her. As Linda went, she heard her feet making squishing sounds with every step she made. She couldn't really understand what the floor was covered with, but it sure was something wet and a bit sticky. All the passage was damp, and sometimes the sound of drops falling to the ground could be heard. Linda wondered how long this passage is and whether it had an end. After walking approximately five or six more minutes, she finally reached the door in the end of the passage, and thankfully, it appeared to be open. Linda pressed the handle and pushed the door forward, stepping in a surprisingly well-illuminated room. What she saw there, made her smile in satisfaction.
It was the chapel.