"Hey! Wait!" he exclaimed and followed the person.

He followed some sounds and disgusting substances on the ground. As he crossed the gate to get to the backyard of a house, he saw the figure walking, who seemed to ignore him despite his calls.

Sunderland reached a garage with a broken piece of the door, so he crouched down and crawled through to the other side. A noise made him turn around, discovering that the space had been blocked, meaning he couldn't go back that way and would need to find another exit.

As he searched the house, he heard static. Curiously, he followed the sound and found a radio on a couch. James picked it up to inspect it.

A feeling of not being alone in that place made him look to his left to see what he had seen earlier: a creature whose arms seemed to be inside its skin like it was wearing a straightjacket. The monster moved toward the man, knocking over some boxes in its path, causing both to fall.

The green-eyed man slowly backed away until he collided with the wall, while the creature got back up. The blonde man turned toward the window behind him, covered with boards, and ripped off a board with nails to use as a makeshift bat.

The creature lowered its head slightly before lifting it up to spit out vomit that was either green or black. James skillfully dodged it, took a few steps, and struck it with the stick. The creature fell to the ground, but he didn't stop; he kicked it a couple of times until it stopped moving.

He took a breath and walked over to a window, breaking it to escape the house. Once outside, he heard static from the radio and pulled it from his pocket.

"Ja... I'm... Come to...," a distorted female voice spoke. "I... wa... Jam..."

The transmission cut off, leaving no voice or words. James put the radio away and continued on his way, wondering where Mary was. In the street, he saw a putrefied body on the ground wearing a green jacket (which looked black due to its damage). Next to it was a matchbox from the Neely Bar.

Sunderland took out his map and a marker to locate the bar, circling it in red. If he had found it, it wouldn't hurt to check; maybe there was something useful there.

After walking a bit further, he came across another creature crawling on the ground, alerting him that there must be more of them nearby. Gunshots, quite close, made him freeze, but a small smile appeared on his face, as that meant he wasn't alone.

He ran toward the source of the gunfire and came across a woman with her back to him, wearing a brown jacket over a gray hoodie and black jeans, along with boots. He approached her slowly.

"Hey," he said to make her aware of his presence.

Amber turned around at the sound of an unfamiliar man's voice, pulling out her weapon in the process and pointing it at James, making him raise his hands.

"Don't shoot, I'm human."

The woman lowered the weapon and returned it to its holster, though she kept her guard up and looked at Sunderland cautiously. Given everything she had been through, it wasn't easy for her to trust people, but this time, she made an exception because she noticed how clean the man looked compared to her, who had some dirt and grime on her face, so it wasn't hard to tell that he had just arrived in the town.

"I'm glad there's someone else who isn't just those things," the man said. "I'm James. James Sunderland, by the way."

Amber opened her mouth to respond but stopped when she heard the static from her radio, followed by the same static coming from James's radio. The green-eyed man already understood what that meant, so he cursed under his breath and grabbed his improvised weapon to defend himself. Wilson tugged on her jacket and tilted her head, signaling him to follow her.

He didn't hesitate to do so, as he'd rather not fight those things and waste energy if he didn't have to. The dirty blonde woman walked down an alley, and after several more streets, they reached a door that required a code. She entered "4444" and opened the door, and both of them entered.

James noticed a somewhat dirty mattress on the floor and several empty cans of food.

"So... do you live here?" he asked.

The brown-eyed woman nodded as she sat on the mattress and removed the hair tie, undoing her ponytail, which had started to bother her a bit.

"I think you haven't told me your name," the man murmured.

"I'm Amber."

The two adults fell silent in an uncomfortable pause until she broke it by asking him what he was doing in this town.

"I'm looking for my wife. Her name is Mary," he explained as he searched his pocket for a photo of her and handed it to her. "Have you seen her?"

"I'm sorry, but you're the first human I've seen since I've been here."

That discouraged the blonde man a little.

"It's okay. I don't know why I think she's here... She died three years ago."

"What?" the woman said, surprised.

"I'm not crazy, it's just that I received a letter from her saying she's waiting for me at our special place."

"And you didn't think someone just played a bad joke on you?"

James froze, realizing he hadn't considered that possibility, which was rather likely and made more sense than believing his wife was still alive. He looked around, unsure of what to say, and noticed how the place seemed worn and messy, as if she hadn't just been living there for a few days.

"How long have you been in Silent Hill?" the man asked.

"I don't know. It's strange here, some days feel longer than others."

"Well, what day was it when you arrived?"

"August 5th."

James fell silent as he counted the days, realizing it had already been two weeks. Amber had been in Silent Hill for two weeks, which made him wonder why she hadn't left such a dangerous place. Another question he had was what she was doing there.

She noticed the confusion on his face and spoke.

"If you're wondering why I'm here, it's for my job."

"What kind of job would make you come to a place like this?"

Sunderland, after asking the question without thinking, mentally smacked himself. He had already been to this town a few years ago and never expected to encounter those creatures, let alone someone who had never been to Silent Hill.

The blonde man looked at her weapon and asked if she knew how to use it.

"Yes. A friend taught me."

An awkward silence filled the room until James broke it again.

"So... are you a cop?" Wilson looked at him, not understanding why he thought that. "I mean, you know how to shoot, and that's one of the jobs that might make you come to a place like this, if it has any relation, so..."

"Something like that."

The green-eyed man's eyes widened as he thought of similar jobs.

"SWAT agent? FBI? CIA...?"

"Yep. CIA, you guessed it," she replied quickly. "What about you? What are you?"

"I'm an office worker. Maybe not as exciting as being in the CIA, but..."

James fell silent. His mouth moved a little, still closed, trying to say something, though he wasn't sure what. Eventually, he gave up.

"There's nothing to say. I hate my job, my boss, and the tiny cubicle I work in. I feel suffocated when I'm there."

Amber let out a small laugh. She found the way the man acted a bit amusing. The blonde man smiled too, enjoying her company after having been alone since his wife passed away.

The next twenty or thirty minutes passed talking, feeling like time stood still until he remembered why he had come. He looked at the radio, realizing there was no static, and it was safe to leave.

"I should go, and you better leave this town too."

"I will. I just need to sleep a bit. I feel like I'm going to pass out."

The man in the green jacket didn't comment on her exaggeration because he had noticed the dark bags under her eyes and nodded without worrying too much about a creature coming in after he left and attacking her while she slept. Because, for a moment, he had forgotten how dangerous it was to be there.

Wilson settled on the mattress. She almost told James that they couldn't leave this town, but she dismissed the thought. He probably wouldn't believe her, and besides, she knew that nobody unprepared for this kind of thing ever survived.

"Watch your back. There's something strange about this town, and it's not just the monsters," she whispered. The fact that she didn't think he'd survive wasn't a reason not to warn him.

"Yeah. You too."

James walked toward the door, his hand just a few centimeters from the knob, hesitating whether to open it and leave with all those creatures out there.

"Are you scared?" the blonde woman asked, lifting her head to look at him.

"It's not so much fear. It's just... I wonder if it's time to go out with just a stick with nails."

The girl nodded, understanding his point. She stretched out her arm to pull a gun from a bag and handed it to him.

"Do you have another one?" he asked, not wanting to leave her without a weapon, but when he saw her shake her head, he sighed in re

"There are some bullets on the shelves. Take what yo

Amber put on the hood of her gray hoodie and turned her back to James, trying to sleep, hearing the door they had entered through close, signaling the green-eyed man's exit.