"Thanks a ton? So, you gonna help me out with everything I need?"
Dark Alessa stared into Barry's dark, hollow eyes.
No such thing as a free lunch, huh? Barry thought. Now I gotta pledge my loyalty and work like a dog to pay her back.
Ugh. Winning the revival match came with a hefty price.
Alessa's favor was a debt he couldn't shake.
A weird thought flashed through his mind.
Barry paused, mulling over how to phrase his response—how to show he was a stand-up guy without ticking her off.
"My mom always taught me to be a good person. Stay true, stand tall, and never back down from what's wrong."
"When it comes to helping out, I've got four rules."
"First, I don't do anything that goes against what's right. No way am I getting into shady stuff."
"Second, I don't mess with anything that crosses the line. You gotta have some standards, you know?"
"Third…"
Dark Alessa: "?"
I asked if you'd help me out. Just say 'yes' or 'no,' not ramble on with a bunch of nonsense nobody gets!
Dark Alessa's brow furrowed, and she shot him an annoyed glare.
"I'd go through hell and high water for you, Alessa!"
Seeing the situation going south, Barry skipped the formalities and cut to the chase.
Getting the answer she wanted, Dark Alessa gave a satisfied smile, though it was cold and stiff, like she hadn't smiled in ages.
At that moment, Barry glanced into her black eyes and, for a split second, thought he saw another little girl staring back at him.
Dark Alessa leaned down, her large, shadowy hand reaching for him.
"Whoa, what's that for?"
Barry's small straw body was snatched up. Dark Alessa carried him like a cheap ragdoll as she headed outside.
"Your revival was my doing, but I didn't pull it off alone. There's someone else you need to meet."
Dark Alessa explained slowly, her steps steady. Her arm swung with each stride, giving Barry an unwanted thrill ride, like he was on a pirate ship at an amusement park.
"Another big shot?" Barry blurted out, but then it hit him.
…
The hospital, Room B151—the heart of the building.
They turned a few corners, passing through rusty, stained corridors.
The two arrived at a wide hallway.
But the path ahead was blocked.
A group of humanoid monsters stood in their way—Silent Hill's finest, the nurses lightly tweaked by Alessa's touch.
Still in their old nurse uniforms, they flaunted exaggerated curves, long, shapely legs, and high heels that screamed attention-grabbing allure.
"Whoa, that's something else!" Barry thought to himself.
The silent straw doll stayed quiet.
He'd noticed that the extent of a monster's mutation—and the torment they endured—seemed tied to how much Alessa liked or disliked them.
The worse the relationship, the more twisted they became. Some were left in endless, conscious agony.
Maybe Alessa was the ultimate survivor, the one who'd carried the heaviest load. She'd endured unimaginable pain, her burning hatred drawing a demon from the shadows. It took her thirty years to exact her bloody revenge on Silent Hill.
All those years, lying in that hospital bed, she'd been suffering.
Did a straw doll even have a brain? Barry wasn't sure, but he could still think, so that was good enough.
As Silent Hill's most powerful entity, Dark Alessa approached, and the nurses stiffly shuffled to the sides, making way for her.
She pushed open the door.
The most mysterious and terrifying place in Silent Hill was revealed.
Room B151, like the rest of the Otherworld, was rusted and decayed.
At the center of the room was a rickety hospital bed, leaking air from all sides. A blonde nurse in a red coat stood guard nearby.
On the bed lay Alessa's true body, covered in burns, clinging to life only through the dark forces sustaining her.
She'd never return to the healthy body she once had.
Dark Alessa held up the straw doll so Barry could see the girl on the bed.
Honestly, she looked rough—trapped in pain.
Without supernatural power propping her up, she'd be punching her ticket to the afterlife in no time.
Barry knew a thing or two about that. During his time duking it out in hell's revival ring, he'd seen all sorts of weird souls with every kind of gruesome end.
Truth be told, his own charred corpse probably didn't get glowing reviews from the other souls either.
Even though he'd had a hunch, seeing Alessa's real body in person sparked a raw, empathetic anger in Barry.
"Oh my God. I can't believe it. What kind of sick, twisted things did those damn cultists do to you?"
"Poor little Alessa, you must've been through hell. I mean, even the meanest busybody next door, like Susan from down the street, would be bawling her eyes out seeing you like this."
"I swear, if I ever see those cultists again, your Uncle Barry's gonna make a promise to God above."
"I'll slice their skin off with a blade, then shove my dry, tough, old Native American straw hand right into their filthy bodies. I'll twist their guts hard, make 'em feel the pain!"
"And when I'm done playing, I'll blast those heartless bastards to kingdom come!"
A tiny spark flickered in Barry's hollow eyes. His rage flared up like a lit bomb.
In that moment, he felt the power from his charred form in hell's revival match surging through his soul.
You were there all along.
"Damn it, I can't take it! I'm gonna smash those cultists' heads in!"
Seeing Alessa's state brought back memories of his own handsome body, now reduced to a charred husk. The hate and bloodlust kept building.
"Chill, Barry. You trying to burn yourself up again?" Dark Alessa tightened her grip, and a wave of dark energy snuffed out the spark. Barry's thin straw neck bent forward, pressing against his chest. That's when he noticed a blackened patch over his straw heart.
A faint smell of something burnt wafted through the air.
"Your straw body can't handle you going wild like that. If you want to last longer, you'd better not…"
Dark Alessa paused, her cold little face showing surprise for the first time.
As Barry's killing intent surged and his body took damage, a white hockey mask began to form, covering about a third of the straw doll's face.
As the mask appeared, the blackened patch on his chest started to visibly heal, drawing power from the surrounding ash to repair itself.
Still stealing, huh?
Dark Alessa wasn't thrilled, but she didn't say anything. After giving away so much power already, getting mad over a little more now would be petty.
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