Lauryn's Thralls

Lauryn's Thralls were, in life, friends of Lauryn LaRoache that had come with her to Silent Hill. They feature prominently in Dying Inside.

Background
A large group of friends joined Lauryn, Clown, and Payne on a trip to Silent Hill under the pretense of copying the myriad of symbols they had seen scrawled around town in a video and sell them to old, rich billionaires. However, it is revealed that Lauryn had actually brought such a large group in the event that something malevolent was waiting for them in Silent Hill. That something was an evil force reincarnated in Lauryn's younger sister Christabella.

As the group splits up to investigate Silent Hill, they are slowly killed off until Lauryn is forced to confront Christabella. At this point, Lauryn reveals she had marked each of her friends with an unknown sigil, and in the event of their deaths, they would rise again and follow her every command. Ordering her new undead army to attack the monsters of Silent Hill, Lauryn is forced to call them off when Christabella uses Clown and Payne as hostages.

In exchange for Clown's and Payne's promised safety, Lauryn and her thralls must go to Brookhaven Hospital to find the dominating source of Silent Hill's darkness and kill her. In doing so, Christabella would be the sole controller of Silent Hill. Before the group can enter the room where the source (a female patient) sleeps, Whately is able to erect a magic circle around Lauryn's thralls and incinerates them.

Shortly after, a living friend of Lauryn's named Hogg arrives with a shotgun and a previous victim of Christabella's named Troy Abernathy. Hogg fires the shotgun into Whately's chest, only for monsters to sprout from the corpse. Abernathy orders Lauryn to awaken the girl sleeping within the hospital to end this madness, and advises she raise the remainder of her dead friends to delay the monsters that have risen from Whately's remains.

When Christabella attempts to use Clown and Payne as hostages yet again, Lauryn, having found confidence in her magical prowess, dismisses the raging monsters, her thralls, the darkness that has consumed Silent Hill, and leaves Christabella under the watchful eye of Troy Abernathy.

Abilities
Appearing as common fictional zombies, Lauryn's thralls have increased strength (one demonstrates the ability to punch through concrete), enhanced durability, increased dispositions to violence, and an inherent need to harm the living. Unlike most zombies, Lauryn's thralls are sentient and able to think and act on their own, so long as they don't act against Lauryn.

The darkness infesting Silent Hill is able to communicate with the thralls, sounding as a laughing noise inside of their minds.