The Fog Part 3

this is a work in progress - I am still playing around with this and the other parts - any comments or suggestions would be greatly appreciated



Part 1 "The Fog Part 1"  [18+]
Part 2 "The Fog Part 2"  [18+]

Chapter 10


Jo, Cass and David looked over the list that had been compiled of the missing townspeople. Each growing more concerned the longer they stared at the long string of names. While the residents of Happy Valley did not claim to know everyone that lived in the town, they did admit that between them they could account for a lot of people. Over their meal they had each thought long and hard about who they had seen, what shops hadn’t been opened, and more importantly, how long it had been since the township had started to feel different. This had caused a minor argument between Rebecca and Mark; Rebecca claiming that Mark would have no idea what was going on because if he wasn’t in the Hotel drinking he was lounging around and pretending he was working at the police station.

Cass looked over at Adam, seeing him sit there, huddled in the corner and staring into the fire, Red’s head on his lap, reminded her that the missing people were more than just names on a list, they were in fact brothers and friends.

“Hey,” Cass whispered as she sat down next to Adam, “how are you doing?”

“I don’t know Cass. I just wish I knew what had happened. We had both been looking forward to this trip so much. We needed the break from work. James was so excited, he went and bought a new tent and fishing rods. He couldn’t wait to get out here, take his mind off things and just relax.”

Cass moved closer to Adam, draping an arm over his shoulders.

“It will be okay. Hopefully in the morning the fog will have cleared enough for us to get out and find out what is going on. I’m sure that between all of us here we can figure it out.”

Adam studied her face, seeing the belief in the green eyes, he offered a tentative smile before again looking into the fire.

Cass gave him a quick squeeze with her arm, before raising herself from the floor and heading back over to Jo and David.

As she made her way past Mark, who was steadily drinking himself into oblivion, he reached out to her, nearly falling as she sidestepped his hand.

“Mark,” she warned, “it may be time for you to find somewhere to sleep it off.”

Hearing the tone in Cass’ voice both Jo and David turned. Moving to stand on either side of her they both glared at Mark as he made another attempt to grab her.

“I think,” David said, “ that it might be time for us all to get some sleep.”

“I have to agree with that David. It has been a long day,” Harriett said.

“I suppose we should all go and check out the rooms upstairs, hopefully there will be enough beds for all of us.” Jo made her way to the side of the room where the staircase was. “How many rooms are up here?”

“I think there are three Jo. I’ve never stayed here before.” Rebecca followed Jo up the stairs, the others trailing single file behind her.

~~~~~~~~~

Reaching the top of the staircase, they all stopped to look, on one side there appeared to be two bedrooms, on the other side there was a large open room, containing some chairs and a small sink, next to it was a door they guessed opened to the shared bathroom.

Turning back to face the group David felt a cool breeze waft past his face coming from one of the open bedroom doors.

“Looks like a window or something was left open in one of the bedrooms. Better close it up quick before it gets too cold in there to sleep.”

Cass walked to the door. Entering the room, she sneezed as she kicked up what looked like a pile of dust swept up into a heap by the door.

As she was pulling the window closed, she spoke to the group behind her.

“How ‘bout if we girls take this room, and you guys take the one next door?”

Jo walked to the cupboard standing in the corner. “Sounds good. There is plenty of spare blankets and stuff in here so it should be warm enough. We can make a couple of beds on the floor. So I say we call it a night and then first thing in the morning we can get to work on getting out of here and finding out what is going on.”

Cass gave her brother a brief hug goodnight before throwing some blankets on the floor to use as a mattress.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Jo tossed and turned, every time she came close to falling asleep a stray thought of her brother would cross her mind. She took some calming breaths knowing that it was no good worrying as at the moment she could do nothing to help.

She listened to the even breathing of the others in the room, trying to match her breathing to that of her sleeping companions. She wondered what could have happened to Mike and the others, the longer she thought the further she seemed to get from the answer.

Cass heard the deep sigh coming from the floor next to her, she knew Jo was deeply concerned but she didn’t know what to say that would help ease her worry. She could only imagine how she would feel if it was David that was missing.

“Jo,” she whispered, not wanting to wake Harriett or Rebecca, who were sleeping in the beds on either side of them, “I know it doesn’t help much at the moment but we will find out what is going on.”

Jo rolled over so she was facing Cass.

“I hope so, this waiting around and not being able to do anything is really getting to me.”

~~~~~~~~~

Red moved away from his spot by the fire, his leg still sore, but now only a dull ache. Sniffing for scraps under the table his entire body stiffened as he sensed a strange presence outside the window.

A low rumble began in his throat, not sure what is was but sensing the danger he limped to the window, trying to warn the presence off before it came any closer. His growls became full-throated barks as the thing pressed against the window. Centreing on the places where the condensation from his breath had formed.

~~~~~~~~~

Cass had been about to reply to Jo when the sounds of Red’s barking shattered the otherwise silent night.

Flinging the blanket off, she almost collided with Rebecca as she scrambled from the floor.

She was a step behind as Jo opened the bedroom door. The four women met up with the men who had also woken with the racket. A quick look passed between David and Cass as each made sure the other was all right, before they all ran down the stairs.

Chapter 11


Reaching the bottom of the stairs, they each cautiously looked around the room. The flickering of the fire casting shadows upon the room making it hard to discern what it was Red was barking at.

“Red,” Cass called as she stepped out from behind David and Jo who seemed to have unconsciously formed a protective barrier in front of her.

The labrador momentarily halted his bark, as if in acknowledgment that reinforcement’s had arrived, before turning back to the window, his entire body quivering in his effort to keep the threat from coming closer.

“Red. Calm down boy,” Cass yelled again, her voice cracking as she tried to be heard over the constant barking.

As she took another step closer to the dog, she was once again flanked by Jo and David. She turned to glare at each of them. Trying to convey in her look just what she thought about their need to look out for her.

Jo hadn’t even noticed her move to protect Cass, acting almost on reflex when she stepped between Cass and the unknown threat. It wasn’t until she saw the look in Cass’ eyes as she glared up at her that she realised what she was doing. Taking a step back she quickly looked over at David, who was grinning unrepentantly at his sister, though she noticed that he too had taken a step back. While it wasn’t the first time that she had felt protective of other women, this was entirely different; never before had she felt such an overwhelming need to put herself in harms way for the safety of another. Knowing now was not the time to worry about such things, she put the thoughts aside until she had time to examine them in detail, and instead watched Cass as she slowly approached the dog, all the while talking to him in gentle tones.

Adam slowly circled the outside of the room, trying in vain to work out what it was that had Red so distressed. Hearing Cass’ calming voice as she tried to sooth the dog, also calmed his nerves somewhat. His abrupt waking earlier, combined with knowing something was definitely wrong in the town, had caused his previous anxiety over James to jump to a level just below all out panic. He breathed a sigh of relief as Red finally stopped barking, with one last glance around the room he made his way back to the bottom of the stairs.

~~~~~~~~~

Cass, who was now sitting next to the trembling dog, and the others watched as Jo and David went from window to window making sure everything was still locked up.

“It’s okay boy, see there is nothing here,” she whispered in his ear.

“I don’t know what’s got him so upset Cass,” David said as he jiggled the door, “but there is nothing here, it doesn’t look like anyone has gotten inside.”

“Well something sure got Red stirred up, look he is still staring out the window.” Cass held tighter to the dog as he tried get over to the window.

“Shit that’s cold.” Jo jerked her hand back from the glass, looking at it to make sure there was no injury. Sure that the sudden burning sensation as she touched the freezing window must have left a mark.

Blowing on her hand to ease the throb she made way for David who was now looking out the window.

Cass looked up at Jo and David. Seeing Jo still waving her hand in front of herself she started to rise to have a look. The moment her grip on Red slackened he made a move toward the window. Realising that if she let him free he would probably start barking she once again held him tight.

“Let me see your hand Jo.”

“Give me a look at your hand,” Rebecca said at the same time, going to stand in front of Jo.

“Nah, that’s okay, it's fine…not even a mark…see.” She held her hand up in front of Rebecca and then waved it in Cass’ direction.

“Check this out guys,” David called over his shoulder to the others who were scattered around the room behind him.

“Harriett could you please hold Red for me? I don’t want him to get stirred up again, he seems fine if someone is holding him.”

“Okay Cass.” Harriett grabbed hold of the collar around the dogs neck and led him over to the fire. She didn’t want to get any closer to the windows than she had to. Just looking at the whiteness outside made her feel cold.

Mark had also decided that whatever it was they were looking at was not worth passing up the chance at getting behind the bar and having a stiff drink to calm his rattled nerves.

~~~~~~~~~

As Cass went to join the others at the window she casually glanced at Jo’s hand just to make sure it wasn’t injured in any way. Jo caught Cass’ quick glimpse at her hand and smirked, again holding her hand up and waving it just to prove it was not sore.

Cass smiled at Jo then turned to look out the window.

“Wow…you can’t see anything. Not even the street lights.”

”Hmm but that’s not the weird bit,” David told his sister, his gaze never wavering from the spot he was staring at, just outside the window.

“If you stare at it for long enough you can almost see it move,” he told them.

Adam and Rebecca moved to the next window, neither touching it, even standing back a little way they could feel the cold chill coming from the window pane.

Jo and Cass stood on either side of David, each peering into what should have been a well-lit street, but was instead a greyish wall of nothing.

“I can’t see anything…” Rebecca said.

“Yeah,” Adam agreed. “If you didn’t know it was the middle of the night, you’d never be able to tell by looking outside. But I have to agree with Rebecca I can’t see anything either, its all just grey out there.”

“Keep looking,” David told them.

”It’s so thick…it almost looks solid,” Rebecca continued.

“Sorry Dave, I can’t see anything either,” Jo added.

“Nope, reckon you’re seeing things Dave…oh…wait…what’s that?” Cass went to point in the direction she was looking, but before her finger touched the cold glass Jo had reached across David and grabbed her hand.

“I can guarantee you don’t want to touch that glass Cass.” Jo smiled as she released Cass’ hand.

“Ha yeah, thanks Jo…I think I see what you were talking about Dave. Even though it's predominantly a whitish…greyish colour out there, if you look real hard you can sorta see darker shapes shifting in and out of the fog. Wow look at that…can you see where those two smaller clumps just blended together?”

“Yes Cass. The longer you look the more you notice, see a little further to the left there? That huge clump of dark grey, about four or five smaller bits of fog all joined into one and now it keeps changing shape.” Jo moved out of the way after speaking to let Rebecca and Adam stand in front of her so they could also see.

“Hey, it’s a little like making shapes out of clouds isn’t it?” Adam asked as he finally caught sight of what the others had seen. Now that he knew what it was he was looking for it was a little easier to spot the numerous smaller patches of darker grey.

“What the hell are you guys talking about?” Mark slurred as he ambled over to stand between the door and the window.

Cass ignored Mark, she was too busy straining to keep her eyes on one clump that seemed now to be about the size and shape of large dog as it steadily made its way closer to the window.

Thinking once again that it might be time to try is charm on the ladies, Mark placed an unlit cigarette in his mouth and swaggered over to Cass. Fumbling in his pocket for a lighter he fell back against the wall next to the window.

Cass saw the movement out of the corner of her eye and would have laughed had she not been so entranced by the shape that was now pushing through the fog heading straight toward her.

She watched as other smaller clumps joined with it, constantly changing its shape. With the brief flicker of Mark’s attempt to light his cigarette she watched as it hovered just outside the window. As Mark flicked his lighter again, this time getting the flame to stay lit long enough to light his cigarette, she continued to stare out into the night, however now the clump seemed to be moving away. Staring at it for as long as she could, she was finally brought out of her trance like gaze as the darker clump was swallowed up in fog.

Chapter 12


“Well I hate to say it...”David added another log of wood to the fire, “but unless things drastically improve in the next couple of hours, I don’t think we will be driving out of here in the morning.”

The novelty of making shapes in the fog having worn off, the rest of the group drifted closer to the fire.

“I wonder what that was?” Cass waved vaguely at the window behind her before sitting on the floor in front of David. As she got comfortable she thought back to the brief glimpse of movement she had seen earlier in the day.

“Hmm, I don’t know. It was really hard to see it properly. If it was windy, you could almost believe it was just stuff blowing around, but as far as I can tell it's pretty calm outside.” David leant back in the chair he had pulled over from the table. He studied the group that was now sitting in a semi-circle around the fireplace. He could tell by the looks of their faces, especially Jo’s and Adam’s, that none of them were too keen on the idea of having to spend another day waiting before they could get help.

All sorts of thoughts chased their way across Jo’s mind; first and foremost was her concern for her brother, but her curiosity about what it was they could see, along with the fear that the dense fog would never leave was rapidly taking over.

“I don’t know either. Perhaps if we see it again in the morning when it’s lighter we’ll be able to tell what it is,” Jo said.

~~~~~~~~~


Mark poured himself another drink. After the others had made their way over to fire, he had decided to make the most of his opportunity of free rein behind the bar, and had immediately poured himself a shot of the most expensive drink he could find. Since moving to Happy Valley he had spent all his free time sitting on the other side of the bar, imagining just how much fun it would be to own and run a hotel. Unfortunately now that he had the chance to be on the other side, he couldn’t enjoy it, instead all he could think about was what he had seen as looked out the window.

He took another sip of his drink, hoping it would wipe the vision from his mind. As he raised his eyes from the glass, he once again stared straight into the whiteness of the night. Continuing to stare, he tried to convince himself that he hadn’t seen a person running toward the hotel. He had been about to open the door to let them in, when the figure vanished, engulfed in a swirl of thick, white, nothingness.

As the conversations went on around him he continued to drink. With each sip, the thoughts began to fade; slowly the vision began to change, until finally he was able to believe that it was just his eyes playing tricks on him.

Downing the last of his drink, he debated pouring another one. For once deciding on his own that he had drunk enough, he instead placed the glass upside down on the bar, deliberately turned his back to the window and thought about whether or not to join the others in front of the fire or just going straight to bed.

Hearing Rebecca’s voice made his mind up for him, not wanting to have her often scathing comments directed at him, he instead walked in the opposite direction to the fire, so he could make his way to the men’s bathroom outside, before heading upstairs to bed.


~~~~~~~~~



Cass closed her eyes and rested her head on David’s knees. Even with her vivid imagination she was having trouble coming up with a reasonable explanation for just what it was she had seen. She wasn’t sure if the others had noticed the way it had seemed to take on a life of its own as it targeted the window she was standing in front of. Even as she tried not to think about it, she couldn’t help but wonder what would have happened if it had actually reached the window. Trying to take her mind off the weirdness of what was going on outside, she ventured a quick look at the others in the room.

She was happy to see that Red was once again lying calmly in front of the fire. When Adam had taken a closer look at his injured leg, before going to bed, he had pointed out to the others in the group that the swelling had gone down a little and it wasn’t quite as cool to the touch. Not being sure exactly what had caused the injury, they had decided that until they could get him to a vet, the best thing to do would be to keep him warm and calm. Every now and then he gave a tiny whimper and would try to lick his leg, but a few soothing words and gentle pats soon settled him again.

Closing her eyes again she listened to the conversations going on around her. She could hear the faint tremor in Jo’s voice as she and David continued to try and describe what it was outside. She guessed that it was caused by David’s statement about not being able to leave in the morning, and her worry for her brother, rather than the thought of what it was floating around outside. Once again she felt an almost instinctive need to move closer and comfort her. Ignoring her bodies desire to lean closer, she instead tried to understand where the sudden feelings had come from. While she was generally a caring person, the acute feelings that seemed to have been pulled from within after meeting Jo where like nothing she had known before. Deciding that this was yet another puzzle that was too hard to solve in the early hours of the morning, she went back to her eavesdropping, this time listening to Harriett as she and Rebecca told Adam of the problems with the construction workers.


~~~~~~~~~

“Where is Mark?” Cass realised she had fallen asleep when she judged by the tone of Rebecca’s voice and the tense look on everyone’s faces that the former calm conversations had escalated into something much more serious.

“I don’t know. He probably fell asleep somewhere. Why?”

“Well with everything else that’s going on we really don’t want to lose anyone else.” Even if it is only Mark. Rebecca continued to herself.

“I’ll go see if I can find him,” Adam mentioned to David as he passed.

“Ahh Yeah. Sorry…not quite awake yet.” Cass tried to grin and ignore the slight trace of sarcasm in Rebecca’s voice

“Not just that.” David briefly ruffled his sister’s hair before standing to put another log on the fire. “We were hoping he could help.” Seeing the look of confusion on Cass’ face he continued. “Harriett and Rebecca were talking about the construction of the shopping centre, and we wanted to know if Mark knew how long it had been since anyone worked on it. We are beginning to wonder if people have been slowly disappearing for awhile now, but because most of them weren’t local, no one paid much attention.”

“Unfortunately even if they were all local, it doesn’t necessarily mean we would notice. We may be a relatively small town, but that doesn’t mean you see the same people day in and day out,” Harriett told them.

“That’s true Harriett. And with the fog lately a lot of people have been holding off coming into town, not wanting to risk driving in it,” Rebecca said.

“How long has it been going on?” Cass asked Harriett and Rebecca.

“What…the fog?” Rebecca turned to Cass.

“Both I guess. It might help the police if we can work out just how long it has been since people started disappearing, or at least since you last saw them.”

“Umm I think the construction started about a month or so ago. Once the ground was dug out, they worked steadily for around a week and then the workers gradually stopped showing up. So I guess you could say that it’s been about two or three weeks since anyone really worked there.”

“That would be about right Rebecca. As for the fog, well that has been steadily getting worse for about a month. This time of year we usually get it daily around the hills, but by mid-morning it would go. Now, for the last few weeks it has been here all day, and it is much thicker than I have ever known it to be.”

Jo was distracted from the conversation by the sound of Adam clomping back down the stairs.





Chapter 13


“Did you find him?” Cass stood up as Jo spoke, and turned so she was facing Adam and the stairs he had just descended.

“No. He’s not up there.”

Cass looked over at her brother, who along with Harriett and Rebecca was once again poring over the list of names.

“Well, as far as I know he didn’t go past us when we were all sitting around the fire, so he must be around the place somewhere.”

“Hmm, though I do believe you may have been resting your eyes for a little while,” Jo grinned at Cass, “but you’re right, I didn’t see him go upstairs.”

“We better see if we can find him, I’d hate to think he had too much to drink and passed out. It’s too cold, and quite honestly a little freaky, to think that he has wandered off somewhere on his own.”

“Yeah Cass. How ‘bout if the three of us take a good look around down here, that will leave the other three a little more time to work on the names of who might be missing. The more detailed it is the more help it should be to the police.”

“Okay Adam, just let me tell Dave what we are doing.”

Jo watched as Cass pulled David away slightly, she could tell by the look on David’s face that he wasn’t entirely convinced that Cass should be out looking. Even though she couldn’t hear what was being said, she couldn’t help but smile as David’s shoulders finally slumped in resignation, she guessed it wasn’t the first time that he had given into his younger sister’s determination.

~~~~~~~~~

“Okay, lets go,” Cass said as she walked up next to Jo.

“I’m not sure where to look. Did you get much of a chance to look around down here earlier Adam?”

“Not really Jo, all I know is that that you have this room, which I guess is like the front bar, on this side it opens up to a small dining room, and then on the end of the bar is the gaming room. I think that door at the back of the room, “ Adam pointed to a door that was just of to the side of the long bar, “ is what leads out to the toilets, and some sort of half enclosed beer garden.”

“I guess one of us would have seen him if he’d gone into the dining room, so that pretty much leaves the gaming room and the garden outside,” Cass said as the trio made their way alongside the bar.

Adam reached the door to the gaming room first. Stepping through the doorway he quickly scanned the room, the lights from the silent poker machines brightening the room enough for him to see to the farthest corners.

“Doesn’t look like he his here.”

“Guess that leaves the toilets. I doubt he would be silly enough to go wandering around outside on his own,” Cass said as she left the gaming room and headed toward the back door, “though I suppose if he had a few drinks he may not be thinking all that sensibly.”

“Wait up Cass. How about if I check the men’s room while you and Jo take a quick look in the gardens. I don’t think you really need to go outside; you should be able to see everything in the gardens just by standing outside the back door.”

“Okay, let’s just hope he is in there, I really don’t want to have to go wandering around looking for him.”

Cass pushed open the back door and stepped into a small covered pathway. As she looked around she was impressed with the layout of the gardens. On her left there was a wooden partition, completely covered in vines, that blocked the view of the small alley to the bathrooms to any patrons that were utilising one of the several small table and chair sets that were scattered around. Only half these tables were under cover; the pergola, while enclosed on three sides, only covered half of the lawn area, leaving several of the tables out in the open. The closed umbrellas standing limply in the middle of these tables attested to the amount of sun that would be seen under normal circumstances.

“If you two want to have a seat? I’ll go and have a quick look in the toilets.”

“Okay.” Both Cass and Jo replied.

“We’ll be here when you get back,” Jo added.

Cass pulled both chairs to one side of the table, which gave them a view of both the partition that Adam had just walked behind, and the gardens.

“God it’s cold out here.”

Jo sat as close as she could to Cass, hoping to warm her a little with her body heat.

“Yeah, hopefully Adam will find Mark quickly and we can get back inside to the fire.”

Receiving no reply, she briefly nudged Cass with her shoulder.

“What’s up?”

“Oh. I was just looking at the fog, it is just so thick. Can you see how it’s wafting in under the pergola? Just on the other side of that, you could almost believe it was just a wall painted white, if it wasn’t for the slight drift of the fog as it’s moving around the tables that are not under cover.”

The slam of a door and the sound of thudding footsteps echoing in the stillness drew their attention from the fog. They both jumped up from their seats, grabbing for each other’s hand as they turned to face the alley behind the partition.


~~~~~~~~~


Just below the surface of newly dug ground a nameless creature heaved another sigh. With each breath more and more particles were released into the air. Each particle moving independently of the others floating in the drifts of fog until it was able to join with more of its kind. Had the creature the ability to recognise its feelings, it would have used anger and desperation to describe the strange sensations coursing through its elongated body. It hadn’t been ready yet. It needed to be closer to the coast before surfacing; but the ground through which it had been burrowing had given way, and now it was partially exposed.

Even with its limited intelligence it understood pain and what caused it. It had not survived thousands of years without learning what to avoid to enable its survival as it migrated from the cool dark soil of dry land to the vast depths of the ocean where it hibernated for centuries at a time.

Another deep breath released more of its frigid amoeba like particles. Using an almost telepathic process it directed the particles to form a solid wall between where it now rested and the coast. It had learnt over time what to avoid to ensure its safety. While not a natural predator its only defence when faced with danger was its ability to snap-freeze its prey; the need for the particles to close in on themselves and be joined crushing the victims to nothing more than powder

Another burst of particles, the chillness of the creature’s breath reacting to the air, helping to aid in the particles initial movement as they caught the slipstreams of current in the fog. The creature knew that the bridge had begun, the particles had reached the coast and were now building the wall inwards. Soon the entire area would be a solid mass and then the creature could use the fog as its cover ensuring it would remain cold as it made its way overland to the sea.


~~~~~~~~~



I am still playing around with this, and the other parts, but if you're interested

Part 4 "The Fog Part 4"  [18+]