The Fog Part 5

I'm still playing around with this and other parts - any comments, suggestions or advice would be more than appreciated

Previous parts can be found here "The Fog - Work in Progress"  [18+]




Chapter 17



With each gasping breath more cold air blasted its way into his lungs; the sharp, burning pain with each inhale not nearly enough to stop his headlong dash through the night. Even though he had no idea where he was, the fog so thick it was only pure luck that had stopped him from crashing into anything, he continued to run.

He had to get out of the town. He had tried to convince his brother, Ed, that something was wrong. From the minute they started work three weeks ago, until that horrifying moment when the unbelievable happened, Grant had been trying to talk Ed into leaving their construction job and getting out of town.

Trying to run with his arms stretched out in front of him, Grant felt as if he was physically pushing the fog out of his path as he tried in vain to see where he was going. Slamming into a solid wall his last thoughts before darkness descended were of his brother, and the terrifying sight of him crumbling away to nothing as the great white slug like thing they stumbled upon surrounded them with its freezing breath.


~~~~~~~~~

Luke carefully trailed his hands along the building. Not being able to see where he was going he used the feel of a solid wall to guide his path as he prayed that he was moving in the right direction. At the first sound of life he heard earlier he had scampered out of his hiding place and cautiously tried to make his way to any one that may be able to help.

He had been hiding in the general store for four days now, the last two totally on his own after the store assistant had given in to desperation and tried to make a break and find help. During his two days of solitude he had carefully watched and listened; each day the sounds of life had dimmed, almost as if the thick fog was wrapping the town in a blanket and muffling any outside life.

Initially Luke had paid no attention to the quietness of the town, it wasn’t until he had seen a tourist disappear in a cloud of nothing and raced into the store to see if anyone else noticed that other odd thoughts began to make their way through his jumbled mind. Comparing notes with the assistant the two had soon come to realise that they were in serious trouble. Each day that passed they began to fear that they may be the only two left in Happy Valley. Against all Luke’s advice the assistant had decided to take his chances and in the early morning hours had flung open the shop door and raced outside. Luke heard only half a dozen footsteps as they echoed back at him before the shrill scream of pain let him know that help wouldn’t be coming.

Now here he was, trying to track down the sound of someone calling a name. Coming to the corner of the building he stopped to try and get his bearings. Using his best guess he thought if he continued in this direction he may have a clear path across the car park and through to the hotel. The only problem being that if he deviated too much he would end up right in the middle of the new construction site.

Hearing more footsteps, this time sounding like they were running away, Luke made the decision to follow. Stepping away from the relative comfort of the solid wall he called out to whoever it was that might hear him. Waiting for an answering reply he caught sight of what looked like movement out the corner of his eye. Turning to take a better look his whole body seemed to go limp as he watched a large clump of grey rise up and loom overhead. As he was about to call out, this time a scream of terror, he instead watched in muted awe as the shape shifted, now totally surrounding him before closing in. The air becoming too cold to breath as it came closer and closer to touching him, he gave a last gasp as the clump reached out to hold him in its embrace.


~~~~~~~~~~~

Throughout the town of Happy Valley thick pockets of solid fog, both small and large, continued to search out and crush any warmth. The occasional strangled screams of its victims the only sound to break the silence.


Chapter 18


Staring into the fire Cass tried to wrestle her thoughts into some sort of order. She wondered if the others had noticed the strange sensation when they neared the fire; almost as if they stepped from one room into another, the fog having formed some sort of barrier around the flames.

Turning and seeing the look of utter distress pass over Jo’s face she quickly moved behind the seated woman and wrapped her arms around her.

“I’m sorry,” she mumbled in Jo’s ear.

Feeling the slight tremble in the taller body in front of her and guessing at its cause she tightened her embrace. Cass assumed that Jo had also come to the conclusion that like Mark and now Harriett her brother was more than likely dead and not just missing. Not having the words she instead let Jo burrow deeper into her arms as she held her in silence; shielding the distressed face from view, somehow knowing that Jo wouldn’t want to show any sign of weakness to the others.

Gently swaying back and forth she tried to make sense of what she had seen earlier, while they hadn’t actually seen what happened to Harriett, the pile of what looked like grey dust on the floor kept playing on her mind. She felt another tremor though this time she wasn’t sure if it wasn’t her own body reacting to the moment. Losing Harriett had left them all in a state of shock. Looking at the pale faces of the others that were also huddled near the fire she wondered how much longer they could hold out before the need to get out overwhelmed common sense.

Cass knew that something needed to be done, but she didn’t think that leaving the comfort of the fire, even if it was only a false sense of security, was a good idea until they had some sort of feeling as to what they were dealing with.

Feeling Jo give a final shuddering breath, she loosened her arms to allow Jo to move slightly away.

“You okay?”

“No.” Jo gave a tremulous smile, “but I’ll be all right for now. Thanks for that.”

“I didn’t really do anything.”

“You did enough. I know I can’t do anything to bring Mike back, so I’d rather try and take my mind off it and work out how to get out of here. I just needed that moment to try and get my feelings under control.”

“I guess. I can’t imagine how you must be feeling at the moment, and I wont try and second guess your way of handling things, but if you need me…well…heh I probably wont be that far away.” Cass gave Jo a final squeeze before letting go entirely and shifting so she was now sitting alongside Jo.

David, who had been watching the earnest conversation between his sister and the other woman, finally moved closer once he realised that the two were now ready to face whatever else may be thrown at them.

The remaining occupants of the Happy Valley Hotel were now seated in a semi-circle around the open fireplace. David, the only one with his back directly to the centre of the room, was seated between Cass and Jo who were resting against one side of the hearth and Adam and Rebecca who were on the opposite side.

Reaching behind Cass, Jo grabbed another log of wood and placed it on the fire; the momentary flash of sparks as the logs shifted to accommodate the new piece not enough to penetrate the wall of gloom that was surrounding them.



~~~~~~~~~~~


“So?” Jo decided it was time to break into everyone’s thoughts. As much as she knew they were all stunned by the recent events, herself included, she hoped that by bringing everyone together they may come up with some sort of logical explanation for what was happening as well as a reasonable plan to get out of the hotel. Seeing the weary faces now turned in her direction she almost wished she wasn’t the one to begin the conversation.

She gave Cass a nudge with her elbow when it appeared that she was the only one that hadn’t focused her attention, hoping the blonde may be able to give some insight into what was happening.

Getting no response, other than a slight furrow to her brow, she nudged Cass a little harder.

“What’s up?”

“Take a look just behind Dave,” Cass almost whispered, not wanting to attract too much attention from the others, though it didn’t hide the tremor in her voice.

Following Cass’ gaze, Jo watched in amazement as small tendrils of fog reached out; the tentacles stretching from the depths behind David, pulsating as they tried to touch his back, then shrinking back into nothingness before they were able to make contact.

“Dave!” Cass hissed, “can you move a little closer to us?”

The look of panic on his sister’s face enough to get him scrambling forward, it wasn’t until he was almost sitting in her lap that he had the presence of mind to stop and wonder what was wrong.

“Why? What’s wrong?” he too whispered, as if sensing that to speak too loudly would bring the wrath of something down upon them.

Rebecca and Adam, having seen David’s rapid move, also leant closer to the other side of the fire place, not bothering to shift even though one side of their face would soon become unbearably warm as it bore the brunt of the fire.

“I’m not sure,” said Cass, “but it looked like something was trying to grab you.”

“What? Where?” David’s rapid head movements as he searched the room would have caused a snort of laughter from his younger sister at any other time, but for now all she could do was point. Drawing everyone’s attention to the white wall of fog.

Peering through the gloom they each tried to make sense of the fuzzy shapes in the room; the front of the bar, the closest end of the table and a couple of chairs scattered around the room.

Throwing another log of wood on the fire, in the hopes that it would aid in penetrating the wall of mist, they were momentarily relieved to find that with the brightened glow, the fog appeared to shift enough to make the shapes come into focus.



~~~~~~~~~





Completely free now, the long, slug like creature continued to blast its surroundings with freezing air. Hunching then extending its body it slowly began to burrow through the solid air surrounding it. Any pockets of uncovered space soon filled as the creature sent signals to the particles directing them in their placement. With each extension of its elongated body another breath is exhaled constantly providing any needed cover and protection. It knew of the danger nearby and this increased the somewhat foreign feelings running through its body, though they failed to delay the creatures steady movement; since its initial exposure it had no choice but to hasten its migration. The constant warnings from the particles that sent tiny jolts over its body enabled the creature to sense where the danger came from and what form it took. It only hoped that now that it was open for attack it could avoid what it knew could harm it and dispense with what it knew it had the ability to destroy.



~~~~~~~~~~~



Grant stirred, the ringing in his ears and the pounding of his forehead slowing his rise to his feet. The frigid air quickly reminding him of recent events. Trying to make sense of where he was, a bright orange flash through what looked like a window gave him hope that help was close at hand.

Pushing his way through the freezing air, he braced himself for the pain he knew he would feel before banging his fist against the chill windowpane. Seeing a blonde woman start to turn in his direction he drew his hand back ready to bang again. As his hand reached the top of its swing, he was overcome by a searing pain as his hand was held in a vice like grip, too shocked to scream he could only watch as his arm was enfolded in a grey mass of cold. Throwing his body back in a futile effort to escape the captive’s hold his head collided with the widow, cracking the glass and almost causing him to lose consciousness again. Managing to hold off the dizziness, he again tried to push himself away, his shriek of pain halted as the numbing pain made its way to his chest. His last conscious sight: watching his arm crumble to dust.


~~~~~~~~~~~


“Shit! There’s someone out there.” Jo jumped up and headed to the door.

“Jo. No!” Cass yelled.

Without thought, Jo automatically halted at the sound of Cass’ voice. The sound of cracking glass immediately drawing her attention back to the window. Torn between wanting to help and being frozen in place watching, it was the abruptly broken, agonising scream of pain, that had Jo and the others taking a step closer to the cracked window.

Her heart pounding, Cass reached behind, needing the contact with another person. When her hand was clasped in a strong yet comforting grip, she released her pent up breath; somehow, without looking, knowing it was Jo.

Cass tightened her grip as they all watched the dark head of hair fling back toward the window, only this time, as they watched through the mist inside, it seemed that the blow was cushioned; the strangers head momentarily swallowed by a swirling mass of grey.

“Oh God!” The whispered exclamation from Cass sounding like thunder as it echoed through the silent room. They watched the mass slowly shrink away, leaving in its wake what looked like snowflakes falling and resting on the window ledge.


Chapter 19


“What happened?” “What was that?” “Shit.” Their voices intermingled as they tried to make sense of what they had witnessed

“Oh fuck. Did you see that?” It was Rebecca’s voice, rising to almost screaming pitch, that had everyone turning away from the window.

“Did you? What happened to him? Where did he go?” she ranted. Her arms flailing about, Rebecca stormed back to the fire. “I don’t understand! How could he just disappear like that?”

“I have no idea what that was,” Cass said as she joined Rebecca and the others around the fireplace. “But I think…”

“We need to do something. Get out of here. What if it comes after us?” Rebecca interrupted as she backed further away from the window, her eyes darting around the room as she tried to look in every direction at once.

“You’re right. We do need to do something, but you need to calm down a little first.” Cass took a step closer and held her hands out in a placating gesture. Her outstretched hand reminding her of other recent events she stopped in mid-stride trying to clear her mind enough to let the thought make its way to the forefront. She remembered the strange marks and burns on Red and David, the piles of dust and Adam’s telling of Mark’s disappearance.

“Calm down! How can I be calm? There’s something out there.” Rebecca’s hysterical ranting breaking into her thoughts, Cass turned pleading eyes on Jo, hoping she may be able to calm the raving woman.

“Rebecca,” Jo started, “we know we are in trouble, but you yelling like this isn’t helping.” Jo studied the curly haired woman, her trembling body and gasping breaths testament to the fact that she was close to passing out with fear. “You need to try to relax a little.”

“No. We don’t have time. Whatever is out there may come for us next.”

Cass and David took up the space on either side of Jo, hoping that by blocking the view of the window it may help Jo’s efforts to calm the distraught woman.

Cass risked a quick glance at Adam who, while appearing shaken by the events, was at least maintaining some sense of control; though if the tight grip he had on the torch he still held was any indication he too was struggling to hold back the tremors.

Cass let Jo’s soothing voice wash over her, as she turned her attention back to Rebecca. She watched Rebecca’s eyes dart nervously around the room before locking on something behind her.

Turning to see what had captured her attention it was Jo’s cry of “Wait,” that saved Cass from being bowled over as Rebecca pushed past, giving her just enough time to side-step. Adam wasn’t so lucky, Rebecca’s sudden lunge for the torch throwing him off balance as she wrenched the torch from his grip before diving toward the door behind them.

“Rebecca!” they all yelled, to no effect.

Through the mist the saw they light of the now switched on torch rebounding around the room as it reflected off the fog.

“Rebecca,” Cass called again. Hearing the thud of the door banging against the wall as it was flung open she watched as the fog around the fire immediately closed in on them, thickening within the room, before the light from the torch disappeared out the door.

The slowly fading thud of footsteps the only proof she made it outside.

In the silence that followed Rebecca’s mad dash, they all waited with baited breath, hoping that the knowledge that she had made it through the door was enough to believe that she may be safe.

It was the sudden clang of metal hitting the ground in what they all knew was the torch, before the muffled cry of pain, that chased away their final hopes.


~~~~~~~~~~~


They stared at each other, misery and fear etched upon their faces. With each passing moment the tension in the air seemed to grow, the warmth of the fire stifling now that the fog was pressing closer. The battle between warm and cold air raging around them as each remaining occupant was lost in their own thoughts. The barrier around the fire now distinct as an almost solid looking wall of white circled them. The occasional tendril of fog drifting inwards the only movement within the circle.

Cass took a deep shuddering breath and brought herself back to the present. She focused first on Adam, with his slumped shoulders and downcast head, it was his slow, deep breathing that let her know he was keeping control on his emotions. Turning to her brother she found him gazing pensively into the fire, she felt a huge swell of protectiveness overtake her as she watched him, the fear that something may happen to him causing her breath to hitch and a ball of tension to form in her stomach. Cass turned her body slightly away from her brother, the added surge of protectiveness that washed over her, as she locked gazes with Jo, almost bringing her to her knees. At that moment she pushed her lingering fear aside and with a resolute grin, she stood tall and determined; she wasn’t sure how yet, but they were going to get out and get help, and nothing was going to happen to anyone in the room if she could help it.


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"The Fog Part 6"