Chapter 1

That wall of fog crept closer every day. We had to stay ahead of it by moving every day if we were not to be caught in it. At this point, it was about 15 miles away, but it continued to move while we had to sleep. Besides, it was so dark at night that we could not travel until dawn. Emma pulled Sarah in one Radio Flier wagon while I pulled Johnny in another.

When we started running away from the fog, we had used our pickup. But we soon ran out of places where we could get fuel. There may have been diesel fuel in the tanks underground, but there was no electricity to run the pumps. Thank God that we were in a city when we had to abandon the pickup. We were close to a shopping center where we were able to find the wagons to haul the kids and the few supplies that we had to have.

Fortunately, we also found the shotgun that I was carrying. There were a few buckshot and birdshot shells still there, so I took them. The birdshot was what was keeping us alive as I shot birds for our meals. Emma had a .22 semiautomatic rifle with hollowpoint ammunition, and she was a good shot, so we had rabbits to go with our birds about every other day. Jack, our dog, was great at finding rabbits for us. I don’t know what he ate, but he never seemed to go hungry.

Jack spent the nights with us, but he disappeared every morning about the time we started running from the fog, and he would show up in the afternoon, often chasing a rabbit toward us. Emma was quick enough with her rifle to shoot the rabbit when Jack would stop chasing it. The rabbit was tired enough by this time to also stop, and that was when Emma shot it.

At this point, we had been running ahead of the fog for 11 days, and I did not know how much longer we could keep up this pace. The first day after our pickup ran out of fuel, I checked each vehicle we found, but none of them ever had any fuel, so I quit wasting my time. I was afraid to spend that time with the wall of fog continuing to move.

This whole thing started out one bright and sunshiny spring morning. It was a Saturday, so all four of us were home. It was mid-morning when the TV suddenly switched to a news bulletin. The kids were watching some cartoon show, Emma was in the kitchen, and I was getting ready to mow the lawn for the first time this season.

Suddenly, Johnny ran to Emma with a complaint, The Masked Avenger show was no longer to be seen. Instead, some woman was talking about an unusual weather event, and Johnny wanted his mother to bring his program back to the TV set. His complaint was so garbled that Emma went into the family room to see what he was talking about. That was when she saw the first report of the wall of fog that was slowly advancing from the Marine base to our northwest.

The TV announcer said something about the Marine base being completely cut off from contact outside the fog, and she was obviously concerned about this. That was enough for Emma to send Johnny to fetch me. At first, I brushed him off, but he finally got through to me that Emma wanted me, so I left the mower to see what she wanted.

She pointed to the TV, and I started to pay attention. The report was that the fog bank was about 2 miles high—something totally unreasonable! Furthermore, it was circular and gradually growing in diameter at about 4 MPH (Miles Per Hour). If it kept that up, it would reach Buena Vista sometime tonight.

The TV report was coming from a town much closer to the Marine base, and the fog should reach the TV studio in about one hour if it continued to expand. Well, the TV report eventually settled into a running loop of repeating itself, so I went back to mowing the lawn. Nevertheless, Emma stayed with the TV and watched the report cycle through several times.

Finally, it changed, and Emma was about to send Johnny to fetch me again when I walked into the room to see what the TV had to say. “The fog has finally reached our studio, and still nobody knows what it is. It is obvious that it is not a natural fog, for several reasons, but the wall of the fog bank is so nearly exactly vertical that it must be artificial. Could it be a new weapon that has gotten out of control? Well, I don’t think that we need to worry, yet, because we have no reports from inside the fog bank that say anything of difficulties.

“Ah, I have just been told by my director that the fog has finally reached our studio and is about to engulf us. We should know pretty soon what to expect from the very odd fog, and I will report it to you as soon as I get some information. Please stay tuned.

“Oh, look, the fog is seeping under that closed door. Bob, swing the camera that way so that our viewers can see it. Wow, would you look at that! The fog is not creeping along the floor, but is moving vertically as if it is imitating what it is doing outside. In all of my years as a weather forecaster, I have never heard of any fog that acts like that. I can’t imagine why a natural fog would act that way.

“Okay, it has been a few minutes since the fog first came in, and it is moving faster than it did before. How could that be? Bob, swing the camera back toward me, and I will report what it feels like when it gets to me. It’s close enough now for me to reach out and touch it. I’ll do that.

“Ow, that was painful. What in the world is that fog made of. Oh, my God, the flesh is gone from the end of my finger! The pain is terrific!” The woman turned away from the fog as if she planned to run to a door across the studio. Without bothering to look at what was on the other side of the door as she opened it, she stepped into another wall of fog.

There was a heart-rending scream, and the woman fell back into the room—at least what was left of her. All of the flesh was gone from her body, and nothing was left but her bones and her clothes. There was no blood nor other liquid associated with the bones. For a moment, the fog coming through the doorway where she had stepped had a bit of a red tint to it, but that disappeared too quickly to be sure that it had been seen.

Shortly thereafter, the studio was filled with the fog, and a few more screams came from the TV, but there was nothing to see but a white fog. I waited for about five minutes, but there was no change in what the TV was showing nor was there any sound coming from the TV set’s speaker, so I changed channels.

I found another station that was reporting on the fog. “You may have seen the tragic episode broadcast from our sister station KZOX. Rest assured, as far as we can tell, that was what really happened as it was broadcast live. Frankly, we at KRCU are now being approached by the wall of fog, and let me say that I am about to abandon my position here and try to escape. Goodbye, everybody. Hopefully, I will be back on the air soon when this problem is cleared up.

At that point, the station appeared to go off the air. I checked several other channels and got the same kind of results. Either the station was off the air, or they were about to shut down if they felt that they were too close to the wall of fog.

At that point, I said to Emma, “Honey, we had better get out while we can. You get the kids ready to travel and I will load the pickup with what I think that we will need. I want to lock up the house and leave for San Diego as soon as we can get away. I’m afraid that if we don’t hurry, we will not be able to get a motel room. We can come back when this is all over with.”

“Okay, Dear. I am in complete agreement after seeing what happened to that poor woman. It will take me about an hour to gather up the stuff we will need and pack it into suitcases. I’ll just take the minimum. Surely, this will all be over in a few hours, or at most a day. I’ll pack your stuff, too.”

“Just pack underwear and socks for me, Honey. I’ll wear this same shirt and pants tomorrow and sleep tonight in my underwear. You and the kids can do the same. That will cut down on what you have to pack. Don’t even bother with my razor and such, just pack my toothbrush. I’ll go fill up the fuel tank in the pickup and be right back.”