As I’m walking home from the store, I see a strange fog, it slowly creeps down the street, blanketing the world with its red haze. I start feeling nervous and increase my pace, I don’t want to have an episode in the fog. Up ahead is a woman stark still, holding her dog on a leash. She looks a bit odd, so I tap her on the shoulder… and it falls.
“EEK!” I let out a quick yelp.
When I tapped her, it was like pressing my finger through rotten fruit, and with just the slightest touch, it broke down and fell away into a fleshy pile on the floor. While falling, the arm had hit what was her dog, causing its structural integrity to break down and be collapse as well. Then, with one of her arms missing, the woman’s corpse began tilting, falling to the ground and splattering across the street.
“Wh-wh-wh-what?” I stare at what just happened, not quite believing it, holding my hand to my mouth. Then I feel something dripping, I move my hand away and look at it.
“No, nonono, stop! NO! DON’T!”
I wake up in a bed.
An unfamiliar ceiling…
I look around.
Where am I what the hell, hellhellhell?
I grab some of the food, but then put it down. I don’t have the appetite after what I saw. Instead I drink some water, take my medication, and put a mark on the lid. With nothing else to do, I look out the window in the door and see the two men out there. I listen listlessly as they answer the other people’s questions.
They’re all dead?
I tear up a bit.
Eventually, the two men mention letting us out, and sure enough, the door opens.
I look into the gaping hole.
Fog… why does there have to be more fog.
I take a moment, settle myself, then…
I wake up on my feet. I look around, I’m standing in a room I don’t recognize, with a door leading to a foreboding fog before me. I rub my eyes… they’re wet.
Was I… crying?
I don’t want to go through the fog, so instead I sit on the bed for a bit, and think.
Okay… I went to the store, and last thing I remember I was at the butcher, so what happened from there?
I pull out my medication and look at the lid.
The mark’s still there, and it hasn’t faded at all.
I’m supposed to take my medication every eight hours, but it’s not too uncommon to lose track, so I mark it with a special pen that fades off the plastic after about that long.
If it’s fresh, that means I already woke up earlier and took my pills.
My mind feels clear now, so the butcher was probably around an hour ago? What happened since then?
As usual, trying to remember doesn’t help, and this time there’s nothing about my situation that could help me figure it out other than that maybe I was kidnapped.
Then the only option is…
I stare at the door. The fog.
Several minutes pass, then I turn away.
Not yet, breathe deeply, let’s eat something and calm down.
I eat the food sitting on the table. It was good. I feel satisfied. Relaxed.
I stand up, I stare at the door, at the fog, take a couple minutes to steel myself, and step in.
By the time I enter the room with the others, my body is trembling slightly, but I quickly calm it down.