[Dream] - The Fog

A Stephen King novel meets A Game of Thrones. A cold fog is sweeping through the town. Anyone it touches, anyone who walks into it, is taken by the cold and they cannot ever leave. They can only move within the confines of the ever-expanding, cold fog.

Vans and removal trucks speed along the street. They growl and swerve as they race to get out of town.

I am in a position of responsibility, perhaps the sheriff. In my attempts to protect people, I end up standing in the street with the fog approaching. I end up walking into it. Just a few feet.

An unseen wind blows through me. It chills my ribs and my spine. I imagine leaves and dust blowing between my bones. My flesh feels as insubstantial as air.

I look back at my team and other onlookers.

"Get back!" I say as the fog continues to creep toward them.

After a few more seconds, the fog stops. It roils, but doesn't advance any further.

In the mist, like the white walkers in A Game of Thrones, trapped people wonder within the fog. They are wearing what they were wearing when it enveloped them.

I'm in uniform. That's me in uniform forever. 

I don't feel like I'm losing my mind yet. The others, however, look gone mentally. I wonder how long that takes. I wonder what that feels like.

A man straight out of a Stephen King novel approaches through the fog. He is wearing brown, leather boots. Something about me being captured has changed things and, talking to the people outside the fog, he offers a truce between his fog and the rest of the world.

As long as no-one tries to get anyone out of the fog, he says, he'll let the rest of the world survive. Anyone who enters the fog of their own volition, however, will be his.

"How come you can turn into a werewolf AND other things?" someone asks. It seems impertinent, like, unnecessary right now.

"I shapeshift into a wolf," he answers quickly. "From my wolf form, I can shapeshift into many things."

He moves on quickly, physically, as if to avoid questioning. It seems like we've found a plot hole in the story and he wants to gloss over it.

Gone, the evil man lets us mull over his deal.

I consider my life in the cold.

It's not as cold as I thought it would be.

But it does look like forever.

Those in the fog have given up, but those on the other side are trying to think of solutions. I admire them and I think I might be in a unique position to help from here.