The Mist

The morning after a violent thunderstorm, a thick unnatural mist rapidly spreads across the small town of Bridgton, Maine, reducing visibility to near-zero and concealing numerous species of bizarre creatures which viciously attack any human who ventures out into the open. The source of the fog and its inhabitants is never revealed, but strong allusions are made to an inter dimensional rift caused by something known second-hand to the townsfolk as "The Arrowhead Project", long rumored to be conducted at a nearby top-secret military facility. The bulk of the story details the plight of a large group of people who become trapped while shopping in the town supermarket, among them a commercial artist named David Drayton (the story's narrator), Drayton's young son Billy, and their neighbor Brenton Norton. Also trapped in the market are a young woman named Amanda Dumfries and two soldiers from The Arrowhead Project; the soldiers' joint suicide lends some credence to the theory of the Project being the source of the disaster. Along with the horrifying physical threats outside, of which Norton is an early victim, the story also explores the rapid psychological breakdown of the terrified people inside the market. This breakdown allows for the rise to power of a religious zealot named Mrs. Carmody, who eventually convinces a majority fraction of the survivors that these events fulfill the biblical prophecy of the end times, and that a human sacrifice must be made to clear away the Mist; Billy and Amanda are the chosen victims. As the mob surges forward at her command, Mrs. Carmody is shot by Ollie Weeks, an employee of the market and one of the few survivors who has remained relatively sane. Drayton, Billy, Amanda, and two other survivors then escape to Drayton's car and leave Bridgton. Learning that the Mist has spread ahead of them across all of Maine, they prepare to drive on into an uncertain future.