No Place Like Home

Part 10

Dan woke up an hour later, to grumbling noise, not far away.

Dan slowly sat upright and saw Phil had fallen into a light sleep, and Alyssa was still snoring quietly.

Dan looked behind him and saw a cloud coming towards them.

He slowly stood up and walked towards the large cloud growing near.
Was that... fog?

He carefully held his hand out to touch the fog, and instantly regretted it.

Once he touched it, he felt a sharp stab of pain throughout his hand.

He cried out and stumbled backward, then he stared at his hand, where he saw blisters forming.

"Dan?" he heard Phil say. "Dan, what the Hell is that?"
"It's poison." Dan breathed, then turned to exclaim. "Phil, it's poison! The fog is poison!"
"Oh sh*t," Phil gasped.

They looked at each other, and then they both roared, "Alyssa!"
"Alyssa, come on, get up!" Dan exclaimed as the fog grew close.
"Alyssa, we've gotta go! Come on!" Phil yelled.
She grumbled and sat up, "What?"

Dan grabbed her under the arm and swung her onto his back, before they started running away, "Just trust me, we've gotta go!"

"Dan, what is that?" Alyssa said shakily and looked back at the cloud growing near.
"It's fog," Dan said. "We're gonna be fine, just hold on."

They ran for what seemed like ages, making sure to not trip up.
"Alyssa, hold on tighter!" Dan yelled.
Alyssa wrapped her arms around Dan's neck tight, "I'm trying!"

Phil was slightly ahead now, "This way!"
He pointed right, and they all skidded to turn.

It didn't matter, the fog followed them.

It was getting faster, and thicker. "Phil, it's too fast!"
"We can't stop!" Phil yelled.

It was then when Phil tripped up and yelped, Dan and Alyssa tripped over the same tree-root.

They all screamed when the fog hit their legs. "Oh God!" Phil screamed.
"Get up, guys!" Dan yelled, and hoisted Alyssa up his back further. "Alyssa, hold on!"

They managed to scramble up, trying to run from the mist that wanted their lives.

Dan's feet were covered in blisters in his boots, and the pain made him feel like he was going to pass out.
He had Alyssa's weight too, which made things worse, but he didn't dare say anything.

They managed to outrun the fog for a little while, and it was at least a quarter of a mile behind when Alyssa gulped and said, "Dan, stop."
He refused, so she started yelling, "Dan, stop. Stop, stop, stop!"

Dan eventually skidded to a stop when the fog was further enough for comfort, "Put me down." She demanded.

Phil had also paused, "Dan, Alyssa, what are you doing? Come on!"

Alyssa stood in front of Dan, in front of the nearing fog.
He was eye level with her, and she put a hand on his shoulders and engulfed him in a hug.

"Thank you for everything," she whispered and pulled back, hands still on his shoulders. "But I have to go now."
"What?" Dan said, eyes to eye with her.

A tear rolled down her face and she shook her head, before turning around.
"Alyssa, what are you doing?" Dan exclaimed and stood up, grabbing her arm.

She shook it off without looking back as she walked towards to nearing fog.
"Alyssa, no! Stop!"

It was a matter of seconds before Alyssa was embraced by the killer fog.

Dan was still clinging onto the useless hope his new little sister figure was alive somewhere, until he heard a cannon blow off.
She was gone.

Dan couldn't help but scream out, "No!"
"Oh my, God." Phil mumbled, eyes wide and Dan put a hand over his mouth. "Dan come on,"

Dan wasn't moving, frozen in horror as the poisonous cloud grew close. Phil grabbed his arm, "Dan, please. We have to go!"
Dan wasn't moving, and the fog was getting too close for comfort, "We have to go." Phil pleaded.

Dan snapped out of it and turned before running away.
He wasn't going to lie, it was a Hell of a lot more easier running without Alyssa.
But it still hurt.

She sacrificed herself so that Dan and Phil could get away quicker, and he understood that, but it still hurt.
She was gone. She was dead.
He imagined her parents and brother watching the games now, they just saw their daughter kill herself so that two strangers could get away.

Dan focussed on running away, but there was still a replay of Alyssa walking into the mist in the back of his memory.

Dan was so focussed on the memory, when he fell over again.

This time the fog was closer than ever, and had almost fully engulfed Dan.

He screamed in pain and Phil spun around, grabbing his hands, "Dan let's go!"
Dan pulled himself up, but during the time, Phil had also been sent into the mist.
Phil screamed this time, and they both had to help each other run away.

They ran for what seemed like forever until they reached a part of the jungle, where they stopped.

They had given up. There was no point in running, they might as well die, so that they didn't have to kill each other.

"I'm sorry," Phil whispered to Dan.
Dan nodded, he understood what Phil was trying to say.

But the fog never came, when they looked up there was another force-field stopping the fog from getting to them.

The mist was pressed up against the force-field, creating weird shapes and sizes with shadows.

"Oh my God," Phil said. "We made it, we both made it!"
"Yeah," Dan looked at the fog. "We made it."