I live in a small town in Montana, most towns there are small to begin with. My families were major farmers that had their own fifty acre property up in the mountains, we also had three cats and seven dogs. I was pretty spoiled when I was younger. My brother and myself would walk down a dusty two mile trail down to our farm where there were animals that included, pigs, cows, chickens, geese and much more. We grew apple trees, peach trees, pears, peas, carrots and corn. Once we arrived to the farm we would start our daily chores in the relentless heat that burned the back of our necks. Some of our chores consisted of, planting new seeds, caring for the animals, milking the cows, pulling weeds out of the dirt and watering some nearby flowers.
By five o’clock we would be done with our chores and at six super was ready. When my brothers and I walked in we were always greeted by the fresh new smell of steak, cooked carrots and freshly baked rolls. The rolls were my family’s very favorite our meal. My mom was always delighted to make them for us, and never failed to impress us with not only the taste but with looks and the smell. My mother was a small lady, she was five foot six with brown hair and beautiful hazel eyes, my father always said her eyes twinkled in the dark. She always wore some kind of dress with animals or flowers on it.
My dad was a bigger guy, him being a farmer all of his life, he had some serious muscle gain and even his shadow scared me for how big he was. He was bald and it always appeared shiny, the sun sometimes reflected off him so much that it blinded me if I looked at for too long. He wore a cowboy hat in public. He had a mix of green and hazel in his eyes. If you met him, the first impression you would get from him is that he was strict and mean. But in reality, he was not very strict at all and was extremely caring and nice but he was very protective. I remember while I was growing up that I always would strive to be like him in any way I could. My brothers made fun of me because they thought I was a s**k up but really I loved my father and did look up to him.
I had three other brothers, John was the oldest, he had short red hair and was like a giant at least to me. He wore a camouflage cap all the time and I got concerned if he ever washed it. I kid you not you knew he was coming because you could smell the sweat from his hat from fifty feet away. He had darker brown eyes then the rest of us and as older brothers are, he was very bossy and commanding. Daniel was the second oldest, he was just about as tall as John and they were only two years apart in age. He had green eyes, blonde hair and was skinnier than most of us. Anthony was the youngest, he had a squeaky voice kind of like Arliss from Old Yeller, he was shorter than the rest of us but surprisingly strong. He had most of our mom’s features but he had our dad’s otherworldly strength.
Then you have me. The second youngest of the bunch, I had a balance of both my parents features and personality. My dad said I had the heart of a warrior and my mom said I had the looks of an angel. Our cats were always out and about and would come back around for their breakfast and dinner. Our dogs were the ones that always went down with us for work, most of the time they would stay out of the way but sometimes they would see something move in the bushes and they run across the field digging up plants and it would get on our nerves. Our dad would be working out in the trees cutting them down for wood. For the most part our family was, I guess to put it simply, normal. There was only one thing I thought was always strange about my family.
My family hated the fog, or rather what they thought lay in the mysterious mist. This was the only thing that was more important than hard work. If we knew the fog was coming, we were instructed to drop everything we were doing now matter what it was and hurry back to our home and wait out the fog. I always despised the idea for many reasons but the main one was that I could almost done with a project and then I would have to quit just because of some clouds. I would ask my brothers why we would have to leave work and they would say is that I should just do as I am told and not ask any questions.
I never received any sort of answer to this until I was sixteen years old. The past few days were stormy and cloudy so it made work harder and more difficult than usual. Mud filled the fields and caused major trouble for us trying to get through to the animals, the winds were so bad that it blew some of our newly planted crops out of the ground, my brothers and I were furious of all the extra hours we had to put in because of a pathetic storm. My dad wasn’t so fond of the idea either.
We spent hours working non-stop and we were all tired and exhausted and we were getting fed up so we all decided to take a trip to town for some drinks and food. My mouth watered at the thought of a nice cold Mountain Dew with some freshly cooked chicken tenders. Once we got to town we picked up some drinks and some delicious snacks from a gas station closest to us. Once we got back up the house my parents were inside on the couch, my mother and father had looked very disappointed and angry. “Mom, dad are you okay?” I asked while putting my cold soda on the kitchen counter. “Where have you boys been? We have been worried sick, fog is supposed to roll in at any minute!” my father snapped at myself and my brothers.
My brothers all apologized immediately like they were being programmed to do so on command right then and there. I remained silent, I was getting furious with my parents and I was exhausted and burned out by everything we had been doing the past few days so I snapped back at him. “Why do we always have to go inside for clouds that are lower than usual? I want some answers and I want them now!” I shouted while staring sharply into my dad’s eyes. My dad started to make up excuses to cut off the conversation by dismissing us. I quickly cut him off track, “No! Don’t ignore my question I think I deserve answers now!” I called out, I could hear the rage in my vocals as I spoke.
My dad started my down then spoke in almost a whisper, “Boys go to your rooms your brother and I need to have a talk,” he said while looking me directly into my eyes. My heart sank because I thought I was gonna get it from my dad. My brothers solemnly walked to their rooms while I stood by the kitchen counter in silence. I looked out the front windows before my mother drew the curtains over them. It as getting really foggy and it was dense too, I could only vividly see the gates in our front yard, I’m not gonna lie it did make me a little uneasy. My parents motioned me over to have a seat on the couch. I sat down and put my hands on my lap and waited for one of them to speak. Finally my dad started to talk.
“Son, you are right to be angry with us and we do owe you answers and our apologies,” my father explained. “Listen to your father okay?” my mother pleaded. I looked at her as she said this and she had an expression of fear and worry in her eyes. I turned my full attention back to my father, once he took notice I was listening he started to speak again, “Your grandfather and grandmother were hard workers just like us but they also feared the fog, I wanted to know why they did the things they did just like you. One day I got my answer.” I was a little taken by what he was saying because it wasn’t just us who kept away from the fog, sweat trickled down my back as I listened with more intent. “The reason you have never met your grandparents from my side is because they were taken with the fog, I don’t know what took them but they were gone.” My eyes widened and I saw my father was tearing up, I had never seen him like this before but I held my breath and let him continue.
Then the thought did cross my mind, I always seemed to wonder why we never saw my dad’s parents. I just thought that they lived somewhere far away in a different state not fog taking them somewhere unknown. I gave my father a look of disbelief and he took notice. “I know how it sounds but it’s true, I have never lied to you have I?” he questioned me, my father was many things but a liar was not one of them. “I know dad I believe you,” I stammered, we left it at that and I headed towards my room when I was stopped by my mother. She looked at me with a soft smile and with a whisper she told me I was the only one that dad had told about the fog.
My tongue was tied and I didn’t know what to say so I gave her a hug and went to my room. It wasn’t until last night that I found out what lurked inside the mist. I am now twenty-nine years old and all my brothers moved out to live in their own place but I decided to move close to my parents’ property. I had my own remote house in the woods with plenty of land to do whatever I wanted. As always I stayed indoors when the fog came but last night was different. I was walking back to my house from watering some plants a little way down my dirt trail when I noticed that there might be some fog so I picked up my pace a little. I still had time before it arrived so I should be safe, I had a flashlight with me just in case I worked to late in the evening and couldn’t see.
They did happen from time to time so it always came in handy. The air was getting colder and the sweat on my body was dripping all over my head, about half way up the trail I heard a voice. It was faint but it sounded like it was distressed, I called out to it but I got nothing in return. Thinking I must have been just working hard and was tired I just brushed it off as some kind of hallucination. As I continued I noticed I was getting light headed and dizzy. It wasn’t long before I stumbled over and hit my head on what seemed to be a rock, it was mere seconds before I blacked out that I saw something walking around me, it was hard to tell what it was but soon it was all darkness.
I awoke with an enormous headache and my head pounded against my skull. I tried to look around me but I was surrounded in mist. It took awhile to fully understand the dire situation I was in, my head still felt like it was going to crack but I had to get back to the house, my legs wobbled and fell weak with every step I took, my body wanting to throw up and I knew instantly I was dehydrated and I need water fast. Disoriented I kept going with a steady pace, it wasn’t long before I heard them. A mixture of young and old voices surrounding me like some kind of messed up choir. Each step I took the voices got closer, pretty soon the voices turned into high pitch screams, they rang in my ears and eventually rang in my head and it only made my condition worse.
Not long I could see my house in the near distance and with all my strength I ran back to the house with the screams still continuing, I was right in front of the gate and I touched it with my sweaty fingers but something stopped me, the screams stopped and it was just silent, no birds, crickets and even trees swaying in the wind. My eyes darted quickly in every direction to make sure I was alone. I turned back around to the gate and that is when I heard an earth shattering horn. It shook the ground on which I stood upon almost knocking me to my feet, I sat on the ground thinking of what I could do, my mind raced and my it felt like my heart was going to pop out of my chest, I sat there with my arms cradling my legs when the horn ceased. Not even five minutes later I looked up and saw hundreds upon hundreds of black figures ranging from five to at least sixty years old. They all gave off a menacing vibe that haunts me, they all spoke in unison and chanted some unknown language I had never heard before.
They all started to near me with each passing second. At this point I would like to say I ran but I didn’t at least not until I saw all the eyes. Their eyes haunt me as I type this out. They looked like they had gone mad, their eyes were bloodshot, pupils blackened and their eyelids wide open. Still chanting they neared closer and closer. Finally my brain took a fight or flight response and I ran, I hopped over the fence into my yard and when I got to my front door I looked back one more time, They were all in front of the gate. I don’t know how they were visible through the mist but they were. I quickly slammed open the door and shut it and locked it.
I could still hear their f****d up chanting in the background. I cradled myself on the floor until I fell asleep. Now here we are today, I am writing this from a hotel because service s***s in the mountains and I don’t plan on going back up there. I am selling the property from a guy in Utah that goes by the name Hudson. I would tell him and warn him off the dangerous but he would never believe me. If you go up to Montana never stay in the fog, I have no doubt in my mind that those are the things that took my grandparents and I don’t want you or anyone else to be their next victim…