Hoseok set his own, opened-up can of soda down on a coaster before handing an unopened one to Taehyung, who gladly accepted the drink.

“Thanks,” breathed the younger man as he wiped at the sweat on his brow. “Sure is hot out here today, huh?”

“Yeah,” agreed Hoseok before taking a sip from his can.

The liquid was refreshingly cool and sticky against his lips, and he concentrated on the way it sent an icy sensation traveling all the way down his chest as he swallowed. Hoseok leaned back and closed his eyes, trying to take in the thick scents and rural sounds of the lakeside property on whose porch they were sitting.

“It’s nice, though,” sighed Taehyung happily.

“Mmm-hmm,” agreed Hoseok.

He could already feel himself drifting off as the lazy sun lapped at his closed eyelids and warmed his tired limbs. Hoseok breathed deeply, taking in notes of pine and wildflowers, and settled farther into the wicker chair.

“Hey! Don’t fall asleep yet,” cried Taehyung as he poked at the older man. “We haven’t even gone swimming.”

It was true. The drive down to the house had been long, and their car full of suitcases and beach bags had only arrived a few short hours earlier. The men had spent most of their late afternoon getting comfortable in their vacation rental and exploring the surrounding lake, but they had yet to actually test the tranquil waters.

Hoseok opened his eyes and looked out at the sun that was setting over the lake, his view partially obstructed on the opposite side of the water by tall trees and other houses.

“I’m too tired to swim,” he complained. “And besides, why would I want to get all cold and wet right before dinner?”

Taehyung took a playful swat at his friend’s arm.

“You’re no fun, Hoseok; you know that?”

“Maybe you’re too much fun,” countered Hoseok. “My old and weary bones can’t take all this excitement from you pesky youths.”

He closed his eyes as Taehyung giggled again.

“I’m gonna stay here and see if Jimin needs any help with dinner,” concluded Hoseok, opening his heavy eyes once again.

❧

“Jimin most certainly does need help with dinner!” came a shout from the kitchen.

The young man stuck his head out a window placed near his friends on the porch as he continued his laments.

“Come on, Hoseok; I’m practically burning the place down in here.”

“See, Tae? I have to be the responsible adult here and make sure Jimin doesn’t kill us all when he tries to make toast,” teased Hoseok.

“I’ll have you know that dinner is going to be a bit fancier than just toast,” pouted Jimin. “I’m making chicken.”

“Mmm, chicken and toast,” contemplated Taehyung.

“You’re so weird, Tae,” sneered Jimin with a shake of his head as he ducked back into the house.

“But that’s why you love me!”

Taehyung stuck his tongue out at the empty window before turning his attention back to Hoseok.

“Are you sure you don’t want to come?” he asked the older man.

“Yeah, but you go ahead and have fun,” Hoseok replied.

Not bothering to change into a swimsuit, Taehyung ripped off his shirt as he vaulted over the side of the porch and ran toward the sandy lake. Hoseok chuckled to himself as he stepped inside the house to assist Jimin. Taehyung really was weird, but he made things exciting that way, and Hoseok was glad to have him along for the trip. He found Jimin in the kitchen, the latter’s hands covered with some kind of messy marinade and spotted with flour, and set about helping the younger man prepare dinner.

Taehyung waved to them from where he was splashing in the lake, the water reaching up to the middle of his bare chest. Hoseok waved back, and Jimin shouted something about keeping an eye out for lake monsters while his hands were busy with the chunks of raw chicken. Taehyung feigned getting dragged under by a series of slithering tentacles, and the two men inside laughed as they continued to cut, batter, and fry the food.

❧

By the time he came back inside, Taehyung announced that he was absolutely starving, so the friends all sat down to a hearty meal of chicken and rice, which Taehyung insisted on supplementing with several pieces of toasted bread.

After supper, they were all stuffed. It had also started to get rather dark outside, so the three men decided to turn in for the night and get ready for bed. Taehyung the radio that had been sitting in the living room when they’d arrived, and was delighted to find an odd little station that played nothing but polka music.

Hoseok tapped his foot as he brushed his teeth, and watched the youngest man sway unabashedly to the upbeat music that blared throughout the house. Jimin walked into the bathroom behind him, and immediately started doing some kind of awkward, vaguely suggestive dance that involved copious amounts of hip s. Hoseok made a disgusted noise as he threw a towel at the younger man, trying to get him to stop.

“Don’t make this weird, Jimin; I have to share a room with you,” the eldest reminded him.

“So you’re saying I should take my clothes off now to assert my dominance,” joked Jimin with a smirk.

Taehyung looked the two men across from him and went back to twirling around as he toweled off his hair.

“Hyungs, you two are never allowed to call me weird again,” he twittered.

The three men went off to bed laughing, and the night’s sleep was as peaceful as it was accented by the chirps and squeaks of nature.

❧

In the morning, Jimin burst into Taehyung’s room to jump on the single bed, the results of which Hoseok could hear clearly all the way from the kitchen, which was down the hall from the two bedrooms at the back of the one-story house. He stirred his coffee while he listened.

“Oh my God! NEMATODES! Nematode invasion!”

That was Taehyung’s voice.

“Dude, wake up. You’re having some kind of weird, worm-related nightmare,” came Jimin’s response.

“Oh - thank goodness it’s just you, Jimin. I thought your bedhead was a nest of blood- roundworms.”

Their voices grew louder as they approached the kitchen, and Jimin said good morning to Hoseok while Taehyung continued walking to the sitting room to turn back on the radio. The music exploded at the same loud volume it had been set to last night while they were getting ready in the bathroom, and Hoseok wondered if any of the neighbors could hear them. The thought obviously didn’t cross Taehyung’s mind, however, as the young man continued dancing right where he had left off, spinning an imaginary partner across the open floor and into the kitchen, where he made himself a light breakfast to the sounds of accordion music.

“Hey, guys?” shouted Jimin over the all the noise. “We didn’t bring any fruit - did we?”

Hoseok shook his head as he took a sip of coffee.

“Could we go to the store later to get some?” requested the younger man, still struggling to be heard over the aggressive polka.

Hoseok nodded, not bothering to even try to compete with the radio.

Taehyung skipped over to turn the volume down, and just after he had finished doing so, the music switched to the scratchy voice of an announcer.

“-interrupt this programming to bring you an urgent news bulletin. Reports of a strange fog have been received from multiple districts spanning several dozen kilometers. Residents are advised to stay away from the mysterious mist, and to seal all doors and windows. Contact with the fog has been rumored to induce bleeding, vomiting -”

“Yo, Tae, did you change the station or something?” asked Jimin as he entered the living room.

Curious, Hoseok followed not far behind as he clutched at his rapidly cooling cup of coffee. The room was suddenly flooded with polka music once again as the strange news report cut off as unexpectedly as it had began.

“I don’t think so…” replied Taehyung, scratching his head. “Should we be… worried about that?”

“Probably not,” dismissed Hoseok. “It seemed like it might have just been some random, old news piece that they played by mistake. Why else would it just cut out like that?”

“I guess that makes sense,” agreed the orange-haired man.

“Good. Well, now that that mystery’s solved, you guys can drive to the store and get me some apples or something,” interrupted Jimin.

“What?! Why do we have to get you your stupid fruit?” protested Hoseok.

“Well, you have to go because you’re the only one who can drive - and the store is too far away for any of us to walk. And Taehyung has to go because I want some peace and quiet while I try to actually relax on this vacation,” persuaded Jimin. “Besides, I cooked dinner last night, so it’s only fair that you buy me some breakfast this morning.”

Hoseok wanted to complain - or to point out that it had been his culinary skill that had kept Jimin from splashing boiling oil on his arm yesterday - but it was true that the oldest man was the only one of his friends with a license. Still, he didn’t want to force Taehyung to come if the latter didn’t want to, and he told the younger man that he was still free to stay at the house despite what Jimin had said.

“I don’t mind tagging along if you don’t mind taking me,” Taehyung assured him.

Hoseok replied that of course he didn’t mind, and with that Jimin shoved his two friends out of the house and toward the car, sending them off on their mission to buy him some fruit to go along with the rest of his breakfast.

“Wait, Tae, you’re still in pajamas,” Hoseok realized as they strapped themselves into their seats. “Do you wanna go get changed?”

Taehyung shrugged. Not like anyone will care, the gesture seemed to say, so Hoseok started the engine without another word, and pulled out of the gravel driveway with Jimin waving at them from the house.

❧

The shop itself was more of a crappy convenience store than a place one would go to buy groceries, but to Hoseok’s surprise they actually did have a small assortment of fresh produce in a cooler near the front. He sorted through the display of slightly overripe apples and brown-spotted bananas while Taehyung perused the junk food aisle.

It turned out that the younger man’s attire was strangely appropriate, as the only other people in the store aside from the male employee behind the counter were a man that seemed to be about Hoseok’s age, and a kid who looked like he was probably skipping school. The older stranger had bleach-blonde hair; a completely unnatural hair color that rivaled Taehyung’s in terms of its audacity. He, too, was dressed in pajama pants and a ratty gray sweatshirt, and he browsed the snacks beside Taehyung as the teenaged stranger eyed the alcoholic beverages in the back.

Hoseok grabbed some fruit, motioned to Taehyung that he was about to pay, and approached the register to make his purchase.

“Morning,” yawned the cashier as he lifted his head off of its resting place on his elbows.

He looked sleepy. Hoseok nodded at him as he read the young man’s name tag.

Yoongi. You look like you could use a nap… Or maybe like you were just taking one.

The man named Yoongi stopped what he was doing in the middle of ringing up the various fruits to yell across the store at the young-looking kid, which startled Hoseok.

“Jungkook!” the gruff cashier boomed.

The kid flinched, and looked toward the cash register where Yoongi stood frowning.

“You come in here every other week, and I know for a fact that you’re so far underage it’s a miracle you’re not still attached to a goddamn umbilical cord. I’m not selling you any ing beer.”

Hoseok couldn’t help but chuckle as the man behind the counter went back to scanning barcodes and bagging items. The kid looked defeated, and he slunk abashedly over to the racks of comic books instead.

“Sorry,” apologized Yoongi, addressing Hoseok. “Will that be it, or-”

“Nope, but now it will!” Taehyung interrupted as he slapped a package of candy down on the counter.

Hoseok rolled his eyes at his younger friend, but reached for his wallet to pay as Yoongi scanned the last item and put it in a bag. He was just about to hand the money over when the blonde haired stranger started screaming.

“Oh my God!” cried the man in a low, bellowing tone. “Holy !”

Hoseok spun around to look at him, and saw that the stranger’s brown eyes were glued to the storefront window, which spanned the entire length of the building. He looked over to see what it was that had made the other man yell, and was shocked to discover a thick, gray fog - almost soot-like in its appearance - slowly rolling toward the little store.

❧

“What the hell?” mumbled Yoongi from behind Hoseok.

Before anyone else had a chance to react, the blonde man ran toward the automatic sliding doors, rushing past them as they slid open, and spilling out into the parking lot. The fog continued its steady approach, and the man looked around frantically for a few moments before running to one side, the doors closing behind him as he didn’t look back.

The fog was close to reaching the storefront now, and the young man named Jungkook wandered curiously toward the front windows as the smoke overtook the small shop.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa there; back the up,” commanded Yoongi as he stepped away from his post at the counter. “No one else goes near those doors. That idiot Namjoon wants to run out into the ing God-knows-what-it-is smog, then fine for him - but I am not letting that get in here with me.”

Jungkook stepped away from the door, cowering slightly at the sight of the fog totally enveloping the store.

“Hoseok… do you think that this is what the radio was talking about this morning?” asked Taehyung, his voice sounding small and strained in Hoseok’s right ear.

The smog had blocked out all of the large windows, making it impossible to see more than a meter or so out into the little parking lot. Hoseok thought he could just barely make out the outline of his car, and he squinted his eyes as he tried to get a better look.

“I don’t know,” the elder responded. “The radio was talking about a fog, and this looks more like a thick smoke to me.”

“Smoke, fog - who the hell cares?” interjected Yoongi, who had evidently been listening in on their hushed conversation. “You guys know somethin’ about this?”

“Maybe,” answered Taehyung. “We heard something about a weird fog on the radio this morning. They said it was dangerous.”

“All the more reason to stay inside until it passes,” declared Yoongi. “Dammit, Jungkook, put that down!”

“If society collapses because of the fog, then that means there are no more rules about alcohol!” came the protest from across the store.

Yoongi frowned disapprovingly at the young man, who put down the glass bottle he had picked up and exchanged it for some gum. He didn’t pay for it, but Yoongi seemed to turn a blind eye to this fact as the latter stepped back behind the counter and rested his chin in his hand.

❧

“Hoseok,” whispered Taehyung, “I’m scared.”

Hoseok swallowed heavily as he tried to steady his voice. Truthfully, he himself was terrified, but he didn’t want the younger man to know that lest it amplify his own panic. Hoseok smiled as he put a reassuring hand on Taehyung’s shoulder.

“Don’t worry, Tae. I’m sure this will all blow over and we’ll be back at the lake house before you know it.”

Hoseok glanced over at the front of the store, and was grateful to see that the seal on the doors seemed to be tight enough to keep the fog safely outside. He didn’t know if he necessarily believed that the stuff was dangerous, but he supposed it was better to stay out of the strange, gray mist until they could know for sure.

“But what about Jimin?” prodded Taehyung.

“Dude, screw Jimin,” replied Hoseok, losing some of his composure. “He’s not the one trapped here with weird smog right outside the windows.”

Taehyung flinched a little, and Hoseok felt bad about scaring his friend. The younger man fiddled with the cuff of his sleeve as he continued to speak.

“Yeah, but what if it’s at the house, too, Hoseok? Jimin might not have all the doors and windows closed.”

Hoseok considered this, and thought that it was almost scarily plausible. Taehyung went on.

“Didn’t they say touching the fog could make you bleed, or puke, or-”

The orange-haired man was interrupted by Jungkook, who had come up to stand behind him and listen with wide eyes.

“Whoa. Cool!” shouted the boy.

Taehyung was startled by the sudden outburst, and spun around to face the kid, who blew a large, pink bubble with his gum. Jungkook looked to be a couple years younger than Taehyung, and it was obvious that he wasn’t nearly as concerned about the potential implications of the fog.

“It’s not cool,” argued Taehyung, visibly nervous. “It’s dangerous. It could be deadly for all we know. It’s-”

“Like an awesome horror movie!” interjected Jungkook.

“Jungkook, leave them alone,” ordered Yoongi lazily. “Everyone’s gonna be fine; just stay away from the doors and wait for whatever this is to pass on its own.”

“But what if we’re trapped here forever?” insisted Jungkook loudly. There was more than a little panic replacing the frivolity in his rising voice. “What if we run out of food and then we have to eat each other to survive and then-”

“Alright; that’s enough, you little punk,” growled Yoongi.

He grabbed Jungkook by the ear, much to the younger’s dismay and protest, and dragged the boy away from the cashier’s counter where they had all naturally gathered. This left Taehyung and Hoseok alone for a minute, and they stood listening to Yoongi give a short lecture to Jungkook at the back of the store.

❧

Taehyung spoke first, and he broke the silence with a proposition.

“If it gets to be night, and the fog’s still not gone, we should make a run for the car,” he urged quietly.

Hoseok nodded. The other two men seemed nice enough, if slightly prone to bickering - and he felt bad about potentially exposing them to the fog by opening the doors - but he didn’t want to be stuck without recourse in the convenience store forever. If the fog didn’t dissipate, then who knows how long it could be before they would get rescued? Hoseok would much rather take his chances and hopefully make it back to Jimin to see if the other man was okay than he would sit around waiting and doing nothing with a couple of strangers in the middle of nowhere.

Neither he nor Taehyung had thought to bring their cellphones, of course, because it had seemed unnecessary to take the devices along for such a mundane errand. That meant that they were stuck there, for the time being, without any way to contact Jimin. Hoseok wondered if maybe there was a phone or something under the counter. Just then, Yoongi and Jungkook came back to stand by the other two men at the same time as there was a loud pounding at one of the windows.

Four heads whipped around to see a fifth man, outside the store, banging on the glass with his fists. He was screaming something, but Hoseok couldn’t quite make out what the words were. The stranger looked frantic enough, though, and Hoseok ran over to look at him through the unobstructed display window.

“Please!” begged the man through the thick glass. “Please let me in.”

Hoseok didn’t know what to say, but he didn’t have to because at that moment, Yoongi rushed up to the window next to him. They were far away enough from the automatic doors that they didn’t have to worry about the entrance actually opening, but it was still more than a little nerve-racking being this close to the fog.

“I’m sorry,” shouted Yoongi to the stranded man. “But we can’t let any of that weird fog get in here.”

There was something strange about the tone of the young cashier’s voice, and Hoseok suddenly realized with horror that the man on the other side of the glass had trails of blood running down his panicked face. Hoseok followed the lines to see the man’s eyes: puffy, lids swollen a mottled purple-black, and weeping blood. He recoiled in disgust as the poor man continued banging on the glass, pleading to be let in the store.

“Please,” he repeated. “My name is Jin. Kim Seokjin. I am begging you to let me in.”

The man named Jin started coughing horribly, and Hoseok worried that the other man would fall down until he stopped abruptly and slammed his entire body against the window.

“God, please!”

Jin looked up at them with imploring, bleeding eyes, and Hoseok found himself unable to believe that this was all really happening. He looked behind him at Yoongi, whose own eyes were following Jin as he stumbled along the length of the front of the store.

❧

Hoseok’s pupils locked on the hacking man as he wandered clumsily, dragging his hand along the plate of glass to leave a jagged, bloody streak. He continued to cough and gasp, and almost fell over completely a few times on his way over to the sliding glass doors.

“No!” yelled Yoongi as the man approached the entrance.

Hoseok backed away from the window until he was standing by Taehyung and Jungkook, who were both frozen, staring, in the middle of the floor.

Now it was Yoongi who was pounding on the glass - from the inside this time - trying to shoo Jin away before he could reach the automatic doors. It was no use, however, and eventually the cashier, too, ran to be with the other men as Jin came tumbling through the door, falling on the tiled ground along with the wisps of dark fog that rolled languidly in.

Hoseok hadn’t realized, but the fog smelled absolutely terrible, and it made his eyes water as he watched it creep slowly into the store. The outline of his car was still barely visible in the parking lot, and he turned to face Taehyung, who was standing with a hand clamped over his own mouth.

“Better now than never, right?” asked Hoseok with a forced laugh.

Taehyung nodded. The fog was almost at their feet now, and it maintained its strange, swirling gray color even up this close. Hoseok grabbed his friend’s hand as he gazed warily into the approaching mist.

He took a deep breath, held it, and stepped forward.

Ooh, suspense! Poor Jin. And probably Jimin. And, actually, everyone…

Have any of you guys ever read and/or watched The Mist by Stephen King? That was kind of one of the inspirations for this story, though I personally have only seen the movie. I really want to read the book at some point, however, because I love Stephen King. I’ve heard that the endings are different, too, and I’m curious to see how the novel varies compared to the film.

The morning after I watched that movie I noticed as I was walking to the train that A) it was very foggy, and B) the condensation had made all the spider webs on the bushes very visible. Which, if you’ve seen the movie, you’ll probably know was extremely freaky - because it’s not the fog itself that’s dangerous in The Mist; it’s what’s hiding in it!