The Mistification

I was inspired to write while I was on vacation, mostly short stories. One was for Terrible Minds hosted by Chuck Wendig and his weekly Friday Flash Fiction. The theme for this week is to write an apocolypse story that hasn't been done, in 1000 words. Here is my version of an alternate final destruction scene that I pictured.

The Mistification

"My job sucks!" I announce as I enter my pitiful, crappy excuse for a living space. I slam the door for emphasis.

"Is that you, hon?" my mate asks from within.

She must not have heard my justified groaning. Oh well, the moment has passed. "Yeah, it's me. How was your day?" I answer methodically and throw my jacket on the chair.

"It was fine. How did your presentation go?" She is in the kitchen. I step that way.

"It didn't. I got bumped to tomorrow," I answer. All that preparation and worry for nothing. "What's for dinner? I'm starving," I say and push open the door to find Eve, not cooking.

"I thought we could go out. How about Indian?" she suggests, not bothering to look up from the screen. She's hooked up to her group buzz again. I hate it when she does that, especially when she's talking to me. She needs to get a job. She needs to practice cooking. Something!

"Whatever."

"Let me say bye and we can go."

I shake my head in disgust and go back to the door. A walk in the fresh air would do me good, I guess.

Fifteen minutes later we finally leave our building. She's hanging on my arm yammering about nothing. I breathe deeply and notice a strange smell. In New York there are many strange smells, but this was different than the regulars. Hmm, not sulfur. I take another whiff. I stop and snap my fingers.

"Brimstone!" I shout.

Eve gives me a strange look or maybe a ticked off for not listening then interrupting her look. Either way I shrug a sorry and we walk on.

The smell gets stronger. I see others begin to notice it too. It doesn't seem to faze Eve. She just keeps gabbing. I think she has a talking addiction from that group buzz. She can't stop.

Just as we reach the restaurant, the strangest thing happens. Some invisible force starts to lift me up. I get pulled slowly into the air. Eve is still grasping my arm and tries to keep me from floating away, but the force is too strong. I keep drifting up. A few people around us do too.

"Adam! What's happening?!" she screeches. She backs away from the street and covers her mouth and nose from the pungent odor which must be getting worse. I can't smell it anymore, but those on the ground are gagging.

"I don't know!" I yell back. Then I see the mist. "Run!"

Eve sees it too, but she is either stunned or possessed because she doesn't move.

I'm three stories high now. I can see the dark, thick, fog substance, not like smoke or gas, but a vapor, seeping out of the sewers. As I climb higher I can see more of it appear from sewers all around the city. It takes on a brick red color and glows in patches like a cloud of evil fireflies.

The people left on the ground choke and cough. Why don't they run or hide? In answer to my question, I see people get pulled out of buildings, windows are breaking everywhere. With so many bodies just dropping to the street it could be mistaken for a mass suicide if it weren't for the dozens rising from the same openings.

When the mist reaches the masses piling up on the ground, it transforms into humanoid shapes. One by one people are enveloped by the mist demons. Those still alive scream horribly and then they're gone.

As if that wasn't enough, I see bodies rise out of graveyards headed in the same direction as me. Some have barely decomposed. They look like flying zombies. A few are clean, white skeletons. They all seem thrilled, grinning into the sky. I get a shiver as one nods at me.

I finally turn away from the gruesome destruction below. I'm too high to really see or hear any more anyway. I can now see for miles in every direction and whatever is going on seems to be happening everywhere. People float up from all over. As I near the clouds I look to see where I'm being taken.

A bright light shines down, welcoming us. It isn’t the sun or I'd feel it getting warmer. Is that harp music?

Wait a minute! Did I really make it? Is this the end?

I wonder if my dog is here.