'Damn, I hate these long drives home. Especially on a Friday evening, Toll booths and this fucking bridge, luckily there is no wind blowing over the bridge today.

He remembered the day a couple of years ago when he saw an eighteen-wheeler get blown over the edge of the bridge.

'Huguenot tunnel, if I had the time I would rather take the long road around the mountain.'

As he went through the tunnel he remembered that he cleaned out the food in the kitchen cupboards, so he better stop at a shop to get some bread.

“FUCK” He jerked the steering wheel to the left nearly hitting the pavement to swerve out of the way of some fucker that probably bought his driver’s license from somebody at the locale corner store, looking at the rearview mirror he saw the car had a GP license plate before it disappeared into the mist.

'Yip, bloody Transvaal assholes can’t even drive on the right side of the road, and this bloody mist isn’t helping any.'

After a half-hour of moving, no faster than sixty kilometres an hour, through the mist and avoiding two accidents from some speeding idiots, he saw lights ahead.

'This is going to take forever to get back home. Ultra-city ahead, better pull in there before it gets too late.

.

.

.

He looked out through the glass of the front doors of the Ultra-city mini-mart and saw nothing but grey mist with dark blobs that solidified into people as they neared the doors.

To him, they look like ghosts stepping out of a thick jungle. Suddenly the red started to press in from the edges of his vision.

'Fuck, not now! Don’t go there. Stay calm, take deep breaths,

Breath in,. . . goodness, love, happiness, and Sunshine.

Breath out. . . anger, hate, RAGE, let it go.

In. . . love.

Out. . . Hate

In. . .love

Out. . . Sorrow, In . . Out . . In . . Out .'

Taking a deep breath he buried the rage six feet under.

'Just like Tray taught me.'

'Mist, I hate this mist. . . you can’t see more than fifty meters in front of you and then you get people that drive like fucking maniacs on the road.'

“I hate this fucking mist.”

“They say it will move past the planet in a month or so.” The young guy behind the cash register didn’t even look away from the TV where he was watching one of the brain-killing daytime soapies. He shook his head.

'He is what? Seventeen, Eighteen, why the fuck is he watching soapies, he should be watching action, even Manga, anything is better than that shit, Go Goku!

“Huh. . . They?. . Who the fuck is They? Everybody says. They said this, and They said that, but nobody knows who They are.”

Throwing up his hand at the windows. “This isn’t even mist, this stuff gets in everywhere, even airtight containers, it might not even be mist, whoever heard of mist that isn’t wet, it might be some alien virus that will make us grow a second head or something.”

He saw the kid give him a scared look as if he is one of those crazy customers that are going to start screaming at the cashiers.

'In . . Out . . In . . Out . .'

'Keep calm. Goddamn. Tray, I miss you '

“Sorry kid, this shit is just making me cranky.”

'In . . Out . . In . . Out . .'

'Seven months ago this silver cloud of microparticles was spotted moving through the Oort cloud and it was so big that it will cover all eight of our planets and sun for a whole week before passing through, it was speculated that earth will be in the cloud for about two months before it will move on.'

"A month of this shit and 'They' still have no clue what this is."

'They tried to capture it, but it’s hopeless. How do you capture something that keeps on moving and doesn't stop for anything, moving through solid objects like it isn’t even there.'

'And any machine that They try to use to scan or examine the particles just stops working, it doesn’t help that you can’t keep the bloody things out of any place. There have been found that it can move through anything. Some people said that they can feel the pressure on their skin as it moves through them.'

'There were even rumours that it can affect the mind and even that the mind can affect the mist a bit, crackpots with telekinesis and telepathy. All the crazies are crawling out of the woodwork even going on Youtube and saying it gave them physic powers. Like that peeping tom that was caught looking through the window of his neighbour’s preteen daughter, saying that he saw her in his mind, dancing naked every night for the last week, fucking pervert, that is bullshit.'

'Just people that want to throw their two cents in the purse. They just want their fifteen seconds of fame, but that fucker, they should just have shot the fucker.

But the big question was how the bloody hell could they only spot this thing six months ago?

In . . Out . . In . . Out . .'

He shook his head, paid for his groceries and picked up his bags. He doesn’t usually stop at the truck stop on his way from Bellville, but he ran out of bread and milk and it’s still three hours back to the farm and the shops in Worcester will likely already be closed when he goes through there.

He nodded at the still-nervous cashier as he left the counter and headed for the door.

“Sorry kid, have a good night.”

The hair on the back of his neck lifted as he noticed the four shifty kids that came towards the shop's doors as he went through but didn’t worry too much. 'I’m not a spring chicken anymore, but the day that I can’t handle four snotnose punks is the day they can bury me six feet under.'

As they went past me he saw the one grin at him, then four more came out from behind a truck and the hair at the back of his neck tried to crawl out of his skin and up to his scalp like a hairy tarantula. He realized that he didn’t hear the automatic door open as the four shifties went through, so they must be behind him waiting for their friends to get closer before they make their move.

'Damn, I’m getting slow, I must be getting old.'

As he dropped his bags he felt something cold press against the back of his head. He tried to jerk his head to the side and a splitting headache ripped through his mind as everything slowed down. It felt like he was trying to move his head through a thick substance. Like trying to move through jello.

Time seemed to have slowed down, like really slow down, like in the matrix movies where Neo did his bullet-dodging layback scene. He felt the gun barrel start to move as he struggled to move his head.

Through tear-filled eyes, as the pain was trying to rip his head apart, he saw a light blue wave of light in the mist.

'Huh it looks like one of those WWII newsreels where they exploded a nuclear bomb, and you could see the shock wave run away from the blast, just like that.'

It was a wave of blue light coming through the buildings, not blowing buildings up, but moving through the buildings, moving through everything and everyone.

'Shit I'm frozen in time, like a mosquito trapped in sticky tree sap.'

The wave moved through him and suddenly a blue box appeared in his vision.

“What the Fuck!”

BOOM!!

It felt like he was kicked in the head. He last thought. 'I wish I wasn't too old for this shit, Sorry Emily'. and then everything went black. . . .

“Ugg .. Don’t worry, I’m awake.” He reached out to turn on the bed light but nearly passed out from the pain. 'Feels like I broke my arm, damn was I out drinking and ended up fighting again? Mom is going to kick my ass.'

A wave of sorrow washes over him. “Damn.” 'Don’t think about it, you took care of it. Don’t think about them'. ‘Walls covered in blood, Bodies in the kitchen, lounge and bedroom. . . .’

“Fuck!” Not now. He smashed his head back into the ground and luckily darkness took over.

. . .

Louie wake up, wake up Louie, LOUIE WAKE UP!

“Ok, I’m up, who is there?” Groggily he waited for his head to clear then he tried to move his right arm and it felt better.

'Not broken, maybe dislocated.' Moving his left arm and feeling around with his hand, he realized that he wasn’t in his bed.

'What the fuck, why am I wet, did I piss myself, O Goddess don’t tell me I pissed myself, he felt around. Where is my bed, and why can’t I see?' Moving his hand to his face he started to explore very lightly.

'Left eye swollen shut, the other one not, but the cornea must be damaged, shit, that’s all I need now, I hope it’s not serious, bloody hell, somebody must have kicked the shit out of me. Fuck'. Pushing the thought of semi-blindness out of his mind he continued with his self-examination

This story is posted elsewhere by the author. Help them out by reading the authentic version.

'Feels like I got caught in a black Friday rush at checkers and the crowd stomped and dragged me through the store. My whole body is burning, I must have twisted my right knee and ankle, and a couple of ribs broke'. He pressed lightly against his side.

“Fhh. . Fuck.” 'Definitely, a couple broke.' Groaning as he slowly sat up he realized that he was sitting in water and from the way, his body felt he had been there for a while. He leaned over and vomited, as his head tried to explode. Or he tried to throw up, but all that came out was a thin watery fluid.

'Feels like somebody is trying to dig for gold with a jackhammer in my skull.' He brought his legs up, struggling with his right leg, and slowly laid his forehead on his knees

'Just relax, breathe in, Breathe in . . . . Goodness, love, happiness, Sunshine.

Breath out . . . anger, hate, RAGE, let it go.

In . . . . Love. Out. . . Hate.

In. . . Out. . . In . . Out . .'

“WTF!” He snapped his head up. The sudden movements made him grab his head.”Aaaagh.” Bending over, he vomited, but again nothing came out.

'Oow Goddess, No sudden movements, just take it slow.'

"Who is there? Can you help me?”

'Hate asking for help, sometimes, need must.' “Huh”, 'nobody there? Must have a concussion and be hallucinating.'

Reaching out with all his senses, he got smacked with the jackhammer again and everything went black.

. . .

“Ow Fuck.” He struggled up until he was sitting again, 'shit well first, slowly so slowly reached out.'

Touch: 'Well I’m wet and cold, but I can feel the wind and sun on my face, and I’m sitting in water, so I’m outside, luckily the wet is not me that pissed myself.'

Smell: 'Rich earth, smell fresh, like just after a long rain. Don’t smell salt and no piss, thank Goddess for small mercies.'

He lifts a handful of water to his face.

Taste: He stuck out his tongue and touched the tip of the water. 'Fresh. Not tap fresh or pool fresh, but spring or river fresh.'

Hearing: 'I hear birds, wind rustling through leaves, running water over rocks, and shouting a riverbank? Shouting means people. Somewhere behind and slightly above me, there are people.'

“AAARG''

Jack is back with his hammer. He bent over and brought a hand full of cold water to his face.

'Fuck, what the fuck, stop just stop.'

“Shit.” He slowly got back up and started to make his way up the embankment, at little more than a snail’s pace.

After nearly half an hour of slowly struggling up the incline, Falling over rocks, branches, grass and even his own feet, cursing as he bumped his knee and even blacking out as he fell on his dislocated arm, not once but twice, he reached the top and stumbled towards where he heard the people.

There were a couple of screams and he could feel the people backing away from him. Somebody called for help as he fell to his knees.

He nearly passed out again from the pain as his knee met the asphalt. There was a shuffle in front of him and he sensed somebody shoving something long at him, it felt like a thick long broomstick.

“Lean on this mister.” It was a young girl, probably not more than twelve years old.

“Thank you.”

It all got quiet as she backed away and he heard someone walking towards him.

Placing his . . . staff? He weakly struggled to his feet and took a stance ready to defend himself.

'Haha, just need magic and you could call me Gandalf, lmao.'

He knew he was done if somebody wanted to fight him, he was blind and his body might be trembling and not steady on his feet, but he was willing to go out fighting if it comes to that.

“Steady there Sir, I mean you no harm, you look really bad, I can take you to our medic.” As he reached him. Louie moved, following his senses, to face the . . . Soldier?

“Steady Sir, I'm just going to take your arm and lead you to the medic tent.”

'What are soldiers and civilians together doing here, hell what are soldiers doing here?'

“You are a Soldier?”

“Yes Sir.”

“What are soldiers doing here?”

The soldier slowly helped him move away from the edge of the road,

“Come on people, back to work.” The people dispersed. “Hell, that is quite a story . . . shit.” He felt the tension ratchet up a notch as he heard and felt somebody approach.

The soldier whispered to him. “Just relax, and keep calm”

“What have you got there, Soldier?"

He felt the soldier stiffen next to him and leaned forward onto his staff, ready to defend himself as best as he could. The soldier’s hand tightened around his upper arm to warn him off, as he came to attention.

“Sergeant, I found this badly injured man at the edge of the road and thought to take him to the medics to be healed so he could get back to work on the landslide.”

He felt the disdain in the air from the sergeant. 'Hmm, one of those asshole officers who let his rank go to his head.'

“Think? You are not paid to think. You are paid to follow orders, leave the thinking to the officers, and the medic is busy . . . take him to the slide, he can see the medic after supper.” The sergeant turned away but was stopped and came closer when the soldier spoke up.

"He is injured. He can’t see, Sergeant, there is something wrong with his eyes.”

He felt the sergeant lean in to look at his face. “Are you dying?”

Remembering his years in the army he tried to stand to attention as much as he could. 'Don’t need to give the asshole more shit to throw at me for now.'

“No Sergeant, not right away. I will see if there is some time tonight to get to that, Sergeant.”

He felt the slight amusement from the sergeant, but he tensed up as he heard a knife being drawn. ”Don’t move or you might lose the eye.”

'Fuck!' He silently screamed but didn’t move as he felt the blade cut into the swollen flesh under his eye.

'The fucker cut me, I know it’s to release the blood under the flesh and reduce the swelling under the eye, but Fuck, there are better ways to do this, we are not back in the middle ages, Fucking asshole Sergeant.'

He forced himself to remain quiet and still as the sergeant backed away.

“The bleeding will stop soon. You, Military?” he asked.

'Better not tell him the whole truth.'

"Some time ago, Sergeant.”

“Where?”

'Just give him enough, don’t volunteer.'

“Bombardier Poren, 44 Battery, 4 Artillery Regiment, Potchefstroom, Sergeant.” He felt the Sergeant study him.

“Hmm, lying to me boy, doesn't matter . . . Take him to the landslide, he can see the Medic after supper, fucking Gunners.” He turned around and walked away.

'Strange, wonder why he thinks I was lying to him?'

The Soldier walked him toward what sounded like a construction site, his vision slowly started to clear as the swelling went down around his left eye and he saw a huge pile of rocks blocking the road.

“Here, it will help a bit, I will see if I can get the doc to make a round and look at your wounds.”

The soldier handed him what looked like a big health bar wrapped in wax paper.

“One of the women in the camp makes those, they are really good.”

“Thank you. Say, what is going on? And why are you guys here?”

He started taking small bites from the bar and he could swear that he could feel the energy starting to flow through his body, 'What the hell are soldiers and Civvies doing here, wherever the hell here is.'

“Sorry, I will tell you at supper, if you can find me at the big tent, I have to go back to my post before something gets through the line and we lose somebody.” The soldier started to walk away.

“Wait! What must I do here?”

'What the hell is he talking about, something getting through the line and killing somebody? Something, not somebody, but something? Like a creature?'

The soldier waved to him as he turned around and walked backwards.

"Just take the rocks IN and when you are full just dump it over the edge there.” He turned around and hurried away.

Perplexed, he turned back to look at the landslide blocking the road.

'What the fuck does he mean? Just take the rocks IN...in what?'

Through his partially swollen eye, he noticed a young boy approaching a boulder as big as his bar fridge at home.

He looked on in shock and had to pick his jaw from his chest as the boy touched the rock and it disappeared, the kid jumped back as loose rocks and dirt fell down the rock slide to fill the place of the rock.

"What the Fuck?" He watched the kid walk to the edge of the road and waved his hand, the huge rock appeared in front of him and fell over the edge of the road and down the embankment towards the river and he turned back for the next one.

He closed his mouth and leaning on his staff, he slowly moved towards the Kid.

“Hey. . . Hey Kid, wait up, I want to ask you something,”

As he reached the kid he saw the fearful look in his eyes and realized that he must look a sight with the fresh blood running down his face. The kid took a step backwards, ready to bolt.

“Wait, sorry if I scared you, I didn’t mean to, I fell and I’m waiting to see the medic but he is busy, so, can I ask you a question?”

The kid was still cautious but saw that there were a lot of other people around, so he decided that he might be ok here.

“Sure mister, but my name is Frank not kid, and if I were you I won’t wait too long, that looks like it hurt, it's she, not he.”

He has been steadily chewing on the health bar and he noticed that his sight got better and he didn’t feel so bad anymore, still pretty bad but not SO bad as before.

'Hmm, must be a bloody wonderful energy bar.'

He waved at the rocks. “Frank? Sure Frank, but how did you make that rock disappear and reappear?”

The boy, Sorry. . .Frank gave him a look as if he crawled out of a cave. “Magic mister, don’t you know anything? Magic is real now.”

“Magic is real?”

'Since when?'

He tried to remember and slowly a memory started to surface as if from deep dark swampy water, and bam, jack is back with his hammer trying to look under every rock for his missing gold,

He collapsed onto his knees and only his trusty staff kept him from face-planting in front of this wizardly young man.

He grabbed tightly his staff as he fought back the urge to vomit.

'THOU SHALL NOT PASS!' He got back to his feet and stood up straight or as straight as he could. 'Haha thanks, Gandalf.'

“Hm, magic you say? Can everybody do it and how does that work?”

Still wary Frank walked to a rock while keeping an eye on him.

“Everybody can do it, just go to a rock and say IN then if you are full then you go over there and think of the rock and say OUT and it will be there. Easy.”

'Easy he says, ha.'

He shuffled towards a rock and said the magic word, and nearly fell on his arse when the rock disappeared, still in shock he thought of the rock and said "OUT" and the rock appeared midair and fell to the ground, nearly crushing his toes.

"Fuck!” he shuffled back.

Still reeling from the shock he looked at Frank who was smiling from ear to ear.

“See mister it’s easy.”

“How many rocks can you move at once like that?”

Scratching his head frank looked like he was thinking. “I can just do one but I’m still young, my Da said that you will know when you can’t take more, then you must go dump and come back again.”

The kid looked around and started walking away. “Got to go, the Sarge doesn’t like it if we stand around and do nothing.”

Before I could ask any more questions Frank picked up his bag and ran off.

'Fuck, Magic is real, since when and how? Am I still on earth?' He looked around through his one eye and spotted a sign, stating the toll prices and to keep in your lanes for the toll booths, halve buried under the rocks.

'So still on earth and we are near the Huguenot tunnel from that sign, or it might be an alternative universe, . . . no but the kid. . .Frank said that we can do magic Now, so we couldn’t do it before, when did this happen and how long was I out?'

He heard the sergeant roar at some people to stop standing around and start working or he would find a way for them to be more productive, he didn’t use those words but the people sure did understand him and got back to work real quickly.

He shook his head as somebody removed another big rock and nearly got buried under the loose rubble He shuffled over and helped the man up.

“Never take stuff from the bottom of a pile, all the stuff on top will fall on you, start from the top.”

The man just shook his hand off and walked away.

'Jackass, think logically.'

He shook his head as he shuffled to the side of the slide and slowly started to make his way up to the top but still taking his time to make sure that nothing would slip under his feet.

It felt like forever before he had solid rock behind his back at the other edge of the slide. He made sure that there was nobody below him before he started taking rocks in, strangely he didn’t feel any difference after a couple of big rocks. 'Well, they did say that when I’m full, and I guess I’m not full yet.' He kept on moving bigger and bigger rocks but felt no different so he kept going.

It must have been a couple of hours later as he realized that the sun had moved and was nearing the horizon.

He heard somebody call to him. He leaned back against the rock face as he recognized the soldier and a young good looking red-headed woman moving slowly over the rocks towards him.

The soldier waved at him.

“What are u doing up here, we had to look all over for you.” The soldier helped the redhead over some big rocks before they walked up to him.

“Why are you up here you can get hurt and nobody will even know you are here.”

He shook his head, “Only an idiot moves rocks from the bottom of the pile.”

He reached out a hand to greet the woman and suddenly there was a big CRACK and the earth disappeared from under them as the whole rock face and the slide suddenly started to move.

He held on to the woman as they slid down a slope into darkness only to end up against a blue field. He helped the woman and soldier to their feet. Looking up he saw the rocks and boulders coming downslope.

“Fuck.” He held both his hands out to the rocks as he shoved them behind him he started to scream “IN, IN, IN, IN, IN.”

Rocks and rubble started to disappear but he knew this was not going to be enough and then he was hit on the head and everything went black.