Erin, as was usual, slumbered lazily until it was almost three o’clock in the afternoon. There were no classes or work to be concerned with, though such things ultimately mattered little. Neither of those issues would have obstructed her intended pursuits for the coming evening.
It took about another half-hour to rouse herself sufficiently awake to take a shower, eat, and check up on her messages. By phone and computer, the messages were the typical kind, of a largely vacuous content.
It did not take her long to sift through them, responding to some and deleting most.
Time slogged onward, until Lynn finally arrived to pick her up for the planned excursion. Almost as an afterthought, Erin left a brief message behind for her parents that she was going to be out for the evening, camping with friends in the woods.
Slinging her large backpack over her shoulder, she locked the front door on the way out.
At a mini-mart near the main highway bypass, Lynn and Erin made their rendezvous with Razor, Uli, and the others that would be going on the camping trip. The group took a few moments to fuel the vehicles, and to procure an assortment of drinks and snacks, before finally setting off for their intended destination.
In total, the entourage consisted of a convoy of ten people situated in three different cars. The two-hour trip passed by quickly enough, the travel broken up by various antics as the cars took turns passing each other on the highway, the occupants giving each other obscene gestures.
It seemed like only moments before they were unloading the vehicles within an official national forest parking lot. Packs readied, and hiking boots laced, the ten started off together in a loose column onto the trail.
About two miles inward and upward, they broke off of the trail to find themselves a suitable spot for the evening. The park rangers required a minimum distance from the trails for overnight camping, but they elected to go well beyond that limited requirement, with Razor in the lead.
Eventually, they found themselves on the summit of a small hill, surrounded by thicker growths of brush. It was far away from any of the main trail paths, and required a little effort to reach.
It was not likely that the place would be disturbed by fellow hikers or park rangers. Razor, Lynn, and Uli quickly set to making a clearing for a small campfire, as the others staked out their camping spots.
A few tents were set up, three suited for single persons, and three larger capacity ones to accommodate the others, with two couples each claiming a tent.
It was not very long before the drinking and festivities began to get underway. The frivolity grew as the afternoon dipped into night, the sun tucking itself away below the hills.
As night drew onward, the group started to fragment as the flow of libations continued. A few of Erin’s friends opted to go farther up the hill to get a grander view of the area, while one of the couples headed in the opposite direction to find some space for privacy.
Erin, Lynn, Uli, and Razor were the last four remaining around the campfire. Erin was simply glad that the quartet was not sitting in Uli’s cluttered living room.
“Dissipation. Always happens on these trips,” Lynn said, laughing in a carefree manner as she looked into the flames of the campfire.
“Dissipation, like this,” Uli repeated, as he blew out a puff of smoke from the tightly rolled joint that he was taking deep inhalations from. The mind-numbing herb left a sweet smell hanging in the air, a scent that Erin had become quite accustomed to. Uli laughed hysterically.
“Surprised that you even know what that word means, Uli?” Erin teased, laughing, though her words had an intended jab within them.
“Don’t care much ‘bout words, but this will do,” Razor said, carefully accepting the rolled herb from Uli.
He held it reverently, as he closed his eyes and inhaled upon the end of it. The others could see the flaring red of the other end as it burned down towards its stump. Razor held the smoke inside for several moments, before finally exhaling in a broad puff.
“So good to be here,” Erin observed, without a trace of sarcasm. “Could do this every day, all day.”
“Wouldn’t you get bored?” Lynn asked. “I mean, I want to figure out something that makes me happy.”
The others gave her strange looks in response, as usually occurred whenever Lynn invoked realities in the midst of a carefree party. Erin found such moments annoying, noticing that Lynn was bringing them out with greater frequency as of late.
“Don’t get me wrong, I won’t leave nights like this out of the equation,” Lynn added, having recognized the sudden hesitation in the others.
Lynn laughed as the others relaxed. Erin refrained from expressing her personal irritation with Lynn, as there were other aggravations to express.
“Getting nagged to death, working for nothing, or wasting time at school… those are the options life offers, if you want to get real about it,” Erin said. She rested her chin in the cup of her right hand, propped up and braced by her arm, looking as if she were deeply contemplating the matter.
“World isn’t changing anytime soon… So, after some careful… thought… I’ll settle for the herb. It’s a lot easier on the stress levels,” she then added, replacing the mock seriousness of her expression for a wide grin.
Accepting the remnant left from Razor, she took a deep inhalation of it, held it inside her lungs, and then slowly exhaled. She could feel her anxieties ebbing already.
“Got that right, ‘bout that part, ‘bout after some thought… I mean. That is… cuz after the herb, there is no thought,” Uli said, stammering through his words and barely making any sense. He guffawed in laughter, and the other three laughed heartily with him.
For the moment, none of the four had a care in the world. Erin was freed, and did not have to worry about school, work, or any other type of mundane activity. It was almost too good to be true.
The thoughts of that consuming liberation were embedded in the forefront of her mind as she excused herself from the group to attend to a call of nature. She fumbled about in her backpack for a flashlight. She clicked it on and a strong beam emerged. She was glad that she had just replaced all of the batteries.
Walking slowly to keep her balance, as she was feeling a little lightheaded, Erin made her way over to the far edge of the campsite. She carefully navigated the brush just beyond it until she deemed herself to be ensconced in full privacy.
Glancing around, she noticed some cool tendrils of vapor crossing over her. The silvery mist outlined the beam of her flashlight.
Looking about, her heart gave a flutter as she observed a significant amount of mist rolling swiftly in towards her. The light of the moon through the trees cast an eerie glow on the advancing fog, giving it a ghost-like aspect as it flowed through the depths of the dark foliage.
The strange phenomenon fully captured her attention, taking her mind instantly off of the task that she had left the campsite for. It was a few moments before she came out of her momentary stupor, and hurriedly finished her intended business.
Her nerves had started to rattle inside, for she had never seen a fog moving with such a fluid rapidity. Pulling her shorts and underpants back up, and taking a moment to compose herself, she hastened back to the campsite and implored Lynn to come back with her to see the eerie fog.
At first Lynn was reluctant to the overture by Erin, as she had gotten into a very relaxed, sleepy mood, seated close and comfortable by the warmth of the campfire. At Erin’s very insistent urging, Lynn finally pushed herself up to where she could get her feet beneath her, and stood up.
She walked over to where Erin stood at the edge of the camp, with a look of mild irritation. Lynn’s expression changed to one of curiosity as she noticed the utterly serious countenance upon her friend’s face.
“What’s going on?” Lynn asked her.
“You have to see it,” Erin replied emphatically. “Just beyond here, not far at all.”
Erin headed back into the woods, gesturing for Lynn to follow her. Her flashlight led the way, the beam soon being outlined again by the fog that it increasingly struggled to push through. She did not have to direct Lynn’s attention to the rising density of the fog, as Lynn noticed it clearly enough upon their arrival.
“Wow! I wonder where all that is coming from. Up on a hill too? Shouldn’t fog lay low in valleys and such? Think that it will come in to cover the camp?” Lynn inquired with evident amazement at the aggressive behavior of the mist.
“Probably so,” Erin replied, sharing the incredulity voiced by her friend. “Looks like it’s coming in pretty quickly. Never seen fog behave like this.”
“Yes, it is coming in quick, and no, I haven’t seen anything like it. We should probably make sure that the others can find their way back to the camp, or there is a chance that they will get lost in this.” Lynn remarked, looking down at the growing slivers of the vapor starting to envelop her own body.
Just a few feet beyond them, the density of the mist had formed into the beginnings of an impenetrable wall of fog. The full beam of the flashlight could not pierce the opaque mass at all.
Even more disturbing, the wall of fog seemed to creep closer with each passing second, swallowing the feeble attempts of the flashlight to cut through its relentless advance.
Within just moments, Erin could see that they would be fully surrounded.