The Mist

People cook food using the gas grills sold in the supermarket. Like many others, Billy has no appetite. David consoles Mrs. Turman, assuring her that her husband may be alive even though he is just as worried for Steff’s safety. That evening, a swarm of insect-like creatures climbs over the window, only to be eaten by larger flying creatures with hooked beaks. One creature squeezes through a broken piece of glass, and David helps fend it away with an improvised torch. An elderly schoolteacher kills one of the insects with a can of bug spray as people scream and panic. Amanda scoops the creature into a bucket and throws it outside. When she begins to cry, David comforts her.

David helps the others rebuild the defenses, painfully aware that even larger, more terrifying creatures lurk in the mist. He sleeps with Billy in his lap and dreams about his family and the Arrowhead Project. Other people scream in their sleep; they drink alcohol and sleeping medicine to cope. In addition, there are “six or seven people who had gone crazy” (71). David notes that everyone in the store has found their own way to cope with the situation.