As we passed through the fog there was a solid thirty seconds where it was the only thing that we could see. Then, slowly, it began to clear up to the point where we could see about not much more than twenty five feet ahead. At the very edge of my vision I could just barely make out the outlines of buildings and fallen cars. Combined with the pouring rain, it was very hard to see anything clearly. Visibility wasn't the only problem. The fog was making me uneasy, even more so than I had already been. I kept my ears open, but I couldn't hear anything except for the rain, my own heartbeat and the occasional bursts of wind that whipped against the car. From what I could see, most of the buildings we passed almost looked like something had broken into them, the doors or windows were smashed in almost all of them. One that we passed was on fire, the flames licking outside of the smashed windows and threatening to light the neighboring buildings on fire. As I stared, I couldn't help but wonder. Did the winds cause this? Looting? Mindless rioting? Or... something else? The woman's voice echoed in my mind again, warning me of the screams.

"How is the fog so thick in this wind?" Aaron asked suddenly.

He knew the answer I would give him, of course. But I think he was just talking to calm his nerves.

"I don't know," I replied. It seemed to be the only thing I had said all day, but it was the only thing I could answer with.

We drove on undisturbed through the fog; though the destruction around us only got worse and worse. More and more cars on the side of the road, simply abandoned or in some cases completely destroyed. As we passed by what had once been a car, both our mouths dropped in shock. It had been completely crushed, all that was left was a compressed ball about four feet tall and wide.

With each scene of destruction we passed, it became clearer and clearer that it was not wrought by winds or earthquakes. The winds were strong, sure, but there was no way they could have done this much damage on their own.

Something had deliberately done this.

Humans? I couldn't be sure.

We passed the restaurant I had been in the other day. Half the building was completely torn apart. Yesterday seemed so far away; like it was from an entirely different world, like it had happened centuries ago. The city I had lived in up until now was absolutely incomparable to this nightmare we were currently living through. My heart began to beat a bit faster; we were almost home.

As we carefully drove on, I prayed every prayer I could remember. Please let Jessica be home, I begged. Please tell me she's home. Please, please, please.

I started to drive a bit faster, despite the dangers of doing so in the limited visibility. I needed to see if Jessica was home.

"Dad, we passed it!"

I came out of my trance and with still widened eyes looked around. We had passed the entrance to the apartment building by about twenty feet. As I turned around and pulled in to the parking lot, I was relieved to find that the only visible damage was one of the entrance doors being on the border of falling off. A little concerning, but considering the damage done to the other buildings we had passed it was very tame. I turned off the car, and told Aaron to come out with me.

"If mom isn't here, then she's either still at her work or maybe one of her co-workers helped her to get out of the city. So don't worry too much if we don't see her here, we'll find her eventually" I told Aaron to reassure him. Inside, I prayed with all my might that she made it back here.

He nodded in response, and we both stepped out of the car into the rain, wind and fog. The fog had felt eerie in the car, but outside with the rain beating down on us made it absolutely unnerving.

"Come on, let's get inside as quick as possible!" I shouted over the wind.

I think it was only in my head, but as we ran to the door I found it hard to breathe. It almost felt like the fog was choking me. As the door was almost off its hinges, I didn't need to waste time unlocking the door. We bolted inside the apartment, immediately taking in a deep breath after escaping from the oppressive atmosphere of the storm outdoors. The lights were out. I glanced around, making sure nothing was lurking around in the darkness.

"Hello?" I called out.

Nothing responded. I walked a bit further into the lobby. Things were in disarray, but it didn't look like anyone had intentionally caused damage. There were just a few things knocked over or thrown about like flower pots or lamps. All of this had only been caused by people trying to escape as fast as possible, I hoped.

"Hello?" I called out again, louder this time, "Anyone in here?"

Again, there was no response.

"Come on, Aaron. Let's just go to our place..."

I opened the door to the stairwell and was greeted by pitch blackness. There had been enough light to see decently in the lobby, but I could make out nothing here. There was a very strong smell of something metallic in the air, but just I chalked it up to the iron stairs. Aaron stuck close to me as we carefully felt our way up the stairs, brushing against me occasionally and almost frightening me. At the bottom we couldn't see anything at all, but as we ascended and drew closer to the emergency light at the top, things slowly became more visible. "Wait, dad, something's in the way" Aaron stopped just before the final step and bent over to pick something off the ground. It was a backpack that someone must have dropped in their panic to get away. He dropped it, and I was surprised to hear it make a squishy sound as it hit the ground. There must have been some food or something in it...

I opened the door that led onto our dimly lit floor, and the first thing I noticed was that all the doors to the apartments had been left opened except for two. The storage room and our own apartment. Cautiously, we started down the hallway. "Anyone there?" I yelled.

No response came, yet again.

I kept calling out, but I never received a response. With each and every step towards the door, my breathing grew heavier. All the rooms, likely in the entire building, were empty. But we couldn't be sure until we checked our room that Jessica was here or not. My heart was pounding as I opened our door. Jessica wasn't in the main room. Nothing had changed since we left yesterday evening, except for a few things missing off the counter.

"Jessica!" I screamed loud enough that it hurt, "Jessica! Jessica! Are you here?"

No reply came. I started to get butterflies in my stomach. I kept screaming her name, sprinting into the bathroom. She wasn't there, either.

"Mom!" Aaron started to yell too. My heart sank as I found that she wasn't in the bedroom either. Aaron and I both screamed out her name one last futile time, then both sat down on the floor in dejection.

Aaron was crying. This was all too much for him. Hell, it was too much for anybody. No child should have to ever experience something like this... nobody should have to experience something like this, period. But we can't give up hope yet.

I wrapped my arms around my son, "Aaron, this doesn't mean she's gone. We have to keep looking, remember? Chances are, she went to work and got holed up there when the storm hit. We can't worry just yet. It's too early to give up!" I did my best to smile.

He wiped his tears away, and nodded.

I got up, "Anyways, we may as well get some stuff here before heading out again. Who knows how long it's going to be like this" I said as I started to collect all of our food into a bag.

I froze as I noticed the radio on the counter.

The radio.

Maybe it could give us some answers.