David Drayton

David is the protagonist of the story and it is written as though David is writing it from the position he is in at the time the book ends. The book starts out as David is having a fun day with both his son and his wife, but as night comes a giant thunderstorm does too which seemingly destroys Arrowhead equipment which set forms the mist onto his home town. Because of the damage, David along with Brent who had his car crushed and Billy, his son, go to Federal Foods where they gather supplies his wife had wrote on a piece of paper. In the store, the mist covers the store and traps everyone inside which has grotesque nightmarish versions of creatures like the animals and bugs which we see every day. Soon after the mist appears, an earthquake shakes the store violently which has Billy begin to catch a cold presumably from fear. David ventures into the loading bay to get a blanket for Billy but hears noises and rushes out, facing Norm, Ollie, Jim and Myron. they find the generator malfunctioning and try to free up the exhaust but David tries to reason with them. After some arguing Norm goes out into the mist and after no one helps him except David, is dragged out into the mist, giving up after seeing no hope in his situation. David becomes furious and beats up Myron, but tries to come up with a plan to keep everyone inside and away from the mist and the creatures that reside in it. David, Ollie, Jim and Myron try to tell Brent but he refuses to believe any of them, thinking they're pulling a prank because of Brent being an "outsider". Eventually Bud goes into the loading dock to see if they are being truthful and finds a tentacle which was described before, along with blood from Norm, which eventually has him telling everyone in the store to stay inside. Eventually during a discussion about fortifications which comes after a discussion David has with Dan, an out of towner, Brent tries to leave but is stopped by David who tries to reason with him. This fails, but David devises a plan to check the safety of the mist by putting a rope around someones waist which extends 300 feet. Brent refuses but one of his group members agrees to it, and after the rope is cut but also splattered with blood it is assumed Brent and his group had been killed and devoured. That night, fly like creatures attach themselves to the windows of the store which are attracted to the light, and even more creatures, the seemingly predators of the creatures attached to the windows, smash their way in and threaten to community inside. Ollie manages to kill one which is about to go after Billy, and David manages to kill some of the creatures as well. That night, Dan tells David about a plan to leave the store, but also devises they should head to the pharmacy next door because there might be survivors trapped next door and that none of the cars are crushed so the creatures mustn't be in the car park. Along with that, a woman named Amanda Dumfries sleeps with David, but the next day refuses to have an emotional connection to him and only acting as a motherly figure to Billy. David, along with 6 others, these being Buddy, Mike, Dan, Hilda, Jim and Ollie go to the pharmacy next door to get medical supplies for a woman named Mrs. Clapham who got trampled and broke her leg but the expedition ends in 4 of the expedition members being killed by spider like creatures they find in the market. When they come back Mrs. Carmody, a religious woman with a pied piper effect has garnered a now ever growing population of congregation members who, the next day, threaten David's group on sacrifices that Carmody believes needs to be made. Billy and Amanda are chosen as a revenge tactic of Mrs. Carmody but before they can be killed Ollie shoots Mrs. Carmody in the stomach, ending her rain of terror and causing her congregation to break up. David, Amanda, Hilda, Billy, Ollie, Ambrose and Hattie try to escape to David's car but only the first four make it, with Ambrose running back into the store and Ollie and Hattie being killed by different creatures in the mist. Eventually the four in the car make it to a motel and stay there, which is where David writes the book, saying he heard a possible way of help, this being another group of survivors on the radio and that before he'll leave tomorrow he whispered "hope" in his sons sleeping ear.