First time tuning in? Start here.

Last time we were with our protagonist, they were racing to get away from a monster from their nightmares who made its presence known in the green mist. You can catch up with Part XI here. Let’s see how they cope with their newfound problematic (and quite possibly traumatic) situation.

I race through the green mist, unable to see a goddamn thing, hoping I don't trip over a branch, fall into a pit, or slam into a tree. I glance over my shoulder from time to time to see how close the wolf man from my nightmares is. I don't know why I bother; I can smell the damn thing. Maybe it's just me, but it smells fucking hungry.

Every glance sends me into a deeper panic. It's close on my heels, jaws snapping, snarling, sometimes howling. Its legs move in ways that twist my mind if I try to make sense of it. I can't keep this up, running at this speed, trying to bob and weave to avoid the swipes it's making. My legs are on fire and my heart feels like it's about to explode and I'm slowing down despite my best efforts to push myself harder.

I'm going to die in ethereal green mist at the hands of some fucked up were-beast and no one will ever know because this mist is just going to move right along and sweep me up with it and that will be that. And I don't know what's worst, dying in the jaws of the monster behind me, or not ever getting to give my landlord a giant "fuck you."

I wish I had let him know what I thought of him with my first rent check.

I try to push a little harder, but I just don't have it in me. I'm no longer running but sort of, kind of, jogging. Okay, fine, mostly walking, but very swiftly. But I'm not dead yet. Well, not dead in the sense that the wolf man hasn't taken my head yet. I might have died as soon as I entered the mist for all I know, and now I'm in green mist hell.

I look around and find the wolf man, or rather the vague shape comprising it, some yards away, lolling its head but not moving any closer. No longer in a state of complete and total panic, the sounds around me register, and there's no longer any howling and screams, but some sort of chittering. I don't know what to make of it. It does remind me, though, of this comic I once read where the arrival of a giant evil stone golem was ... wait. Fuck. Is this what this is? This green mist is just going to play out my worst nightmares? As if in response to this thought, the ground begins to rumble and another massive shape begins to materialize in the direction I was running. The wolf-man-beast-thing begins to whine, and I don't know why, but this makes me freak out more than being chased by it. The golem in my nightmares was never as terrifying as the wolf man under my bed.

The shape coming together in the mist continues to grow. It looms, despite still being several yards away. From behind it, more shapes take form, smaller, leaner. They look like hyenas, or velociraptors, or ostriches. You know what? I have no fucking clue. They're yards away and I'm looking at them through thick mist. Anyway, the massive shadowy shape lets out a monstrous roar and the smaller shadows all dart forward and I'm not about to wait around and find out exactly what they are. I scream, I turn, I run like hell, this time with the wolf monster running alongside me, howling in fear.

Well, running away from your problems is certainly one way of, er, approaching them? What other options are available to our protagonist? How could they have addressed this differently? Perhaps they should have considered just leaving the green mist alone, as stipulated in the checklist, hmm? Well, too late for that now! We won’t know what happens next until Part XIII!

Are you enjoying the story so far? Please consider sharing this with someone you think will enjoy it as well! After all, things tend to be much more enjoyable when you can experience them with acquaintances, coworkers, friends, and loved ones.