The Mist (novella)
King was inspired to write The Mist by a trip to his local supermarket following a thunderstorm, during which he imagined prehistoric animals and giant insects besieging the building.Large "insects" begin crawling over the outside of the store, attracting pterosaur-like creatures, one of which squirms inside through a broken window and is killed with an improvised torch amidst a general panic.Searching for an escape and needing to treat an elderly woman who was injured in the panic, David leads a group of people to retrieve medical supplies from an adjacent pharmacy, where they encounter huge spider-like creatures.In the wake of mass hysteria among the survivors, religious fanatic Mrs. Carmody gradually convinces them that the current events fulfill a biblical prophecy of the end times, and that human sacrifice is required to save themselves from God's wrath.While experiencing the unusual spring weather which precedes the storm, some characters make reference to the real-life Great Blizzard of 1888, which devastated much of the northeastern United States.