10 Stephen King Universe Fates Worse Than Death

To live on in the knowledge that you were but moments away from salvation - what greater hell could there be?

Frank Darabont's adaptation of the short story The Mist is one of the best (and bleakest) Stephen King stories ever committed to the screen. Thomas Jane's David Drayton takes refuge from the oncoming titular mist in a local department store, where he and his young son - along with several other shoppers - are forced to deal with demons, both inside the store and out.

Making the decision to make a break for freedom, they get into a car and they drive until the car runs empty. They are surrounded by the noises of the monsters outside, while also seeing the enormous, Lovecraftian beast ahead. Knowing that doom is moments away, Drayton uses the last four bullets in his gun to mercy-kill the others, committing to walk out into the mist himself.

And then, moments later, the army arrives to offer salvation. He collapses, broken by the knowledge that, had he waited, they all would have survived.