10 Stephen King Universe Fates Worse Than Death

8. Trucks

The Mist Stephen King
De Laurentiis Entertainment Group

This entry is NOT about the godawful '80s movie that was directed by King himself (although having to watch it again could almost count as valid entry for this list). This entry is about the original short story that it was based on.

Trucks is a story from his Night Shift collection. While some of the story beats are the same, it is a story that works far more successfully on the page. The idea of all cars, trucks and the rest becoming sentient may be silly, but there is a genuine sense of menace in this story.

There is no resolution either. The story ends with the humans being forced into slavery, condemned to ensure that the trucks are kept fuelled and ready to move. As the pages end, the protagonists are working the pumps of a gas station, looking at line after line of evil trucks, waiting to be serviced.

While this is a very silly idea, the idea of having to keep pumping gas until no longer worth keeping alive - that is a fate worse than death.

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Writer. Reader. Podcast Host. I'm Seán, I live in Ireland and I'm the poster child for dangerous obsessions with Star Trek. Check out my weekly podcast on all things....well all things film! Check me out on Twitter @seanferrick or at the website https://seanferrick.wordpress.com/