She had things she had to be doing. She really did have a lot on her plate. But, she couldn’t just walk away from this. At a glance, it seemed supernatural. But, Lily didn’t believe in anything supernatural. Okay, well, maybe she was scared of ghosts and stuff sometimes. But this was different. Fire with no heat or smoke! Maybe it was radioactive? She scurried back away from it at the thought, and immediately pulled out her phone. But searching for heatless flame and radioactive fire didn’t show anything like this. Searching for how to tell if something was radioactive brought up generally unhelpful results too. But she didn’t think it was. Wasn’t radioactive light blue? Besides, radioactivity put off heat. That’s how reactors worked, right?
So, what the hell was this!?
Lily got up her courage and tried the most primitive approach to gaining knowledge humans had ever invented. She found a piece of metal near one of the burned out buildings, and brought it over to the fire. Then, she poked it.
Nothing happened.
The material that was burning inside might be wood. But that was even stranger. She poked it again. Yeah, it definitely seemed like wood. So, why wasn’t it getting consumed by the flames? Why didn’t the flames feel hot? Could wood be radioactive? She googled it. It seemed like the wood gathered from radioactive areas like Chernobyl might emit radioactive smoke if burned? But, this wood wasn’t emitting smoke at all. Plus, where would all the other pieces of radioactive wood be? So, she scratched that off her list of worries.
“Okay Lily, it’s time for science. Don’t let yourself believe in something stupid. This is right in front of you. It exists. So, it has a natural phenomenon that explains it. So, figure it out!”
Step one, observation. It doesn’t produce heat or smoke. Will it spread to other flammable objects? She looked around. Everything flammable was burned… What now? “I’d like to know if it’s gonna spread before I touch it with my bare hands. Hmm.”
She got a terrible idea, but went with it. Removing her shirt, she dangled a sleeve into the flame. Nothing happened. She was relieved, but even more stumped about this stupid fire. She put her shirt back on and stared at it.
“Is this some kind of illusion? It’s definitely… real right? Maybe I’m hallucinating? Well, better disregard that. I can’t easily rule it out without someone to help. So. Hmm.”
She reached out and touched the burning material. She was wrong about it not putting off any heat. It was pleasantly warm, but that was it. So, she picked it up, and stared at it in her palm. It wasn’t hurting her skin at all.
Okay. Step two, hypothesis time. This is an illusion. Either in my brain, or through some kind of natural occurrence in the wake of a fire. “So, how do I disprove it. Do illusions show up on film?” She took a picture with her phone. Her phone showed her holding a piece of wood that was quite clearly on fire. It actually looked a little like she was casting a fireball in an RPG, and that gave her a little thrill. “Wish I could show it to someone… Eh, they’d just claim it was photoshop anyways. Okay, so, it shows up on film. What else can an illusion not do?” She stared at it for a second. Well, fire would normally put off light too right? Under the sun as she was, it was hard to tell if it was or wasn’t.
So she walked for a bit looking for a sufficiently shady place to find out. She thought about climbing into a dumpster she passed, but then thought better of it. If she got stuck or something, that would be a horrible way to go. Then she spotted a sewer drain, but remembered seeing in movies sewer gas causing explosions and decided against that too. Eventually she found her way over to a ruined building that was casting a shadow, and put the wood up against it. Then she leaned over it to block out even more sun. It wasn’t quite as bright as she expected, but it was definitely casting light.
Lily sat down and stared at the wood.
“What are you?”
It seemed clear to her that it wasn’t in her head. At least as certain as anyone could be about something like that. It didn’t seem to be an illusion either, because her phone showed it clearly and it was having observable impacts on the world around it. That seemed pretty conclusive to Lily.
“Okay. Hypothesis number two!” she pointed accusatorily at the fire. “I don’t know! But you’re coming with me, magic wood!” She picked it up, deciding she would do experiments on it later if it was still burning. What would happen if she submerged it in water? She put it in her pocket, then waited a second to see if that would start to burn. But it didn’t. So, she turned and continued her march to find a non-burned part of the city.
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It took her another 15 minutes of walking to start seeing things that weren’t burned to the ground. Crossing the freeway had been a good idea. She had walked to a nearby car on the freeway that was fine but seemed to be totally out of gas. Left running with the keys in the ignition. But, now that she was beginning to see things that weren’t totally burned out she was less stressed. She could repeat her car theft from yesterday no problem, and this time she knew to knock on the doors of the houses and listen for barking first.
She found a suitable house with an unlocked door, and knocked. No sound. She knocked again, and again, and again just to make sure. Still no sound. Entering the house was easier this time, emotionally. The electricity didn’t seem to still be on, but there were some bottles of water stacked on top of the fridge, so she drank one and kept a second one. Her pocket fire was surprisingly great for lighting the way through the dark house, and it only took a few minutes to find a set of keys. They were laying on a coffee table. She checked the bedroom for clothes that might fit, but this person had been significantly thinner than her.
Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.
So, she moved on. It was crazy to think about what an ordeal this exact same process had been for her just yesterday. It still didn’t feel good. But she could do it. She could do this. She would live in this stupid world.
The car itself was nice. It was a mom van, but that was kind of perfect for Lily’s needs and she was thankful for it. A pick up truck might have been even nicer. She’d have to get one. Starting the car, she giggled to herself. “Never thought I’d want one of those. But, oh how the times change.”
The car ride to the target was nice and easy, and to her pleasant surprise it was not burned down. She approached the doors. They didn’t open. She let out a sigh of frustration. Lily hadn’t thought to bring her door demolisher. So, she tried wrenching them apart with her hands. They didn’t budge.
“Ugh, I don’t have time to do this again!” This time she wasn’t being chased by fire. If she ruined her only car, she could get another. So, she hopped in and backed it up to the doors. It was precarious going between the big red ball set pieces they had out front, but she managed. She carefully drove her bumper right up to the glass, and then pressed the gas. She thought if she applied pressure rather than crashing into it she might get away with less damage to her car.
At first, nothing happened other than the engine making a sound. But, then she heard the start of a crack, followed by a huge crash, and her car backed up suddenly. Stopping as quickly as she could and pulling forward, she took a look at her handiwork. Sure enough, there was a hole big enough to climb through!
Getting back out of the car, she smirked to herself. “Getting pretty good at this breaking and entering thing!”
In the back of her mind she heard an echo from yesterday. “This is how killers become serial killers.”
“Oh shut up! It’s fine. I’m doing what I have to.” Deciding pointedly not to think too hard about that, she stepped carefully over the threshold and into the store. The power was still on, which was a pleasant surprise. She had to snag a usb cable from one of the cashier computers but she used that to plug in her phone, and went about her shopping. Well, ‘shopping’ anyway.
Grabbing a cart she headed over to women's wear. But, it only took her a few minutes to be pretty dissatisfied. She needed durable work clothes more than anything else, and all this was cute but not really what she needed for survival. Well, it wouldn’t hurt to get one nice looking outfit. So, she found a cute black tee with a purple heart on the front, and a pair of more comfortable jeans. Then she headed over to the men's section and tried on work boots until she found a pair that fit. Grabbing three pairs of them just in case, she moved on. Once she found out what sizes fit her, she made sure to grab at least ten of everything. Ten pairs of jeans, ten short sleeved shirts, ten long sleeved shirts, and… well, only two jackets and sweaters. More would be excessive.
Finally, she headed back over to the women's section to get bras and underwear. She was always bad at picking out a good bra, so she figured out vaguely what size she wanted and then grabbed a bunch that were close to it. The old shot gun approach! Works every time. As long as money isn’t an issue.
While she was here, she decided to look around the rest of the store too. Lily didn’t have any real use for the furnishings, because she didn’t have a home base yet other than the boat and that was well furnished as it was. She stopped by the electronics section. She’d need to come back and grab any media she didn’t already have at some point, but that would need to come after she figured out what media she did have.
The toy section was nearby, so she walked over and eyed it a bit. Not a lot she was interested in. She’d never gotten into Lego or any of the building stuff despite having a passing interest in engineering. “Hmm. Should I grab all the trading cards? Not like I have anyone to play them with. I could collect? Might help pass some time.” She tossed them into the cart just in case. Pokemon, Yu-Gi-Oh, Magic the Gathering. She always liked card games but never had the money to play them. Now she had the cards! But no one to play with.
With a sigh, she continued down the isle. “Oh.” She turned the corner and saw a bunch of very cute looking stuffed animals. For a few seconds, she was embarrassed about wanting one. Or two. Or four. But then she realized… Why would she need to be embarrassed?
“If I want it, I can have it. So, which one do I want?” She looked over them with interest. Which one would look nice on her bed in her little boat? She grabbed a large chubby seal, and put it in the cart. “You’re coming home with me little gal.” She laughed, and put on a silly voice for her seal friend.
“Oh wow Lily, you’re so forward! Can’t you at least take me to dinner first?”
“Girl, you don’t need dinner. You’re already–” she stifled a giggle. “Stuffed!” She nearly doubled over. She needed a good laugh. Taking her new friend with her, she went back to the furnishing area with an idea. Lily searched for a clear vase, and when she found one she removed the wood from her pocket and dropped it in.
“There. Now it’s a lamp! I’ll put it on the table on my boat or something.”
Lily decided that was enough for now, so she retrieved her phone and left to unload everything into her van. It took a few minutes, but once she had finished she sat in the driver’s seat and thought.
“Well, now what?”
She’d gotten used to being propelled by the emergency of the moment, and now that she had some choices on her hands, she was struggling to choose. She really just wanted to go back to the boat and sleep. She needed to rest her body so badly she could barely stand it. But it wasn’t a real option. So, she put that thought aside. She could go investigate the purple fire, or she could go to a library, or maybe the university, or she could drive the coast and look for a nice house. Maybe she could find one with a private dock and claim it.
So many ideas. But she was so tired. Now that she was in dry clothes it was especially difficult to keep focused. The warmth of her body heat filling the fabric was so nice. It felt like her mind was stuffed with cotton.
Maybe she could just nap for a few minutes…?
She awoke seconds later to the sound of her Van’s horn, with her face resting on the wheel. Deciding enough was enough, she grabbed her phone and headed back into the target. She remembered seeing a bedding section with actual beds. It was time for a proper nap. Lily left herself an alarm for an hour and a half and laid down on the display bed. It felt… strange. But not strange enough to keep her awake. She hugged her seal, and fell asleep.
It was the best sleep she’d had since the world ended.