Smokey the Bear: A Forest of Flames.

The Burning of the Bear.

Fifteen minutes later, he had no idea where to go or what to do. So completely lost he'd never seen anything like this. The flames were all around him, he'd made it into the area where a fire three years ago had passed through, it had removed most of the leaf litter but was put out before it could take out dead trees still standing. These dead trees ignited first, the ground here was grassy so the flames didn't spread so quickly along the ground. But soon this would be a crown fire, meaning that it would be the most dangerous kind of fire. From one tree to the next, little flames began eating away at branches and bark and spread upwards growing bigger, expanding outwards along the branches.

Smokey stopped running, he walked slowly and stumbled at  times in his confused, terrified, and disoriented state.  The air here was clearer, still  a white fog-like blanket of smoke enveloped him, but the black and grey smoke was all above now, spreading upwards with the flames leaping towards the blue sky now tinted dark and at time obscured completely by the flames and smoke. He looked around, spotting a tree that wasn't covered in orange-yellow fire he began to run towards it. Nearing it he looked up, only to see that its top-most branches were already igniting. His vision was naturally poor already, but the white tint to the air made it more difficult to see separate trees. With the flames they all seemed to be one.

He ran on without direction, the sun's light was dimmer due to the covering of smoke, the shadows disappearing as everything ignited. The orange glow of the flames cast faint shadows of its own which danced demonically along the ground where the newer tinder ignited, bursting upwards in flame. From overhead, the wood crackled and burst apart sending down, like rain, burning ashes, leaves, sticks, bark.  

He was choking on the toxic air, he coughed, his lungs and throat and nostrils burned. His eyes burned and tears welled up from them and fell gently into his fur then slid off into the air where they disappeared into the ground.  He tripped, and fell to his knees. Trying to inhale breathable air, smoke again filled his lungs painfully. His head and chest hurt horribly. He felt like he'd explode. Smokey Bear tried but failed to rise to run on, instead he fell to the ground.

Looking up at where the sun would be Smokey saw its rays penetrating through the black air above, fire danced wildly as it leapt up then fell back down and spread outwards along the branches; near bye another tree ignited, the flames quickly ran up the peeling bark consuming it in tongues of flame. A piece of falling fire fell onto his fur, singing it painfully.  He winced in pain as it seared him and went out, his fur still smoking.

He cried out as a burning stick crashed onto him from above. His brown fur began to catch fire. Once more he tried to stand, successfully. The burning stick fell to the ground, his fur blackened and in places missing. His skin painfully burnt.

He made it a few steps, but another and larger branch crashed down onto him. He heard it snap above, fall through the air, smash into him and leap up suddenly as it bounced and he heard himself crash to the ground. He screamed in pain as it burned deeply into him. The fur caught this time and it spread away from the burning branch on top of him.  He rolled, twice. The branch fell away and most of the fur's flames died out.

His eyes were not watering from the  smoke now, but from the pain, and fear. Another large stick crashed to the ground near his head. Embers danced upward off of it upon impact, some landing on him. He looked up again at the sun, creamy white rays fell down through the black smoke onto him. The heat was unbearable, the air un-breathable,  he inhaled, ignoring the painfulness of it all. The fire overhead blazed on raining down onto the forest floor, and him, burning embers and starting more fires.

A tree cracked loudly twice, then creaked and groaned as it crashed to the ground, the flames whistling like wind on canvas as they fell with it. He felt the ground shudder, dust and ash rose up and fell back down slowly, leaves and sticks and needles flew away from the tree.  A trail of fire snaked along the ground as if it were alive. Smokey was directly in its path.  Reaching him it stopped a moment then climbed up over him.

He tried to rise but couldn't. As the fire ate into his flesh he screamed once more, it died to a whimper as he threw his head up in an effort to rise. As the flames spread over him and back onto the ground they also spread around him. The whole forest was now a  forest of flames. The trees, the ground, himself, even the air seemed to burn.

The fire devoured him, he felt as though he was being stabbed with knives and cut open, being torn apart piece by piece as the flames ate away his flesh and into him, his blood began to boil and the fire reached his face. He closed his eyes as he was now covered in-- not his brown fur-- but blackened fur/ash and orange fire dancing demonically upon him. Smoke rose up off his body in twisting and curving streams and with one silent scream more in total agony he died. He went Home.