A Ring Of Fire Holds Back The Forest's Vengeance

20260412

Prompt from DailyPrompt.com

The street-cleansers were hard at work again, their flamethrowers rooting out any hint of living green which intruded into the city. Some people said it was wasteful; if They could get in via the weeds they would have by now. But most agreed that not having plants around was a relief.
Forced to loiter behind the crew, waiting for them to be out of the way, Claire reflected on how strange it was to think about the city before the forests rose up. The parks. The gardens. The trees lining the streets. Unfathomable now. To the children starting school it would sound like a horror story. “No wonder so many died!”
Claire sighed. Shifted from foot to foot, her empty backpack flapping with her motions. Like it was eager to be filled up with forage.
Because while plants now heralded death… humans still couldn’t live without them. So the foolhardy and the reckless and the incurably curious ventured out, beyond the painstakingly barren concrete, to the forest They had raised wherever nobody stood guard with fire.
Though calling it a forest felt somehow inadequate. Claire had been in forests Before. And those had all been… whereas this was… It was like the difference between rain showers and an emergency alert level storm. Despite the trees not seeming bigger, exactly, the whole thing managed to feel ancient. Imposing. Watchful.
Hard to believe that, less than a decade ago, there’d been suburbs out there. Farmland. The half-built mall. Some people still insisted that’s what set Them off, and if you pointed out They’d risen up across the whole world at once, you just got waved off or humphed at.
Well. Not the whole world. Just all the parts with trees. All the parts They could lay claim to.
Wild men. Wood sprites. Treefolk. Leshies. They had countless names over the continents and centuries. But everyone agreed that they didn’t take kindly to people disrespecting the forest.
Amazing humans had gotten away with as much as they did, really.
Maybe that mall had been part of the reason. Just one more straw on the pile. Part of the handful which made everything collapse.
Finally, the crew were out of the way and Claire could get on with her work. Down the road and out of the perimeter. The guards didn’t glance at her. They didn’t care about people leaving; it was coming in where you were stopped and searched. Making sure you weren’t carrying any living plants. Even edible seeds were forbidden. Nothing that might take root and give Them an in.
Claire paused just outside the forest. Peering into the damp gloom. Checking for movement.
It seemed safe. Safe as Their domain ever got, at least. So she zipped up her jacket, made sure her foraging knife was loose in its sheath, and crept into the trees. Into a different world. Not only were the smells in here utterly unlike the city she’d just left, the air being so damp and shaded meant even familiar smells were alien to her nose.
She’d readjust. But it always took a while.
So she stood there. Breathing slowly through her mouth and nose. Tuning her ears to the vibrant tapestry of life surrounding her. Immersing herself in a place that, though terrifying and arguably unnatural, on some level felt like home.
That was why she did this. She missed green spaces too much to take a nice, safe job. Couldn’t live in the sterile concrete wasteland no matter how she tried. No matter how many close calls she had, no matter how she swore she was done this time, something drew her back.
Having shed the grasp of the city she walked deeper into the forest. Slowly. Softly. Striving to cause no more disturbance than a deer. If you acted like you were part of Their domain, They would ignore you. But break any of Their rules, and… well, while nobody knew exactly what happened to you, you wouldn’t be seen again. And it almost certainly wasn’t pleasant.
Birdsong. Claire paused to listen, a smile curving her lips. Oh, how she missed that sound. Back when the city still had trees, it’d be commonplace. Bird feeders were all over the place. But now, the city was practically silent. Few people. Few vehicles or machines still working. And no birds.
Precious few animals at all. Most had drifted into the forest. Heeding some mystic call? Or just seeking food, now humans were no longer leaving refuse everywhere?
A rustle. Claire froze, her eyes darting around. Seeking any movement.
Squirrel. She exhaled and the critter bounded up the tree trunk to inspect her from a safe distance. How long did squirrels live? Did it, too, remember when humans fed its kind in public parks? Or was it like the human schoolchildren, and this aftermath was all it’d ever known?
No way to tell. And then it was gone.
Claire shook herself. She couldn’t just stand here listening to birds. She had a job to do. People were counting on her. The city was always on the cusp of starvation.
Another perk of being a forager was having the chance to fill your stomach before handing the rest of your haul over to sell. After all, there was little more valuable to buy than food. She had a tidy packet stashed in case the solar panels or the heater broke, but other than that…
Her gaze roved across the greenery as she walked. Seeking familiar shapes and colours.
Aha! Wild garlic. A good start.
She crouched. Scanned all around her. Only once she was certain it was safe did she unhook the trowel from her belt and get to work. Breathing in the fresh, pungent, living scent of the plant.
Just think. Once she would’ve simply wandered into a supermarket.
She… couldn’t actually remember what that was like.
Far behind her, unseen, glossy green eyes watched closely. Unbothered.
So long as she didn’t take too much.

Prompt was “In a post-apocalyptic world, your character has to travel between two locations, one lush and green, one barren and urban, to survive.”