Salem opened his eyes abruptly. Above him was a cloudless blue sky that was only marred by a massive, dark grey column of smoke.
Trying to get up and investigate, his body was wracked with excrutiating throes of pain.
He looked at himself, panting, and found his clothing had fused into his burnt and peeling flesh. The burnt and tattered remains of what was once a robe was fused seamlessly to his burnt and weeping flesh. He tried to stand, but the pain made it impossible for him to walk.
'In order to survive this, I need medical treatment. But if I am unable to move, then I will likely die; glossing over the fact that I recall dying once before. There's still people that look like firemen, I need to let them know I'm alive.' He thought, slightly shocked at how calm he felt.
Salem opened his mouth to call out to them, but nothing came out. Moving his mouth like a fish, he reached the belated conclusion that he must be mute.
'It would appear that my vocal cords are cooked to perfection.' He thought wryly.
Electing to crawl painfully towards them, he began his seemingly endless journey of approximately ten meters, or until someone noticed him.
Salem saw that one of the firefighters had turned around to pick up a discarded pail. As he picked it up, his gaze lit upon Salem, who had begun waving his burnt arm at him.
Calling out to his comrades, they brought over a stretcher.
Pulling him slowly onto the stretcher was like burning him alive once more. Every movement burned with pain, causing him to nearly black out with each movement.
They took him to a large, run-down mansion in the fringes of the town, connected to a massive warehouse.
The door opened almost instantly and they whisked him through the building, jolting him with every step and causing him even more pain.
They finally came to a stop and roughly laid him upon a raised platform before turning and leaving as quickly as they arrived.
Once he verified that that he was to recieve treatment from someone, Salem surrendered to the pain of his wounds and welcomed the sweet and painless blackness beyond.