Essentially, I'm working on a horror novel at the moment where the *main* supernatural antagonist/creature can be defeated by fire. Earlier on in the story the protagonists are struggling with a smaller-scale version of the creature (in simple terms, think of the main one as a zombie human and the first one a zombie pig) and somehow need to accidentally set it on fire to then be able to realise later on that that's the only way to kill it, after they've tried everything else. Basically the question here is, how do you accidentally set fire to a pig? At this point they already know that neither a knife/sledgehammer will do the trick, so it could just be a case of "let's try this", but I'd much rather it be an accident (if possible) so that we don't have the repetition of "let's try this" with both the pig and the main evil. Does this make sense? If there's nothing, fair enough, but if anyone has a clue how my character's might be able to do this that would be amazing. Thanks so much Piper
whilst running away they drop/kick over a can of fuel - a stray candle/lantern/electrical spark sets it off et voila roast pork
Simple, but it definitely works: leads me on to a follow-up, though - the only place (they're on a farm) where I might be able to realistically pull that off would be in the barn (which works for me just fine) - any way of doing this where the pork would be the only thing that's roasted? Don't want a premature barn fire served with my crispy bacon...
Actually ignore that, the obvious answer is someone just grabs a bucket of water... I'm far too tired to be typing without thinking first. And a little fear the barn might catch isn't exactly a bad thing in a horror story. Thanks again! Think this whole question had an answer far too obvious for me to put it in research but it's easy to miss the simple things -
Have it happen at night time when they're using torches? They drop one while fleeing the evil and before they know it, "whoosh!" the pig goes up like a roman candle and burns so completely that the fire is put out in the process?
Coffee flavoured keyboard moment... If you're ruling out the whole barn fire which would be the easiest way, it depends what the time period of your world is. Is it a "traditional" chasing monsters with flaming torches world, or a could-someone-be-working-on-a-tractor world? If the former you could use a dropped torch in straw, if the latter you could have diesel dripping into a bucket where someone is welding. Diesel won't catch fire in a puddle, but introduce a wicking mechanism, like, say, the hairy, dry skin of a pig, and - woof! (or is that more of a dog...?)
Thanks all three of you - definitely more of a modern-day setting BUT more of a small family farm where I can't imagine any of my characters welding. Smoking, yes, but perhaps not while they're all trying to get away from the manic zombie pig, as the case may be. But like I said thanks for the suggestions, I'm thinking there's probably a way of working this out from them. As a side note, pigs are fine but I absolutely refuse to burn the dog. If I could manage it, I'd keep him alive longer than all my humans, just as an affront to Stephen King.
Sacrifice your protagonists and have them set themselves on fire around the pig so that it starts a series of chain reactions that results in at least one of the chain reactions setting the pig on fire. He/She will never see it coming.
I think my first instinct when confronting a zombie pig would be to either shoot it or burn it and I'm usually far better equipped to burn things than to shoot them. And when getting to later antagonists, I dont' think it would be more of a "let's try this moment," and more of a connecting the dots moment. Alternatively you could have them know that fire kills these things and have tension/conflict come from the characters being incapable of creating a suitable fire when necessary. Matches are a limited resource, smaller fires tend not to work well underwater, and rubbing two sticks together is a time consuming process best left to moments when you're not being pursued by an unimaginable horror. FYI I grew up on small farm and was always welding shit. Sometimes even forging shit. When you've got metal tools they will crack, bend, and break when being put to use on a working farm, and usually the most cost effective and least time consuming way to deal with that is to fix it yourself. ETA: On farms that do haying, spontaneous combustion is a real threat. When the hay is stored when it's too moist, heat can accumulate leading to an exothermic reaction that randomly go ablaze when disturbed and/or exposed to oxygen. Though I have a feeling that may be a bit deus ex for todays plots.
Ooh hello, a weed burner sounds interesting... Might have to look into that one, but possibly more as a means of starting the more deliberate fire later on. Again, thanks everyone for the suggestions!
Modern times: Hairspray blowtorch meant to scare the thing off turns it into a roving appliance fire instead?
Does it have to be just one pig? I could see a situation where pigs are transported in one of those trucks you usually see for cattle, and the truck is involved in a fiery accident. Gas tank ruptures, spark happens, pigs toasted.
It doesn't have to be one pig, there are others on the farm - and I quite like the idea of an emotional scene where we have to burn all the pigs for fear of them being infected - but they're gonna have to stay on the farm. It's another nice idea, though.
I haven't read this thread but what about this... the characters are very sensitive to anything close to heat, one goes through a shaft of light which passed through several windows of a run-down building thus creating a magnifying glass and voila - fire!
It would be cool to put a bit of a vampirish spin on things - but my pigs/cows/the worms themselves spend a fair amount of time outside in direct sunlight, I can't see myself pulling that one off plausibly. But again, a nice suggestion.
Even up to the eighties, farms of all sizes had fire of some sort in a barn. Warmers for newborn aminals used paraffin fuel. Stoves? Gas hotboxes for irons or melting rope ends? Plenty of stuff to knock over in the chaos. The porker grabbing something like the lantern that breaks as it runs out could sell. It was dark in the barn at one point? You don't have to destroy the barn, and you don't have to let them realize the fire was a specific weakness right away - let it percolate a little, like the Cook. ;-)
