"In commemoration for the lives lost in the failed rebellion, all captured traitors, past, present, and future will be relocated to the ruins of what was once known as Phoenix. There, they will struggle for survival as their penance for their treachery." -Life-President John Farland, 2064 AD.
Those words were broadcasted 30 years ago across the country- No, scratch that, around the world for that matter. My name is Thomas Greene, and if you're reading this, either I managed to actually find someone to print copies of this, or you shot me and rifled through my possessions. Either way, you're going to want to keep this book near you.
Almost all of us know the history of how we got here, but in case you've never paid attention, I reckon I might as well give a short history lesson.
History
As of writing this book, the year is 2094, and we're in the once prosperous city of Phoenix. Back in around 2050 or so, there was a massive plague that killed around a third of the U.S population. Roughly 140 million folk ended up diseased corpses. With a couple hundred thousand more in the great famines and civil unrest. In the midst of all of this, people were absolutely desperate, and when a large group of neo-fascist terrorists known as the American Unification Front began an uprising, enough folk were scared enough to listen to 'em. So in 2059 the AUF gained total control after a bloody war with the U.S Government. Probably would have lost had it not been for the fact that their European allies were dealing with the same problems with various communist and fascist groups blowin' eachother to Kingdom Come.
It was a fairly brutal regieme, freedom of speech was practically non-existant, and religion was banned. Various border wars with the People's Republic of Canada and the Greater South American Empire sapped the country's strength in all aspects. With not only the obvious being manpower being drained at a constant rate with a draft lottery in place. But people could barely afford to keep themselves fed, and if you got sick, you'd better have prayed in secret to whatever deity you worshipped that your immune system wasn't too weak to fail you, because you would have died in the hospital's waiting line before a doctor had time to even make a diagnosis.
Needless to say, many people didn't like this anymore, they decided to raise arms and reform the democracy that America once was. Obviously though they failed, though not for lack of effort. The war was so brutal and bloody that entire cities were wiped off the map. Including the most inhospitable one on the list: Phoenix, Arizona. Though the war was a darn mess, "President" Farland had a crafty idea, instead of mass executions turning these good men and women into martyrs, he'd turn them into a source of entertainment to distract the masses. So he designated the ruins of Phoenix as a prison city, nicknamed ironically by the prisoners as "Haven City", where the prisoners were set loose to fend for themselves, all the while being recorded as a screwy reality TV show.
"Fire is a rather confusing person, one minute it can be your best friend, the next minute your most hateful enemy." -Carlos Sanders
Like the quote says, fire is an important tool, it keeps us warm, cooks our food, purifies our water, and scares wild beasts, but if not tamed properly it can destroy everything you hold dear. Likewise it can be frustratingly elusive to those without the knowledge of conjuring it.
Firestarting
Fire is a chain reaction sustained by three conditions
Fuel (Such as wood, coal, et cetera
Oxygen (Plenty of this around, unless you're in a sealed space you dont have to worry.)
Heat (Sounds redundant, but it's important.)
Burning is a regular folk's name for a process called "Oxidation", it's called this because Oxygen is required for any kind of fire. Take a look at the illustration above drawn by yours truly. As the fuel burns, it consumes oxygen, and produces heat, and that heat causes more fuel to combust, repeating the process.
Now that we all know how fire works, let's start learning how to make it in the first place.
Here's a list of what you'll need.
Tinder, this can be stuff like hair, paper, dry dead leaves.
Kindling, commonly mistaken with tinder, but the two are different, kindling burns a little bit slower than tinder so it gives you more time to move the fire to the logs. This is stuff like twigs.
Fuel, wood is an obvious choice, but if you've just hacked down a living tree, you're gonna need to let that wood dry in the sun for a while before you can use it. The drier the better. If you've found coal that's even better.
A means of initial heat. Like I said, as the illustration shows, a fire needs heat. If you have a lighter or matches then you're set, if not then skip the first method.
Rocks, you'll need to place these around the campfire itself so keep the fire from spreading outside it's boundaries.
Right, before we even get to the methods, we're gonna need to actually build the firebed. First, place rocks in a circular shape around where you want the fire, this is for safety purposes to keep the fire from spreading. Secondly, you're gonna want to place your branches in a tent-like circular formation in the center of the campfire, make sure it wont fall apart too easily but also make sure theres enough circulation in there for the oxygen to freely flow. Then once you've built the firebed itself, cup your tinder and kindling together in a sizable clump, big enough so that it burns long enough but small enough to carry.
Method 1
Use your lighter or match to set the tinder/kindling alight, and then quickly move it to the center of the fire. Then /gently/ blow on it until the fire grows large enough to where it burns on it's own. Also try not to breathe in too much smoke, especially if you're asthmatic or have any other lung conditions.
Method 2
Uh oh, you don't have a lighter or match? Right, things are gonna get more tricky here. This will be the hardest method, so don't be surprised if you don't get this on the first try- You know, actually, you should flip that around, you should be surprised if you get this right on the first try.
The wood /needs/ to be bone-dry, thankfully this is a desert so this may already be the case. Carve a V shaped notch as well as a depression adjacent to it on a flat piece of wood. Then place your tinder underneath the notch. Then acquire a spindle, which is another word for the stick you're gonna be spinning with. It's gotta be at least 2 feet long to be most effective, you're also gonna want it to be smooth as possible for obvious reasons. Place the end of the spindle into the depression, and placing the palms of your hands in a praying motion clasping the spindle, start rubbing your hands back and forth like a greedy merchant as /fast/ as humanly possible and keep doing it, this is gonna take a long while, do not take a break, you'll lose all your heat. Keep doing this until you see smoke and an ember forming, then immediately stop and start gently blowing on the ember until the tinder and kindling catches alight, then take it to the firebed as quick as possible, place it in the center of the firebed, and gently blow until the fire grows large enough to sustain itself.
Method 3
If you have a magnifying glass, or are wearing glasses, then you can use the sun itself to light your fire. Simply align the lens with the sun, and move the lens up or down to focus the beam as small as possible, if you get it small enough, it should be enough to light your tinder.
Method 4
You have a zippo (or other offbrand) lighter but it's empty? Don't worry, it still has the sparker, which is essentially a flint and steel, which you can still use to light a fire. You'll have to be fairly patient though, and keep sparking the lighter until you've got an ember.
Method 5
If you have some kind of clear balloon, condom, or plastic bag, as well as some water, also preferably as clear as possible, then you can make a lense by filling the container completely with water. And then using the waterbag as a lens, use the same method as method 3.
Method 6
Right this method is pretty unsafe so good luck not giving yourself third degree chemical burns. If you've somehow found a block of pure sodium, and I'm not talking about salt, I'm talking about actual elemental sodium, pouring plain old water on it will cause an intense chemical reaction, producing plenty of heat, maybe enough even to where if you placed the block in the campfire where the tinder would be, it would suffice in it's place. Same reaction occurs with magnesium or potassium.
Method 7
Probably even more dangerous than the one above as if you breathed enough of this stuff in you'd probably die. If you find a working phone, disassemble it and find it's battery. Phone batteries are usually lithium-ion types, Lithium reacts strongly with oxygen, explosively even with large enough quantities so be /very/ careful. Use a knife to cut open the battery and expose the lithium, make sure it's already in the tinder's place before you do this because you'll have seconds to get out of there before the smoke gets you.
Method 8.
By far much safer than the two methods above. If you have a non-lithium ion battery, like an AA for example, as well as some steel wool, flatten and stretch out the steel wool, and then begin rubbing the flat end of the battery on the wool. This will result in the steel wool actually burning like wood, it's crazy cool believe me. Then for good measure put your tinder on the wool and start blowing on it, then just place it in the campfire and keep blowin and yadayada yada you've read the other methods you know how to do it.
Method 9
Similar to method 8, but instead of steel wool, tin foil is used instead. Take your foil and press one end towards the negative pole of the battery (the flat end), and the other side to the positive (the one with the lil nub stickin' out), this will cause a current to flow in the foil, but the foil will start burning due to an overload of electricity. Note this isnt dangerous to you, the only danger here is in burning yourself. Then simply use that like you would a lighter.
Alright, theres more methods out there like firebows and pump drills, but I'm just another survivor so my knowledge is put at it's limit here, you'd best read a more detailed book on primitive firestarting if said books havent been burnt yet by the wars or by the various book burning gangs.
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