` A portal opens up in a barren town. The sounds of Band of Horses' song, "Shut-In Tourist", can be heard playing from the portal as the van goes out of the portal.
“Now, this next song might be important to someone. It's "City with No Children" by Arcade Fire,” the radio host announces.
Ray looks around the scenery as he drives down an empty road. “Oh... Oh fuck.”
The summer that I broke my arm
I waited for your letter
I have no feeling for you now
Now that I know you better
I wish that I could have loved you then
Before our age was through
And before a world war does with us
Whatever it will do
“You alright, Ray?” Misty asked. Ryan heaves a sigh and keeps driving. He stays quiet
I feel like I've been living in
A city with no children in it
A garden left for ruin by a millionaire inside
Of a private prison
“Ray, what is wrong?” Misty asked again.
“Ryan…” Ray looks over to him, like he trying to convey to him to tell the group something.
“This is our hometown,” Ryan tells Misty.
“Same dimension, too?” Misty questions.
“Well, I know how to find that out,” Ray replies.
“We could use the dimension identifier,” Flotsam points out.
“That is true, but we didn't have that at the beginning,” Ray states.
“Well, it says we're in Dimension 16,894,” Flotsam responds.
“Alright,” Ray reacts. “Got to love how accurate they are on their incidental music.”
“Yeah,” Ryan sighs. Ray keeps on driving.
“This,” Ray takes a deep breath, “feels like Muskegon, but it's... It still is, but it's just a ghost town.”
“Probably every district is a ghost town right now,” Ryan comments.
“Let's see if remember how to get somewhere,” Ray mutters.
Ray continues to drive. "Smile Like You Mean It" by the Killers is playing on the radio. He pulls onto another road, and drives down it for a while, until he turns onto another road. He's clearly trying to go somewhere.
He heaves a sigh as he spots where he's trying to go. An old, dilapidated, forlorn house. He pulls into the driveway.
“Isn't that?” Ryan asked.
“My childhood house? Yes,” Ray replied. “I'm amazed it's still standing.” Everyone gets out of the van. Ray walks up to the front door. “No one's here, but let's do the courteous thing first.” Ray knocks on the door.
No response.
“Alright,” Ray reacts. He pulls out a gun. “Just in case if anyone actually in there, and they're just being quiet.”
The door refuses to open by using the handle, so Ray kicks down the door. “Is there anyone actually in here?!”
No response again.
“Okay, just expect the unexpected,” Ray warns everyone.
Everyone enters in the house, except for Lincoln, who scouts the outside perimeter of the house. Light from out illuminates what it can in the house. The air inside is dust. In fact, dust is flying around from the door being kicked down. Monica coughs because of it. “Guess you don't rely on the dead to do cleaning,” Monica comments before she coughs again.
“I haven't been here for like decades. I don't remember the last time was here,” Ray states.
The group looks around. They are in the kitchen. The cabinets and drawers are orange, but you wouldn't really be able to tell so with the layers on everything. The countertop is dark oak, with a vinyl coating, with many layers of dust piled on it. Ray puts his hand down on the counter. Dust goes flying. His hand is now coated in dust. He proceeds to brush the dust off his hands “Wow. We're going to need to wear masks so we don't inhale all of this dust.” He pulls out a mask.
“Or ventilators,” Flotsam adds on. Flotsam and Riley already have ventilators on Monica is pulling one out of her backpack, while still coughing from dust. “History of adventuring. Always have one on you. You never know when you're going to walk through something like this,” Flotsam explains.
They head to the living room of the house. Ray heaves another sigh. He looks around. “The couch stayed at the same position I remember last seeing it. That chair seems different, but it's probably not. The last time I was here was probably a few months before the apocalypse broke out,” Ray reminisces.
Monica walks up to the entertainment table. The television looks to be a later model CRTV. On the shelf underneath it is a VHS unit. There's a cassette deck underneath it. On the lower shelf there is a Super Nintendo Entertainment System. There is a record player to the left of the CRTV. “You had a SNES?!” she exclaims.
“Oh fuck, I forgot that was there,” Ray reacts.
“How?!” Ryan yells.
“I don't know how. I just happened to forget it.” Ray responds.
In the bottom drawers of the entertainment table are boxes of trivial items, like pictures, letters, souvenirs, cards, like Uno, and the classic casino cards, Monopoly, a glass chess board, with glass chess pieces. There's also box with assorted cassettes.
What catches Monica's attention is a box of video cassettes. She pulls out the box and sees a VCR camera. “I have not seen one in a while,” Monica mutters. “Hey, Ray. This is going to sound weird, but I'm going to take this camcorder. Maybe we can fix it up and record stuff on it.”
“Okay,” Ray replies.
Most of the group leave the living room. Ray heads to what used to be his bedroom. “I was an only child. Many times, it got lonesome here.” He approaches the door and opens.
“Oh, the posters are still there,” Ray reacted. There's poster for Yes, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Billy Joel, Talking Heads, Blondie, and the Ramones still hanging up in Ray's childhood bedroom. “I left some posters so they could have things to remember me for. Didn't realize left way more for them to remember me for.”
“The Ramones! Hell yes!” Monica screams. “I got to say, Ray. You have a great taste in music.”
“Thanks,” Ray responds.
“Leaving things for people is a nice thing to do, depending on what you're living behind, of course,” Monica states.
“Yeah, true,” Ray agrees.
The bed is covered in dust. The room is the most dustiest in the house from not being used from the longest, and rarely, if not, never being cleaned.
Everyone gets out of Ray's room. Ray looks down the hall. ”I don't-.” Ray sighs. “I don't want to enter in any other room. It'll just be more depressing Especially my parents room. They're most likely long gone by now.”
“You don't have to,” Tori tells Ray.
“They were already middle-aged when I moved out. I doubt they survived for long. No one was here that time I saw this place,” Ray stated.
“Of course, you would grab the gaming console,” Flotsam complains.
“Obviously! It's an SNES!” Ryan replied.
“I mean, to be fair, would too,” Flotsam mutters.
“Hah! Hahah! Got ya, bitch!” Ryan vexes, [but it comes out more like "caught" than "got".]
“What's an SNES?” Whitticus asks.
“Ohohoh... You have a lot to learn,” Ryan states.
“Don't taint the kid,” Brandon orders.
“What do you mean? This is the perfect time for him to learn,” Ryan argues.
“Ryan.”
“I'm not wrong.”
“Ryan!”
“I will teach him. You can't stop me.” Ryan takes a deep breath. “So, it's a gam-.”
“Ryan! Now's not the time!” Brandon yells.
“Yes, it is! Anytime is the time!” Ryan retorts.
“Ryan, no!”
“Ryan, yes!”
“Oh my, God. These fucking imbeciles,” Tristan growls.
“I'm going to kick into hyperactive bullshit mode!” Ryan shouts.
“Don't you dare!” Brandon yells.
“AAAH!” Ryan screams, hyperactive energy taking control for a moment.
“Goddamn it, Ryan!” Brandon complains.
“What the hell is going on here?” Riley asks.
Brandon looks over at Riley, Ray, Monica, Tori, Flotsam, and Misty. “Uh, Ryan is-.”
“Let me teach him what an SNES is, goddamn it!” Ryan demands.
“You don’t need to yell, Ryan,” Ray states.
Whitticus looks up at Ray. “What's an SNES?”
“It's a gaming console,” Ray answers.
“Ray,” Brandon murmurs.
“Goddamn it, Ray! You had to steal my thunder!” Ryan complains.
“What's a gaming console?” Whitticus asks.
“Oooooooooo! Opportunity! Don't take this from me, Ray!” Ryan demands.
Lincoln keeps patrolling the perimeter of the house. He hears the group in the house shouting and making commotion. “What are they doing in there?” he wonders.
He starts to hear something driving off in the distance. “Someone's in the distance. Where?” He looks around the scenery but sees nothing. “What?” he mutters.
There is definitely someone driving around. There is this distinctive sound of a motor humming, but where is it coming from? Try as he might, Lincoln can't spot anything.
Back inside the house, the group is still up to their hijinks. Ray tries to calm down the situation. “Alright, everyone, calm down. Let's leave now.”
“I'm taking the SNES. You can't stop me,” Ryan demanded.
“Alright,” Ray replies.
“Hehehe. Yes!” Ryan celebrated.
Ryan puts anything that is SNES related. Monica checks her backpack for everything. Emmatina keeps close to Whitticus. Ray is ready to lead everyone out of the house, when unexpectedly, the front of the house gets engulfed in flames. Riley, Misty, Svetlana, and Tristan watch as the flames cover up the windows. Flotsam and Emmatina go to the floor. Ryan turns to look at the window and freezes.
Ray runs to see what's going on. Upon seeing the fire just outside the window, he gets furious and stressed. “What the absolute hell?!” Ray exclaimed.
“I don't know,” Riley reacts.
“A... A... Am...” Ryan keeps stammering
Whitticus looks around, scared and confused. “What's going o-.”
“We'll tell you later,” Emmatina states.
“The house. They set the house on fire,” Ryan claims.
“Who are you talking about?” Brandon asks.
“Who do you think I'm talking about, you drunk nature narrator?!” Ryan shouts.
“I don't need the damn sass.” Brandon growls.
“Just shut the fuck up! Now is not the time to bicker,” Tristan demands.
“What's the exit plan?” Monica inquiries.
“Not the windows, that's for sure,” Svetlana replies. “Actually...”
“Do you want to die?!” Flotsam responds.
“Shut up. You clearly can’t tell what a morbid joke is.”
“Okay, everyone. Is it possible for you all to fucking focus?!” Tori asks.
Ray looks around quickly before getting an idea. “We'll have to go out the kitchen d-.” The windows shatter, sending glass flying towards the group. Riley, Svetlana, Ryan, and Tristan duck. Flotsam and Misty dive to the floor, Whitticus jumps backwards. Emmatina, Svetlana, and Brandon get glass shards sent into them. Ray, Monica, and Tori jump to the side to avoid the glass shards. The fire crawls in.
“Shit. Alright, everyone! Follow me!” Ray orders.
Outside of the house, Lincoln starts smelling smoke. Next he hears the commotion inside. That's when he sees the flames. “Oh... This isn't good.’
Lincoln goes to the driveway. The flames have engulfed most of the front side of the house. He can feel the heat of the fire from where he's standing. Lincoln knocks on the door. He calls out for them. “Hello, is everyone alright?”
Inside the house, Ray has gathered all of the group into the kitchen. “Alright, let's go.” He opens the door and sees Lincoln. “Whoa.”
“Hey,” Lincoln greets. “Everyone needs to get out. I'll be a wall to the fire.”
“But-.” Ryan tries to complain but gets interrupted.
“That should give everyone enough time to get out without being burned,” Lincoln explains. Ryan goes quiet.
Everyone rushes out. It takes them some time. The fire itches closer to Lincoln. By the time Whitticus gets out, the fire is barely touching Lincoln. Once Misty, the last person to exit, the fire is on Lincoln. He stands still, letting Misty get out of the way. Once she does, Lincoln gets away from the fire and rolls on the ground many times to stop the flames on him.
“Alright, I'm okay,” Lincoln states. He gets away from the house and joins the rest of the group.
“Who did this?” Misty asks.
“Isn't it obvious?” Ryan responds.
“No?” Misty replies.
“Them!” Ryan yells.
“Stop play the pronoun game, Ryan!” Misty demands.
Ray finds something on the ground a distance away from the van. It's a small board of wood. There's a note written on there with Sharpie. "Nice house, nerd." Upon reading it, he snaps the board in half.
“AMBER!” Ray bellows.
A few roads down, in an RV, Amber and Lane are laughing. Next to where Lane is sitting is a flamethrower. “Great job out there. You set that house ablaze,” Amber congratulates.
“Yeah, thank you,” Lane responds. They both do a fist bump.
“Even if some or all survived that, they won't be using that house anymore.” Amber laughs maniacally as she continues driving.
“Fucking Amber and her crew of cronies,” Ray mumbles
“What? Whitticus asks.
“Nothing, kid,” Misty stated, trying to distract the kid.
Ray scratches at his head and starts breathing heavily. Svetlana slowly approaches him. She puts a hand on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. “I don't know what words to use, but-.”
“I've spent so many years at that house. Some blue bastard has it burned down. She can't even produce fire. What bastard on her team has access to fire?!” He covers his face and lets out an anguished cry. “Goddamn it!”
Ray looks over to Svetlana. “All the memories, Svetlana, er, most of, are just charred now. I can't get it back.”
“I... We need to go, Ray. There's nothing left to be done now, but to leave,” Svetlana explains.
“I know. It just hurts.” Ray takes in a deep breath. “Speaking of which, is everyone okay?”
“Well, that was a quick emotional cha-.” Tristan spots that Ray is actually crying. “Oh, uh... Never mind.”
“I just lost my childhood house, Tristan. Of course, I'm upset. I have something bigger to worry about. I want to know if everyone is alright,” Ray responds.
“I got shards of glass in me,” Emmatina answers.
“Same,” Svetlana adds. “I'll be alright. You know I've been through worse.”
Brandon: Yeah, there's some glass in my arm.
“Lincoln?” Ray asks.
“I got burned, but it's not enough to be life threatening,” Lincoln states.
“Alright,” Ray reacts.
“What do we do now?” Emmatina questioned.
“We have to leave,” Ray replied.
“I'm sorry about the house, Ray,” Monica tries to comfort him.
“It's none of our faults,” Ray noted.
“At least I saved the SNES,” Ryan points out.
Ray stares for a few seconds. “Yeah. At least you saved that. And at least everyone got out alive.”
“Take the good with the bad,” Monica comments.
The group enter the van. Ray drives off away from his house for the last time, as what remains burns away. “This is... Ugh... Brutal... Last time I'll ever go there. Fuck you, Amber.” Ray mutters.
“I'm sorry about the loss,” Svetlana whispers.
“There's nothing that could've been done,” Ray mentions.
Shortly after, a portal opens up. Ray drives into it, leaving his home dimension yet again.
[Excerpt from City With No Children was written by Win Butler and Arcade Fire. I used that song because it was thematic to the characters of Ray and Ryan.]