Good guess!

The high-pitched drone of a car's horn being steadily depressed howled through the late night air, drawing attention to the white, compact car wrapped around a thick oak tree. The frame was mostly intact from the driver's seat back, but the front had crumpled like a piece of looseleaf paper when it swerved off the road. On the dash, a young woman, blonde, pretty, and ****, was stretched out, barely held in place by a seatbelt.

"Fuck," Ranger Colin Matheson breathed to himself as he jumped out of his barely-parked jeep. Sprinting to the car, he quickly caught sight of the driver and picked up his pace even more. "Fuck fuck fuck!"

The young man grabbed the door and tugged, but found it unmoving. A quick check told him metal had bent over the door's edge and it would take time to get it open the normal way. All he could think of, though, was how smoke (or steam? Jesus, it's hard to tell at night) was pouring from the hood. 'I wish I knew more about cars,' he bemoaned to himself as he drew his service revolver and held it by the barrel. He paused only for a second, checking the safety, and in what was still a spectacular lack of respect for gun safety, began to smash the window with the butt of the gun. In three heavy, shuddering strokes, enough of a hole punched through the glass for him to get his hands inside.

Colin let out a scream of frustration as he pried the wrecked window loose, a piece of jagged glass slicing into the palm of his left hand even through his heavy gloves. He cleared the remains with the barrel of the gun, then reached inside to pull the girl out.

"Oh, thank God," he groaned as the seat belt buckle popped without something else going wrong. He hauled the girl back from the wreckage, trying to keep her head level and still, then yelped when a popping crackle issued from the car. Flames jetted out around the edges of the hood, lapping greedily at the edges as they spread along spilled fluids and crept up softer parts of the vehicle's exterior. "Less explosion-y than I thought, still definitely bad."

"Mrrrrrrgggggghhhhh," the girl groaned, stirring in Colin's arms. "Oh my god! What the hell - who the fuck -"

"Ma'am, my name is Colin Matheson." His voice trembled slightly, still staring at the fire as he tried to maintain his composure. "You were in an automobile accident, and if you don't mind me saying, we're really not out of the woods yet."

"Jesus, okay!" the girl wriggled out of his arms and moved with haste to the other side of the road as the conflagration reached the car's interior, catching the polymer material on the seats. "Oh my god, I'm so screwed. I don't even live out here! And - ow - shit!" She touched her hand to her head, then pulled it back, blood lining the tips of her fingers. "Oh no. Nonononono."

"Hold on, let me see." Colin brought his flashlight up and aimed it high before turning it on, trying not to catch the young woman's eyes. She was a little bruised up in general, but the only visible wound was a diagonal cut on her forehead, streaking over her right eyebrow. The bleeding wasn't as heavy as he would have expected, but it looked like a nasty injury. "Okay, how many fingers am I holding up?"

"Um ... three?"

"Four. Okay, you might, might have a concussion."

"I need to call the police. Or highway patrol. Or whoever takes care of this." She reached into the shoulder strap bag still clinging to her shoulder and withdrew her phone, then held it up. "Or I could just try to eat this thing since that's all the good it's doing right now." She lifted it to try to find a signal while Colin pulled out his walkie.

"This is Ranger Matheson, we have a vehicular fire and injured off Silver Lake Park Trail 18," his words came out steady, quietly grateful to have his feet under him again. This spark of optimism quickly died as only static came back, loud and vicious rather than the simple buzz of no answer. "... that's not good, either."

"Well, you have a car. Can you drive me to a hospital or something? I need to get this checked out, I can feel my legs spinning, and my friends are going to start wondering where I am soon. I don't want them calling the cops out here or anything, and I really don't want to wake up with permanent brain damage."

"I can when my partner gets back, but we're too low on gas to get to the next hospital. Some chemical mishap, some kind of accelerant got into our reserves. Now it's all ... you don't care. That's fair. Look, I know first aid things in case I find lost hikers and stuff like that. If we get back to the station, I should be able to patch you up. And I can definitely keep you awake." The girl's eyes widened in surprise. "Jesus, fuck me- I mean, don't- I mean ... we have ... stuff back at the station. Like a crappy TV and coffee."

"Oh!" the girl breathed out, the tension clearly breaking in her voice. Colin could have sworn it was his imagination, but did she seem a little ... let down?

'That's fucking absurd, beautiful women don't just fall into your lap and try to jump your bones. Get your head out of your pants and be useful.'

"Yeah, that ... that sounds good. I really should be sitting down or something. But not laying down, either. Okay. Station ... sounds good. Sorry I took your head off, but ..." the girl looked to Colin, to the car now engulfed in flames, then back. "I mean ..."

"No, I get it. I see all sorts of stuff out here, it's not even kind of the top of my list for weird, though. C'mon, we'll take the jeep back, I'll radio to base from there, and I can tell you about some of the crazy shit that happens out here while you make you terrible coffee. Sound like a plan?"

"Absolutely. Oh, Colin? Sorry, I forgot my name in all the concussion, I'm Crystal. And really ... thank you, you probably saved my life." Colin smiled at that, a slight swell of pride filling his chest. Being a park ranger usually isn't the most exciting job, it felt good to make a difference. The city had been more stimulating, but ... maybe too much. He tamped down on those thoughts, thinking about the one year chip in his front pocket, and lead the young woman to his car. Even as he tried to be calm and even, he couldn't help but notice how pretty she was. The blaze behind them didn't seem to be catching to the trees, at least, likely due to the high humidity, so he could better appreciate the way the fire reflected in her hazel eyes and danced in gorgeous, almost violent flashes against the blonde waves of her hair. He had a hard enough time taking his eyes off her to get on to the road, even before she smiled at him, then closed her eyes and stretched in the seat, shoving off the curves of her perky breasts and the dip at the small of her back. Colin did, though, forcing himself to remember he was a professional ranger and was in the line of duty helping someone injured in his campground.

Maybe he shouldn't have paid such close attention to her eyes, her hair, the subtle promise of the talents of her body.

Maybe if he had, he would have noticed how the fire from the car flared and sparked, but continued on a steady path until, about fifteen minutes later, it flicked out, all fuel it could find spent.

Maybe he'd have noticed that despite Crystal's head wound, there was no blood anywhere on the wheel or the dash.

Maybe he would have noticed how her hand clung so tightly to her satchel that it was easier to take it with her than remove it, even though she was apparently passed out.

The flames that had once swallowed the car were dying, sputtering from **** sparks to glowing embers along thin lines, almost drawn across the scrapped vehicle in evocative, near-dead lines of red stars. But as time finally got the better of the blaze, the points of light in the forest's darkness winked out, one by one, until only the hollow quiet of the night remained.