The day began as every Tuesday before it had, for the past 10 years. He sat at the same desk and drank the same bitter tasting coffee, out of the mug he always used, it promoted fire prevention by depicting small deer running away from the faded orange and red flames. There he read the same newspaper he had loyally subscribed to 10 years ago. The news was one of the few things that had changed over the years; the Dow was down and gas was up.
The day continued to progress as every Tuesday before it had. He answered the phone, updated the map on the wall, and sent the only other ranger Dan, out to supervise the daily things. When he had started working as a ranger at the park, he worked in the office with five other rangers, but now due to the changing times it was only him and Dan. He spent most of his days alone in the office, having sent Dan off to the far corners of the park, to deal with tourists and such, which was how he preferred it. He didn't like Dan much, he was much younger, and had no time to listen to an old man's stories, instead Dan yearned for adventure. Dan wanted forest fires to fight, and drug dealers to apprehend. The men who came before Dan were the ones he liked, they were cautious, wise, and always had a story to tell. However, by now they had all retired, and spend their days with grandchildren or golfing. He only had two years left before he could join them.
The call came in around two o'clock, a young girl claiming that she witnessed a guy starting a fire. Since he had sent Dan away, he would have to check it out himself. He didn't bother to leave a note, as he knew that Dan had probably decided to have a drink at the bar and call it a day. Instead, he locked the door and started the old jeep, Dan always took the newer jeep because it had GPS. However, having memorized the park years before he had no need for GPS, and if on the off chance that he did get lost, he knew how to read a map unlike Dan. As he drove, along the bumpy trails, he wondered if he should even bother to respond to the call. Most likely it would turn out to be teenagers with booze and firecrackers, however, there had been a rash of recent arson attempts in the park lately, so it was worth a look.
Eventually he arrived at the area the caller specified, only too find nothing out of the ordinary. Then, he noticed a small curl of smoke just visible over the tree line, with a sigh and a groan he eased his way out of the jeep. Pushing his way through the trees, his nose was meet with the harsh smell of gasoline. Then, he saw him, the arson, Dan. For a second they just stared at each other, then Dan with a small gasp dropped the flaming match that was just beginning to burn his fingers. Then chaos erupted. Dan had coated the surrounding trees with gasoline and they quickly burst into flames. Dan ran away through the flame-less trees behind him, leaving him all alone as the flames closed in. For a second he considered running knowing that if he could make it to the pond he might be able to survive, but a moment of hesitation was all the flames need to close off his escape. A few hot embers flew up in his face, burning his forehead, as the thick hot smoke began to choke him. As he began to lose consciousness, the smoke seemed to take the forms of the older rangers, Nicholas, John, Mario, Bert, Jeff, Dustin, Ian, Allen, Gavin, and Rusty. They lurched over him, as the smoke and flames became to smother and singe him, as he screamed in pain. Then everything went black.
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