This is a story I researched some time ago but then decided not to give in to the temptation to have more than one story in progress at a time. Then the other day I was organizing my computer files and found my research and the first half page I decided it was time to finish it.

I write this one for my youngest son who loves animals and while watching the DVD's with me was disappointed that there were not more episodes like 'Code Wild.'

As always I don't own the characters from Station 51 I just like to invite them out to play from time to time. I promise to put them back where I found them but I can't promise they'll be readily welcomed after this one.

Although the story is fictional and what happens in this story are rare occurances, the details of the rescue and medical treatment are not.

Not As Designed

"Hey Mikey I thought you read the instructions before you left the station," Chet heckled.

"I did, but it's still not going together like it's supposed to," Mike growled as he studied the attachment in one hand and the printed diagram in the other.

Marco just sat on the back bumper shaking his head and waiting to be told to pull hose. Although he wasn't saying anything he remembered well Mike's mumblings that he didn't think it would work, when he studied the attachment when it was delivered and was grateful when the Captain had suggested that they wait to pull the hose until they got things hooked up. This way if it didn't work like Mike expected it wouldn't then they wouldn't have to drag hose out and then put it away again for no reason.

There they were in the middle of some farmers cabbage patch testing a new fangled attachment to the draft hose. If it worked like it was designed to do it would allow them to attach to the sprinkler system to supply the engine with water in the case of a fire. Hank Stanley stepped up to his frustrated Engineer and helped him steady his diagram while he looked at it with him in hopes of helping him figure it out.

"How on earth can you read that thing with all this glare?" Hank inquired as the sun reflected off the white paper and made his eyes water, "let's take this stuff on the other side of big red and see if it makes sense in the shade."

After ten minutes Chet walked over to his superiors to add his ten cents worth and soon Marco came over to see if he could add any suggestions.

"This part just does not fit to this part and this part will not connect to the engine." Mike repeated for the tenth time in the last hour.

Hank looked at his watch then made one more attempt to attach the connection to the engine before he called the drill over. It wasn't that he didn't trust his engineer it was just that he was under a lot of pressure from Head quarters to make this new piece of equipment work and filled his perceived responsibility to try it himself at least once before giving up. From the beginning he felt that he needed to spend at least an hour on the drill before he could go back to his superiors asking for a demonstration. This wasn't even a piece of equipment they would expect to use enough to justify but the department feared gathering complaints from the areas where it would be most used so chose to do their test trials in another section of the valley.

"All right we gave it our best shot; let's let them make it work the first time." Hank told his men followed by the tones sounding from his handy talkie. As Hank listened to see where they were needed, Mike, Chet, and Marco had the six inch diameter draft hose separated into its two parts and lifted into its brackets on the side of the engine in eight seconds flat. It still had the draft screen and the reducing ring attached to the two parts but they could easily remove them later.

Mike climbed behind the steering wheel starting the engine and flicking on the lights then checking to see that everyone was on board before putting the truck in gear and applying the gas. The plume of dust that rose behind the engine as it raced down the dry dirt road made it clear from a distance that something big was moving fast.

The Call was to assist Squad 51 who had rolled on an Unknown type rescue but now needed help. They were just a few miles down the road so what ever help their crewmates needed they would be receiving it soon.

"Squad 51 to dispatch can you read us now." Johnny's voice was heard over the static on the radio.

"10-4 51 there's significant interference but we can hear you." Dispatch answered and the engine crew listened.

"Be advised we need Animal control at our location, we have a wild cougar that has us trapped in a tree. It looks like it might be injured but I can't tell for sure." Johnny filled in and Cap realized that they must be high in very tall tree to be able to get a signal out of the valley.

"10-4 51 animal control and engine 51 enroute to your location." Dispatch offered as Captain Stanley picked up the mic to respond to his men.

"Squad 51 this is engine 51 do you read?"

"10-4 engine 51 you're coming in loud and clear." Johnny sounded relieved as he acknowledged.

"Our ETA (estimated time of arrival) is five minutes, what can you tell us."

"Roy and I plus three children and their mother are up a tree near the north fence line. I know that cat can climb up after us but right now it's being occupied by the duck it captured from the pond. We're going to need a ladder from the other side of the six foot fence and we may need a distraction if you know what I mean, that duck is just about gone and that cat still looks mighty hungry."

"10-4 Squad 51 we can see the squad now just hang in there and we'll get you down." Hank responded before turning in his seat and starting to bark out orders. "Marco you grab a 2 and a half and get it charged use the roof ladder and stand ready to give that cat a high power spurt of water he it heads any where near our guys. Chet you and me on the ladder, Mike you know what you need to do."

Mike drove the engine past the squad, around the house and parked parallel to the north fence where they could see Johnny carefully climbing down from the top of the tree to where Roy was holding a little girl to his shoulder as two boys and their mother clung to branches nearby. With the exception of the little girl who had her face buried in Roy's shoulder everyone else was focused at the ground on the inside of the fence.

By the time Cap and Kelly had the tall ladder leaning against the tree, Marco had unrolled a length of hose, attached the nozzle and was climbing the roof ladder to get a good view of the big Cat they had been told about.

Mike watched carefully while Marco locked his leg into the ladder rungs before his charged the hose. Mike then replaced Cap at holding Marco's ladder steady and watched as Cap climbed the other ladder to help the mother down before returning to help the oldest of the boys onto the ladder and then coach him to the ground.

Cap had only made it down a few rungs with his charge when a flat bed pick up with a large cage on the back and Animal Control painted on the doors pulled around the fire Engine and skidded to a stop in front of it. Two men jumped out of the cab on the run, both carrying riffles and removing the safety latches as they moved. One riffle was for tranquilizer darts the other was for a more permanent solution just in case the tranquilizers missed their mark or didn't do the trick.

As the man with the tranquilizer gun stood at the bottom of the roof ladder Marco cautiously climbed onto the roof of a shed to clear the path for animal control to move into position. Mike helped Marco pull the charged hose up on the roof then held the ladder for Officer Joe Strong to move up as he held the butt of his gun against his hip and moved up the ladder as fast as he could and lay flat on the roof next to Marco pulling his gun sight to his face.

When Cap was about half way down the ladder John climbed on the top and reached for a bundle that was hung on a short branch and held it away from himself as he coached the next boy onto the ladder. Everyone jumped as the sound of a gun rang out and those who were high enough to see quickly turned their gaze in the direction of the cougar in the back yard.

"He's going to jump the fence!" Joe Strong called out but Marco changed the cat's mind with a well placed jet of water just above the cat's head as he crouched to jump over the fence. Every time the cat got close to the fence Marco redirected it with a well placed jet of water and when the Cat eyed them and started running in their direction Marco hit the cat in the chest with a jet of water that held enough force to roll him over a couple of times.

With the cat being dealt with Johnny turned his attention back to getting him and his charge down the ladder Cap was able to lift the boy he was helping onto the ground and usher him into his mother's arms before turning his attention to John. Wondering what the bundle he was carrying was, Cap gave it a good looking over as it came closer to him one rung at a time. It was wiggling and squirming as John held it away from his body and by the time John was half way down the ladder, Hank realized that it was one of the paramedics jackets tied up in knots. Once John was close enough Hank took the bundle from him allowing John to better support the boy he was bringing down the ladder and he wasn't the least surprised to see a paw, pointed ear and eye of an orange stripped tabby cat peaking out of the neck opening. It was very clear that it didn't like what was going on or the confinement it was in.

Turning his attention back up the ladder Hank noticed that Roy had climbed on with the young girl still holding tight around his neck as he moved down occasionally looking up at the sound of Marco shooting jets of water but otherwise making slow and steady progress down the ladder.

When Hank turned his attention to the boy in front of John he noticed that he was holding the bottom of his shirt down by holding his arm across his waist it didn't take much to notice that he held something inside of his shirt besides his upper body. The first thing the boy did after John lifted him from the ladder to the ground was to use his free hand to pull the neck of his t-shirt away from his chest and the heads of three puppies popped out to get a good look around.

"He's going down," Officer Joe Strong shouted to his partner who was standing at an opening in the fence with his riffle aimed if it was needed. Joe quickly rolled into a sitting position and after applying the safety on his rifle handed it down to Mike before jumping from the roof and taking the gun back in one motion before racing to meet his partner at the truck. After climbing in the cab they made a quick U-turn and headed to the section of the fence where they had seen a gate big enough for a camper.

Cap steadied Roy down the last rung of the ladder and then lifted the young girl from his arms into the arms of her mother. "Are you two alright?" Cap questioned with a slap on Roy's shoulder.

"Yeah," Roy responded with a glance toward Marco on the roof of the shed still standing guard with an aimed fire hose.

"Thanks for the timely assist," Johnny added before kneeling down to start looking over the children they had climbed the tree with.

Marco stayed on the roof watching as Joe Strong respectfully and carefully approached the now tranquilized cat once he and his partner carefully rolled the cat on to a tarp and then used the tarp to carry the cat into the cage on the back of their truck. As the door was closed and latched Marco let out a sigh and sat up on the roof.

"They've got it caged now." Marco replied as he slid toward the ladder with the hose nozzle in hand. Mike quickly shut the water pressure off and helped Chet load the ladder on the truck while Hank helped Marco to the ground and to drain the hose.

"That was some mighty good shooting up there Marco," Johnny commented with a sideward glance.

Marco just smiled bashfully as he rolled his hose up and stashed it in the proper compartment.

Roy and John were just finishing up their exams on the family when the animal control truck parked in front of the engine and the two officers got out to gather the rest of the information they needed to finish their reports.

"What's that smell?" Chet questioned as he turned his nose up.

"Skunk," Johnny quickly responded.

"We've sure had a mess of 'em around here since that fire just over the ridge a month ago." The mother commented. "Our mother dog is in the shelter now being watched for rabies after she was bit by one a couple of days ago. I'm still trying to get the smell out of the yard. My husband thinks that fire chased a whole bunch of critters over this way."

"Yes ma'am," Officer Joe Strong replied, "there were all kinds of critters chased out by that fire and as far as we can tell every last one of them that came this way were pregnant with great big litters." "From the smell I suspect our big cat there has been eating a few skunks lately or at least trying."

"Now that he's sleeping like a baby he's a real beautiful animal." Marco commented as he eyed the dozing animal now in a cage. "What's going to happen to him?"

"Our Vet will look him over good and if he's alright he'll be taken some place where there's more natural food and less people." Joe responded as he knelt down and took in the still tied up bundle of house cat. "Now what is this fella's name?"

"Tiger," the little girl with scratches on her arm answered. "She got real scared and scratched me but I didn't let her go because I didn't want her to get eated."

"That was very brave of you," Joe praised the young girl then feeling through the jacket it was tied up in Joe managed to take an expert hold of the bundle in a way to keep the cat from scratching while he gently talked to the cat and scratched it's ears as he untied it from the jacket. After slipping the cat into an animal carrier that was retrieved from the house by the oldest boy, Officer Joe took some time to talk with the little girl and explain that the cat was still really really scared and needed to be kept in the carrier until she calmed down. He even recommended keeping the cat in the house for a few days. Everyone was going to be just fine, everyone that is except the duck.

00000

With the scene cleaned up everyone went their way. The Engine followed the squad back to the station and then like a well choreographed dance the two trucks backed into the bay together.

The two paramedics climbed out of the squad only to realize that they had brought the smell of skunk back with them.

"Dibs on the shower first," Roy called out before heading to the locker room. Johnny just leaned on the engine shaking his head knowing they were going to be hearing about the smell from the other shifts for a while now.

Marco climbed down from his seat on the engine and stood there with a puzzled look on his face.

"What's wrong Marco?" Mike asked but Marco just held his hand up.

"Shh, I thought I heard something." Marco turned to face the draft hoses and they all heard what sounded like something scratching at the side of the hose.

While Marco and Mike moved closer to get a look inside Chet stepped up from the other end as they heard what sounded to them like the screech of a panicked bird.

Johnny recognized the sound, "Guy's NOOOO!!!!"