ZPFD - Ch 9 The Hospital
"Oi Carl," Kenneth tapped Carl lightly on the shoulder from where he was rolling hoses.
"I'm all ears, what's up?" Carl replied, still tending to his chore.
"Bosede wants to talk to you in private," Kenneth began. "I don't know why, he wouldn't tell me."
Carl let out a sigh, what could he have done to piss off the lieutenant this time?
"It would seem like officer Delgato and Wolford would like to meet you in person, Carl" Bosede informed Carl, in a monotone voice.
"So what am I supposed to do?" Carl asked the elephant in the room.
Bosede looked down at Carl, then at his computer on his desk, both enormous in comparison to Carl.
"You're going to go over there and meet Wolford, you'll see what you'll do when you're there.
Carl just looked at Bosede with a blank expression, not getting the point.
"Carl, look, have you read the news?" Bosede spun around his computer screen, which was about the size of a small cinema-screen. There was an article published by znn, "Boys in red saves boys in blue! The new heroes of Zootopia?" the article read, along with a picture of Carl in full gear carrying the unconscious wolf on his shoulders.
"The brigade manager contacted the Chief of police, he thought that we could "strengthen the bond between mammals working as emergency responders". Bosede made air quotes. So I had to spare one of my firefighters, ideally the one that saved Wolford was requested." Bosede gave Carl an amused smile before continuing. "I'm glad to not have to deal with you for a while." Bosede finished.
"The feeling's mutual." Carl quipped back. "What now?"
"You will return to your normal duties, i'll meet with you here tomorrow."
Carl shrugged and jumped off the over-sized chair, walking out of Bosede's office.
"That's got to be expensive" Carl thought, even though larger mammals got financial compensation for their size it wasn't nearly enough.
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"I saw Bosede taking you into his office after our first call, what did you do this time?" Houston joked as he took another bite out of his salad.
"Nothing much, I'm supposed to hang out with that guy I saved, to improve relations or something, yeesh." Carl said, eyes looking deep into his mug of coffee.
"That's sounds like some serious punishment." Houston said sarcastically.
"I just hope it isn't for long, i'll miss your stupid jokes." Carl smiled, looking up from his contemplations.
Houston looked deep in thought before suddenly shining up.
"Caaaaaaaaaaan i?" His grin widening.
Carl looked around himself and Houston, no elephant in sight. Nodding at the excited horse he confirmed it.
"Sure, I'm sure to get all kinds of flak for this, but hell, he can't fire the rookie hero." Carl said.
"I'm sure he can he just-" Houston was interrupted by Carl flailing his paws towards Houston's face.
"Stop being such a bummer!" Carl said in a faked angry voice.
They both looked at each other.
"We're so immature, how did we even get this job?" Houston said flatly.
"Beats me." Simple as that.
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"Good morning rookie," Bosede started. "I'd ask-" He stopped as he noticed Houston peeking from outside the door. Swinging it open in one large motion Houston was revealed, standing there, attempting to eavesdrop on the two mammals.
"H-hi boss," Houston chuckled nervously. "I was just passing by, i'll get on my-"
Bosede grabbed hold of the collar on Houston's shirt, dragging him in and slapping him down on the seat next to Carl.
"Now, If you'd care to explain," Bosede rumbled threateningly, if you could hear anger the noise would be deafening. "Why you're eavesdropping on private conversations."
Houston winced at this, sitting still as stone in his seat. Eyes forward staring into a point in the wall.
"I'd like to go with Carl to the hospital, to meet the mammal he saved." Houston squeaked, a feat thought to be impossible.
Bosede stared at the horse menacingly, then at Carl, then back to Houston, before giving up, letting out a small sigh as he leaned back in his chair.
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As the two exited Bosede's office they could hear him muttering something about "One less to deal with." Shrugging it off as Bosede being, well, Bosede, the two of them skipped away happily.
"A whole day off!" Carl jumped up, giving houston a high five? (paw?) (hoof?).
"Yeah! And for what? Meeting some guy and talking for a while?" Houston leaned down and picked Carl up, placing him on his shoulder.
Feeling a sudden panic at being lifted up Carl flailed his limbs around in an effort to regain balance.
"Hey! You're pretty light!" Houston informed Carl.
"You could have warned me! I almost got a heart attack!" Carl scolded Houston, failing to keep his mad expression, which soon eased into a satisfied smile.
Walking down the hall on the first floor where Bosede's office was located, they went up to the desk in the entrance, where Captain Carla, a polar bear, greeted them.
"Hi guys! Where are you going?" Carla asked, taking a second to glance at them. She was usually busy with filling in forms and approvals that had been mailed to the ZPFD.
"Morning Captain! Were going on a super secret mission!" Houston noted with a childish tone.
"Yeah! Like Jack Savage in that movie!" Carl pointed towards Houston.
Carla rolled her eyes, groaning at this, she'd only known the new recruits for a while, but immediately knew these two were going to be the station's clowns, at least during their spare time.
It was annoying, but they were kind of amusing to watch, like a live sitcom episode.
"Har har," She paused her paperwork and turned her full attention towards the horse and the lynx sitting on his shoulder. "Real reason guys?"
Carl pulled out a sheet of paper and handed it to Carla. Carla put on her reading glasses, which were essential when handling paperwork from smaller mammals. Carl found it amusing when larger mammals (preferably Bosede) filed paperwork that was as small as their thumb. He looked at his own paws, then at Houston's hooves. "That's a question i'll ask later" Carl thought as he continued to watch the polar bear sift through the paper.
"It says here that Houston got a temporary leave, duration one day." Carla read as Houston and Carl looked at each other, wondering what they would do with their spare time.
Carla read on. "And here it says Carl is on paid leave for an… undisclosed period of time."
Carl's mouth hand agape. The shock hit him so hard he nearly fell of Houston's shoulders.
"What!?" He stared at Carla with a shocked expression. Jumping off Houston's shoulder and landing on top of the desk he sifted through the papers as well, he hadn't read any of it, all he got from Bosede was "Hand these to Carla." in his usual gruff voice.
"I don't know, but it also says you're supposed to be on time." Carla gave them a smug smile and tapped her wrist as to emphasise the point.
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"Well we made it to the hospital entrance on time!" Carl huffed as he stood up straight again. Running through morning traffic was not advisable.
Houston raised his hoof and was about to say something witty by the look on his face when he just let out a huge sigh and stood up straight. They turned their head to look at the mammals in the reception, all staring at them with wide eyes.
"What?" Carl shouted, that was enough for the onlookers to return to their own business.
The two of them hobbled up to the reception were a friendly beaver greeted them.
"Hello! Welcome to Savannah Central Hospital, How can I help you?" The beaver greeted them.
"We're here to see officer Wolford, I'm that guy on the news that saved him from that fire y'know?" Carl pointed his thumb towards himself.
"Let's see here…" The beaver clicked through files on her computer, that was what they could hear anyway. "Name?"
"Carl Matthew White," Carl began. "Firefighter at the ZPFD." He finished.
A few more clicks. "Ah here it is, Chief Bogo along with brigade manager Richard have left a note for you as well."
With confused look they took the tiny slip of paper and headed for the elevator.
"What does the paper say?" Houston asked, curious as to what the otter they had seen giving a speech at their graduation,
"Stay positive and don't mess up." Carl said trying to hold back his laughter.
"That one's pretty cheesy." Houston nodded in confirmation. "What does the police chief's say?"
Folding out the piece of paper it read. "I'll have an eye on you, don't mess up."
"Yeesh, way to make a paper note sound mildly threatening." Carl added.
Houston then cracked up. "I wonder how long it took him to write it down."
Carl, confused, turned to look up at his friend before asking. "Why?"
Houston rolled his eyes before bending down and kneeling to reach Carl's level. "He's a water buffalo."
Carl's mind took a second to process this newly gained data before cracking into a smile. A picture of a water buffalo writing with a tiny pen on what must have seemed to be a postage stamp was now forever burned into his mind.
He wrinkled his brows and inspected the note more carefully. "Hey! this couldn't have been written by a buffalo! Look!" When Houston inspected the note as well he noticed the fine level of detail in which the letter were written, hand written.
"Maybe he got someone else to do it for him?" Houston theorised.
Carl shrugged it off and shoved the notes deep into his navy-blue slacks. They continued walking down the corridor, the white walls and smell of antiseptic solutions brought back memories, his father was a doctor at the small clinic in Tundra Town. He had been there often as a cub, helping his dad when he was working late.
Carl looked up to read the numbers on the doors, stopping as he saw the right number pop up.
"Forty Five, this is the place." Carl nodded at his friend to follow as Carl opened the doors. Stepping inside they were greeted by a tiger that was sitting next to a bed in which a wolf was sitting up in, attached to heart monitors and a breathing apparatus on hold just in case.
"There he is! That's the mammal that saved you!" The tiger, known as Delgato, pointed out to the wolf that barely held his eyes up.
"Hey! I'm just doing my job!" Carl scratched the back of his head while looking down at his feet.
The wolf waved him over, leaning over Carl heard him start talking. "You saved my life, thank you." His voice was weak and hoarse, smoke was both poisonous and wreaked havoc on any mammal's lungs.
"Don't worry about it." Carl shrugged it off.
"And you must be Houston!" Delgato stood up and greeted the horse. Shaking his hooves vigorously.
"Yeah, that's me." Houston confirmed, Delgato finally releasing his grip as Houston had started to get dizzy.
"Ok, now," Carl shuffled some papers that he had gotten from Bosede. "It says here I got a special assignment, what's my special assignment?" Carl looked around as if searching for an answer.
Delgato looked at wolford who nodded for Delgato to go ahead.
"You're going to take care of Wolford until he recovers." Delgato stated bluntly.
"What?!" Carl shot up, arms flailing around wildly.
"When the mayor saw the news about you saving officer wolford here, he thought it would be an excellent idea if you helped him around until he got better, positive media and all that?"
Carl stood in horror, first day on the job and THIS happens? Then he let out a small sigh, looking at the wolf sitting up in the hospital bed.
"I guess I have no choice." Carl shrugged.
"Would you mind joining us for lunch later?" Asked Delgato. "I have to get back on shift with another officer until Wolford here gets better."
Carl looked at Houston, mentally asking for advice. All he got in answer was a smug smile and a thumbs up.
"I'll take that as a yes."
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"Don't worry Ms. Tailers, I'll bring him back in one piece." The lynx assured the beaver as he rolled out of the hospital with Wolford in a wheelchair.
Heading down the street to the diner that they had settled on, buggaburger.
"Ugh, I hate bugs." Carl thought out loud as they walked down the sunbathed streets of savannah central.
"You think so? Really?" Wolford asked in disbelief.
"I just think they're creepy and crawly and-" Carl shuddered.
They went inside, noticing two police cruisers parked outside.
"I thought we were only meeting Delgato?" Carl questioned.
"Yeah, and why here? Their salad here is terrible!" Houston interjected having been silent during the stroll from the hospital and the "restaurant" if you could call it that.
"I've had colleagues get by on the salad they got here." Wolford told them.
As they entered the saw Delgato waving from a booth, it was pretty hard to miss seeing as he was the second-largest mammal inside, only Houston was taller.
As they made their way over they saw that two other mammals were sitting next to Delgato on booster seats.
"Hey! I'm Judy Hopps, You must be that firefighter that Delgato's been stirring about!"
A/N: I honestly have no idea where i'm taking this story, although I know it will be divided for a while, with Carl taking care of Wolford for the mayor's political points and Houston probably annoying Bosede and getting to know the rest of the crew a bit more.
Also let me know if Judy and Nick should stay in the story or nah, the reason I started a story with OCs was because I wasn't (still ain't) confident enough that I could write Nick and Judy.
PS. There will be more firefighting in the future. Pinkie promise.
