Chapter 7: A Visit to the Hospital/The Dreams Revealed/Reunion With Ellie
More OCs of Bovine Beauty will be listed at the end after this chapter is done.
It would be some time after Harmony Hawktail left Dog Town in search of her friend, Baron Buzzard. She had gained the trust of the town and its Sheriff, with Brandon being there to support her in need. After a while, it's unknown how many days had passed since then. One morning, Brandon would visit the hospital in Dog Town to receive a daily check up from the nurse after nearly breaking his arm. He did fall on it, but it was minor. This apparently happened when he was doing some rodeo training with Ryder. Brandon met up with the nurse named Connie Canine, a reddish looking rough collie breed.
"How bad do you think it is, miss?" Brandon sat down on a bed while trying to hold his arm still as Connie tended to it.
"I say a few broken bones in place, which means you'll have to wear a cast on that arm for a month or two. But you're lucky it didn't break all the way in half." Said Nurse Connie. The cowboy needed to take her word seriously.
"Yeah... Wish I didn't motivate my horse to act all loco." Brandon sighs a little sadly, knowing it would be a while before he got back into riding again. "I guess you're right, Nurse. But- I'm probably... gonna limit myself to safer rides, right?"
"Even professional riders should still be careful not to act reckless when it gets out of hand enough to stress out the horses. Did he have any encounters with the other horses recently?"
"No, Ryder's my partner. I think he went a little too far with the training." It was literally, LITERALLY challenging for Brandon to not move his arm at one bit. Yet, the collie farm boy didn't whine. "I wouldn't try to stress them out, since how else am I gonna ride on a bucking animal without some good pony rides?"
"I see. So he didn't encounter other horses in the stall that might have spooked him into going haywire? But I know it seems tough having not to ride in your condition. But safety comes for a reason, even for our favorite heroes. Was all them saddles and belts tied up and secure before you rode your horse?" Connie had suggested that question.
Brandon was nervous to speak up, but he then reveals the reason. :... Could've been a bit too tight, but... I sorta... eheh... I kinda dared him to buck me off? So it was me who told him to do it."
"Well it's just that I often heard rumors of rodeo accidents going around due to sabotage."
"Well, they happen because some owners don't really have any good relationships with the animals. And believe me, I'm not like them. What happened between me and Ryder was not sabotage." Brandon was about to stand up when Connie was done wrapping his arm up in the cast. "And hey... something I need to do before I go?"
"That is sad but true." She responds to Brandon's first answer, and then replies to his question before the cowboy makes his leave. "Oh, yes I almost forgot. You should take these pills after every meal to help bring down the pain in your arm while it's healing. And for your own good, better stay off the arena until you are able to move that arm again. And remember to put ice on it for as long as possible."
"Yes ma'am." Brandon takes the required pills with him, putting them in a bag. Or, one of his pockets in his jeans. "It's a good thing I switched horses today. Ryder needs a little time to himself for now."
"Then you better remember to take that advice during your recovery. I got some sick patients to deal with right now. Very serious." Connie stated.
"I guess I'll see you around, Nurse Connie." Brandon winked at her, and then would mount up on a reddish brown American Quarter Horse carefully. This was a stallion named Jet. "Let's take it easy now, Jet. Hup!" The cowboy gently taps the horse's sides, guiding him back to his beloved horse farm. He took the reins with one hand and lowered his injured arm in a still position during the ride back home. It was tough, but hey. Even cowboys can ride with one hand on the reins if they're comfortable with it.
"Take care now, Brandon. Connie waves to Brandon as he leaves with what she gave him. "Now, I need to see what Dr. Maximus Mutt has to say about the patients sick with mountain fever…" The nurse goes back inside of the hospital, needing to take care of the situation she mentioned.
The night afterwards, Brandon made it home and let the hired ranch hands know about his new cast. He decides to put Jet up in his stall and goes over to his house to sleep. Brandon memorized everything that Nurse Connie had told him about his arm, which had to do with the pills. Even so, he had to wait a month or two for his arm to fully heal. But with each night passing to the next month, in which his arm had recovered by now… he found himself lost in a dream. A nightmare… Something that became more vivid each time he had dreamt of it.
"... Harmony…" He sees an image of Harmony by herself standing in the Mesa, as it transitioned to... "Cow Town…" He sees the town as it's shown zooming in. The next images were... "Fire." He heard the fires crackling, seeing the flames burn. "Pain…" Brandon heard someone scream, and… "Wolves…" He groaned in his sleep, as he saw a pack of anthro wolves in black cloaks, but one in the middle was in a dark clothed cowboy outlaw outfit. His face would be visibly seen with two scars on it, lashing out at what seemed to be Brandon himself in the dream. "Aaaah!" Brandon awoke with a state of shock, terrified of the nightmare. "What in tarnation was that!? ... Wait. Fire... Wolves... What does it all...?" Brandon was unsure if these images had any connections to the death of his parents. "... What does it all mean?"
The next morning, Brandon had ate his breakfast as usual, just feeling a little tired from last night when it was difficult for him to sleep. After all, the nightmares had been more clear than the last time. All of those things in his head were at random, but what did they truly mean in the end…? He later rode on Ryder over to Dog Town, longing for someone to help him. "Is there anyone in this town who'll understand?" Brandon would ride through his hometown, probably looking for anybody close who would understand his dreams. Several hours later, after a quite amount of patrolling, he goes inside of the hospital.
Inside of the hospital, Brandon seeks out anybody to help him explain why he has these sudden nightmares that kept him awake yet puzzled. He wasn't ENTIRELY afraid, but he needed support and guidance. Brandon wasn't really alone since he had people who cared for him in Dog Town, mostly his friends and the Sheriff himself. Around the same time, Brandon was unaware that Baron Buzzard was in one of the rooms currently…
"Howdy? Umm, I'd like to seek out a therapist, please."
Luckily, someone was at the front desk to talk to him. It was Nurse Connie from last month after his arm had finished healing. Connie Canine was surprised to see that Brandon was back at the hospital soon. "Brandon, is everything alright? Not that I mean to pry except for your arm. It looks a lot better now."
"Haha, thanks, ma'am. Anyways, I'm having nightmares that's keeping me awake and all, but... I need someone to talk to about this. About why they're puzzling me." Brandon replied.
"At this time of night? He always checks out during late hours. I thought you already knew."
"Sorry, ma'am. I know that, but... this is serious. Maybe if there's anyone else who's–"
A border collie psychiatrist peeked behind a wall, shyly looking at the cowboy. It seems that they both remember each other after a two year absence. "Brandon…?"
Brandon turns around to see the psychiatrist up and close, recognizing her face, her red hair, and her light blue eyes… "... El… Ellie? You're working here now?"
"Yes, I have, Brandon. Mama wanted me to take this job two years ago after I got hurt. I'm sorry that we didn't get to talk afterwards…"
"Aww, I understand, Ellie." He turned around to see Connie, proud of his choice. "I guess I found my doc, Nurse."
"I'm glad that you found someone to talk to. Now…–" When Connie was about to speak, a golden retriever nurse came rushing into the scene.
"Nurse Connie! Nurse Connie!" said the golden retriever.
Before Nurse Connie could say anything further to Brandon, they turned to find the hospital cook and staff member Goldie Hound come running out from the halls in hysterical mode. "Goldie, what's wrong?"
"Huh?" Brandon turned around and saw Goldie arrive.
"Aw shucks, I think I know what's wrong…" said Ellie, who still sounded a little shy due to the tension growing.
"You're needed down in Room 14. The patient with the head injury just woke up screaming and is having an outburst. Hurry please!" Goldie stated that this was urgent.
"I'm sorry Brandon, I'll have to talk to you later." Connie grabs her emergency supplies and rushes over to the hall, following Goldie all the way to Room 14.
"Oh, alright. See you later, ma'am." He would later turn around and face Ellie, who leads him to the room where they would talk about his problems.
"We have a lot to talk about, but… that can be used for later. Follow me this way." Ellie directs him over to room number 13.
In the room, Brandon would be seen lying on a couch while Ellie had her clipboard and paper out. She began to ask him questions relating to his nightmares. "So, can you please explain what happened in the nightmare?"
"Well... I was asleep that night in my bed, when I began to dream about... you know, Harmony." He still thought of her as a friend. Throughout the whole story of the Dog Town Sheriff, it would be later revealed that Brandon and Ellie will start their romantic relationship…
"You mean the rumored Hawk Girl who rode into town not just too long ago? Sorry, formerly rumored. Just got a bit worried…" said a nervous Ellie.
"Yeah... the rumors were false. She was a kind soul, and someone in power must've riled up the folks… So that explains why she's a lone rider."
"That doesn't sound good…"
"Then, I started to envision Cow Town. I don't know why, but... I guess it has to do with where she's going."
"Why so, Brandon?" Ellie wanted to know the truth about Harmony's journey.
He would take a deep breath, exhaling slowly. "Something about saving an old friend…" While Brandon was still talking with Ellie Redstone in the next room, the walls were so thick, they couldn't hear what was happening in Room 14 where Nurse Connie was called in after Goldie Hound was sent to fetch her. If the walls weren't so thick, the two collie dogs would not focus but instead feel sorry for the patient in the background.
"Now you saw fire, heard screams, and... wolves in funny looking cloaks?" Ellie almost thought this was hard to believe when Brandon brought it up.
"...Yeah. I don't know what it all means when I...-"
"When you what?"
Brandon had taken a bit of time to finally piece it all together. "Are they going to try and attack Cow Town!?" He freaked out a little, worried already about the town he's never visited yet.
"He-Hey…! Brandon, calm down. I'm your friend, Brandon, I'm here…"
"Sorry, Ellie. I bet those varmints heard the rumors. Harmony's on her way to Cow Town, and maybe those wolves might kill her over there, along with everyone else! Gotta go!" Immediately, Brandon got off the couch and ran/walked over to leave the hospital before calling out. "Sorry again! I'm sorry, Ellie!"
"Brandon! Wait!" She sighs disappointingly when Brandon leaves the building. "That cowboy sure can be reckless. Better go on and tell the Nurse 'bout this." She walked out of the door, making her way to Room 14, outside the walls.
Ellie went to report this information to Nurse Connie, who was busy dealing with Baron Buzzard. "I hope he doesn't wake up screaming again." Connie continued patting Baron's head with cool water, having not made a sound since the sedative, checking his pulse every now and then. Then she heard the door knock a little. "Who is it?"
"It's Ellie. Is… everything okay in here?" Ellie opens the door and carefully walks in, not wanting to wake up Baron. (Reminder, that is Boot Hill Buzzard's real name. For now, I'll refer to him as Baron in the text.)
"Yes Miss Ellie, me and Dr. Maximus had been taking care of this one who just arrived here yesterday with a head injury. He's only managed to say one word, and we had to sedate him when he started screaming. It was like some unknown force was attacking him while he slept. He's from Cow Town." Ellie moved carefully to see who Connie was treating.
"My patient, Brandon, left just recently for Cow Town too... somethin' about…" She pulled her clipboard up, reading the five things that Brandon told her. "Harmony, Cow Town, Fire, Screams, crazy wolves in cloaks...?"
"Really, is that what he said?"
"He thinks his friend is in danger. Ma'am, is there anything I can do to help?"
"Did he mention anything more about his friend? I mean I remember he told me before about Harmony, but did she ever tell him who she was looking for?"
When Ellie takes a good look at Baron, the thought of that already comes to mind. "... I think I'm looking at him, Nurse Connie."
Hearing those words, Connie stopped patting Boot Hill's head and was silent for a moment and couldn't believe it. "You don't mean...but it's impossible. They told me his name was Boot Hill. Did Brandon or Harmony ever mention the name of this lost friend?"
"He said Baron. Baron was that name." Now realizing that Brandon may or may have not remembered to tell Harmony about the location of Baron, Ellie gasps. "And that Harmony person was in Dog Town the whole time! Oh gosh, oh darn it…!"
"We got to find a way to get a word to Cow Town if Harmony is there, and doesn't know about her injured friend. She'll want to know what happened. But if this buzzard really is Baron as you say, only she can recognize him. You'll have to tell Dr. Maximus about this. He's only here now because Dr. Barker in Cow Town couldn't give him what he needed after being attacked."
"Right, Nurse Connie." She later turned around to see Dr. Maximus Mutt, a hound dog doctor. "Dr. Maximus? Is there any way we'd try to reach out to Harmony in Cow Town?"
The hound dog spoke to Ellie, being calm about the situation. "Right now we can only send a wire over to Marshall Moo and Dr. Barker to let them know about Harmony arriving there. Still, if that buzzard is her lost friend as you say, he's still in bad shape and can't get out of bed, nor has he awakened."
"Alright, guess that will do." Ellie would then turn to leave the room. She went to her designated quarters where she looked at an old photograph. She thought back to the day she was a former rodeo competitor before an accident had involved her falling off Angus during an accident with barrel racing.) "Sorry, Brandon... Wished I caught up with you."
"Do please hurry Ellie, we might not have much time, no telling how far Brandon and Harmony have gone out there." said Dr. Maximus.
"I will, Dr. Maximus. Wish me luck." Ellie leaves the building, going over to a stable to meet up with her trusty black and white paint horse, Angus. She mounts on top of the saddle, riding her stallion out and onto the path to Cow Town. It was her moment to find Brandon and Harmony and tell them about the situation…
End of Chapter 7.
Coming Soon, Chapter 8: Old Friends Reunited/Brandon goes to Cow Town
Author's Notes: The characters Dr. Maximus Mutt, Goldie Hound, Nurse Collie Canine, and Harmony are Bovine Beauty's OCs. There will be more townsfolk ocs either owned by me or my pen pal through the story. And yes, there will also be the characters from the original show as well. Stay tuned for Chapter 8!
