FSE

Furry search engine

formerly SoFurry search engine

The streets of London were as busy as ever even as the rain was pouring down, people scurrying to their destinations in order to try and avoid getting wet if they hadn't thought to bring an umbrella. It was especially true since this area was so close to the London International Airport where people had attempted to catch their flights without care or concern of the weather only to regret it later. In the nearby cafe however there were those that didn't have a care about the weather, one of them being a blue-furred shirewolf that sat at a table near the back watching the bustle of the city. In front of him was a cup of tea that he had been sipping on and half of a hard-boiled egg that he had been nibbling on.

The cafe itself was rather peaceful, part of the reason that Benji enjoyed eating there so much as he took a sip of his drink. The only thing that was really making any noise was the television in the corner that had on the BBC as per usual. The big topic was one that continued to crop up in the news cycle, something about big tentacle monsters or something that kept getting spotted in North America and the military's response. While he hadn't really been following the whole story it apparently was something that was causing quite a stir over there, but at the moment it was mostly rumor and conjecture.

Just as the shirewolf finished up his breakfast and was setting up to go there was a loud bang on the door that caused everyone in the cafe to look up. Though everyone was quite startled at the sight it was Benji that had the biggest reaction to it, especially when the extremely injured male hit the table in front of him and had almost fallen exactly to the floor. "Oh my god..." the shirewolf said as he jumped forward and managed to catch the other male in his arms, his shirt getting splattered with blood as he attempted to get keep him upright. "What happened to you?"

The cafe that Benji had frequented had been next to an abandoned subway tunnel, which was where the wolf had slowly crawled up from. While the shirewolf was still ordering his breakfast Bladewolf had gone down into the station in order to try and help someone out that had gotten a family member taken by one of the local gangs for overdue gambling debts. Though it was foolish to go down to the home turf of the ones that had taken the person in the first place, he thought that perhaps he could find a means to get them back. It seemed to be going well at first, finding someone standing near the entrance that when pressed said that the knew where he could go to find the people he was looking for and followed him hoping that it would be an easy win for him.

But he quickly found out he was wrong...

The gang had quickly overwhelmed him and beaten him to an inch of his life, the training that he had useless against the numbers they had used to ambush him. Though they could have easily killed him right then and there they decided to leave him in that state before laughing and running back off further into the abandoned section of the underground. It was only through Bladewolf's sheer willpower that kept him from still dying on that dusty platform, slowly picking himself up and heading towards the way that he came in. A trail of blood marked his path as he slowly went up the stairs and staggered his way from the subway towards the cafe to try and find some help. He had just enough grit to push his way through the door, his vision hazy as his mind struggled to comprehend what he was seeing with the blood loss, and went to the first table he could see before he completely blacked out...

It took a few minutes but Benji managed to get the wolf to his feet and started to walk him to the nearby hospital. It was faster than attempting to try and get an ambulance, especially with rush hour traffic just starting up on the congested streets. It didn't help much that Bladewolf continued to drift in and out of consciousness, stumbling forward and nearly taking the shirewolf with him. Those on the streets gave them looks as they continued to walk the several blocks between the café and the hospital.

Eventually the two of them managed to make it inside the emergency room, Bladewolf coherent enough by the time they got to the front desk that he could fill out most of the information himself. Given the state of the wolf he was quickly admitted and whisked away, leaving Benji to sit in the waiting room while they did their testing and treatment. Though he probably could have just left and came back later he found himself sticking around in order to make sure that he was alright. As the minutes turned to hours the shirewolf went from sitting to pacing, and just when he thought he might have to leave one of the nurses came up to him and asked if he could follow them.

"Your friend is lucky to be alive," the cheetah said as he led Benji to a private area away from everyone else. "Had you come in even a few minutes later the damage might have been irreparable, but right now the doctor has an optimistic outlook. They had just finished surgery to contain the internal bleeding and they're doing a few more tests including x-rays for any broken bones once he has recovered from the anesthesia."

"It sounds like he got hit by a truck..." Benji stated after getting the laundry list of other injuries they had found upon his examination. "Did he say how he managed to get so banged up?"

"Unfortunately there wasn't much that he said and given the condition he was in he had to go into emergency surgery immediately," the nurse explained. "He did mention that there was a shirewolf waiting out that he would like to have come in, so we're going to set you up in one of the rooms that he will be moved too once he's done. We don't think he's going to need to go to the intensive care ward, but there is still a lot of work before we can consider him out of the woods."

Benji nodded and thanked the cheetah for the update, following him once more through the labyrinthine hallways of the hospital towards the general care wing of the building. Once he was shown to the room the nurse told him that it would still be maybe an hour or so before Bladewolf was finished and to make himself as comfortable as possible. The shirewolf thanked him once more and sat down in chair, turning on the television as he waited for the wolf to be wheeled in. Part of him wished that he had brought a book to read, though he hadn't quite expected that he was going to spend his entire day in the hospital as he stared up at the screen.

Once more he found himself looking at the news as he waited, which once more was situated on some sort of growing development that was happening in North America. While there hadn't been much in the way of information that has been shared with the rest of the world it appeared that they were dealing with something that was labeled as a xenomorphic situation... which meant literally nothing to the shirewolf except that he knew the word meant something about aliens. Were they really saying that something was going on in the United States that had to do with first contact, or was this just some sort of conspiracy theory like unidentified flying objects?

Whatever the situation was it appeared that even the military was getting involved, most of it apparently taking place as they highlighted most of the Rocky Mountain range as the area where most of investigation is taking place. "Well at least the aliens were nice enough to not blow up any major cities," Benji commented to himself as he flipped the channel to something else. "At least they come here to ruin Christmas..."

Just as he finished flipping through the channels and was about to have a second go at it he saw movement out of the corner of his eye, immediately turning off the television when he saw a number of people wheeling a gurney into the room. Though he was in a hospital gown the extend of his injuries could be seen when he saw the heavily bandaged body get moved over onto the bed. Once they had gotten Bladewolf comfortable and hooked up to an IV as well as several machines the doctor said he will be back for a post op check. As Benji looked over still sedated male it was clear that he wasn't going to get anything out of him at the moment... and decided to once more stick around even if it was just to see what had happened.

After about an hour the drugs had finally cleared from the system of the wolf enough that he opened his eyes and looked around coherently, groaning slightly as looked around before his gaze finally settled on Benji. "Hey... I remember you..." he said as he tried to get up, only to realize how bad of an idea that was as he grimaced before falling back against the bed. "Thanks for bringing me here, and sticking around."

"Well I didn't think that it would be very proper for me to just dump you in the emergency room and leave," Benji replied, glancing back at the window to see that night was starting to fall already. "Not to mention I really didn't have anything important going on today, so I was free to help. I would ask how you're feeling but given the amount of gauze on you I think I can take a guess."

"You're guess would be right," Bladewolf replied with a groan. "Still, not the worst situation that could have come out of this, especially the way they laid into me like that."

"They?" Benji asked in curiosity, though when he saw the wolf look at him again he suddenly felt himself become slightly flushed with embarrassment. "Sorry, if you don't want to tell me that's fine."

The wolf looked back towards the wall for a second, then sighed and turned back to the shirewolf. "I don't think it would be very proper of me to have you save me and then not explain why I needed to be in the first place," Bladewolf replied. "I'll spare you the boring bits but in essence I was trying to save someone that had gotten kidnapped and I either underestimated their strength or overestimated my skills. Either way I got ambushed and put into this state by them... didn't even get to see if the person I was trying to get back was there or not."

"That's horrible..." Benji replied. "I'm sure they probably just fought dirty."

"Thanks for that but you don't have to placate me," Bladewolf stated, his ears lowering slightly as his head bowed. "But the long and short of it is that I just wasn't strong enough in order to get them back. Even if there were a number of them I should have at least been able to fend them off enough to retreat, not get sent to the hospital."

Though Benji wasn't sure what to say in order to try and help the situation they were both interrupted by the doctor that had entered back into the room. "Hello Bladewolf," the red-scaled lizardman said as he moved one of the other chairs over to be next to the wolf. "So we ran some more tests after your surgery, mostly bloodwork and a few scans. Now before I begin would you like your friend to remain in the room to hear this or should I send him out before we go over your results?"

"I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for him," Bladewolf replied simply. "Go ahead, what's the damage?"

The doctor nodded and opened the folder, going over to a nearby white screen. "The two words that I would best use for your injuries are extensive and superficial," he said as the white background lit up before he put on a few x-rays. "As you can see you do have a few cracked and broken ribs, but other then that most of the damage that you received was tissue and muscle. Your organs are also fine, although we did have to stop some internal bleeding it was the result of torn veins that came from the broken ribs that we have managed to cauterize."

"Sounds more extensive then superficial," Bladewolf said.

"All things considered you got away rather lucky," the doctor replied as he put the x-rays back. "Nevertheless you're probably going to need a bit of physical therapy and I would like to keep you here for at least a few days to make sure there wasn't anything we missed. If anything it will help keep you in traction until your body has a chance to heal itself."

There was a moment of pause between the three before the wolf quickly shook his head, attempting to stand up before both the doctor and Benji moved forward to keep him in the bed. "No way," Bladewolf said. "I have a training program that I have to leave for in three days and there's no way I'm going to miss it."

"I doubt you are going to do be doing anything of the sort," the doctor replied as he once more brought up a hand to keep him from trying to get out of the bed. "Even if you do manage to recover enough mobility to travel in three days, which I doubt, you are going to need someone to help you with these bandages and to check for infection. Unless you have someone that I can release you to that will provide that care I must insist that you stay in this bed!"

Once more silence filled the air, and Benji could tell from the look on the wolf's face that he didn't have anyone in that capacity to do so... though that didn't stop Bladewolf from continuing to argue with him eventually. The shirewolf found himself remaining silent as he watched the exchange between the two and could hear the vehemence in his voice, the story that he had just been told still fresh in his mind. This was more than just some training seminar, likely some sort of martial or strength training of some sort, and that he wanted to do it in order to make himself stronger. It was also clear that the wolf was going to be hard-pressed to take the doctor's advice as he continued to try and crawl out of the bed while the lizardman threatened sedation if he didn't calm down.

"I'll do it!" Benji said suddenly, loud enough that it had caused both of them to stop struggling with one another to look over at the shirewolf as the doctor asked him what that meant. "I mean, you can discharge him into my care, I'll make sure that he's taken care of."

Benji could see Bladewolf's jaw drop slightly as the offer stunned him, which in turned caused him to get pushed back into the bed by the doctor from his distracted state before he straightened his lab coat. "Are you sure about this?" the lizardman asked. "If you are willing to take care of him then I can discharge him into your care, but you will have to sign for him and make sure that you understand his aftercare instructions."

Benji just nodded his head and said that he would do it, and though the doctor seemed reluctant to do so he just gave a small shrug and told Bladewolf to at least remain in the bed until they could get all the paperwork filed for his discharge. By this point the wolf had calmed down enough that he just gave the lizardman a thumbs up, then waited until he had clearly left the room before turning back to the shirewolf. "Are you... sure you want to do that?" the wolf asked as Benji sat back down in the chair. "I mean we just met, which involved me bleeding on you as we staggered to the hospital after I got beat up by a gang."

When the shirewolf looked at him in question the wolf pointed to his clothes and he saw that there was a large red stain on his shirt and pants, already turning from bright crimson to a deeper hue as the blood oxidized. "This training program of yours sounds interesting and I would hate for you to miss it," Benji said with a smile on his muzzle. "Plus even though you are hurt I could see that it would pain you more to not get discharged, and I happen to be in the unique position to help you make that happen."

"I... don't know what to say," Bladewolf replied. "Honestly I don't think there's any way that I can repay you for this."

"No need," Benji stated with a chuckle. "Although I hope that you don't mind if I tag along? I mean, it is doctor's orders after all."

The two continued to talk for a while about what Bladewolf's program entailed while they waited for the doctor to come back with everything, Benji finding out that it was actually something that the wolf had cooked up with a number of others in order to help hone his skills. The one thing was that it would involve a lot of traveling, though the shirewolf quickly said that he didn't mind that at all. Eventually the lizardman came back with the release forms as well as the aftercare instructions and a script for the pharmacy, telling Bladewolf that he needed to take his recovery seriously. Bladewolf just thanked him and said that he was going to be in great hands as he allowed the nurse from before to take the IV out of his arm. Just as he was about to hop out however the doctor stopped him once more, saying that there was one more thing left to do as a small smirk appeared on his muzzle.

A few minutes later Bladewolf was fully dressed and heading out of the hospital, frowning as he was wheeled along in a wheelchair towards the front entrance. While he had mentioned several times that he was fine to walk all by himself the doctor insisted in following hospital policy that he had to be in it until he left. Though Benji was sure that this was the case he also could see that the lizardman was enjoying keeping the agitated wolf in the chair for as long as possible before granting his freedom. It also caused a small smile to form on the shirewolf's lips as they continued their way down towards the front entrance until they crossed the threshold and the wolf practically leapt forward.

"Well this has been fun," Bladewolf said as he bit off the admissions bracelet around his wrist and tossed it in the trash before waving to the doctor. "Let's never do this again sometime!"

"If you don't follow those recovery instructions you'll be back here sooner then you think!" the doctor shouted as the wolf walked away, looking at the shirewolf who was still close to him. "I'm counting on you to make sure your friend doesn't overexert himself, you got that?"

Benji just nodded and quickened his pace in order to catch up with the wolf, which turned out not to take too long as he saw him grimacing when he did. When he asked if he was in pain Bladewolf just waved his hand dismissively and said he was fine. "We don't have time to mess around," the wolf replied. "My flight was supposed to leave tomorrow morning and if you're going to be on it with me then you will need to get yourself a ticket too, not to mention pack whatever clothes that you need while I retrieve my own."

"So you are going to let me go with you?" Benji said in slight surprise, the wolf nodding before tilting his head in question. "I just... I kind of thought you might just use me to get out of the hospital and then ditch me."

"Now that would be a rather rude thing to do," Bladewolf replied with a wink before looking down at his watch, once more frowning when he found that it had been broken in the fight before Benji told him the time. "Alright, why don't we both go ahead and catch ourselves a good night's sleep, then meet back at the same café as where we met before at around six. Just make sure to get your boarding pass before then."

"I can do that," Benji said excitedly before grinning. "Just try not to come in the same way you did today."

"No promises," Bladewolf shot back with a wink before they both went their separate ways for the night.