Close call

"Hey, sure, no problem, I got the time today." Phil nods and closes his notepad, clipping the pen to it. "We can go when you're finished there... in the meantime, I'm going to get myself some more to drink."

Smiling, Phil slides from his seat to go get some more, returning in just a few moments. Sitting down again, he sighs. "I need more days like this." He laughs. "But I guess I wouldn't have anything to pay the bills then, would I?"


He'd been down too long. He could feel his lungs begin to burn as the water pressed in around him. His reflexes wanted him to scream, but he knew if he did, he would breathe water and he'd be done for sure.

Struggling against the mighty beast, the knife on his hip is his last resort, but as an explosive pain seems to set his leg on fire, he knew he had no choice. Lashing out, his knife blade pierces the thick skin and his leg is released. Blood swirls in the water, creating a red fog.

Finally reaching the surface, Ryder gasps for air, choking and latching onto the hand that was reaching for him. Being pulled from the miniature swamp, he scrambles away from the edge out of instinct, while he was crowded by other zookeepers. Lying on his back, everything was blurry and everyone was talking at once.

"Back off, give him room!" someone finally orders.

"Look at his leg."

"Call 911"

"Somebody wrap this thing!"

Ryder blinks and tries to sit up with the aid of Dean. "Of all the stupid..." He winces, gritting his teeth as he tries to ignore the pain in his leg. "He said it was empty."

Dean tries to keep him from moving around too much. "Who? Who told you it was?"

"I dunno... the new guy." Ryder pushes Dean out of the way so he can look at his own leg, pulling up his pantleg, against the wishes of someone else trying to wrap it until an ambulance arrived. "Aw, nice. Tore my good pants."

"Your pants?!" Dean shakes his head in disbelief. "What about your leg?"

"He did a nice job on that too, didn't he? Just let me up. I'll take care of 'er myself." He attempts to stand but is pushed back down.

"Oh no you don't. You're going to need stitches." Dean looks down again at the wound. "A lot of them. You're lucky you got a leg left at all."

"Yeah, he had my foot and yanked me in then tried to twist me. I wrestled him over and woulda gotten away but he managed to get my leg on my way back up."

Dean rolls his eyes at Ryder's lack of worry. "You realize that anybody else would have been crocodile dinner, right?"

"Hmm?"

"Oy. Just stay here, okay? Humor me. For once. You're bleeding all over and we don't need visitors seeing this, alright?"

"Well don't make me stay at the hospital too long, mate. I got my girl coming when she's done with her shift in about an hour."

Dean smirks. "Trust me - you'll still be at the hospital. Want me to call her?"

"She'll kill me."

"You're afraid of her and not a crocodile?!"

Ryder shrugs. "Everybody's afraid of something."

Dean rolls his eyes. Sirens can be heard and he motions to some others to help. Once the paramedics have arrived and gotten Ryder into the ambulance, he makes up his own mind and calls Mom and Pop's...

..."Hello. Mom and Pop's, how can I help you?" Carson dries a pan with the phone cradled to his shoulder.

"From one Aussie to another." Dean sighs, hearing Carson's accent. "Is Jasmine... er... Thirteen there?"

Carson quirks his eyebrow and sets the pan down, finding this greeting very peculiar. "She is. Can I ask who's calling?"

"Yeah, this is Dean O'Rourke from the zoo... her boyfriend got himself caught by a critter and he's on his way to the hospital."

Carson's eyes widen. "Is he going to be okay?"

"Uh, I think so. Just got his leg nipped. He was ready to put a bandaid on it and get back to work. I just wanted his girl to know even though he didn't want her to."

Carson rolls his eyes. "Alright. I'll tell her. Thanks." Hanging up, he goes out to the counter and glances around for Thirteen, then waves her over away from the customers. "I just got a phone call," he explains quietly. "Ryder got himself hurt at work today and they had to take him to the hospital. They think he's going to be fine though," he assures quickly.