Right Direction. (Hailee Steinfeld)

Snakes and puppies

"I'm not saying you've gotta ask her out, man. Just ask about spending some time with her, keep it casual." Buck advised with his arms stretched out in front of him and a grin on his face.

"Keep it-" I opened my mouth to respond but was quickly cut off by Cap yelling information through our headsets.

"Guys. Keep it professional. We've got a 2 minute ETA, single story fire. No sign of the owner, no casualties reported. We work quickly and safely."

We all stayed silent in response, gazing out the windows as we pulled up to the latest call-out. The police barrier waved us through as they parted the crowds of bystanders. Once the engine pulled to a stop and the doors pushed open we all grabbed our helmets and stepped out, every one of us eyeing up the blaze quickly.

"Is this a?" Buck muttered from his place next to me.

"It's a pet shop." I responded. Poor babies.

"So like...what's the protocol here? Do we get the animals?" Probie asked as he pulled his fire jacket on.

"Okay, guys. Round up. Diaz, Chim, you two go up to the roof and try and ventilate. Kaiin, Buck, you two head inside, check for signs of life inside, quickly." Captain instructed.

"TK and I will keep the aid car running just in case." Captain Vega chipped in.

Buck nodded to me as we pulled on our masks and entered the building, the familiar heat of the fire greeting us. Our uniform is flame resistant, but you still feel a good amount of the heat. Kinda feels like your body is trapped in a plastic bag and you're dripping sweat into it.

"LAFD, call out!" I yelled out as we walked through the door way. Buck tapped on my arm to signal the direction he was going in, and I gestured to the opposite side, the pair of us going to loop through on different sides. The sounds of the windows cracking and items crumbling under the flames filled my ears.

Walking through the scattered flames, my heart broke at the sight of the different animals stuck in their cages. Probie has a good question, what is the protocol here? I mean, I'm not opposed to just putting some of the smaller ones in my pockets...but what about the rest? My apartment isn't big enough for all of them but yknow, I could probably make it work.

"Cap, Uhh, what are we doing about the animals?" I spoke into my mask.

The was silence through my headset for a moment before a response crackled through. "You guys have your orders." Captain Nash confirmed.

I seen Buck ahead of me as our search and rescue loops were meeting at the end. "But Cap, there's so many animals in here? Surely we can try and grab a few, right? We have time." Buck tried.

"You have your orders."

"But Cap-"

"Kaiin. You have your orders. Look for sign of life..."

Buck and I locked eyes. Sign of life...got it.

"Work our way from the back?" I checked with Buck.

"Let's do it, Tobs."

Buck went to some of glass cages and slid them open, reaching in and grabbing some of the lizards that were inside, putting them in his pocket as best he could whilst making sure they didn't crawl out. Turning around to the glass cage behind me I groaned and couldn't help the little foot stomp in annoyance. "Snakes, really?"

Hoping to fucking god that the fire jackets would be enough to protect me if the snakes bite I tentatively opened the glass and reached in slowly. "Easy little guy, I got you." I reached in and picked up the small snake, a corn snake I think, before putting it in my jackets pockets, adding another before zipping the pocket up and repeating the same with the other pocket. "It's okay. I'm fine. I'm standing here with snakes in my pockets but I'm fine."