Disconnected

One

"TILLY!" Calum jumps as the woman in khaki shorts screams out the door, "Volunteers are here." She comments loudly again, her Aussie accent thick. "Welcome." She turns to himself and the other five people who came in with him.

"Kathy, this is your help today. Let me know tonight how many you want tomorrow." Their driver, also wearing khaki shorts, comments to the woman Calum would pin at being about forty-five.

"Thank you, John, I will let you know. Now, sorry for the shoutin'. My name is Kathy, welcome to Blue Mountain wildlife hospital and rehabilitation center. We have a full house right now with all the animals that have been effected by the fires, please listen and be cautious. These are still wild animals we are working with today."

"Kat, could I have someone come assist me now? I'll give them the rules rundown. I just need extra hands." The girl who pokes her head into the room is not what Calum expected. She could easily be his own age, her long dark honey colored hair braided back, messily hanging over her shoulder, tan skin looking sun warn. Her face is bare of makeup except maybe mascara, her golden eyes bright. But his eyes are pulled to her left arm, decorated in ink from wrist until her shirt sleeve, and he assumes further. A full sleeve of tattoo's, and it is beautiful.

"Oh, fine. Um, you, what is your name?" Calum is shocked when he realizes the lady is pointing at him.

"Um, Calum."

"Calum, Tilly. Tilly, Calum. You feel up to being her assistant?"

"Sure." Cal shrugs, stepping out of the small group and heading for the girl.

"Tilly, if he gets hurt it's on you!" Kathy calls after them.

"You've hurt more volunteers than myself or any animal has." Tilly calls back with a laugh, motioning for Calum to follow her.

"Sorry about her, she takes the rules very seriously. Not that they aren't, she just likes to use them to scare volunteers, make sure only the best come back." Tilly laughs, glancing over at Calum. "What was your name again?"

"Calum. Calum Hood."

"Nice to meet you, Calum. I'm Tilly."

"Just Tilly?" He laughs.

"Unless the government is looking for me." She shrugs. "So, why did you pick here to volunteer? And why did you choose to volunteer?"

"I'm here for work partly. My band is playing the Fire Fight Festival this weekend, and we wanted to get a hands on experience with helping before then too. They asked for one more person for this particular opportunity this morning, and as the seventh man in our group, and a massive love for animals, I offered."

"So you're a lone wolf today? No friends you just ditched back in the house?"

"I ditched them all back in central Sydney. I met all those people on the bus here. And between you and me, they are whiney asses, kept complaining about a one hour bus ride out here. I live on a bus six months out of the year most the time."

"Alright, band boy, I'm putting you to real work today, let's see if you can handle it." Tilly laughs.

"I can handle it." He smirks over at her, following her down a small path forking off the larger one they'd taken from the main house.

"You're not going to like cry on me, right?" She asks as she unlocks a small shed with a key attached to her belt.

"Depends on what you make me do, but I doubt it."

"We had a couple young Koalas brought in this morning with burn patches. I need some help assessing them, we are heading out to the Koala hut. But I need someone who is calm to help me hold them while I do. Kathy pointed you out because you looked most chill of the group."