High School Halls
A slim girl is making her way through the halls of her high school. She is leaning on a cane held in her hand that she moves forwards with each step of the opposite leg. The leg in question is supported by an extensive metal and leather brace from the upper thigh down to and including the foot. Her movements indicate that the leg is obviously weak and requires the added support from the KAFO brace she wears. The knee is able to bend, although it is apparently limited in the range of motion and causes her to limp badly so the cane is needed to help maintain her balance. Her arm on the same side as the leg is also confined in a brace from the palm of her hand to her armpit. Unlike her knee the elbow appears to have nearly a full range of motion and she carries a couple of books in the crook of her arm along with a backpack over the shoulder.
Standing around five feet and nine inches, the girl’s features are a mix of Asian and American. Her midnight black hair is long and straight, hanging down to mid-back. The complexion of her skin is lighter than might be expected with the shape of her face more angular than round, showing the heritage from her mother’s side of the family. In contrast, her eyes are dark brown and almond shaped with a lack of an upper eyelid crease indicating her father’s heritage.
She moves confidently through the crowd of students who respect her need for a little more room to get around, several of whom greet the girl in passing. One boy stops in the hall to talk with her.
Linn
“Hey Linn, how are you?”
“Hi Jerry. I’m doing alright,” she responds while leaning up against the wall for a rest.
“How’s your back doing?”
“It’s good. I’m getting used to not having as much flexibility like I used to, but it’s not that much different.”
“The rods make you too stiff to move?”
“A little bit. I still can’t bend as easily as they say I should so I’m continuing to work on it in therapy. But, I definitely have better posture now with titanium rods from my neck to my hips,” she says with a smirk.
“At least you’re out of that halo thing, and your arm and leg seem to be better too.”
“Yea. The halo brace was hell along with that huge external fixation frame they had on my leg not to mention the external rods up my arm. I hated not being able to move at all.”
“You couldn’t even wiggle a little?”
“Not even a millimeter. Those things had metal rods and pins drilled right into my bones and fixed together with screws nuts and bolts. The frames and rods were all completely rigid and inflexible so my bones were just as immobile as they were. Zero movement. I thought I was going to go crazy during the nine months I was stuck in those things. Every time they took a little bit of that crap away was the best day of my life. I still have metal plates and screws in me, but they don’t keep me from bending and moving.”
“Dang. That’s awful. All of that because some jerk wasn’t watching the road while he was driving and trying to text on his phone. I’m so glad you’re back and able to walk again. We missed you.”
“Thanks Jerry. I am too. I probably won’t be doing sports or phys ed. for the rest of the time I’m in school, and I’ll probably have to wear this brace on my leg for the rest of my life and need a cane to help support me, but at least I only need my wheelchair for bad days. And I’m still alive. You guys visiting me in the hospital and at rehab when you could really helped a lot.”
The firs warning bell rings indicating there is two minutes before classes start for the day.
“Whoops, there’s the warning bell. We better get to class and not be late.”
“Right. I don’t move as fast as I used to,” Linn states as she pushes off the wall and straightens up. “I’ll probably make it on time, but that is one little good thing. I get a medical pass on being late to class as long as it’s only a minute or two.”
“Ha! Lucky you. See you at lunch? I’ve got to run.”
“Nope. Today is my six month doctor eval. It’s an over-night stay, so I’m taking a half day off from school today and the full day tomorrow so they can torture me some more and see how I’m healing and recovering. I should get this huge brace off my arm and maybe get a small wrist support instead.”
“Oh fun. Well good luck on that. See ya.”
“Thanks, see you all Monday.”
High School Office
“Checking out for your appointment Linn?”
“Yes Miss Abernathy.”
“Your Mom came in a few minutes ago to check you out and said she’d be in the car waiting for you.”
“Thanks. We’ve got just enough time to stop at home before I have to be at the hospital.”
“How is the new house? Do you like the neighborhood?”
“The area is okay. The house is a lot easier for me to get around in than the old place which is nice. I need to run so I won’t be late.”
“Take care Linn.”
“Bye.”
Car Driving On Street
The silver compact sports utility vehicle slows as it approaches an intersection and the left turn blinker begins to flash. Waiting a moment for an oncoming vehicle to pass by, the SUV makes the turn from State Lane to Elm Street. A moment later it is pulling up into the driveway of a house. Two females exit the car and walk up the path to the front door. The elder woman addresses the teenager.
“Okay Linn, we only have about fifteen minutes to make a pit stop at home so be quick.”
“Alright Mom, I’ll move as fast as I can. My overnight bag is already packed so I just need to go to the bathroom and change clothes, which I laid out before going to school this morning.”
The two enter the home and go their respective ways once inside. Linn takes a seat on a stair lift and rides it up to the second floor while her mother goes into the kitchen. About fourteen minutes later Linn is riding the lift back down again. She now wears a more comfortable track suit style ensemble and has a gym bag on her lap.
“Ready to go Mom,” she calls out as she stands up and steadies herself with her cane.
“Good timing kiddo,” her mom compliments as she come out of the kitchen with a soft lunch bag in hand. “Here’s something for you to eat on the way to the hospital. I know how you hate the food there.”
“Thanks Mom,” Linn replies as they head out the door and to the car. Getting in, they get settled and back out into the street. Taking a left onto State Lane neither notice the street sign for Elm Street is now striped green and red.
Linn’s Hospital Room
“I need to go take care of a few things. Will you be okay honey?”
“I’ll be fine Mom. It’s just a bunch of tests and some therapy, nothing unusual. It’s not like I don’t know my way around the hospital by now, and the nurses know me pretty well too. Go do what you need to do and I’ll see you this evening when you get back.”
“Alright sweetie,” her mother says with a smile. “Don’t give anyone too hard of a time and do what the doctors say. This is supposed to be a checkup to loosen some of the restrictions and hopefully get rid of that brace on your arm, so be nice. I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
“Bye Mom,” Linn says as she gives her mom a tight hug before being left alone.
Placing her cane against the bed and leaning her left hip against the mattress to steady herself, Linn removes her light windbreaker revealing a long sleeve t-shirt with her long arm brace over top of the right arm. Undoing the straps of the brace she lays it on top of the bed and carefully takes off the shirt. Pulling it over her head reveals a long scar that runs down her back which goes from above her hairline at the base of her skull all the way down to below the waist of her pants. Her right arm also bears several surgical scars with one shorter scar on the back of her shoulder, a long scar that starts above the back of her elbow and ends several inches below the joint, and a final pair of scars over the front and back of her wrist. She briefly rubs her wrist and elbow then quickly secures the brace back onto her arm again with a sigh.
“Still feels better with this thing on. I hope I can get used to not wearing it. Maybe I’ll get a lighter one, or two smaller ones to wean me off this one.”
Turning around and sitting on the bed she lifts her right leg up onto the mattress with both hands. Removing the straps that hold the brace in place then untying the laces of her shoe she pulls her foot and leg free so she can remove her pants. Standing back up so all of her weight is held on her left leg, the right is allowed to drop so her foot just touches the floor. Her right leg is thin and stiff, the ankle barely able to flex and her knee only able to move through about fifty percent of normal range of motion. Linn sits back down and aligns her leg between the bars of her brace again, carefully sliding her foot along the plastic support and down into her shoe. She adjusts the thick compression stocking she wears on her leg to remove any wrinkles and firmly straps her leg back into the brace.
Scooting all the way up onto the bed Linn leans back and tugs on her sports bra and tight jogging shorts then lifts her left foot up and removes her sneaker. Pulling her gym bag that she left lying at the end of the bed she opens it up and pulls out a pair of olive green socks with safety treads on the bottom.
“Glad I thought to bring a couple pairs of my hospital footie’s with me,” she says to herself as she sticks her bare left foot into one.
A few minutes later a nurse walks into the room pushing a wheelchair.
“Hi Linn, about ready to go to the first test?”
“Hey Susan, what’s with the wheels? And do I get a gown or something here?”
“Gowns are in the usual place in the closet, and the ‘chair is to get you around without the braces.”
“No braces?”
“Nope, not for this one. You’re going down for a set of scans and the braces would just get in the way. Peel them off. Here’s a gown for you to wear,” the nurse says as she gets one out of the cabinet.
“Um, okay. Thanks. Can I have a sling for my arm?”
“A sling? I thought you were here to get that brace off? Do you still need it?”
“Well, I’m kinda hoping to lose the brace for my arm, but at the same time I still kinda feel better if my arm has some extra support. I don’t think I’m ready to go completely free yet.”
“Alright. Get dressed and I’ll go scare up a sling for you. Be back in a minute.”
The nurse leaves and while she is gone Linn un-straps her leg and arm leaving the two braces off to one side of the bed then pulls her other sock onto the right foot. Settling the standard issue hospital gown around her shoulders she leans back and closes her eyes to wait for Susan to return.
“Here I am. Feeling tired Linn?”
“A bit. It’s been a rough week. I could use a nap.”
“Well, you’ll have to wait for one later. We’ve got you scheduled for a bit of therapy and an exam on your back after the scans. Here, let me help you into the wheelchair.”
Supporting Linn as she transfers from the bed to the wheelchair she hands a sling to the girl once she is seated and Linn is quick to get herself situated with her arm resting comfortably in the blue canvas sleeve and her right leg elevated on the leg rest.
“Ready?” the nurse inquires. Getting a nod from Linn as she secures her cane with her left hand, she pushes the wheelchair out the door. “Then we’re off to the imaging center.”
Hospital Imaging Center
“You just wait here and rest. There are a couple others ahead of you,” Susan says while pointing to the door on the left side, “but the one is just finishing up their CT scan and the second only needs a wrist imaged so it shouldn’t take too long. Someone will come out and get you when it’s your turn. Stay out of the room on the right; we don’t need you getting too close to the MRI machine with all the hardware you’ve got in you.”
“Thanks Susan. See you later.”
The nurse smiles down at Linn and gently pats her on the left shoulder before leaving the girl to wait her turn. Linn gets a bit more comfortable in her wheelchair and closes her eyes, figuring it’ll be several minutes before she is called.
Linn
A gentle shake wakes Linn from the light doze she had fallen into. As she opens her eyes she sees a nurse in an older style white uniform, with an actual white cap bearing a red cross on it pinned on top of their head and a white face mask over their mouth, instead of the usual green scrubs, going around behind her.
“Time to get you in for your scan dearie.”
“Oh, okay,” Linn agrees while blinking her eyes.
The nurse pushes Linn’s wheelchair through the doorway on the right side.
“Um, is this the right one? Susan said I should stay away from the MRI room.”
She hears the door close behind her and Linn turns to find she is alone. Getting up from the wheelchair Linn checks the door and finds it is locked. She turns to look around the room wondering what is going on.
Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) Control Room
The technician is reviewing the latest scans from a prior patient, his back to the viewing window and machine controls. Through the window Linn can be seen slowly limping on her metal cane into the room and closing the door then approaching the narrow circular opening of the MRI. She appears to be dazed, her eyes not focusing on any particular object.
The controls for the MRI quietly flick over to the ready position and the power knob slowly begins to turn clockwise going up the energy scale, the gentle rising hum of power going unnoticed by the tech.
Linn
“Linn,” a rough voice whispers. “Over here.”
Linn walks over towards the MRI machine trying to figure out where the voice is coming from. She shifts her cane to hold it with her right hand as she gingerly adjusts the sling holding her right arm as she moves closer. When she is beside the bed for the machine she moves her cane to her left hand again and leans on it while looking up inside the opening.
The foam lined head restraint, which looks more like a cage than a medical support, is opening and closing on its own.
“What the heck is -” Linn starts to say when the nylon tie-down straps suddenly whip out and grab her around the right thigh which is next to the platform. Her voice becomes a screech of shock, “EEEK!”
A second restraint grabs her right wrist that is hanging out the end of the sling and pulls her down. More straps encircle her waist and chest as the MRI powers up and begins to spin, red colored lights bathing the opening. Linn is held down on the bed on her belly and facing backwards with her feet pointing into the round opening of the device. More straps encircle her arms and legs, firmly pinning her down so she is unable to get free despite her struggling. The cane which had fallen to the floor suddenly leaps up and slams into the side of the machine, the strong power of the electro-magnet attracting and holding onto the metal cane.
MRI Control Room
Linn can be seen through the windows to have come right up close to the opening of the machine and is leaning heavily on her cane while her right hand reaches into the opening of the scanning area.
The power dial reaches the maximum setting, and a moment later the main control switch flips to the on position. The MRI machine kicks on with a jolt of sudden power.
Linn
“NO! NO! HELP ME! GET ME OUT OF HERE!” Linn screams as the platform begins to slide in, carrying her into the interior.
The powerful electro-magnetic energy grabs hold of the metal plates and screws in Linn’s body. With the straps fully restraining her in place Linn is subjected to excruciating pain as the surgical steel is forcibly ripped out of her body. Blood splatters the inside of the machine when her ankle is torn open as the screws and plates fusing the joint fly up to stick to the wall.
Linn shrieks in agony with the horrible damage done to her lower leg, but the device doesn’t stop and pulls her further inwards. Another cry of shear terror and pain is ripped out of her throat along with the spray of blood that erupts from her knee when the artificial joint explodes out the back of the limb, leaving her flesh and bones spread out like a fish that has been flayed by a child.
Her right hand strains against the nylon wrapped around the wrist as it gets closer to the opening, the fingers convulsing and clenching at the air. Suddenly the force is too much and her hand is ripped loose from the arm, the metal plates that were in her wrist now pinning her amputated hand to the side of the machine. The great gush of blood from the open wound only matched by the primal screams emanating out of her ragged vocal cords.
What remains of Linn’s voice turns to a high pitched keening as her back begins to bow. The rods imbedded along her spine visibly starting to bend and stretch the thin flesh covering them.
MRI Control Room
The technician in the room snaps around in surprise when the MRI kicks on at full power. He can see through the viewing window a girl standing beside the machine as it comes to life. The sudden jolt of power snatches the cane she is leaning on out of her left hand so forcefully he is sure her wrist is broken. Her right hand and arm are slammed up against the top of the cylinder while her right leg is suddenly jerked up and into the bore of the machine. The girl’s body is twisted sideways unnaturally as her back impacts the side of the MRI, her right leg and hip audibly snapping.
The tech slams the emergency cutoff button hard enough to bruise his hand. The emergency lights and siren go off as the girl’s body falls to drape across the bed platform. Nurses and the technician rush into the room.
Linn’s Hospital Room
Linn is lying quietly in her bed. A rigid plastic brace cups her chin and holds her head with a padded strap around her forehead while an oxygen cannula supplies air through her nose. Her left arm and hand hang suspended in a vertical tube of stockinette, the limb encased in a plaster cast from the armpit to the fingertips. The right arm rests upon pillows with thick gauze bandages wrapped around her hand, wrist, forearm, and elbow, small spots of fresh blood staining the cloth over the wrist and elbow. A plastic clamshell brace that is a part of the brace on her neck contains her body from the top of her chest to her hips and continues down over the right hip to the thigh, keeping her back and upper right leg immobilized. A frame of steel surrounds Linn’s leg from above the knee to her foot. Rods fixed in place to the frame poke down into her flesh and anchor in the bones of her femur and shin around the knee. More rods pierce her heel ankle and foot holding it in place. Bandages wrap the right knee in a thick layer of gauze emerging from underneath the brace down to the mid calf. A short glimpse of skin on her shin can be seen peeking out between the bandages from the knee and more white gauze enveloping the rest of her leg and entire foot.
“What was Linn doing in the MRI room?” her mother asks yet again.
“We don’t know,” is the answer from the doctor sitting next to her. “We know that Nurse Susan left Linn in the waiting area sitting in her wheelchair, and specifically told her to stay out of the MRI. Linn even acknowledged her. The next thing we know is the technician on duty was interrupted from studying the scans of another patient by the MRI kicking on. Don’t ask me how that happened; he was sitting with his back to the controls on the other side of the room. The MRI has been taken offline and is being completely torn apart looking for any defects. We will inform you with anything we find.
“However, when the tech turned around he saw your daughter standing in the room beside the machine with a dazed look on her face. Somehow the power for the scanner had been turned all the way up and the sudden shot of power grabbed hold of everything metal in the room before he could hit the kill switch. Linn’s metal cane was ripped out of her hand so hard it damn near shattered her left wrist and broke both bones in her forearm. The implants in her body didn’t fare any better, which caused a lot of damage to a body that was still weak and healing.
“Her neck was wrenched and sprained when her head hit the machine. Her back got slammed hard and loosened the rods. Thankfully those were relatively easy to tighten back down again, although several of her vertebrate were cracked. The plates in her right wrist and elbow took a serious pounding, cracking the bones again and requiring open surgery to replace a couple screws. Once the incisions settle down she’ll be put in a cast like the one on her left arm, although she may get to keep the use of her fingers. We’ll have to see.
“The tech said that he watched as her right leg got twisted out of alignment with her torso, and heard Linn’s hip snap. The femoral head was snapped off at the neck. Her knee replacement was so damaged it had to be removed. We’ve used an Ilizarov Frame to immobilize the knee and hold it together while we let the distal end of the femur and proximal end of the tibia heal up some before inserting a new artificial knee joint. One of the plates in her ankle fusion was broken, along with the bone, and several of the screws and the other plate had to be reseated or replaced. Of course the bones anchoring them were damaged and need to heal all over again. To keep her foot in proper alignment we simply extended the Ilizarov on down and put rods through her ankle and heel and another through her foot.
“Once all the surgical repairs have the sutures removed she will probably be put into a hip-spica body cast for a time.”
“Dammit. More casts. Again,” Linn cursed.
“Baby! Linn! We thought you were still asleep! How are you feeling honey?”
“Like crap Mom. What happened to me? I heard what the doc told you just now, but how did it happen?”
“That’s something we’ve been wanting to ask you young lady,” the doctor explains. “What were you doing wandering into the MRI scanner room? Especially after begin told to steer clear of it?”
Linn looks from the doctor to her mother, a haunted expression to her eyes.
“I ... I don’t remember. I was sitting in the waiting area and dozed off. I’m pretty sure a nurse came and got me, but she was wearing an older style nurse’s uniform, from like the fifties or sixties? It’s all kinda blurry. The next thing I remember is intense pain and being slammed up against something then it goes blank again until I woke up to listen to the doc telling you about my back hip and leg. And from what I can see and feel I guess both my arms and my neck got messed up too.”
“I’m afraid so Linn. Your left leg is the only thing on you that isn’t broken or sprained to one degree or another.”
“Great. So, Doc, how long will I be in here this time? And how bad is the damage? I’m sure this is going to set me back a good bit in my recovery. How bad is it going to be?”
“Well, I don’t want to -”
“Stop right there Doc,” Linn interrupted him. “You know me by now. Give it to me straight and I won’t bite your head off later. How bad is it? ALL of it.”
The doctor sighs in resignation.
“It’s not good Linn. You already knew we were probably looking at continuing bracing for your leg for the long term, although there was hope to reduce it to something less restrictive. That hope is gone now. The fusion to your ankle had to be redone and further restricted. You’ll never bend that ankle in any direction again.
“Your knee is a mess and the only thing holding it together right now is the external frame, there’s no joint at all right now. We’ll have to do another total joint replacement down the road in a month or so once the bones have healed some. And it will probably be less stable in the end. A full leg brace with tension assist for the knee is the most likely result, and for the rest of your life.
“Your hip didn’t just break. The ball joint separated from the femoral neck, and torsion from your leg being twisted around split the proximal femur in a complete spiral fracture half way down the bone. This didn’t do any favors to your pelvis as the hip socket cracked in three places. We put a rod, three plates, an artificial hip, and about twenty screws in to get everything back in place.
“Your back actually came through the least damaged. We did have to go back in and tighten up some of the anchors for the rods in several vertebrate, and add in some random screws to pull the bones back together on a couple, but the rods held and didn’t break.
“Your left arm suffered a shattered wrist and spiral fractures to both the ulna and radius. We managed to do a closed reduction and realign your wrist again without surgery. You’ll be in that cast, or one like it, for probably three months before we switch you to a brace like you’re familiar with and start therapy. If all goes well there’s only a small chance of losing a little flexibility in your wrist.
“Your right arm is a bit worse off than before. We had to open your wrist and elbow up again to replace one plate and a few screws then reseat several more. The bones were cracked around the screws in your wrist of course. You’ll be getting a new cast for that arm in a week or so. The whole arm, before you ask. I don’t know right now if it will include your fingers like the one on the left does. We’ll have to wait and see. And we’ll have to wait and see if the nerve damage was made worse. Once we can get to where you’re allowed to move your hand some we can figure that out.
“Finally, your neck. Amazingly it is only severely sprained as far as we can tell. Right now there does not appear to be any fractures to any of the cervical vertebrates, but there is probably some severe bone bruising. It was a close thing, and we’ll do another scan in a week to make sure. You do have a concussion, but right now we think there is no broken neck.”
“God, I’m as big a mess as last time. No, make that bigger. And you did all of that today? In one afternoon?”
“Linn. Sweetie.”
“Yea Mom?”
“You came in for your initial checkup a week ago. It’s been seven days since the incident and you’ve been kept sedated in between going in and out of surgeries. It’s Saturday of the next week.”
“Well, damn. I lost a whole week. So, how long is it going to be?”
“You’ll be kept in the hospital for another month while we finish up one or two procedures and get you stable enough to be allowed to go home. Of course that will be dependant on just how well you do, you may need to be sent to a rehab facility instead. Either way, you’re going to require round the clock care and assistance for several months with your arms and hands being out of commission for a while. Figure on four to six months for assistance with daily living then we’ll see how you do beyond that.”
“Of course. I guess school is on hold for the rest of the year then. That sucks, I was finally getting caught up with my classes and to be able to move on to my Senior year with the rest of my friends.”
“Oh honey, I know it’s disappointing. We’ll figure something out. Maybe we can get you some summer courses so you can move forward with everyone else and graduate with your friends.”
“Yea, maybe,” Linn responds dejectedly. “I’m tired and hurting. Can you give me something to get back to sleep again Doc?”
“Of course Linn. We’ll leave you to rest.”
The doctor adjusts the drug pump on Linn’s IV line and ushers her mother out of the room.
Linn’s Hospital Room
Another week has gone by since she woke up to hear the doctor talking with her mother and questioning him about her injuries. The pain has been constant and Linn has needed to request extra pain relief frequently. Her sleep has been sporadic and random, both when she is able to sleep and for how long.
“Good news Linn, tomorrow we’ll be taking you down to get a cast on your other arm. At least you won’t have to be worried about the arm getting jostled or hit any more,” the nurse says while she helps Linn try to get a little bit more comfortable.
“Oh yea, great news,” Linn replies sarcastically with a sneer. “I’ll get to go from having one arm encased in stone and rendered completely useless with the other one wrapped in so many bandages it looks like an elephant’s leg to having two arms encased in stone and still just as useless. Then I’ll get to look forwards to having this brace replaced with yet another cast probably a few days later. At least the brace can be opened up to let you clean my stinky body some, once the cast goes on I’ll just get to sweat in it and stink like a dirty gym locker room all the time. Whoopie.”
The nurse frowns and on seeing it Linn sighs.
“I’m sorry. You didn’t deserve that. I’m tired, hurting, and cranky.”
“It’s understandable Linn. And thank you. It’ll get better in time.”
“In time. That’s the thing, isn’t it? I’m so messed up they can’t give me any hard estimates on how long it’s going to be to get better, only general guess-timates. And the doc was telling me that when I do get the body cast it’s probably going to be a while before he can consider the new knee. Because of that he’s going to connect the frame on my leg into the cast somehow to make sure everything stays stable.”
“I know honey, it’s hard. But you’ll get you through it. You’re a fighter and we’ll be here with you to help along the way. You know that.”
“Yes, I do. And I really do appreciate you. All of you. You were there for me the first time around, and you’ve been great this time too.”
Linn grimaces in pain suddenly.
“More pain?” the nurse asks.
“Yea.”
“Where?”
“It’d be easier to say where it doesn’t hurt,” Linn says with another painful frown. “The CT they did of my neck earlier didn’t do me any favors. I hope the results come back as positive. If they are negative the only thing I can think of is I’m going to be put back in a halo again, and that scares me.
“Can you give me something for the pain and put me to sleep for a bit?”
“I’ll check with the doctor on duty and see what he says, but I’m sure we can give you at least a little something extra to help.”
“Thanks.”
The nurse returns a little while later with a couple of syringes and carefully injects them into the port on Linn’s IV line.
“The doctor authorized a shot for pain relief and a sleep aid. These should take effect soon. Rest and have pleasant dreams.”
Linn smiles in response and closes her eyes. A short time later she is asleep and breathing quietly.
Linn
“Time to wake up dearie,” a gravelly voice says. “We need to perform your next procedure.”
Linn blinks a few times as she opens her eyes. Looking around the best she can she spots a nurse nearby standing with her back to Linn.
“Is it tomorrow already? Are you going to take me down to get my new cast put on my arm?” Linn asks.
Looking around she sees that she is no longer in her room. It appears that she is in one of the operating/procedure rooms already and up on the examination table.
Taking another look at the nurse, Linn notices that it appears to be the same one who left her in the MRI room. She is wearing the same old fashioned uniform as before with the cap pinned in her hair. Turning around the nurse is wearing a face mask once again.
“Oh dear,” the nurse says in a sweet but concerned contralto, “didn’t they tell you?”
“Tell me what?”
“You’re going to get your body cast,” the nurse says as she is strapping Linn’s left foot into a boot that is fixed to a metal bar attached to the table. The frame surrounding her right leg is already strapped down to an extended padded brace on the other side. With her foot held in the boot Linn’s legs are held spread apart by about thirty degrees with her left leg bent up at the hip and the knee bent down. Her left leg is raised higher than the right one while the lower leg remains parallel with the floor.
“But, I didn’t think my stitches were ready to come out for that just yet. I’m just supposed to be getting these bandages replaced with a cast on my arm now,” Linn counters while slightly lifting her right arm.
“Oh no. No cast for that arm. The damage is too extensive. After further review I’ve decided that it needs more rods and external fixation on it,” the nurse informs Linn as her voice deepens and begins to sound like she has rocks in her throat.
“No! That’s not right!” Linn shouts as she tries to struggle.
The nurse grabs Linn’s left arm and roughly twists it around so there is a pop from Linn’s shoulder and slams the cast down onto another platform. She quickly wraps a couple of nylon straps around the cast securing it firmly to the table and leaving Linn’s arm in a very awkward and obviously painful angle.
Linn cries out in pain when her shoulder gets dislocated, tears rolling down her cheeks. Her struggles do little more than cause her more pain, her left leg is held in place and she can only wiggle it back and forth with no real effect. Her right arm is still free but she is afraid to move it hardly at all as it is still extremely sensitive.
“OWWW!!! OH MY GOD! What are you doing?!? You just dislocated my arm! Get me out of this, now!” Linn screams at the nurse.
The nurse spins around and puts her face mere inches from Linn’s and rips the mask off her face. Linn gasps in shock and goes silent at what she sees. The face that is revealed is twisted and scarred as if the person has had their entire face and head severely burned.
“Oh my, did I do that?” Freddy Krueger laughs.
“That’s just the beginning, bitch!” he tells Linn as he switches the nurse’s cap for his brown fedora, his clothing now the familiar tattered green and red striped sweater and brown pants.
Freddy raises his right hand wearing his horrifying glove, the four long sharp blades gleaming.
“I think it’s time we get started here,” he says as he traces the tip of one blade along the side of the plastic holding Linn’s head. The blade cuts right through the straps that secure the brace in place and leaves a deep gouge in the plastic. He continues on down along Linn’s body cutting the rest of the straps free. With a jerk the top portion of the brace is flung away exposing Linn’s naked body. The back half of the brace disappears leaving her suspended solely by her right leg, left arm, and left foot strapped to the table. The rest of her body sags and hangs awkwardly causing Linn to scream in pain.
“Oh my god! Why are you doing this? What did I do to you?!? Please, stop!” Linn cries out.
“That’s for me to know and you to never find out!” Freddy mocks her.
“So, what shall we do first?” He wonders.
“Let me go, damn you!”
“Why is it always the same thing?
“‘Let me go’,” Freddy says in a fake high pitched voice. “Or ‘don’t hurt me’, as if I’d ever care. I’m so tired of hearing the same things! Let’s take care of that useless noise.”
Numerous bandages shoot up from below and quickly begin to wrap around Linn from her nose all the way down over both thighs. A moment later and there is a brief gap as the texture of the bandages changes from soft looking cotton to dripping wet plaster.
In a matter of a couple minutes Linn is encased in an almost completely solid unbroken cast that covers her from over her nose, down her neck and body, and ends just above her knee on the left leg while stopping hard up against the Ilizarov frame on the right. Horizontal rods can be seen extending from the frame to be embedded up into the cast and an abduction bar crosses over the top of Linn’s thighs. The only openings in the cast are around Linn’s crotch and anus, and a narrow four inch wide strip along her spine from the small of her back up to just between her shoulder blades. There is no opening over either her mouth or nose and Linn’s eyes widen in shock as she tries to get enough air in around the top edge of the cast, her cries reduced to heavily muffled murmurs at best. While it tightly binds Linn’s body and greatly restricts her ability to breathe normally because it is too tight and covers her nose and mouth, the cast has the unintended effect of supporting her damaged neck and spine which actually reduces the amount of pain Linn is experiencing at the moment.
“That’s better,” Freddy chuckles with an evil grin as he scrapes the edges of his knives along Linn’s chest, the plaster already completely dried. “But you’re looking a little too comfortable now. I think we need to take care of that right arm of yours.”
Grabbing Linn’s bandage enshrouded arm with his left hand, he swipes the blades on his right hand up and down Linn’s arm several times. The bandages all fall away exposing her bare arm and the fresh incisions from her recent surgeries along with the older scars from before.
“Well now, isn’t this a familiar sight,” he says as he holds his own scarred bare arm next to Linn’s in comparison. Freddy switches hands and holds Linn’s right hand in his glove, the near ends of the blades just barely cutting into her skin enough to get a tiny trickle of blood.
“Too bad it’s not as pretty as mine. Let’s fix that!”
Freddy quickly raises his left hand and plunges it down, stabbing Linn’s upper arm with a silver rod that sinks deep into her arm which penetrates the bone of her humerus and he leaves it sticking out of her torn flesh. Blood spurts out and flows freely from the wound as Linn’s scream of pain is barely heard through the thick plaster covering the lower half of her face. Freddy quickly continues on down Linn’s arm, stabbing her repeatedly with a new rod each time, inserting a total of six into her upper arm and ten into her lower arm. There is obviously no concern for neatness or Linn’s welfare at all, and the blood streams out from around the steel that violates her flesh.
Sliding his right hand down so that he now tightly grasps just her fingers, Freddy shoves three more rods through the palm of Linn’s hand sideways so both ends of the unforgiving metal are exposed on either side of her hand and yet more of her blood drips freely from the ugly wounds.
Next Freddy holds up much thicker bars and aligns them parallel to Linn’s arm. Where he makes contact with the rods embedded in her flesh the bars connect themselves to the rods. He quickly builds a haphazard but effective frame of external bars that immobilizes Linn’s arm completely from her hand up to but not including her shoulder.
“Well, it’s no Picasso, but I’d call it art,” he muses as he inspects his handiwork. “But there’s something missing. I know.”
Linn can only moan in pain as he rotates her shoulder around again until it too dislocates with a wet pop. He brings up a wide curved partial ring similar to the ones in the frame around her leg. He places the ends of the ring onto the ends of bars that hold the rods piercing Linn’s hand and it attaches itself in place. It forms a curve that goes out around the front of her hand and is far enough out that all of her fingers are on the inside of the curve when Freddy forces them straight.
For a moment nothing seems to be happening then Linn’s starts screaming again as wires emerge from the tips of all five fingers, small drops of blood beginning to slowly fall to the floor. The wires reach out and wrap around the metal ring and visibly pull tight then all movement in Linn’s fingers stop. Linn’s eye turn glassy and unfocused and she barely even grunts as he carelessly drops her arm, letting the weight of the frame that now contains it causing her arm to swing freely below her. The end of her dislocated humerus presses up against the exposed flesh of her shoulder.
Linn’s Hospital Room
Linn’s body jerks around within the brace that holds it as the sheets are flung aside by an unseen force. First Linn’s left arm is roughly pulled up at an awkward angle that causes it to pop out of place. Then her right arm is suddenly jerked in the air and her shoulder pops as it too dislocates. The arm moves around with sudden, short uncoordinated movements for several minutes before it drops again to hang off the side of the bed. Her fingers are extended so they are spread out and rigid, and the bandages quickly grow red as they begin to get soaked with blood.
Linn
“That foot down there looks a bit lonely and weak,” Freddy announces as he strides around Linn.
Arriving beside her left foot held up in the boot restraint, he runs his left hand along the boot down to where he can touch her flesh. Looking up towards Linn’s face he begins to squeeze her leg.
“Mmoh. Mmoh mmorr,” can barely be heard escaping the confines of the shell around her mouth.
Freddy’s lips twist in a nasty smirk as he suddenly squeezes as hard as he can and twists at the same time. The bones of Linn’s leg snap multiple times like dry twigs. Several of the sharp ends of bone tear through her flesh with a spray of blood, creating ragged wounds around the exposed ends. He hits the boot holding her foot with his fist and it shatters and falls away. He grabs her foot in both hands and again gives a sudden violent twist and squeeze. The bones in her foot sound like bubble wrap being popped as they break.
Linn simply moans louder, no screams are elicited as the new waves of pain hit her. Freddy looks disappointed by the lack of reaction from his victim. He twists her leg around a couple of times, further tearing and making the open wounds larger while also obviously dislocating her knee. Linn only moans a little more. Freddy frowns and pulls her leg strait causing the bones of her leg to be pulled back inside and semi-realign. Metal plates and screws insert themselves into the wounds and fix the bones straight again then needles and sutures sew the wounds closed. Linn barely even responds to the abuse with a low grunt. The cast which had ended above her knee flows down the leg, tightly containing it all the way down past the tips of her toes, in the process also pressing her ruined foot back into a more normal shape and holding it there. A second abduction bar appears, this one made out of metal. One end of it is connected to the frame around Linn’s right leg. The other half of it is enshrouded in plaster and the end has a tee shaped extension that is encased in the plaster over her shin, adding to the rigidity of the cast that now immobilizes Linn’s lower left leg.
Linn’s Hospital Room
A nurse walks into Linn’s room just in time to see her left leg erupt in a spray of blood as it appears to levitate in mid air above the bed.
“What the hell is going on here?!?” she yells as she rushes forwards.
Linn’s foot visibly deforms and twists before her eyes, the broken ends of Linn’s tibia and fibula jutting out of her skin and dripping blood to the sheets below. She attempts to put pressure on the open wounds and force Linn’s leg back down flat on the bed at the same time. She cannot get the leg to move down at all, it resists every effort she makes to move it from where it hangs no matter how hard she pulls or pushes.
With a shriek of fear the nurse jumps back away from the bed when she feels the foot she is holding suddenly shift in her grasp. She gasps as the leg is jerked straight pulling the bones back inside Linn’s flesh and sutures appear on their own as the wounds from the sharp points are sewn shut. The foot appears to realign so that it looks less mangled than it was a moment ago then Linn’s leg flops back down onto the bed. Blood still seeps from the wounds, but it is not streaming as it did before. Looking at the girl laying on the bed, the nurse sees that her right arm is dangling over the side and the bandages around it are soaked with enough blood that it has begun to slowly drip onto the floor.
Linn
“Well that’s no fun if you don’t scream,” Freddy complains. “Let’s see if we can’t make things more interesting.”
He walks around to Linn’s right side and grabs up her arm that is dangling underneath her. He shoves a needle with a tube attached to it into her arm in an open spot between the rods and bars and drops the arm to lie upon a platform that has appeared to hold it up. Her arm is suspended in the air, not actually touching the surface it now rests on due to the rods and bard of the fixation holding it up. The tube snakes up to a fluid filled bag that now hangs on a pole above the operating table Linn is lying on. With a somewhat gentle squeeze on the bag, Freddy forces the green tinted fluid to quickly flow through the tube and into the vein the needle has been inserted into.
The fluid continues to flow for a couple of minutes before it seems to have an effect. Looking into her eyes they grow clear, although the whites now seem to be heavily tinted a sickly green color. Linn’s gaze takes focus as she looks around and locks onto her torturer. She grunts in confusion then groans heavily as the latest indignities to her ravaged body register.
“Just a little concoction of my own, girly. Something to make you more aware again and keep you with us as I treat your other injuries. Although I hear that it may have an unexpected side effect of some kind.”
A sudden cramp takes hold of Linn’s abdomen but she can’t bend or reach it to try and relieve the discomfort and she growls in frustration from the new pain.
“Oh, there it is,” Freddy grins. “I hope you don’t have an accident.”
Linn’s bowel and bladder both erupt in an uncontrolled stream of wastes as they forcefully contract and eject the urine and feces they had contained. Linn tries to squeeze her muscles and stop the elimination of her wastes but she can’t seem to make them close.
“Oops, spoke too soon. What’s the matter, cunt? Can’t make it stop? Guess I’ll have to do something to take care of that for you.”
Freddy hold up an enema tube that looks to be about four inches wide where Linn can see it just before he turns and forces it through her anus and up into her rectum. The tube is too large and Linn’s flesh is torn as the tube continues to be forced deeper and she screams anew. After pushing what seems to be several feet of tubing into Linn’s bowels he backs off for a second then points at Linn’s crotch between her legs.
“Need to do something about that one too.”
A catheter tube that is a good half inch wide winds down from overtop of the edge of the cast that encircles her pubic region, and rears back for a moment preparing to strike as if it were a snake. It shoots forwards and penetrates Linn’s urethra, mercilessly worming its way up and into her bladder. This tube is also too big, tearing her flesh from the girth and causing blood to flow. When the end arrives in her bladder the balloon expands to secure it in place. The balloon swells with water and grows larger than Linn’s own bladder causing the small exposed portion of her lower abdomen to expand outwards before it finally stops. Urine mixed with enough blood to turn it red flows out through the catheter while noticeably bloody loose stool flows from the enema tube to be collected in a bag and bottle on the floor. The sound of the screams Linn gives from this new attack rise until they are more of a high pitched keening than a scream.
“Music to my ear,” Freddy compliments while he holds a severed ear up near Linn’s head.
He laughs horribly and tosses the ear away as he gets a nasty look on his face. Linn finally stops screaming and breathes heavily trying to get enough air in her lungs.
Linn’s Hospital Room
A doctor and several nurses are working on Linn while they yell excitedly at each other. Their half finished phrases and broken conversation just as confused and impotent as the attempts to stop and fix whatever has happened to their patient who continues to writhe in pain yet cannot be woken from her slumber. Suddenly the fluid in the tube to her catheter turns bloody red while at the same time a gush of blood and feces soaks nearly two thirds of the sheets below Linn’s backside and down towards the foot of the bed. A cry of dismay arises from several of the people around the bed as this new and unexplained problem splatters them with refuse.
“This isn’t possible! What the hell is going on here?!?” the doctor cries out.
Linn
“Awww, did you strain your back too much relieving yourself? I guess we should see if we can reinforce the support for it.”
Linn stares fearfully at what Freddy holds up. They appear to be two support bars for external fixation with a lot of connectors for rods that would be screwed into bones and are almost as long as her spine.
“Looks like these might do the job, but there doesn’t seem to be anything to attach them to. What a shame. What are we going to do about that I wonder?”
For a brief moment nothing seems to be happening then Linn appears to be trying to squirm as she starts to groan in pain. Suddenly she is roughly flipped over so she is laying on her front, her arms flinging around and slamming into the exam/procedure table. The unusual opening in the back of Linn’s cast that exposes a large portion of her spine frames what is happening. All along Linn’s back positioned just to either side of the spinal column two rows of bumps are pressing up out of her back. The skin is stretching abnormally far as whatever is inside continues to grow longer and Linn’s pain filled groans begin to turn to screams.
“Oh look, what can these be I wonder?” Freddy laughs. “The anticipation is just killing me!”
Reaching down with two fingers on his right hand, he runs the wicked blades along the top of the protrusions which are five or six inches long now and painfully stretching Linn’s flesh. The skin splits under the blades causing Linn to scream even louder as blood sprays out around the metal rods that are exposed, the ends inside her body apparently embedded into her vertebrate next to the internal fixation rods that were already implanted previously.
“Looks like it’s time for a little reconstruction work here,” Freddy comments.
He brings the two long bars down and makes contact with the vertical rods pointing up from Linn’s back. The connectors on the bars grab and lock onto the rods while several short bars appear and connect between the two long bars adding to the rigid fixation. Wires appear and wrap tightly around the external bars then the ends of the wires plunge down diagonally into the flesh of Linn’s back, going in several directions at once and visibly tightening as they appear to connect with Linn’s ribs. In moments there is a veritable spider web of steel wires going between the external fixation bars, down into the open wounds along her spine to wrap around the internal fixation rods, and sideways piercing her flesh and tying onto her ribs.
Linn is in so much pain and the restrictions being forced on her ribs leaves her unable to make a noise as she almost can’t breathe. She is once again flipped unceremoniously over so that she is face up once again, except that this time she is supported solely by the new rods and bars applied to her spine. Her left arm flops around and hits Freddy in the chest as she is spun over.
“Oof! That’s got to stop!” he yells displeased.
He grabs the cast on her arm and yanks it up out of the way and rams a wooden rod at an angle into the cast at Linn’s left side then he slams the cast around her forearm down onto the other end of the bar. Plaster quickly wraps around and covers the bars entire length encasing and incorporating it into the cast. Linn’s arm is held out to the side at an odd angle with her elbow nearly at the level of her ear and her forearm pointed diagonally up and forwards so her hand is held out in front of her and up as high as the top of her head. The casts on her arm and her body expand to join together and envelop the shoulder within it, now making it a shoulder spica cast.
“That’s one, might as well take care of the other one,” Freddy grouses.
He reaches across Linn’s body and snatches up her right arm in its metal frame. He holds it up and out so that Linn’s right elbow is pointing backwards a bit and down at a slight angle with her lower arm pointing upwards and out away from her body diagonally. Freddy slams a metal rod into the cast on her right side and forces the other end of the narrow pole into the frame around Linn’s arm where it connects onto the bars there. The end in the cast is wrapped in plaster and half way up its length, fixing it in place. Two more bars extend out from below Linn and connect into the frame on her arm, one at the elbow and the other on the upper arm. The ends going underneath appear to be connected to the external bars on her back.
Linn’s Hospital Room
The plastic brace that Linn had been wearing has been removed and tossed over to one side. It is heavily spattered with blood and even covered with it in a few places. Suddenly a gush of blood splashed out from underneath her body, immediately soaking the sheets and splattering on the people around the bed.
“Oh my god! Not again!” a doctor yells.
“We’re going to lose her if this keeps up!” a nurse exclaims.
Linn’s chest visibly appears to stretch sideways as if something is pulling on it from behind and her ragged breathing stops.
“Get me an intubation kit NOW!” demands another doctor near her head. A sealed package is handed to him which is ripped open in haste and the contents go flying in all directions. Ignoring the fact that the intubation tube landed on the blood soaked sheet he grabs it and quickly works it into Linn’s mouth and down her throat into her airway.
“Bag her!” he yells.
A nurse immediately connects a blue rubber air bag to the tube and starts squeezing it rhythmically to push air into Linn’s lungs and out again.
Linn’s left arm suddenly flips up above her head, the hard cast over Linn’s hand almost hitting the nurse in the face, knocking the nurse’s hands away from the air bag. Linn’s right arm jerks out to the side and strikes a male nurse in the groin making him double over in surprise and some pain from the blow. Her left leg also jerks up into the air so her lower leg is held up a foot above and parallel to the bed. They try for just a moment to get Linn’s arms and leg out of the way but the limbs refuse to move. With curt exclamations of frustration they do their best to ignore and work around the new obstructions.
Linn
Over the next few minutes nothing more happens as Linn’s breathing slows down and starts to settle into a somewhat more normal rhythm. Freddy Krueger is nowhere to be seen.
“How ya doing in there Linn baby?” Freddy asks as he suddenly leans over top of Linn. “Finding it hard to move? I seem to recall that you weren’t too keen on needing to be immobilized again. And wasn’t there something about some kind of appliance scaring the crap out of you?
“A little too late for that don’t you think?” he laughs as he looks down lower along Linn’s ravaged body.
Freddy’s face continues to quietly hang over top of Linn’s while he smirks at her. She tries to look around, her eyes darting back and forth, and while she does not see anything her breathing starts to quicken. A few minutes later Linn catches sight of something out of the corner of her right eye. A second later there’s something on the left side as well. Two dark spots have appeared very low down below the level of her chin, one on either side. They seem to be slowly growing up along the length of her body towards her head.
A couple of minutes later and they have risen up high enough that she can start to make out a bit of detail to them. They look to be round and about half and inch or maybe two thirds of an inch thick and they are black. Linn watches them for several more minutes as they continue to get longer and start to extend up along beside her face on either side, about three or four inches away.
“Cute little rods, aren’t they?” Freddy mentions. “Oh, look, there’s two more in back too.”
Linn’s eyes grow wide as her gaze is torn from the two items and locks onto Freddy’s face when he says that. She starts to moan in fear and it is apparent she is trying to struggle and turn her head, but the cast is quite firm and she is unable to move. Her moans get more frantic as the black rods grow longer.
“Mmoh. Mmoh! MmmMmmh! MMOH!!”
The two rods she can see grow until the tops are up to just about the top of her head then a connector appears on the end of both of then with a new bar connected on that points towards the back of her head. She is certain that the far end of the perpendicular bars are also connected to the two matching rods on either side that Freddy has said were growing up behind her head.
“Well well well, look what I just found laying around. Such a pretty black crown with beautiful silver accessories in it! It’s just begging to be worn by a deserving individual!” Freddy exclaims as he holds up an item for Linn to see.
She can tell at a glance exactly what it is. He’s holding a Bremer Halo Crown in his hands. She can see that it already has titanium skull pins screwed into it waiting to be applied. Way too many pins. In fact, every single hole a pin could be screwed through is filled with a pin. Fifteen silver colored screws, each with a very sharp point at the tip aimed inwards to the center. Linn only had four pins in her head from the last time and knows that this is excessive to the extreme and she screams in panic.
Her attempts to cry out in fear and horror become nothing more than a low screaming as Freddy reaches above her head and fits the ring around her skull. She can’t see it happen, but the ring and waiting frame get connected so that together they are one rigid piece surrounding her head. The numerous pins look like teeth as their sharp tips point at Linn’s tender flesh.
“Time to see how this little meal tastes!” Freddy says then laughs.
All of the screws that Linn can see suddenly turn on their own extremely fast and she feels the points of all fifteen just barely poke into her skin then they all back off again. Linn’s screams turn into a sudden squeal of fear and anticipated pain that fails to resolve. Only the first instant of a pin prick is felt and it’s gone. This happens numerous times in quick succession, with the tips of the pins going barely a millimeter deeper on each round. Small spots of blood well up from below the surface of her skin, with a couple of spots managing to start trickling down. Freddy is laughing uproariously the entire time as the self animate screws tease and threaten Linn; her will slowly taking a beating from the anticipated torture that she can’t seem to stop.
“Enough teasing, get on with it!” Freddy finally commands.
The pins stop dancing in and out at the furthest distance from Linn’s head. Slowly, the center most pin right between her eyes starts to slowly turn by itself. The tip lowers down getting closer and closer. When it is about half way down to Linn’s head the next two pins, one on either side of the first, begin to turn and lower down. About the time the tip of the first single pin makes contact with Linn’s skin the next pair of pins begins to turn.
The speed of the pin does not change even a little bit as it starts to penetrate into her flesh. The pain is almost manageable, and Linn is letting out quick hard grunts that slowly get louder as it goes deeper. About the time the tip of the pin makes contact with actual bone the next pair of two pins have made contact with flesh and being to enter in. The second pair is half way down and the third pair starts to turn.
This process continues on relentlessly until all fifteen pins are slowly turning and being driven into Linn’s head. Blood is flowing down her head in multiple rivulets and her screaming is constant and amazingly loud. The tightening of fifteen titanium skull pins penetrating into the bones of Linn’s head continues for half an hour. As all of the pins continue to apply increasing pressure there is a crunching sound as Linn’s skull begins to be crushed at each pin site. Eventually the first center pin stops turning with barely any threads of the screw left visible on the outside of the ring, and the locking screw on the outside of the halo ring tightens down. Slowly, the rest of the pins come to a rest at the same point and are locked in place. The muscles in Linn’s neck occasionally contract, indicating an attempt to move, but the little wiggle room the cast allowed Linn’s head to have has completely disappeared and her head remains perfectly still.
Linn’s Hospital Room
More people are filling up Linn’s hospital room while they frantically attempt to stop numerous unexplainable wounds from bleeding, or try to clean up the blood and gore that is present on the floor so that people will not slip and fall in it. Suddenly Linn’s body tenses up again.
“Oh shit, not again!” a nurse yells.
Everyone turns to look and can do nothing more than watch as fifteen round holes appear in Linn’s head going horizontally across her forehead and around behind both ears. Blood spatters out from all of them then begins to flow out of her head. They all hear a horrible crunching sound come from her skull.
“This can’t be real! What the fuck is causing this?!?” one person yells as someone else turns and vomits in the corner.
Linn
“Might as well make it a record breaking day!” Freddy yells as he stands back several feet away from Linn.
In his hand is a silver rod like a long dart that he rears back then throws it at Linn. It hits and pierces her right shoulder, stopping as it embeds into the bone. He throws a second rod that strikes her shoulder from behind and ends up deep into another bony prominence. A third rod that is longer is held then thrown more like a javelin. It also enters her flesh and goes on through exiting the other side so that both ends are exposed on the front and back.
“Look Ma, a hat trick!” Freddy exclaims happily.
He walks up with both hands full of external fixation bars and quickly connects the new rods in Linn’s shoulder to each other and down to the rest of the frame on her arm. Several long bars are also connected down behind Linn to the top of the bars in her back. Four more extend up to connect to the vertical bars for the halo frame on the right side of Linn’s head, two on the front and two on the back.
Somehow, Linn has survived all of this and is still barely breathing. Her breaths are extremely shallow and ragged, but she is alive. Her eyes are closed and she quietly whimpers in between trying to gasp for air.
“Having trouble breathing there Linn? Got a frog in your throat?” Freddy cackles. “I suppose I’ll just have to get it out. But how will I get through this hard plaster cast I wonder?”
Linn wheezes as she tries to get enough air, her eyes so wide in fear that the once white, now sickly green of her eyeballs are clearly visible. She gives a high pitched scream as Freddy holds up a large two handed power drill and pulls the trigger in it a couple of times.
“Don’t worry ma’am, it’s just going to take a moment to drill through!” Freddy yells out as he holds the trigger down and places the tip of the drill bit against the plaster over Linn’s neck.
Linn’s screams are unheard with the sounds of the drill drowning them out. Freddy leans in laughing as the drill makes short work of the cast and penetrates. The drill bit rips into Linn’s neck with careless abandon sending a spray of blood and gore up into the air in all directions. He holds the drill running for several seconds as more blood and flesh get scattered over everything in sight.
“Well we’ve got the air way opened up it seems,” Freddy observes as he looks at the gaping hole in Linn’s neck while he tosses the drill off to the side. “Better get the ventilator hooked up now!”
The only sound coming from Linn now is a wet gurgling as air escapes out of her ruined throat and sucked back in as she tries to breathe.
Freddy reaches over and grabs a dirty blue hose that is connected to a huge device with hand sized wheels and large knobs on the front, and a large leather bellows with pneumatic pistons connected to the handles. The end of the hose at the machine is attached to the end of the bellows. The end of the tube in Freddy’s hand has a curved metal tube on it which has multiple tiny sharp looking spikes in three concentric rings around the open end.
With a glance at the tube in his hand then down at the hole in Linn’s throat he says, “Here we go!” and plunges the spiked metal tube down into Linn’s windpipe. The spikes are just long enough that they lightly tear at the soft flesh as they get shoved deeper through the trachea. When Freddy stops pushing the spikes all suddenly snap out and grow longer by a full three centimeters. They pierce the flesh and tightly fix the tube in place, ensuring it will not come out without shredding Linn’s throat into ribbons. The plaster of the cast over Linn’s mouth and nose begins to turn pink as blood starts to soak up into the material from below. As the color spreads the center turns red.
Linn’s Hospital Room
As the team of people continue to fight a losing battle around the blood and gore soaked bed and body of the girl laying on it, Linn’s throat explodes outwards in yet another spray of blood and torn tissue. Several people are caught in the gory wake of human destruction and cry out in fear. As they stand in momentary shock from this latest travesty the few monitors still attached to Linn’s body, devices which have continued to erratically beep in uneven and often altering rhythms yet still indicating the person they are attached to is still alive, all go from beeping to a single flat tone. Those with a LCD display depict a single flat line going across the screen.
A few half hearted attempts to continue to keep Linn alive are made but quickly abandoned in defeat. Many in the room flop down in a chair or simply down onto the floor, mentally and physically exhausted from the unbalanced fight to save a beloved girls life. More than a few openly begin weeping.
Linn
Linn is unable to move. Her entire body is completely immobilized by either hard, dry plaster or from uncountable metal rods and wires that pierce her flesh and are joined into an extensive external fixation framework over half of her body. Her throat is invaded by a wicked metal tube that is connected to an archaic looking device that pumps air in and out. More tubes are plugged into Linn’s body on her arm and in her genitals. The plaster of the cast is smeared and coated with her blood, and there are barely just a few spots where the plaster still shows to be white for more than half an inch.
“Hahahaha,” chortles Freddy, now dressed in a red and green horizontally striped lab coat and holding a metal medical chart in his hands. “Another patient happily admitted to the Intensive Uncaring Ward! Well maybe not happily for the patient, but we get to bill them for the rest of their life!”
The sound of unknown machines beeping is heard as we get a close up of Linn’s wild, terror filled eyes darting back and forth. The view quickly pulls back away from her tortured and immobile form, showing a brief glimpse of a dirty and decrepit hospital room, then the view retreats out the window and pulls back showing a multi-floored old hospital building that should be condemned. Each floor is painted in alternating colors of red and green. A crooked and falling apart sign out front displays the name of the building.
Freddy Kruger’s
Institute Of Medical Malpractice
And Long Term Torture & Decline Facility
The end
