Reaping What Grows

"Doesn't sound appealing. Do you have any other ideas?" She tries to pull her hands from the straps, just in case it works, just in case she can get free of them.

 

Katters comes around the girl’s right side, carrying a metal tray. “I’ll let you know if I think of something,” she says, setting her tools down. “How’s your hand?”

 

"...better." She breathes in and turns her head to see what tools the doctor has.

 

“That’s a shame,” Katters says.

The tray is not well-populated. Katters has stocked it with a scalpel, a pair of gloves, and a rubber strap, which she takes and wraps around the girl’s arm. She ties it off, tight, above the elbow.

Then she walks away, again.

 

Vivi stares at the scalpel. If she can just get her hands on that...

The discomfort from the rubber strap barely registers as she tries to think of a way to get it.

 

Katters clucks her tongue, standing behind the girl. “That’s in my way,” she says, and takes a pair of scissors to the girl’s shirt.

She cuts from the middle of the neck, straight down to the mid-back. When the fabric is spread, it reveals the girl’s shoulder-blades and the back of her ribcage.

“Better,” Katters says.

She slathers something on the girl’s back, some kind of salve. It’s cold, but it burns — at first a mild tingle, but soon more acutely, the heat tightening and eating away at her skin.

Katters wheels a stool over, sitting on it as she reaches the girl’s side. “That’ll take a minute,” she says. “We can get started on the bonus material while it works.”

 

Vivi grits her teeth. She's not going to give the doctor the satisfaction of knowing how much pain she's in. She just has to stay focused, wait for her opportunity.

Even if it's going to be a tough wait. Especially then.

 

Katters unstraps the girl’s wrist, leaving her upper-arm bound to the chair. She keeps out of the girl’s radius, her still-broken nose having been a lasting lesson in what specimens can do if you give them an inch.

She takes the gloves from the tray and puts them on.

 

Vivi waits for the doctor to pick up the scalpel, for it to get closer. The moment it's close enough to grab, she's going to go for it.

The pain does fade into the background a little as she concentrates, but not so much that it's gone entirely.

 

Katters takes the girl’s hand and pulls it over to her lap, bending her arm at an awkward angle.

 

Vivi lets it happen, keeping her eyes on the doctor. Come on, come on...

 

Interlocking her forearm with the girl’s, Katters holds the arm in place. She takes up the scalpel in her other hand.

She makes a couple of quick cuts into the bandages wrapped around the girl’s palm, nicking her skin in the process.

 

Vivi manages to not visibly react.

 

She sets the scalpel down, twisting on the stool to reach the tray behind her, then rips the bandages and splint away.

 

Vivi's back still feels like it's on fire, and her focus is slipping. She squeezes her eyes shut for a few moments, trying to ignore it.

 

The splint is thrown carelessly to the floor, and Katters turns the girl’s arm in her hands, taking a close look. Apparently satisfied, she picks the scalpel back up and presses the blade into the girl’s forearm.

 

Vivi's eyes fly open and it takes all she has to keep from trying to pull her arm away from the doctor. Stay still, stay still, you can do this.

 

Slowly, Katters pulls the blade around the forearm, meeting the ends of the incision together. She balances the scalpel between her index and middle finger, and spreads part of the wound open to check its depth.

It bleeds, and the blood obscures the fat and flesh as it fills the wound, before dripping down to the chair arm below.

 

Vivi strains against the straps, eyes stinging with tears. This is too much to try and ignore; she abandons patience without any more hesitation and tries to wrench her arm away from the doctor.

 

The sudden jerk knocks the scalpel out of Katters’ hand, and she drops it somewhere below the chair.
She lets go of the girl’s arm. “Great,” she says, standing and going for one of the cabinets.