Arm & Forearm: Rifle: Straight Through

The rifle round hit bone at full speed and your upper arm burst from the inside, humerus in splinters, the artery torn, the exit a hole you could put three fingers in. The doctor works with tourniquet and saw laid side by side on the tray, and which he reaches for next is the whole of the question.

• Bedbound, grey and cold-sweating, 3 days before you sit up unaided
• The arm splinted and swaddled thick as a bedroll, useless for 7 days
• Laudanum measured out by the clock
• /me watches the doctor's hand hover between the splint box and the saw

Recovery 7 days abed at the least under a doctor before the arm's fate is known, untreated is a short story·Doctor, urgently

The round passed through and the shock of it broke your upper arm bone without ever touching it square, snapped like a green branch, with a wound bleeding on either side of the break. Splinted long, bound to your body, and the exit stitched around the splint boards.

• Arm splinted and bound to the body for 7 days, no shooting, roping or two-hand work
• A bone-deep ache that laudanum only muffles
• An exit scar the size of a half dollar riding over the break

Recovery 7 days splinted under a doctor's eye, and a crooked weak arm if it sets itself·Doctor, urgently

In at the front no wider than a pencil, out the back through a hole the size of a silver dollar with the meat ruined around it. The doctor trimmed the dead grey edges with scissors before the silk went in, high-velocity lead kills flesh it never even touched.

• Twenty stitches and a drain rag in the exit, dressed daily for 4 days
• Sling for 5 days, no load on the arm
• A dot of a scar in front, a dollar-sized one behind

Recovery 5 days slung with daily dressings, a rotting week without the trimming·Doctor, urgently

The round missed bone but its shockwave tore along the nerve cord, and your hand quit like a struck lamp, wrist limp, fingers dumb, the arm alive but disobedient. The doctor pricks your fingertips with a pin and watches your face more than your hand.

• Gun hand useless for 5-6 days, no shooting, no reins in that fist
• Buttons and buckles become a two-act struggle
• Wrist splinted flat so the tendons keep their length
• /me stares at the fingers, willing them to curl, and gets a twitch for the effort

Recovery 5-6 days splinted as the nerve wakes with care, and no promises at all without it·Doctor required

Through the muscle clean, but a rifle round bruises a channel three times its width, by evening the whole track had swelled hot and the flesh at the exit turned dark. The doctor opened the wound back up and cut away what had died, swearing quietly at repeating rifles in general.

• Wound reopened, trimmed and packed open to drain for 3 days
• Arm swollen tight as a sausage skin, slung for 4 days
• A fever the first night, sweated through by dawn

Recovery 4 days draining and dressing with a doctor, a gangrene lottery without·Doctor required

Through the forearm at speed, and the round clipped the thumb-side bone hard enough to crack it without scattering it. Splinted from knuckles to elbow, your arm is now a plank of wood that happens to hurt.

• Forearm splinted knuckles to elbow for 6-7 days, no grip, no gun, no rope
• The fork moves to the off hand at every meal
• /me raps a knuckle on the splint boards as if knocking to be let out

Recovery 6-7 days splinted with a doctor setting it, crooked and longer without·Doctor required

The round tore out the far side of your arm at an angle and lifted a flap of meat like the page of a book. It laid back down neat enough under a dozen silk stitches, but the whole page throbs whenever your pulse comes up.

• A stitch line long as a playing card that pulls at every big move for 4 days
• No lifting or hauling for 4 days
• A flat shiny scar that never quite tans

Recovery 4 days of care and salve, 6 and a proud-flesh scar if you let it gape·Doctor required

Two big holes bleed faster than one small one, and rifle holes are not small, you soaked a saddle blanket getting to help. Packed, bound and laid flat, you are the color of biscuit dough and about as strong.

• Dizzy when standing quick for 3 days
• No saddle without a steadying hand for 2 days
• Both wounds packed, bandage lumps under the sleeve
• /me stands too fast, goes grey, and sits back down pretending that was the plan

Recovery 3 days of broth and rest with care, 5-6 weak ones without·Doctor required

The round passed through the meat without cutting anything that matters, but the shock of its passing bruised the arm from skin to bone. It looks like two neat holes; it feels like the whole limb was slammed in a barn door.

• A deep aching stiffness for 3 days, slow to draw, slow to lift
• Bruises surfacing in green-black blooms along the arm
• Sling for 2 days out of mercy

Recovery 3 days of rest and liniment with care, 5 creaking ones without·Doctor advised

Clean through the upper arm, and the muscle went on strike, the arm hangs heavy and stupid, lifting maybe half of what it should. The holes themselves are honest little things; it is the engine behind them that took the blow.

• Arm at half strength for 3 days, no roping or ladder work
• Long guns braced on a rest or not fired at all for 3 days
• Both scabs itching in chorus

Recovery 3 days slung and rested, 5 if you insist on proving something·Doctor advised

The round threaded the forearm without finding bone, but the track burns like a hot wire drawn through the muscle whenever you make a fist. Grip comes and goes; today it mostly goes.

• Grip unreliable for 2-3 days, dropped cards, sloppy knots
• Forearm wrapped tight, wrist to elbow
• /me shakes out the hand as if the sting could be flung off the fingers

Recovery 2-3 days wrapped with care, 4-5 without·Doctor advised

Through the outer thick of the arm so fast it hardly knew to bleed at first, a punched hole either side, edges almost tidy. The speed that ruins deep wounds does shallow ones a strange mercy.

• A sore, tight channel for 2-3 days, no heavy lifting
• Two tidy scabs the width of a pencil
• A dull ache when the weather leans on it

Recovery 2-3 days dressed and easy, 4 without·Doctor advised

A clean pass through the fat and edge-muscle below the shoulder. The doctor washed both holes with carbolic, hung your arm in a sling, and admitted the sling was doing most of the doctoring.

• Sling for 2 days
• An ache raising the arm past the shoulder for 3 days
• The same question answered a dozen times a day

Recovery 2 days slung with a wash and clean linen, 4 if it sours under a dirty sleeve·Doctor advised

The round was through the thin edge of your arm before the pain arrived, so fast and clean the wound looks days old already. Two small holes, one small ache, and a new respect for repeating rifles.

• A tender line through the arm's edge for 2 days
• Matching scabs smaller than shirt buttons
• A flinch when anyone mimes taking aim

Recovery 2 days with clean cloth, 3 without, it mostly heals itself out of spite·No doctor needed

In and out through the pinch of flesh at the back of the arm, two punctures a thumb-width apart. It burned like a brand for a minute and settled to a whine you can ignore in company.

• A sore spot that finds every chair back and doorframe for 2 days
• Two dot scars, souvenirs of a near miss
• /me twists the arm around, trying to see both holes at once

Recovery A day or two either way, ointment buys comfort, not time·No doctor needed

The round shaved through the outer edge of the muscle, more open trench than tunnel, out before it was fairly in. It bled brave and quit early.

• A stinging groove under a plaster for 1-2 days
• An ache when the arm swings full
• A sleeve stain no boiling will lift

Recovery A day or two, treated or not, keep the dust out and it minds itself·No doctor needed

The round passed through the loose flesh so shallow you heard the crack of it more than felt it, then felt it plenty, a wasp-sting line with a hole at either end. Barely worth the bandage; entirely worth the retelling.

• A wasp-sting soreness for a day
• Twin nicks scabbed over by morning
• A small jump at the next whip-crack you hear

Recovery A day at most either way, the sting outlives the wound·No doctor needed

The round threaded the fold of skin at your arm's inner edge as you twisted away, punching through skin and shirt and nothing else. An inch flatter and it would have been your heart's own business; instead it is two small holes and a great deal of exhaling.

• The fold of skin tender for a day
• Two neat holes in the shirt, kept as evidence
• An hour of the shakes once it was over

Recovery A day of soreness at most, nothing to treat but your nerves·No doctor needed

Through the very outermost skin of the arm at full speed, a red line with an entry and exit you need good light to tell from scratches. The bark of the rifle scared you worse than the lead did.

• A red welted line for a day
• A burn hole in the sleeve to explain at cards
• A day of standing a little wide of windows

Recovery A day, treated or not, a splash of whiskey and it is done·No doctor needed

The round passed through the billow of your sleeve and the barest skin of your forearm, kept all its speed, and split the fence post beside the man who shot you, blew splinters across his face and sat him down in the dirt. You stand untouched but for a red thread on your arm, and every witness swears it louder than the last.

• A red thread of a mark, gone in a day
• A split fence post the whole town has been out to visit
• /me lays a finger along the red line on the forearm, sighting down it at the splintered post

Recovery Nothing to mend but the fence, the story arrives places before you do·No doctor needed