Grizzly Bear: Maul: Back & Shoulders

The claws dug until they grated on the knuckles of your spine, and when the doctor cleaned it he went quiet in a way you did not like. Something in the wiring is bruised or worse, your left leg answers slow, and he will not promise it ever answers proper again.

• Face-down in a cot for 7 days while the deep furrows are packed, drained and re-packed with carbolic lint
• Left leg drags and buckles without warning; a stick or a shoulder to lean on everywhere you go
• Fever watch through the nights, deep back wounds go bad quiet and fast
• /me hauls the slow leg forward with a hand behind the knee, saying nothing

Recovery 7 days face-down under a doctor, and the leg tells you the rest in its own time, untreated, the fever decides instead·Doctor, urgently

Five furrows run the whole slope of your back, shoulder to hip, deep enough to lay the muscle open in ropes. The stitching is done in relays, you flat on a table gripping the far edge, the doctor working down your back like a man rowing.

• Sixty-odd stitches down the back, no lifting, no riding above a walk, nothing overhead for 5 days
• Sleeping on your belly or not at all for 5 days
• /me lies face-down on the bunk, shirt off, back a country of bandages

Recovery 5 days of a doctor's relays and clean dressings, 10 or worse festering without·Doctor, urgently

A claw caught the flat of your shoulder blade and scored it like a butcher marking a roast, you heard it through your own bones. The arm on that side lifts to the shoulder and no further, and the furrow above it took fifteen stitches.

• That arm is useless above shoulder height for 5 days, no rifle stock, no hat-tipping, no hauling
• Bone-deep ache in the blade every time the arm swings walking
• Fifteen stitches over the shoulder blade, dressed morning and night

Recovery 5 days with a doctor minding the bone-score, 9 if you work it anyway·Doctor required

The long muscles beside your spine are laid open in two places, parted so clean you could see the grain. The doctor sews the deep layer first with gut and the hide after with silk, and tells you a hand's width left and this is a burying instead.

• Two deep sutured furrows beside the spine, no bending, no lifting, no saddle for 5 days
• You turn your whole body to look at things, stiff as a weathervane
• Seepage through the wraps the first 2 days; dressings changed twice daily

Recovery 5 days sewn and dressed by a doctor, 9 slow ones without·Doctor required

It stood on your back while it raked, and you felt your ribs flex toward the dirt with every shift of its weight. Two ribs cracked in the back where they spring from the spine, under furrows that wanted twenty stitches.

• Cracked ribs in the back, deep breaths, coughs and laughter all cost extra for 4 days
• Twenty stitches across the rear ribs; no pack, no bedroll straps over that shoulder

Recovery 4 days wrapped and stitched under a doctor, 8 if you carry on regardless·Doctor required

Six furrows, two swipes' worth, cross your back in a ragged lattice. None found bone, all found blood, and the man who stitched you counted out loud until you told him to stop.

• A lattice of stitches across the back, shirts go on gingerly and packs don't go on at all for 4 days
• Seepage marks the back of every shirt you own for 2 days
• /me eases the suspenders off the shoulders and lets them hang

Recovery 4 days with a doctor's needle, 7 with a friend's rough stitching and luck·Doctor required

The claws raked you and the pin ground the wounds full of forest floor, pine duff, grit and whatever the bear walked through. The cleaning hurts longer than the clawing did, carbolic worked deep with a probe while you bite a strap.

• Furrows scrubbed and left partly open to drain for 2 days before stitching closed
• Bandages changed twice a day; the sweet reek of carbolic follows you
• No lying on your back for 4 days

Recovery 4 days if a doctor cleans it proper, 8 and a fever if the dirt stays in·Doctor required

Three deep rakes across the small of the back, stitched taut, that turn every ordinary motion, sitting, standing, mounting a horse, into a negotiation. You will sleep on your belly and rise like an old dog for the better part of a week.

• Stitches across the small of the back, no bending at the waist, mount from a stump for 4 days
• Rising from any chair takes a grunt and a moment's planning

Recovery 4 days of doctor-tended stitches, 7 doing it the hard way·Doctor required

One swipe crossed your back ribs and left three bleeding drag-lines, shallow at the ends and honest in the middle. A wash, a dozen stitches in the deepest stretch, and you are patched, sore where the ribs spring with every breath.

• A dozen stitches over the back ribs, twisting and hauling stay gentle for 3 days
• Breathing deep tugs the stitched stretch; you catch yourself sipping air

Recovery 3 days stitched and minded, 5 on grit alone·Doctor advised

The rakes themselves are shallow, but you were ground into the dirt while you got them, and every line is filthy. Whoever cleans you spends an hour picking pine needles out of your back like quills.

• Scrubbed-raw claw lines across the back, dressed and itching for 3 days
• Wound-watch: any furrow that goes hot and proud means a doctor after all
• /me sits backward on a chair, gripping the rail, while the furrows are scrubbed

Recovery 3 days kept clean, 6 and a fever if the forest floor wins·Doctor advised

Four rungs of torn skin climb your back from belt to shoulder blade, none deep, all bloody. Plastered shut in a row, it looks like a ladder some small devil climbed down.

• Plastered claw lines up the back, keep them dry, no swimming or heavy sweat for 3 days
• Shirt sticks to the seepage by evening the first 2 days

Recovery 3 days under plasters, 5 if you let the shirt do the nursing·Doctor advised

The coat took most of the tearing and your hide took the rest, a hand-span gash below the shoulder blade where a claw got through the seam. Ten stitches, a shot of whiskey and a coat that now lets the wind in behind.

• Ten stitches below the shoulder blade, nothing slung across that side for 2 days
• /me shrugs the ruined coat on anyway, cold air fingering through the claw rents

Recovery 2 days stitched and behaving, 4 otherwise·Doctor advised

More bruising than blood, the whole flat of your back seized up overnight where the paw drove you down, with two shallow scratches thrown in for signature. Bending for your boots is the morning's first defeat.

• Back muscles seized stiff, bending, hauling and quick turns come dear for 3 days
• Shallow scratches over the spine, washed and plastered

Recovery 3 days loosening up, quicker with liniment and a hot soak·Doctor advised

A pair of scratches across both shoulder blades, the kind a barn cat could nearly claim if barn cats were the size of stoves. Whiskey, a rag and a friend to reach the spots you can't.

• Stinging scratches between the shoulders for 2 days, worst when you sweat
• You need a second pair of hands to dress them, which costs you a story each time

Recovery 2 days of stinging, gone by 3·No doctor needed

The paw came down flat across your spine and drove the wind and the fight out of you together. No blood to show, just a deep bruise up the middle of your back and a new respect for playing dead.

• Deep bruise along the spine, hard chairs and long rides ache for 2 days
• /me eases back against the wall, then thinks better of it and sits forward

Recovery 2 days of tenderness, faded by 4·No doctor needed

The claws dragged flat and left burning welts from shoulder to hip without breaking more than the top of the skin. You look striped as a Sunday awning and feel every stripe when the shirt goes on.

• Raised welts down the back that sting under cloth for a day or 2
• Cold creek water is the only thing that quiets them

Recovery A day or 2 for the welts to lie flat·No doctor needed

Your duster died so you didn't, the whole back panel hangs in four ribbons, and beneath it you carry one shallow scratch and a bruise. You wear the ruin home because the story needs the exhibit.

• One shallow scratch below the collar, gone in a day or 2
• Duster's back panel in ribbons, wearing it, folk buy the tale before you tell it

Recovery A day or 2, the duster never·No doctor needed

The bedroll lashed across your shoulders ate the whole swipe, wool and canvas flayed to a bird's nest while your back got only the shove. You rolled with the blow, came up running and did not stop to collect the feathers.

• A pressure bruise across the shoulders where the lashings drove in, faint by tomorrow
• One gutted bedroll; you sleep cold until it's replaced and warm in the telling forever

Recovery Overnight, plus one cold night's sleep·No doctor needed

The swipe landed square on your pack and sent you sprawling out from under the second one. You lost the pack, the pot lashed to it and a little dignity, and kept every inch of your hide.

• Knocked flat and winded, shaky for an hour, sound by supper
• Pack raked open and scattered down the slope; the claw-holed frame is your new trophy
• /me holds up the pack frame, three claw holes clean through, and just points

Recovery By morning, entire·No doctor needed

You dropped face-down, laced your fingers behind your neck the way the old-timer told you, and did not move while it huffed and pressed and raked your coat to ribbons. It nosed your ear once, you felt the breath of it, hot as a forge, and walked away. You got up unmarked but for welts, owning the best campfire story in the territory.

• Welts and a coat in ribbons, nothing a night's sleep won't square
• You flinch at heavy breathing for a day and dine out on the tale for years
• The right to teach the play-dead trick as gospel, having bet your life on it

Recovery One stiff evening and you're new-minted·No doctor needed