Beaten & Left for Dead

Something inside was torn in the beating, and it bled slow through the freezing night while you lay where they dumped you. Whoever finds you at dawn finds you gray-lipped, cold, and barely answering, the doctor works fast and makes no promises.

• Bedridden 7 days, weak as water, watched around the clock
• Skin gray and cold to the touch for 2 days; sits up only with help
• No solid food while the doctor watches the belly for 3 days
• /me lies very still, breath shallow, eyes tracking the room without moving

Recovery Weeks under a doctor's roof if the bleeding is caught; the first two nights decide everything.·Doctor, urgently

You walked away from the beating, sore but standing, and that was the lie of it. A day later your belly has gone rigid and drum-tight, the pain doubles you mid-stride, and you go down in front of witnesses, something inside has been bleeding the whole while.

• Carried to the doctor, not walked, the emergency scene is yours
• Bedrest 5 days with the belly checked morning and night
• No lifting, riding, or brawling for 7 days
• /me folds around their middle without warning, knees buckling

Recovery 10 days under close care if the doctor catches it; without one, the second collapse is worse than the first.·Doctor, urgently

They rolled you into the creek to finish the job, and the water nearly obliged. You coughed up half the current when you dragged yourself out, and now, two days on, a fever is climbing and your chest crackles like wet kindling.

• Wet, crackling cough that worsens through 3 days
• Fever spikes each evening for 3 days, bedrest and steam on doctor's orders
• Short of breath on stairs and slopes for 5 days
• Shivers at the sound of running water for a few days

Recovery A week of mustard plasters under a doctor's watch; untreated, the crackle becomes pneumonia proper.·Doctor, urgently

They finished with boots, and one found your skull. You surface hours later unable to hold the day in your head, you ask the same question three times, vomit at sudden light, and the hours around the attack are simply gone.

• Cannot keep new memory the first day, asks the same questions over and over
• Vomiting and doubled vision in spells for 2 days
• Dark room, no riding, no reading for 4 days
• The attack itself is a blank you may never fill in

Recovery 5 days of dark and quiet under a doctor's watch; the missing hours likely never return.·Doctor, urgently

Their boots cracked ribs along one side, and now every deep breath is a knife between the slats. Laughing, coughing, and sneezing have all become acts of self-harm.

• Cracked ribs, no lifting, hauling, or brawling for 5 days
• Breathes shallow; long sentences run out of air
• Guards the bad side against every hug and handshake
• /me presses a forearm to their ribs before easing down into the chair

Recovery A doctor's wrap and 10 days of care; unwrapped, every cough resets the clock.·Doctor required

They thought a shallow grave would keep, and it nearly did. You clawed up through six inches of earth with cracked ribs and split nails, and you came out of the ground gasping into a world that had already counted you dead.

• Split and torn fingernails, both hands dressed for 4 days
• Cracked rib, no lifting or brawling for 5 days
• Cannot bear tight dark spaces; sleeps with a lamp lit for 5 days
• /me scrubs at fingernails that are already clean, again

Recovery A week for the hands and rib with a doctor's care; the taste of grave dirt takes longer to leave.·Doctor required

They beat you, took your horse and boots, and left you afoot in open desert. By the time you found help on the second day, the sun had finished what their fists began, you arrived cracked-lipped, sun-scorched, and swaying.

• Beaten and heat-wrung both, bedrest 2 days, shade mandatory for 4 days
• Blistered feet from the bootless miles, dressed for 4 days, short walks only
• Sunburn laid over every bruise, tender twice over for 3 days
• Dizzy spells when standing for 2 days; drinks constantly

Recovery 5 days of shade, water, and salve with a doctor's care; a hard week without.·Doctor required

One eye is swollen to a slit and your jaw clicks and grinds when it moves at all. Nothing is broken outright, says the doctor, prodding it while you regret every life choice, but chewing is out of the question for days.

• Broth, mash, and soup only for 3 days
• One eye swollen shut for 2 days, no depth to your aim, no shooting
• Speaks through clenched teeth, short and quiet, for 3 days
• /me tilts their head to sight one-eyed down the room

Recovery 5 days for the eye to open and the jaw to unclench; cold compresses shave it shorter.·Doctor required

You took a knock to the head that fogged the whole affair, you know you were beaten, but the faces, the voices, even the reason have all slid behind frosted glass. The headaches come and go; the answers don't come at all.

• Cannot identify your attackers, the memory is genuinely gone
• Thumping headaches each afternoon for 3 days
• No fast riding or gunplay for 2 days while the fog thins

Recovery 3 days for the headaches; the missing memory is the price of the story.·Doctor advised

They stomped you when you were down, and one of them left a perfect boot-sole bruise across your ribs, heel, shank, and all. The doctor calls it remarkable; you call it evidence.

• Deep boot-shaped bruise on the ribs, sore for 5 days
• Twists and turns gingerly for 3 days, reaching crossways costs extra
• The bruise is legible enough to match to a boot, if you find the boot
• /me lifts their shirt hem to show the boot print, deadpan

Recovery 5 days from purple to yellow to gone; a poultice speeds the colors along.·Doctor advised

Your face took the brunt and now tells the whole town before you say a word, a black eye going green, a split brow, a lip like a bee sting. Every conversation for days opens with the same question, and you'd best pick your answer now.

• Spectacularly bruised face for 5 days, strangers stare, friends wince
• Split brow closed with sticking plaster for 3 days
• Smiling pulls the lip split; you smirk sideways instead for 2 days

Recovery The colors run their course over 6 days; nothing to do but wear them well.·Doctor advised

You covered your head and let your forearms pay the toll. Both are bruised from wrist to elbow, deep enough that a handshake makes you see stars, but they did their job, your skull is intact and you saw at least one face.

• Forearms bruised black, no roping, hauling, or fistfights for 4 days
• Handshakes and friendly arm-grabs make you wince for 3 days
• You caught a clear look at one attacker, a face you'd know again

Recovery 5 days for the arms to fade; they ache in the cold for a while after.·Doctor advised

The beating was businesslike; the robbery was thorough. Boots, gun, hat, coin, gone, and you made the long walk home in your socks, collecting stares to go with the bruises. The aches are ordinary; the fury is not.

• Sore all over, moves stiffly for 3 days
• Bruised, blistered feet from the bootless walk, tender for 2 days
• Owns nothing they carried that morning, the debt list is now a document
• /me arrives at the saloon doors hatless, bootless, and radiating quiet fury

Recovery 3 days for the body; the belongings are a matter for the sheriff, or for you.·Doctor advised

A split lip and one glorious shiner, the classic set. It stings when you drink and throbs when you chew, and everyone who sees it silently decides you probably deserved it.

• Black eye for 4 days, ripening through the full rainbow
• Split lip stings on whiskey and coffee for 2 days

Recovery 4 days; raw beefsteak on the eye if you can spare the steak.·No doctor needed

One good knock raised a goose egg above your ear and rang your bell for a minute or two. You came around fast, but for a few days every footstep behind you turns your head.

• Tender lump above the ear for 3 days, hats sit crooked
• Startles at footsteps approaching from behind for 3 days
• /me shifts to put their back against the wall, casual about it

Recovery 3 days for the lump; the jumpiness fades with quiet days.·No doctor needed

The beating was survivable; the night outdoors nearly upstaged it. You woke at dawn stiff as a plank, sneezing, and soaked through with dew, and the head cold arrived in town before you did.

• Sneezing and sniffling for 3 days
• Stiff back and shoulders for 2 days, stretches and groans on rising
• Voice gone nasal; unsympathetic friends find it funny

Recovery 3 days of soup and stove; the bruises leave before the cold does.·No doctor needed

They swung plenty and landed little. You have scattered bruises, a scuffed cheek, and grass stains from where you dropped and covered, and the worst injury by far is having to describe it.

• Scattered light bruises, gone in 2 days
• Retells the fight with steadily improving odds

Recovery 2 days, or one good story sooner.·No doctor needed

You went limp at the third punch and did the finest dying act of your career. They lost interest, kicked dirt on you, and left, never finding the money belt under your shirt or the second knife in your boot.

• A few stage-worthy bruises, fading in 2 days
• Kept every valuable that mattered, they robbed a decoy pocket
• /me lies impressively still, one eye barely cracked open

Recovery 2 days, and most of that is dusting off.·No doctor needed

A freight wagon crested the hill at the second punch, and your attackers scattered like quail. The teamster hauled you up, shared his coffee, and delivered you to town with one bruise and a very good description of three horses.

• One bruised cheekbone, gone in 2 days
• A witness, a description, and a teamster who owes you nothing but likes you anyway

Recovery A day, if that.·No doctor needed

They dumped you unconscious in open country on a freezing night, and your horse would not leave. She stood over you until dawn, breaking the wind with her body, then knelt so you could crawl across the saddle, and walked you home slow and steady like she had rehearsed it. The whole town has heard; the butcher saves her apples now.

• A night's chill and ordinary bruises, right as rain in 2 days
• Your horse is famous, strangers bring her treats and ask you to tell it
• /me leans their forehead against the mare's neck for a long moment

Recovery 2 easy days; the horse gets the better care and has earned it.·No doctor needed