Authors Note: Late Update cause network error
It's time for ... Parental! Ok, that was not imaginative.
Welcome back, MasterFran at the start and I finally present you after a long time… chapter 10! Reviews are welcome as always, and if you still like the story line. I already have my story up to the final in my head! It just has to get out of my brain on a paper. But now: Have fun!
"And cut!" It was a great relief for Johnny to hear the clapping of the film flap. He dropped his heavy, loaded backpack, which he had to drag around for his role in "Tommy Scissorfists". It had taken two years to bring this film to production. Johnny had even managed to get a real tarkatan for his main role.
It was actually a good feeling to be able to pursue his work again. The last few days had been very stirring for him. More than three weeks had passed, but his little princess had not awakened yet from her sleep. "Maybe she's just waiting for the prince to kiss her." He had joked at his last dinner.
With Sonya, however, was not to be trifled. For him, it was a way to deal with these terrible events, but the General was an enigmatic sphinx. She had never shown a sense of motherhood during her daughter's education. But when it came to the life of her only child, Sonya's instincts also rose high. No one should dare to get too close to her girl. All the worse, she thought that she had failed again in her role as mentor and mother. But for her too, it was the best way to go back to work and leave the fight to the well-trained doctors.
Lost in thought, he sat down in his chair and touched his right hip bone. The surgical result had become good and only 2 small scars remained from his stem cell donation from the pelvis. No comparison to catastrophic blood donation campaign of his wife. After being forbidden to make a third round after two blood donations because of her own health risk, she had tried to rescue her daughter out of sheer desperation, by putting herself a needle into the vein. Unfortunately, Sonya's anatomical basic knowledge was very weak because she perforated an artery instead and arranged a regular bleeding in the living room, whereupon she was suspended from work for a week due to illness. The matter was embarrassing to her, and her dark purple thick tarnished arm reminded her every day of the misfortune. Fortunately, the first donations have already been given to secure the life of their daughter for the first time (her veins have become so useless that no needle in the world would have drawn blood from them again).
"Hey boss, should I get you a coffee?" That was Julius, a student intern who was allowed to help on set since a couple of days. "Thanks but no. That's not good for my blood pressure. But I could stand a beer right now!" The boy with the brown curls nodded eagerly. "Yes, I'm on my way!"
Johnny leaned back and closed his eyes. All his thoughts were with Cassie. She was so wise and brave, and yet so weak and fragile at the moment. He would never give up the hope of her reawakening. If she would never wake up, his life would be extinguished. A life without his daughter was no longer conceive for the movie star.
Just as he tried to banish her terrible state from his thoughts, his mobile phone began to ring with the familiar "James Bond Theme". He reckoned with a new call from Sonya, which demanded more heparin syringes (that would be the fourth time). But that was not her number, which lit up on the display. The entry was "Nephron Hospital"! "Oh my God, please do not let anything bad happen to Cass!" he whispered.
Every day he had visited his daughter in hospital. Sometimes he told her a funny story about his shooting, and occasionally brought her little surprises. He had never received a call, because Cassie's condition remained virtually unchanged over the last three weeks. The more nervous Johnny was now by the incoming call of the senior physician. But he took a deep breath and approached the phone call: "Hello? You talk to Johnny Cage?" Immediately, the excited voice of Dr. Nephron: "Greetings Mr. Cage! It won't take that long. We have news for you and your wife!" He got goose bumps. "Shit, man. Is it Cassie? Oh my God, something happened to her? "He asked in a trembling voice. There followed a brief pause before there were the three long awaited words, which left his heart exposed for a moment.
"She is awake!" Was the short answer. Johnny didn't know what to answer. Everything was rotating at a time. She is awake. Cassie woke up. Dr. Nephron seemed to notice his short burnout. "About 20 minutes ago Cassandra came to consciousness. We successfully extube her and keep the circulation in good order. If I could ask you, then please come immediately with your wife to the hospital. Your daughter will appreciate your presence. Everything else we clarify on the station. See you!"
The call fell silent. Slowly Johnny's hand sank with his cell phone. His heart pounded hugely in his chest. She is awake! Now there was no time to lose. Johnny jumped up from his chair, almost beating Julius the tray of glasses out of his hand. "Sorry, man. Almost overlooked!" The star stammered quickly. Julius seemed equally confused. "But what about your beer, Mr. Cage?" Johnny was already running to the exit of the stage. "I'm sorry, I have to drive a car! Give it to Tony or one of the other guys. Tell them, the break will be extended, I'll call them on the way!" He yelled over his shoulder before the door fell into the lock.
The engine shouted loudly as Johnny raced full-throttle over the terrain toward the highway. He wanted to take the ramp to the hospital until he remembered that he couldn't go without Sonya. So he tore the car with full force and heated with 190 mph on the way, which led directly into the military area. It should not take 45 min to arrive. Determined, Johnny stepped closer to the accelerator.
Sonya pained her face as she slipped the thin needle through the skin in under-skin tissue. Disgusted, she pushed the butt off and felt the heparin spread between her cells. With a swing, she pulled the needle out of her arm again and placed it with the syringe aside. Sonya hated needles above all. Nevertheless, for days she had been busy with this procedure, to treat her swollen, darkened arm with the blood thinner by herself. With teeth gnashing, she thought about all that, of course, she was to blame alone. A good general was not a good doctor. Only she hadn't thought it would go so catastrophically wrong. What you wouldn't do for your own child, she thought. In her fear that she might still lose Cassie, she has ever overcome to go to donate.
Thoughtfully she devoted herself again to the newspaper articles on her desk. Despite her lunch break, she preferred to deal with the events. Not only from the past weeks, no, even these, which have occurred in the last centuries. Now that her own family was involved in the horrible fates, Sonya began to continue her father's research. Many of the lyrics came from him. The headline of his archives was: "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. In the footsteps of Leatherface. By Herman Arthur Blade." A book that her father had led for years during his service. It was full of his own texts, quotations and newspaper excerpts. The General thought wistfully to her father, the last piece of her childhood.
She read the first page of his work. "120 years ago, in 1855, the first scenario of a gruesome murder series took place. On 21 May of the year nine young women were mysteriously murdered. Each of the Lifeless bodies had numerous wounds, which, according to the experts at the time, could be the result from a saw. The unknown murderer had removed the facial skin from each of his victims to the shock of all the inhabitants of Outworld. 48 hours later the horror continued as another five women in Texas were killed in the same way. President Pierce was shocked. A perpetrator could never be caught. It was only 40 years later that another massacre with a similar process took place. President Harrison stated in a press conference that he didn't suspect any connection to similar events 40 years ago. He believed firmly in a coincidence, a rare case of an imitator, to be snatched and to be hanged for his crimes. But parts of the population were insecure. Thus a special department of the SF for covert investigations was consulted. Colonel Alexander Theodore Blade was the head of this unit, whose goal was to uncover the acts of violence and to give the unknown murderer a face and a name and to bring him to account for the cruel killing delicts and distortions of the victims."
With her thoughts and feelings entirely with Cassie, she put aside the work of her father. Angry let Sonya crack her joints. At first she didn't care much about the kinship, but now, as a penultimate descendant of the Blade family, she wanted to do everything she could to complete the work of her ancestors and to avenge her daughter. Revenge on this creature, on whose hunt was already 160 years of military generation.
Sonya took a deep breath and began stowing the valuable heirlooms back into her crate. In the near future she would begin to reveal the secret of Leatherface as a tribute to her father. She looked at the clock. Still 13 minutes break.
That was just enough time to get the things back in her office. So she jumped up from her chair, the box jammed under her healthy arm and trotted towards the stairs. In passing, she was stopped by her colleague, Lieutenant Annie Jam. "You don't leave me alone at my workplace, do you?" Sonya began to run down the stairs facing backwards. "I'm just going to my office, lieutenant, don't worry!" Annie winked at her. "Just don't miss the end of the break, General!" Just as Sonya was trying to call something after her, she suddenly collided with another person on the steps. She lost her balance, then lost her crate and rushed with a surprised outcry down the stairs where she hit the floor.
"Damn, fuck shit man!" She growled, rubbing her upper arm, and calculated, it was her swollen arm. She propped herself painfully from the floor and turned to the idiot on the stairs. It was Johnny. He had caught up her crate and looked quite crushed. "Sorry, honey. Didn't see ya there." She spat a bit blood on the floor. "Then, would you be so kind and help me up if you don't seem to have eyes in your head?" She hissed angrily.
Two strong hands grabbed her under her arms and pulled her back to her feet. She was still staring at him like a falcon. The General turned her head back and forth to make sure that no one had watched her fall. Then she turned back to Johnny. "What the hell are you doing here anyway? I'm at work!" she snapped. He didn't pay attention to her spiteful tone. His eyes lit with excitement. "She is awake!"
That had to be sitting first. In disbelief, Sonya stared at him, unable to grasp. "I'm sorry. Please say that again." She murmured. He grabbed her by both arms. "She's awake, honey! I'm talking about Cassie! She just woke up from the coma!" Sonya gave a strange sound, half sighing, half squeaking. All the pain was forgotten. The intolerable waiting had finally come to an end. Her little girl had returned to her. She tried to find her language again. "Can we..." Johnny didn't let her talk, but pulled her down to the ground floor. "That's why I'm here. We'll leave immediately." Sonya suddenly stopped. "Wait, I should inform Secretary Blake about my absence." Johnny stared at her, bewildered. "Damn, this is about our daughter!" He pulled her away. "Call him on the road! We have no time to lose!" Sonya realized how stupid she was. Again she put work over family. She would still have to work on this. She swung herself into the passenger seat and drove off to Cassie to the hospital.
"General Blade and Cage! We have been asked by Dr. Nephron!" Sonya did not waste time on arrival. She just hoped that the car would not be towed, as Johnny, always in hurry, parked in the middle of the ban. Still breathless they were led by a nurse to the intensive care units. "We have already expected your arrival. Follow me!" Meanwhile it wasn't so difficult for the two to find themselves in the endless corridors. The intensive care unit was Cassie's home for the last 3 weeks and so also the center of family and friends. To her surprise, instead of Cassie's room they were first send in the office of Dr. Nephron.
The well- known senior physician greeted them with a quick handshake. "General, Mr. Cage. It's nice that you could come so fast! Please." He pointed to two chairs at his table. "You can sit here." Sonya and Johnny sat down and she was trembling with excitement. Dr. Nephron take his place opposite them, his hands folded over a thick sheet. "You already know why I have asked you to come that fast. Less than two hours ago Cassandra woke up again from her coma. We are so pleased with her general condition, when you notice what this brave young lady has been through."
He quickly scanned Cassie's card. "We could already stop artificial ventilation. She even said her first words." Sonya clung firmly to her armrest. "Oh man, what did she say?" He looked at her. "She is aware of the accident events and she has a lot of memory gaps. What isn't unusual though. To her person, she can make normal statements. She knows that her name is Cassie, that she is a soldier and so on. This is a good sign."
Johnny cautiously interrupted him. "Can we see her now?" To his relief, the doctor nodded. "Of course. It should be a pleasure for your daughter to see you. But don't be worried. I have given her a strong painkiller which makes her sleep better. But I'm sure once she has rested, that she ... " He was cut off in his word when suddenly someone knocked loudly on his door. "Excuse me," he murmured, calling to his door. "Yeah, what's the matter?" His office door opened wide and Carla stuck her neck inside. She was completely pale around her nose. Without paying attention to the parents, she shouted "Doctor, we need you immediately. We cannot hold her any longer!" He jumped up. "Who cannot hold?" He asked tensely. She was beside herself. "Cage! She seems to have some kind of attack and we don't get her down! Please, we need you quickly!" Dr. Nephron rushed round his desk. "I'm coming Carla." He saw how the eyes of Sonya and Johnny were weighing on him. "Quick, you follow me. We can also use your strong arms!"
They were already expecting loud voices outside the room, occasionally drowned by Cassie's shrill screams. Dr. Nephron pushed open the door. Sonya's blood stuck in her veins. Three other nurses had asked for help at her bed. Two on the trunk, one on the legs. Between them was Cassie's wounded body. Again and again she reared up and tried to beat her arms around her. Dr. Nephron didn't waste time and rushed to her side. "Carla! Diazepam, 0.8! Hurry!" The young woman cracked a small ampoule and quickly pulled the contents into a syringe. "Now please tell me, what has happened here, for God's sake?"
The chief physician turned to his co-workers while trying to fix Cassie's arm. "She started all of a sudden! Out of nowhere!" said one of the staff. "She began to beat and make strange noises. Then she said ..." Then Cassie's leg shot toward his face. He stepped back and immediately fell back onto her legs. But Cassie reared like a beast. "NO ... NO ... NO!" She screamed again and again. Her bed sheet was full of blood, and Sonya realized that she must have ripped out her right venous catheter. "I cannot stand it anymore!" Johnny shouted and hurried to the side of his daughter.
He took her right hand firmly in his right hand and pressed Cassie's shoulders gently back onto the mattress. "It's alright, pumpkin." he whispered. "Daddy is here. Daddy is here for you!" But he suddenly flinched with a painful face as sharp fingernails cut into his wrist. "Damn ..." he cursed, but he didn't let go of his daughter's hand. Again she began to scream. "NO NO! Stay away from me!"
She might not have an attack. But obviously a delusion.
Dr. Nephron tried desperately to find a viable vein on her left arm. "She has also destroyed her left catheter." He murmured. "General, I need you on my side! General!" He cried energetically. Sonya shrank briefly. It was just like a perfect nightmare. With rapid steps, she jumped to the doctor's side. Since she didn't want to see the syringe, she wrapped her left arm around Cassie's neck, her left hand encircling the one from Johnny. Her right hand rested on her trembling shoulder. She gently laid her cheek against her daughters, feeling the soft cotton bandage on her skin. Cassie whimpered quietly, and in her bursting breath came a bloody note.
"Shhh ... everything will be fine." She whispered to her daughter through the bandage. She didn't know if she could still hear her, because Dr. Nephron had now been able to apply the muscle relaxant. But she still felt the extremely fast pulse of her carotis on her chin. Her defenses became weaker. The carers could finally leave her. With her last strength Cassie turned her head to Sonya. Mother and daughter had been looking into each other's eyes for the first time since weeks. Her eyes were glazed with fear and pain. Cassie cried very weak as she tried to say something. "Not now Cassie ... I'm here for you!" Her mother whispered softly. With all her last strength, however, she managed to form a few words. "No Mum! He'll get me! Leatherface will get me!"
Wow, my "longest" chapter so far. No spoilers for the next chapter! It's a surprised. But I try to make an update as soon as possible. For those who hated time at the hospital: Don't worry, that's not forever! xD