The next morning after breakfast, Fungus showed up to take Randall home. He tried to get out of the bed on his own, but the pain from his belly injury was quite uncomfortable. Two nurses helped him from the bed, as embarrassed as he was to have Fungus see it.
He walked to the wheelchair and sat down. He was wheeled to the parking lot where he slowly got into Fungus's car. He couldn't do so without growling in pain. His lower right hand rested on the wound.
When they had gone in to change the bandages this morning, he had wanted the ones on his neck to be left off. It was agreeable as long as he kept on applying some medication to the wounds. He could do that.
He was leaving with a bag full of big band-aids and some medicated hand soap. He wasn't allowed to get the stitches wet. And there was special ointment for the wrist burns. There were written instructions on how to use the applications if needed. He also had pain medication.
Randall was glad to finally be checking out of the hospital. Fungus got in the car right after he was comfortable enough and took Randall to his apartment.
Fungus got out of the car when they arrived outside Randall's complex. He got the supplies out of the back while Randall managed to get himself out of the car. Normally it would be a cinch, but putting bend into the wound was painful.
Walking up the stairs was not a pleasant feeling for Randall right now. He had to stop every many steps to just rest for a moment. Eventually, they made it to the third level.
Randall unlocked his apartment and he and Fungus went inside. Fungus put the bag of supplies on the kitchen table.
Randall would have to have his medicated baths when someone was here with him. He had been given huge band-aids to put over his wound so he wouldn't have to keep on changing white gauze bandages.
Fungus would be the one checking in on him every day. Other than the baths, Randall was sure he could do everything else himself.
"Alright, if you're all set, I'll be going to work now, Randall. Get better." Fungus said.
"Yeah. I wish I could be there, but I know the condition." Randall said.
Fungus left.
Once his friend left, Randall looked around his apartment, hand on the wound. He made sure to look everywhere to make sure those kidnappers hadn't rigged his home. He got his glasses on first thing and then went about looking.
He found no cameras or anything out of the ordinary. He could relax.
Randall sat down on his couch and turned on the TV. He was going to have to get used to doing almost nothing for a couple of weeks. There was probably no harm in going out for walks. But he wasn't quite ready for that.
….
A week later, Randall was busy taking daily walks and he was moving all the time. But he still wasn't allowed back at work.
Fungus still came by daily to check on him. He helped with the medicated baths every other day.
Randall no longer had his wrists bandaged. The scars would still be visible, but he wanted his hands free again. They no longer hurt. He still kept the big band-aids on his belly. It still hurt to bend his middle at times. The wound still burned.
His neck wounds were doing fine. The meds were helping.
With the time that he had off for now, Randall was glad the ones at his job were not able to see him like this.
His doctor wanted to see him again next Thursday. He would gladly go to hopefully get the stitches out of his belly.
…..
The next Wednesday, the day before going to the doctor again, Randall got a call from his parole officer saying that three lizard males had been picked up matching their description. The fourth had not been found. He asked which ones had been picked up.
Chiro, Joe, and Buster had all been picked up. Graf was missing. There had been no sign of their sisters either.
Then came the best news: Randall was now a free monster! He was off probation. He couldn't have been happier.
…
Thursday, Randall got a ride from Fungus back to the hospital and all the old injuries were looked at.
The rope burns and neck wounds had healed fine. Next, with Randall lying on the bed, the band-aid came off of his belly wound and Dr. Mason saw that the wound looked good. It looked healed.
The doc got some scissors and proceeded to cut the stitches out. Randall tried to keep from flinching, but couldn't help it. It just tickled a bit.
"There you go. Good as new." Dr. Mason said.
Randall raised his head and looked down at the healed wound. There was going to be a good scar there too. He rubbed it.
"So, am I able to go back to work now?" He asked.
"You can, but at least for next month, keep it to light weight work only."
Randall nodded. He still felt some burning inside him.
He was glad that he now had his stitches out and he was a free monster, fully rehabilitated.
Fungus took him with him back to Monsters, Inc. Randall was having a late start, but it was worth it to go back to work again.
Randall went to talk to Sulley about what he would be allowed to do. The new laugh canisters were a little heavier than what scream ones used to be.
Randall didn't want to go to the boring old mailroom, but the canisters for collecting the laughs were heavy and he couldn't lift those right now. He went to the mailroom to work.
Some of the other workers couldn't understand how Randall had been able to be kidnapped and taken advantage of. He had always been pretty invincible to them.
….
Within another week, the phone at Randall's home rang one evening. He had just finished a normal bath that he was now taking again.
"Hello." He picked up after four rings.
"Randall?" A female voice said on the line.
Randall's eyes widened. "Sadie?" He questioned.
"Yes, it's me. I heard of my friends' brothers getting arrested." She said.
"They were beating on me. But why are you calling me? Say that you're mad at me for telling?"
"That and one other thing. Randall, you are going to be a father soon." Sadie said.
Randall blinked rapidly for a moment, taking it in. Then said, "Are you sure?"
"Yes. All five of us are pregnant. Thank you for the babies! And yes, we know the boys were mean to you and had no right to be. We're sorry about that. But how are you doing now?"
"Healed finally. And working again. But how soon until the kids come?"
"Some few months down the road. I'll keep in touch." Sadie said. "And we aren't mad at you. The boys were too over protective of us."
"I never did anything harmful to you girls. I didn't deserve to be treated like a prisoner. I've already been to prison and never want to go back! But Graf is still out there somewhere."
"Yeah. He might come after you for telling on them. I'm just gonna say keep a low profile, Randall."
Randall didn't want to hear that a maniac could be coming after him. And now he gets the news that his bloodline was going to be furthered along in a few months. His offspring could even be a target.
As much as Randall may not have wanted a thing to do with children so long ago, he had changed so much that he was able to be willing to add something new to his life. Could this be it? But associating with rapist females didn't seem right. But for the sake of having a family to call his own, he would force himself to do this.
"Sadie, you didn't seem so bad to me. I'll be willing to be involved in their lives as long as you let me." Randall said. "But no more pulled kidnappings. And I won't tell anything more about you to the authorities."
"It's a deal. We were all willing to be nice to you. We just didn't want you trying to get away from us. We were all impressed by you and wanted babies from you. And you helped give them to us. Again, thank you." She said. "And you are welcome to be involved."
"Okay. I need to go. My dinner's almost done." He lied to get off the phone.
"Alright. Like I said, I'll be in touch. Good night." Sadie said and hung up.
"Night." He replied and hung up too.
Now this was a lot to take in. Fatherhood was coming up for him, as wrong as it had been done the way it had been. But he would keep on the lookout for Graf too.
