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Colt breathed through his teeth. His left hand screwed up in the bedsheets and his right hand bracing his lower back.
He was used to the pain in the mornings by now but today was different. This was so much worse. Since the whole thing last year with Gail and Tom, his pain had been worse, unsurprisingly. He had hoped it would fade with time given he was more careful afterwards and followed his doctor’s advice.
They had said he inflamed it with all the stunt work and beatings he took. They told him no stunts for at least six months and then to exercise lightly to rebuild the strength he had lost. Being told no stunts was hard to hear, but it meant he got to spend more time with Jody so he couldn’t complain too much.
His breath whistled slightly through his teeth as he focused on breathing through the pain. He was supposed to do an explosion stunt today. That was going to be fun.
Colt didn’t know how long he laid there for, trying to ride out the pain that shot up and down his spine, but it was clearly long enough that he was now late.
He glanced over to his phone on the bedside table, it was ringing with Jody’s picture illuminating the screen. His phone was so close but so far from his hands.
He took a deep breath before throwing his left hand out to the bedside table in a desperate attempt to get his phone. He felt around blindly as white searing pain overtook his vision.
By some miracle, Colt managed to get hold of his phone and answer it.
“Hello-” He bit his lip as the pain rocketed up his spine to his head.
“Hey, where are you? We need you on set-” Colt let out the smallest of whines from the back of his throat unintentionally. He knew the second he did it, Jody knew something was wrong that she would come running to help. And he was right.
“Colt? Are you alright? Where are you? What’s wrong-?” Colt couldn’t really hear Jody’s questions that well. His entire brain was overtaken with the pain of his back.
He was going to vomit. But he couldn’t. Not on his back at least, he’d choke. His instincts tell him to roll over to try to get it off the bed and away from him but in doing so it sends fire up his back.
“Colt, are you still in your trailer? I’m coming to get you.” Colt didn’t hear any of it over the sound of his own vomit hitting the floor and the groan that came with it.
He was now stuck. His legs and hips on his back but his actual back on its side. It did not help the already searing pain in his back.
He closed his eyes and tried not to vomit again as the world spun.
“Colt?” He thought he had dropped his phone down the back of the bed or on the pillow next to him yet Jody’s voice was clear in his head as it bounced around his throbbing skull. “Oh my God.”
Colt cracked his eyes open again to see a blob in front of him.
“Jo-” Opening his mouth was a mistake. The sound of Jody’s disgust and his vomit hitting the floor again surround him. He hated this so much.
“Okay. Okay. I’m going to get a medic alright-” Colt damn-near sat bolt upright at that but only made it so far as a flinch.
“No- agh-!” Jody’s hands were at his sides and in his hair immediately.
“Don’t- don’t move.” He breathed through his teeth again as the pain slowly subsided. Not fully of course, just to the borderline insufferable lightning that struck across his body from his lower back.
Colt focused on Jody’s hands in his hair. She always knew how to comfort him, even during the short time they were together after his accident. Before he-
“Okay. Colt, you need help-” The sob that escaped her throat had Colt’s eyes wide open. He looked at her face and realised she was crying — no not just crying, she was bawling her eyes out. “I need to get someone who can help you more than I can right now, okay?”
Colt looked at her face again. It was red, her eyes were puffy, and the tears were flowing freely down her face. If there was one thing he hated more than being in unspeakable pain himself, it was seeing Jody in any kind of pain.
Colt went to open his mouth to agree but the bile at the back of his throat threatened to make another appearance. Instead, he simply nodded to her.
Jody withdrew her hand from his hair, fighting the urge to put it back there when Colt released a whine at its removal. She dashed out of the trailer with a small ‘I’ll be right back’.
Colt laid there, alone, just like so many times after the accident. He wanted to call after Jody. He hated being alone and in pain. That’s all he thought he would be after the accident. He was a failure, and he thought he had got over it. He stupidly thought he could just go back to the world of stunts like nothing ever happened. His doctors — hell, Jody had warned him that he wouldn’t be able to get back into stunts straight away and that each day would be different. He eventually learned to roll with what each day had to offer and focused on his back exercises to regain his strength. The days when he couldn’t walk—much like what today was going to be like—were the worst.
Colt wasn’t sure how long he was alone, but he had never felt such relief when Jody burst back into his trailer.
“Colt? You still with me?” She was back at his side in a blur of movement. “Dan is getting the medics and the stretcher, okay? They’re going to take you to the hospital-” The second the word left her mouth, Jody knew what he was going to say, or at least try to say.
“No-” Colt gagged again but managed to keep it down this time. Jody put her hands back in his hair.
“Colt, if the pain is bad enough that you are vomiting, you need a hospital.” He tried to shake his head but tensed up as another wave of pain surged through his body. “I know. I don’t like hospitals either, but I can’t help you here.”
Colt closed his eyes again. He knew she was right, but it didn’t change the fact that he still hated hospitals. The countless surgeries he had. Being constantly reminded that he couldn’t do anything alone anymore. Being told he might not ever walk again.
“Jody!” Dan’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “The medics are on the way! They want to speak to you quickly!” Dan appeared in the room and had the same look of horror on his face as Jody. Colt wanted to shrink into himself. Just curl into a ball and die on the bed, but he couldn’t move even if he wanted to. Instead, he just let out a sob as the tears ran from one eye, over his nose and down the side of his cheek.
“Hey brother, hey.” Colt didn’t even notice or feel Jody disappear from the room. “None of that okay? You need to get checked over. Make sure everything is all good, alright?” Colt knew they were both right, but he was still dreading it.
Everything that happened next was a blur to Colt. All he could see was the white searing pain of his back behind his eyelids.
When he opened his eyes again, Tom was standing over him with that condescending smirk and thumbs up. Gail stood there, Diet Coke in hand, sly smile on her face.
He was on the floor completely paralysed. Jody was nowhere to be seen.
Colt screwed his eyes shut as tight as he could. It’s all he could do to get rid of the image of them standing over him. He couldn’t breathe. He was completely and utterly paralysed and there was nothing he could do about it except lay there.
Jody could only watch on in horror as Dan held her whilst they moved Colt. The pain on his face was obvious and the cries he released from his throat made her heart sink.
Jody silently followed the medics as they carried Colt out on the back board. Dan was saying something behind her about holding down the fort, but she was completely transfixed by Colt.
The ride to the hospital was a blur for Jody, she just kept her hand in his hair. It seemed to make some tension in his face melt away. He kept muttering her name in pain, his eyes never opening.
“Sir, can you tell me where the pain is coming from?” The paramedic worked on Colt, hooking him up to the little sticky things that Jody didn’t know the name of. His heart rate was raised, which was to be expected, and his breathing was fast but shallow.
Colt gave no response to the paramedic as the vehicle jostled him in the bed ever so slightly. The cry of pain he released made Jody’s tears start rolling down her face.
The paramedic turned away from the pair before turning back with a needle and small bottle. Upon seeing the hesitation on Jody’s face, they explained:
“It’s a sedative to help him relax and manage the pain.” The paramedic reached to his IV that led to his hand and pushed the drugs through.
Jody watched as Colt slowly relaxed, his muscles lost most of the tension that had been holding them in a vice-like grip. There was still harsh lines etched on his face from something.
“They’ll have to decide what other medications to administer at the hospital. We can’t give him any more on the move I am afraid.” Jody nods in understanding before continuing her ritual of stroking his hair and shushing him.
Colt was just laying there, the duo who ruined his career standing over him, leering at him. They always leered at him. Even when he came back to do Metal Storm, Gail always seemed to have an evil look about her. At the time, he couldn’t place it, in hindsight, it made perfect sense.
He could feel the pull of unconsciousness at the edge of his mind. He didn’t remember passing out that day. Hell, he would have preferred if he did pass out because at least then he wouldn’t remember every excruciating detail.
He let the feeling take him as Gail and Tom’s faces got swallowed up by the ink that crossed his vision.
When Colt felt himself wake up again, he remembered just how much he hated this feeling. The feeling of his limbs being unmovable, the constant pull of tiredness in his head but more importantly the humiliation of the whole ordeal.
He forced his eyelids to peel open. He already knew from the smell of the chemicals that he was in the hospital but the drugs they have him on made it hard to think why he was there. His brain was on a five-second delay with the rest of his body. He could see his surroundings, but his brain couldn’t identify anything around him.
The only thing his brain was searching for right now was Jody, and she was nowhere to be seen. Colt could feel the drugs begin to wear off now. His limbs were lighter to lift, his brain sped up, but it all happened a little too quickly.
“Jody-” His voice was hoarse, but he needed to know where she was. She had been here last time when he woke up, where is she now? Did he fuck up again and push her away again? They were on good terms, no? Did Gail and Tom get to her like he threatened too on the docks-?
Colt felt his heart in his throat. He couldn’t speak, much less breathe. He needs to find Jody and now. He threw his hand to the bedsheets on top of him, but he was trembling so much that he just couldn’t grip them.
The ECG machine next to him started blaring, it didn’t help his current mood or the overstimulation he was feeling. He winced at the sound as he tried to kick the bedsheets off.
The pain up his back made him freeze in place.
The door to his room swung open and nurses came rushing in, followed by Jody.
All of their voices were underwater to Colt as his eyes fixated on Jody and only Jody.
“Colt, you need to lay back. They are going to give you something to help you calm down. Okay?” Jody could see that her words weren’t getting through to him, but she thought it might help any way.
“I thought they- I thought they got you-” Jody watched as the nurses pushed more drugs to help him relax.
“Who got me?” Jody was just confused now. She didn’t know what he meant and she didn’t like it.
“He will be out of it for a bit, but he should come back around in a couple of hours. He was having a panic attack by the looks of it. We can get a psychologist down here to speak to him if you want?” Jody looked between the nurse and Colt. She continued to rub circles on the back of his hand.
“Um… let me speak to him first, if that’s alright.” The nurse nodded and headed for the door, leaving Colt and Jody alone.
Jody sat there the whole time. She never left his side and her hands never left his hand or his hair. She racked her brain trying to think what he meant when he said that he thought they had got her. Who was they? Why would they want her?
Colt had told Jody about what happened last year, but naturally he kept some details to himself. Like the fact that he gave up the information on Tom’s phone because they threatened to hurt Jody or that Dune and Kevin were killed in front of him. Or that they had
He figured it was better if she didn’t know. She would just worry about it all.
Colt felt the uncomfortable pull of consciousness at the edge of his eyes. He wanted to stay in this dreamless sleep for as long as possible.
“Colt?” Jody’s voice cut through the fog he was trying so desperately trying to stay hidden in. She was here, was she okay?
Colt opened his eyes and immediately regretted it. The lights around him blind him for a moment. As he blinks away the daze, Jody comes into focus in front of him.
“Jody-” She nods as she turns away for a moment before reappearing with a small cup of water and straw for him. He gladly took the water as it calmed his fiery throat.
“I’m here. Just take it slow, okay? You are medicated right now so you may feel weird and not be able to think straight.” Colt wasn’t really listening to her, he just stared at her face.
“You’re here.” Jody gave him a sad smile in response.
“Yeah, I’m here, and I am not going anywhere, okay?” Colt gave her a lopsided smile and nodded.
“I thought I had lost you. I thought you wouldn’t be here. That I had pushed you away again or worse, that you had been hurt.” Jody’s hands froze for a moment as she turned back to put the cup down.
“Why would I be hurt? I mean, I know we left things off in bad place, but we are good now-”
“No, no. Tom. He threatened to hurt you when he was torturing me-” Jody was completely taken aback by what Colt was saying.
“What? When was this?” Colt didn’t even give it a second thought and continued to spill all the secrets he held for the last year.
“Tom had me tied up, and he wanted to know where the phone with the video of him killing Henry was. I didn’t want to tell them because I knew it was the only thing keeping me alive, but then he threatened to bring you down there to hurt you, so I told him.” Jody stared at Colt for a moment, unsure of what to say. Colt just continued to blab on about what happened to him. “They then tried to drown me in gas and set me on fire, but that’s when I got away on the boat and did my Miami Vice stunt to make everyone think I was dead. Then I came to find you on set and the rest is history.” Colt looked over to Jody finally, and it had just sunk in what he had said to her.
“They tried to set you on fire? Colt I- what?” Colt sunk back into the bed a little. Wishing it would just swallow him whole.
“Err, did I not tell you that?” He recognised the look on Jody’s face as, I am going to kill you.
“No. No you didn’t.” Colt let out an awkward chuckle.
“Oops.” Jody pulled the chair she was sat in closer to the bed.
“You are going to explain everything that happened last year to me and leave no detail out.”
Colt sighed. He knew he owed her the truth. He sat up slightly and prepared himself for the long story he was about to tell.
“It all started with a guy named Dune…”