Sandra Ball is a young actress who’s career was propelled by appearances in two spy thriller movies. As the result of an accident she is injured, trapped, and alone in a wooded area. She is rescued but faces a shattered career and a vastly altered life. Will that life be cut short by men more dangerous than the spies she faced on the screen?
Links to subsequent chapters are at the end of this chapter.
Sandra is the first of a series of stories with a cast common to the whole series. Other stories in the series include Jan, Karen and Denise, the one that brings them all together.
Sandra Ball walked out of the studio just after seven P.M. on Thursday. They had been shooting for over a month with only Sunday off till today. They started shooting a week late but were now ahead of schedule so they had Memorial Day weekend off. “Imagine, no work till Tuesday morning,” she had exclaimed when the announcement was made. They had less than seven days of shooting then, maybe a few retakes would extend it to nine and it was over.
The film was a spy thriller. Sandra played the blonde, mid-twenties Julia Von Meder, the niece of Sean Von Meder, the master spy played by the Hollywood hunk, Bert Roland. It was Roland’s fifth film as Sean Von Meder and Sandra’s third as Julia. She was introduced in the two previous films, the first as a beloved niece with a small part. The audiences loved her, she was discussed on internet bulletin boards, the studio took notice, the writers were notified and she was assigned a greater role in the next film. She played a peripheral role, was in danger several times, rescued by her uncle each time and finally in the last scene she shot a villain who had her uncle in his gun sights. In her third film she was number five in the credits. In the film her husband to be, an apprentice to her uncle is accidentally killed by an international gun dealer who was attempting to eliminate the competition. Julia decides to take his place to find his killer and is taken under her uncle’s wing as she learns the trade. This movie placed her in a headliner role and if it played well would set the stage for her to be offered a leading part.
Sandra got in her car and headed to a cabin in the mountains to be alone. Her sister Sally, a local market week night news anchor and their fiancées would join her Saturday afternoon. On Friday morning Sandra got breakfast, packed some food and water in a two backpacks, picked up a sleeping bag and headed out into the mountain on a four wheel mule. This was how she relaxed.
Sandra was driving too fast when it happened. She wasn’t paying attention to driving, she was looking at the scenery. The mule strayed off the narrow road, hit a hole and flipped over, then rolled back on its wheels. When it stopped Sandra was in the driver’s seat, still held securely by the harness. Her first thought was, “wow, what a ride.” Then she became aware of the pain in her legs. She looked down. The steering wheel and column were gone and the dash area was mashed back toward her and down on her knees. Her legs were twisted at odd angles below the dash. They both had a bend between the knees and ankles and another between the hip and knees. It only took a minute for her to realize they both must be broken above and below the knees. The mule’s first flip threw the dash on a large rock. The weight and momentum of the mule broke off the steering wheel and crushed the dash down on Sandra’s legs. Fortunately the impact was on the dash, not her body. The bones in the lower legs fractured by the pressure, the bones of the knees were dislocated and crushed. Both femurs were fractured just above the knee as were bones in her ankles.
She tried to get free from the mule with no success. The engine had stopped on its own. She turned off the ignition. Her dad had told her at the first sign of problems turn off the ignition to prevent fire. If she could not get free, she did not want a fire. She slowly realized she was hurt, trapped and very alone. She started to assess her situation. Her legs were badly injured but there was no blood showing from her pant legs. At least her legs were not bleeding. She remembered the priority on someone injured, airway and bleeding. She tried again to free her legs without any success. The metal of the dash was pushed down on her legs. They were trapped. At first this concerned her then she realized that even if she could get free, with two broken legs, and she was sure they were broken, there was no way she could cover any distance and she was at least three miles from the cabin. She was at least two miles from a road that had any regular traffic. It was probably best to stay with the mule. Thankfully it did not catch fire. She shuddered at that thought and put it out of her mind. Other than turning it off to prevent a fire or doing something that would start a fire, she could do nothing to control that.
She reached down and felt the fire extinguisher under her seat. If something started she might have a chance with it although she knew it didn’t last long and with her trapped legs fighting a fire was going to be very difficult.
Links to chapters.
Sandra Chapter 01: the Accident
Sandra Chapter 02: Survival Tactics
Sandra Chapter 03: Calling for Help
Sandra Chapter 04: Help is Coming
Sandra Chapter 06: the Hospital Begins Her Care
Sandra Chapter 07: Sandra is Taken to Another Hospital
Sandra Chapter 08: Four Months After the Accident
Sandra Chapter 09: the Sutters Come for a Visit
Sandra Chapter 10: Joan is Appalled by Sandra’s Condition
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