He stepped back. The metal shaft hit a tree forcing out a scream of pain from somewhere inside him.
I raised both hands up so he could see they were empty. “Hey, hey, it’s okay. I’m a cop. I came to make sure you were safe. Why don’t you tell me your name.” I tried to make my voice as calming as I could.
He took a jagged breath. The blood was still coming out of him. The metal must have severed veins and blocked the blood flow until he moved. “Tyler Moss.”
“Hi, Tyler, nice to meet you. Stupid question, but how are you feeling? Do you have a lot of pain?” This was far and above my first aid training. He was talking. He was breathing, albeit labored.
“It’s all. Pain.”
“Do you know what happened?”
He coughed. Blood splurted. “Car accident.” He blinked quickly trying to clear the blood and focus. “You’re pretty, for a cop.”
“Thank you. That’s right, you were in the accident. What vehicle were you in?”
“My truck. It’s a brown Ford.”
I nodded. “Okay, Tyler, I need you to stay still. I’m going to use my radio and get us some help.” I reached down and unclipped my radio. This was far and above my weekend first aid training.
“No. Stop.” He stepped toward me.
On instinct I stepped back. My heel hit the downed tree. I threw my other foot out to stop myself from falling. “Tyler, calm down,” I said as soon as I had my balance. “Your body is in shock. I really need you not to move. Let me get some people over here to help you.”
“No.”
“Tyler, you have a piece of metal right through your body. If I don’t get paramedics over here, you could be in serious trouble. You could die.” They already declared him dead once.
“I said no!” He coughed and had to grab the tree to steady himself. His body sank against it until his left shoulder was on it.
“Tyler, Tyler, listen to me.” I thought about the masks in my pocket. COVID-19 was still a dangerous thing and putting one of those on could save me. It would also make this conversation less personal. “Let me get—"
“Have you ever killed someone, Faryn?”
That was a question I didn’t like. It was also one I didn’t expect. “Why don’t we get you some help and then we can talk?”
“I don’t want help.” Tyler reached his left arm up and grabbed the metal.
“No, no, no,” I took a step toward him. “Don’t do that, Tyler.”
His eyes turned to me. He was standing there still breathing. I could tell his heart was still pumping blood by the way it came out of his wounds. His skin had gone an ashen colour and his eyes looked dead. Zombie. He licked his lips and focused on me. “Have you ever killed someone?”
I thought about my gun and how I would have to drop the radio to get to it. “Yes, I killed someone.”
“Did you mean to?”
“No.”
“Did you like it?”
“No.”
He looked like he was ready to slide down the tree trunk. “How long until regret hit you?”
“Before they were even dead.” I didn’t want to be talking about this.
Tyler moved his body against the tree so he could see me better. His eyes were open, and he was looking at me, but his light was going out.
“Are you okay, Tyler?” He wasn’t. I glanced toward the highway but could barely see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles through the trees. Brandi was the only one that knew I followed him in here and she was busy collecting evidence. Tyler stared right through me. “Do you know what caused the accident?”
“It was her.” Blood dripped from his brow and splashed against his lips. “She was there.”
“There was a woman?” The reports on the initial crash were sketchy at best. Eyewitnesses were jacked up on adrenalin and confused what they saw with every movie they had ever viewed in their life. “Was she on the side of the road?” It wouldn’t be the first time someone stepped out in front of a truck. There were no populated areas around the scene, however, and the closest houses were a few kilometers in either direction, so where did the woman come from?
“I saw her,” his breath made him shiver, “in the distance. Why was she there?”
“Tell me what you know, and I’ll figure it out.”
Tears fell mixing with the blood on his cheeks. His breaths heaved. The metal moved again and this time I could see the flesh inside him. Blood splashed out where the metal had speared through veins. Even if I got him medical help right now, I don’t think it was going to help.
“Where was this woman,” I repeated.
“I was going home. I was working at a camp site and I was going home. She was supposed to be home, but I saw her. I saw her car. Cindy was supposed to be home.”
Everything he was saying went through my mind with no fixed direction. He was in shock and I wasn’t sure if he knew what he was saying. “Who is Cindy? Was she the woman on the side of the road?”
“No. You’re not listening.” He grabbed the tree as his body swayed forward and back. If he fell either way that metal was going to be pushed through his body. The veins would open, and he would bleed out fast. My muscles tensed ready to move forward. He was a big guy, but I would do what I could to save his life. “It was her car. She was driving to the lakes.”
“What car was she driving?”
He laughed with no joy. “It was the blue Civic. I saw it coming. Why was she going that way?”
My mind went through what I was told. The big truck braked and swerved into the north bound lane. As it did that it hit Tyler’s truck, metal flew from the back, spearing Tyler. The big truck then destroyed the blue Honda Civic in the other lane. Why did the truck hauling metal swerve? “Tyler, who is Cindy?”
“She should have been at home. Why was my wife going to the lake? Who was she with?” I was certain he was no longer seeing me. I wasn’t even sure if he was with me anymore. “I saw her car and I knew she was going to meet him. That’s where they met before. She was doing it again.”
“Tyler, what did you do?”
He stared through the grove of trees for a moment. “I didn’t know what would happen. I thought if I was hurt. If the hurt was gone. I didn’t know what would happen.”
“Were you the first one to brake?”
“She wasn’t cheating on me again. I wasn’t going to let that happen.” His head went back, and a wale of pain escaped him. This time his voice changed. It got deeper. Angrier. “I braked in front of the truck. I wanted to scare her, but he turned.” His black eyes looked directly at me. “And then I wanted her dead.”
I clipped the radio back on my belt behind my hip. My hand moved to the pistols grip. “It was an accident.”
“No,” he ground his teeth as he stepped forward. “I liked it. I wanted it. I wanted her dead for cheating on me.”
I stepped my foot backward over the tree I had tripped on as he took another step toward me. His blood splashed on ferns around his boots. “We are not doing this, Tyler.”
“I killed Cindy. How many else are dead over there?