Together We Stand

by JA Lafrance

He stopped.

  My fingers wrapped around the handle of my Smith and Wesson. I was more a fan of the Shaun of the Dead zombie, slow and silly, than the fast ones from 28 Days Later. Either way, if this guy came at me, he was going to get a double tap.

  The blood squirted out around the metal again. His heart was still pumping. This was no undead.

  “Sir, I need you to stay right there.” I started walking around to his side. “I’ll come to you, okay? My name is Corporal Faryn Steel. What’s your name?”

  He turned his head, “Faryn?”

  “Don’t move, sir.”

  “Faryn’s a pretty name.” He said it as fast as he could, so he could with an exhale on almost every word. His right arm stayed at his side. The fingers twitched more than flexed. As I moved around him, I got a better look. He was about 6 feet with a built frame. There was an open gash across his forehead creating a curtain of crimson down his face. His black hair was all messed. It was flattened down in a ring where he always wore a cap. The metal going through him was in a T shape. It was about 3 feet long, 1 foot in the front. I was amazed he was still standing. His eyes flicked in my direction as I stepped over a downed tree and was in front of him. “Why do you have a gun?”

  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 gro
und 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?

  “Tyler, we can figure this out. I need you to stop where you are, and I’ll get help in here.”

  “No. I didn’t mean to kill them.” Tyler lunged forward.

  I spun away as his hand reached out and mine raised with my gun in hand.

  His shin hit the fallen tree and his body lurched. Tyler’s body pitched forward. As he hit the ground the metal pushed through. He stopped moving as soon as he hit the ground. Blood ran out from underneath him.

  “Are you okay, Faryn?” Brandi got in front of me as I walked back onto the highway. She looked around me. “Where’s the zombie?”

  “Paramedics are dealing with him in the trees over there. He's dead.” I held the back of my forearm against my mouth for a moment. Nothing felt right inside me. He died in front of me just like she did months ago. Every time I saw someone die something changed in me. I hated this part. “His name was Tyler Moss. He was driving that brown Ford.”

  The scene still looked like chaos, but emergency services had organized what was going on. The wounded were being taken care of a safe distance away. On one end were two black body bags.

  “Which one of those is Cindy?”

  “Cindy? Who is Cindy?”

  My body felt heavy. I felt the tears in my eyes ready to fall. “Tyler Moss was driving in front of the flatbed truck. He saw Cindy Moss heading north in the Honda Civic and braked right in front…” I had to stop for a moment. I had to get myself tk calm down. “I think he was hoping the truck would either kill him or her.”

  “Um, Faryn.” Brandi pulled down her face mask. “The owner and driver of the Civic was a sixty-eight-year-old man named Alton Warner. The passenger was his wife Helena. I don’t even think there was a Cindy involved in the accident.”

  I turned around and looked back at the grove of trees. The zombie wanted the truck to kill him and then after it didn’t, tried to get me to. Now I had to go find Cindy Moss and tell her that he killed himself after killing two people he thought was her.

  Ease Me

  AW Clarke

  Sometimes the world around us delivers things we cannot change. They are arduous and challenging. But we can be patient and strong and stay the course, for we will get through every challenge…as we find in this little intimate encounter between Reagan, a personal support worker and her fiancé Gavin. — Ease Me

  Ease Me

  “What a garbage day!”

  The door collides with a crash behind me. I struggle to get my jacket off and show it no mercy as my right hand launches it to the ground instead of hanging it neatly in the closet like I normally do. I kick off my shoes with a huff and storm into the kitchen feeling my world shrink around me, the walls of reality closing in on me like a plastic bag being sucked of air between it and my skin.

  “Hey sweetheart, what’s wrong?”

  My fiancé instantly picks up on my temperament and steps into the kitchen from his office. He has the day off from his practice and quickly leaves his paperwork to check up on me.

  “Reagan. Talk to me, sweetie. Are you alright?”

  I stop and turn about, wanting to step into his arms and cry, but the world of anxiety sloshing about in my head has me fall into a nearby chair and cradle my head in my hands.

  “I had a horrible day.”

  Gavin pulls a chair up beside me and raises a warm hand to my shoulder.

  “Baby, what happened? Was it work, friends or family?”

  “Work.”

  “Ahh work.” I catch Gavin’s slow nod as I raise my head.

  “Yes. I’m telling you. I hate this goddam job!” I make two fists, unable to fleet the anxiety racing through me, and Gavin frowns as they tremble almost uncontrollably.

  “No, you don’t. You love your job as a personal support worker.”

  “Well, not today.”

  “Well then vent away, sweetheart. I’m listening.”

  For as long as we’ve dated, Gavin has always been a gentle soul. He’s come to know me so well that he can read me long before a single word leaves my lips. I don’t know if it’s his knowledge of the human body, being the city’s best chiropractor. Or it might just be the fact that he has this rare ability to peer into someone’s eyes and gauge their feelings so swiftly… Whatever it is, he’s been a blessing in my life.

  Gavin is, among other things, my rock.

  I open up when his eyes pierce mine, settling me with his presence.

  “Well, since the world went amuck with what’s been going on, my client has been extra sour with me. He’s been frustrated with all the new protocols and today he blew up at me, telling me he just wanted to be left alone to die. I know Mr. Granze is frustrated… We all are… But he doesn’t have to yell at me like what I’m doing has no value!”

  I feel my heart calm as Gavin takes my hands. He always lets me finish a few sentences before holding me. I know I’m a strange bird. My problem is, I hide my feelings deep down and can’t talk about them easily. So, when things reach the boiling point, I tremble and fall apart, much like now at the kitchen table.

  But I feel the warm touch of his big hands on mine, and suddenly I can breathe a little calmer…speak a little more rationally.

  “I just don’t think I can take it anymore.”

  Gavin lifts my eyes with his and reads my desperation instantly. He follows with his own kind-hearted remedy.

  “Well, what do you think would fix this problem? You know you’re an amazing worker, so clearly, the problem is not you.”

  I sit pensively, trying to sort possible answers to my predicament. After a long quiet moment, I answer. “I think…maybe management should have a visit with him. Let him know that we are all working hard to get through this difficult time…and that he should be patient?”

  I look to Gavin for his input and his eyes soften in approval. He nods slowly.

  “I think you solved the problem on your own very well, sweetheart. Tomorrow morning you will email Mia in management and ask her to speak to him, so he knows you’re doing your best. I know you entered this field to help people, and I applaud your patience. Sadly, no one saw this coming and we all have to be patient until we see it through. How’s that sound?”

  I let out a fractured breath, trying to dissipate the tension in my chest.

  “Yes. That will be fine. You think it’s the right thing to do?”

  Gavin runs a hand along my arm before giving it a reassuring tap.

  “Whatever you decide is right for you will always be the right thing to do.”

  My heart glows to a slow warmth and I lean in to hug him tight.

  Gavin has a way with words that has always found a path to my soul. Even after accepting his marriage proposal not long ago, nothing he’s said to me ever gets old…

  The goofy jokes that only I seem to find funny.

  The thoughtful ideas that pop into his head make me enjoy how incredibly intelligent he is.

  But most of all, I look at the little tattoo on my wrist as he holds my hand and instantly, I remember what I love most about Gavin. The little triangle tattoo represents the three things he shares with me every day that makes me melt and love him so hard.

  His captivating eyes.

  His thoughtful words.

  His tender touch, so soothing, supportive and unbelievably affectionate.

  Gavin lifts me from my seat with a big hand.

  “You feel better baby?”

  I nod silently.

  “Good. Let me go run you a bath.”

  I smile in appreciation. “I love you.”

  “I love you too.”

  Gavin lifts a hand to my cheek and cradles my jaw as he plants his li
ps softly on mine. I accept his kiss and suddenly I feel much better than I did when I barged through the front door. I look into my fiancé’s eyes after our lips meet and I raise my hand to his cheek in return.

  This is our little code...

  Months ago, we delved into the lifestyle, and quickly discovered wonderful ways to show our love to each other. Gavin’s eyes remained soft as he watched my pupils grow wide with a sudden desire to seek the restful relief of subspace.

  It’s been far too long at work, laboring through the futile demands of my frustrated client for me to enjoy any intimate time with my fiancé. But this afternoon, my soulmate and Dom has politely asked for some time to free me from my grueling obligations of work, and I am certainly going to give it to him. For what he does to me in return… experiencing one of his many ways of freeing me with his touch, brings me into a most blissful state of freedom.

  I cannot say no. It’s been far too long. And I am far too horny…

  A wave of curious and eager nerves pricks my body as I look at him.

  “What do you have in mind, Sir?”

  Instantly, Gavin’s voice creeps down an octave. His voice goes guttural and captivates me.

  “A bath and a little pampering. All under my control of course.”

  I smile. “And subspace?”

  “Forced.”

  “Ooh.” My mouth opens and I bite my lip, eager and anxious, knowing there will be some sort of bondage.

  Ever since reading about the lifestyle, I’ve been thrilled that Gavin has embraced my newfound kink… being there to take control from me on the occasions that I want to free my mind of all obligation, and just hang there in a quiet state of serenity.

  Isolated from everything around me, floating in a sea of calm, heightened only by the forces of arousal… that is, satisfied by the primal affections that my body creates on its own when awakened. I submit to them without thought, and float away.

  Pure. Fucking. Paradise.

  “Let me undress you after I run your bath. I’ll be right back.”

  I ease up in my chair and watch as my fiancé turns on His heels and rolls the sleeves of his crisp white dress shirt up his forearms. His ass is perfect in those dark denim jeans I bought him for his birthday. He never asks for anything, yet always delivers me the solace I need.