Secrets and Lies, Desert prt 3

The trucker stopped when he saw was a black car parked haphazardly in the highway. He was not one to drive by if someone needed help. But he was not stupid either, he grabbed his pistol and torch then got out to investigate. He was way ahead of schedule, so was not worried about his deadline.

Causiously, Duke, that was his name, approached the driver's side of the car, flashing his torch around for anything suspicious. Looking into the front seat, he saw nothing out of the ordinany, but when he peered into the back seat he saw blood, practically covering it. Doing a sweep of the area with his torch, he readied his pistol, prepared for the worst.

Duke was not prepared for what he saw when he walked around to the passenger side. A person -- a man was stripped to nothing execpt for a shoe on his right foot and what appeared to be a pair of jeans bunched around it, bloody from head to toe, sitting by car, his left hand clutching his throat. Duke went to him, he could hear the man's labored breaths and saw that he flinched at the sound of his footsteps. 'Thank God, he's alive', doing another sweep of the area, he turned his attention back to the person on the ground.

'pain, hurt, please stop, pain, no, hurt, pain, don't leave me'

"Hey, I'm Duke, I'm going to help you," in his best soothing voice, he tried to calm the injured man, noticing that he was shaking. 'no wonder he is shaking, it's 45 degrees out here and him in but his skin.'

Squatting down near the injured man, he took inventory of the injuries he saw. Two black eyes -- swollen shut, broken nose -- bleeding, busted mouth -- bleeding, bruises galore, more cuts, his left knee looked nearly the size bowling ball, and his right shoulder looked disloated. It was horrific, he was surpized the man was conscious.

"Shit son, who did you piss off?" Duke said to himself, the man did not look like he could answer.

'pain, hurt, don't leave me, please, stop, pain'

"d-doonnn h-huurr m-eee g-iinn, p-p-eesss," whispered the injured man, had Duke not been down there with him, he would not have heard him. The man tried to hold his hand out to stem any attack but quickly brought it back to his throat.

Upon closer inspection Duke saw the man was not just sitting against the car, he was tied to it with a belt. The belt had been looped around his neck, pulled between the door and the frame, the door shut effectively immobilizing the person, everytime the man moved from his position the loop tightened. The injured man was holding the belt so as not to strangle himself. 'shit, I have to get him out of here and to a hospital'

"I'm not going to hurt you, son, I just want to get you to a hospital, but first let's get you off this car," his soothing voice still in operation, Duke got up to open the door.

'pain, hurt, your bitch, please, hurt, don't leave me'

"i urr b-bissshhh, d-doonnn h-hh-uurr mmeee n-noo mmoo, p-peess" pleading, the injured man started to cry, his breaths becoming ragged and more labored.

"What? Your my what? No, I won't hurt you, just calm down now," attempting to placate him, Duke opened the door and the man slumped to the ground with a pain filled moan. Afraid to touch him, he ran back to his truck and got the spare blanket, then went back to the man on the ground.

As gently as he could, he covered the injured man with the blanket and lifted him to a seated postion. The man whimpered in pain, still pleading not to be hurt again, Duke trying to reasure him that was not his intention. "What's your name, son?"

'pain, don't hurt me, pain, your bitch, pain, please, don't leave me sam'

"d-doonn lleeeff mmeee s-ssaam-mm" a studdering whisper answered him.

Misunderstanding, "Okay, Sam, here we go, sorry about this, but we need to get you to a hospital," Duke gave up on being gentle, hoisted him into a fireman's carry, and took him to his truck. After he got Sam settled in the passenger seat, glad to see the he finally passed out, Duke got on his radio, signalling that he had an injured person he was rushing to the local hospital. 'Hopefully that will keep the bears off my ass.' He spared no horses getting to Springfield Memorial.