by: Kristy Duke
Inhaling deeply from my half lit cigarette, I slowly step out from the woods to walk the several feet of open land before reaching the old and warn barn. My thoughts slowly go over each word that was said between me and the two FBI agents as I silently wonder how they managed to show up when they had. And what all had brought them to Hazzard.
“Where were you?” a harsh voice snaps and I turn around to find one of Landon’s man there.
“Take it easy, will ya?” I question as I walk around him before turning back to face him, “I had to go pee. Sorry I failed to ask your permission.”
He eyes me harshly before he turns away to walk along the side of the barn. I watch him go as my heart races heavily within me and my fear plummets within me. Taking a deep breath, I drop my cigarette to step it out before I walk to the entrance to look in and over people’s shoulders to see Jesse, Luke, Cooter, and Daisy still alive and tied to the fence area while Bo sits half conscious on the chair. And I am quickly reminded of the FBI’s harsh words on how selfish I am and greedy for what I had just done. Thinking of them, I quickly glance into the wooded area where they now hide, while thinking, ‘At least I am doing something to stop them.’ Sighing heavily, I turn back around, where I watch Landon pacing the floor several feet away from Shawn, yelling something at Shawn to hurry up and do the job.
Nodding to myself, I step away from the entrance way of the barn to walk around the corner to find the guy who had confronted me only moments ago to begin to walk along side the barn. As I reach him, he quickly points his gun at me in fear of who I may be. Pushing the gun away, I state, “Relax. It’s only me. Hey,” I pause thoughtfully, “I need you to do something for me.”
“What’s that?” he angrily mumbles at me.
“Go get Shawn and tell him I need to talk to him,” I slowly respond as I find myself tracing my thick scar.
“Why would I do that for you?” he snaps at me, “Do it yourself!”
I force a brief smile towards him despite the raising anger within me as I quickly elbow him in the face and as his attention goes to his bloody nose, I quickly yank the gun out of his hands. Placing the gun to his forehead, I answer, “Because I need to tell him something important that no one else needs to over hear or know about and someone needs to stay out here to keep post. So it might as well as be me and Landon that does it while you take up his post inside. Don’t worry, I’m sure once we’re done, he’ll give you your post back,” I pause as I pull the safety off and I hear him gulp in fear. “Let me ask you this nicely once more, will you please go get Landon for me?”
“Uh yeah. Of course,” he states as he begins to walk towards the back of the barn where Landon and his other guys are lined up at and I follow him with the gun at his head.
Reaching the corner, I whisper in his ear, “Tell him I’ll be right here. You tell him about this and what I did you, my index finger is going to get trigger happy real fast. Ya hear?”
He eyes me wildly before he nods and turns back around and I peer around the corner to watch him walk into the back entrance of the barn before I press my back against the thin wooden wall, around the corner from the entrance. A moment later, I hear heavy foot steps that exit the barn and grow closer to me and hearing Landon reaching the edge of the back of the barn, I inhale deeply as I step out in front of him. Before he can register that it’s me, I hit him harshly on the forehead with the butt of the gun and he gasps in pain before he folds upon the dusty dirt that surrounds the barn. “Not so tough, are ya?” I question as I quickly bend over to pick him up. Looking around to make sure no one else saw, I quickly move away from the barn to reach the wooded area that lies behind the farm house; afraid the rest of the gang would see me if I went the easier way to the woods.
After a long moment of walking in between trees and shrubbery, the two agents I had stopped approach me. “Nice work, Duke,” the older of the two states, the one that didn’t speak so harshly to me in the car, “you did it.”
I nod. “Yeah, I did it,” I pause to light a cigarette, “but you should do something now, because when Landon don’t return in the barn, they’re going to go looking for him. As I said, they all follow Landon and what he says. Without him, they’re lost. Everyone but Shawn that is.”
He nods. “Go with Agent Morton there,” he says as a younger agent approaches us, “he’ll take you back to the car with Brody. Stay there until we return and then we’ll talk about our deal then. You take off, the deal is out the door. Understand?”
Blowing out smoke, I say, “Completely.”
“Very good,” he nods as his partner lifts Landon up and throws him over his shoulder like a bag of potatoes, “By the way, Garrett, you should stop smoking. You won’t be out of breath as you were when you flagged us down.”
“Thanks for the tip, mother,” I respond sarcastically while giving him a sarcastic smile as I walk over to the younger agent. The two agents in charge shake their head at me before they turn around to follow my footsteps back to the farm, Landon unconscious over the rougher of the two agent’s shoulder. “Let’s get going. I don’t wanna be around when the war breaks loose.”
The agent nods and smiles. “This way,” he finally states as he shakes his head, “it is your lucky day, huh, Mr. Duke. You start the war and then get taken away before you can get hit with it.”
“Something like that,” I state as I throw the cigarette out and step it out before I quietly follow him the rest of the way through the thick woods to see the wooded area crawling with agents heavily armed; prepared for war.
***SHAWN GRAHAM***
Shawn Graham’s intense eyes stare through the dark night’s glare at the midnight blue model car that stands in front of him as he sways back in forth in place for a long moment. Drunk again. The thought makes him laugh aloud before he quickly closes his mouth in fear of drawing attention. At sixteen years old he’s been drunk more times than his old man has ever been drunk in his life only to send pride rippling through him. Pride at the fact that he has one upped his father, pride that he has once again distanced himself away from being like his father. Drunk or not drunk, he couldn’t stand his father who always seemed to look down at him, scolding him as if nothing he does was right. If he can’t do anything right, then why not do everything wrong? Show him just how bad he could be. He hears another roar of laughter escape from him, laughter with the thought of how upset his old man would be if he saw him drink one of those beers not alone all the beers he had drank. Plus the shots of hard liquor.
“Something to be proud of,” he hears himself state aloud before his eyes falls back upon the blue car to remind him of why he was here, of why he had gotten drunk again tonight. It wasn’t because he was out partying as often is the case or that he felt like getting drunk to get at his dad. He had found himself with the empty beer cans and shot bottles in front of him after he found his long time girlfriend, Kimberly Phelps, holding hands and kissing Will Jenkins after school. And now he stands upon Jenkins’ farm, looking at the prized possession of Will as anger heavily controls his body. And once again, with the sour thought in his mind of Will’s ugly face next to Kim’s and with all the alcohol within him, he once again, throws up upon Jenkins’ neatly mowed grass. Standing back up, Shawn eyes the dark farm house and states aloud, “May you step in that and fall into it, Will!” Only to produce more laughter from him at the thought of Will falling into his drunken puke.
At the age of sixteen, Shawn, his friends, and his old man knew just how angry he gets while he was drunk, how quick Shawn’s moods flow from thinking everything is funny to wanting to kill everyone in sight. And tonight, it was no different. For the past two hours he had floated from finding every little thing funny to wanting to kill the next thing in sight, which was what had gotten him thrown out of Jake’s basement. Jake had always provided all the alcohol to his friends whenever they wanted it. His old man was an alcoholic and with his mom busy all the time, gave everyone the time and the supply they needed to party hard and to drink their sorrows away.
But tonight after so many drinks, Jake had started to sing some song that Shawn didn’t like in his drunken state and punched him hard to send him flying a couple of feet to the ground. Luke had quickly guided him to the door and had driven him home as he often did. Luke was always there to help him out of trouble. Good ol’ Luke. Luke could party as hard as the rest of them, would drink too. But never to access as Shawn or Jake would. Luke had the good sense to stop in fear of having to face up to his uncle when he got home. So tonight, after hitting Jake so hard and Jake yelling at him to get out of his house, Luke helped him leave and drove him to his front door where he had pretended to go on. Only to walk out once his old truck disappeared and climbed into his dad’s rusted truck.
Where now he finds himself in Will’s front lawn and eyeing his beloved car with thoughts of his Kim kissing Will, their hands interlocked with one another. How could Kim even think of cheating on him? Or what would she see in Will? Why Will? A tear breaks free to fall down his cheek as his anger rises within him towards Kim, towards Will. He could never hurt a beautiful girl as Kim, after all she did for him, how she treated him. Hatred and anger towards her fill Shawn’s drunken body, but despite his emotions towards her for what she had done, he can’t help but to love her. Can’t help but to hope for her happiness, even if without him. As far as he is concerned, it is over between them. No one cheats on him and be forgiven for it. Not even beautiful and sweet Kim. He loved her alright, but not enough to stay with her and to be continued to be hurt by her. Once a cheater, always a cheater in Shawn’s book. She could never be trusted. First thing in the morning, he’ll approach her and tell her what he saw. Tell her it’s over and that she can go cheat on Will now.
But Will is a different story. Unlike Kim, he couldn’t stand Will and every thought directed at Will is of wishing him and his family harm. Of all that he could do to Will that would make him suffer for what he did to him. Make him pay in full for stealing his Kim from him. No one steals his girl without a fight. And the fight is on.
And now looking at his beloved car, Shawn knows exactly how to get even with Will for what he had done to him, for stealing Kim away from him as he had done. “Oh yeah, this is gonna be fun,” he hears himself laugh as he lifts a hammer out from the back of his dad’s truck to wobble over to the muscle car and hit’s the hammer down hardly onto the hood of the car. Excitement penetrates through his drunk body as he continuously pounds the heavy hammer deeply into the hood of the car, each bang causing his pride and excitement to penetrate within him.
After several minutes of pounding upon the hood, he silent examines his work before he walks around the driver’s side of the car and he lifts the hammer to swing it downward and hears himself laugh aloud with the clattering of glass as the hammer goes throw the shattered window.
After several minutes of taking the hammer to the well worked on car, Shawn takes a wobbly step backwards to take in his damage that he placed upon the car; inside and out. Outside he had taken the hammer to it while in the inside he had taken his switchblade knife he had won in a bet with Jake to the leather seating and the dash board. “See how you think about me now,” Shawn slurs as he throws the hammer back into his father’s truck and his eyes flash upon the large box that is hidden underneath a thick blanket and an idea flashes in the back of his mind. With a large smile on his face, he climbs into the back of the truck and throws the blanket off to send excitement through him at seeing his father’s unsold shine that he had left in the box from the run yesterday morning. Picking up the jug of shine, he eyes the dark house momentarily before he walks over to the end of the bed where he attempts to climb down but trips to fall upon his back; saving the jug of shine by pulling it up over his head. He hears himself yelp aloud in pain as his back and head hit the hard ground. “Damn it,” he states, hearing himself slur through buzzed ears.
Sitting up, fear washes over him as dull dark yellow lights slices through the thick darkness of the night before the dark form of a vehicle comes into sight. Cussing under his breath, Shawn hurries to his knees where he quickly crawls behind his truck to hide while peering past the bed of the truck at the oncoming vehicle. Hearing his heart pound wildly within him, he watches as the old beat up truck quickly passes by his parked truck and he begins to wonder who else would be out at this time of night. Sighing heavily, he glances around the front of his truck as the old truck comes to a halt at the stop sign and as the truck pulls off, a large dark shadow seems to fall from the truck before disappearing from sight. Questions race wildly as he watches the truck disappear around the sharp corner before he dares to stand up again, turning his attention towards the dark house. He glances back at the stop sign in wonder what the guy had lost as he had drove forward only for the thought of Kim kissing Will to remind him why he was here. If he was going to finish his damage, he better do it now and get it over with.
Turning away from his truck, Shawn moves back to the parked beloved car with the jug of shine in hand and he drunkenly eyes the car and the damage he had placed upon it. If he left now, it would sure get the message across to Will and upset him deeply and he could possibly get out of here without getting caught. Shaking his head at the cowardly thought, he moves forward to begin emptying the jug out over the parked car and another wave of excitement washes over him at the thought it would apply to his car. Once he struck the match, the car would no longer be able to be drove or fixed; it’d be killed beyond repair. “You’re gonna be sorry you messed with me,” Shawn states aloud as he grabs the box of matches from his pocket, hearing his slurred speech through his drunken state.
Without thought of consequences upon himself or for the people asleep inside the house several feet away, Shawn strikes up a match and watches it light up the dark sky around him. “Here’s to you, Will!” he cries out as he drops the lit match upon the damaged and soaked hood before he turns around to run. Just as he turns around, he sees the child standing behind the bed of his truck, peering out across the closed tailgate of the bed of the truck. The familiar blond hair and the baby blue eyes thick with recognition and fear that could only be Luke’s youngest cousin, Bo Duke. The crybaby. What was he doing here? He instantly thinks of the dark object that had fallen out of the back of the truck that had momentarily passed by.
Turning his attention away from the crybaby, he’d deal with him later, Shawn quickly runs away from the damaged car a moment before the car explodes with a loud roaring sound and a bright flame to send him flying a couple of feet away. He hears a loud yell of pain and fear as he hit’s the hard ground several feet away and as he glances at his truck, he is surprised to find Bo another couple of feet away from where he had been standing a minute ago, lying on the ground. He is quick to realize that the yell hadn’t come from him or his own pain, but from Bo.
Shawn stiffly stands up before he drunkenly falls back down before he crawls over to his dad’s old truck, surprised to see it still standing through the powerful blast, and yanks himself up using the truck as support. He eyes the car that is now a huge flame ball before looking up at the house and is amazed that it remains dark despite the loud sound the explosion had created. Turning away from the house, Shawn looks over at Bo who slowly sits up, dressed only in pajama bottoms, and for a short moment, Shawn is mesmerized by Bo’s bare thin chest heaving in and out slowly in his struggle for air. Snapping himself out of it, he quickly walks over to him, filled with rage to be seen doing what he was doing, especially by Bo who’ll run to his uncle to tell on him. As he always does. The crybaby. “Hey retard,” he states, using the name he has been calling him since he knew him; but always out of earshot from Jesse or Luke, “what you doing here?”
Shawn laughs as Bo eyes him with wild eyes while the eleven year old Bo slowly curls his thin legs to his bare chest, his bare chest that desperately fights for air. Only to force more pain within his already weakened lungs. “Nothing,” Bo finally manages to say, eyeing the car that lights up the dark night sky before his eyes fall upon Shawn again.
“Nothing?” Shawn mimics, “Your Uncle Jesse know you out here…so late? Does Luke?” Shawn shakes his head, “I’m willing to bet they don’t…won’t they be upset when they find out you snuck out. That little innocent Bo snuck out of the house when he should be in bed. Hate to be you when Jesse finally decides to punish you.” He laughs aloud.
Bo eyes the lit car once more and back at Shawn. “Trust me…after they find out what you did,” Bo gasps for air, “they’ll be quick to overlook the fact that I snuck out. So will Sheriff Coltrane.”
Hearing Bo’s threat, reality heavily sinks within Shawn, the reality he had been so blind to in his drunken rage as he had gotten out of his dad’s truck and began attacking Will’s car. The reality of what would happen to him if he were caught and now looking at Bo, fear for the first time of the night hits him. Hits him hard. He quickly hears his dad yelling at him how much of a disgrace he is to their family, to their name, of the hick sheriff shaking his head, telling him he’s been waiting for this day to come. For the day to come that he, Shawn, was dumb enough to slip up enough for him to be caught in the crime. Of his mom’s disappointment and her lecture of how his younger brother looks up to him.
Angrily, Shawn leans over to slap Bo across the face who yelps out in pain before falling back upon the ground and Shawn angrily kicks him away. Watching Luke’s eleven year old cousin pushing himself away from Shawn, Shawn thinks of how easy it would be to snap his thin arms in half, to watch him suffer in pain before snapping his thin legs in two. Of how great it would be to kill the kid once and for all and not have to put up with him always following them around when he was with Luke. Of his constant coughing, wheezing, and complaining. Of him always running off telling on him for everything he did. But once again, he is reminded of how protective Luke is of him of how angry and upset Luke gets if anyone, other than Shawn, were to even look at Bo wrongly. For some odd reason, Shawn couldn’t see why, Luke seemed as fond of Bo as Bo was of him and it’d devastate Luke if something were to “happen” to Bo. Despite how he feels about Bo, he couldn’t bring himself to hurt Bo as much as he wished to hurt him or kill him the times he has thought of killing him. He couldn’t bring himself to do it because of Luke.
Yet, looking down at him, he struggles not to rush over and attack him as his brain seems to be screaming at him to do, screaming at him that Bo’s his witness; that Bo will be glad to rat him out and put him behind bars. “Damn you!” Shawn finally spits at Bo and Bo flinches from it before he begins coughing. “Shut up! You aren’t going to be winning any pity with me with your coughing and your asthma. I ain’t gonna feel sorry for you as Luke and Jesse seem to!” He rushes over to him again, kicking him again in the ribs and laughs as Bo cries out.
Silence flows between them for a long moment as Bo struggles for air, wishing he had brought his emergency inhaler with him. Instead he had forgotten it on the bed stand between his and Luke’s bed. What good it did him there. He shakes his head at himself before eyeing the car and Shawn once more, struck with panic with the upcoming attack and fear of Shawn who looms over him. Bo hears himself gasp in fear as Shawn quickly drops to his knees besides him and quickly holds tightly onto his thin upper arms, pinning him to the ground. “Stop it, Shawn!” he manages to yell out as he smells Shawn’s breath that reeks of beer.
“No, Bo. You stop it! What you just saw was between Will and I. It has nothing to do with you! Now you butted yourself in and now I am forced to deal with you!” Shawn yells down at Bo before he picks Bo’s shoulder and head up to begin shaking him with anger and hatred towards the kid who has always bugged him, always got on his nerves, the kid who has always stolen Luke away from him to ruin their plans. “You are not to say a word of what you saw, of what I said, of anything here tonight! You got it?!” Shawn yells, eyeing expectantly down at Bo who weakly nods, too afraid to argue and to panicked with his breathing to think otherwise. “Good,” Shawn states, shaking him more, knowing that Bo’s short nod meant nothing. “You tell anyone what you saw -”
Shawn is quickly interrupted as the car explodes again sending Shawn falling upon Bo’s thin and weak body and they both yell out in surprise and pain. Repulsed at being so close to Bo, Shawn quickly rolls himself away from Bo and sitting up is struck with horror to find the fiery hood of the car to be lying in the tall bushes that line the side of the house. Quickly long flames tickle up the bushes and latches tightly upon the white farm house and spreads across the side of the house, crawling higher and higher as dark black smoke raises up to the dark sky. He cusses as he stands up, eyeing the house and the thick fire that threatens to engulf the house and fear spreads rapidly within him of the damage he had created. He had created to get to Will. But he had never intended anyone to get hurt and now the house. . .
Looking down at Bo, he sends in another swift kick into his ribs, still questioning why Bo was here and how he got here. “Don’t say a word!” he yells down at the kid who crawls away from Shawn, ignoring Shawn as he eyes the tall house that is covered in smoke and fire. Eyeing Bo momentarily before eyeing the house, he cusses again before he ran over to his dad’s truck to quickly climb inside to quickly start the truck. Backing the truck out onto the road before putting it into drive, he shines the bright lights upon Bo who is slowly standing up on the side of the road, he contemplates hitting Bo on his way past; perhaps he’d die and wouldn’t be able to say a word to anyone.
But instead, Shawn speeds past Bo, knowing he has already done too much damage as it was. That it had all had gotten way out of control. Hitting Bo would bring more trouble upon him as logic tells him that he wouldn’t be going fast enough to do the amount of damage he’d need to do in able to quiet the crybaby; unless Bo hit his head real hard or some other odd thing would happen. To hit him would only put him in the hospital with his breathing and perhaps a broken arm or leg. As it was, with Will and his family asleep inside, he has created too much damage and perhaps injury or worse upon innocent people. All that he had not intended to do. He had parked the truck with the sole attention of beating up the one thing that meant the most to Will; his car, and that was it until he saw the blanket and thought of the shine. And now the house is on fire. Despite the strong yearning to stop and get help for the Jenkins, his fear of what he had done, overcomes his yearnings and forces him to drive faster away from the crime he had committed.
Driving through the stop sign that the other truck had stopped at, the truck that Bo must have rolled out of, he glances through his rearview mirror to find the kid running towards the house. Shawn shakes his head. Of course Bo would be the one to fearlessly run into the burning house with the heroic thought of saving the family within. Of course Bo would be too stupid to realize the risks that would involve playing the hero to the family within. . .
Shawn cusses aloud at himself for what he had just done. Of what had started out as fun, as vengeance towards Will has now turned deadly. Attempting to ignore his guilt and the fear that is burning lively within him, Shawn turns the corner where the only sign of his crimes is the dark black smoke that crosses the bright full moon.
“Everyone freeze! FBI!” the male’s strong voice is quick to pull Shawn out from his lost memory, the memory he has been able to force behind him through a life of crime. Startled, Shawn finds himself leaning back against the side fencing of the pen, a foot away from Bo, and staring hatefully down at him. Only to freeze his mind upon seeing Bo hiding behind his truck in his pajama pants and only ten years old; almost eleven. “This is Sergeant FBI Agent Frank Mills,” the voice calls out again to send Shawn fully out of his old memory and back to reality to send fear flushing through him. “If you glance out of the barn, you will notice that we have you and this area tightly surrounded. If you glance out the front of the barn, you will see my partner, Agent Mueller, who has your leader, Landon Groves arrested and in handcuffs. We advise that you all set down your weapons and surrender before anyone gets hurt.”
Shawn quickly takes a step over to kick Bo’s extended leg to receive a small gasp of pain, his bruised eyes slowly open to eye him angrily as Shawn walks out of the pen to peer out through the front opening of the barn. “Damn it,” he hears himself whisper as mouth goes dry. Outside, several men in dark blue clothing scattered around with a muscular man in front with what looks to be a mike of some sort. Behind him a younger agent stands firmly in military stance with Landon standing in front of him, his arms tightly behind him and a blank look spread across Landon’s face. A blank look that sends a message of defeat to Shawn. Stepping back and turning around, he sees Cliff and the rest of the gang standing closer to him, eyeing him for answers and directions. Slowly Shawn feels himself nodding. “It’s the FBI,” he hears myself state, “they’ve got Landon. He’s been arrested.”
A loud cry of defeat seems to cross the old barn. “What we do now?” Darrell is the first yell out as he pushes his way past a couple members who had been blocking him, “They’re in the back too. Big guns and all. It’s the damn FBI! And they’ve got Landon!”
“I ain’t blind!” Shawn snaps angrily as he quickly walks past Cliff to walk into the pen where he harshly back hands Bo across the face as anger explodes within him. Bo grunts, but barely moves under the attack and out of anger, Shawn grabs Bo by the shirt to lift him and the chair up to rush him against the wooden wall behind him. As he shoves Bo against the wall, Bo’s head is thrown back and it smacks the wooden beam that is attacked to the loft above and Shawn watches Bo’s eyes roll up and close for a long moment. As Bo’s eyes slowly re-open, Shawn yells, “You called the FBI!”
Bo smiles through his pain and from under Shawn’s pressure and Shawn quickly takes Bo off the wall to hit him harder against the wall and a loud cracking sound runs up from behind Bo’s head. “You tell me, Liam, when I called the FBI?” Bo wheezes out, tears of pain melting down his bruised cheeks as he forces himself to stare back at Shawn through blurred vision.
Shawn loosens his grip on Bo in shock and in unknown fear at the sound of Bo using his false name, the false name he hasn’t used or heard since leaving Atlanta a month ago. After a long moment he reapplies the pressure upon Bo and the wall, struggling with questions of how Bo had found out about his false ID and why hadn’t he said anything before now, if he knew. “Who’s Liam?” Shawn finally hears himself asking, knowing he had given his fear away, the truth away by hesitating as he had, “I don’t know who the hell you’re talking about. Who’s Liam?!”
Bo stares back at Shawn to send chills racing up and down his back. When Shawn had left Hazzard twelve years ago, Bo had been thirteen and would do anything to avoid him, would fearfully look away from him when Shawn moved in to give him a hard time. Wouldn’t back down to him, but was fearful all the same of him. But now, beaten and on the verge of being killed, the look in Bo’s still eyes is a look void of any fear or shame as they’d been full of before he had left Hazzard. Void of fear and full of self confidence despite the pain and torture he has gone through in the past few hours.
“Who you think you’re fooling, Liam?” Bo weakly states as he goes silent for a long moment, fighting to breathe, “By now Luke is sure to see through your act and see who you really are, Liam. So why continue to put on a show for him? For them? They’re not that blind to see it now that you got them tied up and all. Might as well as face up to them and who you are. Liam Brock. The newly improved Shawn Graham.”
“Shawn,” he hears Cliff hiss his name out from behind him, “what we going to do? They got us surrounded…they’re not going to leave unless we’re in cuffs. They got Landon…might as well surrender now.”
Anger and outrage pour through Shawn as he eyes Bo coldly before he thrusts him back against the back of the barn until he hears the wooden chair break from behind Bo and Bo’s eyes widen in shock and pain as it splinters deeply within his back. “We’re not going to give up. We still got a job to do,” Shawn states pressing Bo as hard as he can into the splintered back of the chair, enjoying to see the pain refreshed in his eyes and upon his face.
“Damn you Shawn,” Darrell states as he nervously peers out at the FBI, “they got Landon. We got nowhere else to go without him. Landon’ is sure to turn us all in if by chance any of us would escape. But by looking by the guns and the looks on the feds’ faces, we are either going to jail or get a bullet. Which ever comes first. You’re here on a personal vendetta, Shawn. One that is going to get us all killed!”
Shawn shakes his head at the gang behind him as he moves his right hand from Bo’s bloody shirt to place it upon his bloody neck. Applying pressure to Bo’s neck, he snaps, “You went to the FBI! I told you what would happen if you -”
“As I said,” Bo interrupts him to be cut off by the lack of air due to the pressure and his asthma, “you tell me, when I went,” he goes silent and his eyes closes for a long moment before he forces them back open, “to the FBI, Liam.”
“What that suppose to mean?” Shawn hisses at him, growing interested in what the blond is saying, how he’ll try to talk his way out of this one.
“Well you got the place covered in bugs,” Bo gasps, “The General. Probably our boots. Plus you had your clowns follow where ever I went.” Once more, Bo goes silent. “So you tell me, when I went to the FBI.”
Shawn eyes Bo for a long moment, thinking of what he had just said. “When you dumped Cliff there in that pond this morning,” he confidently confides in him.
Bo shakes his head for a short moment before going still. “You’d still have known by your bugs. Whether your Cliff was there or not,” Bo manages to say as part of the chair falls out from under him.
“Maybe so,” Shawn states as he hears men moving about behind him, “but where you go after you lost Cliff?”
“Fishing,” Bo hisses and Shawn applies more pressure to his neck, “didn’t want his ugly face to scare all the fish away.” Bo forces a sarcastic smile at Shawn. “You know, Shawn, I’m surprised with you. I’d have thought, you’d have learned something from your time you spent in Hazzard. Obviously not. Otherwise you wouldn’t have thought of sending a city boy out after a country boy who knows the land and knows how to drive. Poor Cliff didn’t stand a chance.”
With that, Shawn quickly yanks Bo away from the cracked boards of the barn by grabbing his shirt and neck to drag him a couple of feet back before, Bo’s injured leg dragging on the ground, he once again runs Bo quickly and forcefully into the cracked wall once more. Bo cries out in pain before is quieted by Shawn’s harsh pressure that he applies to Bo’s neck as he had done the first time he had attacked him in the barn.
“Let him go, Shawn!” Luke’s loud voice penetrates through Shawn’s thinking and he glances back towards his lined hostages and fear hits him to see that the rest of the gang has left him.
“It’s all over, Shawn!” the FBI yell in at him, as if reading his thoughts, “Everyone else has surrendered, but you. Let the hostages go!”
“Not a chance,” Shawn states, shaking his head as he eyes Bo as his past seems to flash by him quickly and vividly, recalling the events that has lead him to where he stands now. After a long moment, he abruptly grabs Bo and drags him to the middle of the pen where he forcefully throws him upon the wooden floor and sends a couple of swift kicks into his chest and into his face. Pulling himself away from Bo, he walks to the open gate of the pen where he eyes Luke, Daisy, Cooter, and Jesse to send pain rippling within him. Emotional pain of what he was going to have to do. They had welcomed him into their home, treated him like family, had trusted him with everything and yet now, thanks to Bo, he’s going to have to kill them.
***BO DUKE***
Intense agony spreads across my numb body as I feel Shawn drag me away from the thin wall of the barn before he comes to an abrupt halt and he throws me harshly upon the cold hard ground. Upon hitting the hard ground, the remaining of the broken chair shatters from under me, cutting into my skin. My arms painfully falls to my sides as the wood that my wrists had been tied onto splinters into my arms and down upon the ground. The barn seems to darken and spin around me as I feel his heavy work boot digging deeply into my chest before digging into my face. Fresh blood quickly runs from my nose and out of my mouth as I see his dark shadow slowly moving away from me and a moment of relief floods over me.
A loud cry of fear quickly alerts me, sounding loud yet distant, and I painfully glance up to find the cry coming from Daisy as Shawn thrusts his hand gun at Jesse and is seeming to say something. Yet inaudible to where I lie. But seeing the gun pointed to Jesse’s head, Shawn’s voice becomes audible in my head, of his harsh threat he had given me in the barn only a couple of weeks ago when I had walked in on him. I attempt to yell at him, but only blood and spit comes out of my mouth, dripping down my chin. Biting my lower lip to silence my breathing, I slowly use my throbbing arms to pull myself forward where I half drag myself and half crawl over to the entrance of the pen. Reaching the small entrance, I slowly glance up to find everyone’s attention drawn upon Jesse and Shawn, Shawn’s attention directed upon Jesse.
“It wasn’t suppose to end like this,” Shawn’s voice becomes audible, sounding far and distant through my buzzed hearing, “I was only to hide out, fit in, return to how I once was while all this passed by.” Shawn goes silent as I painfully force myself up onto my left knee while I grip tightly upon the wooden fence post. “But Bo, he had to go and mess everything up. Just like always,” Shawn gives a nervous laugh while sending a shaky hand through his thin hair. “and now I am going to have to kill you all, because of him. He has to see it. Live it. Witness it. Before I finish him off once and for all. Otherwise, he’ll make a liar outta me and I ain’t no liar.” Another nervous laugh. “So now I am faced with who goes first. Will it be Jesse?” He force the gun tighter against Jesse’s pale skin before he slowly moves over to Daisy, “or will it be pretty little Daisy? Or perhaps Cooter?” he moves to Cooter.
“You won’t get away with this!” Cooter snaps at Shawn only to force Shawn to laugh sarcastically and nervously at him before he walks over to Luke to apply the gun to his forehead.
“Cooter’s right,” Luke firmly states, “once you pull that trigger on any one of us, the FBI is going to start their shooting at you. They’ll shoot to kill.”
Shawn shakes his head at him. “At least I’ll die trying, right?” Shawn moves his way back to Jesse, a few feet to the left of the entrance to the pen. He stands at Jesse for a while, eyeing his tied prisoners, before he firmly reapplies the gun to Jesse’s pale forehead. “Perhaps the old man would be best,” he states and I grip tightly onto the post, pulling myself up onto my left leg, “Sorry Jesse. You treated me better than my old man ever did,” I hear Shawn state as a wave of nausea and dizziness floods over me, through blurred vision, I notice his thick index finger moving against the trigger of the gun.
Forcing my way over the small board of the pen’s entrance, I ignore my throbbing pain that has seemed to have captured my whole body, as I harshly throw myself at Shawn. I land forcefully into Shawn just as he pulls the trigger to send screaming pain soaring through my upper right arm as I land upon him on the ground. He yells out in pain and surprise as he quickly kicks and shoves me off of him and I roll over onto the ground before noticing fresh blood to be soaking up my upper right sleeve, to force me to wonder if I had been shot.
“You idiot! Stand up!” Shawn yells at me as he is quick to stand up and as I lie silently on my back, he rushes over to me to send a harsh kick into my ribs once more, “Get up or I’m going to shoot Daisy. Now!” With that, Shawn quickly and violently shoves the gun into Daisy’s forehead and she lets out a small cry of fear and in pain.
I try to nod at him only to send more pain through my body as I struggle off the blackness that threatens to surround me. “Shawn Graham!” I finally hear the FBI once more yelling into the barn, “We got you surrounded. You either let the hostages go or you walk out on your own. Or we’re coming in for you!”
“Only if you want to be picking up dead victims in here, Sergeant!” Shawn yells back as he presses the gun tighter against Daisy’s forehead, his eyes upon me.
After a long moment of trying to crawl over to the fence, I slowly reach it to reach back with my left arm, grabbing a hold of a wooden post, I once again force myself up onto my left leg while leaning back against the fence. “I’m up,” I force out, “leave her alone.”
Shawn slowly leaves Daisy with a nervous grin towards me. “Now thanks to your greediness, they’re going to have to watch me kill you first,” he hisses at me and he backhands me with the butt of the gun again and I grip onto the fence to stop from falling back down upon the ground again. Placing the gun to my left temple, he asks, “What you think of that?”
“I think -” I start to say.
“Drop the gun, Shawn!” the FBI interrupts me, “You make one false moves, our sharp shooter’s going to put a bullet right through that head of yours. Drop the gun and we can talk.”
I hear him click something on the gun. “Is it worth it?” I ask forcefully and I feel my eyes fall shut before I force them back open.
“Is what worth it?” Shawn hisses angrily at me as he applies more pressure with the gun.
“Is killing me worth dying for?” I ask, staring him in the eye, once more accepting my fate despite the FBI only feet away from us.
Shawn shakes his head and begins to laugh. “Heck yeah, it’ll be worth it. More than worth it,” another sarcastic laugh, “I’ve been to jail…I’m not going back. I can’t go back. At least I’ll die knowing I took care of you once and for all. Made this world a better place by doing so too.” He pauses to glance over his shoulder at Luke and for a brief moment, I think of trying to hit the gun away as I normally would have done in this situation. But the pain stops me from thinking or from caring to do so. “I don’t know how you put up with him for so long. How any of you did. I’m doing y’all a huge favor here. “ He laughs once more before he turns around to face me once more, the pressure from the gun is force harsher against my bruised face. “You have any final words for your family, Bo? Before I pull the trigger?”
I stare at Shawn for a long moment as I allow pain and fear to flood through me, knowing as long as I feel the pain, feel the fear, I know I am still alive. My thoughts fall upon focusing upon my breathing in attempt to control my attack, my attempt to keep breathing and conscious, my thoughts fall upon my family and all I had put them through. If I hadn’t followed Shawn into the barn that rainy day, would things have been different? Would Shawn and his gang been able to just pack up and leave Hazzard without it coming to this when they decided it was time to leave? Or would it have come to this anyway? If only I hadn’t followed Shawn into the barn. . .
I slowly turn my eyes away from Shawn, eyeing Daisy before eyeing Jesse, Luke, and Cooter. All the things I want to say rush rapidly within me. Words of gratitude and sentimental. Words that could never sum up how I feel for all that they did for me or what they mean to me. Words that would mean nothing in a few days, words that would be forgotten through the hustle and bustle of everyday life. Instead, I hear myself saying, “I’m sorry.” I’m sorry. As if those two little words cover everything , as if those two little words would take back all the damage that I had done. Two little words that will mean nothing to them as they remember me as the cousin they once had, the nephew he once had, or the friend he once had that had turned their old friend against them. The one that messed up and almost got everyone killed. The one who had deserved to die.
I hear Shawn laugh to bring my attention back upon him before he presses the gun more firmly to my head and I begin to know how Jesse had felt moments ago before I had thrown myself into Shawn. “I’m sorry?” he mimics me once more, “That’s what you’re going to leave them with?” He laughs and shakes his head at me, “You are sorry. That’s for sure. Sorry excuse for a human being. Adios, Beaureguard.”
With that, I feel his hand wriggle slightly before out of the corner of my eye I watch his right index finger curling tighter around the thin trigger and a loud shot rings out to echo off of the thin walls. I yell out of pain, fear, and shock as Shawn’s body buckles upright before blood sprays out from his chest and he falls down hardly onto me. As his head and chest hits my shoulder and chest, I weakly let go of the post I had been holding onto to be thrown harshly onto the ground besides me, Shawn lands halfway upon me on my stomach and chest. As I feel darkness settle in around me, I glance down and feel everything come to a halt as I see Shawn eying me with wide dead eyes full of shock, his face covered in his splattered blood. For a brief moment, I attempt to shove Shawn’s dead weight off of me, only to be too weak and too full of pain to do so and I fall back upon the ground.
People’s voices become audible, yet sounding distant as darkness sinks heavier within me and the air too thick to breathe in and as I close my eyes, I hear someone state my name only to open my eyes once more to find several people standing over me, trying to put something over my face. “No -”I start to say only to not be able to say anything due to the lack of oxygen and I make a vague attempt to block them away only for someone to say my name as they grab my hand. I glance down and through dark and hazy eyes, notice it to be Luke who seems to say something else, but sounds so distant, so far away. Yet he sits right next to me. I glance over behind them to notice that they had taken Shawn off of me sometime without me knowing or seeing them do it. “Lu -” I try to say and he grabs the mask away from the person who had tried to put it on me only moments before he starts to say something. Though he sits right next to me, I can’t hear what he is saying through my buzzed ears. A short moment passes before he leans over with the mask and I feel my body relax slightly as he places it over my mouth and nose and instantly slight relief floods within me. “I’m sorry,” I hear myself saying through the mask as my vision goes black and I grip his hand as tight as I can, “Luke.”
“Bo!” I hear him say, his voice urgent and full of panic yet only sounds like a whisper to me before everyone and everything fades away into pure and thick darkness. A thickness that lingers between life and death.
***LUKE DUKE***
Sweat slowly tickles down my forehead and down my cheeks as I silently look up at Shawn who stands in front of Jesse, his handgun violently shoved into Jesse’s forehead. Struggling with the ropes that he has tightly tied around my back and onto the wooden post, my emotions powerfully rip through me. Emotions of fear and grief at the thought of Jesse being shot and killed by Shawn, at the thought of witnessing the one man who had raised and loved me ever since he had taken me as a baby being killed. Emotions of horror, sadness, and guilt wash over me, horror and sadness at the thought of all that Shawn has done to terrorize Bo and all that Bo has gone through without a single word to anyone. And guilt for being so blind to the truth, blind to who Shawn was and who he had became. Guilt for seeing things wrong in Shawn’s story, yet believing him anyway. If only I had listened to Bo. . .
Movement abruptly interrupts my thought and I slowly glance away from Shawn to find Bo weakly pulling himself up with the help of the entrance way board and leaning on his left leg. Surprise and shock flow rapidly within me to see him on his feet and to see a bold look of determination struck across his bruised and cut face. After all Shawn has just done to him to add upon all his other damages, Bo stands in the entry way seeking to stop Shawn from what he is about to do to Jesse. Only to send intense pride and love for my cousin for his courage and self denial.
I quickly look away from Bo in hope of not attracting Shawn’s attention back to Bo and to see the fear and horror that has froze upon Jesse’s face, sadness and horror once again hit me. I open my mouth to send another remark towards Shawn and what he is doing only for my mouth to go dry and nothing comes out. ‘C’mon Mills. Shoot him!’ my thoughts yell aloud at the FBI that I know surround the building and are looking in, hoping to see all this coming to an end before anyone else in my family would get hurt worse or killed.
Shawn gives a small nervous laughter to interrupt my thoughts and to bring my attention fully on him once more and my heart comes to a halt as I watch his finger moving against the trigger. I glance up from Shawn a half second later as Bo makes his painful way across the threshold of the pen before he throws himself onto Shawn just as Shawn’s finger squeezes the thin black trigger. My heart comes to a dead halt as Bo yells out in pain as the bullet seems to disappear into his upper right arm and his yellow sleeve of his shirt is abruptly covered in fresh blood. Shawn lets out a yell of his own, a yell of surprise and shock as he is shoved onto the ground before Bo lands upon him. Angrily, Shawn shoves and kicks Bo off of him before he quickly stands up to glare angrily down at Bo who now lies on the ground with most of his body and clothing covered in blood.
“You idiot! Stand up!” Shawn angrily yells before he rushes back over to Bo where he quickly kicks him harshly in the ribs, Bo’s thin body seems to leave the ground an inch or so with Shawn’s kick. After kicking Bo, a thin smile crosses Shawn’s face as he races over to Daisy where he applies the gun to Daisy’s forehead where she lets out a cry of fear and pain. “Get up or I’m going to shoot Daisy. Now!”
Bo gives Shawn a little movement of the head before he goes silent and still, his eyes stuck upon Daisy as he seems to be concentrating upon Shawn’s demands. “Shawn Graham!” I recognize Sergeant Mills’ voice call in from outside and Shawn angrily looks away from Daisy to eye the entrance of the barn, “We got you surrounded. You either let the hostages go or you walk out on your own. Or we’re coming in for you!”
“Only if you want to be picking up dead victims in here, Sergeant!” Shawn calls out as he repositions the gun to Daisy’s forehead and looks down at Bo.
“Come on Shawn, don’t do this,” I plea Shawn as I watch Bo painfully force his way over to the fence line on the other side of the barn. “This will only get you shot or worse. You walk out of here and -”
“Shut – up, Luke!” Shawn hisses at me, “You don’t know nothing about me or what I’m facing whether I surrender or not. By now you should know me well enough that I don’t surrender to anyone. Including the FBI! Now get up before I shoot her!”
I glance over at Bo who has now reached the other barn where he places his left hand upon the wood and he uses the fence to pull himself up onto his left leg before he leans back against the wood. “I’m up,” Bo forcefully says, his voice is weak and quiet as he gasp for air, “leave her alone.”
Shawn eyes Daisy for a moment before he slowly walks over to Bo who eyes Shawn with a boldness that almost seems foreign to Bo. “Now thanks to your greediness, they’re going to have to watch me kill you first,” Shawn quickly states before he backhands Bo across the face with the butt of the gun and Bo’s left hand clenches tighter upon the fence to keep himself from falling back down under the pressure. With his back facing us, Shawn asks, “What you think of that?”
“I think -” Bo starts to say.
“Drop the gun, Shawn!” Mills quickly interrupts Bo and Bo’s eyes widen momentarily as he glances around before eyeing Shawn once more, “You make one false move, our sharp shooter’s going to put a bullet right through that head of your’s. Drop the gun and we can talk.”
Bo eyes Shawn for a long moment as he focuses on his breathing. “Is it worth it?” Bo finally asks through a strained voice before his bruised eyes fall shut before he forces them back open.
“Is what worth it?” Shawn asks angrily, pressing the gun tighter to his head.
“Is killing me worth dying for?” Bo bluntly states and once more, pride and love fill me for his courage that he is now showing as he continues to force his way through his pain in his attempt to protect his family.
Shawn shakes his head before he laughs nervously at him. “Heck yeah, it’ll be worth it. More than worth it,” I overhear Shawn say as I continue to fight my short nails under the tight knot that he had tied. Hoping desperately to be able to untie it in order to help Bo or for the FBI to help him. “I’ve been to jail. . .I’m not going back. I can’t go back. At least I’ll die knowing I took care of you once and for all. Made t his world a better place by doing so too.” Shawn goes silent and my mind goes back to Shawn’s accusation of Bo being the one that had sent him to jail years ago when Shawn had lit Will’s car on fire that had sent his house on fire. Only to send more questions to rush within me of how Bo could have been that mysterious witness that had came forward. He was only ten. Almost eleven at the time. “I don’t know how you put up with him for so long. How any of you did. I’m doing y’all a huge favor here.” Shawn brings my attention back onto him and he laughs momentarily as he turns to face us for a long moment before turning back around to face Bo again. “You have any final words for your family, Bo? Before I pull the trigger?”
Bo eyes us for a long moment, eyeing us all momentarily as if taking us all in as he thinks of Shawn’s question that he had just given him. I in turn take him in and all the damage that Shawn has brought upon him that is hidden behind all the blood that covers Bo’s weak and broken body. Only to send my imagination to vividly draw pictures of all the horrible ways Shawn has beaten and tortured Bo to make him look as beaten as he does. Only to make my anger and hatred towards Shawn to accelerate boldly through me.
“I’m sorry,” Bo finally states to break the silence before more silence follows his statement once more and I am left to wonder what he has to be sorry for.
Shawn laughs at Bo before he smacks the gun tighter upon his head to send Bo’s eyes wavering away from Shawn and onto Jesse who sits besides me, a look of horror and fear frozen across his aging face. “I’m sorry?” Shawn mimics, bringing everyone’s attention onto him again. “That’s what you’re going to leave them with?” Shawn questions and shakes his head at him. “You are sorry. That’s for sure. Sorry excuse for a human being. Adios, Beaureguard.”
Disbelief and horror rip painfully through my body as I watch Shawn lean into the gun, his finger etching onto the trigger of the gun that lies tightly against Bo’s swollen face. Bo stares blankly at Shawn with a look of defeat, a look of acceptance of what his fate now holds for him. “No, no, no,” I am surprised to hear myself muttering aloud as I feel all the hope evaporate within me, leaving me to feel hopeless and helpless at being unable to help my cousin when he needs me the most.
I find myself holding my breath in my raw emotion as I watch Shawn’s finger pressing upon the black trigger in horrified anticipation as a gun shot explodes from behind the barn and a moment later, Shawn yells out in pain and fear. His muscular body buckles upright as blood splatters from his chest before he heavily falls upon Bo’s chest who yelps out in pain and fear of his own as he falls upon the hard ground once more. “Bo!” I hear myself yell aloud, fighting against the tight restraints of the rope, as I stare down at Shawn’s dead body looking at Bo who lies under him.
Quickly several men dressed in dark blue run in from both ends of the barn over to Bo where one of them bends down to check Shawn’s pulse before he roughly grabs a hold of the back of Shawn’s bloody collar to throw him off of Bo. Bo closes his eyes for a brief moment before a couple agents quickly fall to their knees besides him, one checks his pulse before nodding up at the other guy who grabs an oxygen tank from another agent. Through the gap between a couple agents, I watch as Bo’s eyes reopen and I feel a small smile cross my face as he attempts to fight against the agent as the agent tries to apply the air mask to Bo’s face. A small smile at the fact that despite Bo’s condition, that he remains stubborn enough to fight against the mask, that despite his desperate need for the oxygen, that he stills fears the unknown man too much to trust him.
“Any of you hurt?” I look up to notice several agents in front of me, agents I hadn’t seen approach or notice that they were there as I had been too busy watching Bo. An older agent with dark hair with streaks of white drops down next to me with intense dark eyes that scan me over before he re-asks the question the other agent had asked, “You hurt?”
I shake my head no at him as I steal another look over at Bo who once again tries to fight off the mask in his weak state. “I’m fine, sir. I’ll be better once I am let free and can go over and help my cousin over there,” I finally answer and he briefly nods.
“Well then,” he gives me a warm smile that is full of relief before he bends over and yanks a large knife from his belt and as he cuts the thick rope that ties me to the post, he finishes, “let me help you out with that.”
I nod at him as my wrists drop free from the rope and I pull them in front of me to rub them momentarily before taking in the deep bruised rope burns that surround both of my wrists. “Thank-you,” I nod at him again before I rush past Daisy and another agent to take a few quick steps over before I drop down to my knees on the right side of Bo, next to the agent with the air mask. “I’m here, Bo,” I state as I take Bo’s bruised hand into my left hand and Bo slowly moves his head slightly to look at me and recognition quickly settles into his dead-looking eyes.
“Lu – “he begins to say my name before his breathing seems to halt and I quickly yank the tank out of the agent’s hands next to me to receive a harsh look from the young agent who makes an attempt to take it back from me.
“I’m sorry sir, I don’t mean no disrespect to you or any of your friends here. It’s just my cousin here fears the damn mask and whoever it is that is trying to put it on his face. No matter how badly he needs it. So I think it is best that you all let me give it a try,” I firmly state and the young agent eyes me for a long moment before nodding and crawling back to give me room. I quickly take his place to say to Bo, “I’m here, Bo. But you’re going to have to let me help you before more help arrives. OK?” Bo eyes me blankly, as if not hearing a word I had just said. I only nod before I lean over and am relieved when he allows me to place the plastic mask over his nose and mouth without any struggle from him. Taking his bruised hand back into my left hand, I quickly turn the tank on to hear the air begin to hiss out of the tank and into the mouth piece.
“How is he, Luke?” I hear Daisy ask and I slowly glance up to find Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter all standing together near Bo’s feet. They all look down at Bo with looks of horror and grief struck across their faces, all struck with fear with what Bo’s future may hold after what he had just went through today. Looking behind me, I find Shawn’s still body lying face down on the ground where the agent had tossed him at after checking his pulse, his face turned oddly to be looking up at me through dead wide eyes.
Looking back at my family I open my mouth to reply to Daisy’s question only for Bo to tighten his grip on my hand for a short moment to grab my attention back onto him and I feel my heart go painfully still to see horror and fear spread across his face. “I’m sorry,” Bo finally manages to say, looking up at me, “Luke.”
I eye him for a brief moment, wondering why he was sorry, when his bruised eye lids heavily and tightly fall shut and I watch him for another long moment, hoping that he’d open them up once more. “Bo!” I hear myself yelling aloud as everything around me seems to evaporate to leave me alone with Bo in the barn. “No, Bo! Please no!” I hear myself pleading him again before I lean over to place a couple shaky fingers upon his bruised neck and become paralyzed in fear to feel nothing but cold skin. “No, please, no,” I once again hear myself state as I feel myself losing control of my emotions as I move my fingers across his neck in hoping to feel something. Nothing. “Damn it!” I cuss as I let go of his bruised hand and interlock my own hands, my left hand over my right, before firmly placing the palm of my right hand in between his chest. “No heart beat,” I state aloud for everyone to know before I begin to do compressions. “One, two, three, four, five,” I begin counting, “six, seven, eight, nine -” fear hits me as I push down upon my tenth compression and a loud snapping sound seems to echo out from within Bo as I feel something snapping under my hand. I broke a rib.
“Keep going,” I hear someone say over my shoulder before a hand lands upon my shoulder, “he can live with a broken rib.”
I nod as I continue doing the compressions and drop counting my compressions as tears begin to surface in my eyes as my thoughts fall upon losing my cousin to Shawn only to send my fear racing within me. If only I had listened to Bo. If only I hadn’t been so blind to Shawn. . .
I slowly stop my compressions to place another couple shaky fingers upon his bruised neck, once again, to only feel cold skin for a long moment before a small pulse beats upon my fingers. “He’s got a pulse,” I state as I let a small sigh of relief escape from me as I keep my fingers there to feel a few more pulses before I grab back a hold of his still hand. Looking up at the agent across from me, I ask, “You all did call for an ambulance, didn’t you?”
“Yes sir, we did,” he slowly states, “if you stop and listen, you can hear it coming.”
I eye him momentarily as I allow silence in the barn and the loud wail of sirens grow louder and closer and I glance down at Bo who remains unconscious. “You hear that, Bo? Helps here. Hang on, Buddy, you can do it. Just hang on,” I plead with my cousin once more before I look up to find Daisy and Jesse slowly kneeling down next to Bo on the other side of Bo after the two agents made their way to their feet. “We’re all here, Bo.”
“We’re all here for you, Bo,” Jesse states as he takes Bo’s left hand, echoing what I had just said a moment before loud police sirens wails only feet away, “It’s all over, Bo. Shawn, his gang. It’s over. You’re safe, once more.” Jesse goes silent as he looks up and I follow his look to find Rosco and Enos running into the barn.
“Please be OK, Bo,” Daisy pleads as she places a caring hand upon his shoulder.
“Bo,” Rosco gasps to steal our attention once more. A look of horror and shock cross both Rosco’s and Enos’ faces as they look down at Bo before they both glance over at Shawn’s still body that lies behind me. “How is he?” Rosco looks back at us, his complexion has grown deathly pale and he looks as if he’s about to get sick.
“Sheriff!” a loud voice of authority calls out before anyone can respond and the familiar face of Sergeant Mills and Agent Mueller approach him from behind. Mills nods at me before he faces Rosco and places a hand upon his shoulder to motion him away from us. “Follow us and we’ll update you on what had happened.”
“Yeah OK,” Rosco states unsurely.
Mills nods as he leads Rosco across the barn while Mueller stays behind a moment. “The ambulance should be pulling into the drive here in a moment or so. It came into view just as we followed the local law in here,” he goes silent as he looks down at Bo and sadness fills his eyes. He looks back up as the ambulance’s siren screams loudly from in front of the barn, “It’s here. We’ll be by the hospital after we wrap things up here to interview you all and get your story of what had happened here.”
“Yeah, ok,” I nod as I turn away from him to look back at Bo and check his pulse again. Everything’s the same. “C’mon Bo. You hear that? Help’s here. It’s gonna be OK, buddy. Everything has to be OK.”
Silence fills the barn for a short moment before a heavy hand lands upon Jesse’s shoulder and he jumps and looks back to find a couple of paramedics standing behind him with an stretcher with a body board lying on top of it along with an air tank of their own. Jesse says something to them before Daisy and him quickly steps out of their way and I slowly let go of Bo’s hand to step back and over Shawn’s body as well to get out of the way. I watch in horror as the slip the thin board under Bo’s still body before a third paramedic joins them where they lift the board and Bo up to place him on the stretcher. Swiftly they take the FBI’s air tank off of Bo before replacing it with their own before handing the old tank to an agent who had been standing next to Bo. I watch as they begin to roll Bo through the barn for a brief moment before I slowly follow them with the rest of my family and Cooter behind me.
Reaching outside, the paramedics nod at each other before they all lift the stretcher and roll Bo all the way into the back of the ambulance and I quickly step to the back before they close the doors. “I’m going with Bo,” I firmly call out to let Jesse know as well as the paramedics.
The older paramedic watches the two younger ones jump into the back before giving me a stern look and shakes his head no at me. “Sorry son, but it’s best you for everyone if you just followed -”
“Dean,” a familiar paramedic calls out from within the ambulance, “let Luke ride along. Trust me, I know from the past, it’d be best to let Luke ride along. It’ll save time and energy that it’ll take to talk him into staying behind.”
Dean grunts before he turns and climbs into the back of the ambulance before I follow him in where the one who had talked Dean into letting me go, closes the door behind me. “Sit back there and out of the way,” Dean roughly states at me and I nod as I walk past Bo’s stretcher as the ambulance quickly backs out of the parking lot before quickly turning onto the road. The paramedics are quick to hook Bo up to the monitor as well as place a couple of Ivs into him as I sit upon the bench that lines the back of the ambulance.