by: Kristy Duke

A heavy and thick silence continues to linger above us as the FBI agent quietly follow’s Cooter’s instructions as he drives us to the local hospital where the ambulance had taken my nephews several minutes ago. Sighing heavily, I slowly glance away from my closed backseat passenger window to look over at my niece who rests her head against the door window, her red and swollen eyes stare blankly down at her feet below her. Her eyes red and swollen from the tears she has cried in fear and in horror of what she had just lived through, of all that she had seen, and tears for her cousin who rests in between life and death; struggling for his life. Fighting back tears of my own for my youngest nephew, I slowly reach over to place a caring hand upon her bare shoulder and she slowly looks up at me and the look of sadness and horror that remains frozen across her pretty face sends more sadness rippling through me. “It’ll be OK, Daisy,” I try to comfort her, hoping that I’m right, “Bo’s tough and stubborn. He’ll be OK.”

She gives me a questionable look before she blinks back more tears and nods at me before she unbuckles her seatbelt to scoot over to the middle seat. She refastens herself as she leans her head upon my shoulder and I briefly bend down to kiss her on top of her head, smelling her shampoo and sweat, before sitting back up. “I hope so,” she states as she hugs onto my arm.

I glance up at the front seat as Cooter gives the agent another instruction and the agent nods before he flips on his blinker before he turns left. I glance up as the old hospital quickly comes into sight to send my memory rewinding through the past of all the times I had rushed here; either to visit Bo or to rush Bo into the hospital room. Luke and Daisy has been here and in the ER a time or two due to an accident or a fight, but Bo had been in and out of here throughout his first few years of his life due to his asthma. As he had aged, his lungs had gotten stronger, but even so, throughout his childhood and into being an adult, he had been rushed to the ER due to an attack several times. Just not as often as he had been throughout the first few years of his life. And also like Luke and Daisy, he had a time or two been rushed to the ER from an accident or from a fight.

But looking up at the agent who is driving us, my flashback vividly falls upon a year and a half ago when Bo and Luke had been kidnapped, Luke had been shot while Bo was forced to help the gang rob and things the gang wanted in order to keep  Luke alive. Of the horror and fear that they both had lived through and the several days they both had been kept in the hospital after they were rescued from their captors. Luke had kept it mainly to himself, seeming to put it behind him, while Bo clammed up and had been too afraid to talk about it at first. Of the harsh nightmares that had kept him up at night for weeks after being released of the hospital. Nightmares that he still yells himself awake from on occasion  yet. Now to be added onto by this.

“We’re here,” Cooter states as the car comes to a halt in front of the entry way, several feet away from the ER’s entry way where an ambulance lies parked under the cement covering. I stare at the parked ambulance who’s sirens are now off and the lights in the back looked to be turned off through the small windows in the back doors.

“Sergeant Mills and Agent Mueller are on their way with a couple other agents,” the agent who had driven us states, “I will park the car and will be in afterwards. I think Mills’ plans on interviewing  you all in the waiting room while you all wait on word on Bo.”

I throw open the door where Daisy sits up and we both unfasten our seatbelts. “We’ll be inside,” I state as I climb out to look up at the darkening sky before eyeing Cooter who climbs out from the front seat. As Cooter and Daisy both close the doors behind them, I state, “Let’s go find Luke.”

They both nod as they begin to follow me into the double glass doors where we are hit with the strong smell of antiseptics, sick sweat, and vomit that seems to linger above us in a clear cloud. I eye both Cooter and Daisy a moment before we begin to follow the brightly lit hall way  to the left, following the familiar maze into the waiting room. Walking into the waiting room, I slowly glance around the open room to find only a few people scattered through out either sitting on the bench seats or standing, looking at the torn magazines or talking to one another. Slowly my eyes fall upon Luke’s familiar figure that stands looking away from us as he looks out through the closed window, a worried hand brushes through his thick hair. Several thick blood stains are scattered upon the back of his blue shirt and his denim pants to send my thoughts flashing back to Bo lying on the ground of the barn, covered thickly in blood.

Once more I eye Cooter and Daisy before I take the first step to walk over to Luke and I glance over his shoulder for a moment before I place a caring hand upon his tense right shoulder and he jumps in surprise at the touch. He quickly looks over at me with startled blue eyes before he sighs heavily and his tense body seems to relax slightly in recognition of who we are. He takes another look out through the window to calm his thoughts momentarily before he turns around to face us all and I am startled to find the front of his shirt to be covered thickly in Bo’s blood with a couple marks of Bo’s blood splattered on his neck and on his pants as well.

“Oh Luke!” Daisy cries and Luke bites his lower lip before he hugs her, she covers her face in his blood stained shirt for a short moment before Luke helps her to step back. Her swollen eyes once more takes in all the blood that has stained his clothing.

“It’s Bo’s. Was on my hands,” Luke’s normally strong voice is weak and full of worry of his own, “but I washed most of it off when I got here. “

I find myself nodding at him a s the past few hours once again becomes alive within me and once more can feel the cold metal of the gun barrel to my head just as real as it had been in the barn as Shawn had pressed it to my forehead. Attempting to ignore the false feeling, I slowly ask, “How was Bo when  you got here?”

Luke eyes me before eyeing Daisy and Cooter before he lets out a long breath he had been holding and shakes his head. Looking back at me, he states, “He had another cardiac arrest in the ambulance on the way here,” he goes silent as he wildly glances around for a moment before he focuses his eyes on  us again, “they got his heart going a minute or so before we reached the hospital. But his pulse was weak and they didn’t know if they could keep it going. He isn’t breathing on his own and he lost a lot of blood. He was alive when they wheeled him into the ER and told me to wait out here,” he goes silence once more and he sends his hand through his hair once more and with his rolled up sleeves, notice a couple more blood splatters upon his bare forearm, “he was alive, but barely.”

Daisy cries out from besides me and I quickly hold her tightly against me. “Well I guess there’ll be paper work to fill out,” I hear myself numbly saying and Luke looks over my shoulder and I glance around to find Mills, Mueller, and a couple more agents walking into the ER,  “according to the past, the longer they got him in there, the better.”

“Mr. Jesse Duke. Luke. Daisy,” Sergeant Mills firmly states as he nods at us, “Cooter.” He goes silent once more. “We all want to let you know how sorry we are that you  had to live through the nightmare you all just went through. We are all sorry about Bo. We hope that you will receive good news about him here in a moment and that life will resume back to normal. For all of you.”

I nod in appreciation at him and his men. “Thank-you Sergeant,” I slowly state.

“We have Landon and Shawn’s other friends in jail here in town. They will be going back to Atlanta with us when we return when our investigation is all said and done. We all owe Bo and you a huge nod in appreciation for your help in catching Landon and his men. The men responsible for the death of the mayor in Atlanta,” Mills pauses to leave Cooter, Luke, Daisy, and I eyeing each other questionably. “While you all wait on word for Bo,” Mills slowly continues, “we want to interview you all separately. Get each of your stories and all you that you know that has happened down. If that is OK with you all? I know you are going through a hard time right now, but it is important for us to get all your information down in order to get as much as we can against these guys.”

I look at my family. “Better get it over with, Sergeant,” I firmly state.

He nods. “OK. I figure I’ll take Luke over in that corner over there, Mueller will interview Jesse over in that corner,” he points to everyone’s locations, “Agent Gettler will interview Daisy in the hall,” he points to the agent who had drove us before pointing to a younger agent in the back, “and Agent Filtner will interview Cooter Davenport over there.”

Mills eyes everyone with milky blue-green eyes for a long moment before he silently nods at Luke who eyes me momentarily before he slowly begins to follow Mills back to his corner. “Right this way, Mr. Duke,” Agent Mueller states and I nod before eyeing Daisy and Cooter on my way past. As we reach the corner that Sergeant Mills has pointed to, Mueller takes a seat while grabbing out a small pen and paper. Looking up at me, he states, “Please have a seat, Mr. Duke, and we can get started.”

 

                ***LUKE DUKE***

 

Fear and worry continue to streak through my numb body as I slowly sit down upon the chair to face Sergeant Mills as my thoughts once more replays the days’ events before my mind freezes upon the vivid image of Bo lying lifeless upon the ground of the barn. Of the blood that covered his body and the snapping of his ribs as I had started the compressions on him to revive his heart. Only to send more guilt within me for allowing all of this to happen by trusting Shawn into our home and back into our lives. Guilt for failing to protect Bo as I promised him I always would do. . .

“What would be easier for you, Luke?” Mills breaks my line of thought as he brings out a pen and paper out of his pocket from within his windbreaker, “For me to ask questions or for you to tell me what you know and saw? And then I can ask questions.”

“I can tell you,” I slowly state as I look up over the room at Jesse who looks to be slowly talking to Mueller, looking to have aged twenty years since this morning. Looking back at Mills, I slowly hear myself saying, “I should have known. I should have saw right through Shawn. But Shawn was right,” I pause for a long moment fighting to compress my emotions, “I was too blinded by what I wanted to see to see what was really there. He was gone for over twelve years and yet we all welcomed him back and into our home expecting him to be who he was before he left. Everyone, but Bo. But Bo and him never got along before either. I always trusted Shawn and believed him when he said he was only giving Bo a hard time and that Bo was only jealous of him. But now it seems as if he was even lying to us back then. I just wanted to believe Shawn so much that I was willing to over look Bo and what he said or thought. How could I be so stupid?” I shake my head as I lean over and hide my face into my stained hands. Looking up, I state, “I’m sorry. I’m not making any sense, am I?”

“You’re fine, Luke,” he states as he looks up from his note pad, “you’ll just have to slow down a bit and explain.”

I nod. “Shawn grew up in Hazzard, but we really didn’t get to know each other or to become friends until like the third grade when I saved him from getting beat up from this bully that was a couple of years older than we were. I think Shawn felt like he owed me after that and we just kinda connected. Except he didn’t like Bo. Bo kept wanting to do whatever I did and Shawn never liked that. Always was bothered by it and the fact I allowed him to do so. As I said, he would pick on Bo non stop and Bo grew to resent him for it. At least that is what Shawn called it…picking on him. Giving him a hard time. Bo never saw it that way and now, I’m thinking Bo was right. I should have listened to him. If that was anyone but Shawn doing that to Bo, I would never have allowed it. But Shawn, I’d look the other way.  I guess I knew if I were to step up to Shawn for Bo, he’d back away and wouldn’t want to be friends anymore. So I chose the easy way out and ignored it and believed what I wanted to believe. It all seemed to get worse between them after Shawn got arrested when he was sixteen for burning Will’s car that caught their house on fire,” I go quiet as I am reminded of Shawn’s bold accusation that it had been Bo who was the young mysterious witness that got him arrested. But Bo was only ten or eleven when that had happened. How could he have been out that late and no one know about it?

“Anyway, Shawn left Hazzard the day he graduated from Hazzard. Just as he always said he would. He hated Hazzard and most things in it. Always talked about going to the big city as he called Atlanta. We haven’t heard a word from him until he mysteriously showed up in town one day,” I slowly continue leaning forward on my knees, I slowly tell him all that has happened since he had returned to Hazzard before ending it by all that had happened in the barn. Silence slowly comes between us as I look up at him, Bo’s scream over Shawn’s cell phone continues to scream back at me from within to send chills up and down my body. “Look Sergeant Mills. Could I ask you a favor?” I slowly ask, hearing Bo’s scream of pain while seeing his blood puddle in the kitchen in my mind. Mills silently nods skeptically. “As I said, I returned home alone this afternoon and Jesse and them,” I motion across the room at my family being interviewed before continuing, “went directly to the barn when they came after my call. I don’t think they’ve been to the house as of yet.” I sigh heavily, “If at all possible, could you keep them out until y’all have everything done and cleaned up? They’re going through a lot right now and if they were to see the mess inside the kitchen and all that blood -” I let it linger off.

“Not a problem, Luke. Everyone else that isn’t here, is already at work on it as we speak. I don’t know how well it’ll be cleaned up, but it’ll look better than what it does now when we leave,” Mills agrees, “I’m just sorry you had to see and hear all that. Sorry you all had to go through all this…again.” He goes silent as he looks at his notebook, over his notes and then over my shoulder where everyone stands around the window where we had met at. “Looks like everyone else is done and I think I pretty much got everything I want from  you. Though I may have more questions for you in a day or two, so I wouldn’t get your hopes up too high as to being done with me.”

I nod as I stiffly stand up. “Well I’ll be here or where ever we will be staying until all this clears up. Somewhere in town,” I state as we walk up and over to the rest who eyes us expectantly. Looking up at Mills, I slowly force a smile and state, “Well, Mills. Muller,” I look over at his partner and back at Mills, “I don’t know how you did it or how you knew to come to the barn when you did. But once again you saved us. Perhaps Bo. If you didn’t come by when you did, we’d all be dead  right now. Thank-you.”

Mills nods before laughing shortly. “Don’t thank us,” he states as he pats me on my shoulder, “we were just doing our jobs.”

“Yeah,” Mueller states next to Mills, “if you want to thank anyone, thank your cousin.”

“My cousin?” I ask as I look over at Daisy and then Jesse.

“Not that one,” Muller grabs my attention away from them, “the blond one. You know? The one that tried shooting me last year.”

I eye him skeptically as my mind once again falls back a year ago of being held hostage and waking up in the hospital to hear all that Bo had gone through and was going through. Including being forced to rob for the gang to keep me alive which at one point included shooting to kill Agent Mueller. Only he had intentionally missed shooting him by a couple of inches. “Bo?” I question and the two agents nod at me to send more questions through me. “Trust me, Agent Mueller, if he wanted to shoot you, he would have shot you. He has excellent aim. If or once he gets out of here, you’ll have to come down and watch him practice his aim with a bow and arrow. That is unless you’d be willing to turn a blind eye to see him shoot a gun since his probation states he is not allowed to hold a gun. And he could prove to you just how good a aim he has. You’ll know he missed on purpose.” I pause for a long moment, “But how he save us? He was tied in the barn long before we were.”

Mills nods as he steps back and calls out a name before he rejoins us and a moment later Bo’s friend, Brody walks up to us to send more questions through us. “Brody?” Cooter calls out with a smile. “What you doing here?”

“You all can thank him as well,” Mills speaks up as he places a firm hand upon Brody’s thick shoulder.

“Nah don’t thank me. I was only doin’ what I was tol’ to do,” Brody humbly states as he quietly eyes us a moment before his eyes fall to the floor. He shrugs. “You know? Like the messenger.”

“Well if you didn’t do what he tol’ you to do, we’d still be in Atlanta not knowing anything different,” Mueller states besides Brody and Brody quietly looks up at him, “tell them what you told us.”

“Yes sir,” Brody nods before he looks up at me and across to Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter. “You see, a couple days or so after he was released from the hospital the last time,” he goes quiet a moment, his eyes goes to the floor again before he forces them back up at us, “Bo gave me a call at my apartment. Told me he had something for me. Was real excited too. Anyway, he told me to meet him at the old Indian Caves  that afternoon and I told him I would be more that glad to come over to the house to meet him and all. But he was quick to decline my offer. Said he needed to get out, he was going crazy in the house, that this would be his excuse to get out.” Once more he goes silent as he eyes Jesse and my thought goes back to looking for Bo to find him and Brody at the caves. Following Brody’s look to Jesse I see his own recognition in his eyes to be met with guilt.

Brody gives a shrug before continuing, “I knew his mind was set so I agreed and met him at the caves. When he got there he had a large grocery sack that he was carrying and after a little small talk he gave the bag to me and when I looked into the bag and saw what it was, well I was shocked and surprised. Looking in, I found it to be full of thick paper back novels.” He looks over at Daisy and offers a shy smile. “I have a feeling they belong to you, Daisy.” He goes quiet again. “Anyway, I expressed how surprised I was and how I didn’t believe that he came all this way to give me a bag of books that we all know he didn’t read. I mean we all know Bo for the most part. He hates to read. He don’t have the patience to read a damn book. Heck, in school, I don’t think he barely lifted the covers up from the books we were assigned to read. Except for that baseball one and that was because it was about something he likes and actually understands; baseball.” Brody shakes his head at us, looking uncomfortable to be the center of attention. “Anyway, I told him I didn’t believe he actually read them books and he told me that with all the time he has now that he found himself a new hobby and that he thought I might like it too.” He gives a nervous sarcastic laugh, shaking his head again, “I told him I was happy for him and that I didn’t believe he would sit and read a single one of them. Told him I was happy for him and that I wasn’t looking for a new hobby, especially one involving reading all them books. Or something like that. That’s when he got this look on his face. At first I thought I hurt his feelings but it was more of a look of discouragement. Lost hope.”

He goes silent once more as he bites onto his lower lip. “That’s when he said he didn’t think he’d like it either but he was surprised. Said I’d be surprised at what I might find inside.” He shrugs. “By then I figured I’d take the books just to make him happy, but when he said that it got me to thinking that he may be trying to tell me something without saying it. You know what I mean? Anyway that’s when y’all came rushing in there all upset at him for sneaking out the way he did…he knew you would be. Kept saying you’re going to be upset once you found him or that he wasn’t in his room.”

Jesse nods. “I just figured he snuck out to get away. Just as he admitted to,” he slowly states, “Bo was never the one to stay in one place for very long and knew it had to be killing him to stay home like that.”

Brody nods. “Well, I took the bag home and dumped them out on my couch. I went through a lot of them before I found a note he had scribbled and placed in one of the books. Think it was a romance novel to top it all off,” a smile crosses his face and he shakes his head once more, “anyway, it was a note that told me to meet him at our old fishing hole. Which by then, I knew something was obviously going on that he didn’t want anyone to know about. So I figured I would call work and meet him there. I wasn’t sure if he’d be there after getting caught sneaking out already and how upset you seemed to be at him. But I figured it’d be best to be there just in case,” he pauses for a long moment, “Bo did show up. He was five or ten minutes late from the time he gave me, but he did show up. I was about to give up when I turned around to find him walking down the road. Which all in itself I thought was odd. Even more odd is that he didn’t have his crutches or his boots on.” He pauses to laugh sarcastically once more and I am reminded of Shawn asking Bo where he had went today and Bo’s quick response was that he went fishing. “He tol’ me it was a nice day for a walk and that the boots were bugging his feet or something like that.

“Anyway, once he got there, he gave me this envelope and told me that there was a note inside of it with another closed envelope. I was to follow the instructions on the note to me and not to open the other envelope but to do with it as explained in the note. I agreed to do so without telling anyone.” he goes silent, “I then gave him a lift to his car which was a couple of blocks away. In which he fell asleep and must have had a nightmare. He kept yelling and saying no over and over again. Had to wake him up when I parked the car and it was obvious it took him a moment to realize it was only a dream and where we were at.” He goes silent as he eyes us shyly once more. “After dropping him off, I drove home where I opened the envelope and read the note that told me to take the closed envelope to Atlanta…to the FBI and to make sure Sergeant Mills gets it.  We were to meet Bo at the fishing hole again, if he wasn’t there, then something was wrong and we were suppose to come to the farm. And well,” he goes silent, “he wasn’t there, so we went to the farm.”

Silence quickly explodes around us as we are left looking at each other and thinking of all Bo had done to get help, to bring the FBI into town that would eventually save us. Only to let me know that Bo knew something he wasn’t saying. “This is what was in the envelope,” Mills states to pull a bag out of his pocket and I take it first to find it to be an article from the Hazzard Gazette stating that the FBI finally got the identity behind the people who had killed the mayor in Atlanta. Three face shots in black and white line the middle of the article with their names typed below them. Bo had circled the middle photo and wrote that it was Shawn Graham that is at the farm and that he’d explain to them later. Below the picture Bo had circled the name Liam Brock was boldly typed and once more I hear Bo’s strained voice in my head, calling Shawn Liam. I eye the photo once more along with the rest and slowly find the similarities between Liam and Shawn. Thanks to Bo. Without Bo circling the photo and calling Shawn Liam, I would never have seen or thought of it. I slowly pass it over to Jesse who takes a long turn of looking at it and then Daisy and Cooter. “I have to admit, I didn’t give Bo the credit he deserved last year to be smart enough to pull something like this,” Mills states as he gets the bag back, “Shawn may look a lot different than this here Liam, but he was Liam alright. The same Liam that was the one that shot and killed Phil and the first two or three of his guards. Darrell shot the other one.”

 

***UNCLE JESSE***

 

A thick air of silence abruptly surrounds us as Sergeant Mills goes silent from his short explanation of the article as my tired mind tries to grasp all that he has just said. What Brody has just said. To leave chills racing up and down my aged body with the horrifying thought that I had welcomed a killer into my home. That a killer not only slept on the couch, but had slept in Bo’s bed while he had been in the hospital after being attacked; slept in the same bed of the person he had attacked. I feel a harsh shudder cross my chilled body as I once again place myself in Bo’s spot; of living with the person who had attacked me, not saying anything, and now knowing that the person who had attacked me was a killer.

“Don’t know how, but Bo must have known your farm and boots were all bugged. As well as your vehicles,” Mills breaks the silence, “we still got agents searching, but so far we’ve found small bugs and cameras scattered around the farm and in your vehicles. There was bugs in Bo’s boots and I bet we’ll find some in your’s as well once we look. You’ve got a lot of money hid out in your house and vehicles. Which was why Bo was being so secretive and went through the extent he went through as to not give anything away.”

We all look at each other and down at our boots to send more chills racing through me. “You need them now?” I question.

“Not necessarily. Just sometime soon,” Mills state as a thin medium sized doctor with a head full of gray  hair walks into the room to grab his attention away from us.

“Bo Duke,” the doctor calls my nephew’s name to send my heart to a dead halt in fear of the news he has brought for us.

I quickly eye everyone before I break myself away from them to lead everyone to the nurses’ station where the doctor stands, looking over his clipboard and into the waiting room. “That’s my boy,” I hear myself stating as we reach him. “How’s my nephew, doctor?”

“I’m Doctor Lu,” he states as he eyes us all before his eyes fall back upon his clipboard. A moment later he looks up at us with dull brown eyes, “As for right now, Bo Duke is still in critical condition. He had another cardiac arrest in the ER, but we think we have stabilized his heart for the moment. He has internal bleeding that we were only able to stop most of it, but not all. His brain is swollen, but at the moment, it too has stabilized and hasn’t gotten any worse since his arrival in the ER. He has bruised two ribs and broken two ribs, one rib has snapped and has punctured his lungs.” He goes quiet as he looks over his clipboard once more. Looking back up at us, he continues, “His right knee is broken and there is a lot of damage to the knee with the muscle and nerves surrounding it. He will have to have surgery on it if he is ever going to walk again. Even with surgery the knee may not work the same, but it’s the only chance he has to walk again.”

Doctor Lu goes silent as he looks over his charts once more before he lets out a heavy breath while looking up at us and a look of exhaustion melts over his tan face. “Mr. Duke,” he finally states, “right now, our main concern for Bo Duke is his breathing and his lungs. Even without his asthma, he’d be having a hard time breathing on his own, if at all, his asthma is only making it worse. As I said, his snapped rib has punctured his right lung and under examination, his lungs are very weak and infected. To top all that off, it is clear that he’s been having an asthma attack for a while now without any help of medication; which would explain the infection that has thickly settled into his lungs. Bo is not breathing on his own at all right now. For the moment, we have an air tube stuck down his throat that is helping him breath, breathing for him.” Lu once more consults his charts and eyes us seriously, “At the moment, he remains unconscious and it is unclear to us if or when he will wake up. Right now he can go either way. He could wake up any minute or fall into a coma. Or worse.”

‘Or worse,’ his last sentence hangs over me as it’s implications screams loudly at me and sadness heavily fills me. Sadness at the thought of losing my youngest at the hands of Shawn, sadness at the pain and horror he has had to live through to get where he is now, and sadness at the thought of what his own biological parents had done to him. If they had been responsible, if they didn’t do their drugs that got them pregnant and continued to do so while she was pregnant, Bo wouldn’t have his asthma. Wouldn’t have all his breathing problems he has always  had. . .

Daisy cries out besides me to break my thoughts and I slowly hug her close to me in my vague attempt to comfort her. Looking over at Daisy for a moment and then Luke I hear myself sigh; knowing it is up to me to be there for them. To help them get through this hard time. But how when I feel the same way?

“What are you saying, Doctor?” Luke speaks up for us all, “That Bo might not make it?”

Lu nods sadly. “Right now, we have estimated that Bo has a sixty percent chance of waking up,” Luke pauses, “which is over half. But not enough for comfort for me, at least. For now, we have done all that we can for him. It’s up to Bo and the Good Lord to do the rest. If or once he wakes up, we will be able to go over his condition and tell more about how he really is.” Lu goes back to his clipboard again. Looking up he states, “Bo was clearly beaten up badly by whoever did this to him. To you. It looks as if he got hit by a speeding car more than by another person. He is bruised and cut up all over. We have stitched up a few cuts. One over his right eye and a thick one on his upper right arm that looks as if he just missed getting shot. It had gun shot residue on the wound. So it looks the bullet went through the skin through the side, like it cut through Bo’s arm on it’s way past. If that makes sense. So in a sense he was shot, in another sense, he wasn’t shot. Bo has also lost a lot of blood that we are replacing right now.” He looks back down at his clipboard one last time. “That looks to be about it at the moment. Right now, our biggest concern is his breathing and his asthma. Once he wakes up and we get his breathing under control, he’ll be ready to go.”

Silence once more surrounds us as all that the doctor had said slowly sinks in. “What about his surgery?” I hear myself asking, though my thoughts remain on the doctor’s question of whether Bo wakes up or not.

Lu nods. “We can’t and we won’t perform the surgery until Bo wakes up and gets strong enough for the surgery. In other words, once his breathing is strong enough and his asthma is under control again, then we’ll do the surgery. Right now, he’s too weak to do it. We do it now, we may kill him doing so,” he pauses once more, “I know he’s gonna love hearing this, but we’ll probably do the surgery once he’s strong enough to leave the hospital. Which will make him be here longer, but it can’t be helped.”

I nod as I feel Luke’s heavy hand of support on my shoulder. “Can I see him, Doctor?” I finally ask.

He nods as he takes a step back. “One at a time for now,” he states and I eye Luke and Daisy momentarily before I walk away from them to follow the doctor down another long and wide brightly lit hall way. I follow him in silence for a long few minutes until he abruptly comes to a halt at a closed door  that holds a note card shaped paper in a clear plastic envelope that reads: Bo Duke boldly on the paper. “He’s in there. Be warned; he looks pretty bad with all the bruising and cuts along with all the medical support he has. I’ll be somewhere around here if you need anything. If an emergency, there is a call out button located next to his bed.”
I nod, knowing the drill. “Thank-you doctor,” I slowly say and he nods at me before he slowly turns around to walk down the hall a couple of doors to slowly open another door to disappear in another room. Looking at Bo’s closed door, I let out the breath I had been holding as I say slow and soft prayer for Bo to be OK. To be strong enough to wake up and to walk away from all of this.

Finishing the prayer, I slowly open the door to be greeted by darkness and the loud and constant beeping of the familiar monitors that monitor his breathing and heart beet. Taking a deep breath, I step into the room and close the door behind me before I turn on the lights to chase away the darkness. I slowly take a few steps to the barred in bed that holds my nephew and I focus my eyes upon the TV shaped monitors for a long moment, taking in just how weak his heart is and all the work the air tank is doing to keep Bo alive. Glancing down at Bo, my heart comes to an abrupt halt as I look down at his bruised and lifeless face, a bandage is tightly wrapped around his forehead and through the thick gauze that is tied above his right eye, thick blood soaks through. A thin clear tube is stuck into each nostril and loops around each of his bruised ears before the tubing meets up under his chin, a bigger tube is taped onto his mouth and forced down his throat that the air tank that hangs behind his bed hisses air loud down into him. His bruised arms and hands rests at his sides and over the thin sheet that covers his body, several IV needles are stuck into his bruised arm and hands. All that is keeping him alive.

“Bo,” I finally find my voice to say as I bend down to gently brush a thick lock of golden blond hair out of his eyes, a couple specks of blood still staining his hair. “Uncle Jesse’s here, Bo. I’m here for you, Bo,” I state as I gently grab his bruised hand into mine, “It’s OK, Bo. It’ll be OK. You just need to wake up. You need to fight this.” I pause as I fight back the tears that threat to fall. “Shawn’s dead. His friends are in jail. They can’t hurt you any more, Bo. It’s all over.” I slowly sit down upon the wooden chair that is set next to his bed, my hand still gently holding his. “I’m sorry, Bo. I’m so sorry all this happened. I’m sorry I allowed Shawn to stay at the farm. You didn’t like him. You didn’t get along with him. And yet I let him stay at the farm. I’m so sorry, Bo. Please,” I hear myself begging my nephew, “you got to be OK.”

 

***LUKE DUKE***

 

Exhaustion heavily melts through my tense body as I stare down at an old sports magazine, staring blankly at a racing photo as my mind continues to be pasted onto Bo and all that has been brought into light today. The day had started out with leaving Bo behind to attend Hogg’s meeting and has now ended in the hospital after being held hostage by the one man I had considered to be a friend. Looking blankly at the professionally taken sports photo, the photo that remains frozen in mind is the scene of Bo lying broken and beaten upon the ground after Shawn was shot and killed on top of him. Of his dead and emotional-less eyes. Or the cold and still pulse that remains felt upon the tips of my finger tips. Everything around me feels and seems so far away and false, yet the scene in the barn with Bo dying on the ground in front of me seems so real and present. The only thing seeming to matter is the blood and death that covers Bo’s broken body as the paramedics wheel him away upon the stretcher. The hospital, the FBI, and the doctor’s reports seem to flood away in the nightmare of events that had happened today at the farm that makes everything else seem so unreal and unimportant.

“Here comes Daisy,” I over hear Cooter state besides me to snap me out of my thoughts and I slowly glance up to find Daisy walking out of the wide hall way, her thin arms wrapped around her chest, her head bowed down. Even with her head bowed down, her tears and swollen eyes are apparent.

“Come here, Daisy,” Jesse states as he stands up from besides me to take Daisy in his arms and she rests her head against his chest, “Bo’s strong and stubborn. He’ll be OK.”

“He looks so awful. So. . .so,” she pauses not coming up for the correct word. Pulling herself away from Jesse, she looks startled up at Jesse and says, “The only things keeping him alive right now is those tubes and monitors. And that monster that did that to him lived -”

“Is now dead and is no longer able to harm Bo or anyone else,” Jesse reassures her as he pulls her back into a hug, “Look, it’s getting late out. The hospital has said visiting hours are now over,” he continues as he pauses to look over at Cooter, “Cooter has offered for us to stay at his place until the FBI is done with the farm. Sounds like there is quite the mess inside that they are going to have to investigate and gather information up. It may take them awhile. So until they are done,” Jesse shrugs as Daisy steps back, fighting back her emotions, “he has offered to take us in.”

Jesse and Daisy both eye me as he finishes, both seeming to quietly ask me what kind of mess the FBI was talking about; the mess Jesse had asked me about after Daisy had left to visit Bo after he did. But I had talked my way around it, refusing to talk about it. I throw the magazine down and shrug as I stand up. “You don’t want to know what kind of mess they’re talking about. Trust me,” I firmly state as Bo’s scream of pain over the phone screams back at me in my head and I glance around, half expecting them to hear it.

“You saw it?” Daisy questions and another look of horror crosses her face and I reluctantly nod, “And it looks that bad?” I shrug at her question and walk over to the window to look out, refusing to say anything more about it, knowing it’d only make it worse for them. “How we going to get our things that we need? What about -”

“Calm down, Daisy. We’ve got it worked out. Sergeant Mills is going to send an agent over to Cooter’s with clothes and essentials that they think we may need. I said it’d be OK. Everything else I’ll have to go to town for to grab. They made it clear that we are not allowed on the farm until they OK  it,” Jesse firmly states behind me, “Meanwhile, me and you are going home with Cooter. Luke will spend the night here with Bo where he has already made the arrangements with the hospital. It’ll all work out, Daisy.”

They go silent behind me and I slowly turn around to face them to find them all looking at me in turn. “Well, shall we?” Cooter finally breaks the silence. The wild look that is normally in his eyes is now dimmed in his own sadness and grief. Walking through the hall way, I silently look at the closed doors and read the names until I reach the name tag that reads Bo Duke on it. I stare at the closed door for a long while as I ready myself to see all that Daisy and Jesse had explained or described how bad Bo had looked and sounded.

Taking a deep breath, I slowly open the door to slowly step into the dark room before turning the light on and closing the door behind me. I stand in place for a long moment as I listen to the beeping of the monitors and the hissing of the air machine while I watch the neon green lines on the monitor, to take in how weak his breathing and heart really is. I say a silent prayer for a short moment before I step forward and up to the barred in bed and my heart comes to a painful halt as I glance down at my cousin to see how badly he looks. I take in his bruised and cut up face, arms, and legs for a long moment as well as all the medical support that hooks into and onto him to keep him alive. “Hi Bo,” I slowly state as I take his bruised hand gently into my own. “It’s me, Luke. Visiting hours are over, so I guess,” I pause to wipe a stray lock of  hair out of his closed eyes, “you’ll have to put up with me for the night. Think you can handle that?” I am responded with the un-rhythmic beeping of the monitors. “Come on Bo, you’ve gotta be OK. You gotta wake up. We’re all here for you.” I state the same things I predict both Jesse and Daisy had probably said to him before. “It’s all over now, Bo. You’re safe.”

I go silent as I stare down at Bo’s beaten body as I listen into the beeping of the machines as I allow my thoughts to fall back upon all that had happened today and through the past month since Shawn had returned to Hazzard. Watching Bo, my thoughts fall upon all he has gone through and how he must have felt. Before I find myself thinking of the past and how Shawn had treated Bo then, how Bo had seemed to feel back then. Only to send guilt violently washing over my body for all that I did and didn’t do for Bo. If only I had listened to Bo. . .

“I’m sorry, Bo,” I finally break my silence, “I promised you to take care of you. To protect you. And what I do? I ignored your warnings about Shawn. I looked the other way. I failed you. I’m sorry, Bo.” Once again, I am responded by the weak beeping of the monitors and exhaustion once again accelerates within me, forcing me to fight against the sleep that claws deeply within me.

 

***BO DUKE***

 

Intense and throbbing pain screams loudly from within me as a dark evil curtain seems to surround me and panic heavily settles in as an image of Shawn’s face wickedly grins back at me.  Struggling to get past the darkness, an annoying loud and slow beeping begins to grow closer and louder to send questions rippling through me for a long moment. The dark curtain seems to slowly fade away as a bright light begins to shine through and the beeping grows louder and closer before the curtain fades away completely and the light stings my eyes. As my eyes adjust to the new light, the pain within me continues to accelerate, and I slowly glance around to find myself lying in a bed in a small room. Eyeing the TV shaped monitors next to my bed relief instantly hits me in realization that I am in the hospital, no longer held hostage. Continuing to look around the small room, I first look at the clock that lies on the wall next to the TV across the room from my bed to find that it is two fifteen; either morning or afternoon.  Looking to the left of my bed a heavy shock of excitement rushes through my body as I see Luke’s back as he stands looking out the window that shows a black sky outside. It’s early morning.

I am quick to go to say Luke’s name in an attempt to steal his attention away from the outside only to send pain rippling down my throat and I begin to choke heavily upon the thick tube that I now feel running down my throat. A breathing tube. Frustrated, I glance up from the tube that I barely see running out of my mouth, to see Luke turning to face me; my choking has grabbed his attention. A large smile full of his own excitement and relief covers his bruised face as he quickly walks over to me, a muscular comforting hand lands upon my elbow gently. “Bo!” he smiles down at me as he leans over to press the small red button that rests  on the nightstand besides me, “You’re awake!”

I eye him momentarily before I go to nod only to send pain rippling down my neck and shoulders and I fall still once more. A moment later, the door several feet away swings open and a thin tall doctor with gray hair walks in and a smile is quick to reach his face as he sees me awake.  “Well, well, well, I see you’ve awaken,” he finally states as he eyes the monitors before he picks up a clipboard to look at it, “and it’s just as I had expected. Things has improved slightly since my last visit since you’ve now awakened.” He pauses thoughtfully as he eyes me and then looks over at Luke. “Well his breathing has improved slightly, but not much. It is still a great concern right now,” he pauses as he looks at the  monitors again and then me, “but let me tell you what I am going to do. I am going to pull the tube out your throat and see how you do with the air going in through the tubes through your nose. I’ll put it at the highest amount and see how that feels and goes. If it doesn’t help and you are having problems, though, I’m going to have to reinsert the tube into your mouth. OK?”

I eye him for a long moment and try to nod again only to be answered by the pain once more.

“OK. On the count of three, blow out. One, two, three,” I blow out as he gets to three and he tugs it out to send an thick air of pain into my lungs and I am thrown into a harsh coughing fit that rips more pain into my neck and into my lungs and panic settles deeply within me. “That’s normal. He should settle down in a moment,” the doctor was saying. After a moment the coughing resides and the doctor nods at himself. Smiling down at me, he states, “I’ll be your doctor, Bo. Doctor Lu. How you feeling now?”

I glance over at Luke who gently takes my hand and nods at me to answer. Looking back at the doctor, I slowly states, “I hurt. Everywhere.”

He nods. “It’s about time to give you more painkillers and all that. Hungry?” he asks.

“No,” I quickly respond and he walks around the bed and begins to check on things and to change the breathing around and I feel more air tickle up my nose along with more relief into my lungs.

“OK then,” he states as he walks towards the door, “I’ll have Darlene make her way to your room with your medication. I’ll leave you two alone. You know how you can get a hold of me, if you need me.”

He gives me another smile before he opens the door and slowly steps out before closing the door behind him. “I’m sorry,” I start to say as I turn my attention away from the door and to Luke who stares at the door before I say anything, “Luke.”

A questioning look spreads across his face. “Sorry?” he questions as he slowly sits down next to me, still holding my hand. “What for?”

I eye him for a long moment. “For Shawn,” I say forcefully as I attempt to block out any thought of him with little success, “for what he done. For what he became. For what happened to him. I’m sorry.”

“Sorry?” he questions as he shakes his head at me, “Bo, you have nothing to be sorry for. Shawn did that to his own sorry self. He got what he deserved.” He shakes his head again as he lets go the breath he had been  holding onto. “No, Bo. It’s me that is sorry. I’m sorry for what happened to you, I’m sorry for not listening to you, I’m sorry for being so damn blind. I should have saw right through Shawn, but all I had allowed myself to see was what I wanted to see. I should have listened to you. I should have believed you. Not Shawn. You. I’m sorry Bo.”

“Listened? I didn’t say anything, Luke,” I weakly state as exhaustion melts thickly within me.

“Yeah  you did. The morning after he first arrived when I told you about what he did for Daisy at the Boar’s Nest -”

“That was before I even knew anything about Shawn. About what he did. I said the first thing that had came to my mind at the time. I had nothing to back it up,” I interrupt him.

He sighs loudly. “Sure you did. You had all those years that you knew him before he left Hazzard to back it up with. Damn,” he cusses, “I’d like to sit here and say all that has happened in the last month came because he changed. And maybe he did. But not completely. I’ve had time to think of all that has happened, all that was said, and to think about the past. I was blind back then. I believed every word he said. I believed he was only teasing you or giving you a hard  time. But in reality, you were the one telling the truth. It was more than just picking on you. He was bullying you. If that was anyone else, I’d have stepped in and told him what I thought. But it was Shawn and I believed what I wanted to believe. I’m sorry, Bo.” He eyes me for a long moment before he drops his head and falls into silence. Looking back up at me, he states, “I can sit here and tell you how sorry I am over and over again and it won’t take anything back. It won’t undo the damage I allowed him to do to you. It won’t undo what I did. Damn Bo, I’m sorry.”

I eye him for a long moment as he looks up at me with his wise eyes that are filled with grief and guilt. Something I had never seen in his eyes before. “It wasn’t you, Luke. It was Shawn,” I go silent as I think of all he had just said to send my thoughts into the past, of Shawn picking on me, bullying me to get what he wanted from me or to have a little fun for himself. Forcing the thoughts back, I look back at Luke and state, “It’s OK, Luke. You didn’t do anything.”

“I know I didn’t do anything. I didn’t do anything to help you, to protect you. I failed you, Bo,” he bluntly states, “and whether you want to accept that or not, right now, it’s how I feel. It’s what I know. And hopefully, perhaps, one day I’ll make it up to you. But for now, all I can say is how sorry I am.”

I nod, knowing better than to argue with him and an thick silence falls upon us as we both watch each other, seemingly thankful for the moment together, the moment to be alive after all that has just happened.

“Brody told us what you did,” Luke breaks the silence after a long moment and a proud smile crosses his face, “of why you went to the caves and sneaking out yesterday. The letter that sent him to the FBI. You’re a damn hero!” Another large smile as he takes his hand back and goes silent a long moment. “Thank-you, Bo. You were really brave. Not only with what you did with Brody, but also in the barn when you somehow managed to pull yourself up to throw yourself at Shawn to take the bullet for Jesse. You’re a damn hero, Bo!”

I try to shake my head at him to create more pain thickly spreading through my throbbing body and the door quickly swings open and a petite nurse walks in with a cart as if on cue. Looking back at Luke, I state, “No, I’m not. I just did what needed to be done.”

“Which is a hero in my book. If  you were at war you’d be getting all sorts of metals right about now,” he gives me a sad look, “and I thank you for what you did. I’m proud of you buddy for what you did. For who you are. Thank-you.”

I force a nod at him as I watch the nurse quietly working with the IV bags for a long moment before turning to Luke. “How is-” I am cut off with coughing for a long moment. As my coughing resides, I continue to ask, “How are you? How is everyone?”

“I’m fine. Everyone is fine. All thanks to you, cuz. Daisy and Jesse will be by in the morning…they were here, but visiting hours sent them away several hours ago,” he slowly answers as he eyes the clock and then back to me once more, “Look Bo. I’m here until they get here in the morning, so you don’t have to worry about any of us leaving. Think we arranged it so someone will always be here with you.” He pauses as he watches me with worry still in his eyes. “Why don’t you close your eyes and catch up on that sleep that you’ve been fighting. I’ll be here when you wake up.”

“OK, Luke,” I slowly state as I eye  him for a long moment before my eyes fall shut and sleep quickly washes over me.