by: Kristy Duke
Bo hears himself let out a grunt of pain as the medium height muscular man kicks his legs as he steps over his outstretched legs and he is reminded just how painful breathing is. The man laughs as he slowly sits back down several feet away from him, near the loft’s open door that overlooks the farm house. Bo forces himself to close his eyes in his vague attempt to ignore the screaming pain that pierces through his beaten body while his thoughts fall back upon what had gotten him here. He had left their new rented farm house in search of finding a way to get back their old farm that he had lost due to not seeing Rundi’s large construction truck coming at them from an oncoming road. He wanted to go to their farm for an idea of where to start and not only is he at their old farm, he now knows that despite his lack of missing Rundi, that they were ran off the road in order to get the farm to Hogg. So Hogg could make himself a boarding house. But sitting tied up in the loft with Craig’s trigger happy younger brother with his whole body throbbing in unimaginable amount of pain, there is little that he could do with all that he has found out. Worse yet, he had upset Jesse and Luke by running off as he had plus he had disobeyed their orders to return, leaving Bo to wonder if they are even bothering to look for him, to bring him back home. If they aren’t looking for him, who knows how long they’ll keep him alive or what will happen to him.
“Don’t fall asleep on me now,” the man snorts as he nudges Bo with the tip of his boot on Bo’s leg to send another soft cry of pain from Bo and Bo slowly opens his eyes to eye the man with angry eyes before his attention falters past the gun man and upon the patrol car once again pulling into the drive way of their old farm. “What’s he doing back here?” the gun man asks as he follow’s Bo’s attention to the driveway, his body visibly tensing up as the sheriff steps out of the car a second before an older man with a red hunting cap.
“Uncle Jesse!” the words scream in excitement in Bo’s throbbing head at seeing his beloved uncle below him only to send questions of what Jesse was doing at the farm with the sheriff. Ignoring the questions, he glances over at the gun man who continues to have his gun pointed at Bo, yet looking out the door at the two country men walking up the farm house’s porch steps. Inhaling painfully, Bo bites onto his lower lip before he sends his right foot kicking as forcefully as his pain filled body will allow it. Pain accelerates within him at the motion and even more so as Bo’s boot hits solidly upon the gunman’s gun hand. Despite the pain and fear, a smile crosses Bo’s bruised face as the gun flies out of the gun man’s hand, who gasps in surprise, before clattering onto the wooden loft floor and scatters a foot across the floor before falling out of the loft’s open door. The gun man yells out in anger as he jumps to his feet to glance down at his gun before turning back to Bo to send fear accelerating within Bo as he rushes towards him. Bo cries out in agony as the man backhands him across his bruised face. Abruptly, the gun man takes a step back, inhaling powerfully before Bo is quick to spit a thick spiteful of blood out on to his boot.
“You idiot!” the gun man yells as he yanks out another gun from under his coat and places it to Bo’s head, “You didn’t think I came up here with just one, did ya? I always carry two for insurance purposes. Guess it paid off, now didn’t it?”
Bo swallows hardly as he looks up at him, feeling the ropes dig into his bruised skin before he glances over to watch Jesse and Rosco face the man they all had called Craig earlier. “Just let me go,” Bo gasps looking back up at him, “I didn’t do anything to you. To them. To anyone.”
The gun man laughs sarcastically at Bo. “Good joke, plowboy. If I had my way, I’d waste you right here and now,” he shakes his head at Bo, “don’t know why Craig is insisting on keeping you alive. Though,” he gives Bo a crooked smile, “he did promise me, that I’ll have my chance to kill when the time is right. Damn, it’s gonna be worth the wait.”
Bo eyes him for a long moment as his words dreadfully sink in to send Bo’s mind searching fearfully for an answer to a way out of here. “You won’t get away with this,” Bo hears himself say, the only thing he can think of to say or do at the moment. Full aware of how lame it had sounded.
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Exhaustion ripples through Daisy’s tense body as she stares over the rusted kitchen sink that over looks the drive way, eyeing the parked General and the open lane in hopes of finding her uncle’s truck driving up in it. Hope of finding his dirty white truck packed full with three shadows in the cab of the truck, shadows belonging to Jesse, Luke, and Bo. Instead, the lane and the dirt road remain empty of the truck or any other vehicle to increase her worry that storms heavily within her as each passing minute that passes without any word or returning family member sends her vivid imagination growing in her mind. Her imagination vividly sending scenes of all that could be happening to Bo in the woods by himself, to Jesse and Luke. “Damn it,” she cusses, feeling helpless and hopeless at being stuck home alone in an strange house and not knowing what was happening, makes everything worse. If only she knew what was going on with her family…if they were OK. . .
Daisy sighs as she moves away from the window to eye the several packed boxes and her mind washes the thoughts of her current situation away and back to yesterday of the boys’ fights, of her own spoken and unspoken accusations towards Bo. Like Luke, she knew Bo had very little to do with them losing their farm. Even if Bo saw the truck coming, he could never have stopped in time, the truck was coming at them way too fast to get out of it’s way. But she had been upset at what was going on, the fact that they lost the farm fairly to Hogg this time only put salt into the open wound, and she felt the need, the urge to blame s someone. Bo just happened to be the only person that had any control over what was happening and he seemed to be at the blunt end of it all with all of them. Daisy knew Bo already blamed himself for what had happened, but she couldn’t help herself from voicing her opinion, her anger at her younger cousin. If only she had consoled him and had been there for him instead of giving him the cold shoulder and blaming him for everything, maybe he wouldn’t have ran off to solve it on his own…
“Damn it. How can I be so selfishly stupid?” she cusses aloud in anger once more as she throws down a towel that had been folded in one of the open boxes and tears begin to roll off of her cheeks, she stares through blurred vision down into the open box of bathroom supplies. Her thoughts continue to send guilt and fear ripping within her and she slowly stumbles backwards to sit down in an old cracked kitchen chair.
“Knock, knock,” the familiar voice makes Daisy jump and look up to find Cooter Davenport opening the screen door to slowly walk into the crowded kitchen. His normal joyful look is quick to dissipate as his eyes take in her distressed state and he quickly makes his way to her to pull out a chair to face her evenly. “Now, now Daisy. It’ll be OK. Y’all will get set up here and well,” Cooter shrugs his shoulders and hisses heavily in his search of comforting words, “you’ll see it ain’t so bad. I mean, it’s definitely not the old homestead, but it’s not so bad either.”
Daisy gives him a hard look for a moment, too caught up in her own emotions to see where their family friend is coming from before the reality of everything hits her. Cooter don’t know about Bo or about Luke and Jesse out there looking for him. He’s assuming she’s still upset about the farm. Which she was, but in her mind, that is the least of her worries right now. She sighs heavily and nods while she wipes the tears from her eyes. “Look Cooter. I appreciate you trying to comfort me and all,” she states before she looks around the small kitchen again before focusing upon Cooter again, “but the farm and all, is the least of my worries at the moment.”
Cooter gives her a questioning look. “It ain’t?” he questions as he readjusts his hat and he follows Daisy eyes around the room, “Well if you’re not worrying about the farm, then what’s got you so upset?”
Daisy eyes Cooter for a long moment as she feels herself begin to shake in her emotions of all that is going on. Sighing heavily she says, “Bo’s missing,” Daisy pauses as tears once more threaten to flood, “Luke went to go wake him up to find him gone. Apparently he snuck out the window after Luke left the room. We found tracks going from their window and into the woods behind the house. This was when it was still dark out and everything,” she goes silent once more, her eyes go up to the door to take in the gray hazy daylight that now shines. Looking back at Cooter she states, “Luke and Jesse took the truck to search for him. I was ordered to stay here in case Bo would return.”
Cooter is silent for a long moment as he takes in her story and his own emotions sink within him as he thinks of the irrational and quick tempered Bo out lost in the dark woods. “So, what’s Luke thinking?” he finally asks.
“We’re assuming Bo went out to find a way to get the farm back. Only logical explanation. Especially since we all pretty much accused him of losing it. Not that he needed us to accuse him, he was already feeling guilty about it,” Daisy rambles on as her guilt builds within her, “Jesse was worried about the drop off in the woods. Bo not knowing the woods as much as he did around our house and in the dark, he may not see it. Even if he miraculously makes it pass that big hill, how the heck does he plan on getting the farm back?” she goes silent as she eyes Cooter with desperation for help, “I don’t know, Cooter. I’m left here alone to wait on word or for someone to return and yet no one, but you. Not that I don’t appreciate you coming over like this, but you still don’t bring any answers as they would.”
“I know,” Cooter states in understanding, “what do you want me to do? Maybe if I walked through the woods now that it is light -”
“Bo would have too big of a head start,” Daisy states, “Luke was going to drive around the woods and look into the woods before making it to the farm in hope of finding Bo. But if he fell -”
“He may have had a lead start, but if he fell down that hill, Luke and Jesse wouldn’t see it from the damn truck,” Cooter springs to his feet, “I’ll follow Bo’s tracks and see where they take me. If he did fall down that hill, I’ll be able to see it better than Luke would.”
Not able to sit any longer and wait, Daisy is quick to her feet. “I’m going with you,” she boldly states and Cooter gives her a questioning look, she continues, “I know, they wanted me to be here in case Bo returns. Well, I can’t sit and wait any longer without going crazy with all these thoughts that may have happened while everyone else is doing something. I’m either going with you or on my own. You chose.”
“Well come on,” Cooter states as he holds open the door for her.
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Harsh emotions tear within Jesse’s numb body as the patrol car pulls into the familiar driveway that he had been kicked out of only yesterday. The drive way he had pulled up in and walked up in every day of his life. The drive way he had been kicked off of and told to never to return otherwise to be arrested for trespassing. Trespassing on what should be his own property, his farm, his driveway; yet due to Randy and that big truck running them off of the road, it no longer belonged to him nor any of his nephews or niece. Worse yet, they aren’t returning to his old farm in search of getting it back as they were thinking of doing earlier before Luke found Bo gone. They were here in search of finding the missing Bo who had apparently fell down the steep hill Jesse had been worrying about, yet only leaving blood and torn fabric behind. Meaning Bo was gone, hurt and in trouble. Instead of worrying and searching for a way to get back the home he has lived in all of his life, they were worrying about and looking for Bo. If only he hadn’t blamed Bo for losing the farm, perhaps they wouldn’t be here looking for him. He never accused Bo aloud of being the one responsible for losing their farm, but he thought it, felt it, and maybe already feeling guilty about it, had picked up on how Jesse had felt. . .
Breathing in deeply, Jesse turns away from the old farm house and looks at the sheriff who seems to be frozen in his seat and staring up at the house in dread. “You ready, Rosco?” Jesse breaks the awkward silence that had built between them ever since Rosco had slowed down long enough for Luke to jump out into the ditch, “We are to go up there in search of something that I had forgotten about. Perhaps I can say I had hid my wedding ring in a secret location and had forgotten about it until this morning and that we are here to retrieve it.”
Rosco nods and sighs heavy as he withdraws his keys from the ignition, his shaky hand lands upon the door handle before he glances over to Jesse with worried eyes. Worried eyes that startles Jesse. Jesse has known the sheriff for a lot of years and has fought with him through most of them to make sure the town was done right by him and Boss. But never before had Rosco allowed much emotion to Jesse or the Dukes other than for irritation and anger at them. But now they are working together to find Bo and yet worry is set in deeply in his bright blue eyes at the thought of approaching Hogg’s new associates or business partners. Boss’ own kin.
“What’s the problem, Rosco?” Jesse slowly asks, weary of the amount of worry and dread in the aging sheriff’s eyes.
Rosco opens his mouth to state something before closing it again. His mind returning to Craig’s unusual mannerism this morning, of the blood on his clothing, and of the Dukes’ story. He knew the Dukes wouldn’t lie about anything, but especially about one of their own being hurt and in danger. And he feared what Luke was going to find in that barn, of where Craig had been walking out of when Rosco had first pulled up early this morning. Leaving Rosco to wonder if the youngest Duke was still alive and how much Craig had tortured him or put him through. “I’d rather not say at the moment, Mr. Duke,” Rosco slowly states, deciding against what he had first originally started to say and he slowly opens the door and puts his right leg out, “Let’s go and get this over with. I just hope this here plan of Luke’s will work.”
Jesse nods as he opens his door and slowly steps out before turning and watching Rosco step all the way out and silently closing the door. Taking a deep breath and saying a silent prayer, Jesse takes a look around the old farm, feeling like a stranger on the land he had called home for so many years. Finally, his attention comes to a halt upon the barn, his thoughts turn back to what Rosco had described that he saw of this Craig and of the blood they had seen on the hill. Only to install chills racing down his back of fear and worry for his youngest nephew.
Finishing his prayer for both of his nephews, he forces himself to turn around to find Rosco standing near the first step to the porch, waiting for him and motioning for him to join him. Jesse slowly nods and begins to follow Rosco up the thin steps onto the porch. “You ready?” Rosco asks as they reach the closed door.
“As ready as I’m gonna be,” Jesse whispers back before stealing another glance back at the old barn before looking at Rosco and nodding.
Rosco inhales audibly as he opens the screen door and knocks loudly on the wooden door several times before closing the screen door, his hand resting on the butt of his gun out of habit. After a long moment, the wooden door is thrown open and a young thin woman looks back at Jesse with irritation in her dark eyes. “Sheriff Rosco Coltrane,” she forces a smile as she opens the screen door to step out to join them, “Craig said you were here only a half hour or so ago. Something wrong? I mean, we didn’t need anything then and we don’t need anything now.”
Rosco nods nervously. “I was here and he did tell me that. It’s just that Mr. Duke here,” he pauses to point at Jesse who forces a nervous smile and waves at her, “was who lived in this house before Hogg repossessed it a couple of days ago. And well, he stopped me down the road to tell me that he had left his wedding ring behind since they were rushed in packing and moving out of here. So I thought I’d bring him by so that he could retrieve it real quick.”
She raises an eye brow at both of them and forces another nervous smile before glancing over her shoulder and into the house. “I’m sorry to be such a bother, Miss. I really am,” Jesse speaks up to gather her attention back onto them, “but the ring is really important to me. You see, my wife died over twenty years ago and that is one of the few reminders I have of her. I use to wear it all the time, but then my fingers seemed to get thicker and the ring just wouldn’t fit any more, so when that happened, I hid it in a secret department in my room. And as the sheriff pointed out, we were rushed in packing and moving out of here that I plainly forgot about it until this morning. It’d be greatly appreciated if I could just run in and grab it real quick. Wouldn’t even take a minute. I promise, Miss.”
She smiles apologetically at them. “I’m sorry for your loss, Mr. Duke. I am sure that the ring has great sentimental value to you,” she pauses to leave Jesse hoping for the positive, “but I’m sorry, I can’t let you in here. With the painting and all the work that we already started on your old house, it’d be a safety hazard to allow you in here. I’ll tell you what,” she pauses once more, eyeing the sheriff and the elderly Duke, “I’ll make sure to look for it today and when or if I find it, I’ll call Sheriff Coltrane here and he can come pick it up and bring it to you himself. I can’t promise you anything more, I’m afraid.”
Jesse inhales deeply. “I really don’t care about no safety hazard. At my age, I’m lucky enough to be able to be healthy and as strong as I have been for so long. What I care about is my ring and if it consists of me inhaling dangerous fumes and tripping over your work stuff, then so be it,” Jesse desperately states, fighting back the urge to look back at the barn.
“Sorry Mr. Duke,” she shakes her head before she is interrupted by a deep voice inside the house and a tall muscular man steps out and anger crosses his face.
“Sheriff Rosco Coltrane! I already -”
“Calm down, Craig,” she interrupts him as she places a caring hand upon his strong shoulder,
“he’s here with Mr. Duke who had owned the farm before Hogg repossessed it. He’s here to retrieve his wedding ring that he had hidden in his room and that he forgot about. I was just explaining that it would be too dangerous for him and that if we find it, we’ll give it to Rosco here to run back to him.”
“That’s right, Mr. Duke. We’re sorry, but we can’t allow you or the sheriff to step one foot in the house due to all our repairs that is going on right now,” he pauses and puts up a hand to halt Jesse who begins to argue, “I’m sorry, Mr. Duke. This is our house now, not your’s. We say the house is unfit for company to walk through, it’s unfit and no one will enter the house. We are not going to be risked being sued over your own bravery. Now if you can’t respect our wishes, and since the sheriff is already here and is apparently on your side, we’ll call Commissioner Hogg and see what he can do about it.”
“No need for that,” Jesse shakes his head and takes a step back and Rosco slowly follows suit, “sorry to be a bother to you two. I’d appreciate it greatly if you’d give the ring to Rosco once you do find it, as I said, it is of great value to me. Thank-you for your time and enjoy the farm. I know I did.” He forces another smile before slowly turning around to walk down the step and over to Rosco’s dirty patrol car and looks up at the dark dreary sky. As Rosco gets to the driver’s seat, Jesse states, “It’s gonna rain again.”
Rosco eyes the Duke patriarch questionably before opening the door and getting in behind the wheel and slams the door shut just as Jesse does the same. For a moment they eye the couple as they slowly make their way back inside the old house, slamming the wooden door shut behind them. “They’re a lovely couple, now aren’t they?” Rosco states sarcastically, “Craig changed clothes since I left. Not a stain on him.”
Jesse nods as Rosco slowly backs out of the drive way, his attention going to the barn in hope of seeing something within it, but find it too dark to see much of anything. “Let’s go to where we are to meet up with Luke. He won’t be there yet, but at least we’ll be there whenever he does get there,” Jesse slowly states, silently hoping that they were able to waste enough time for Luke to do whatever he was thinking of doing.
* * * * *
Looking up at the old barn, sweat slowly drips down Luke’s tense neck as his mind remains focused upon the blood covered fabric in his pocket, of the blood and the prints he had seen in the mud. His imagination builds within him to display vivid scenes of all that has happened to his younger cousin; to his best friend. Sighing heavily, he attempts to ignore the thoughts as he slowly slips into the dark shadow barn to send fear building within him. Despite the gray sky that looms outside, dark shadows covers the barn, growing darker in the corners and along side the walls, giving ample room for someone to hide. Or ample room for them to be hiding Bo.
Knowing the barn like the back of his hand after years of daily chores and hard work that lead to the barn, Luke is quick to be able to walk around the floor of the barn to find little to nothing out of the ordinary how it had been before they had left. Leaving only the loft to search.
Biting his lower lip in fear and worry, he slowly makes his way to the weak ladder, not knowing if he should be hoping of finding Bo up there or not. Looking up the ladder, he begins to doubt that Bo could be up there. Bo wouldn’t walk up there on his own and it’d be impossible for someone to carry another up there without the ladder breaking or getting stuck. Shaking his head, Luke grabs onto the ladder, knowing it is best to look everywhere no matter how low the chances may be that he’ll be up there and he slowly begins to climb up the ladder. Nearly reaching the top, he pauses momentarily, knowing that once he raises his head above the loft floor, he’d be vulnerable of an attack if someone was up here with Bo.
Sighing heavily, he forces himself up another notch on the ladder to slowly look across the hay covered loft that is darker than the barn floor had been. His heart comes to a dead halt as he is quick to see a still dark shadow that looks to be of a tall lanky person sitting on the floor against the wall, his arms tied up with a rope over his head and tied onto a thick metal rung that hangs a foot out of the wall with a large knob at the far end. The lanky shadow’s legs are extended and lie as still as the rest of the dark shadowy body. “Bo,” Luke hears himself whisper as his eyes fall away from Bo’s lanky shadowy figure to reach upon another tall looking shadow that sits upon what looks to be a overturned bucket only a foot away from Bo. The dark shadowy figure of a gun promptly held in his steady hand, pointed at Bo.
Taking advantage of the gun man looking at Bo, Luke silently pulls himself to his feet and takes a couple of quick steps closer to them and fear is quick to halt Luke at seeing Bo’s broken and bloody body come out of the shadows as he gets closer to them. The gun man yelps out and jumps to his feet as he notices Luke and gets closer to Bo and kicks at Bo’s outstretched legs and Bo cries out in pain, his eyes opening to look at the gun man. “I thought you told us they weren’t out there!” Anger intensifies within Luke as the gunman backhands Bo across the face with the butt of the gun and Bo cries out as his head is thrown sideways and for a moment Bo’s and Luke’s eyes meet. The gunman quickly grabs Bo’s jaw to force Bo to look at him, “You said it was only you! You liar!” He quickly throws Bo’s head back in disgust and being to weak to defy the gunman’s gravity, his head is thrown into the wall.
Luke inhales as he forces himself to look away from Bo and ignore his fear he has for his cousin to focus upon the gunman, knowing it is up to Luke to save his cousin. In order to do that, he’ll need to get rid of the gun man first. “Back away from him,” Luke states as he steals another step forward and the gun man shakes his head as he steps back closer to Bo, putting the gun to Bo’s head. Noticing the blank look on Bo’s face, lacking the fear that would normally be there at being held at gun point and not even flinching away from the barrel of the gun, Luke’s heart freezes in fear and worry of what that means. Swallowing hardly to refocus his attention upon the gun man, Luke takes another step and the gun man presses the gun even tighter against Bo’s skull.
“Back away or I’m pulling the trigger and you’ll be covered with whatever is within that ugly head of your cousin’s here!” the gun man threatens, his index finger shaky against the thin trigger. “I’ll be more than glad to do it, don’t give me a reason to do it!”
Luke sighs, knowing the man means what he says, but also knowing that he’ll do his fulfill his threat whether Luke complies with it or not. “I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Luke boldly states before he throws the pocket knife, that he had worked out of it’s case while the gunman had been making his threat, to hit against the old splintered wood a foot behind the gunman’s head. The gunman is quick to jump at the movement of the knife and the loud thud the knife makes and as he turns to look at what had happened, Luke quickly lunges forward to slam the man’s thick body into the thin wall. “You’re dumber than what you appear,” Luke hisses in his ear as he yanks the gun from the shocked gunman’s hand and is quick to jam it against his head, “now I have the gun. What you think I should do with it?”
“Drop it or I’ll scream. My brother will come with a bigger gun than that and can finish you and your cousin off in one shot,” the gun man squirms under the pressure of the gun and Luke’s tight hold of him.
Nodding, Luke takes the gun away from his head and powerfully backhands him across the face as he had done to Bo only minutes ago. “Now you’ve got a hint of what Bo felt,” Luke spits in his face as he jams the safety on on the gun before throwing it out the open loft door and the man hisses in anger. Holding the man tight against the wall, Luke steals a look down at Bo to notice that he has drifted unconscious again, his thin chest barely moving. Fearing for his cousin’s life, he eyes the man harshly before shoving him across the room where the man falls upon his rear end and Luke falls to his knees to keep the man down while he grabs the thick long line of rope that lies near by. “I have half a mind to shove you out after the gun. That’s what you deserve,” Luke hisses as he ties up the man’s feet tightly before tying the man’s feet to his hands in front of him, tying knots that he had learned in the Marines. Knowing there is no way he’d be able to break lose from the ropes before bringing the left over rope up from his tied wrists up and around his mouth and secure the rope in his open mouth with a tight knot on the back of his head. “Now you can try to scream all you want. Your dumb brother won’t hear a sound.” With that, Luke stiffly stands up and sends a quick kick at the guy’s head before turning and walking to the edge of the loft to look out, relieved to find no one outside before bending over to pick up his pocket knife,
Luke quickly makes his way over to his tied up cousin and drops to his knees as he places his fingers against Bo’s blood covered neck to find a soft pulse before he cuts the rope from the metal rung and Bo’s arms weakly fall upon Luke. Ignoring them, Luke continues to cut the ropes from Bo’s feet before cutting his wrists loose and Bo lets out a throaty moan of pain, “It’s OK cuz. I’m here…I’m gonna get you some help,” Luke states as he throws the rope aside and steals another look at the tied up gun man before slowly and carefully putting an arm under Bo’s neck and another under his knees before slowly getting up. “Damn,” Luke hisses as he reaches the stairs, wondering how he is to get Bo down there in his condition. “Well Bo, this won’t be too comfortable,” he states as he grunts while trying to readjust Bo’s still body over his shoulder, with Bo’s head near his back and his feet dangling by Luke’s knees. “Better than nothing,” he states doubtfully as he turns around and places his feet down upon the first rung and slowly steps down. Luke hisses out in fear and worry as he hears Bo’s head hit the edge of the wooden loft floor on his way down, but Luke keeps walking down, knowing he has to get Bo out and off of their old property before the gunman’s brother shows up.
“OK Bo, we’re down,” Luke whispers to his unconscious cousin, once again rearranging Bo so that his arm will be under his neck and knees to see fresh blood tickling down Bo’s face. “We’re halfway there, cuz. Just hang on.” Luke makes his way to the far end of the open barn and takes a long cautious look at the farm house before he quickly walks out of the barn and into the thin wooded area, trying to reassure himself that Rosco should only be several feet away beyond the wooded area now as Bo’s weight heavily sinks into his numb arms. “We’re almost there,” he continues to talk to Bo in hope of comforting him someway as he slowly makes his way in between the trees and shrubbery, trying to avoid hitting Bo against anything more. “Damn,” he hisses as cold large drips of rain begin to beat upon them while the muddy ground tries to swallow Luke’s feet as he walks forward.
Several minutes seem to last hours of walking through the thinly wooded area before he walks into the open ditch area, Bo’s weight heavily sinking into his arms and shoulders. “Bo,” a soft familiar voice shatters the silence that had hung heavily in the rainy day; the single word of Bo’s name was thickly filled with horror and worry. At hearing the familiar voice, Luke draws his attention away from Bo’s bloody and bruised body and up to find his uncle stepping out of the passenger seat of Rosco’s patrol car. “Bo,” Jesse states louder and filled with panic as he stumbles down the wet ditch to catch himself on the hood of the car. “Is he. . .” he begins to ask only to cut himself, unable to ask the dreaded question, as he finally reaches Luke as Luke is careful to walk down the steep ditch towards his uncle.
Luke gives Jesse a sad and short shake of his head before he glances up as Rosco slowly steps out from behind the wheel and walks to the hood of the patrol car, looking down at them. Looking back at Jesse, he ignores the icy needles of rain that continues to wash over him, and says, “No, not yet,” he pauses, realizing how horrible that sounds and reality sinks in that he may be losing his cousin and his own panic and anxiety speeds up within him, “he’s unconscious as of now. He has a soft and slow heart rate, but he’s having difficulty breathing on his own.” He steps away from Jesse to begin up the wet muddy ditch and Jesse is quick to follow him. Reaching the hood of the patrol car, he looks over at Rosco and says, “You’re going to have to take us to the hospital. You got an air tank in the trunk?”
Rosco eyes them both startled, his mind racing within him of all that is happening before he pulls himself out of his own fears and anxiety to nod and walks over to the trunk.
“I’ll sit in the back seat with him,” Jesse quickly states as he opens the back door of the patrol car.
Luke shakes his head. “I’m already covered in his blood, there is no need -”
“Do I look like I’m worried about getting his blood on me? Because of right now, that is the least of my problems,” Jesse quickly snaps at him as he eyes his oldest nephew for a long moment, a look daring Luke to be bold enough to argue with him. When Luke doesn’t say anything, Jesse climbs into the back seat and pushes himself across the seat to sit next to the farthest door.
Luke glances down at Bo for a long moment, not willing to let go of his cousin in fear of it being the last time he’ll be able to see him alive again. Though knowing better than to argue with his uncle, he inhales deeply before he bends down while holding Bo closely to him before he helps set Bo’s long body down on the back seat, his bloody head resting upon Jesse’s lap. Luke looks at Bo for a long moment before he reaches over and caringly brushes a blood soaked hair out from Bo’s closed eyes before he climbs back out of the patrol car to watch Rosco slamming the trunk lid closed. “Here it is,” Rosco holds it up to show the oldest Duke cousin before walks over to the driver’s side back door and opens it to where Jesse is sitting.
Feeling hopeless, Luke watches from the open backseat passenger door as Rosco helps Jesse place the air mask on Bo’s mouth and nose and putting the band behind Bo’s head before Rosco sets the tank on Bo’s thin chest and turning it on. Doing something he hasn’t done in a long time, Luke closes the door while saying a prayer for Bo while climbing into the passenger seat and slamming that door shut. Closing his prayer, he turns to Rosco as he slams his door closed and states, “Let’s hit it Rosco.”
Rosco nods as he quickly backs out of the ditches and onto the dirt road where he quickly presses onto the accelerator to send the car racing forward into the heavy rain, hitting the lights that cuts through the silent world.