by: Kristy Duke

Tiredly I glare out the small hospital window as the dark dreary sky swallows out the remaining sun that had remained only a few moments ago. I sigh wearily listening to my doctor talk quietly to Luke and Daisy off in the corner of my room. Watching the thick area of trees across the dirt road my mind races from thought to thought of the past, from seeing Jesse on the old wooden floor to where I sit now waiting for my cousin’s to take me home. My heart pounds harshly within me tightly with great anxiety and panic of the past to what the future may hold due to my stupidity I had held three weeks ago. Three long weeks in the hospital that seemed to last an eternity of lying hooked up monitors and IVs and of everyone looking over me in pity, just as they have been the past year or so. I hate their pity them looking down at me just because they feel sorry for me when I am fine, or will be fine, well hopefully will be fine whenever I can move on with my life as Luke seems to want me to do. But how can I do that when Jesse was violently murdered as he was and the murderer remains free, unpunished of his evil deed?

Thinking of the past, of seeing Jesse lying on the floor covered in his own thick blood, and of the man or men that has gotten away with such a hateful crime, anger floods through me. How could anyone want to kill such a great man as Uncle Jesse? And why would anyone want to kill my uncle? Jesse would never do anything to deserve such a thing and yet someone had went in and killed him as if he were just a piece of meat or something, looking as if no second thought had come to whoever pulled the trigger. Anger floods through me with my emotional pain and sorrow to who ever killed my uncle, for the cops for not stopping the jackasses that had pulled the trigger. Tears once again enter my eyes, tears of my pain mixed with the anger toward the men who did this to Jesse, not for me, but for Jesse.

“Luke, I am going to schedule him for an appointment in three days, let’s see,” my doctor pauses behind me, “that’ll be Friday. How about at eight in the morning?”

“That’s fine,” Luke says confidently, “couldn’t Doc. Appleby-”

“He could, but I prefer to check him out the first few times,” my doctor’s harsh voice says in response, “it is mandatory here for their hospital’s doctor check them in the first two or three times before handing them over to their regular physician.”

“OK, I was just wondering,” Luke says behind me, “Friday at eight then.”

“Yeah unless something major comes up, don’t be afraid to bring him back,” he responds, “he should be fine.”

“OK thanks doctor,” Luke says behind me and I can hear Daisy sob back some tears of her fear, “you ready to go home, Bo?”

Anger flows through me at feeling the tears roll down my cheeks, in embarrassment at the thought of what Luke would think if he knew I was crying like a baby. He never cries, the only time I saw him with tears was last week or so when I was dying. ‘Damn it’ I think angrily towards myself as I quickly wipe my face harshly with my hand. I glare at my casted right arm as I rest it upon my lap as I sit in the hospital’s wheel chair, thinking of the events once again. “Of course I’m ready,” I force out, though refusing to move myself.

“Let’s go then,” Luke says in a half cheery voice behind me as he wheels me around to face the door and the doctor who grins thinly at me.

“Tell Luke or Daisy here whenever something hurts,” he demands.

“No duh,” I answer sarcastically, “I don’t see why I hafta be wheeled outta here, I can walk on my own.”

“It’s mandatory,” the doctor responds.

“What’s not mandatory?” I snarl at him, “Breathing?”

“Bo! Enough!” Luke yells from behind me as he wheels me out into the brightly lit hall way, “Thanks doctor, see you in a few.”

~LUKE DUKE~

Tiredly I stare into the reflective silver doors of the closed elevator as it slowly inches it’s way down to the first floor. My mind wonders wildly within of what the next few days will hold for us to the past few days that lays horridly behind us. I sigh thankfully for what has been done, already done, with dread mixed in it in fear of what may lay ahead. Slowly I glance over at Daisy as she places a hand on my shoulder and she smiles comfortably at me before rubbing Bo’s shoulder who only tiredly moves away from her touch. “Damn it Bo,” I say under my breath in frustration at the attitude he is holding toward anyone and everyone. Through the reflection of the doors I notice the dull angry tone look in his eyes, one of warning of him falling back into his shell once again.

I sigh thankfully as the floor comes to a halt and the doors squeakily and slowly open ahead of us where we exit into a large brightly lit hall way. “Zip your coat up Bo,” I finally say as we come in sight of the double glass doors to the cold and windy outside. I watch momentarily as he slowly zips up his coat, more like a zombie than my cousin. Slowly we walk toward the double glass doors before Daisy opens the doors up widely for us. Glancing down at Bo for a short moment I wheel him out into the cold late fall weather where I wheel him down the cement slope.

Stopping on the sidewalk before the dusty road I glance casually back to Daisy who walks slowly and carefully down the frosted cement stairs. Watching her take the railing in care I jump in shock as a piercing pain etches it’s way through my upper chest to cripple me down to the hard and cold cement ground. Pain streaks down from my upper right chest and fear strikes me harshly as I look down to find a bullet hole etched into my denim jacket with my thick red blood quickly oozing out of the hole.

“Luke!” I hear my youngest cousin’s voice shout out in fear, sounding distant as he sheds himself of the wheel chair to kneel down besides me. Weakness joins the throbbing pain that streaks through my chest as flashbacks of war flashes within me, the gun shots echo in my head as old stale gun powder reeks in my nose. “Luke!” Bo shouts with more fear, concern and worry like he never allowed himself to feel since Jesse’s murder.

“Bo,” I say silently to hear myself wheezing in pain as I touch his yet bruised face softly as I suddenly realize that this is real, that I have been shot by some man with a silencer. Slowly I rise my head to cause more pain to streak through me as I glance around for a shooter, to not find any as Daisy forces my head down before running back inside for help. Looking back at Bo who’s shell has been discarded for great fear, pain, and sadness of his own. “You hafta listen to me Bo…do as I tell you to do. I know you won’t want to do it, but you have to do it.”

“What is it?” he asks as more blood spurts out of the hole to stain Bo’s shirt that we brought for him.

“You hafta run…run as far and as fast as you can until you find a great hiding place,” I wheeze as breathing becomes hard and painful and I wonder if this is how Bo feels each time he has an asthma attack, “I can assure you…this bullet was meant for you, not me and if you don’t run, you’ll get one yerself.”

“I can’t…ca…can’t…”he fights his own battle for air, “leave…you.”

“Yes you can and you will, you have to,” I tell him as blackness slowly comes into me and I fight hard against it, “you have to Bo, that is the only way of your survial…I’ll be fine. I’ll send Daisy after you within a couple of hours. But you have to run…as far and as fast as you can make it. Find a great hiding place and stay there until Daisy finds you! Please Bo…do this, do as I tell you to do. I don’t want to loose you as I about did. If not for you, do it for me. Run for me. You understand what I am saying Bo?”

“That if I don’t go, they’ll kill me too,” he says softly.

“Exactly…I’ll be fine, trust me, I’ll be fine. But you have to go before they do any more pain, more damage to you,” I say in panic as I hear a few foot steps hurriedly walking to me, “Run Bo…Run now!”

“I love you Lukas,” Bo says holding my icy cold hand, “You have to be OK! You gotta be! I’ll run, not for me, but for you. Bye for now cuz!”

Tears streaks his face as he slowly gets up as he lets go of my hand to begin running just as another shot rings out and I pray that it had missed Bo as pure evil darkness overcomes me.

~BO DUKE~

Darkness quickly swallows me whole as I disappear into the icy cold caves in hope of escaping the men that had been chasing closely behind me. My heart races within me in fear and pain as my lungs go a flair in pain as my breathing comes out forceful and wheezy in an upcoming asthma attack. Fighting off coughing until I am sure they are out of hearing distance my mind races quickly within me of my cousin lying on the cement ground, clenching tightly onto my hand. I sigh thinking of the fear that shone brightly in his bright intelligent blue eyes, fear that he had fought to hid from me as he had in the past, though this time unsucceeding. Anger races through me at the clear sight of my cousin in my mind, anger at the men that has been after me the past few weeks, not for me, but for Luke.

My mind races within me, full of images of Luke getting shot and falling upon the cold pavement as I slowly realize that they had shot Luke to get to me, only meaning they are willing to do anything to get to me, and to kill me as they had Uncle Jesse. Tears quickly build up in my eyes as chills race up and down my body as fear streaks through my body. Silently I hug my knees tightly into my chest as tears protrude from my eyes to race down my frozen cheeks as my mind is full of clear images of Luke and the thick red puddle of blood he had already lost due to the shooters.

A sharp stab of fear pierces through me as I am startled by the heavy foot fall of the men running reaching the caves or near by the caves to echo off the rocky cliff wall. Their breathing is ragged and rough as one man says something beyond hearable to me, to the other man. My mind races in fear as I silently pray that they won’t find me, that the caves will hide me once again as they had that horrid day so many weeks ago. ‘If only they had killed me then, I would no longer have to run from such evil men, and to live my life in fear,’ runs rapidly through my head with my uncle’s caring voice lecturing me that ‘Dukes never run nor hide from their problems, but face them and deal with them as Dukes would.’

Suddenly dark shadows cast over the mouth of the cave as I silently watch in fear, hoping to see them race quickly by. “Let’s check the caves…and see if he is stupid enough to hide in the same place twice,” a thick voice echos off the icy cold rocky walls of the cave.

I feel my body shaking uncontrollably as I sit crumpled up in a dark black and icy cold corner of the cave, shaking from fear instead of the cold that has numbed me. My lungs are set afire in pain as I fight for air as two large and muscular men appear at the entrance of the lighted end of the cave to send my mind racing in what is about to happen and in fear. Unable to fight back any more coughing, I harshly begin to cough chronically before I fish my inhaler out to use it. “He’s here,” says the thick voice once again.

“He sure is…must be pretty dumb to hide in the same cave as before,” the other laughs as they climb closer to where I sit, “you might as well come out, Bo, for there is no use this time. You’re coming with us!”

They both laugh, their evil laugher echoes off the cave’s walls hurting my ears as tears of pain and fear swell in my eyes again. I pray frantically in hope of finding a way out, in hope of being saved, but in knowledge that it is too late. They have found me and will do what they wish to me.

After a long moment of listening to their boots hit the rocky floor a dark large shadow quickly lingers over me and I slowly look up to find a tall muscular man standing over me with thick dark brown hair and a thin goatee. “I found him, Raze,” his thick southern accented voice rings out as I hold onto my injured arm as the pain pounds lively within. I yell out in pain as he shoves me over and kicks me continuously in the ribs and face.

“Brendon!” the man he had called Raze says as he approaches him and I dare a glance up at him to find him taller than Brendon by an inch and more muscular. Tattoos flare up and down his uncovered right arm with a couple on his left as he wears a tight white tank top with black leather pants. His dark black hair lies neatly in a crew cut, just like Luke’s when he had first come with sharp stubbles upon his tan face from a couple days of unshaving. “Drake gave us both sharp orders NOT to kick him around or to kill him! We are to take him to him and that is it!”

“Like he cares if he has a few more bruises on him,” Brendon sneers back at him over me as he kicks me once more before the other man jerks me to my feet.

“Let me go!” I yell at them as I fight the handle he holds on the back of my collar. Luke’s face, his eyes full of fear and pain, shine in my eyes and I once again angered at them for what they did to my cousin. For a short moment, anger controls me over the fear that lies intensely within. “You jackasses shot my cousin!” I yell jumping on Raze’s black boots with the heel of my cowboy boot as hard as I can. As he crumples up in pain I quickly knee him in the head for him to let go of me to fall upon the hard cold ground. Fear sneaks back into me as I see Brendon’s muscular fist coming at me before I quickly dunk and elbow him in the ribs and then to the head.

Quickly I begin to run as pain streaks throughout my weak body and once again in my lungs as I hear them getting up behind me. I yell out in surprise and in pain as they both jump me from behind to force me harshly to the ground. “You ain’t goin’ nowhere Duke, nowhere other to our hideout…where you will do as instructed or your cousin WILL be finished off to prove that little bullet we put in him was nothing compared to the consequences of you not listening!” one of the men yell in my ear as the other gets off. “OK Bren, give it to me.”

“Give you what?” the man that had gotten up asks naively as Raze continues to painfully hold me down.

“The sedative Drake gave us for him!” Raze snaps at him and fear clouds my mind even more as he takes an arm off of me to take the needle from Bren’s tattooed hand. I yelp in pain as I feel the sharp need edge it’s way through my elbow before draining and getting jerked out. “There ya go, Bo, now you won’t have a chance to fight us!”

They both begin to laugh, though right next to me, they both sound distant as I slowly fight off the blackness that slowly moves in on me. I sigh in fear thinking of what I will be waking up to before I am engulfed in unconsciousness’ darkness.

~LUKE DUKE~

Slowly, I awaken to the irritating beeping of the heart monitor and to the slow drippings of the IV bags that echo off the thick hollow hospital walls. I sigh in relief to the hear Bo’s heart monitor beeping back to regular, to the way it should be; before my eyes slowly begin to clear from the blurring enough to find myself lying in the hospital bed hooked up to three IVs and an air tube in my nose. I sigh wearily as I slowly remember all that had happened to feel the pain shooting through my right chest where I had been shot at. Staring at the blank wall ahead of me, I am filled with fear and anger, not for myself but for Bo. I pray for his safety in hope that he will be able to escape the danger that he was put once back in.

“Luke,” I hear a muffled voice besides me and I stiffly turn to find Daisy sitting next to me, tears run down her tan face before she quickly brushes them away. “How are you feelin’?”

“Don’t worry about me! Where’s Bo? Did you find him?” I snap at her, “You were suppose to go find Bo after all this submerged and all!”

“Don’t yell at me Luke…don’t you think I am just as worried about him as you are?” she snaps back at me as she slowly stands up to pace the floor, “I called Frank ahead of time and he tol’ me to stay here with you while he and his men went searching for Bo and for the shooters.”

I sigh impatiently as I watch her glare out the window of my room as my mind rushes rapidly within me. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to snap at you,” I apologize, “I know you are worried too.”

“Sergeant Mills will find him, he’s an expert on this kinda stuff anyways, not you nor me,” Daisy says continuing to glare out the window, “I told them to check the caves where he hid last time…hopefully Bo wouldn’t return there, they gotta know he hid there last time by now.” She pauses longly to look out the window before turning to face me, “How you feel?”

“As I said, don’t worry about me, I’ll be fine,” I sigh, “it hurts a bit, kinda like being stabbed when I was at war, but I lived through that, and I will live through this. I will be much better when I can see Bo here and that he is OK. He already is in a lot of pain with his arm and all, he went through a lot already…he surely don’t need this.”

Silence fills the room as a medium sized thin doctor with thinning reddish brown hair walks in with a nurse. “Ah I see you have awaken,” he smiles looking at my chart, “I will be your doctor, Dr. Chatern and will be taking of you while your stay here. I am glad to see your surgery went well to remove that bullet…that was a nasty shot…twenty-three stitches and some torn muscle. You’re lucky, it had just missed your heart by like a half inch or less.”

“I don’t feel so lucky,” I sigh.

“You’ll be out of here before you know it,” he smiles as he finishes checking everything, “I’ll be on the floor if you need me.”

I sigh silently as they leave only to be replaced by Frank Mills and another man that I presume is another FBI agent he had brought along. For a long moment he glares at me coldly with his creamy blue eyes before he turns to Daisy. “Where is he sergeant?” I break the silence, “Did you find Bo? Is he OK?”

Once again he glares at me as he bites his lower lip and traces his scar with his left hand. “We have reason to believe that he has been kidnapped by whoever had shot you,” Frank finally says holding me in his cold eyes, “is this Bo’s?”

With that he lies a black leather pocket knife case with a pocket knife entrapped inside. “That’s Bo’s,” I answer finally to break the silence as my heart stops in fear in what all this means.

“We figured as much,” he sighs grimly putting it back into a bag and hands it to his agent, “We found in a cave a couple of miles from here. By the looks of the cave, it seems there had been a struggle there, looking to be between three people, but could be more, and less. It was hard to tell. We also found a small amount of blood right outside of the cave that looks to be Bo’s. We still have men out look around the cave and searching the caves more, but we believe that they have kidnapped him and bringing him to their hide out where ever that is at.”

The room is filled with silence once again as I stare at him full of shock and fear for my cousin before I turn to Daisy to find fresh tears streaking her cheeks. “Well the whole reason for him being kidnapped is to prevent him from speaking of what he saw or whatever reason they have? Then wouldn’t it be easier for them to just kill him?”

“I know, I don’t know what they are up to, but who knows when it comes to Drake. Perhaps ransom?” he shrugs, “I hope you don’t mind, we have someone out at your farm to answer the phone to see if he will be callin’ there for ransom. We will get him back and stop Drake, I can promise you that.”

Suddenly Bo’s adolescent voice is crying out in my head, yelling at me that I can’t promise returning home safely as he had when I had left for war so many years ago. “No sergeant,” I sigh feeling Bo’s pain and fear he had felt back then, “you can’t make no such promises as the one you just made. Drake could be killing him right now and perhaps leaving Hazzard for his own safety afterwards. The truth is, neither your and your men, nor us, know what Drake plans to do. So, until you got Bo back safely, I suggest not making such promises.”

For a long moment he glares at me before nodding in agreement. “This is FBI Agent Paul Leiks, he will be serving protection of this room,” Franks says seriously, “Daisy, if you need to go, he will call for another one guard. Drake is dangerous and will be dealt with caution, so ’til this is done and over with, both of you will be protected.”

~BO DUKE~
I slowly awaken to my head harshly throbbing in unbearable pain to find myself tightly tied to an old rusty metal chair by a large thick metal chain. Pain rushes through me with fear as the room spins quickly around me as I am over whelmed by the smell of a fresh fire near by with burnt wood. Slowly, the thick fog that had invaded my eyes clears to find myself sitting in an old dusty and dirty cabin, in the far corner from the door. Through the open and dirty windows, I notice a few snow flakes melting from the darkening gray sky above.

“You’ve awaken, I see,” a gruff voice rings out and I look ahead to find a tall man wearing tight dark blue jeans, a blue flannel shirt under a dark blue denim coat, and a dirty white cowboy hat. His dark almost black brown eyes glares at me as if he is staring through me as I notice the black hair under his hat. “I’m Drake, but you can call me Master!” Suddenly he pauses to laugh with hysteria, “So you the Duke boy that has been giving me so much trouble? Well, you’ll be sorry that you messed with ol’ Drake Shelbon, cause you will finally know what ol’ Drake is all about!”

He laughs once again as he back hands me across the face and I yell out in pain as a couple more men walk in carrying more wood. “Brrr,” one man blows out, “it sure is cold out there, can’t wait for all this snow to stop fallin’.”

“Oh our feisty little prisoner has now awaken,” the other smiles and I recognize them as being the me that had attacked me in the cave, “What your plans for him, Drake?”

“Yeah, why not just kill him and get him over with?” the other man chimes in.

Quickly he glares around at them to silence them up and they both move toward the lively fire place that lies on the opposite wall of me. “I’ll tell you why I don’t go up and kill him, I have plans for him, that’s why!” he yells once again back handing me across the face, “he seems fun to torture that’s why, I torture him, I torture his whole family by just one person! This oughta be fun…huh Bo? Besides, this’ll give my boy Bryceton someone to play with.”

“I thought you gave him the old man to satisfy him with,” Bren says after stacking his pile.

“Now he will have someone with his IQ to watch over him, that damn boy can’t be related to me!” Drake says and for a long moment more anger flares in his dark brown eyes, “I’d rather die painfully than to have a son like him, there is no way I am related to a retard!”

With that he begins hitting me continuously to my chest, stomach and face with anger and pain before the man they call Raze pulls him off. “Drake, it is over and done with,” he sighs, “this stuff happens everyday.”

“Not to my Lana! He killed her!” he yells brushing the man’s thick muscular hand off of him, “That retard killed her!”

“She gave birth, it’s a risk,” Bren cuts in.

“I don’t care! I am without Lana and stuck with . . .with that retard!” Drake yells hitting me harshly, “And you will watch him while you suffer greatly for my loss! Have fun, Bo!”

I look silently at him as he back hands me with his thick hand before wiping his dark eyes that seemed to have cried no tears before. “What about the old man?” Bren speaks up as they both crowd over me, “You can’t put them together, I mean -”

“Shut up Bren! I can do as I wish and they both will have to be in that room together, that way they can watch each other suffer!” with that Drake yells out with laughter before hitting me once again, “I want you to untie him and throw him in there…and don’t FORGET to lock the door tightly. Raze, you will guard the room inside, until it is Bren’s turn.”

“Yes sir,” they say together.

“Get to it…I’ll be taking my nap,” Drake says walking to the old cot that lies a few feet away and Raze unlocks the lock to the thick chain and I fight to get up only to be thrown to the ground by a harsh blow to the back of my neck by Bren.

“Let’s go!” Raze yells as they jerk me to my feet to once again send pain racing up and down my body.

My body trembles in great fear and harsh pain as they force me to the door that had sat a few feet a head of my chair I had been chained to. My heart races quickly as I watch Bren fumble with the two locks before he pockets the key chain and opens the door. My heart stops quickly as I see a tall figure upon the small bed wearing faded blue jean overalls and a tan undershirt lying asleep on the bed with graying thin hair, with a beard and a mustache. Next to the old and torn cot a heavy and tall man sat upon an old metal chair with his arms folded glares up at us with his black eyes that matches his complexion. “Ah you got his boy,” he smiles.

“Yeah and I get to take over for you,” Raze cuts in and the large man slowly stands up as both Raze and Bren throws me harshly upon the dirty wooden floor and I grunt in great pain as I yank my broken casted arm out from under me. Breathing once again comes difficult for me as my lungs explode in pain as I force myself to sit up to find a scrawny thin kid in rag type clothes sits in the far corner hugging his thin knees. The kid looks to be around five or six with shaggy light brown hair and light green eyes that is casted toward the floor.

Quickly I glare up at Raze as the door is thrown shut and the locks are quickly put into place as Raze sits down in his chair with his gun in plain sight of reach. Slowly I force myself to look up at the bed and my heart stops achingly at the sight of my uncle lying there. “But. . .but he’s-”

“You wrong again! Ha,” Raze laughs, “that wasn’t your uncle on the ground, but one of our men dressed to be your uncle, while we kidnapped the old man to keep watch over Drake’s boy there, Bryceton.”

The boy looks up at Raze with hurtful eyes at the sound of his name before resting his head back down on his sharp knees. My heart races now within me as I force myself to look at my uncle to find his right eye bruised with a cut on his right temple and anger flares within me at the thought of them injuring my uncle.