The Winding Roads

A/N: This is my first (and probably only) attempt at a Dukes of Hazzard story. I've never seen much of the show and I've never been a huge fan of it but I always wanted to do a story for Dukes of Hazzard, and finally managed to come up with one based on one idea I've held onto for several years. Especially given the recent backlash of the show, making it a lot harder to watch it to verify certain things, if anything is out of character or contradicts a setting or scene from the show, I am largely winging it here, I apologize, please bear with me, and I hope you enjoy. All standard disclaimers apply, don't own, don't sue.

"You know something, Luke," Bo said to his cousin in the middle of a long drive down an empty country road.

"What, Bo?"

"I'm getting an idea, the next time we agree to drive a shipment for somebody, we better make it a new policy to check the truck before taking it."

"Gee, it only took us getting framed five times for transporting everything from firearms to a moving casino for you to figure that out, eh?" Luke asked as he glanced over at his cousin before returning his attention to the road.

Bo just shrugged and replied, "I didn't hear you say anything."

"We just got lucky that this time it proved to be a legitimate haul," Luke reminded him, "I don't know about you but I'm getting tired of every time we try to help someone out we wind up in the frying pan."

"Amen," Bo responded, "Now I'm just looking forward to getting back home and…" he looked at Luke who seemed distracted and asked him, "What?"

Something caught Luke's eye and he checked the mirror on his side and saw a car traveling some distance behind them and kicking up a mighty dust cloud in its tracks. Luke turned his head to get a better look and asked Bo, "Hey, who's that?" They'd been on the road for 15 minutes and this was the first they'd seen of anyone following them.

Bo turned in his seat and looked out the back window and answered, "Don't know, they're too far behind us."

A thought occurred to Luke and he asked Bo, "You don't suppose it's Cooter, do you?"

Bo looked back again and shook his head, "Nah, couldn't be…could it?"

The two cousins looked at each other mutually for a quick second before Bo picked up the radio and called out into CB land, "Cooter, you got your ears on out there?"

At first there was just a crackle of static coming back, and then instead of a voice answering them, they heard music coming through the radio.

"What is that?" Luke asked.

Bo responded, "I think Jerry Reed."

"Never mind," Luke said, "It obviously ain't Cooter." He chanced another look back and said, "I wonder who it is though…"

"Maybe Rosco couldn't get his squad car fixed and had to take a loaner," Bo thought, "Or just hijacked somebody else's car."

Luke looked in the rear view mirror and saw the other car was staring to gain on them now and as best as he could make out it was a red 1977 Chevy Camaro, and it seemed to be gaining on them at a steady speed of 60 mph.

"I don't think so," Luke replied, but he couldn't think of an alternative idea he liked better.

Bo was also now able to get a better look at the car and he knew it wasn't one they'd seen in Hazzard County before, he just shrugged and suggested, "Maybe it's somebody lost."

Luke kept one eye on the mirror and the other on the road and told his cousin, "That's about 50 miles too fast for being lost."

And steadily getting faster, both Dukes noticed. It looked like it was going to plow straight into them if they didn't move, so Luke made a sharp swerve to the side and they just made it and about went off the road entirely as the red Camaro raced past them entirely and left them in the dust.

"I don't care who it is," Bo told his older cousin, "Nobody does that to us."

Even Luke would agree his interest was definitely piqued, he stepped down on the accelerator and decided they were going to find out why and who would be in such a hurry on this road in the middle of nowhere.

The General Lee's engine let out a deafening roar as the needle on the speedometer climbed and in a few mere seconds they were almost neck and neck with the red Camaro, but just before they got close enough to see who was driving it, the driver of the other car gained a second wind and peeled out at what must've been 110 miles an hour, and they followed a good 50 feet driving blind through the flying dust, and when it cleared they were met instead with the sight of a large truck heading towards them. Luke sharply swerved to the other side and just missed colliding with the truck, and just about ran them off the road again, and the red car was gone.

"What happened?" Bo asked as he looked around, "Where'd it go?"

"I don't know," Luke replied as he slightly shook his head, "But I don't like this."

A new idea occurred to Bo and he asked Luke, "You think Boss Hogg's got a new racket going with some big time crooks?"

"Do pigs love mud?" Luke said in response, "Still, I doubt that that would be them."

"Why not?" Bo asked.

"Too obvious."

The two of them continued to make small talk amongst themselves for several minutes, and just as they were on the last bend before getting back into the county, Bo looked ahead and pointed to a red car just off the road up ahead and told Luke, "Hey look."

"Well maybe now we can get some answers," Luke said as he hit the brakes.

As the General Lee came to a stop and both Dukes climbed out through the windows, they realized that the radio in the red car was still on, and saw that whoever had been driving it now had his feet sticking out the drive's side window, wearing brownish red cowboy boots, respectively crossed over one another.

"This ought to be good," Bo said as they advanced towards the other car.

They made their way over to the Camaro, the driver's side not being the best side from which to confront the guy but the only side from which they could catch him off guard for sure, so as he couldn't make any quick getaways. Luke was the first to reach the window, and while the undersides of the boots blocked his vision of what the guy sprawled over the whole front seat looked like, he said authoritatively, "Alright, buddy, you've got some explaining to do."

The boots uncrossed and retracted back in through the window, revealing the driver.

"Buddy? That's a new one on me."

It was a woman.

"Uh," Luke felt his bottom jaw drop in surprise.

The door opened and the driver stepped out and revealed to be very much a woman, except she didn't particularly look the part. She was tall and gangly with some mild muscle sculpted in her arms, dressed in a pair of men's blue jeans and a man's Confederate flag muscle shirt. She had straight blonde hair that had been cut insanely short like she was trying to give herself a crew cut and it finally grew an inch. She stood in a slouching matter and had an open beer can in one hand; if she'd been a guy she would've been the poster child for indefinite country hick, least as far as appearances went. To put it simply, she may have been a woman, but she sure didn't dress like Daisy, and even if she did, it was a very safe bet she would look nothing like Daisy.

"Allow me," Bo said to his cousin, and extended a hand, "Hi my name's Bo Duke and this is my cousin Luke Duke, now do you mind if we ask who you are?"

"Bridget Galloway," the woman replied in a strong southern accent as she gripped his hand and shook it, "But you can call me John."

Now it was Bo's turn to say, "Uh…"

She smiled at the two bumbling men and told them, "Just a joke, so…" she paused and widened her eyes in a wordless hint to go on with whatever they were going to say, but they didn't so she tried a blunter approach, "What can I do for you?"

"Uh," Luke blinked his eyes and got his brain working again and asked her, "Were you aware that a little while back you passed us on the road doing about 110 miles an hour?"

"Oh that was you guys?" she asked nonchalantly, "I wondered who was in the only other car on this road."

"Yeah but here's the thing," Luke said, "We are heading back to Hazzard County…where're you heading?"

Bridget shrugged and replied, "Just wherever I suppose."

"Uh huh," Luke replied in a dumbstruck tone, "And…what're you doing here?"

"I," Bridget reached into the open window of the car and pulled out a six-pack of beer, technically a five pack because she still had the first and open one in her hand, "Am having a beer, and listening to Roy Clark on my radio, who never picked cotton. Exactly what business is that of yours?"

"Just wondering," Bo said, "Are you…heading to Hazzard County?"

"Well if that's where this road leads then I guess I must be," Bridget told them.

Luke just knew that he knew the answer but he couldn't resist asking, "Are you from there?"

"Nope," she answered.

"You know anyone there?"

"Nope."

"Why're you going then?" Bo couldn't resist asking.

She just shrugged and asked in response, "Why not?"

"Well I can think of one reason why not," Luke half murmured to Bo.

"So…where are you from?" Bo asked.

"Lots of different places," she answered as if it was the most natural answer in the world.

The two cousins looked at each other and it started to occur to both of them that something didn't seem quite right with this woman. Bo grabbed her beer and asked her, "How much of this stuff have you had this morning?" He sniffed it on the suspicion that maybe she'd self-spiked it with a second choice of alcoholic beverage.

Bridget put her hands on her hips and laughed at them and said, "You boys don't travel much, do you?"

Luke looked at her and said simply, "No, Miss, we don't," figuring it was easier than telling the full truth. As it was, they were already risking getting busted for a probation violation on account of being out of the county as long as they had in the time it took to do their job that morning.

"Yeah well sometimes," she told the two of them, "You just gotta go wherever that winding road takes you."

Bo leaned over towards Luke and murmured to him, "And she just had to pick the one that's going to lead straight to Boss Hogg, she gonna be in for a rude surprise."

Bridget looked at the two of them like they were nuts and asked them, "What in the world is a boss hog?"

"You keep going down this road and you'll find out," Luke told her.

"And you'll wish you didn't," Bo added.

"Well if you guys live there, it can't be too bad, can it?" Bridget asked.

"Good point," Bo looked towards Luke.

"If you want to come, go right ahead, but I'm just telling you now," Luke advised Bridget, "It's probably going to be very different from anything you're used to."

"Well it sounds like a plan to me," Bridget said, and nodded her head in the direction they were going, "You lead."

"If you insist," Luke started to turn back towards the General Lee, but turned back towards Bridget and said to her, "Oh, by the way, do you happen to have a CB radio in your car?"

She didn't answer, and acted like she hadn't heard him at all, instead her attention was turned to a streak of dirt on the side of the car.

"Something the matter?" he asked.

There was still no response.

"HEY!"

Bridget turned around and looked at them like she didn't get what the big deal was, and said point blank, "I'm a bit deaf in this ear today," and pointed to her right ear, "I'm afraid you'll have to speak up a bit louder."

"Do you have a CB radio in that car?" Luke asked in a raised voice.

"Sho' do," she replied.

"What's your handle?" he asked.

Bridget shrugged and answered, "Don't have one yet, I just got it."

"Well until you do, you might want to switch it off," Luke advised her, "We could hear you when you caught up to us."

"Heard me?" Bridget asked in a surprised tone.

"The car radio," Bo said, "You did have it on earlier, right?"

"Yup," she answered with an amused grin, "I just love the music you get on the stations out here, don't you?"

The Dukes looked at each other again and then back to her and Bo suggested, "Maybe one of us ought to ride with you." He still wasn't sure that their new friend wasn't on something that might fully kick in when they got back on the road. He couldn't put his finger on it but there definitely seemed to be something off about this girl, and he wasn't sure it would be a good idea her behind the wheel in town going 100 miles an hour and maybe suddenly pass out.

"If that's what you want to do, it's fine with me," Bridget said.

"You mind if I drive?" he asked.

"Not at all," she fished into her jean pocket and told him, "Here're the keys."

"Alright, let's go," Luke told his cousin.