Luke had called the sheriff's department and the local police department hoping that they had found the General. Everyone was greatly disappointed when he told them that the General hadn't been found.
"Well, I guess this means that we go car huntin'." Cooter said after Luke gave them the news.
"Yeah, I guess it does. We might as well go to bed then," Jesse said with a yawn. "We'll visit Bo in the morning and then go look for the General Lee afterwards."
"Yeah, sounds like a good idea to me, I'm beat." Luke said as he stood up and stretched. Because each hotel room could only fit up to three people, the Dukes decided to take one, while Cooter and Jimmy took another. After saying their goodnights, Jimmy and Cooter headed to their room and the Dukes got themselves ready for bed. Luke took the bed closest to the door, Daisy in the middle, and Jesse next to the wall.
It was close to four in the morning before anyone at the hospital had realized Bo was gone. One of the nurses who was making her nightly rounds was going around and checking all the patients on the third floor. When she got to Bo's room, she opened the door and stepped inside. She grew concerned when she didn't see Bo in bed, thinking that he might be somewhere else in the room, she turned on the light. Much to her surprise, the entire room, including the bathroom, was empty. Turning around, she ran out of the room and over to the nurses desk.
"We got a problem, the patient in room 340 is missing." The young nurse said to the other nurses that were at the desk. They quickly started searching the third floor and the floors above that. A few of the nurses and a couple of doctors, along with three or four security officers searched the remaining two floors, but with no luck.
"Donna, go call the family of the missing patient and let them know he's gone." Dr. Peterson ordered the young brunette nurse.
"Right away doctor." Donna said as she went to make the call. Running back over to the nurses' desk, she looked through some files until she found the number for the hotel where the Dukes, Cooter, and Jimmy were staying. Picking up the phone and pushing a button on it to allow her to make a call outside of the hospital, Donna dialed the number on the card. After the third ring, a voice came over the other end.
As Jesse picked up the phone, he grew worried that something had happened to Bo in the middle of the night. He knew from experience that a phone call at five in the morning was usually bad news.
"Hello?" Jesse answered in a worried tone. Luke and Daisy, who had been sleeping lightly, woke up and joined their uncle by the phone.
"Mr. Duke, this Donna Wright, I'm one of Beauregard's nurses during the night. I'm calling to inform you that your nephew is gone." Jesse misunderstanding what the nurse was saying, started to get upset.
"How long has he been gone?" Jesse asked, trying to keep his voice calm.
"Since at least four this morning, possibly longer then that."
"Why did you wait this long to call us?" Jesse asked, his temper along with the news that he thought meant Bo was gone for good, starting to get the better of him.
"We've been looking for him since we found out he was missing."
"Wait, you mean he's not…" Jesse asked.
"Not that we're aware of, but unless we find him soon, he will be." Donna said knowing exactly what Jesse was talking about.
"Alright, we'll be over as soon as we can."
"Alright." Donna said as she hung up the phone. Jesse hung the phone back up and turned to face Luke and Daisy. They could both tell that whatever the nurse or whoever it was that talked to Jesse about was bad.
"What's wrong? Is Bo alright?" Luke asked fearing that something had happened to his baby cousin. Sighing, Jesse began explaining what he was just told.
"I'll go let Cooter and Jimmy know, if Bo's missing we'll need all the help we can get." Luke said as he slipped his boots on. After he was ready to go, he ran out of the room and down to the room Cooter and Jimmy were sharing. After knocking a couple of times, Cooter's head finally appeared in the crack of the door.
"Whadya want Lukas?" Cooter asked sleepily.
"Cooter, get Jimmy up, Bo's missing and we gotta find him." That bit of news woke Cooter up fully.
"Alright buddyroo, we'll get ready and help you look for that cousin of yours." Cooter said as he slipped back inside the room. A few minutes later, the group was ready on their way to the hospital to help look for their missing kin and friend, keeping a look out on the way.
Meanwhile Bo was beginning to wish that he'd never have left the hospital. He had started coughing a few minutes after he'd left and had been going on almost non stop since. The near constant coughing and the frigid air wasn't helping his breathing any either. Bo knew he couldn't stop and rest somewhere due to the fact that there was nowhere to sit, with the exception of the snow covered ground, which he wasn't about to sit on. The cold air was also making him shiver, despite the heavy coat he had on. Bo couldn't tell if he was cold from the wintry air, or from the fact he was running a fever. He guessed it was a little of both.
"I don't…think leaving…was such a…good idea…" Bo said to himself, his teeth chatting together as he spoke. No sooner had he stopped talking to himself did another coughing fit attack him. This time it was even worse then the last ones he had had earlier. After the fit subsided, Bo was left sitting on the ground on his knees, panting. Each breath was starting to become harder catch. Because of that, Bo was forced to rest awhile or risk having an asthma attack. And at the current moment, was something he desperately didn't want to have happen. It wasn't until almost an hour after he had left the hospital did he realize he had forgotten the inhaler the doctors had given him to use while he was staying at the hospital.
"Boy…what…a…time…to…forget…my…inhaler…" Bo said to himself between breaths. After a few more minutes of resting and catching his breath, Bo slowly stood up, his joints starting to get stiff from the cold and him sitting on the cold ground as long as he had. Before starting to walk again, Bo looked around to see where he was. It was then that it occurred to him that he didn't have the slightest idea as to where he was.
"Great…not only am I…sick and stupid for leaving…but I don't have the slightest…idea as to where I am..." Deciding it would be a better idea to turn around and head back to the hospital, Bo turned around and started following his tracks in the snow, but as luck would have it, it started snowing again.
'Oh great, that's all I need, more snow.' Bo thought to himself as he continued walking in the direction he'd come.
Back at the hospital, the Dukes, Cooter, and Jimmy were getting a plan made up to find Bo.
"Alright, Jimmy here knows this place better then we do, so could you tell us any possible streets or roads that lead from the hospital?" Jesse asked his friend. Jimmy thought a minute before answering.
"There's four that I know of. That'd be North Sandusky, Marion Street, Carmel Avenue, and East Gambier Street. Marion Street is on the south side of the hospital if I'm correct and West Gay Street is on the western side. North Sandusky and East Gambier should be obvious enough."
"Alright, we'll start from there then, but we'll need another vehicle. We only got the pickup, Cooter's truck, and Jimmy's snowplow." Luke said.
"You can use my car. It's the black four door Ford with a cracked windshield. " Someone said from behind the group. Turning around, they saw Dr. Peterson standing behind them.
"Alright, we're all set then. Thanks a lot Dr. Peterson." Luke said as he got the keys from the doctor. After picking the routes each would search, they set out. Jesse and Daisy going down West Gay Street, Luke going down Marion Street, Cooter going down North Sandusky, and Jimmy going down East Gambier Street. They were all to report in if they found any sign of Bo or any evidence he'd been down their assigned street.
It was almost a half hour after he turned around and Bo still wasn't sure if he was close to the hospital. He was starting to feel weaker and more tired by the minute. The snow had nearly covered any and all footprints on the sidewalks, so it was hard for Bo to keep following them. Just as he was starting to think he wouldn't be able to make it to the hospital, he noticed a pair of headlights in the near distance. Bo stopped walking, which proved to be a bad idea. A few seconds before the car got to where he was, Bo collapsed to the ground, exhaustion and the fact he was still sick and so cold. The car pulled over to the side of the road and out jumped a very frightened Luke.
"Bo!" Luke yelled as he ran over to his cousin's side. Luke bent down next to Bo and carefully rolled him over onto his back. Instinctively, Luke took off his own coat and put it over Bo to try to help keep him warm. What worried Luke the most was the fact Bo wasn't awake, and that his skin was icy cold and his breathing was shallow and labored.
"Bo, c'mon buddy ya gotta wake up." Luke practically pleaded, but his pleading did little good. Luke then remembered that he was supposed to call the others over the CB if he had found Bo, so he ran back to the car that he borrowed from Dr. Peterson and got on the CB.
"Lost Sheep to Shepard, Crazy C, and Plow Man, ya'll got yer ears on come back." Luke said into the mic. Plow Man was the CB handle that Jimmy had agreed to use while they searched for Bo. After a minute a reply came back.
"You got Shepard here, did you find Bo?"
"Yeah, but he ain't looking to good. I need you to get over to the corner of…" Luke paused as he looked at the street sign to find out the names of the streets he was on. "Marion and Sunset, and hurry."
"Gotcha Luke, we'll be there as fast as we can, over and out."
"We'll be there soon too." Came Cooter's reply. Dropping the mic, Luke turned down the heater so that he could put Bo in the car until the others came. Running back over to Bo, Luke noticed that Bo's breathing was starting to become shallower with each passing minute.
"Hang on Bo, we'll get ya back to the hospital where it's nice and warm." Luke said hoping that Bo would respond. Even a simple moan would be a little bit of relief to Luke. It would tell him that Bo was able to hear him, but much to Luke's disappointment, he didn't get so much as a grunt from his young cousin. Picking Bo up, Luke carefully carried him to the car and sat him the front seat. Luke then covered him back up with the coat. Once Bo was situated, Luke ran around to the driver's side and got in, intent on talking to Bo and hopefully getting him to wake up while he waited for Jesse and the others to get there.
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