Author's Note: Squeamish alert!
Chapter 10: Bones and Bruises
It was only seconds after the last explosion when Luke heard what he'd been waiting for.
"YEEEEEE-HAAAAAAWW!" came the long rebel yell in his cousin's voice as Bo emerged through the smoke and flames at full charge. He plowed into Sonny and the string of men standing near him, throwing his left shoulder into the shield of metal and sending them crashing to the ground. Several didn't get up.
"Shoot him!" Sonny screamed, scrambling to get his feet under him. Nearly two-dozen guns centered on Bo, firing until the ammunition ran out. Most didn't get past the metal sheet as he dodged, but he felt the heavy, painful thumps of a few on his chest and back, and was suddenly very glad of Carter's vest. At the same time, the captive agents and Hazzard residents jumped to their feet and back into the fray, finding themselves no longer under guard. The thugs who were shooting at Bo found themselves attacked from all sides, and hardly knew which way to turn.
The fight wasn't quick, however - the criminal gang still outnumbered the assorted good guys. Bo did his best to even the odds. Two thugs standing a little apart from the rest continued to shoot at him. They seemed to be the last two with firearms. He glanced around his shield long enough to locate them before charging headlong at the pair with a yell. They tumbled into each other, guns flying out of reach. Bo chucked the heavy sheet of metal away, having served its purpose, and switched the pipe to his left hand just in time to parry another man using a wooden slat as a club. Methodically he fended off his attackers and sought new foes when none presented themselves. Bo was beginning to enjoy himself – without the guns, it wasn't much more than a big bar fight. He caught a glimpse of Daisy walloping one of the gorillas over the head with the butt of Uncle Jesse's shotgun, and Luke pitching one of the tall men from the lake over his shoulder.
Bo wasn't quite sure just when the pickup trucks arrived – the second half of the FBI force – but he suddenly found himself short on targets. Some of the thugs tried to run, only to be quickly cornered. A small group holed themselves up in the barn long enough to reload, and there was a short firefight over that way. Most of the gang, though, either gave themselves up or lay groaning on the dirt.
Panting, Bo let the pipe fall to the ground and took a few steps towards his cousin, who was likewise looking around breathlessly. Luke looked at him and grinned. The grin fell as Luke looked past Bo, who turned around in time to see Sonny furiously bearing down on him with the heavy metal pipe. He dodged, but not fast enough. The gangster brought the pipe smashing down on his ribs with a snarl. Bo fell to his knees, crying out in pain. Sonny raised the pipe a second time, but missed his blow as Luke barreled into him, tackling him to the ground. Both men rolled several yards with the momentum of the hit, but it was Sonny who regained his feet first. He took one look at the Duke cousins closest to him, and the federal agents closer to the house who were beginning to notice the new struggle, and bolted into the cotton fields.
Luke took off after him like a hound after a fox. Bo took a little longer, regaining his feet and stopping at the edge of the barn to collect his bow and last pair of dynamite arrows. He let the sound of Luke's running feet guide him. At the first lane between the fields, he looked right to see both men running down the open space towards the cow pasture and the forest beyond. Sonny was just jumping the fence, with Luke maybe ten yards behind him. Bo gave chase, still not close enough to fire and be sure of his aim. Ahead, Luke reached the wooden fence, jumping up with one foot, then the other, but as he pushed off with his left leg to vault over the top, his right foot slipped on the dew-covered wood and slid between the railings. His momentum carried him forward, and he crashed to the ground on the other side with a snap of bone and a howl of pain.
"LUKE!" Bo cried out, redoubling his speed. Each breath felt like fire in his chest. He reached the fence, carefully climbing over. "Luke!" he said again. His cousin lay on his back, right leg twisted at an angle, face screwed tight with pain.
"Get him, Bo!" he ordered through clenched teeth. "Go!"
Bo hesitated for only a moment before resuming the chase, doubly determined. Sonny was at the fence on the far side of the pasture, almost to the safety of the woods. Without Luke to worry about hitting, Bo stopped, nocked an arrow on his bowstring, aimed, and fired. The arrow flew in a long arc before explosively hitting the ground a few yards from Sonny, knocking him to the ground. The second arrow hit a bit closer, and knocked him into the base of a tree. He didn't get up. Bo turned and ran back to Luke. Half a dozen agents were coming down the lane at a run.
"How you doin', cuz?" he asked worriedly, kneeling on the ground.
"We thought they had you…we thought they were gonna kill you…" Luke said instead of replying. He was breathing hard, and he grabbed his cousin's hand tightly as the six agents approached.
"Sonny is down by the treeline," Bo told them, and three broke off and headed that way. He looked up at the other three. "There's some wooden planks in the barn. Go get one, and bring another man back with you. We need to get him to a hospital," Bo ordered. Any other time, Luke might have laughed to hear Jesse's imperious tone in Bo's voice.
Still gripping Luke's hand, Bo leaned down to have a look at the break. Blood was soaking a wet patch into his jeans, and a sharp white tip of bone showed through a jagged tear. "God…" Bo whispered. Luke didn't hear.
A moment later the agents returned with the promised plank, Jesse, Daisy, and Cooter in tow. Together they slid the plank under Luke as gently as they could, but he passed out when it touched his leg. The agents, Cooter, and Jesse carefully lifted the plank and its injured load and passed it across the fence. On the other side, they quickly but carefully moved back down the lane and through the cotton rows to the main scene. Bo trailed along behind, aching something terrible. Daisy noticed him lagging, and stayed with him until they reached the farmhouse.
The crew of thugs working under Sonny Leavins sat handcuffed together in a long row, like some hellish daisy chain. Half a dozen FBI agents had been seriously injured, and were being helped into the two pickups to be taken to Tricounty General. That was the direction Luke was carried in, until Jesse stopped them.
"We'll take him an' Bo in my truck," he said. The agents nodded understanding and turned towards the white pickup in front of the farmhouse. "Bo!" Jesse called to his young nephew, who was standing in the middle of the yard looking rather dazed. At his uncle's call, he slowly walked over. Daisy came out of the farmhouse with a load of pillows and blankets.
"Bo, you get on in back with Luke an' Daisy. We need to get you both to the hospital," Jesse explained.
Bo nodded numbly and waited for Daisy to climb in first. She placed a pillow under Luke's head and covered him up. Then she helped Bo up and sat him down next to Luke, his back to the truck cab, and wrapped another blanket around his shoulders. He seemed to be in shock, as the adrenaline wore off. He shivered, and smiled at her appreciatively. Then Daisy shut the tailgate and sat down in the corner of the truck bed next to Bo, letting him lean on her for support.
"We're all set, Uncle Jesse!" she called to her uncle, who climbed into the driver's seat.
"Wait, y'all are leaving me behind!" Cooter ran up and climbed into the passenger seat. "Enos said he'll be along in his car soon, he's going to wrap things up here for us," he told Jesse.
Jesse started the engine and rumbled off down the drive, leaving the whole scene behind.
-----------
It was the longest car drive of Daisy's life. Bo leaned against her, shivering here and there, though she knew he wasn't cold, and his breathing was ragged and pained. Luke was ghost-pale, and whimpered every time the truck hit a rut or pothole. He didn't fully regain consciousness for several miles, but when he did, he immediately sought Bo's hand again. Cooter watched all three Duke cousins through the cab window, brow furrowed with worry. Jesse was silent, speeding as fast as he dared with his precious cargo.
The FBI had called ahead to the hospital, so the emergency room staff was ready when the white pickup arrived. Bo fought, initially, against being separated from his cousin, until he understood that Luke had to go straight into surgery. Jesse and Daisy waited with Bo in an examination room, while Cooter parked the truck. First a nurse came in and brusquely took Bo's vitals, writing notes down on a clipboard with an 'Mmm-hmmm', and left. The doctor came in soon after, and they stepped back to give him room.
Bo was sitting on the edge of the bed, feet dangling, holding himself up with his left arm. He watched, almost distantly, as the doctor unbuttoned and peeled his shirt off. The blood from his right arm had soaked through the bandages into the sleeve. Then the doctor cut the straps of the flak vest and gently pulled it away from his chest. Daisy gasped.
The left side of his ribs and chest were covered in a deep, black bruise that spread around to his back. At the center of the bruise, where Sonny had hit him with the pipe, the skin was split and sticky with blood. A dozen other places on his chest and back sported spreading purple-black bruises, where impacting bullets had been stopped by the vest. In one place, just above the waistband of his jeans, a bullet had missed the vest and torn a gash in his side. No one had noticed the bloodstains on his shirt and jeans.
Bo blinked and looked up when he realized the doctor was speaking to him.
"Son – sit back on the bed," the man told him. He worked a lever to bring the head of the bed upright at an angle, and Jesse and Daisy helped him move back. He rested against the pillows, leaning back just as Cooter appeared in the doorway.
"Bo! How's – Holy Jesus!" the mechanic swore, staring.
The doctor stepped aside, telling Jesse he'd be right back to get x-rays.
"Jesus is just fine, Cooter, I wish I felt the same," Bo remarked tiredly.
"They took Luke right in for surgery. We haven't heard anything," Daisy informed Cooter.
A moment later the doctor was back with an x-ray machine, and all three stepped back from the bed. They watched him as he moved the machinery into different places and pushed buttons, with a whhhrrrr-click at each spot. A nurse came in for the machine and delivered a tray of tools and supplies that look quite familiar – sutures, gauze swabs, and disinfectant. She promised the x-ray films shortly.
The doctor – Doctor Graham, Daisy noticed his name tag – sat down on Bo's right side to have a look at the new bullet wound. Jesse put an arm around Daisy's shoulders, and Cooter suddenly looked uncomfortable.
"Bo, I, ah, I'm not much for this kind of thing…y'all mind of I wait outside?" he asked awkwardly, scuffing his foot.
Bo smiled with half-closed eyes. "It's alright, Cooter, go ahead." The mechanic smiled appreciatively and ducked out of the room.
Fortunately, the second wound was neither as deep nor as serious as the first one, barely biting down into the muscle. Doctor Graham cleaned and stitched it up just before the nurse returned with the films. He thanked her and switched on the light box on the wall. He frowned at what he saw. The image of Sonny's damage was the worst – four of Bo's ribs were fractured in multiple places, and the one under the torn skin was positively shattered. The other films confirmed these wounds, and also showed spots of bruised bone under the bullet impacts, back and front. One had cracked a rib on the right, but it was only a hairline fracture. Graham explained the images and fractures to Jesse and Daisy – Bo had fallen asleep. Then, gently, he listened intently with his stethoscope to Bo's lungs. After several moments' silence, he looked up with a pleased smile.
"The good news is, there's no pneumothorax – none of the broken rib fragments punctured his lungs," he explained. "I'll patch him up and send him upstairs. We'll keep him the rest of the night and probably most of the day, and we'll see how he's doing then."
Just then Cooter walked back in, followed by Enos. Daisy noticed how busy it seemed to have gotten in the emergency room outside - the federal agents had arrived with their wounded, and the injured prisoners as well.
"How's Bo and Luke doin'?" Enos asked, eyeing the bruises on the sleeping figure.
"Oh, Bo's busted up pretty good, but he'll be alright," Jesse told him, "They sent Luke straight in to surgery, we haven't heard anything yet on him."
"Oh," Enos nodded. He was as worried as any of them. "Well, I've got an aunt here in town, just down the road - I called her up, and she said she'd have rooms for y'all, if you like. I brought y'all some clothes from the farm, too."
Daisy smiled. "Enos, that's sweet of you!"
"And a good idea, too," Jesse said. "There's not much more you kids can do here. Why don't you go on out with Enos and get some rest. I'll give you a call as soon as I hear anything more."
Daisy wanted to protest, but she was tired, and she knew Jesse wouldn't be able to sleep with the boys in the hospital. "Alright, then. Let's go."
Enos wrote down his aunt's phone number for Jesse and, with a sad look back at Bo, he followed Cooter and Daisy out the door.
Now, I don't know about y'all, but I better see a happy ending to all this hurtin'.