Like Father, Like Son Chapter 6
Tyler ran and ran, going first one way and then another.
He had no earthly idea where he was going, but all he knew was that he was going away from the farm, and more importantly, away from the argument.
"Tyler, where are you?" Bo yelled over and over as he followed Tyler's tracks in to the woods.
Of course, Tyler wasn't deaf, so he clearly heard Bo's calls, but he was afraid that if Bo found him, the yelling would start again, so he ignored Bo's calls.
A small clearing was up ahead, so Tyler stopped on the outer edge of it.
He looked both ways trying to figure out where to go, while behind him, he could hear Bo closing in.
Panic set in, causing Tyler to just keep running straight.
He got to the other edge of the clearing before the ground gave away under his feet, sending Tyler to the bottom of an old, rusty, half buried oil tank, which had long since been abandoned.
The oil was practically sludge, but still Tyler couldn't help but swallow just a tiny bit of it as he went under the surface of the oil.
Swiftly he fought his way back to the top before he coughed and wiped the filthy stuff out of his eyes.
"Help!" Tyler yelled, hoping that Bo was close enough to hear him.
Seconds went by without any answering call, before Bo found Tyler, shoulder deep in something that looked like a cross between muddy water and brown oil.
"Tyler! Are you alright?" Bo asked as he stayed away from the very edges of the collasped tank.
"I'm alright!" Tyler called back up to Bo, while he thought,'For the most part.'
Bo looked down and knew that he wouldn't be able to pull Tyler up and out of the tank without some rope, or a good, strong branch of some kind.
Looking around, Bo saw that all of the branches looked brittle and dead. Certaintly none of them would be able to withstand Tyler's weight for any long period of time.
Going against his better judgement, Bo knew that he was going to have to leave Tyler, so that he could go back to the farm for a coil of rope.
"Tyler, I'm gonna have to leave for a bit, but I promise ya, I'll be back. Just hold on for a little while longer." Bo said, looking down at the trapped child.
With a slight sigh, Tyler nodded his head and treaded the sludge as he listened to Bo's fading footsteps.
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As quickly as he could, Bo dashed back to the farm, trying to remember where Uncle Jesse had stored the rope.
It had been a long time since the Dukes had needed to use any rope, so Bo had forgotten where it was.
He knew that in this case, every second counted, so he yanked open the front door and dashed in to the kitchen, where Uncle Jesse was making his famous crawdad bisque.
"Uncle Jesse..." Bo said, breathing hard.
Jesse put spoon and turned towards his nephew, who was a little pink in the face, and who had tiny droplets of sweat running down his face.
"Where's...where's the coils...of rope?" Bo asked, inbetween gasps for air.
"They're in the hayloft in the barn. Why do ya need em'?" Jesse asked as he turned the fire down low and followed Bo to the barn.
"Can't explain now, Uncle Jesse, all's I can say is that Tyler's in some deep trouble." Bo replied as he climbed the ladder and immediatly saw the rope hanging on the wall.
Quickly he yanked down a coil of rope and climbed back down to where his Uncle Jesse was standing.
"Are ya gonna need some help?" Jesse asked.
Bo shook his head as he headed outside.
"I don't think so, Uncle Jesse, least ways, not until I get Ty home."
With a slight nod of his head, Jesse watched as Bo left the farm in quite a hurry.
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Tyler shivered as the coldness of the sludge seeped in to his very bones.
His muscles were aching from having to work to keep his head above the sludge for so long.
He knew that Bo was going as fast as he could, but to Tyler, that just didn't seem fast enough.
And not only that, but the sludge that Tyler had swallowed, was now starting to make him a little nauseous, light headed and feverish.
Tyler coughed, causing his aching muscles to scream, begging him to stop treading the sludge and just rest, but he knew that he couldn't, or he'd drown.
Finally, Tyler's prayers were answered when he heard the sound of some hurried footsteps approaching his location.
The twelve year old looked up into the pink, sweaty face of Bo Duke, who skidded to a stop and stood there, catching his breath for a second.
Bo's gasps for air was evident, even to Tyler's sludge covered ears.
"You..al..alright?" Tyler asked through slightly chattering teeth.
"Yeah...fine...you?" Bo asked as he coughed and then gulped in some much needed oxygen, before he began to uncoil the rope.
"B..been..better." Tyler replied as he finally stopped treading the sludge and hugged his dirty body tightly to try and preserve some body heat.
He had never known that something so filthy could be so cold as the sludge that he was trapped in, but it was, and he couldn't wait to get out and get warmed up. He just prayed that his stomach would calm down.
Tyler blinked the sweat out of his eyes, guessing by how much he was sweating, that he was running a fever, course, since he felt chilled, he certantly didn't feel the fever!
Finally, Tyler watched as Bo lowered one end of the rope, that had been made in to a noose, down to him.
"Slip the noose under yer arms, then up tight under yer armpits." Bo instructed as he held the rope steady.
Shivering, Tyler slowly moved over to the rope and clumsily did as Bo instructed.
"O..k..." Tyler said through chattering teeth as he tightened the noose as best he could.
Bo nodded his head before he slowly started to pull the boy up out of the tank.
It was hard work, the thick muddy oil sludge weighing Tyler down.
Several times Bo had stopped, but Tyler's coughs and near wheezes urged him on, till finally Bo reached over and hooked his hands under Tyler's shoulders and hauled the boy up out of the tank.
He laid the boy down on the ground, before he collasped beside the boy.
Though it was hard to tell with all of the sludge covering him, Tyler's arms were wrapped around the boy, and he was shivering, almost uncontrolably as his body fought to retain the body heat it so despritly needed.
After several minutes, when Bo had caught his breath and given his arm muscles a chance to rest, he looked over at Tyler, who hadn't noticabally moved the whole time.
Getting slightly worried, Bo stood up and picked up the filthy boy, holding him close, not carrying that he was getting the sludge on his blue and yellow shirt that he was wearing, the yellow one over the blue one.
"Need to get home an call the doc." Bo said as he started off for the farm, Tyler in his arms.
Even though he was still shivering, Tyler shook his head fiercly. "N..no..d..doctors."
"Don't worry, I'll have'em come to the house." Bo replied reasurringly as he semi hugged Tyler closer for a second.
Tyler, knowing that he had lost that round, closed his mouth and focused on trying to warm up, as Bo carried him onward, back to the Duke farmhouse.