A/N: Well, I'm back from five days of fun in the sun in Miami, and I'm
all inspired to write. It helps that I have the time now, seeing that
work is a little boring lately... ;-)
So without any further
useless chatter from me, here's the next chapter! Enjoy!
12
Through the large hospital-window, a dazed Luke Duke could just make out the shadow moving over his sleeping cousin. His dulled senses suddenly turned into overload as a huge feeling of protection overwhelmed him.
Slamming open the closed door with a bang loud enough to wake up all the patients, Luke stood in the doorway for one second in complete silence as the man who had been standing over his cousin's bed sharply turned around.
As the stale grey eyes bored themselves into Luke's blue ones, the finger around the trigger moved ever so slightly.
And even though he felt dizzy from the adrenaline boost leaving his body, Luke Duke jumped the larger man without hesitation, slamming the arm holding the gun, causing the gun to swing around just as the finger that was put over it, squeezed harder.
The sharp bang echoed through the small room as the bullet bored itself into one of the walls around them, leaving Luke's ears ringing.
That was the only moment Harry needed as he slammed the boy's wounded arm hard with the silver handgun.
The pain engulfing his arm almost paralyzed him, hadn't it been for the movement he had just seen from the corner of his eyes. Bo...
Turning his attention back at the large bulk of a man before him, a fierceness he hadn't felt for long took over. Throwing his weight in it, he moved towards Harry, slamming the man into the wall, causing him to lose hold of the silver handgun, which landed on the bed before him.
Harry recovered quickly though, using his large body to turn him and Luke while struggling, making Luke the one who was caught between him and the wall. Noticing how he was now becoming the one being trapped, Luke fought harder, praying that someone had heard the commotion, cause his body started to betray him by now.
A second blow to his wounded arm made him cry out in pain, giving Harry the time to get his claw-like hand wound around his neck, squeezing the life out of the dark-haired Dukeboy.
The crushing force on his windpipe made Luke want to gag. His eyes searched the room frantically as he tried to use his legs to kick the thug's shins, while his hands were wound tightly around the man's arms, pulling with strength that he didn't have. His vision started to get blurry when another small movement in the corner of his eye caught his wavering attention. It just wasn't enough to keep him there...
And in the moment that Luke Duke lost consciousness, the room exploded with sounds and movement...
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The loudness of the door being slammed open had penetrated in a world of dreams and guilt where the word 'Murderer' was written on every wall in bloody letters.
The second bang came later, but was more frightening as it sounded like the shot which had ended the life of one, and had endangered his...
Moving his fingers seemed to be no problem, but as the sounds of a struggle filled the room, the need to open his eyes got stronger.
The moment Bo Duke cracked open one eye, was the moment something heavy landed on his blanket-covered leg.
As his other eye joined the first, the blurry surroundings seemed familiar. A hospital... The movement before him though, seems unfamiliar. The shapes though...
Luke...
But the other one... It was like he knew it, but somehow he didn't want to know. Searching the back of his mind, memories were returning full force, and there was no way to stop them. Tears filled his eyes as Luke's cry of pain registered in his foggy brain. Calming himself enough to notice what was going on before him, Bo saw Hardware Harry reaching for Luke's neck, finding his target and squeezing for dear life as Luke's panicked eyes seemed to search the room for help.
And all of a sudden, all was clear to Bo. He knew what to do and how to do it. And he knew he would do it. Everything to save his cousin...
Reaching for the heavy object resting near his leg with small movements, Bo's shaking fingers found what he was looking for. Sitting up ever so slowly, ignoring the pulling of the stitches, he focused on his target.
His fingers started to squeeze the trigger when his mouth betrayed him by hoarsely calling for his enemy.
"Harry..."
The sound fell together with the door slamming open, again, revealing agent Pierce with his gun drawn, not knowing where to point it, he aimed it at the other man pointing a gun, Bo...
"Everybody, freeze!" he yelled, even though the scene seemed to be frozen already.
Harry had turned around, but didn't seem to unclench his hand from Luke's neck.
"Let 'im go..." Bo managed to whisper as his finger was still around the trigger, ignoring agent Pierce who didn't know what to do with the situation.
Icy grey eyes looked at the gun aimed at him without fear, but with a twinkle in their cold depths.
"You won't use that boy, your cousin wouldn't want you to do that, again..."
Bo's hand started to shake even more as the accusation filled his mind with flashes.
"Now you can watch your cousin die, like I saw my son die..."
That sentence, and the blue tinged look of Luke's face was enough.
The bullet slammed into the wall next to Harry, just as Pierce figured out Bo wasn't a threat anymore, and moved swiftly towards the real criminal in the room.
In the meantime, the bullet next to his ear had spooked Hardware Harry into loosening his hold on his prey, causing Luke to slide down the wall in oblivion.
To Bo, it all seemed to play in slow-motion. Pierce was now handcuffing a red faced Harry, who kept screaming for revenge for his son, and how Bo had caused the boy's demise by luring him into the entire situation in the first place.
But Bo's attention wasn't on the man who's son he had accidentally shot. Those dreams would haunt him later. Right now, his sole focus was on the limp body of his cousin, lying against the wall with nobody even paying him attention.
"Luke!" Bo tried to shout, but with his hoarse throat it almost came out a whisper. But it was loud enough for Agent Pierce to look from a recently subdued Harry towards the man he had considered a cold criminal, who was currently not looking like there was any life left in him.
"I need a doctor!" he yelled towards the nurses who by now were crowding at the door.
And like a movie being played, things started to speed up for Bo. As he tried to get out of his confinement, ignoring the pain of his stitches pulling against the movement, he somehow made his way out of the bed on shaky legs, almost collapsing straight away, but near Luke now.
"Luke," he whispered, putting a shaky hand on his cousin's still face, rubbing it to get a reaction from the puppet-like body in front of him.
Tears filled his eyes as he noticed the bruises on his cousin's face and the blue tinged lips, where no breath seemed to enter.
The next moment a hand was being put on his shoulder as a doctor softly pushed him away from his cousin.
"I need a gurney here, he's not breathing!" the man started commanding as Bo was slowly being pulled to his feet and put back into bed by two nurses.
And just as fast as it all happened, his room was empty again. Well, almost. Nurse Rhonda was standing next to his bed as she put his blankets back in order, while checking his vitals for any abnormalities.
"Yur real lucky, ya know that, yur stitches are still in place and if ya keep takin' yur medication for that spleen removal, you'll be up in no time," she said, worried at the tears dripping from Bo's closed eyelids.
"What's wrong sugar?" she asked, hoping to get him to talk. Hospital rumour had already reached her, and by now, she knew almost everything about the Dukes and their entire history.
Shaking his head, Bo felt like the weight on his heart was getting bigger and bigger. Now, he wasn't only a murderer, but he had also caused his cousin's possible death...
"My cousin..." he murmured, wanting, no needing to know what was happening now.
Laying a soft hand on the boy's shaking shoulder, Rhonda knew what he wanted to know.
"They's gonna get him back sugar, an' everything 'll be alright," she told him, knowing she wasn't supposed to give him hope, but knowing that he needed it.
"I'll go see right now, okay?" she said, praying she could be the one bringing good news.
As Bo nodded slightly, sleep already claimed him again, cause his eyes fell closed while asking her one last thing.
"You'll make sure... he'll be alright... right?" he murmured.
Caressing his soft blond hair, she let the boy fall into a deep sleep, while she would check on the dark-haired Duke, whom she had seen while they wheeled him away.
She hoped she hadn't deemed herself a liar...
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