Luke flinched as Bo's rasping, pain-filled coughs ran weakly underneath the noise of the pick up. Even though he had been trained in the Marines for this type of situation, having to get a casualty safely away from the danger, nothing could have prepared him to have to ensure his own baby cousin, who may have well been his brother, would stay alive in the back of a pick up.
He continued to press firmly on the piece of his shirt that was held against Bo's pulsing head wound; only ever taking it off to top it up with a little moonshine.
Now, those of y'all who know the Dukes know that Jesse agreed with the US of A government that he would never make or transport moonshine again if Bo and Luke could go free after getting caught on a run. But Uncle Jesse always had a couple of jars on standby for use in an emergency. Ya see, 'shine is not only good drinkin', but also very good at numbin' pain and steralzin' deep wounds.
Daisy was sat to the other side of Bo, securing his leg and arm as best she could, trying to ignore his pain filled cries, while Luke spoke as soothingly as possible through his own trembling voice.
After a while, Luke slowly maneuvered so that he could prop Bo up against his leg a little, not so much that it could do damage, but enough to give him a drink. He took up the small jam jar and pressed the rim gently to Bo's lips, willing him to take some. But as soon as Bo smelt what it was, he rolled his head weakly away.
"Luke…ya know if you get caught….ya'll be locked up…"
"Right now Bo, I don't give a double damn about the law. This is gonna help you with the pain and that's all I care about, so you better drink some before I done go and force it down your throat."
Daisy smiled as she heard the almost father like tone in Luke's voice, and was suddenly very glad that he was here. She looked back to her finished make-shift splint on Bo's leg, and was just starting on making his arm comfortable when Luke's terrified cry rang out.
"Bo! Bo get those eyes back open!"
She looked over to see Bo lying motionless and Luke leaning over his face, before looking to her with a petrified expression.
"Daisy, he ain't breathin'."
Cooter towed the wreck that once was the fastest car on Hazzard's dirt roads into his garage; covering it up inside before locking the doors and taking his truck back up to the Duke Farm. He watched as he drove, all the people of Hazard drunkenly walking back to their houses, cheering at him as he drove past, oblivious to the fact that someone's life hung in the balance somewhere along the dirt roads.
He wanted nothing more than to get up to the Boar's Nest and give Boss Hogg what was coming to him, but he had a promise to Luke to take care of the farm, and when it came to promises, Cooter didn't break them for nobody, especially if the promise was to a Duke.
He pulled into the small front yard and stopped his truck right next to Enos' patrol car. He looked around for the good-hearted cop, and found him sitting on the front porch of the house.
Surveying the damage to the barn, which had now been reduced to a black, smoking ruin, he made his way slowly over to sit beside Enos.
"Howdy Cooter…what's the word on Bo. I heard Daisy sounding mighty panicked on the CB, but I promised Uncle Jesse I'd stay here."
"It ain't lookin' good Enos, he was barley alive when Luke found him and the General's a real mess."
"But he'll be alright right? I mean, he ain't gonna…"
But Enos broke off when he saw the downcast, helpless look pass over Cooter's normally smiling face, and felt tears sting warm against the cool night air in his eyes.
"Ah shucks Cooter, if I'd known how far Boss would go, I would have worked harder to warn Luke and Bo."
"Ya did what ya could Enos. All we can do now is wait and try and help the Dukes as much as we can."
He sighed and rose to his feet, heading indoors to start cleaning up the horrible mess that was waiting for him. He was soon followed by Enos, whose eyes he could see were red; it looked like he had been crying. He gently patted his shoulder and they silently started the work.
I'll tell y'all, I'm plumb worried about Bo, just as Enos and Cooter are. Didn't I say the next time he'd be comin' back into town would be in a wooden box?