Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters.
Present time...
Luke had an idea that morning. He decided to take a drive to Atlanta, to see if anyone knew anything. Maybe which road Bo had taken or what time he had left. It was killing him to not know anything. To not find anything. He left at first light, leaving a message for his family to inform them of what he was doing. He arrived at Old Man Jackson's store. "Mr Jackson?" A man at the counter turned to him.
"That's me."
"I'm Luke Duke. My cousin, Bo Duke came here to pick up a tractor part for my uncle."
"Yes, I remember him. Didn't have a great time here, did he? I'm really sorry about the delay." Mr Jackson apologised, but Luke just waved him off.
"I'm not here to talk about that. Do you know when he left here?"
He frowned, "It's hard to say. He told me he had to get home before the hurricane hit and that was the day before it was suppose to hit your area."
"Do you know if he did leave that day?" Luke asked.
"I can't say, but the garage he took his truck to may know." He told Luke, "It's just down the road. George's garage."
Luke thanked the man and headed that way. When he got there the first thing he saw was a truck that looked a lot like his uncle's, except that it was not complete. Luke walked up to it and walked around the truck. He looked inside and saw the tear in the seat that Bo had accidentally made with his pocket knife. Luke smiled at the memory of Jesse chasing Bo around the farm when he saw the tear. It was an old truck, but Jesse loved it. "Hey, can I help you?" It was Bill, the ill-tempered young man, who still hadn't lost his bad attitude.
"Yeah, you can. This is my uncle's truck. What happened to it and where's my cousin?" Luke glared at him. If this boy thought Bo was scary, he was nothing compared to Luke, but this boy didn't have the brains to work that out.
"That stupid cowb..." He didn't get to finish his sentence when Luke picked him up by his shirt and threw him over the hood of a blue truck. He slid across the hood and landed on the other side. George came out of his office then and looked at his employee on the ground. Luke was coming around to grab him again when George stopped him.
"Would you like to tell me why you're beating up my mechanic? And Bill, I told you to put that truck back together. It's been a week now. It didn't take you long to take it apart, it shouldn't take you this long to put in back together." Before Bill could say anything Luke grabbed him again and slammed him against the blue truck, hard.
"Why did you take my uncle's truck apart?" Luke asked in a soft, deadly voice.
"I take it, you know Bo Duke." Luke dropped Bill and turned to George. "You're not Daisy, obviously, and you're too young to be his Uncle Jesse, you must be Luke."
"Luke Duke, Sir. You know Bo. Do you know where he is?" Luke asked hopefully.
George looked confused, "He left here the day before the hurricane hit Hazzard. He should've arrive back in time."
Luke shook his head. "He never made it back. Are you sure that was the day he left?"
"How could I forget? He took apart my garage because of what my guy did. Took on all my mechanics." George told him. "I told Bill to give him his car to get home."
Luke heard Bill snickering under the hood of Jesse's truck. He pushed past George and grabbed Bill, spinning him around to face him. "What ain't ya telling us?"
"I don't know what ya talking about." Bill turned his head away from Luke, too smug for Luke's liking.
Luke smiled. "So I heard my cousin took you down a peg."
"He got a few lucky shots in." Bill replied.
"Yeah, well, I don't get lucky. When I take someone down. He stays down..." Luke leaned in until his face was only an inch away from Bill's, "...for good." It was Luke's turn to smirk when he felt Bill start shaking. "Now, tell me what you know."
"Better do as he says, Bill. I'm starting to think he ain't as nice as Bo." George ordered, folding his arms, not helping Bill out one bit.
Bill sighed, "My car's been having a fuel problem for a while, but I never got a chance to fix it. There's no way he would've made it back to Hazzard, even on a full tank." Bill didn't think Luke could scare him any more, but he did.
George couldn't believe what he was hearing. "You knew that your car wouldn't get Bo back to Hazzard but you let him take it anyway!" Bill had nothing to say. George shook his head, "That's it. I've given you enough chances. Get out of here." George took out his wallet, "Here's your pay for the week. Get out of here and if I ever see you near my garage again, I'll have you arrested for what you did to that truck. You got it?" Bill nodded, still shaking. Luke helped him out of the garage. Throwing him to the ground, outside the entrance.
Luke knelt down next to him. "You better hope I find Bo alive and well, or else I'm coming back for you and believe me, you'd wish a hurricane had come for you." Bill scrambled to get up and ran away as fast as he could. Luke dropped down onto the cold ground. "Bo, where are you?" George knelt down beside him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't know I was sending Bo off with a damaged car." Luke didn't answer him. He couldn't. He knew Bo got caught in the hurricane. He was sure of it now and he didn't know if Bo could survive that. "Is there anything I can do?"
Luke shook his head and wiped away the tears in his eyes. "No, there's nothing you can do except put my uncle's truck back the way it was. I'll come back for it. What colour car does that jackass drive?"
"A brown Sudan." George answered. Luke got up and left without another word. Luke drove back to Hazzard. Looking at the surroundings for a brown Sudan, but he never found it. It was hidden in the trees. Luke slammed on the brakes when the tears wouldn't stop coming. His knuckles were white from gripping the steering wheel. Bo was gone. There was no way his cousin could survive a hurricane with only a Sudan for protection. "I'm sorry, Bo. I should've come with you. I had a bad feeling before you left. I never should've let you go. The tractor could wait." Luke sat there, shaking violently from trying to stop the tears but they kept coming for what seemed like forever. When they finally did stop, Luke wiped his face and start off again. "I'm going to find you, Bo. I will."
Four days ago...
Bo woke up with a headache and a groan. He rubbed his eyes. Looking around, he was in a cabin, lying on a bed. Bo groaned again as he got up. The cabin was small. Only the one area. He pushed himself up onto his elbows but the room started spinning, causing him to fall back onto the bed. Bo jumped when the door opened and a man walked in. He had a beard, and he was big. Tall. He took off his big brown jacket and hung it up behind the door. "Well, look who's finally awake. I thought you were going to sleep forever." He went of the sink and filled a cup with water. "Here, you've barely drank anything since I found you." He helped Bo sit up.
Bo took the cup with shaky hands and took a sip. It felt good. Bo smiled, "Thank you, Sir."
"Sir?" The man took a seat next to the bed, "No one's ever called me, Sir, since I left the army. My name's Jared."
"I'm Bo, Bo Duke." Bo held out his hand and Jared shook it.
"I know. I saw your ID in your wallet. Actually, Beauregard was the name I read." Jared laughed at the disgusted expression Bo gave him. Obviously not a fan of his own name. "How'd you get to be in the middle of the woods anyhow?"
Bo frowned, trying to remember what had happened. "Um, I was driving along the highway when...um...the car broke down...the hurricane...the hurricane hit me before I could get home..." It was getting clearer now and then Bo remembered, "My family!" Bo dropped the cup and got up, "My family..." Jared caught Bo before he could hit the ground. He had lost consciousness again.
Jared shook his head as he laid Bo back onto the bed. He was pleasantly surprised when Bo started stirring already. The last time Bo had passed out like that, he didn't wake up for another day. "What happened?" Bo looked around confused, not understanding why he was lying down again.
"You passed out again." Jared answered.
"Again?" Bo put a hand to his head and closed his eyes, trying to ease the headache.
"Yeah, you've been in and out of consciousness since I found you. You had a high fever and bruises all over, a couple of broken ribs, bad cut to the side of your head, nasty gash on your leg and dislocated shoulder." Jared gave him a report of his injuries, "But considering you were knocked around by a hurricane, I'd say you got off lightly."
"No wonder why I'm so sore."
"I manage to pop your shoulder back in. You can put up quite a fight when you're sick. You gave me this bruise." Jared pointed to the bruise on his face.
Bo winced, "Sorry about that."
Jared laughed, "Don't worry about it. So where are you from?"
"Hazzard County. I was on my way home to my family." Bo turned his head away to hide his tears, "The hurricane hit it. I don't even know if they survived."
"I have a radio here. I have it to keep tabs on the outside world. Hazzard survived with minimum damage, was the report."
Bo brightened at that. "No one was hurt."
Jared smiled, "There was no report on any casualties. Just some damaged properties." Bo closed his eyes in relief before he realised his family must be worried sick about him.
"How long have I been here?" Bo pushed himself back up, groaning at the pain it caused to his shoulder and ribs.
"Two days." Jared answered. Bo started panicking.
"I need to go." Bo tried to get off the bed, but Jared easily held him there.
"You're in no shape to go anywhere." Jared told him.
"I have to go. My family is probably going crazy looking for me." Bo tried to push Jared off but he didn't have the strength. "Let me go! I need to get back to them. Please." He kept pushing weakly at Jared's hold.
"Uncle Jesse, Luke and Daisy." Jared blurted out causing Bo to stop struggling.
"How..."
"You kept calling out their names in your sleep when you had a fever. You care for them a lot." Jared knew it was true.
"They're all I've got and they mean more to me than anything in this world." Bo felt the tears coming again. "Please, I have to go."
Jared nodded. He knew he couldn't keep Bo down much longer and as much as he knew Bo needed to rest, Bo needed his family more. "Do you think you're strong enough to make the hike back to Hazzard, because that's probably a three to four day hike."
Bo nodded, "I can make it."
"Okay." Jared got up and grabbed a small backpack. He grabbed some jerky that was hanging from the ceiling and a canteen, filling it up with water. "If you eat and drink sparingly, this should get you to Hazzard County. You're a long way from a main road and there are reports of looters around. I wouldn't trust anyone. A couple of families have been left with nothing but the clothes on their backs." Bo fumed at that. How could people be so cruel at a time like this? Jared sat back down. "Your fever only broke last night. Are you sure you can do this?"
Bo smiled at this man's concern for him. "I have to. Luke would be going crazy right now, looking for me. If I don't get back, he's likely to turn the whole of Hazzard upside down."
Jared laughed, "I'd like to met this, Luke. Sounds like quite an interesting fella."
"He's my cousin and he's the smartest and bravest person I know." Bo smiled, "He takes care of me, protects me. He doesn't have to, but he does. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost him. He went to war for me. He enlisted because he knew that if he did, that meant it wouldn't be likely that I would be drafted. Everything he does, he does for his family, for me." Jared listened without interrupting He could hear in Bo's voice that Luke was someone he looked up, someone he was proud of, someone he loved very much. He wished he had someone like that in his life.
"You should go then." Jared place the pack in Bo's hand. "Take care of yourself. Do push yourself too hard." Bo nodded. He got up and hugged Jared, who was surprised. Bo didn't even know him, really.
"Thank you." Bo whispered, "When I get back to Hazzard, I'm gonna bring Luke here. You should meet him and he'd like to meet the man who saved my life."
Jared pulled back and nodded. "Hazzard is east of here. Keep walking that way and eventually you'll hit Hazzard creek. You should know the way from there." Bo nodded.