General Lee's Revenge--Knightmares

Chapter Seven: High-Rollin' Rig

Most of that night was spent pacing around the cabin anxiously, waiting for the Defects or anyone to get back to them, but it was quiet. Luke had called until the sickness had overcome him and his voice became hoarse. Bo called a few times, every half-hour, but still nothing. The rest of the time was spent pacing and worrying. Luke had gotten progressively worse, his face pale and dark circles under his eyes. He was running a fever but still managed to stay sitting at the desk for the most part.

It wasn't until the butt-crack of dawn did things really turn for the worse. Luke spent a good ten minutes retching over the side of the balcony, and there was nothing Bo could do besides stand there worriedly while keeping a reassuring hand on his cousin's back. After Bo was able to usher him back inside and convince him to lie down, the younger Duke stood on the tower's balcony, pacing back and forth and watching the sun come up.

To say he was scared would've been an understatement, he was downright terrified. He'd never seen Luke this sick, not in his whole, short eighteen years. The worst of it was that neither of them even knew what it'd been to make him this sick. There could've been anything in that syringe, hell, it could be deadly. So why would nobody pick up the damn CB? Any of the other Dukes and Cooter, yeah, that would make sense, but the Defects? It was a well-known fact that Thunder didn't sleep well at all, and he was always monitoring one or more channels through the 'electric waves in the air' as the pickup had put it. So why didn't he pick up?

Bo pondered this for a hot minute, feeling the wind against his skin and through his hair. They'd have to start moving again if they were going to make it to town before Chris and Abel hit Boss Hogg's bank, then they'd really be deep in it. However, how were both he and Luke supposed to get there in Luke's current condition? Bo knew he couldn't leave him, but he might not be able to move him either. Good Lord, what to do.

Just then, the sound of the CB inside the cabin pricked Bo's ears, and his prayer was answered.

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Now for any of y'all who've been missin' Rig for the past few chapters, he was out to Austin deliverin' a tractor for old man Sumter, Cooter's neighbor, to be sold at auction, but, don't worry, the tractor wasn't alive. He's just made it back to Hazzard after his two-day trip, and boy is he glad to be back.

"Breaker three, this here's the High-Rollin' Rig, any of y'all awake yet, come back good buddies," the semi rumbled.

He waited a moment for one of the Defects to answer, but instead, got something that made him slam his brakes.

"Rig, this here's Bo Duke, come on."

The truck was quiet for a moment, slowing to the side of the road. "You got trouble there, good buddy? I don't quite like the tone of your voice, over."

"Yeah, we got big trouble, and we need help fast. Tell Thunder to hightail it to the old fire watchtower east of Hazzard pond, and I mean like yesterday!"

"You mind fillin' me in on what happened?"

"Later, just get Thunder out here or somebody, please."

"Ten-four, I'm bulldoggin' up the hill and my stacks are runnin' flames, I'm gone," Rig announced, starting his engine back up and taking off back up the road.

Don't y'all just love CB talk?

The radio fell silent and Rig kept speeding his way back to the farm, laying on his horn to anyone or anything that got in his way, that included Enos who tried to flag him back down to fifty-five but ended up in the creek. By the time he reached the Duke farm, the sky was flush with orange with the rising sun, and he started laying on his horn, yelling for Thunder and whoever the hell else was there to wake up as he turned down the driveway. His air brakes yelped and all doors opened at the same time, the Dukes and Autumn running out of the farmhouse, Gravedigger driving out from the backyard, and the barn doors flying open, three Defects stumbling out groggily.