General Lee's Revenge--Karma

Chapter Three: "Devil's Right Hand"

(A/N: Longer chapter, hope you enjoy :)

That single gunshot reverberated off the valley walls, causing Luke to flinch. His heart pounded out of his chest; all the while Hughie stood there laughing, like the cruel, little man he was. After realizing that no harm had come to him, Luke stiffly pulled his arms down, turning to look at Hughie, his breath hitching in his throat.

Meanwhile, Hughie simply chuckled, examining his gun and the smoke wisping from the barrel. "Oh Luke, did I scare you?" he asked, holding in a laugh.

Luke looked from him to the gun then back again. "You fired a blank?"

Hughie bowed slightly, uncocking his gun, grinning wide as if he'd just given the best performance known to mankind.

Luke's heart was still racing, and he was growing tired of Hughie's stupid little tricks real fast. He felt like a circus clown being led around by some crude ringleader, destined for humiliation, set up for failure. And that he was, as Hughie gestured with his gun where he desired the dark-haired Duke to go, he had no choice but to obey. How was he to know which rounds were blanks and which were real? Nevertheless, it wasn't a risk he was willing to take.

As Hughie started to herd him back into the barn, like livestock being sent to slaughter, Luke kept a trained eye on every one of his movements. Once back inside, Hughie began to explain with eloquent detail about what his plan was.

"That gunshot was sure to be heard anywhere from here to the edge of the Tri-county area, good enough for those cousins of yours to come runnin' to the rescue like they always do. With the help of that dreaded Defect, Thunder, they're gonna find this place in no time at all. And once they do," Hughie paused to laugh evilly, "Daisy's gonna watch you and Bo die. Then, after seein' you two dead, ain't nobody gonna stand in my way!" Hughie laughed again, louder this time.

"You're insane!" Luke exclaimed.

"You just noticed?" Hughie asked him, tilting his head to the side. "Now, I told you you'd be helpin' me at one point or another, so what you're gonna do is bait your cousins in here so I can finish y'all off, got that?"

Luke shook his head, though, terrified as he might've been, he was staying true to his word. "No, no, I ain't helpin' you, not on your life, Hughie."

"Oh but you are," Hughie snapped his fingers and the larger of his two henchmen appeared out of the shadows behind Luke. "Whether you like it or not."

The man came up behind Luke, grabbing hold of him in a vice-like grip. Luke struggled against him, however, as strong as Luke was, this man was somehow stronger, and his rectangular fingers were digging into Luke's arms.

"Let me go, Hughie, I'm sick of this!" he yelled.

Hughie laughed again, wielding his cane like a baseball bat. "Relax, this won't hurt a bit."

"No... no!"

Luke didn't get the chance to protest any further. Swing! Batter, batter, and the lights went out in Georgia.

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It was the only barn for miles around, no one had any doubts that Thunder had led them to the wrong one, though General still questioned him to be sure. After some double-reassurance, Thunder had them all convinced. However, the majority of them found it suspicious, just a lone barn in the middle of the valley, nothing around it, not even the ruins of anything, just a barn and an old, wooden fence, which was half dismembered anyway.

"Now, we are triple-darn sure this's the right place?" Caleb asked.

Thunder nodded. "It is, trust me, both me and Tank would know if it wasn't."