Stranded Hound: A Helluva Boss Fanfiction

Prologue

"THWACK! THWACK! THWACK!"

A young man up in the morning at the entrance of his property slammed the sledgehammer down hard onto the top of a timber post, driving it hard into the ground. He grunts, lifting the tool over his head once more before swinging back over his shoulders, at long last driving the post firm into the ground. Without a minute more of hesitation, the young man retrieved another post, lined it up in a small hole he had pre-dug in the ground, before lining up the sledgehammer once more to repeat the same monotonous task.

This man in question was one local of the rural town of Morrisvale on the Eastern Australian Coast, the son of a carpenter, James H. Steele, more locally known as "Jim". Jim was a simple type of bloke living a humble, more simple life, though he was not one without intellect. He wore his usual attire that day; A broad-brim dark-brown Akubra hat, a scarlet long-sleeve button-up shirt with the sleeves rolled up, a pair of black trousers and some brown Williams boots.

After finally driving the second post in with his strength, Jim examined the post to see if it was straight enough. He eyes it, closing his right eye and crouching down to examine it compared to the horizon.

He grunts, getting back up; "Not bad, Jim, not bad," he complimented himself, before deciding to take a small break. He sat down in a folding camping chair he had set up earlier in the morning and took a swig of some black tea he had brewed himself; Thankfully, it was still somewhat warm, much like the weather forecast. He looked across the road, a truck with a load of livestock drove past, intending to pass through the town. Jim relaxes, looking into the dense bushland, admiring the view.

This serenity, however, was interrupted as he saw a figure shift in between the trees. Initially, Jim thought he was seeing things, but sure enough he could tell that someone was sluggishly walking in between the trees towards a long-since dried up creek-bed across from his property. He watches the individual, who he could now tell was a woman, stumble slowly and sluggishly through the trees. To the surprise and concern of Jim, she suddenly stumbles, collapsing to the ground and into the base of the dried-up creek-bed, seemingly falling unconscious.

"Shit!" Jim exclaims, running across the road from his property and into the tree line.

Not before long, he at last reached the woman in the slight gully, calling out to her to see if she was okay, deeply concerned for her well-being; "Hello! Hello, lady! Are you alright there?"

Jim stops, looking down at the woman who was barely conscious, lying face-up in the dirt. He noticed just how strange this woman was, taking note of her appearance; She had a fair skin complexion, and long gray hair which Jim personally had never seen before, the right side of her hair partially shaved in a modern type of haircut usually seen in urban areas. She wore short clothing; a dark gray crop top, a pair of black shorts, black leggings which stretched up to her thigh, and a pair of black and gray shoes.

Jim, concerned for her well-being, placed his palm on her forehead, confirming that she was suffering from heat stress and a heat-induced temperature. Without a second more thought, he speaks to her, clear and concise; "Hang in there, mate, I'm going to get you out of here! Just, please, hang in there!"

Jim then proceeds to gently pick the woman, heaving her into his arms with a grunt before walking as fast as he could back up into his property. In a rush decision, he jogs up to his Ute, opening the door to the best of his ability with the woman still in his arms and carefully rests the barely conscious woman in the passenger's side. Jim rushes over to the driver's side, swings the door open, and gets in with haste. In a rush, he slams the door shut, starting the engine and turns on the air conditioner on to full blast, cooling the interior down.