Chapter 8

            "Sam, look," shouted Hank as he pointed down to a track in the mud.

Sam ran over to where Hank was standing, and they both knew that it was Roy's boot print. Sam didn't think twice. Instantly, he started to cross the river; he knew where Roy went. Now, all Sam had to do was find him. Sam saw another boot print on the other side of the river, and before he could even take a look at which direction it went, the dogs took off towards the smell of Roy and the hogs. They were gone in a full sprint before Sam could even step in that direction. The good thing was the dogs barked the whole way. Hank also crossed the river and tried his best to catch up with Sam and the hogs. 

Sam followed behind the dogs as they made it through the brush. He pushed through the thicket and made his way out to the pasture. He saw the dogs going crazy to his left and knew something had happened. Laying right where the dogs were was a humongous hog carcass. Sam pulled out his pistol and ran towards the boar. He said a quick prayer as he approached the carcass. 

This was the biggest hog he had ever seen. It had to weigh five hundred pounds or more. Before Sam had even made it up to the beast, what he saw was his worst nightmare. He could see something under the beast and knew it could only be one thing. Sam ran as fast as he could and didn't hesitate one second to do his best to pull the beast off of his son. Hank had just made it through the brush and saw Sam. He took off running towards Sam. Sam was pulling the boar off of his son, and with Hank's help, they got Roy out from under the hog. Sam instantly got on his phone and called 911 while Hank looked over Roy. There were cuts and gashes all over his body. Hank checked for a pulse, and there was a slight pulse, but Roy was not breathing. He went to work on performing CPR. Sam didn't have service where he was, so he took off running in the pasture. He figured he might get better service if he got to the open ground. The call never went through, but he sent a text with the coordinates he got from his GPS. 

Sam knew he didn't have much time, so he put the phone in his pocket and ran back to Hank, who was still performing CPR on Roy. Hank had been a volunteer firefighter in his younger days, so he knew what he was doing. 

"Is he good?" asked Sam. 

"He has a slight pulse, but he's not breathing," replied Hank.

"I wasn't able to get ahold of anyone. There was no service, but I sent a text with our grid."

"I'm going to stay here and keep working on him." 

"OK, you tell me what you want me to do. I can fix a cut all day, but I don't know anything about CPR," replied Sam. 

"I'm not leaving his side, but I need you to return to the truck and get Mr. Fergugon to call 911. Once you do that, bring your truck down to the river crossing. Honk the horn, and I'll run down there with him. Once I get him breathing, I'll quickly patch him up and get him back across the river."

Sam didn't say another word; he took off in a full sprint. He was back across the river in less than a minute, then continued to his truck. As Sam ran, he looked down at his phone to see if the service had improved. There was a bar, and he dialed 911. He continued to run to the truck. Once someone answered, he told them what had happened, his coordinates, and how to get to his location. 

The dispatcher did what she had to and had someone on the way to his location. The only issue was that they were a good twenty minutes outside of town. Sam stayed on the phone, and she told him they had a helicopter in the area, and she had dispatched it to his location. There was also an ambulance on the way, so Sam told Mr. Ferguson to open the gate, and he told him to relay the directions once the ambulance arrived. Sam didn't wait for the ambulance to arrive; he had to get back to his son. So Sam hopped in his truck and drove down to the river, then ran across and returned to be by Roy's side. 

Just as Sam made his way across the river and through the brush, Hank started yelling. Sam ran faster. He was zoned in on getting back to his son. And as soon as he got back to where Roy was. Hank was helping Roy sit up. At almost that moment, Roy came to and started breathing normally again. Sam fell to the ground and started hugging his son. Hank began to look over Roy's body to fix up any serious wounds he might have. 

Roy was pretty banged up, and Hank worked on those wounds while Sam held onto his son. He held him tightly. Off in the distance, the helicopter was making its way along with the sirens from the ambulance flying to the rescue. 

Sam held his son and said a prayer. Roy was in pain, and all he could get out of it was, "I did it for Bandit."