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Ponyboy woke up late in the afternoon and for a second didn't know where he was. He took a deep breath and tried to convince himself that he had dreamed everything that had happened the night before.

"I'm really in bed," Pony thought, closing his eyes. It's late and Darry was cooking breakfast and soon Sodapop would come in and drag him out of bed and the two of them would start wrestling. After breakfast they would wash the dishes, then play football with the rest of the gang.

Johnny and Two-Bit and him would get Darry on their side, since he's the best player. It'll go like the usual weekend morning.

Finally, Ponyboy quit pretending and pushed himself off the rock cold floor, still wrapped up in Dally's jacket and listened to the wind rushing through the trees' dry leaves outside. He was stiff and sore from sleeping on the floor and was still kind of groggy.

Ponyboy blinked and scratched his head...it was awful quiet, with just the sound of rushing wind in the trees.

Suddenly, he realized Johnny wasn't there.

"Johnny?" Pony called loudly, and the old wooden church, echoed his voice. He looked around wildly, almost panic-striken, but then caught sight of some crooked lettering written in the dust of the floor.

"Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C."

Pony sighed and went to the pump to get a drink. The water from it was like liquid ice and tasted funny, but it was water. He splashed some on his face and that woke him up pretty quick.

He wiped his face off on Dally's jacket and sat down on the back steps. The hill the church was on dropped off suddenly about twenty feet from the back door, and you could see for miles and miles. It was like sitting on the top of the world.

Pony leaned back and closed his eyes, hoping that Johnny would be back soon. It seemed so much longer than twenty-four hours since Johnny and him met up with Dally.

Maybe it was.

Maybe Johnny had been gone a whole week and he had just slept. Maybe Johnny had been worked over by the fuzz and was waiting to get the electric chair because he wouldn't tell where he was. Maybe Dally had been killed in a car wreak and no one would ever know where he was. He would just die up here, alone, and turn into a skeleton.

Ponyboy shook his head as his over-active imagination was running away with him. Sweat ran down his face and he was trembling a little.

He opened his eyes and took a few deep breaths, trying to relax, he was scared just sitting there by himself. Hopefully Johnny would remember cigarettes.

Ponyboy then started thinking about Sodapop, worrying how he would take it when he found out the trouble he and Johnny were in. And even though he was still mad at him, he worried how Darry would take the news too.

The more he thought about his brothers, the more alone he felt. Where the hell was Johnny? He needed a cigarette bad at the moment.

Suddenly, Ponyboy heard someone coming up through the dead leaves toward the back of the church. Thinking Johnny was coming, he quickly got to his feet, than darted out the door so fast that he fell off the steps and found himself starring at a pair of black boots.

Pony slowly looked up to see a large hulking man standing over him, wearing dirty blue overalls and had a lumberjack beard. His eyes then went to an axe the man was holding in his left hand.

"You're on my property!" The man yelled.

Before he could get up, the man bent down and grabbed Ponyboy by the shirt and dragged him back in the church, slamming the door behind him.

Ponyboy was dragged by his shirt collar, and as much as he tried, he could not escape the grasp of the man.

"Help!" Pony managed to yell.

His captor pulled him up and slammed him against the wall, the man's hand wrapped around his throat. Ponyboy started choking as he was slowly lifted off his feet. He started kicking and clawing at his captor's grip, not knowing what else to do. The only thing going through his mind was sheer terror.

One of Pony's kicking legs finally nailed his captor in the groin, making him loosen his grip on Pony's throat and drop the axe.

With the all the strength he had left, Ponyboy started repeatedly slamming his fist into the side of the man's face. Finally, upon the forth or fifth shot, Pony was released and fell the floor, gasping for air.

His legs felt like wet noodles as he tried to run but the man grabbed Ponyboy's leg and twisted it, making a loud snapping sound as it was broken.

Pony screamed in pain as he fell to the ground. His foot was now facing the opposite direction it should have been.

The man moved over to the axe he had dropped and picked it up. He slowly walked and stood over Ponyboy who's face was filled with tears of pain and anguish.

"No!" Pony cried out with an awkward scream as the man raised the axe and brought it down upon him.

And then it was over.