A/N: Hey guys!

This here is an idea that my mind came up with at eleven in the night while I was trying to sleep. (Yes, my mind chooses interesting times to come to life and give me good ideas.)

For now, I was thinking that it could be a two-shot or three-shot, but if I get, say, 5 reviews or more per chapter, then I'll consider making it longer!

Summary: What if the church fire happened when Johnny was gone to get supplies?

Yes, a pretty short summary, but it summarizes the story pretty well!

Disclaimer: I own nothing except the story plot.

Note: everything was written on my Ipad Notes app, so I might have typos and a couple of mistakes. I dearly apologize for that!

I hope you guys enjoy! I have the second chapter done, so if I get five reviews for this one, I'll post it by the end of the week, promise!

Now read on, and please, R & R!

XxX

Ponyboy Curtis woke up to the scent of smoke. He coughed once, twice before looking around. He saw no smoke nor was it close, but he could still smell it.

Suddenly he noticed that he was alone in the church. "Johnny?" he called, but he got no answer. He stood up, wiping the message which was written in the sand next to him without ever seeing it, and he started to panic. Had Johnny gone alone to get supplies and had gotten caught by the fuzz? Would he be forever alone in this church? And how would he tell Dally that Johnny was gone?

He doubled over, coughing again. He closed his eyes, trying to get control over himself, and when he opened them again, he gasped.

There was a fire in the church, and it was heading straight toward him!

"Johnny!" he shouted, starting to panic. A piece of timber fell next to him, making him scream. Another piece fell down, this time hitting his left arm, almost snapping it in half. He screamed in pain as he fell on his knees while desperately trying to cradle his broken arm, which was also burned.

He didn't notice that the floor he was on was made of wooden planks until one of them gave way under his weight, causing him to fall in a hole. It was deep enough that he was barely able to reach out of the hole.

He landed on something hard and felt searing pain in his left knee, travelling its way in his entire body, making him scream out in pain.

He collapsed on the floor, in pain and frozen in fear. Above him, pieces of burning timber and planks collapsed around the hole, until one piece, which looked to be a wooden hatch with square shaped holes in it, fell down on the hole, blocking Ponyboy from getting out of it.

He started bawling from fear of never getting out and never seeing Johnny, his brothers and the gang ever again. He screamed again in hopes of having someone hear him when more pieces of wood fell down, pinning the wooden hatch on the hole and starting to bury it. He tried to get up but the pain in his knee was unbearable and he couldn't use his arms to support him, as one of them was broken.

He faintly heard someone scream his name until the rumbling of the collapsing church worsened, making him huddle in a ball, ignoring his throbbing knee and arm, terrified. He closed his eyes, sobbing uncontrollably.

Suddenly, everything seized. The rumbling sounds were over, and everything was dark. He realized that he was trapped in a hole inside the church, and it could take hours, if not days before being found. He once wondered what it was like being inside a burning ember, and now he knew; it was being stuck in unbearable heat with no way out except death.

He buried his head in the crook of his right arm, and the only sounds he heard were his own sobs.

XxX

Johnny made his way back to the church with a box of supplies he had bought with the money Dallas gave him. He felt bad for taking two smokes from Ponyboy's pack, the last two ones no less, but he had a craving when he woke up and he bought more anyway. He also felt bad for not making Ponyboy come with him, but he figured the boy would be safe. He needed rest.

Johnny saw smoke in the distance and vaguely wondered if there was a fire in a nearby house, but there were about two houses between the store and the church, and it was about a ten minute walk from each other, so it was unlikely.

But them something hit him. The church. Smoke!

Ponyboy!

He dropped the box of supplies on the ground and started at a dead run toward the church, stopping dead in his tracks once he caught sight of it. It was on fire! He heard a scream from inside the church and knew without a doubt that it was Ponyboy's.

Johnny finally reached the church and was about to get in when it started collapsing. "Ponyboy!" he screamed out loud, but he had to take a step back when the church collapsed. "No!" he screamed again when it was finally over. The fire was still raging, and he fell down on his knees, trying to control his tears. There was no way Ponyboy was alive if the church collapsed on top of him.

He huddled into a ball on the ground close to the church, not caring if it would burn him, and started to sob despite himself. His friend would've never survived that. Ponyboy was as good as dead.

Johnny felt a strong hand on his shoulder, and he looked up to see a cop. He hadn't even heard any sirens, but when he looked up, he noticed that there were many firefighters trying to put out the fire, and an ambulance was there in case someone was in the church or close to it. In this case, Ponyboy.

"Are you Johnny Cade?" the cop asked him. Johnny knew what he'd do; he'd arrest him and he wouldn't be able to help save Ponyboy.

He still didn't deny it. "Y-Yeah, Sir I am, b-but please listen to me before hauling me to the station, I won't even fight you, just listen..."

A firefighter joined them while the cop looked at the teen suspiciously. "Go on, but don't try anything," he warned. Johnny shook his head.

"N-No, my friend, he...he was in the church when it collapsed. I can explain everything on the way to the station, but please, let me help my friend..." He looked at the firefighter. "Please," he begged again.

The firefighter hesitated. "Well...I don't want to put another life in danger. Are you sure there's someone in the church at this moment?"

Johnny immediately nodded. "I'm positive," he claimed. "I...I killed a kid last night and the cop knows, and...I was too scared, so my friend was with me and we ran away until we found the church...I smoked this morning and I'm probably the cause of the fire..." He moaned at that though. "Oh God, my friend could die because of me...Please, let me help!"

The firefighter nodded with narrowed eyes while the cop let go of Johnny's shoulder, also helping out in the search for Ponyboy. The firefighter gave the teen a uniform and a mask and gave him advice. "If you find your friend, you can scream in the mask, we'll hear you; just don't take it out. There's still smoke lingering in the air and you could choke."

Johnny nodded and waited until the fire was put out, and then the firefighters, along with Johnny, started tearing the wooden mess piece by piece. He tried to hurry up, knowing that if his best friend was alive, he wouldn't be able to stay awake for long if he was badly hurt and it would be more dangerous for him.

It was a race against time to find Ponyboy.