Sodapop's P.O.V.
I was wiping down the grease covered counter at the DX with an already filthy rag. Man, I was tired. With fatigued eyes, I looked up at the clock on the other side of the room, which said that it was five past seven. I wearily smiled to myself, glad I could finally go home.
Earlier that day, I had taken Steve's shift. Apparently, he had gotten rip-roaring drunk the night before, and his hangover wasn't doing him any favors. He could barely see five feet in front of himself. He could barely stand, too, but when he was up, he was banging into shelves and knocking over things. I finally forced him to go home and get some sleep.
I tossed the grime-covered rag into a corner and wiped my hands off on my oil stained jeans. The loud uproar of an engine caught my attention and I looked up. A red Mustang was parked outside, four Socs piling out of it. They came in, the bell hanging above the door clinging. I kept my guard up, though. Socs never came in here.
"Sorry. We're closed. You have to leave," I said, an edge of suspicion in my voice. The Socs continued to walk around the store. "We're closed!" My voice began to rise slightly. One of the Socs glared at me for a brief moment, grabbed a bottle of soda off the shelf, and chucked it above my head. The glass and liquid flew in all directions. I ducked as a shard of glass flew by where my neck had been moments before. The other Socs began to vandalize the store, shattering items against the floor and walls.
"Hey! Stop that!" I yelled, my voice quavering slightly. "I've got a gun back here and I ain't afraid to use it!" I reached beneath the counter into bare nothingness. Of course there was no gun there, but I needed a bluff. I wasn't itching to get jumped tonight, especially when the odds were so uneven; Four to one.
"Too bad you're lying, pal," a gruff voice said behind me, making me jump, "or we might'a beat it out of here." One of the Socs had sneaked behind the counter without my noticing. He lifted a rusty old crowbar that had been in the garage and clubbed me over the head with it. I yelped and crashed to the ground.
I gasped and moaned from the intense throbbing in my head, small droplets of blood trickling onto the tiles. I struggled to get up, arms shaking and head pounding, blood descending down the side of my face. A Soc slammed his foot into my back, smashing me back onto the floor. They began to yell and jeer insults and obscenities at me, but I could barely make sense of them due to the constant pulsing in my ears.
I began to scream in a raspy voice for Darry, Dallas, and even Johnny, but I knew it was pointless. No one would ever hear me, no matter how loud I yelled. The Soc with the crowbar pummeled me again, this time in the hip. I felt my pelvis shatter beneath the eroded metal, emitting an agonizing whimper from my lips. Slowly, I flipped over, groaning in pain.
I couldn't find my voice to scream anymore, and I just laid there, head throbbing and hip shattered. Stars darted across my vision, and the Socs sneering faces swimming in and out of focus. The edges of my vision were blurring until I was engulfed into darkness.
