Inside A Burning Ember
Summary: Johnny's view on the fire at the church. Oneshot.
(Johnny's POV)
Dally pulled up to the church and the only thing I could focus on was the huge mass of black hovering above it. People always describe it as a pillar of smoke but the way I saw it, it was a tornado coming down on the church with a single goal: to completely demolish this forgotten safe haven. I snapped out of whatever trance I was in when Ponyboy jumped out of the car, heading towards the church and surrounding crowd. Without hesitating for more than a few seconds I raced after him.
Behind me, I could hear Dally yelling after us, probably stopping the car and cursing as he followed, but I wasn't certain. All I knew was that I had to help or at least get Pony out before he got us killed. When I reached the church, with Dally not far behind like I had suspected, Ponyboy was starting to pull boards from a window.
"What are you doin', man? We've got to get away from here before it falls on us!" I yelled over the roar of the flames.
Without stopping, Ponyboy answered, "There are kids trapped in there; listen!" I listened closer and, sure enough, could hear their crying. A chill ran up my spine. With one more unrepeatable statement from Dally we went to work, clawing and kicking at the boards until there was a hole large enough to get through.
Not waiting, I ducked in and pulled my shirt up over my mouth to cover the smoke from getting to my lungs. One of the others behind me, I think Pony, choked and coughed for a few seconds before getting it back under control. A little ways in front and to the left of where we stood I heard the crying and screaming again. Dally heard it too and led us to the source, five little kids huddled together, looking scared. Without hanging around for their permission, Dally grabbed a couple of them, kind of roughly, and headed back to the hole. Pony and I both followed suit and grabbed two kids apiece, motioning for the oldest to come with us. One of the men from the crowd was standing just outside the entrance of the hole and we handed the kids off to him.
Right around the time the third kid was being passed to the guy, I heard a crushing sound and Pony and I both turned. The ceiling was sinking down fast. After one shared glance we went back to giving the kids to the man, who seemed to be their teacher or something. Once the last was through I pushed Dally, then Pony ahead of me.
Just as I was going to get through the hole myself, I heard and saw a beam falling that was covered in flames. As it fell on top of me, I collapsed, knowing I couldn't avoid falling; the impact was way too much. On the edge of blacking out, I saw Dally running toward me. I wished he would leave me, let me become just another ember under the black tornado; I didn't want to move. Dally unfortunately, or maybe luckily, wasn't going to leave with out me. As soon as he got me out on the grass I sighed and passed out. "Sorry Death," I thought through the faze, "looks like people care too much about me to let you win after all."