We ran to the corner of a street about two blocks away, and I finally stopped with my hands on my knees, breathing deeply.
"Ponyboy," I said when I finally caught my breath, "What happened?"
Johnny passed Pony a cigarette and a light. He took a few puffs and said, "Darry hit me. I don't know...sometimes we get along fine, then all of the sudden he blows up on me or is naggin' me all the time. He didn't used to be like that. Now he just can't stand me."
"I think I like it better when the old man is hittin' me." Johnny shoved his hands in his jeans jacket.
"Let's walk around the park a little bit then head home," Ponyboy said after a while.
I nodded and Johnny and I followed him. It was colder when we got to the park. We wandered toward the jungle gym and climbed it. We settled on top, smoking a few weeds to calm us down.
When we were near ready to go home, we saw the blue mustang. It drove slowly and unsteadily around the park, and stopped. The socs stepped outand walked over, the front two I recognized as Bob and Randy.
"What do they want?" Ponyboy muttered next to me.
"Yeah," I replied, "This is our territory. What are they doing this far East?"
Johnny's face went white, and he shivered. I put a hand on his arm, trying to calm him down.
We climbed off the jungle gym, and faced the Socs as they walked up. Bob smiled and said slowly, "Hey, whatta ya know? Here's the little greasers that picked up our girls. Hey greasers."
He was drunk. I could tell by his breath, he way he walked, and how he slurred his words a bit. I suddenly remembered that Johnny had the switchblade in his back pocket.
Johnny's voice was low. "You're outta your territory. You guys better watch it."
Randy glared at him. "No pal, you better watch it."
"You know what a greaser is? White trash with long greasy hair."
My face got hot. I exchanged a glance with Ponyboy, and knew automatically what to say. Ponyboy, Johnny, and I had that kind of connection.
"Wanna know what a Soc is?" I crossed my arms. "White trash with mustangs and madras!" And at that moment, Ponyboy spit at them.
We took off toward the fountain in the middle of the park. The Socs followed us, and just when I thought we'd get away, they caught up and started belting us. Some Socs had Ponyboy by the fountain, and others were holding off me and Johnny at different ends of the park.
A Soc with black hair hit me a few times in my face, and kicked me in the stomach. I felt my nose break, and felt blood run down my face. I glanced over to where Johnny was, and saw them kicking him in the stomach as well. At that point, I desperately wanted to get up and help him. He already got beat up by Socs once before, I didn't want it happening again. I tried to crawl over to him, but they wouldn't stop belting me. I closed my eyes as I took another blow to the stomach. Wasn't anyone going to help?
I shut my eyes tighter and tighter, until I realized that no one was there. When I slowly opened my eyes, the black sky opened up before me. I sat up, clutching my side, and looked over.
Ponyboy was soaked and passed out near the fountain, Johnny was near Ponyboy, and a Soc was lying no more than two feet away from me. When I took a closer look, I saw it was Bob and there was a large pool of blood around him. Johnny was holding the knife in his hand, blood dripping from it.
I got a lump in my throat, and I quickly forgot the pain radiating from my body. I crawled myself over to Johnny. His face was pale, and he was shaking again.
"Johnny...?" I placed a hand carefully on his arm.
He slowly looked in my direction, his lip quivering. My stomach flopped and my breath was shakey.
Before I could even get a hold of the fact that this was reality, Ponyboy stirred next to us. He rolled over and saw Bob. He looked at Johnny, his hair and clothes dripping on the ground.
"I killed him..." Johnny's voice startled me. "I killed that boy...I killed him..."
Ponyboy looked back at Bob, and I tried not to picture him laying there in a pool of blood.
"I think I'm gonna be sick..." Ponyboy got up fast.
"Go ahead man," Johnny replied as his face grew smaller and smaller. "I already was."
I stared at Johnny's pale face. He barely even blinked he was so scared.
When Ponyboy was through, he walked back over to us.
"What are we going to do?" I whispered.
"We gotta go see Dal! He'll know what to do!" Johnny said suddenly. He jumped up and started running. Ponyboy and I exchanged a glance, then followed.
"He's probably at Buck Merril's" I gasped.
Johnny nodded, and that's where we went. As we got to Buck Merril's place, we saw that all the lights were on, and there was music shaking everything.
We jogged up the steps, and Johnny knocked on the screen door. At this point, we were all shivering, but Ponyboy was the most.
Buck came to the door and said, "What do you want?"
"We need to see Dally," I said.
"He's busy."
"Just tell him its Ponyboy, Johnny, and Charlie, man. He'll come!" Johnny had an impatient look on his face.
Buck closed the door and disappeared into the house. When we looked in the window, we saw Dally walking up, shirtless.
"What?" Dally said when he opened the door.
"Johnny killed a Soc," Ponyboy said, still shivering.
Dally's eyes got wide. "Okay, come with me."
We followed him through the party. All over there was kissing, drugs, sex, and booze. I rolled my eyes as Pony tried to get nosy and he looked in a room. Dally pulled him away and led us back to the room. He closed the door behind him.
"Take off that shirt," he said as he tossed a very large dry shirt over to Ponyboy.
"Here." He handed us fifty bucks, and a gun. Johnny shoved it in his pocket. He handed Ponyboy his worn brown leather jacket. "Hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrixville. There's an old abandoned church on top of Jay mountain. There's a pump in the back for water, and buy a week's supply of food as soon as you get there. Then don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there as soon as I can."
I stared at Dally, and tried to steady my breathing.
Before I knew it, we were out the door and running towards the train tracks.
We ended up in the car of a train, and I leaned against the wall, trying to catch a breath. We ran the whole way there.
When Johnny and Ponyboy were safely in, I leaned my head on Johnny's shoulder sleepily. Ponyboy layed down with his head in Johnny's lap.
I fell asleep, and didn't wake up again until Johnny was shaking me and Ponyboy.
"Come on guys wake up! We gotta go!"
And suddenly, I was in mid air, and I hit the ground with a thud. My breath got knocked out of me.
I closed my eyes in pain, and heard Johnny's voice to the left of me. "Blast it Ponyboy! You must have put my legs to sleep. I can barely stand up. I could barely get off that train."
"Sorry," Ponyboy mumbled to the right of me. I was breathing too heavy to giggle.
"You're gonna have to ask someone where Jay mountain is. Make like a farm boy taking a walk or somethin.'"
I sat up, finally able to breathe again, but my chest was still hurting.
"For Pete's sake, run a comb through your hair Ponyboy, and quit slouching like a thug!"
I looked up. Ponyboy's hair was all over the place. He reached into his pocket, and combed it back.
"You know, you're looking more and more like Sodapop everyday," Johnny said, still rubbing his legs.
Pony smiled. "I look about as much like Soda as you do. He's good looking."
"Shoot, you are too."
Ponyboy hopped over the fence and walked on. There was a silence between me and Johnny until he said, "You okay Char?"
I nodded. "Just got the breath knocked outta me is all." I crawled over to him. "How's your legs?"
"Fine now." He said. He layed back in the grass and I layed next to him.
"This is scary," I said quietly.
"Yeah, how fast its been happenin' and all."
I rolled over to my side, and looked at him. "I mean, just yesterday we met Marcia and Cherry at the Nightly Double, and now we're here because Bob is dead."
Johnny turned and faced me too. "Uh huh."
"I'm scared...what if they find us. What will happen?"
"I don't know," he replied, "but I'm scared too." he closed his eyes.
I placed my hand on his. "Its okay."
"Charlie, whatever happens, I'm glad you're with me."
I smiled. Then I sat up, and pulled my knees to my chest. I shivered as a small breeze ripped through the air. I knew morning was coming soon.
Ponyboy came back in no time, and before I knew it, we were walking up the back steps of the old abandoned church. As soon as we walked in, I collapsed on the floor of the main room, and was slowly drifting off. I wiped some cobwebs from underneath me, and was soon fast asleep.
