Chapter Four

Pony

Keith left later that day to get the rest of this things from his mother's house. I didn't want him to go alone but he said he'd rather go alone than bring anyone else into the fight. Still, Darry made him call his mother to make sure she hadn't seen Karl all day. Only when he had gotten her word that he wouldn't be back any time soon did he let Two-Bit leave the house. I was still worried, though. Keith had pissed his old man off pretty bad. Darry and Soda insisted that he was okay, that it would take a while to gather all of his belongings and get them in his car. Still, he wouldn't have taken this long. After four hours of waiting, I prepared to go after him...only to find Steve and Soda blocking my way.

"Where in the hell do you think you're goin'?" Steve asked.

"To find Keith. He should have been back by now."

"He had to get his stuff Pone. Just wait."

"I have waited! Keith wouldn't have been gone this long. He knows I worry. Especially after Dallas..."

Soda's face softened. "All right. But Stevie and I go with you."

Darry stared at us. "Be careful. You got a blade Steve? Soda?"

They nodded, showing Darry their blades.

"Good. Use 'em if something happens."

"We will."

Darry watched us from the doorway as we set out to find Keith. I led the way, walking towards the alleyway he always used to get home. As we walked down, we called his name a few times, hearing no reply.

"Keith! Keith you out here?" I yelled as we entered the alleyway.

Distantly, I heard someone call back. Steve looked over at Soda and I and widened his eyes. Without bothering to say anything else, I took off at a run in the direction of Keith's voice. As I got closer to him, I heard him call my name again and I knew I was close. Soda and Steve ran behind me but they weren't fast enough to keep up. Finally, I saw him. He was layin' behind a trash can, curled into a ball. He was covered in blood and had a cut on his chin. Dropping to my knees, I touched his face. Moaning, he looked up at me and blinked the blood out of his eyes.

"Pony? Oh God please tell me I'm not dreamin'."

"You're not dreamin' buddy. What the fuck happened?" Steve asked, dropping to his knees behind us.

"My old man and some of his friends...they jumped me." He coughed. "Bastard couldn't take me himself."

"Come on, Keith. Let's get you back to the house. Darry'll clean you up."

Soda helped me lift him and together we helped him walk back to the house. He leaned his head on my shoulder and sighed. I tightened my arm around his waist and looked over his shoulder, meeting Steve's eyes. He was glaring, but not at me. His glare was directed at Karl Matthews and whoever else had done this to Keith. The look we shared right then made it clear that we would find these guys. And we would tear them apart.

"Hey! Did you - Holy shit! What the fuck happened?!" Darry asked as we pulled Keith into the house.

"Let's get him inside first. Then we'll talk stories." Soda said, his normally bright voice dark.

When Keith was laying across my lap on the couch, Steve and Soda took seats on the chair and watched Darry clean him up, their faces dark.

"We found him behind a trash can. He was covered in blood. Apparently he was jumped by his old man and a few other guys."

"We'll deal with it. Just stay with him until he wakes up. Do not go after Karl Matthews until I get a hold of Tim Shepard. We're gonna need their help with this one."

We sat in silence for a while before I felt Keith move. Looking down, I saw him staring up at me. For a long moment, he didn't speak. He simply stared up at me, his expression unreadable. In that moment, that one second, I saw something in his eyes that almost physically hurt me. Fear. Whatever they'd done to him, however they'd hurt him, they'd scared him. Keith Matthews. The guy everyone said was fearless. He was afraid. And it made my blood boil. Soda glanced at me, silently asking if Keith and I needed a few minutes alone. Nodding, I smiled as they walked into the kitchen together, talking quietly.

"You all right?" Keith asked, his voice barely above a whisper.

"I'm -"

Before I could answer I heard two screams. Soda's was loud, pained. Steve's was angry, rage filled. A shot rang through the house and I stopped breathing, my heart dropping as I heard Darry give a yell...

Two-Bit

In less than a second, Pony and I were off the couch and runnin' towards the kitchen. My ribs felt like they were breaking all over again and I wanted to throw up but I didn't stop until I was in the kitchen, just behind Pony. Darry was gone, the kitchen door wide open. Steve was sitting next to Soda, tears streaming down his face.

"Soda...Soda please...not you too." Pony whimpered, sinking to his knees beside Soda.

I was cold, couldn't move or think. Soda couldn't be dead. Not Soda. Anyone but him. I began to beg God, to plead with him to bring Soda back but it was no use. The bullet would went through his shoulder, too close to his heart. This couldn't be happening. Not to us. Not again. We'd only just recovered from Johnny and Dal. We couldn't lose anyone else. Steve's yell broke my train of thought.

"SODA! Please...please don't leave me. I ain't got nothin' else but you..."

Pony turned to face me, his face lined with tears. Wordlessly, I pulled him into my arms and held him there. It was true. He was dead. Gone. Not breathing. Or moving. Sodapop Patrick Curtis was dead. Dead. And I knew who was behind it. My dad. I clutched Pony tighter to my chest, letting the tears fall faster as the realization of it sunk in. Pony was screaming, holding me in a vice grip, and I wanted to scream with him. Soda was dead. We'd lost yet another brother. Somewhere in the background, Steve was screamin' but I could barely hear him over Pony's screams.

"Whoa...so what happened here?"

It was him. Soda. Tears of relief filled my eyes as we looked around. He was layin' in the middle of the kitchen floor, holding his bleeding shoulder and starin' at us. Steve didn't give anyone time to answer him, he grabbed Soda by the back of the neck and kissed 'im. Full force on the mouth. When it was over, Darry was back. Staring at us for the space of one heartbeat, he ordered us to get Soda to the truck. We were goin' to the hospital. Afterwards, though, we had something to take care of. Pony, Steve, and I shared a look as we carried Soda to the truck. They wouldn't get away with this...

Okay. :) Karl Matthews just messed with the wrong gang. No one fucks with the Curtis family and gets away with it. Anyways, what did you guys think? REVIEW and tell me. Please?! Thank you for reading.

BrokenGoddess1703