A/N: Hey guys! Here's the next chapter! I hope you enjoy it! This one was a little bit more of a filler, but more action should be expected very soon! Please leave a review letting me know what you think! x

XxX

"We should be out there right now. We should be looking for him," Sodapop said for what felt like the billionth time to Darry. Both brothers were sitting in front of their barely-eaten plates at the dinner table, waiting anxiously for a knock on the door, a phone call, anything to update them on the situation. Soda could barely stand still as it was, so sitting around and waiting in that situation was more than he could handle.

"Soda, we've been over this," Darry started, forcing a forkful of tasteless mashed potatoes into his mouth. "Chief Harrison said-"

"I don't care what he said!" Sodapop exploded.

"Sodapop, c'mon man! You ain't helping!" Darry said.

"Exactly! We have to do something, Dar! Pony could be in danger!" Soda insisted.

"More reason to stay put," Darry answered. "I won't have anymore of this. Until we get news from Chief Harrison, no one leaves."

"Fuck that, Dar!" Soda banged on the table, making Darry jump. "I'm the only one acting normal here! Am I the only one in this house who cares about him?"

Darry paused, his expression softened.

."Soda, you know that's not true," he said. "I care about him just as much as you do."

"Why don't you prove it, then, huh?" Sodapop asked provocatively before storming out of the dining room, slamming Ponyboy's bedroom door shut.

"Damn it!" Darry shouted, slamming his fist on the table in frustration. He sighed, leaned back in his chair and pinched the bridge of his nose. Ponyboy was missing, nobody knew where he was, and he was slowly drifting away from Sodapop at the very moment when they needed to stay together and support each other.

XxX

Chief Harrison had been surprised by the amount of volunteers who showed up to help out. Most of them were greasers, off-duty officers, and middle-class families, but the Valance and the Adderson family from the west side were there as well. All in all, about a hundred people showed up at the police station at dusk. The people were soon split into groups and spread out across different sections of town, a supervising deputy with each. Chief Harrison was in charge of group five, who, armed with flashlights, were scanning the woods on the outskirts of town.

"Ponyboy! Ponyboy!"

"Ponyboy Curtis!"

"Ponyboy, we're here for you, bud!"

Everybody was screaming Ponyboy's name at irregular intervals as they walked, scanning the ground.

"He's a good student," came a voice behind Chief Harrison. The officer turned and was met with a middle-aged man with a balding forehead and kind eyes Harrison had never seen before.

"Pardon?" Chief Harrison asked.

"Ponyboy. He's a good student," the man repeated. "Great one, actually."

"I'm sorry. I don't think we've ever met," Chief Harrison asked, giving up at trying to recognize the man.

"Oh, my apologies," the man apologized awkwardly. "I'm Thomas Symes. I teach Sophomore English at Will Rogers. Ponyboy's in one of my classes."

Chief Harrison held out his hand. The man had a firm handshake, and Harrison immediately felt like he could trust him.

"Thanks for coming out, tonight, Mr. Symes. We really appreciate it," Chief Harrison said, a bit mechanically.

"It was the least I could do," Mr Symes answered. "That family's been through so much already, poor kids…"

"Tell me about it…" Chief Harrison mumbled as he went back to his search.

XxX

Sodapop walked back out of Ponyboy's room several hours later, eyes puffy from crying. He slowly peeked into the living room where he found Darry, features drawn and exhausted, rummaging through boxes of pictures, trying to find a most recent picture of Pony.

"Need some help?" Soda asked in a heavy voice that sounded strange for him. Darry jumped at the sound.

"Jesus…" he mumbled under his breath. "Make a sound, or something!" Darry laughed nervously.

Sodapop didn't say anything. He walked out into the living room and out of the darkness of the hallway. That's when Darry was able to see that his brother had been crying. He frowned in even more worry, if that was humanly possible.

"What is it, Pepsi-Cola?" Darry asked, using his old man's affectionate nickname for him.

"Nothing," Soda shrugged, plopping on the couch next to Darry, grabbing a box of pictures and burying himself in them to try to ignore the imminent lump that was forming again in his throat.

"Tell me," Darry insisted. "Come on, Soda, you know you can tell me."

Soda stopped. The lump in his throat was becoming too painful to bear.

"It's just," he started in a choked-up voice as a tear escaped his eye. "I should've been there. I should've just slept with him, maybe then we'd have better chances…"

Darry felt a lump in his own throat as he watched his brother cry, but he swallowed it back. He could save his tears for the pillow. Right now, he needed to be Superman.

"No," Darry said categorically, pressing his hand firmly on Sodapop's shoulder. "You can't do that to yourself, okay? It ain't your fault. We'll find him. I know it's hard to trust the same people who killed Dal, but Chief Harrison ain't like the rest of 'em, yeah? He's a good man. He knows what he's doing, ya dig?"

Soda nodded slowly and wiped his tears hurriedly on his shirt sleeve. Darry took a picture and showed it to him.

"Look at this one," he said. The picture showed Ponyboy on picture day at the beginning of the year, back when Johnny, Dally, and Bob were still alive. It seemed like a lifetime ago, even though it had only been a little over two months. Ponyboy was grinning with that awkward smile you do when you have nothing to smile about, but he had neatly greased his hair for the occasion and he looked more polished than the average greaser. Besides, it was the most recent one they had of him.

"That's the one, right?" Darry added. Sodapop nodded and smiled softly.

"I'll go get some posters done at the station tomorrow," Darry continued. "How 'bout you help me pick this up and then we can call at the station to see how the search is going?"

Sodapop nodded again. That sounded good to him.

XxX

Ponyboy came to his senses and was greeted by a searing pain in the back of his head. He winced and tried to reach for the tender skin, but found that both of his hands were restrained with heavy cuffs, both hands chained to a wall behind him. Everything was pitch black around him, to the point where he couldn't even distinguish shapes, and he was freezing cold. He felt light-headed and feverish. He had no idea where he was. He tried to scream, but found his voice muffled by a rough piece of cloth that was shoved in his mouth and kept in by a large piece of tape keeping his lips shut. Any attempt to move the cloth in his mouth made him gag violently, and for a moment of sheer panic, he thought he would suffocate, until he was able to calm down and breathe through his nose. He pulled with all his strength on the chains, but it only resulted in the metal painfully cutting through his wrists. Everything held firmly. He stopped struggling, giving up, his body aching everywhere. He listened for sounds, footsteps, anything that could help him figure out where he was, but he was met with silence. He was left alone, tied up, aching, confused, and wishing wildly for home.