I own nothing! BTW, the word 'Atchin tan' is Gypsy Romani for 'stopping place'. I apologize for any misuse or spelling of the word, but I thought it fit in this case.

3 hours into the ride, the boys were bored to death and Johnny had flipped his switchblade at least a thousand times. Eddy had been blabbering non-stop, and while Ponyboy, who was initially suspicious and annoyed of the young man, dismissed most of it as useless banter. However, a few of his words caused the greaser to perk up with attentiveness while Johnny's interest could be sparked with just one match.

"You all are a rare lot, you know," Eddy continued on, "greasers, I mean. Most I see riding these trains are homeless moonshiners, crooked criminals, even the occasional runaway. But never like you two- gangs tend to stick tough, so I guess maybe that's why."

Ponyboy tensed at the comment but acknowledged its truth. Gangs did stick together. It was a rarity when anybody, greaser or soc, got the idea to skip town solo. But we ain't a gang, Pony thought to himself, we're a family… At least, we were.

He'd been trying to stop thinking about anything to do with home since they left, but the memories just kept on coming. The 'what if's and 'maybe's refused to cease. It seemed like each time he closed his eyes, there was Soda holding him in the dim light of their bedroom, legs intertwined innocently and head against his strong chest. His soft, soothing baritone voice that would joke and laugh and bring joy to everyone he met whispering words of comfort in Ponyboy's ear. His arms were muscular and solid, and wrapped up in them the youngest greaser felt like even the most ugly of horrors in the world could not reach him. Not the pain of losing his parents, nor the adjustment that had come afterwards- just Soda and him.

His heart was physically aching, like a part of him that was slowly burning and shriveling away.

And Darry… No, don't think of him! Darry would always yell. Darry would wound, but was never the wounded. Stop it! Darry's words meant so much to a boy who'd fallen from grace and into despair. He don't want you no more! Darry, who gave up everything to take care of his brothers because a tragedy had torn their lives apart. He never did! Darry, who had had enough of his youngest brother. You were just another mouth for him to feed! Darry, who'd hit him. He promised he'd be good to you! Pain, searing across his cheek but more into his heart. That was just the beginning of what would come your way. He had lost so much. Too much. His innocence, his parents, the very ground he stood on… His brothers were his world, the very last bit of it he had to cling on to, his only hope. He couldn't lose that, too. He just couldn't. The pain would be too much, not again. He was already tearing asunder as it was. So he cut himself away before anything else could break his heart, aching as it was now. End up like Dally, one by one… Stupid boy, he never loved you. You were foolish enough to believe him.

"Ponyboy!"
Ponyboy was jolted from his thoughts when Johnny snapped him out of it, waving a hand in front of his face.

"Pony, are you ok? You just kinda… Zoned out for a minute there." Johnny said, voice thick with concern. "We're in Albuquerque. Eddy said he'd ride with us to LA, somethin' 'bout makin' sure we get on the right train. I know you don't like him all that much, but we need all the help we can get."

Ponyboy frowned and pushed himself up from the floor, arms and legs aching from being curled up for so long. Eddy? Coming with them? He sighed in dismay but knew Johnny was right. One wrong train could set them off schedule for days, if not weeks. For all he knew, CPS could be looking for the right now. Or maybe they didn't care enough to even file a report, Pony thought. Tears were burgeoning at his eyes, stinging his line of vision, but he angrily wiped them away with the back of his hand and forced himself to stay strong.

"Fine. Just don't drive us crazy before we set foot in the city." Ponyboy grumbled to Eddy, who was following the boys as they snuck off the car and blended in with the crowd of passengers. The Albuquerque station was definitely a million times bigger than Keyes. Decorative palm trees dotted the marble floored platform, and people everywhere were bustling about with their luggage through attendant lines.

"Damn, this is bigger and nicer than the whole Tulsa city hall building, ain't it?" Johnny whispered in awe at the large glass skylights through which sunshine poured endlessly.

Ponyboy smiled tentatively, nudging Johnny on the shoulder. "Sure is, Johnnycake. But how do you know what the inside of the city hall looks like?"

Johnny shrugged as they followed Eddy out the station and into the bright noon light. "I had to go down there to bail out Dally a few times."

The youngest Curtis brother laughed, picturing Johnny handing a wad of cash to an officer while a smug looking Dally strolled out. It was so fitting it hurt.

"Next train to Los Angeles leaves tonight- it's a long one boys, 13 hours and 15 minutes. But at least it's a one way hitch." Eddy interrupted, eyes scanning the schedule board whilst he ignored the stares others were giving to his disheveled look.

The boys groaned, dreading the long ride and the red head only chuckled. "Relax, ladies, I've been on a 5 day straight ride to Cheyenne, Wyoming. Hell of a hitch, beautiful scenery, though." He joked, "C'mon! Albuquerque's got a great market to stock up on supplies if you don't get sucked into the tourist traps."

"You've been here before?" Johnny asked as the three walked into town, a quaint but large urban adobe market of houses and shops, crowds of people hurrying by to the train station and back. Cacti seemed to be outside every store, and the desert theme seemed to beckon one to the tall, rugged mountains in the distance.

"'Course I have." Eddy proclaimed, and Pony stared in awe as he walked on the sun burning ground in bare feet without flinching. I thought Dally was tough as nails, he thought derisively.

"Hey, where you going?" Ponyboy called to Eddy as he and Johnny were stopped in front of a mini mart, "We need food!"

Eddy nodded them to come with him, smirking. "I know a much better place for all that. C'mon, guys, you know what they say. It's a brave new world!"

Johnny's eyes were filled with wonder while Ponyboy simply rolled his. "Fine, fine. But we ain't no pushovers, right, Johnny?" The greaser looked, however, to see his best friend already ahead of him and following Eddy into a brushy forest of tumbleweed. "Johnny!" He exclaimed, running after them, "Wait for me!"
What they encountered next surpassed any of the greaser's expectations, though. Tucked away into a small clearing of trees was large long shelter made out of a menagerie of rusting scrap metal, canvas, and firewood. It was hidden enough from the society of Albuquerque, though, that if one wasn't looking for it, they wouldn't find it.

Squeezed in unimaginable spaces next to each other, people old and young stood in haphazardly set up stands calling out prices for their goods, which ranged everything from antique pipes to rifles. Ponyboy couldn't stop from staring at the diversity of it all- young women with babies on their hips shepherding their children, old men missing either all their teeth or what they had left were tinted limestone yellow, widows with brightly colored scarves wrapped around them to protect their already leathery skin from sunburn, and even some boys their age. At the end of the shelter was group of men playing makeshift guitars and fiddles patched with twine and deerskin while families danced to the tunes.

"What is this place?" Johnny whispered.

"Atchintan. Best hitchhiker market in all the Rockies. Some clowns over in the Appalachians may have themselves somethin' like it, but their braggin' ain't worth a lick compared to ours." Eddy answered smugly, folding his arms in pride.

Ponyboy closed his mouth, which he realized had been open this whole time, and swallowed. It was like a whole other world that had been existing underneath their noses, something neither greaser nor soc would ever imagine. And neither class existed here. Come to think of it, Ponyboy thought as he walked around, there really is no categorization at all. Not black or white or soc or greaser… Just… People.

"Alright, boys," Eddy said mischievously as he straightened out his suspenders, "let's do some barterin' and be on our way."