"NO!" The call echoed throughout the vacant lot, as loudly as the gun shots before it had.
Johnny dropped to his knees in front of Dally's body, no fight left in him. Tears dripped down his face- he had nothing left to do but sob.
That night that they had met under the street light- that night, Johnny never thought it would have ended like this. However, Dally might have.
Dally hadn't cared about anything, and at last he had come to care about Johnny. Really, truly care about him, one of the only people in the world to do so, and Johnny had appreciated it so much. And this was what Dally had gotten for it.
His best friend, his hero, his everything- now lay lifelessly before him.
It was all Johnny's fault. He should have protected Dally, he should have found the words to keep him from doing this.
Blood began to stain the pavement, and Johnny crawled through it to lay his hand on Dally's heart. Poor, poor, Dally, who didn't deserve to die like this at only seventeen. Who didn't die like this.
Johnny gasped when he felt a pulse- a weak, frail, pulse, but a pulse nonetheless.
He looked around him to see the gang- minus Pony- standing in awe of Dally being dead and Johnny being alive. He also saw the mob of cops approach him.
"Son, we're gonna need you to step away from the body," a husky cop with dark facial hair sneered grimly.
"No, he's not dead! Dally is still alive! Quick, somebody call an ambulance," Johnny insisted.
"We're gonna need you to step away from the body. Don't make us ask you again."
Johnny looked up at them with desperate bewilderment. "Listen to me, he is still alive! See for yourself," he pleaded.
"This is your final warning," the officer persued stubbornly, raising the gun that had remained in his hand.
It dawned on Johnny in that moment that they didn't want Dallas to live. He meant nothing to them- all he had been was a pain in their sides. And now he was as good as gone- and they intended to keep him that way.
"You all know damn well that you can help him right now, and if you don't do something this second I will-"
Johnny didn't get to finish his threat, because one of the cops had shot him, too. Pain shot through his body, and he fell over beside Dally. All his senses fogged, he couldn't find his mouth to scream out. All he could see was the off-white light of the street lamp, all he could hear was the muffled screaming of his gang and the police.
So this was how it would end? Laying there beside his friend, his more than friend, it felt like their story would end as some sort of twisted Romeo and Juliet.
But he wasn't ready for it to end, not like this.
Dally didn't deserve to leave this world, lying there cold and alone on the street, not knowing that there was any good left in this world. He didn't deserve to die like that. And Johnny wouldn't let him.
He peeped an eye open, and looked around him. His vision was as clear as ever now. Just as he suspected, Dally's gun was still laying beside him. Johnny took a deep breath.
Then, he leaped up, and before anyone had time to realize what was happening, he had the gun to one of the cop's heads. Not just any cop- the chief of police, as shown to him a while back by Dally.
The police captain's eyes filled with fear. Of course the gun wasn't loaded, but he didn't know that, and quiet little Johnny sure could bluff when he was determined. And man was he determined.
"Now, you are going to command them to pick up Dallas, and put him in the passenger seat of one of your cars," Johnny commanded, in a tone that the gang- with the exception of Ponyboy- had never heard him use.
The officer resentfully did as he was told, and while at gun point, walked along with Johnny over to the patrol car.
Johnny took his keys, hopped in the car, and sped away, with Dallas slumped over beside him.
The cop lay for a moment on the road where he had been left, stunned, then jumped to his feet and yelled, "AFTER THEM!"
Soon enough, the normally timid greaser was speeding down the highway with a fleet of cops on his tail. He wasn't scared though- he was exhilarated. The world had kicked him around for years, and he had taken it, but at long last it had crossed the line. He WAS going to save his Dally. They couldn't stop him now.
However, they sure could chase him for a while. Dammit, he cussed aloud. He didn't have time for this. His favorite person in the world was DYING. He needed to ditch the fuzz, but they were multiplying by the minute. And being as he had just held the chief of police hostage, they wouldn't stop till they caught him, dead or alive. Or dead, he smirked.
The numerous cop cars, sirens blazing and all, trailed the stolen patrol vehicle to the train station, coming in from all angles. Just as they were about to surround it, the signal went off that a train was coming. As the train sped forward on its rail, Johnny's car didn't stop. It looked as though he was about to beat it, but- he didn't make it in time. The train ravaged the car, tearing it to bits. The Tulsa Police Department watched this seen, with mixed emotions of horror and success.
Little did they know, Johnny had shoved Dally out of the car prior to this, and they were now on a train to heaven knows where.
As the wheels of their freight train click-clacked into the darkness, at long last, Johnny had a chance to stop Dally's bleeding. Tears had returned to the dark haired boy's eyes as he slaved over his friend's wounded body through the long, moonless night.
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