I want to thank GreaserAtHeart, greasergurl13, stereo chick, and everyone else who has reviewed this story saying they wish for me to continue it. I'm glad you guys like it, and I'll be more than happy to keep writing it. I just wanted to make sure there was still an audience. J That being said, here is a long chapter since I think you guys deserve it. It's going to keep getting violent and sketchy, so you've been warned. Thanks again,

Logan Parker

Part I: The Eastside, The Westside, and the Sides In-between

Chapter 6: MIA

Soda

Pony looks so young lying in the hospital bed the way he is. He just got out of surgery, and the doctor tells us that he should be fine. Pony hasn't woken up yet, so we don't know anything about who shot him or why. And we don't have any idea where Jude might be. Jason, of course, is going crazy. He got tired of pacing the hospital, and decided to go out and look for his brother. He already called in a report with the police, and had him listed as missing, so the police are doing what they can. However, if the people who shot Pony, are the one's who have Jude, then I'm not sure how long we have. They almost killed my brother, so I don't even want to know what they'll do to Jude.

Jason

He's not fucking anywhere! I've drove around this whole damn city at least three times, and I still don't have a clue of where he could be. The police say they're doing what they can, but what the hell can they do? None of us have a clue about who could have taken my brother, or where he could be. Until Pony wakes up, we won't have any idea at all of where to start.

"Move it, ya fuckin' asshole!" I scream to the car that just cut me off. I'm really not in the mood. I feel like crying, but I'm doing my best to hold it in. I know I need to stay focused, but it's so hard. I haven't felt this way since the time I got the call that Jude was in the hospital after being shot by the robbers in Detroit. I can't help but wince as the memory comes back to me.

"Jason man, you gotta get down here!" Tony screamed in my ear. He had called me in the middle of a stunt my friend and I were practicing. The panic in his voice was enough to scare me immediately.

"Tony, what's wrong? Wh-" I ask him back calmly.

"I don't know man. I don't know anything man. I was coming to your house to see if you were there, and when I pulled up, there's all these ambulances. God man they weren't moving Jason. They weren't fucking moving!"

"Tony, calm the fuck down and tell me what's happening!" I screamed.

"Your house man! I think it's been robbed. And your parents, and Jaime and Jude man…they don't look okay. Just…just get down here!"

I try not to think about the way my brother looked in the hospital beneath all those tubes and wires. Or the way my parents and sister looked in the morgue. My brother's survival rate wasn't all that good, and after he came through in the surgery, I promised myself I was never going to let anything happen to him again. And now look where I am. The same fucking place I was then. Not knowing what's happened to Jude, or if he's going to be okay or not. I think about Pony, and how he'd been shot, and I can't repress the tears any longer. I don't even care how childish and stupid it may look. I can't help it. I roughly wipe away the tears that fog up my vision, but it doesn't help. I can't stop crying now. I pull over at a gas station and hang my head in my hands and try to breathe slowly.

"This isn't helping. Pull it together Jason." I tell myself, opening the car door and locking it behind me.

"I just need a breather. Get something to drink." I say out loud, not caring how silly it looks that I'm talking to myself. I wipe at my eyes one last time before entering the gas station.

"Have any beer?" I ask the man at the counter without looking at him.

"Yeah. Right back there, to ya' left." He says pointing. I grab a couple, then a pack of cigarettes, and head back to the counter. I never smoke.

"Four dollars." He says casually. I hand him the money, then head for the door.

"You haven't by any chance seen a blond kid, about this high, come in here have you?" I ask, measuring with my hand about how tall Jude is. The cashier thinks for a second before answering.

"About any hour ago, a kid matching that description, came in with four big guys. They were asking for the restroom. The kid didn't look too hot, but I don't know if it's the same kid you're asking about." He answers. I grab him by the shoulders, catching him off guard.

"Did he say anything? Was he hurt?' I ask frantically.

"No, he didn't say nothing. Kept looking at me. I…dunno. He was walking. His face was a little bruised, but nothing too serious." He answers. I let out a sigh of relief.

"Where did they go?" I ask him.

"I-I don't remember." I feel myself loosing patience.

"Look man, that could have been my little brother! Now tell me which way they fucking went!" I yell. The man flinches and looks outside, as if seeing it again.

"That way. Left, down that street." He says hurriedly.

"Good, thanks. Can I use your phone?" I ask. He nods, handing it to me. I call the police, sure that they're tired of me by now.

"Mike Stanton?" I ask, using the number on his card he gave me.

"Yeah. Jason? What's going on?"

"I'm at a gas station. Um, Corner Store, it's called. The cashier says he saw a boy matching Jude's description, come into the store with four guys." I tell him.

"Well, can he describe the guys?" Mike asks excitedly.

"Can you describe the guys?" I ask the cashier. He seems more relaxed now that I'm talking to the police. If I wasn't so nervous, I might feel bad for scaring him.

"Um, big. Two were white, one was black, the other was like…dark skin, but not black. All were tall. One of them…one of them had a tattoo! It was of a snake a staff!" The guys says, happy he can remember an important detail. I relay this information back to Mike, who say he'll send over a sketch artist and see if they can make any positive identifications.

"Thanks man. I really appreciate this." I tell the cashier, handing him a twenty. I don't wait around for a response though. Feeling better than I did going in, I go to my car and make the drive back to the hospital. Maybe Pony is awake by now.

Pony

"A tattoo of a snake and a staff?" I ask, thinking back to the kids in the alley. "No, no one there had a tattoo." Darry looks at me seriously, along with the officer, Mike.

"Ponyboy, if you remember anything…anything at all." The officer says. I'm starting to get frustrated.

"Look officer, these guys you're describing aren't the ones that jumped Jude and I in the alley. I know that for sure. These guys were just friends of Bob Sheldon. They were mad because of his whole murder thing. I even go to school with two of them. They jumped us, then shot me, and then I don't remember anything else." I tell him surely. Jason looks completely distraught.

"Then who were these guys the cashier was talking about?" Jason asks impatiently. Mike gives him a sympathetic look.

"I don't know Jason. Someone else could have picked him up along the way, or maybe it was a different kid-"

"It wasn't a different kid. It was him." Jason states.

"I know that's what you want to believe-"

"Fuck what I want to believe! I know it's him. I just know it!" Jason yells.

"Jason, Jason calm down. We have the sketch artist talking to the cashier now. If it's those guys that took your brother, we'll know who they are. But we have to think of all possible circumstances. Maybe Jude went to get help, and passed out along the way." Mike tells him, which is completely possible. Somehow though, I just don't believe it's true.