Chapter Nine: Pony's Out, Let the Fighting Begin!
Ponyboy's P.O.V
I was so excited. I was getting out of this dump they call a hospital! I miss the outdoors, the library, school, heck I even miss the Socs! Okay, maybe not Socs. But I still can't wait to get out!
Doc Hamilton came into the room. "Can I go?" I asked.
He smiled at me. "Go ahead,"
I leapt of the bed and ran out the door, well, tried to anyway. I slammed into the wall and cussed at the pain. Doc Hamilton laughed at me and led me out the door. "Be careful Ponyboy," he said. "I don't want you back in here so quickly!"
I laughed and smiled at Doc Hamilton. "Man, I am not coming back here anytime soon!" I said.
He laughed and I ran down the corridor, wishing to see color instead of bleach white walls. I couldn't wait to get outside, do chores, go to school, do track, and do homework. Man, I never thought I would think that!
I ran into the waiting room and saw the whole gang. Both gangs. I smiled and began to walk toward them, but stopped. The only gang members that have seen my eye are Darry and Lee. The others haven't seen it. How would they react?
I backed away as every possibility passed through my head. Would they think I'm a freak? Would they think this was some practical joke and tell Darry to bring the real me out? Would they scream and run like so many nurses that came with the doctor in the past day have?
Darry saw me first. "Ponyboy!" he said. "Get your ass out here!"
I put my head down and walked toward the gang. Maybe I can hide the eye. I might look weird for the rest of my life, but it would be better then scaring the rest of the gang for life.
Soda pulled me into a hug. "Good to have you back Pony," he said.
"Good to be back," I said.
"Why you hiding your face kid?" Steve asked. Damn Steve! Couldn't he just wait until I was ready to damn explain!
I could feel Soda's hand under my chin. "Is it that bad baby?" he asked.
I shuttered. Might as well get it over with, I thought.
I looked at Soda straight in his eyes. He gasped and took a few steps back. "That damn little bastard," he said.
"What the hell are you talking…" Steve began but stopped when he saw my eye. "Holy mother fucking shit," he breathed.
Two-Bit snuck around him and screamed. "Your eye!" he shouted. "What happened to your eye!"
Windy and his friends came over. Yeller was dead silent. Pit-Bull was growling and trying to hold back tears, but failing at it. Then there was Windy. He was bawling and muttering something under his breath. "You alright Wind?" I asked.
"Me alright?" Windy asked. "I should be asking you that question!"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Kaleb asked. He walked up with Jason and fainted.
"Holy shit!" Jason shouted. "Fisher, this looks worse then that time your sister fell out the window of the third story in the school and broke her leg!"
"You gotta be shitting me man!" Fisher said. He looked at me and just about joined Kaleb on the floor. "Man, Slingers are even worse then Socs!"
I gave him 'the look' with my good eye. "What are Slingers?" I asked,
"That's what we call mob members," Lee explained. "They always seem to carry a gun and Windy came up with Gun Slingers but we call them Slingers for short,"
"Great," I mumbled. "It's a three-way battle,"
"And Greasers are going to win for a change!" Pit-Bull shouted. "You know how many kid brothers and sisters out, waiting for a fight? And their big brothers and sisters aren't going to let them fight alone! Shredder and his mob are going to be wishing they never set foot in Detroit!"
I smiled and laughed. "You got that right!"
Kaleb moaned and sat up. "Holy shit," he said. "What happened?
"You fainted when you saw Pony's eye," Jason said.
Kaleb looked at me and almost fainted again. "I seriously need to learn how the hell to handle shock," he said.
We helped Kaleb off the floor and walked out the hospital. There was at least fifty-something greasers outside. They saw me and just stared for a moment. Some of them started whispering, while others loudly displayed their ideas about Slingers. A couple of younger kids came up to me and started asking questions. Sometimes I answered, sometimes Darry, and sometimes Windy.
"Are you going to fight?" a little girl asked me.
I looked at Darry. "Am I fighting?" I asked.
Darry sighed. "If you're fighting," Darry said. "You're fighting with Pit-Bull,"
"Like Johnny and me used to?" I asked.
"Like Johnny and you used to," Darry said.
I smiled at him. "Thanks Dar," I said.
"Yo Pony!" Yeller shouted. "I want you to meet my big brother, Big D!"
I ran over to Yeller and came to face to face with this big greaser. He had brown hair like Yeller, but his eyes were a deep shade of green. He was obviously pissed off about something. "You're the kid Shredder tried to kill?" he asked.
"Yup," I said. "Name's Ponyboy. I'm guessing you're Big D,"
"Yup," he said. "You know what the D stands for?"
"No," I said.
"Disaster," Big D said.
"Okay," I said, feeling a little awkward.
"Come on Pony," Yeller said. "The first rumble is going to start any minute now!"
"Here?" I asked.
"No way man!" Yeller said. "Fuzz would be down here in a minute! We're going down to The Field! I heard there was going to be at least forty-five Slingers there!"
"Weapons?" I asked.
"Anything goes," Yeller said. He grabbed two sets of chains and handed one to me. "You did really good with those ropes a couple days before the accident," he said. "Just focus on hitting the Slingers in the head hard enough to knock them out, okay? Pit-Bull gonna be helping you too,"
"This is going to be fun," I said.
"Tell me about it," Yeller said. We walked off the hospital parking lot and went toward The Field.
The war between Slingers and greasers was about to begin.
