Chapter Eleven: Pain

I could hear Two-Bit start to whimper a little, "is she, Soda, is she, dead?" At that, Danny's head moved to one side and a soft groan pushed through her red-stained lips.

"She's alive!" Soda exclaimed, nearly jumping off the ground.

I still wanted to get sick but the adrenaline thankfully took over. I rushed over to the side closest to the gunshot wound and demanded Soda's handkerchief that he always carried in his back pocket. Grabbing it, I firmly pressed down where most of the blood was spilling out. Danny winced and I felt sorry but relieved to hear anything from her at all. Soda simply brushed back her hair and whispered soothingly. The handkerchief was soaked almost instantly by the rain and the blood. I had forgotten a jacket, as usual, and had Darry threw me his. Soda placed it over Danny's quivering body while I searched for something else to use. Soda caught on and hurriedly pulled off his shirt and handed it to me.

"She needs to get to hospital, fast" I stammered, trying to sound firm and confident like those heroes you see in movies or read about in books.

"I can go run to a payphone and call for help" Two-Bit offered and was gone before anyone bothered to answer.

The minutes seemed to tick by as if hours. Where was the ambulance? Soda's shirt wasn't going to work forever. We were all so worried that none of us noticed when Danny first woke up and opened her eyes. A cough formed in her throat and emerged as a moan for Soda.

"Hey" he said softly, "hey, shh now. I'm here. They ain't going to hurt you no more. You're okay"

"You're bleeding," she choked out looking up at Soda's face

"Nah, It's nothing. I'm fine. Shh now"

"Soda, am I bleeding?"

"Yeah, yeah you are. It's okay though. You're going to be alright, ya hear me?".

"I'm so cold, Soda. Why aren't you cold? So cold."

"We're going to take you something nice and warm, okay?"

She nodded weakly and turned to see the rest of us for the first time, "Hey Ponyboy. What are you all – Jesse! Where's Jesse? I was lookin' for him. Where is he?" She tried to sit up but Soda held her shoulders down and urged her to calm down, reassuring her that Jesse was found and safe. Danny smiled as best she could but began to close her eyes slowly.

"Danny? Danny, no. Stay with me now. You got to stay awake honey. Come on now," he cradled her head in his arms and continued whispering to her.

"There were so many," she interrupted, "so many. I tried to fight. I did. I thought you were dead," she paused, "you're bleeding", she repeated, "blood. So much of it. I tried to stop it, to stop them. I fought, but they beat me down. They forced – they had a gun. They threatened to use it if I didn't – I tried to fight. I tackled the guy with the gun when he stood up but he wouldn't let go. It went off and they ran. They just ran. Soda, Soda, I'm sorry. I wanted it to be you first. I wanted it to be you." With that, she passed out cold in Soda's arms.

We all realized then what Soda couldn't say in front of the kid. Darry clenched his fists and his face got red hot with anger. He muttered curses under his breath as Two-Bit kicked a nearby tree. Two-Bit. I hadn't even realized he had returned. The ambulance. Where was it? It was taking too long. Darry spoke my thoughts and Soda looked up at him, broken and desperate. It broke my heart seeing my brother like that and I'm sure it did Darry's too because I swear I saw a tear run down his cheek.

"The truck," Soda insisted, "Darry please go get the truck"

"It isn't safe to move her if we don't know what we're doing," I stuttered, "and it will take too long to get it and get there –"

"I'm not just going to sit here and watch her die!" Soda shouted with intensity I had never seen him have, "Please Darry, the truck."

Darry bolted back to the house and when he returned with his truck we all helped get Danny in the back. Soda and I stayed back there with her while Two-Bit ran to tell Steve. The drive was no more than fifteen minutes but it felt like a cross country trip. I had never had so much blood on my hands. I never knew it was so warm. And then I realized that it wasn't just blood on my hands, it was Danny's blood. Danny, who your brother was going to maybe marry, Danny, who wrote poems and read books like I read, who could get along with just about everyone and could even make Darry smile, sometimes laugh, even when he was in a real foul mood. Danny, who had lost everything except her brother, who lived and now was dying for his survival, who rarely cared about herself but took care of everyone else, who I could talk to about almost anything, who- my head was swimming and I didn't even realize I had stopped applying pressure to her wound.

"Ponyboy!"

The shout jolted me back to reality and I saw Soda looking sharply from Danny to me to his bloody shirt. I was shaking again and tried to steady my hand as I reapplied the fabric over the small hole in Danny's body. We finally stopped and immediately carried Danny out from the back of the truck. There was so much noise and screaming, my head was spinning. I couldn't think. I didn't want to think. Danny was dying.

"What happened?" A doctor was hurrying alongside us as nurses pushed Danny down a hall.

"She, she" Soda stammered but just kept staring after Danny. It finally hit him. What had hit me on the ride to the hospital slammed him over the head as he saw her lying there, helpless.

"She was shot" Darry finished for him, "we were waiting for an ambulance but it never showed so we brought her."

"I applied pressure to it and slowed the bleeding but I couldn't get it to stop. She's been out for quite some time in the rain. She woke up and spoke for a few minutes but passed out cold. Her breathing has been pretty weak and she was pretty cold. I think she might've been going into shock."

"Is she going to be alright?" Soda asked in a panic-stricken voice

"We're going to do our best. The kid probably saved her life, or at least prolonged it so she could make it here."

He disappeared into a room filled with other doctors and nurses. I could barely see Danny behind the crowd of people. Soda slumped into a chair and began sobbing heavily. Darry and I exchanged glances and went by his side, wrapping our arms around him.