The sirens screamed down the street, stopping in front of the Cade home. The blue and red of the lights highlighted the walls in the house, flickering off of the faces of the boys inside. Johnny stood over his father's body, his breath coming in short gasps, his face a mask of fear. He couldn't move, almost as if his feet were glued to the spot. He moved his eyes to look at the knife protruding from his father's back, buried deep into the left side, next to his shoulder blade. No doubt it had pierced his heart, the blood from his body having poured from the wound, a sickly deep crimson soaking into the floor. Johnny felt his stomach lurch at the sight and tore his eyes away, settling on Darry, who was now huddled on the floor, holding his arm. Soda and Pony had moved to Darry's side, allowing Steve and Dallas to hang back, both surprised by Johnny's actions.
Two-Bit reached for Johnny, but Johnny flinched as soon as he felt Two-Bit's hand touch his arm, nearly toppling forward. He steadied himself, and Two-Bit backed off, sensing the terror coming from his friend. Johnny did what he felt he had to do to protect his friends as well as himself. But the reality of it was now sinking in, and he felt his body beginning to go into shock.
The police then barged through the door, guns at the ready. There were three of them, only one shot had been fired, and surely they didn't feel the need to send in a whole team. "Hands where I can see them!" The one farthest into the house yelled. Immediately, the boys threw their hands in the air, the men eyeing each one of them in turn. Darry did his best, his shoulder oozing blood down his arm and onto his shirt. One of the officers noticed he was wounded and walked to him, inspecting the severity and calling for an ambulance into his walkie talkie. Another of the officers noticed the gun on the ground and moved toward it. "Alright." He told them. "Go ahead and lower your hands." The boys did as they were told. "What happened here?"
"He was hurting Johnny!" Pony blurted. "He was going to kill him! And he shot my brother!"
"Pony." Darry managed. "Calm down, honey. Let's explain from the beginning."
Pony nodded and sat down next to his brother, who was being attended to by the officer, pressure being applied to the gunshot wound. Darry winced through the pain and spoke again. "Mr. Cade was abusing his son. He's the one who shot me when I tried to stop him. Check the gun if you want." He knew there would be fingerprints on the gun from Johnny's father, and Johnny's back was proof enough of the abuse. Darry didn't say anything else, didn't mention who put the knife in Mr. Cade's back, nor did he give any explanation as to why the rest of the gang was there. The pain and blood loss were making him dizzy and he leaned his head against the wall.
"We'll discuss this further after you've been fixed up and the scene assessed. But I'm afraid all of you will have to come with me." The officer who seemed to be the head of them explained. "The ambulance will see you get to the hospital and checked out." He told Darry. "The rest of you will have to come with us." He gestured to the two police cars waiting outside.
"Please can I go with my brother?" Pony nearly begged. "Please don't make him go alone."
"He's only thirteen." Darry spoke up. "We're all a bit shaken up from this. Would it be okay for him to ride with me to the hospital?"
"I'm afraid not." The officer told Darry. "Unfortunately we have no idea what happened here and we can't just let him go. We'll look after him."
Ponyboy felt hot tears fill his eyes, the overwhelming terror of the situation beginning to hit him and he reached for Soda. "Don't worry Pony. I'll be okay. Everything will be alight. Just go with the officers. Soda will be with you." He turned his attention to Johnny, who had a sickly pallor to his skin. "Johnny. Can you walk over here?"
The officers sensed Johnny's need to see Darry and didn't stand in his way or stop him from moving slowly across the room on shaky legs. "You need to tell them what happened, Johnnycake. I won't let anything happen to you okay?" Darry rasped, his body feeling the effects of the blood loss. Johnny nodded with a worried look on his face, scared for his friend, himself, and whatever was coming.
They all looked towards the front door as the siren of the ambulance approached, coming to a stop next to the patrol cars. Two paramedics walked through the door, without so much as a glance at the scene before them, focusing only on Darry, who they insisted lie on the stretcher on the way to the hospital. After they loaded Darry into the ambulance and it made its way to the hospital, the officers ushered the other boys into the patrol cars; Soda, Pony and Johnny in one, Dally, Steve, and Two-Bit in the other. Soda recognized the driver of their car as one of the officers that had told them about their parents. Maybe this was the reason they weren't being too rough on them. They hadn't had weapons in their possession, other than the gun on the floor (Mr. Cade's) and the knife in the man's back (also Mr. Cade's). Soda sat in the middle of the two younger boys, an arm protectively around them both. He was worried about how all of this went down and what it was going to mean for them. Would Johnny go to jail? Would he and Pony get taken away from Darry? Would Darry be okay? Too many questions circled around in his head as they drove in silence towards the station. At least they didn't run the sirens and draw more attention to themselves, he thought. As he held the group's youngest members, he wanted nothing more than to make sure they were safe. If he had to, he'd take the blame for what Johnny did. But he knew the others were thinking the same thing. No one was willing to allow Johnny to go down for this, especially not when he was only trying to protect them. They should have fought for him a long time ago. Now they were going to.