The rickety truck dipped and jumped at every little bump in the road. The rusty department where the gang was stuck in was dark, only a few small beams of light shone through the bullet holes. Their bodies lifted up from the floor whenever the truck would run over a chomper—the sickening sound of bodies crunching and sloshing with the tires was the worst. None of them could see. None of them knew where they were going. They just knew that they were screwed.
Both Johnny and Ponyboy were situated next to each other, arms pressing together, reassuring that they were there and alive, but their contact was short-lived. The door swung open, light flooding into the department. The gang squinted and covered their red, puffy eyes as blurred figures grabbed at them, dragging them out of the department.
They were pushed forward, through a narrow path between two fences. Chompers pushed against the fences which bent dangerously inwards. They couldn't look around too much because of the abundance of chompers, blocking their sight.
The gang entered a giant factory, not even getting the time to look around before they were forced into another room, the door locking behind them. They were alone again, but this time there were guards standing outside the door.
Darry slammed his fists into the wall. Not satisfied, he slammed his fists into the wall again and again until blood started seep through his knuckles and the concrete wall began to crack.
"Calm down," Steve shouted, grabbing Darry's arm to stop him from continuing. Darry spun around, rage evident on his face.
"Calm down? Two-Bit's dead and we're trapped here just waiting to die!" Darry exclaimed. "If we didn't go to the town, we wouldn't be in this situation!"
"No one could have known," Johnny defended, trying to end the argument before it could get too far.
Darry growled. "That may be," he said, turning to Dally, "but you could have shut your trap. You were the one that initially got Two-Bit killed!"
"Hey, he was going to use us as bait!" Dally defended, taking a step closer.
"Look at that! He still is!"
"Fuck off!" Dally pushed Darry back. Darry looked appalled for a second before he shoved Dally a lot harder.
"Knock it off!" Steve ordered, trying to push Darry away. Johnny ran forward to try to coax Dally into backing off. It worked, for the most part, but Darry wanted to drag the fight on as long as possible, it seemed.
"See? Because you want to start fights is the reason why this happened!" Darry broke free from Steve and pushed Dally, who immediately reciprocated by throwing a punch. The next few moments were a blur for everyone. Limbs were thrown out and tangled, blood was getting everywhere. Johnny and Steve were trying their best to break them apart.
"Darry, stop!" Ponyboy screamed, trying to help Steve pry off Darry. Darry spun around so fast, Ponyboy had to take a step back. Without realizing what he did, Darry punched Ponyboy square in the face.
For a moment, Ponyboy's body went numb as he felt the earth disappear from under him. As soon as he hit the floor, pain erupted through his face and he cried out in pain. Tears stung his eyes as Ponyboy looked up towards his older brother, who was looking at his fist in shock.
"Ponyboy…" Darry muttered and tried to step forward, but stopped when Ponyboy flinched and looked at him with fear.
The door slammed open and the armed guards rushed in, grabbing them separately.
"What the fuck happened?" one yelled, but didn't wait for an answer before dragging everyone but Darry out of the room, locking it behind them.
They took each person in separate rooms instead of the same.
It felt like a millennium before Ponyboy's door opened. His cheek was swollen and bruised, but he had mostly calmed down since the violent fiasco.
"Get up," the guard ordered. Ponyboy complied, following the man out of the room to another room deeper in. Ponyboy swallowed thickly, legs shaking as the guard knocked on the door.
"Come in," a voice answered.
"Get in." The guard pushed Ponyboy in the room.
The leader of the group was seated on a sofa, playing aimlessly with the wooden bat. He smiled over at Ponyboy, motioning him over to the spot next to him. Ponyboy sat away, scooting as far away as he could. He eyed the man wearily as if he could pounce on him at any second. "Geez, kid, relax!"
"What do you want?" Ponyboy asked, not able to stop his voice was trembling.
"I just want to check if you're okay! I heard about what happened."
"I'm fine."
Without warning, Ponyboy's face was grabbed and tilted to be examined. "Really? That bruise looks nasty! He got you good!"
Ponyboy slapped the hand away. A risky move, but, though not assuring, he got a laugh as a reaction.
"You're a tough kid. I like you, but something tells me that you are still a wimp. I want you to prove that you have balls."
"How so?" Ponyboy squeaked out.
"Bring it in!"
The door opened and a chomper was pushed inside the room. Ponyboy pushed himself farther back as the chomper approached them.
"I really like you and I don't want anything to happen to you, but I have to know," the man continued, taking out a knife. He handed it Ponyboy. "Kill it. I'll be back."
Ponyboy was left alone with the chomper. He stumbled out of the couch to run to the farthest wall away. The chomper turned around and approached him. Ponyboy couldn't keep running. If he wanted to survive, he had to kill the chomper. Not only was he too short to reach the chomper's head (his growth spurt had just started), but he didn't want to get close.
Ponyboy fumbled with the knife, deciding how he was going to take the chomper down. He had to somehow knock it off its feet. Ponyboy ran around the chomper, kicking the coffee table to block its path. Unfortunately, the chomper walked around the table, grabbing Ponyboy's shoulders. With a stifled scream, Ponyboy kicked the chomper's knees, forcing it to fall on the ground. Before it could get up or grab Ponyboy, he stabbed it in the head.
Ponyboy pulled back when the door opened again and another chomper was pushed inside. Chompers was pushed in one after the other until there was barely any room to move around freely. Ponyboy was covered head to toe in chomper blood, looking disheveled. The door opened again and Ponyboy held up the knife, but instead of another chomper, the man came back, looking around the room in mock surprise.
"Shit, kid. This room reeks and you made a mess!" While the man was examining the room, Ponyboy slipped the knife in his sleeve, praying that the man didn't see the action. "Take him back and get the other kid."
Ponyboy was taken out of the room by a guard. He felt the cool metal of the blade against his forearm as he contemplated on when he should take it out and escape. His initial thought was to wait until he reached the room, but he had to act now of Johnny might die.