Author's Note: Second last chapter... And since it's so short, and the next chapter is so short, too, I've uploaded them together. So this chapter is almost the end...
Please be aware that all familiar characters and locations belong to S.E. Hinton and her book, The Outsiders. The chapter title and lyrics throughout are from The Script's song, Break Even. And the title of this fic comes from the song of the same name by The Beatles.
Saturday, 22 March 1969
I'm still alive, but I'm barely breathing
Just prayed to a God that I don't believe in
The last two weeks had been reminiscent of a time Katie and Curly had almost forgotten despite their best attempts to hold on to it. Curly and Tim had been hopeful yet dubious when Curly had passed on the news that Rick was calling for a ceasefire, but he had stuck to his word for the full fortnight that Tim had later agreed upon.
They all had a fortnight for their existing injuries to heal and for those who had been picked up by the fuzz to be released. George and Troy King chose not to rumble, having already dealt with Rick personally for what he had done to Jodie in the weeks after he had hit their sister and strangled his own sister. The alliance between the River Kings and Brumly ended with Rick and Jodie's relationship. And the Tigers were happy to watch things unfold from the sidelines. Curly personally thought that the Tigers had been enjoying watching things blow up for the Shepards in the last couple of months; it had certainly taken some of the heat away from their own problems with Brumly.
The fortnight brought with it peace and what Katie thought was false hope that things were going to be okay after all. She prayed that she was wrong and that the heavy stone in her gut was a product of her own negative imaginings and not a warning of what was still to come, but she didn't think that much would change whether the two gangs rumbled or not. Not for her at least. Something might change for the gangs, but for Katie the damage was already done. She no longer recognised her own brother. She couldn't speak to her own mother. What she'd had left of her family after her dad had walked away was in pieces now and she didn't know where she would even beginning fixing things if she ever did get the chance.
Katie hadn't spoken to Rick since their run-in at Jay's two weeks ago and as she lay with Curly on her bed at Susan's place she had a terrible feeling that she was in the wrong place, with the wrong person.
"Don't worry," Curly told her, his dark blue eyes reading her hazel ones so easily. "It'll be fine."
"What if it's not?" she asked.
"It will be," he said as he grabbed her left wrist to check the time on her watch. "It's just bare fists; the worst anyone will probably get is a few cracked ribs."
Curly groaned as he rolled away from Katie and got to his feet, ready to go out to Dale and Glenn, who would be waiting for him in the lounge room by now, and head for the agreed place for the rumble several blocks away.
"Promise me you'll be careful," she said, crawling over to sit on the edge of the bed and watch him shrug his jacket on.
Curly resisted the urge to roll his eyes at her. He couldn't exactly blame her for behaving like a girl, could he? He liked it most of the time, especially the perfume she wore and the feel of her slender body pushed up against his...
"It'll be fine," Curly told her again, shoving the thoughts from his head and locking them away for a better time than right before a rumble.
Katie gave him a small appreciative smile, before sheepishly adding, "Is it too much to ask for you to make sure Rick's fine, too?"
Curly frowned at Katie as he popped the collar on his jacket. "You know he's the one we're fightin', right?"
"I know, but if it's just bare fists then he shouldn't get too badly hurt," she said and Curly's silence spoke volumes to her for the damage he planned to do tonight.
Curly had watched Rick push his sister flying and crack her head, he had seen the bruises around her throat after he had choked her and he'd listened to her cry too many times while Rick had escaped relatively repercussion-free. Curly planned to change that tonight.
"I gotta go," he said finally, his eyes lingering on Katie's still, unsure of what he was waiting for.
"Okay," she said, though her mouth re-opened as if she wanted to say something else, but she remained silent and Curly left a moment later feeling like he'd swallowed something hard and heavy.
They say bad things happen for a reason
But no wise words gonna stop the bleeding
Curly, Dale and Glenn were the last of their gang to arrive in the empty lot several blocks away from Susan's house, but they still had time to wait for a couple last stragglers from Brumly. The sun had set by now, but the glare Rick was shooting Curly was unmistakeable in the light streaming down from the lampposts around the lot, and when the two gangs came together to face one another, Rick spat on the ground at Curly's feet before glowering at Tim.
"I'm not sure whether I wanna fuck you or your brother up more, Shepard," Rick said to him, his nostrils flaring the same way Katie's did when she was angry.
"Quit talkin' shit, Thomas," Tim responded steely, "we're here to fight, and I'm here to fight you."
Rick looked between Tim and Curly, sizing the two of them up, and the tension in the air was so thick that nobody dared move until Rick pulled a closed fist back and lunged for Tim.
Movement and shouts erupted all around Curly as he tore his eyes from Tim defending himself just in time for him to spot and block a blow from Bradley Simons. Curly twisted around Bradley's punch and landed a solid hit to the side of his already bruised face, knocking him a couple of steps away. He recovered quickly, though, and came at Curly with a punch that slipped past Curly's lazy guard and split his lip open. Curly tasted blood as he stumbled back and spit it out on the grass before feinting to the left and thumping Bradley in the ribs as a crack of thunder rumbled in the distance, masking the sound of Bradley's ribs cracking, too. Bradley dropped to the ground, winded, and Curly glanced around for the next oncoming attack.
Everybody seemed caught up in their own fight with almost an even number of opponents on either side. Not far away Tim had just knocked a tooth out of Rick's mouth, but before Curly could take over for his brother, Dale backed out in front of Curly just before being tackled to the ground by Jeff Griffiths. Jeff slammed Dale into the ground and Curly bolted forward, reaching them just as Jeff grasped Dale by the front of his shirt to pull him up a little and slam himback down into the dirt again.
Curly had no time to think – otherwise he might have opted to pull Jeff off of his buddy with his hands instead – and instead of pulling Jeff off his buddy like he might have otherwise opted for, he swung a leg forward until his foot connected with Jeff's face and sent him soaring through the air behind him.
Curly helped Dale to his feet as Dale struggled to breathe air into his lungs again after being knocked on his back so forcefully. Dale nodded Curly a frantic thanks before they both moved on to the next fight to win. Curly looked around again for Tim and Rick and found them in the middle of the fray where Rick was puling himself up off the ground from a blow Curly hadn't seen Tim throw at him. Tim was distracted by one of Rick's boys, Jimmy, coming at him with his fists out in front of him, and Curly took that as his chance to go in for Rick.
Rick was moving back toward where Tim was now readying himself for Jimmy's attack and Curly moved forward into his path. Primal rage flashed across Rick's face the moment his eyes landed on Curly and his lips curled back to show his teeth in a malicious grin. Rick ran at Curly, catching him around the middle and intending to tackle him, but Curly twisted and Rick lost his footing, sending him sprawling onto the grass a few feet away. He righted himself as Curly advanced on him, but it wasn't enough time to protect himself from the punch that Curly threw next that surely snapped his jaw. It didn't stop Rick, though, who countered Curly's punch with one of his own to Curly's head, splitting the skin on his cheekbone just under his left eye. They threw a few more punches at one another – most of them landing – for a couple of rounds until Curly landed a good jab in Rick's solar plexus and he dropped like a bag of bricks.
Curly didn't think Rick would be getting back up after that and quickly looked around again to see how his buddies were faring. All around him everybody was bloody, but there were more Brumly boys on the ground than Shepard boys and the rain seemed to be holding out just long enough for them to win this thing.
Curly's eyes found Tim, who had just knocked Jimmy flying and begun to assess the damage so far like Curly was, when something akin to a war cry split the air around them. Curly looked back to see Rick stumbling up onto his feet again, the butt of a handgun grasped firmly in his right hand.
Time seemed to slow dramatically, though not long enough for Curly to do anything but stand and wait for the bullet to hit him as a gunshot cracked louder than thunder and deafened all those in the lot around them. He blinked for what he thought might be the last time and wondered if the sound of the gunshot had travelled all the way to Susan's place. Right before he had left her he had thought Katie might've been about to tell him she loved him. He thought that she did, whether she said it or not, but now he would never really know...
His eyes opened again, though, and Rick was no longer in front of him. The grunts and yells had died down and most around him had stopped fighting except for Tim and Rick, who rolled around on the ground, wrestling over something held tightly between the two. Curly ran toward them, horror gripping him as he realised his brother was struggling for his grasp on the gun that had been aimed at Curly just a moment before, and he rushed to pull Rick off of Tim as Rick gained the upper hand and rolled on top of Tim.
Before Curly could reach them, though, another gunshot – slightly muffled this time – echoed through the night and shook the stars from the sky. They fell down to the earth in glistening raindrops as Rick jerked sideways and collapsed beside Tim in the dirt. The two enemies lay side by side, staring up into the heavens as they opened for them, chests heaving, one of them drawing their final breaths.
Now I'm tryna make sense of what little remains
'Cause you left me with no love and honor to my name