A/N: Sorry that is has been awhile folks! I've been real busy with work.

Chapter 20: The Water Was Red

A harsh and quick shaking motion pulled me from my brief slumber. I didn't even have to look up to know that is was Darry's strong hand on my shoulder, shaking me, like usual. It felt different this time though. The grip and the ruggedness were the same, but there was a small, almost unnoticeable difference. Darry was almost being gentle.

"Ponyboy, come on, Pony. Wake up, buddy. I need you."

I scrunched my eyes tight and then blinked several times to adjust to night vision after waking. I could tell I had merely been unconscious for less than a minute or so but it still felt like I had slept for a year. Everything felt heavy, from my head to my feet, and all that had happened was a blur. I could barely recall why I was even outside, let alone lying in the grass.

I glanced up. The whole earth seemed still in that second; that second that I saw the crumpled figure of a body lying on the ground only feet ahead of me. With that image, my mind fully jolted back to reality. I remembered talking with my brothers, them holding me. I remembered the peace. Then I hesitantly recalled the Socs and them breaking that peace. As everything flooded back to me, I suddenly remembered the sharp and white hot pain I had felt only moments earlier. I sat up swiftly and clutched my hand over my arm in pain. Warm, thick liquid covered my fingers instantly. For a second, I thought I was going crazy because I could feel my heart beating through my wound. It pulsed in agony with every breath I took and every beat inside my shivering chest.

Darry let out a tiny gasp and ripped off part of his shirt, hastily but efficiently wrapping and tying it around the new opening of the flesh in my upper arm. Its white shade did not last very long and I soon realized that not only my fingers and Darry's shirt were stained. A red puddle sat in the grass where I had fallen. The darkness tried to hide its color, making it appear to be merely dark water, but nothing could conceal the heavy iron aroma it produced.

"Pony, hey, look at me. Stay with me."

I guess he could see in my eyes that I was becoming dizzy and fading again from seeing all of the blood, or because of my wound. I couldn't tell. I thought I was being stupid for reacting like that to blood, as I had seen a Soc lying in an entire pool of his own before. The image of the dead boy made me remember the unknown lifeless figure that was still near me.

"Ponyboy, I need you."

In that instant our eyes met sharply.

"It's Soda."

My heart dropped like a bomb falling from the sky. No. No, it can't be Sodapop. It can't be! I snapped my head back towards to darkened silhouette that was still unmoving. That shadowed figure could not have been my brother, it was not possible. By then, Darry was yanking me off the ground and pulling me quickly towards the reality I didn't want to face. As we drew closer I could begin to make out his blue DX shirt. Although, now, it was no longer blue, at least, not all of it. I collapsed to my knees next to him, shaking, and tears already forcing their way from my eyes.

"Is he - ?"

"No." Darry replied sternly and instantly, as if proclaiming it to himself as well. "Not yet. But he will be if we don't get him to a hospital, now." He was already scooping our brother up into his arms, gingerly but with speed. "I applied pressure but I can't stop the bleeding." We were both running. "The damn Socs ran off. It was that tall, lanky one."

I shuddered. He was the guy whose tires we had slashed. I had gotten my own brother stabbed, maybe even killed. No. Don't start thinking like that again. I didn't have time to think anymore. Darry had me pushing down on the wound decorating Soda's stomach as we bolted, side by side. I couldn't think about me. I could only think about Soda, about keeping him alive.