You see... I would have posted this sooner but... you know... I recently became a... fan of... (addicted to) a video game... but! THREE HOURS AGO I BET IT! And then , of course, I dutifully went to posting this chapter.

So you're welcome.

You know how you can repay me?

Review.

And THEN... maybe...

someone will live.

ALSO!

I WANT THIS ON YOUR RADAR.

For the possible... third installment of this story... what couple is your favorite. Also, give me a reason.

Trust me, it actually has value.

Oh! yea! Don't ask about the Chapter Title. Just... Don't.

-Jasmine

Darrel Curtis burst out of the car and ran down the street as fast as he could. Something was up. He felt it in his gut. This wasn't a trick; Sam would never send him a message like that if she didn't mean it. Darry could hear his feet pounding on the pavement. The movement seemed to reverberate in his ears. He could see what was going on in the cookie shop from down the street. He could see it happening, and there was nothing he could do. There was nothing he could do when the bullet left Robber 3's gun.

As the bullet went right into Sam's neck.

He watched in complete horror as Sam fell back and gasped for air. The complete look of shock on her face…

Darrel ran faster.

He burst through the door and threw Robber 3 on the ground. He didn't even feel bad that he knocked out both the robber and Steve. He had only one goal at that moment.

Sam.

He had to help Sam.

Darrel jumped over the counter and held Sam in his arms.
"It's going to be okay," he told her. He tried his hardest to keep the tears out of his eyes, or at least his voice.
"It's alright. You're going to be fine. You're going to live. You're going to do that for me, Sam. You're going to live. You're going to live, damn it, Samantha, you're going to live!" Sam let out a cough and blood trickled down her chin as a tear rolled down her cheek. Darry wiped it away as best as he could. His hand was shaking like crazy.

"Sam…" he pleaded. "Stay with me, Sam. You've got to! You've got to stay with me, Sam!" he sobbed. Sam looked up at him with loving and half-closed eyes. The pain wasn't even clear in them.
"Darrel…" she whispered out. "I can't…"

"Yes you can, Sam!" Darry yelled. "You can! I won't let you leave me!"

"Please, Darrel," she said in a weak voice. "Please let me die."

"No! No, Sam! I can't! I can't leave you!" he told her.
"Yes…" she said, "Let me go… Let the pain… go..." With that word, Sam's eyes fluttered close and she let out one last breath. Darrel couldn't stop crying.
"Sam!" he yelled. "Sam, come back! Come back, Sam!" he pleaded.

Meanwhile, while all this mush was happening, Adam was remembering that they were in the middle of a cookie store robbery gone rouge. Darrel got a sharp kick in the back. He looked up to see a teary eyed Adam.

"Go!" she mouthed and nodded her head towards Meg. Darry looked down at Sam's dead body once more. He had to save someone else. He was too late to save Sam… She would have wanted him to…

"Fine!" Robber 1 yelled out. "If this is how it's going to be, let's just start wasting people!" Darry growled and got up off the ground. He ran at Meg with full force. She tried her hardest to get out of Robber 4's grip, but he pulled out his gun and let out open fire.

So did robber 2.

And Robber 1.

Darry's body whipped around as bullets hit it everywhere: they flew into his arms, his legs, his neck, his eyes, his forehead, his chest. He fell to the ground with an ungraceful thump and lay mangled on the floor. He didn't look peaceful or triumphant. He just looked dead and bloody. Everyone watched in horror as the pool of blood around him slowly grew to be larger and larger.

Sobs were coming from everyone. No one knew just who they were for. Dale? Sam? Darrel?

All of them?

Meg was thrashing around even more, and Robber 4 steered her into a wall a few good times in hopes of knocking her out or something. No such luck, though.

This was turning out to be a lot more than they bargained for.

…

"Hello?" Ponyboy answered in a sleepy voice. Who would be calling him so early in the morning?

"Sam! Sam, come back! Come back, Sam!" Ponyboy heard his brother pleading on the other end. Ponyboy looked at the caller ID in confusion. It was from Sam. Had she butt-dialed him or something?

"Fine! If this is how it's going to be, let's just start wasting people!" Pony was taken aback by this comment, but it was the next few moments that really scared him to death.

Rapid gunfire.

His old brother grunting.

A body falling.

Sobbing.

Screaming.

What was going on?

….

"Is this not just peachy keen?" Adam asked. "Some baby shower of mine, huh? This is one for the history books. What do you think?"

"Shut up!" Robber 1 yelled. "Do you not get it? You are a hostage. You could die at any moment. Do you not understand that fact?"

"I'm not going to die!" Adam told him. The robber gave her an evil look.

"That doesn't mean I won't make you hurt…" he told her. Before Adam could do anything the robber was hitting her.

In her stomach.

"THE BABY!" Adam screamed, "Don't hurt the baby! Please! Please don't hurt the baby!" she begged. Robber 1 just gave her a merciless look and grabbed a knife from behind the counter before stabbing it into her large stomach. Adam couldn't stop sobbing. She looked around the room. Tyler was scared to death with tears flowing silently down her cheeks. Johnny was holding his bloody knee and trying his best to fix it to a point where he could walk and try to be helpful. Meg was still struggling in Robber 4's grip. Sodapop and Gigi… She couldn't find them. She looked down at Steve. He was just starting to wake up again. He finally opened his eyes just as Robber 1 pulled the knife up across her stomach. Adam collapsed. Steve let out another yell of fury and pulled up his strength to attack Robber 1 just as the door flew open and Ponyboy rushed in.

…

Ponyboy burst into the cookie store just in time to see Steve fall down. He didn't realize just what had happened to him until Adam started to scream for him. He looked down at Steve. His forehead had a large dark red hole in it. Ponyboy gasped. He turned around to look at Robber 1 and Adam. Robber 1 was looking at his gun in astonishment. No one else seemed to be moving. Robber 1 didn't even put up that much of a fight when Ponyboy pulled Adam out of his grip and she fell on top of Steve. Her sobbing was too much. The heartbroken, soul-ripping sound of yearning for a lost lover was too much or anyone to mess with at the moment. She hugged him close and ran her fingers over the bullet hole. It seemed so unreal… It just couldn't be happening. It could not. It simply could not.

"Monster!" Adam screamed at Robber 1. "You cold blooded, heartless monster!" Robber 1 looked down at the gun. Adam was right; he was a monster. He brought the gun up to his head. He didn't deserve to live.

He pulled the trigger, and it was quick and painless.

He didn't feel a thing.

…

Johnny called on all strength he had left and crawled over to Tyler while Robber 2 was distracted. She leaned down, and they kissed. After a moment, though, Tyler was yanked back up by an angry Robber 2.

"YOU!" he yelled and threw Tyler down on the floor before picking up Johnny. He grabbed Johnny's head in his large hands and smashed it into the wall.

Over.

And Over.

And Over.

"Stop!" Tyler screamed. "Stop! You'll kill him! You can't kill him, too!" Tyler looked desperately around for something she could use to stop him, but all she could see was Robber 2's gun. She picked it up and cocked it.
"I didn't want to have to do this," she said to herself and opened fire on his back. Robber 2 slumped to the ground, and his grip on Johnny became nothing. Tyler threw the gun on the ground and picked up Johnny's head in her hands and put it gently in her lap. She looked at his bloody temples.

"Johnny?" she asked quietly.

"Johnny?" she asked again in a more urgent voice.

No answer. She felt for his pulse.

Nothing. Tyler began to sob. Before she knew what was happening another pair of arms was around her. She foolishly thought they we're Johnny's, but when they yanked her up into a standing position, she realized at once that they were not.

"No!" Tyler yelled. "You can't have me!" She brought her leg back with force right into his groin. Robber 3 doubled over in pain.

What Tyler didn't know (or maybe she did; maybe she knew it was going to happen) was that when Robber 3 woke up, he took Robber 1's knife that he had used on Adam. That knife was out when he doubled over in pain. That knife was out one minute and the next…Well, it was sticking out of Tyler's chest.

The worst part?

She died with a smile on her face.

She was happy, because she knew that she would be with Johnny then.

She was dead, and she was happy.