The park was only a couple of blocks away. There was a fountain in the middle of it along with a kids playground. The trees made the park look scary and dark, giving me an uneasy feeling.
Johnny, Ponyboy, and I were the only ones there. Who'd be around at almost 3 in the morning? We'd be able to cool down despite us freezing half to death; Ponyboy didn't have a coat on.
"Ain't you about to freeze to death, Pony?" Johnny asked, flipping the collar to his jean jacket. "You ain't a woofin'." Pony said, rubbing his bare arms. "Forgot your coat again." I say, pulling my jacket sleeves down.
We made our way towards the park, completely unaware of being followed.
"You guys got a cigarette?" Johnny asked. "Nah, used up my last one. What about you, Pone?" I asked, remembering that I didn't have any cigarettes on me. "Yeah, sure. I found a couple." Pony said, handing me one. I lit it up with a match and inhaled a drag.
We jog over to the jungle gym and climb atop it. Pony leaned down to help me up. Johnny climbed up after me.
Then, a pair of bright headlights caught my attention. "Guys, look who's comin'." I say, seeing it was that same blue mustang from the drive-in. "Oh, glory, what do they want? This is our territory." Pony muttered.
"They're probably lookin' for us." Johnny swore under his breath. "Should we bail, guys?" I asked, feeling scared a bit. "Stay cool, okay?" Pony whispered, keeping a protective hand over mine.
The blue mustang parked a few feet from the jungle gym. Six socs out of it, they were drunk. Pony kept holding onto my hand, his fingers curling around my hand.
Usually, a deadly bluff would scare them, but we were outnumbered by six of them. Johnny's hand went to his back pocket to feel for his blade. I wish I had Two-Bit's other blade, Pony wanted that broken bottle.
"Well, well, well. What do you guys know?" Bob said, swaying back and forth. "They're drunk." Pony whispered to both of us.
I felt scared because of how many there were. Johnny was the most scared, as white as a sheet, his eyes big and wild. It was as if he was a trapped animal.
The socs had the strong scent of whiskey, making me choke. I desperately wished for Soda and Darry would come to our rescue. Surely they'd come looking for us. Four against six would easily fight it out. But we were on our own.
The Socs were Randy and Bob with four other socs, recognizing us instantly. Johnny definitely recognized them because of the rings on Bob's fingers. Johnny noticed Bob's rings, "It's the guy with the rings, guys."
"Aren't these the greasers that tried to pick up on our women? Even that greaser girl there?" Bob continued, pointing towards me. "Hey, you're outta your territory now. You guys better watch it." Johnny warned them. "No, pal. You better watch it." Bob swore before looking back at me, "Next time you want a broad, pick up kinds like this greaser girl. Dirt."
"You callin' us dirt? You really think you get kicks makin' yourselves feel good about beating us up? And for what? For your sick pleasure? If anything, you socs are the dirt." I spat, giving them a drop-dead look. "You best keep that damn mouth of yours shut, greaser girl. Or you'll get worse than the last time." Bob spat at me. The three of us climbed down the jungle gym, the socs were still eyeing us dangerously.
Ponyboy stood in front of me as an attempt to protect me from these Socs. "You three know what greasers are? White trash with long, greasy hair." Bob asked, throwing his whiskey onto my brother. The color in our faces had drained.
There hasn't been a time when we have been cussed at like that. Pony looked back at me for a second, he had this fear-filled look in his eyes. He then looks back at the group of Socs.
"You know what a soc is?" he asks. "What?" Bob asked. "White trash with Mustangs and madras." Pony said, his voice shaking with rage. He then spits at them.
That seemed to trigger them in a pit of fury. "Get them!" Bob shouted, starting to make a run at us. The three of us took off sprinting away from the Socs, who were on our tails.
"Johnny, Bex! Run! Run!" Pony shouted as Bob and his crew grabbed him. Two of them grabbed me by the collar of my jacket, ripping me away from Pony. "Pony!" I cry, seeing the socs hold him over the fountain.
One dark haired soc wrapped his arm around my neck, the inside of his elbow pressing dangerously hard against my windpipe. I kicked out at them, managing to hit one in the stomach, knocking him back a bit. "You little-!" that same soc snarled, punching me in my stomach.
I yelped in pain, feeling nauseous. While choking, I could see Bob and two other socs dunking Ponyboy's head in and out of the fountain, they were drowning him!
"Let him go!" I shouted in fury, "Let him go!" "Shut the fuck up!" that same soc snarled, punching me again across the face. It hurt like hell and I whimpered. Blood trickled down my lip.
When they dunked Ponyboy in the water, they held him under. I used all of my strength to elbow the soc that was holding me in the ribs. He let me go when I did that.
"Get off of him!" I yelled, rushing at the Socs drowning Ponyboy with my fist raised. Just as I get there, I get grabbed by my jacket collar.
Two socs picked me up and threw me into the fountain. The water was so cold that it felt like a thousand needles were stabbing me all over my body. They then grabbed me again and dragged me out of the fountain, they then started to strangle me again.
Suddenly, I could see Johnny jump up from the ground with his blade in his hand.
Before I could see what happened next, my eyes rolled to the back of my head and I ended up passing out from being strangled almost half to death.
When I woke up, I felt that I was laying on the cold pavement on the ground beside the fountain. I opened my eyes and had to blink the blurriness away. My throat and stomach hurt like hell from being punched and strangled.
I was freezing from the water. It caused my clothes to stick to my trembling body.
With a groan, I pushed my sore body upwards and sucked in a breath, only for me to wince, making me grab my throat. I had to take a minute to register what just happened.
It all came back to me when I saw the limp form of my brother laying on his back, his sweatshirt, face, and hair completely drenched from the fountain water.
"Ponyboy!" I cry, kneeling over him in panic. "Pony, wake up! Oh god, don't do this to me!" I shout, shaking his shoulders. He didn't move.
I began to panic, my heart was thumping a million miles a minute because he wasn't waking up. "G-Get up! Ponyboy, f-f-fucking get up! Please! " I cried, tears running down my face. I couldn't lose him.
When I looked at his face, I saw that he was pale and his lips were a shade of blue. I put my ear next to his mouth, he wasn't breathing! Without thinking, I put both hands to his chest and started to pump feverishly.
"Ponyboy! Breathe! C'mon!" I shouted, desperately trying to get him breathing. Tears blurred my vision from both adrenaline and panic. I opened his mouth and breathed into it, getting air into his lungs.
Suddenly, Pony turned to his side to cough up more water, struggling to breathe. He didn't hesitate to cling to me, his shivering body pressed up against mine. My body was shivering too from being thrown in the fountain.
"Oh thank god! I-I thought I lost you." I said, hugging my brother tightly. He pulled back to look at me, having wide eyes. "B-B-Bex?" he said, his teeth chattering unceasingly.
Before we could say anything else, another figure was sitting next to us. We both look over and see that it's Johnny. He had one elbow on his knee, staring straight ahead with a look of shock and fear in his dark eyes.
"I... I killed him. I killed that boy..." he said slowly. He slowly looks at us. "I killed him..." he whispers. My attention turned to the boy that he had killed. It was Bob, laying there under the moonlight... dead.
He was laying on his back, very still. Blood was growing from his inflicted wound, spreading across the pavement. Johnny's blade was covered in that boy's blood.
My stomach turned at the realization that Bob was dead. I started to cry; I couldn't help it. "Johnny, Bex, I think I'm gonna be sick." Pony said, fighting the dizziness that overwhelmed him.
He suddenly springs to his feet and stumbles towards the merry-go-round. He was doubled over, holding his stomach as he started to throw up. I didn't hesitate to go to my brother, who had sat down on the merry-go-round.
I sat down with him, also feeling sick to my stomach that Johnny had actually killed someone. "Pony? Are you okay?" I asked, seeing the distraught look on my brother's face. My brother was shivering like a leaf from how cold he was.
I hugged myself because I was freezing like hell from the water.
"Johnny... you really did kill him, huh?" Pony sobbed, hugging his arms. I couldn't help but hug him, our drenched bodies pressed against one another to trade body heat. I was shaking and crying too.
"Yeah." Johnny's voice said, "I had to. They were drowning you, Pony. They might've killed you both. I thought they were gonna do the same with you Bex after they threw you in. They were gonna beat me up." Pony gave a violent shiver at the sound of me being thrown in the fountain and choked by the socs.
"Johnny, wh-what h-happened to the o-o-other g-guys?" I asked, my voice shaking from how cold I was. "Huh? They all ran. They all ran when I attacked them. They all ran..." he answered, sighing heavily. I buried my face in Pony's bare shoulder and started to cry even more.
I couldn't believe that this was happening. I didn't want to believe it. You'd get sent to the electric chair if you killed someone. We were both terrified.
The three of us decided that we had to get the hell out of this town. And the only person that could help us was Dally. He could give us everything that we need in order to make it out.
Johnny had told us that Dally was at Buck Merril's place. Buck Merril was Dally's rodeo partner; he had got Dally the job as a jockey for the Slash J. Buck where they raised a few quarter horses and got his money from bootlegging. Pony and I didn't like Buck.
He was a tall, lanky cowboy with blond hair and buck teeth. At least he used to before they got knocked out in a fight. He even dug Hank Williams.
I kept myself linked around my shaking brother, my arm around his waist. Johnny stood in front of us and knocked on the door. Buck answered the door and the sound of Hank Williams accompanied him.
"Whatta kids want?" Buck says, eyeing us down. "Dally! We gotta see him!" Johnny gulped, looking over his shoulder at us. "He's busy." Buck said.
"Tell him it's Pony, Johnny, and Bex." Pony demanded, his voice shaking. "Please, it's important that we see him." I said, giving him a look. The only way to get anything out of Buck was to bully him. Guessing that's how Dally handles him so well.
Buck glared at us for a second before stumbling off. Dally would be in a dangerous mood if he was drunk, we all knew that much.
Dally came to the door within a few minutes, only in his jeans. Luckily, he was sober. He might've just gotten there.
"Alright, what do you guys need?" he asked. "Johnny killed a soc, Dally." I said, my voice on the cusp of breaking from all the crying.
He didn't bat a single eye when I said what happened. "Alright, good for you." he said, glancing over his shoulder. "C'mon, guys. Get in here." Dally said, pulling us into the bar.
"Pony, Bex, are you two wet?" Dally said, seeing that Pony was drenched in water. "Y-y-yes." he stammered, still shaking. "Get in here. You two'll die of pneumonia 'fore the cops find you." Dally said, motioning for us to follow him.
"Bex, what happened to your neck?" Dally said, seeing the bruises on my neck. "Those socs were strangling me." I answered, rubbing my neck. "Oh, glory!" he said in shock.
Dally shoves us into an empty room and shuts the door behind him. He threw a towel to Pony, who was still shaking. I sit down beside my brother, leaning over while hugging my arms.
"Hey, take off that sweat shirt, stupid." Dally scolded, walking over to the dresser. Pony does so and wraps the towel around his body. "Man, I wish I had me a weed." Johnny said, leaning against the window.
"You and me both." I said, desperately wanting a cigarette to calm my nerves. After almost losing my brother to those socs, I really needed one. Pony finished drying himself off, his knees shaking.
"Bex, take that jacket and shirt off. Here, I'll give you a shirt then go change in the closet there." Dally said, handing me a denim long sleeve shirt and there's a leather jacket hangin' on the door there. I took it and went into the closet to change.
I put on the denim shirt before the jacket, which was a bit big on me. But I didn't care, it was dry and warm. I walked out of the closet with my wet shirt and wet jean jacket in my arm.
Dally dug through his dresser and pulled out a gun and some money. "Here." he said, handing the gun to Johnny and me the money, to which I stuck in the pocket of the leather jacket.
"The gun's loaded. For Pete sake, Johnny, don't point the thing at me." Dally warned, "That's fifty bucks I gave you, Bex. That's all I could get out of Buck." One may think that Dally was the one who fixed up those races for Buck, being a jockey, but he wasn't.
"Do your brothers know about this, Pony, Bex? I ain't about to have my head kicked in for telling them." Dally sighed, sitting on the bed with us. "Then don't say anything." Pony said for the both of us. "They don't need to know about this." I add, my voice tight.
Honestly, we hated worryin' Sodapop, and would've liked to know what went down. But we didn't give a damn if Darry was worried himself to the point of grey hair. After being attacked by those socs, we were too tired to be mean and unreasonable.
We know that Dally would get beaten half to death if Darry found out about the gun and getting us out of town.
Dally threw a shirt that was way too big at Pony, "Here, it's Bucks. It's big but it's dry."
"Tell us your plan, Dally." I said, not entirely enthusiastic at the moment. Ponyboy wore a blue and white flannel with Dally's worn down brown leather jacket with yellow sheep's-wool lining.
"It's gonna get cold where you're going, but you can't risk being loaded down with blankets." Dally said. Pony was nearly swallowed whole because of how big it was on him. The jacket I wore was big too but at least it was warm on me.
"Listen, there's a freight train that leads to Windrixville. Board that and it'll take you three there. There's an abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain. There's a pump in the back so you guys won't have to worry about water. Get a week's supply of food when you make it there, this morning before the story gets out. Don't so much as stick your noses out the door. I'll be up there when it's cleared out." Dally instructed us, keeping his voice low so that only we could hear him, "Man, I thought New York would be the only place that I'd end up in a murder rap, Jesus Christ."
Dally led us back to the door, turning on the porch light so we could see. "Get outta here!" he said, ruffling Johnny's hair. We thanked him before disappearing into the night.
