A/N:  Sorry for the shortness of the last chapter… I kinda thought everybody would understand that it was just a prologue, lol.  Well, anyways, this one isn't that lengthy either, but it's a lot longer…

I always leave notes for those who reviewed for the first chapter (or section posted) of a story…

Robot in Disguise:  My first reviewer!  Glad you found it interesting… hope you enjoy the rest!

Sodapop02:  You like my stories, don't you… hehe!  Glad you thought it was engaging!  I think you'll like this story!

JLCollett:  Glad somebody understands, lol… I've had chances to update my stories pretty frequently this week, however, because finals just ended and I have a three day weekend and no homework! Yay!

Naria4:  Here's your update. ;-)

Karlei Shaynner:  THANX FOR SAYING IT WAS AWESOME!  Here's your update!

Chloe:  Yup, I'd say this is pretty soon.

GageLuisSodabemine:  LOL!  I like your pen name.  Hehe, sry.  Don't go crazy!  Here's your chappie!

ThuperJ:  Yeah, it was short, but it was just the prologue…;-)

This chapter isn't really long either, just to warn you, but it's a reasonable length, so don't kill me!

Oh yeah, since I forgot to do it in the first chapter:

Disclaimer:  I think I may own some socs that I made up later on but other than that it's all S.E. Hinton's.  Don't sue me unless you want me to pay you in stuffed animals and jelly beans… ;-)

Oh yeah, and this chapter is kinda dark... but not even as dark as the next one… yeah this story is gonna be a little intense. Just to warn ya. 

On to the story!

"You're gonna be okay, Ponyboy," Darry murmured to his shaking brother, attempting to reassure him.

"They're gonna kill him, Dar," Ponyboy cried, wringing the blanket in his fist. "It's all because of me.  It's my fault they took him."

"It's not your fault, Baby, so shut up.  We're gonna find him."

Another sleepless night.  Four days since Sodapop Curtis had disappeared.  The police were working on it.  The only hint as to what happened to him was the wrinkled note left outside the window where he had been forced through--and the desire for revenge the Socs had for the greasers.  The story was out.  Pony's theme had been published.  Many knew of the amazing circumstances the Curtises had survived.  And yet, still the revenge ran deep.  Bob Sheldon had been killed, and the Socs had not forgotten it. 

Darry glanced toward the dresser and spotted the wrinkled note.  Its scrawled ink words sent chills up his spine even after he had scrutinized it time and time again.  He practically had it memorized.

An eye for an eye. 

We swore you would die. 

But death is too small a punishment. 

Terror for fear. 

Anguish for pain. 

Horror for worry. 

Torture for abuse. 

Someone we respect is taken.

We take someone you cherish.

We repay you. 

But you get off too easy.

A fox in a hole, wind in the trees.

 No mice to feed. 

A bear will enter, no sun will shine,

Revenge is too pitiful a word for your repayment this time.

The note had been examined by officials, it had been scrutinized by Steve, Two-Bit, Darry, Ponyboy, and even Cherry, and tests had been run for fingerprints. They clung to their only evidence, hoping that somehow Soda would be found. 

"Darry?"

"Yeah Pony?"

"How come I didn't wake up?"

Darry sighed.  "We've been over this, Pony.  No one knows.  They might've used sleeping gas or somethin'."

"But they said he struggled."

"You were out cold.  There's nothing you could have done."  Darry stared out the open window into the night sky.  It was the last place in the Curtis house Soda had touched for four days. 

"It freaks me out how creepy it is.  How they just took him."  Pony choked.  "And we don't even know who 'they' is."

"We're gonna find him.  He didn't go willingly.  They have ideas… they've questioned Bob's friends.  No one gave away anything.  Randy has been missing since yesterday." Darry responded. 

"Where they searchin' now?"

"Near Windrixville.  The hills."

"Wind in the trees………It's not real windy there."  Pony said.

Darry glanced down at him.  "They haven't ruled anything out."

"I know it's not windy there.  I was there for a long time."  Darry rubbed Pony's hair.  "Yeah, I know.  Not many trees there either." 

"We should be out there with 'em, searching.  I hate thinking of what they could be doing to him."

"Go to sleep Pony.  They're gonna find him.  We can't keep our strength if we don't sleep."

Pony rolled over and Darry switched off the light.  He moved toward the door but was stopped when Pony said softly, "Dar?"

Darry sighed.  Another painful image flashed into his mind of Pony waking up that morning. 

"Darry!  Soda ran away!"

"What?"

"He's gone!"

And the note… the open window….

"What's this?"

The tire screech marks.  They soon discovered that everything Soda owned was perfectly intact except the clothes he was wearing when they took him.  Thankfully he had gone to sleep fully clothed except for his shoes, too tired to change.  Pony said he remembered telling him to at least change, and Soda responding with "Nah…. Too tired…."

The last words he uttered before he was kidnapped. 

"Darry?"

Darry snapped back to reality. "Yeah Pon?" He answered.

"I'm scared.  I keep not feeling him next to me."

Darry clenched his teeth.  "I'm scared too Pony." 

You'd better not touch him, he spoke inwardly to Soda's enemies.  Even if you don't have a life, he does.  We can't live without him.  If you hurt him.........

Darry wiped his face on his t-shirt sleeve.  If we lose him we lose ourselves.

A/N:  REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!!

P.S.  Read my other Outsiders fic's!  But not before you review this one!