Author's Note: This one was hard to write. I kept stopping and going, I can't do this. I wanted to make it good enough so people would read the rest, even though they know the end. But yet that wasn't what made me stop. I feel like a murderer, getting ready to shoot somone. I don't want to shoot anyone. It's kinda scary really, to know that I can write my last chapter this very day. To know that unless someone asks for when they bury them it's almost over. Now I want to cry. If I write the last chapter now, I know that I will cry. Sad...how very sad, I'm crying for someone who's not real! This is pathetic. PATHETIC...but, then again, I'm very emotional, what can I say? If anyone's a Star Wars fan then you'll understand what I mean when I say I cried when Order 66 was executed and Vader did his march on the Jedi Temple...and I cried throughout the rest of the movie, too. That's just pathetic...

Thank you to all of those who reviewed! I hope you enjoy this chapter (I hope you don't cry because you know what's coming next.)

Disclaimer: I don't own The Outsiders. And for once I can say I'm glad, because I don't want nasty letters from people telling me I'm a murderer for killing Dallas Winston and Johnny Cade. I do not own The Outsiders. Susie Hinton does, blame thier deaths on her, NOT ME!

Chapter Eleven

Hospital Stay and the Rumble

Dally was pulled out of the ambulance on a stretcher. He ran a hand through his hair as they escorted him into the hospital. He saw Ponyboy sitting there and he closed his eyes. Ponyboy was ok.

"Hey, Dally," Ponyboy reached out to touch his arm to let him know he was there.

"You ever pull a stunt like that again and I'll kill you," he threatened. They set him up in a room and he watched the nurses take his temperature, blood pressure, and they set him up with a few things.

Dally spent a lot of time hassling them. They all filed out and the reporters came in and fired a few questions at him.

"Name?"

"Dallas Winston, see the police file cabinets!"

"Age?"

"Seventeen, no longer fuckin' 'sweet sixteen'!"

They asked him question after question until they left. Dally leaned back against the pillows. He was surprised to find that he was exhausted.

---

He awoke in the morning to the nurse saying, "Mr. Winston, you have a visitor."

Tim Shepherd walked in the room. "Hey, Dally, you know, you've got an article in the paper."

Dally grabbed it and scanned it. Tim continued, "Nothing about being wanted 'Dead or Alive' in it at all. You're a hero? Jeez, get tired of being a wanted man?"

"I'm wanted!"

"By your mother," Tim chortled. "Not by the fuzz this time, or by the girls either."

Dally didn't let Tim know that the remark about his mother was really hurtful, he just said, "Go fuck yourself."

Tim laughed, "By the way, the Rumble's tonight. Don't suspect you'll make it. You chicken out? That why you burned your wrist? Desperate attempts, eh? That is sad, Dallas, just admit you're a coward."

"I'm not a fucking coward! I'll beat the shit outa you!" Dally threw back the covers and started towards Tim.

"Hold it…" Tim held his hands up in a sign of surrender.

Dally threw the paper in the garbage along with his hospital gown. "Damn thing," he cursed. "I'll make it to the Rumble one way or another!" he promised.

Tim Shepherd just laughed and laughed. "I'm gonna go see Johnny."

Dally shrugged, "See ya around, Tim. Tell Johnnycake I said 'hi'."

"Will do," Tim left.

---

"What happened to your gown?" the nurse asked Dally, eyeing his bare chest.

"I threw it away," Dally snarled. "Get out, get out, you make my stomach sick."

"Oh, I'll be so glad when you're gone," the nurse told him, leaving the room.

Ponyboy and Two-Bit walked in. Dally laughed at the nurse's retreating back.

"Hey, Dally, how ya doin'?" Two-Bit asked.

"Doin' all right," he answered and Two-Bit tossed a Mickey-Mouse stuffed animal on his chest.

"Swiped ya a gift," he told him. Dally tossed the stuffed animal between his hands for a moment and then sat up, placing the animal on his nightstand. He closed the door and walked back to his bed, the floor felt cold beneath his bare feet. He slid onto the bed.

"I'm thankful you guys are here, this place gives me the creeps. I want out!" he snapped at the door. He leaned back against the pillows and pulled the covers over himself. "Tim Shepherd came by to see me, said he saw my picture in the paper and couldn't believe it didn't have 'Wanted dead or alive' written underneath it. He started rubbing in about the rumble. Man, I hate missin' it." He grabbed his pants from the side of the bed and flipped through them and his jacket to find a package of cigarettes. He didn't have one and he turned to Pony. "Got a cigarette, Pony?"

Pony tossed him the whole pack. Dally went to light up but couldn't find his lighter. He stopped hunting for it long enough to say, "Man, I thought I'd killed you the other day. I meant to hit you so you'd fall to the ground and I could put the fire out. When you fell I thought I'd broken your neck and killed you…glad I didn't though," he added thoughtfully.

Pony looked startled. Dally stopped talking and licked his lips nervously…finally Dally asked, "How is he? How's Johnny doing?"

"Well…uh, I'm no doctor, but he didn't look to good. He passed out cold right before we left." Dally saw that Two-Bit avoided his gaze. Anger and fear crept up his spine. He rolled over and his cigarette crumpled. He threw it and lay there, staring at the wall. Finally he spoke up.

"You still got that knife on you?"

"What?" Two-Bit asked.

"The knife," Dally repeated, holding out his hand. "Give it to me, will ya?"

Two-Bit flicked it open and laid the handle of the switchblade into Dallas's open hand. Dally spoke as he studied the blade, "You know, we gotta win that fight tonight. We gotta beat those socs!" He slammed the knife down on his wrist and did it again. The knife didn't go in far enough because it didn't start bleeding a lot, just showed blood. He turned around, "We'll do it for Johnny, man! We'll do it for Johnny!" He snarled the last and lay against the pillows. He raised the knife to his forehead and pressed the blade against his head. Dally sighed and watched Pony and Two-Bit file out the door. He didn't blame them for leaving.

---

"What time is it?" Dally asked the nurse. She told him and set down a glass of water for him. He reached under his pillow and flicked open the blade. "Back away," he told her. She did and he slid into his jeans, knife in his mouth as he zipped up and did the button. He grabbed his jacket and slid it onto his body. "Stay away, I'm leaving."

She stared at him with horror. Dally hurried from the hospital and tried to find a car. He jumped in one and drove around.

It was dark and he had the lights on. He approached the lot and noticed everyone was lined up. He threw the car into park and hopped out.

"HOLD UP!" He screeched, "DON'T YOU KNOW A RUMBLE AIN'T A RUMBLE WITHOUT ME?" He demanded of them and hurried to join them. The Rumble started and Dally threw a punch at a soc. The soc went down and Dally started on another.

This one punched his eye and he slammed his fist into the soc's gut. The soc slammed his fist into his mouth and Dally spat blood onto the ground as he pummeled the soc to the ground.

He never fell to the ground, not once. He was a wounded man who was afraid of Johnny dying, but none the less he took out several socs.

The rumble finally finished and he found Ponyboy on the ground with bruises and a bleeding face.

---

Dally helped Pony out of the car and his arm nearly gave away with the pain. Pony nearly fell and they walked up to the floor with Johnny.

"Johnnycake?" he asked, wiping his upper lip. He told him about beating the socs and Johnny beckoned to Ponyboy.

"Stay gold, Ponyboy…stay gold…" his pillow sank back and Dally stared in shock. Johnny…couldn't…be…dead. No, it wasn't possible. He pleaded and begged, tears welling up in his eyes.

"BASTARDS!" Dally cried, flinging his fist into the wall. He stared at Johnny's dead body and he raced from the room. Tears that had fallen only a few times before fell from his eyes with such ferocity that Dally was nearly blinded.

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, No, NO, NO, NO, NO, NO!

---

Dally pulled up to a store and hopped out. He had made up his mind. This was going to be the last store he ever robbed. He tore up the magazine and held out the gun to the store clerk. He paled and Dally demanded for the money.

The clerk gave him the cash and Dally raced from the store. He stopped at a pay phone and dialed the Curtis's number.

"Yeah."

"Darrel?" Dally's voice was raspy.

"No, it's Steve."

"Steve? I wanna talk to Darry," Dally felt his throat tighten and swell.

"Hello," Darrel's voice came on the phone.

"Darry, it's me, I just robbed a store. The cops are after me, man," Dally tried to speak louder.

"Are you all right?"

"Yeah, Johnny's dead."

"We know."

"Look, meet me in the park all right?"

"We're on our way."

The phone's clicked and Dally took off. The cop cars approached him and he jerked the gun from his jeans' waistband. He hurried along, the wind whipping the back of his blue jeans jacket…

This would be the last time Dallas Winston ever tried to outrun the police.