Two-Bit: Your fans hate you
Soda: You didn't update for a looooooooooooooooooooong time
Reham: Well -
Dally: -rolls eyes- And here comes the excuse!
Reham: Well it's a good one! It's Ramadan and that means I have to fast for a whole month!
Pony: Big deal. So you don't eat until 5:30, that's still no excuse
Reham: Have you ever tried going through a whole school day -
Darry: Your school got shorter by an hour 'cause of Ramadan
Reham: Shut up, Darry. I was gettin' to the point. Anyway, I come home, sleep until 5:30, then eat to my heart's content, then do homework, the HAVE TO practice instrument, then sleep a lil' more, then I stay up until 2:30 in the morning so I can do something called "Soohoor" (eat before you can't eat no more), then I only get 3 hours of sleep! Beat that excuse!
Johnny: I can! My grandma died
Steve: No she didn't
Johnny: Well it's a better excuse than hers!
Reham: Uh oh, I gotta go real quick. My uncle's here
Two-Bit: Rehamdoesn'townus!
Soda: In a slower, more understandable language, Reham doesn't own us . . .

:Sick:…

:Pony's PoV:

For once, I felt happy that I had Steve there. I felt a little guilty that Steve gave up both his jacket and his sweatshirt, but he assured me that he was okay – which I knew he wasn't. He was bleeding like crazy, I knew he was freezing, and he kept wincing from something that I suspected as broken ribs. The brightness of the day had turned to night as we kept searching for shelter. We kept following the river, hoping to reach something.

Steve doubled over suddenly, his hands wrapped around his stomach. His breathing began getting harsher, but as soon as he stopped, he was going again. I felt extremely sorry for him. For once, we were getting along fine.

I saw his hand go to his bag and he pulled two things out. He handed me one of them. I unwrapped the foil to reveal a chicken sandwich. I looked at him, but he seemed to be avoiding my gaze as he devoured his own. I thanked him quietly and ate it slowly. Something large caught my eye. "Steve, look!"

He averted his gaze to where I was pointing. It was a narrow passageway, but it would be able to fit even Darry's muscles. "Do you think it's safe?"

"You stay here, I'll go make sure," said Steve. I could still see fear in the back of his eyes from the snow leopard, but he hid it in an instant. It was only a flash of emotion.

"But you're in no condition to go in there, Steve," I snapped at him in a caring way.

"And you are?"

Dammit, he had me there. I rested my back against a tree as I watched him crawl through the narrow space and disappear into the darkness. Seconds later, I heard him scream, followed by the unmistakable sound of splashing water.

"Steve! Steve, are you okay?" I asked. I was beginning to panic. What the hell happened to Steve?

"I'm alright, Pony! But this ain't no cave!" came his voice. It sounded strained. I walked on my knees to the entrance of the "cave" to see what had happened. I saw Steve's hand come up and the moon was reflected off of it. Was the moon supposed to be reflected off of skin? When I grabbed his hand to help him up, I found it wet. When he came up completely, I realized that his entire body glistened from the moon. His light gray shirt had turned darker. He was soaked!

"Steve! You're drenched in water!" I exclaimed.

"Thanks for stating the obvious," he said back. At least some of the Steve I knew was still there.

"You're going to freeze, or get pneumonia, or even hypothermia!"

"I'm f-fine Pony – really!"

He was trying to be tough. Didn't Steve know that he didn't need to keep up that front in my presence? Sometimes he was just way too stubborn. Steve was going to die if he didn't get warmth.

"Then take your jacket back," I said, beginning to unzip it with my good hand. He put one cold hand on mine to make me stop.

"You don't even have a shirt on under that. At least I have a shirt," he said.

"And what good is a shirt if it's gonna make you sick?"

"At least you ain't gonna be sick when we return to the gang."

I stopped trying to unzip the jacket. That was probably the nicest thing Steve had ever said to me. Did he really start caring about me?

"Come on, we've got to get there before you get sick. I can see the water clearing. We're almost there."

I helped him up and instantly I knew he was bad off. The day Steve Randle lets someone help him is the day the world comes to an end. We silently made our way across the river bank again. I had lied about the water getting clearer, but it didn't matter because you could barely see the water in the darkness. By the time it would become morning, we'd already be is the less murky areas of the river. I really hoped we got there soon because I could already hear a wheeze when Steve breathed. It was going to be a long journey.

XxXxXxX

:Darry's PoV:

Everyone in the cabin was trying to act as if nothing had happened . . . or maybe that was just me? I was going to go insane knowing that there was no way I can help Pony and Steve. We were caved in and there was nothing we could do about it. If only I had a shovel. I couldn't tell if it was night or day due to the snow blocking up the windows. Wait . . . go back to that sentence with the shovel . . .

"Dally, what did you say you found in your closet?" I said suddenly to the lump on the couch.

"Two shovels, why?"

I saw the lump sit upright and stare at me. He was thinking exactly what I was thinking. "And we can use the bucket, too, and anything else we got!"

I ran upstairs and knocked on Soda's door. "Sodapop, if you got anything in there that we can shovel with, meet me at the door."

Then I knocked on Johnny's room. When he quietly told me that I could enter, I turned the doorknob and went inside. Johnny was on his bed and was staring at the ceiling. I opened their closet to find two shovels in the corner of it. I threw one onto the bed and said, "We're going to save ourselves some greasers."

Johnny smiled and took the shovel happily. We went out of the room to meet Dally with a bucket, Two-Bit with a few pots, and Soda with a tin trashcan. I opened the door to meet a wall of snow.

"Two-Bit and Soda, you guys are going to go to the bathtub and leave the water on so we can melt the snow that we bring in. Dally, Johnny, and I are going to shovel the snow, you got it?"

"We got it," everyone said. And that began our tunnel to the outside world.

XxXxXxX

:Pony's PoV:

Night had gone to day and we were still moving. By the light of the sun, you could see that Steve had gotten so pale that it looked like he could blend in with the snow if he fell through it. He regulated his breathing and had to breathe through his mouth because he said it helped him breathe well. I knew that the real reason was because his nose was stuffed. His voice had gone raspy, too.

My theory from the other night was correct: by morning, the river water had cleared a lot so that it wasn't drinkable, but you could make out the small pebbles at the bottom. But Steve wasn't getting any better, and I feared for him.

We stopped for another snack and I got to drink some water. We shared the large bag of pretzels and then set off again. My arm started having this needle-like feeling to it. It felt like acupuncture. And then what I never wanted to happen just had to happen now.

Steve started coughing so violently that he had to stop and get down on his knees. His body started shaking feverishly.

"Steve, are you okay?" I damn well knew that answer.

I was expecting him to put up his front and say that he was okay, but he shook his head, his violent coughing now becoming incessant. And then it stopped. Just like that. I thought that he had made it stop, but it turns out that he had just fainted. "Oh my God! Steve, wake up!" I cried. I took the front of his shirt and started shaking him, but it was no use. His shirt was still soaking wet. I knew I should have given him my jacket!

I put my head to his chest to hear a heart beat and I got a faint beat in reply. I didn't like that. Then I put my hand on his forehead. He was heating up like an egg frying on a sidewalk on a hot summer's day! It was bizarre because his forehead was rising in temperature, but his body was as cold as the snow that encircled us.

"Please wake up, Steve!" I begged. I picked up one of his hands and began dragging him as a last attempt. His body was limp, but that wasn't making it any easier for me to drag him across the snow with one arm. It was extremely hard and I suddenly was wishing that I'd broken a few ribs like he had instead of a broken arm.

The whole thing was hopeless. Steve was going to die out here if he didn't get help. I wanted to be back under Soda's arms. I wanted to be back under the influence of Darry. I wanted to be the victim of Two-Bit's cruel jokes and Dally's glares. I wanted to be talking with Johnny. I just wanted to be in the comfort of someone that wasn't unconscious and on the verge of death.

And that's when the pain in my arm blinded me. I fell to the ground, giving out a scream, but I knew it was hopeless. It was all hopeless. It was especially hopeless when darkness surrounded me.

Reham: Alright, so what's gonna happen?
Soda: Did you like this?
Steve: How come I passed out before he did?
Two-Bit: How come I didn't think of the shovel thing?
Reham: Remember, Ideas are always open to me
Dally: Quick! Your uncle's here! Run before he gives you a noogie!
Pony: Please review!