Author's note: I told you this one would be longer. I promised. Either way, to put it simply, this is about that nightmare Ponyboy mentions having in the book, the night of his parents funeral. My dreams are kinda weird, so I guess that's partially reflected in this. Also, I was listening to the song Nightmare by Set It Off, and this whole thing just kinda came into my head. So this dream is based loosely on said song. If you've never heard it, I suggest you go listen to it. It's good.

Disclaimer: I own nothing. And there's gonna be some bloody death.

Chapter 4: Screaming Bloody Murder

PONYBOY'S POV

I was in a dark room. I felt unsafe, like something was coming for me. I kept thinking I saw movement in the dark corners of the room. I felt a tapping on my shoulder and whirled around quickly, but there wasn't anything there. Was I going crazy? I didn't know anymore. All I knew was that it was in the here with me, and I was about to die.

I ran out of the room through a door that I only realized later hadn't been there until just then.

When I got into the next room I shut and locked the door, then sat down next to it. What was happening?

Suddenly, a voice I knew very well said, "Pone."

I looked up. Soda was standing there.

"Hey, it's okay, kid." he whispered as I jumped to my feet. "Whatever it is can't get you here. You're safe now." He held out his hand.

I started to reach out to take it, then froze. Something didn't feel right. Something was definitely wrong here. I felt like I should look down, but Soda's eyes were so distracting. They almost seemed to be constantly flipping back and forth between his usual brown and this freaky reddish color.

When I finally looked down, what I saw in the fog swirling on the floor (which I hadn't noticed up til then) made my heart stop.

Sodapop lay there, still as the stuff of nightmares, bloody, maimed, and obviously dead.

I looked back up at what I now knew was a thing pretending to be my brother. It changed in front of my eyes. It was still Soda, but it wasn't. This thing had blood red eyes, so unlike the warm brown I knew, sharp teeth, and the look on its face was one of absolute hatred, the evilest thing I'd ever seen It smiled dangerously, and I just turned and ran out into a hallway.

I could hear it following me, so I ducked into the first room I came to and locked the door. I collapsed, sobbing, to the floor, unable to handle what I'd just seen. The thing had killed Soda. What was I gonna do? I couldn't live without Soda.

"Can anybody save me?!" I screamed.

"Pony!" Another voice I knew very well.

I looked up and there was Johnny. He was breathing heavily, as if he'd just run a long ways, and he was obviously absolutely terrified.

"Help!" he shouted.

I hesitated, remembering the thing that had maimed Soda almost past recognition then impersonated him.

It was that moment of hesitation that killed Johnny.

A monstrous version of him came flying into the room after him, jumped on him, and started tearing him apart.

I screamed and ran. As I took off down the hall, I was slammed by mixed waves of terror and guilt. Johnny was dead now, and it was all my fault.

As I passed by another door, I heard sounds coming through it, and froze. It was Dallas.

"Get off, you filthy son of a bitch! Get off!"

I threw the door open.

Dally had been tackled to the ground by, you got it, his evil twin. He was fighting, but he was losing. He saw me as I started to move forward, intending to help.

"Ponyboy!" he screamed. "Get outta here! Go! Ru-"

He was cut off because right then the thing got it's opening and literally tore his throat out with it's teeth. Dally's warning died, and he went still.

I turned and ran.

I didn't want to go in any more rooms, afraid of what I might see, but when I hear Two-Bit through a door, I just couldn't help myself, and shoved the door open.

He was bleeding and bruised, and it looked like he was missing a few chunks out of his right arm. He was standing on a chair in the middle of the room, his hands tied together behind him, while his carbon copy tightened a noose around his neck.

I just stared in petrified horror. Why couldn't I move? I tried, but failed. That's when I realized the thing had fixed me with a murderous stare and was muttering words under its breath. Could they freeze people? If they could, why hadn't any of the others used that tactic? It didn't make sense.

The thing suddenly stopped muttering and smiled maliciously. It shoved the chair out from under Two-Bit.

I'm not going to go into details about the next couple minutes, except to say it'll probably haunt me til the day I die.

After that, the creature cut him down and started eating him. It was about then I realized I could move again. It must've been 'cause the thing was preoccupied. I took off out the door and didn't look back.

As I ran along, I thought I heard Steve, but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Then I noticed the hallway ended with a room with an open door, which had a door on the other side that led to more hallway. It sounded like the noises were coming from in there.

I hesitated for just a second, but the continued movement I saw in the shadows out of the corner of my eye gave me sufficient incentive to move on.

I found Steve tied to a table, and his evil self was about to dig its teeth in as he screamed for help.

"Hey!" I shouted, flicking out my switchblade. I wasn't gonna be a bystander this time around. "You want a piece of somethin'? Come get a piece of me!"

"Kid, no!" Steve yelled as the thing advanced. "Just go! Run!"

I shook my head adamantly. "Never leave a man behind."

The thing snarled, and in a voice that sounded just like Steve's when he was real pissed said, "Alright. If that's how you wanna play." He pulled out a switch of his own. "Let's play."

I'm not the greatest in a knife fight, and it was automatically obvious this thing was way better than me. I didn't stand a chance. But I had to try. For Steve. Maybe him and me didn't always get along, but with a gang like ours, in the end, that doesn't matter. We still cared, and we'd still fight to the death for each other.

I guess Steve got loose on his own, 'cause suddenly he came flying out of nowhere and tackled the thing down. Before I could even get in to help, the thing rammed its knife up to the hilt in Steve's gut.

Steve looked startled for a second, then went limp and hit the floor.

The thing immediately started eating him. I jabbed my switchblade into its back for revenge, then got outta there quick.

As I ran along the hallway, I passed several doors, but only one of them was open.

"Ponyboy!" a voice called.

I froze. Was I really gonna fall for that trick again?

But no, I had to be sure. I cautiously peered around the door frame.

Darry was kneeling in the middle of the floor, blood pouring from a wound in his side.

All doubt in my mind was immediately gone, and I ran forward. I dropped to my knees beside him. "Darry, what happened?"

"Nothin'." he said. "All that matters is you're safe. Have you seen Soda?"

I fought back tears and bit my lip as I silently nodded.

"What? What is it?" he asked, cupping my cheek with his hand.

"He's dead." I whispered.

Darry just looked stunned.

"Why're we losing everyone?"

"We still got the gang."

"No we don't. They're dead too."

Right then, Darry came running through the door. "Don't listen to him, Pone. It's a fake!"

"That thing's the fake, Pone." the one next to me said, putting a protective arm around me. "Don't listen to it."

"Get your hands off my baby brother, you bastard." the Darry by the door said in a quiet, dangerous voice.

The one with his arm around me simply pulled me closer. "It's okay, Pone." he whispered. "I'll protect you."

I looked fearfully over at the one by the door. What was it gonna do?

That's when the one with its arm around me made its move.

Suddenly I was pinned flat on the floor, my head shoved back. I could feel greedy breath at my throat. The thing laughed softly in my ear-

Darry came flying into it with a couple swift jabs. They started really going at it, and I wanted to get in to help, but I knew I'd just be in the way, so I hung back.

Unfortunately, but predictably, the thing won, and started ripping Darry to shreds.

Tears flowing down my face with the realization I was all alone, that I had nothing left now, I turned and ran.

I was going progressively farther and farther up. I was too scared to register that doing that was just going to get me trapped eventually.

I ran up a tightly spiraling staircase, panting with the effort. I could hear the violent monsters that had killed my family and friends coming after me, and I still caught glimpses of movement in the dark corners on the edge of my vision that disappeared whenever I looked at it directly. Whatever had originally been in that first room was still following me

Finally I reached the top of the staircase, burst through the door, and…

I was on top of the roof. I walked slowly to the edge and looked down. Sure was a long way. There wasn't a person alive that could make that jump and survive. There would be no escaping that way. Maybe the things hadn't made it to the stairs yet, and I could run down them and get out of here. It was better than waiting for them to kill me up on the roof. I turned, but-

Too late.

I barely caught a glimpse of them all standing there before they shoved me off the edge, and I tumbled out into oblivion, plunging to the ground. If only I knew how to fly, I'd be out of this mess so fast it wouldn't even be funny. Instead I was rocketing faster and faster as I dive-bombed to the floor. I fell so long and far, screaming. Who knew buildings could be this tall? Minutes of knowing what was coming, that this was the end, that I was done.

My body crashed into the pavement, I felt pain like I hadn't even know a human being could feel, everything went black, and…

I was right back where I started. That same dark room whose corners you couldn't even see. I felt like I'd aged a thousand years inside, while outside I couldn't see any change.

This same thing happened over and over. I ran every inch of that huge place, which was kinda how I imagined socs houses to look, just without the furniture. No matter where I went, I always ran into my friends and brothers as their evil versions killed them, and, somehow, no matter what path I took, I always wound up on that roof in time to get shoved off. All routes seemed to lead back to the roof.

I tried everything to avoid it. I stayed away from all stairs and on the same level. I ran out a door that looked like it would be the front door, and… I was back on the roof.

Restart.

I only went downstairs, eventually reached a door that looked like it went to a basement, and came out… back on the roof.

Restart.

I tried to find a window closer to the ground that I could jump out of, but I was only able to find one in the entire place, and guess where leaping out of that got me? Back on the roof.

Restart.

Over and over again, no matter where I went, no matter what I did. Finally I got desperate enough to do something that scared me almost as much as repeatedly getting shoved off the roof after watching monsters off everyone I cared about.

I stayed in that first room and refused to leave.

Doors kept appearing, then disappearing, and I could hear a faint growling sound coming from whatever it was that had been after me this whole time, almost as if it were disappointed that I wasn't gonna let it mess with me anymore. I heard my everybody's echoing screams from elsewhere in this huge place, begging me to come save them, but I didn't move. I knew my leaving wasn't gonna do any of us any good.

Finally the doors disappeared altogether and the world fell completely silent as I stood there, alone, in the center of that big dark room. This was it. I knew now. The thing in the shadows had been playing with me, but now it was done messing around.

It took every ounce of willpower I owned not to try and find a way out, somewhere to run. I was trembling from exhaustion. Still the thing did nothing. It waited ages, like it was trying to lull me into a false sense of security, but I knew better. It just put me more on edge.

Finally, when absolute terror was all that was keeping me in my place, when I knew I was going to break and try to run soon, the movement in the shadows stopped.

Was it gone? Just like that?

I slowly started to relax, thinking that maybe this nightmare, this hell, was finally over.

That's when it made its move.

It seemed to materialize right out of the shadows in front of me. It knocked me over and pinned me to the ground, sitting on my chest with it's knees on my elbows. I looked up at it, and finally realized what had been following me all along. Now I saw it, it seemed so obvious. Why hadn't this occurred to me before now?

It was me.

It smiled dangerously, then struck.

I felt its teeth sink into my throat. I screamed, screamed like I'd never screamed in my life. It was a sound of pure terror and agony.

And then I was awake, screaming bloody murder, like something was still violently killing me.