Chapter 12

Ponyboy came to after a couple of minutes. When he sat up on the curb and put a hand to his head that was pounding with almost unbearable pain, he realized he was all alone. He looked around for Johnny but when he was nowhere to be seen, he sprang to his feet. Only a couple of skid marks on the road, indicated that someone else had been there.

As he ran towards the house, he could feel that he was getting more and more dizzy but he kept going until he reached the front door and tore it open. To his disappointment, nobody was home. The floor was sailing from his view but he made his way to the phone and dialed the number for Sodapop's work.

"Soda!" he almost yelled as the phone was picked up.

"No it's Steve. Stop yelling, will you?" the voice hissed at the other end.

"I need to speak to Soda!" demanded Pony, not wanting to tell Steve about what had happened.

"Hold on..."

There was quiet for a minute or two at the other end and then someone picked up.

"Pony?" sounded Soda's voice.

"They got Johnny!" Ponyboy said in a high-pitched voice and he felt the tears start to overflow his eyes as he thought about what had happened and what was probably going to happen to Johnny if they didn't find him.

"Who's got him?" Soda said in a nervous tone. "What do you mean?"

Pony explained what had happened and that he had been knocked out for how long he did not know.

"I'm coming home!" said Soda. "Just stay put and I'll be right there."

oOoOoOo

The sound of the car speeding away was about all Johnny could hear when his head was pressed down against the seat. Once in a while he would be able to hear a few other sounds such as a train hooting in the distance and the sound of a whistle from what sounded like some sort of factory. He tried to sit up but the hand on his neck just pushed him harder down against the seat so he eventually stopped struggling.

"What the fuck are we gonna do now?" sounded a voice close to him. "Do we even have a plan?"

"Shut up," sounded the voice of the boy that Johnny had heard at the hospital the day of the church fire. It was as if he could smell the cologne again as he heard the voice and it made him almost throw up.

"Take a turn here. Towards the river," said the boy again and Johnny felt the car turn right.

"David, what exactly do you want to do to him?"

"He's gonna pay for what he did to Bob. What do you think is a suiting punishment for killing someone? Since the damn court didn't do anything about it."

David. Johnny remembered hearing that name before. Back when they had had the run-in with Bob and the others. That fateful night of the murder.

Give the kid a bath, David...

So he had been there that night. It all came back to Johnny now. David, Bob, Randy. He didn't know the names of the last boys but he was sure by now that they were here too, but was Randy here as well?

No. Pony had said that he had talked to him about not showing up for the rumble so it was very unlikely that he was part of this. It would seem that David had gathered some friends and hunted him and Ponyboy down. They had kidnapped Johnny and what would happen after? Would they kill him? Johnny lay still and tried to listen to any sounds that he could that would indicate where he was but right now he couldn't hear anything other than the motor of the car and the wheels that sped down a dirt road.

The car bounced a few times as it hit some dirt holes and it made the boy who was holding Johnny's head down, tightened his grip on his neck.

After what seemed like forever, the car came to a halt and the door opened. Johnny was pulled out of the car and a cold breeze and the smell of water hit his face. The sound of rushing water could be heard not far below him. Were they on a bridge? He stumbled to gain balance as he was pulled around by his neck. Finally, he was let go and Johnny gained his balance. He felt eyes on him. He could just barely make out three people standing in front of him. It had become rather dark already so the sun was probably about to set. The three silhouettes were not doing or saying anything but just staring him down. One of them took a few steps towards him and grabbed him by the collar.

"You deserve to die, you little piece of shit." It was David's voice. He shook Johnny once before planting a solid punch in the center of his stomach, making Johnny buckle from pain and lack of air. He gasped for breath as the pain didn't decrease. David let go of his collar and grabbed him by the hair, forcing his head up.

"I would tell you to look at me but since you're blind I can't expect that from you," he mocked and held onto his hair tightly. "They think it was punishment enough for you to be blind and since you saved them kids then you should be some sort of hero! But you're not! You're a murderer and you should be punished!"

"P-please," gasped Johnny, his fingers digging into David's wrist. "It was self-defense! I wasn't excused from court because of my condition or the fact that I saved those kids... It was because I acted in self-defense! Bob was going to kill Pony!"

"Don't even speak his name!" spat David and punched Johnny in the face, making the teen stumble backwards and hit the stone rail.

Johnny sank down but before he even hit the ground, he was pulled up again by his hair and another solid punch hit his face. Johnny grabbed a hold on his hands and tried to wrench his grip loose so he would have a chance of getting away. David had a firm grip on his hair and struggled to keep it that way as Johnny was trying his best to make him let go.

"You're not going anywhere you piece of trash," David roared and threw Johnny to the side against the rail but just then Johnny planted a solid kick on his shin, making David yelp in pain and his grip loosen just as Johnny hit the stone rail. The sudden lack of balance made Johnny stumble into the rail at full force and he felt his feet slip from the ground as he went over and fell towards the rushing water below.

There was a loud splash and Johnny felt the ice-cold water surround him. As he broke the surface, he gasped for air but quickly tried to calm himself as he heard voices. He let himself drift along with the water as he heard the voices on the bank. They sounded very frustrated.

"Where the hell is he?" said a voice. "Did he hit his head and drown? What are we going to do now?" "We killed him!" sounded another voice in utter panic.

Johnny lay on his back and let the stream drift him along. He just stared up into the dark sky and the top of the trees that he could just barely make out still. They couldn't see him? They thought he was dead? Maybe he was. Maybe the fall had killed him. His body felt numb, but then again that might have been from the cold water that so gently pushed him towards nowhere. The rushing water drowned the voices of the three boys as he got farther away from them. He was actually surprised that they hadn't seen him. They had not sounded like they were so far away but maybe it was from the lack of sunlight that they had not been able to spot him.

When he had been in the water for several minutes and had not been able to hear the voices for a while, he turned over and started to swim towards the bank. His body was almost going into cramps as he started to move though the cold water. He crawled up on the shore and took a moment to catch his breath. He was shivering and the wind that swooped down along the bank didn't help. Shaking, he got to his feet, rubbing his arms and stumbling along, wet hair hanging down into his eyes. He turned his head and tried to catch ear of any sounds that would give away if he was near a road or anything he had heard on the way to the bridge, but there was nothing. He walked a little until he stumbled onto a dirt road. He almost fell over as his feet hit the gravel. He felt a sense of relief as he found the road but then realized he wouldn't be able to stay on it because of the possibility of the Socs coming that way on their way back. He had no way of knowing if they had already taken off or if they would come driving down the road any minute. Johnny decided to walk a little back the way he had come and lie down in the grass. If they were to drive by then they wouldn't be able to see him.

He started to think of Ponyboy as he lay there in the grass. Was he okay? He had gone down pretty hard when they had hit him. Johnny had heard the thump. They had just left him there on the sidewalk and taken off. What if he was seriously hurt? And what if Johnny never saw him again? Feel him close and taste his lips again. It was funny that he had just yesterday been talking about not doing that again and now he couldn't think of one thing he would like more than to just kiss Pony and feel his arms around him. He felt tears run down his cheeks as he lay there in the cold grass.

"Pony..."

Just then he heard a car coming down the road at full speed and he held his breath as if afraid they would spot him if he breathed. The sound of the car racing by died out moments later and it became completely still. Only a few tweets from birds could be heard around him and after a minute or two he sat up and tried to rub some warmth into his arms.

oOoOoOo

"Johnny!" called Ponyboy as he walked down the street along with Soda and Darry. They had been walking the streets for at least an hour while the rest of the gang were looking elsewhere around town, but there was no sign of Johnny or the car.

They met up with Dally, Steve and Two-Bit outside of the Dingo. Dally looked furiously at Pony and pointed at him.

"Had you just stayed home like we told you to then this wouldn't have happened!"

Ponyboy dropped his head and felt Soda's hand on his shoulder.

"Lay off, Dal," said Sodapop and sent Dallas a stern look. "It's not his fault. They would've found a way to get to Johnny one way or the other. It was only a matter of time."

"You know shit about that, Curtis," roared Dally, making Soda take a step back.

"We just have to keep looking," said Darry, trying to get the attention away from Ponyboy. "We'll find him."

"What if they took him out of town," said Two-Bit. "We don't know where he is. He could be anywhere really. Pony said they took him by car so that would mean that they were planning to go far."

"Or get away really fast," said Steve and sulked. It was like looking for a needle in a haystack.

oOoOoOo

Cold and shivering, Johnny moved though woods and high grass. He could hear animals lurking around him near trees and every time a twig cracked, he spun around, his heart hammering roughly in his chest.

He fumbled his way through the forest and sank down next to a tree, clutching his legs and trying to gather a bit of warmth.

"H-how am I supposed to find my way home when I can't see?" Johnny mumbled to himself, huddling against the trunk. Had the sun been up, he might have been able to make out where he was going but now that it was dark. He sat there in the quietness of the forest, only hearing the wind rattling the branches but then he hear something else. A whistling sound. It sounded like a horn of some sort. He had heard it before. On the way to the bridge. He was sure of it and when he listen closer he could hear it again. It was the horn from the factory that they had passed. He stumbled to his feet and headed in the direction of the sound. He felt his way around and followed trunk after trunk, taking baby steps as he went so if there was an obstacle then he wouldn't fall. Then suddenly the sound of the horn stopped and there was complete silence. He turned on the spot, trying desperately to locate the sound again but it was gone. His only lifeline in finding the main road back to town or someone that would be able to help him. The hope seemed to ebb away from him as he sank down next to a tree and pulling his knees to his chest, his clothes still sticking to his body. He knew then that he would have to spend the night in the woods and hoped that he would wake to hear the sound of the horn the next morning, although if he fell asleep he would probably miss it.

"Best stay awake all night then," he told himself through chattering teeth as he rubbed his legs. It was going to be a long night. Freezing cold, sitting all alone on the ground in an unknown forest. He missed his friends. Would he ever see them again? He started to think about Pony again and how nice their last night had been. He missed him terribly. His voice. His touch. How their last few weeks had been. How great they had felt and of the things Pony had taught him about maneuvering around. As he sat there, he wondered if he would make it through the night. He didn't know what kind of animals lived in the woods near Tulsa, but if they didn't get him then maybe the cold would. He felt his way around on the ground but there was nothing he could crawl under for warmth.

"I hope I will make it out of this," he mumbled, feeling sleep trying to take him. "I want to see you again."