Chapter 5

Ponyboy's POV

The brakes of the family truck screeched and announced my arrival as I pulled into the hospital, directly in front of the entrance. I could still hear the police sirens screaming at me but I didn't pay attention, I just carried Johnny into the hospital and screamed for someone to help. People started to run at me with a gurney and monitors and medicines. And something just snapped. It was all a haze, I couldn't focus on one thing and I couldn't understand what anyone was saying to me. It's like they weren't speaking English.

The next thing I knew a man decked out in scrubs took Johnny from my arms and two arms were pulling me out of the hospital lobby out to the parking lot. There was red and blue lights flashing in my eyes. Sirens and roars and screeches muffled my ears. I didn't understand what was happening. Where was Johnny? He had been with me just a second ago. Did I just imagine it?

Something was pushing me across the parking lot but I couldn't walk right. I stumbled and fell a couple of times but something always yanked me back up by my shirt. My head was throbbing and my stomach churned. Nothing seemed right. The air seemed too cold yet I was sweating, my clothes seemed too tight yet they hung loosely off of me. I couldn't focus because everything was moving too fast. My senses were in slow motion and I didn't understand what was pushing me and where it was leading me so I was surprised when I was slammed against the hood of the police car. The cuffs seemed to appear on my wrists and it was like I just ended up in the back seat of the screaming vehicle.

The blurred city that zoomed by the windows seemed foreign, I didn't recognize it. All I could process was that I was in trouble and wonder where Johnny was.

All these events could've taken hours to happen but it seemed like just a flash to me. A quick blurry vision the struck me painfully. What seemed like seconds after I got in the car, I was shoved into a cage filled with faceless strangers. I settled on the floor and leaned against the wall of the cage, hoping the wait would be as short as everything else had been.

Sodapop's POV

The vision of Johnny on a chain, broken and burning would be scarred in my mind forever, I knew. I also knew Ponyboy had seen much more and he would be changed forever. The way he had screamed and ran was terrifying to see him so upset. I had never seen someone so infuriated in my life.

The rest of the gang and me were now in Two-bit's pulling into the parking lot of the hospital. I saw our Chevy parked in the front, abandoned. At least Ponyboy made it here in one piece.

We walked into the lobby of the emergency room and Dally lead us all to the reception desk.

"May I help you?" The woman asked. She was stout and looked hateful; I already wanted to ring her neck.

"Johnny Cade." Dally stated plainly. "Where is he?"

The woman took her sweet time flipping through the documents in each file cabinet.

"No take your time." Two-but spat sarcastically. "We have all the time in the world."

The women looked at us begrudgingly and loped back to her chair where she flopped back down. She sighed as if she was being terribly over worked.

"There is no one here by the name of Johnny Cade." The hatefulness was so tangible in her voice; I put a hand on Steve's shoulder to keep her from pouncing on her.

Dally's voice was almost lethally dripping with venom when he talked. "I know he's here. He's a small boy, with dark skin. He was really banged up and a tall lanky kid, with bleach blonde brought take you somewhere where no can hear you and beat the shit out of you, like you deserve."

The women look shook and I think she knew, as well as everyone else, that if she didn't give Dally what he wanted, he would keep his promise.

"They took the dark haired kid to room 101, but you can't visit him because he's about to go into surgery. He looked pretty bad." She looked at us with new alertness, finally realizing the clenched fists. "The blonde kid was taken away by the police but no one knows why. They didn't bother to tell us."

With that Dally lead the gang to the waiting room, muttering "Dumb bitch..." on the way. Everyone sat down but me because I knew what was coming.

"Take the truck and go bail Ponyboy." Darry advised tiredly. "The police will understand when you tell them the cause. And I know Ponyboy wants to be here."

So I drove to the jailhouse and told the story, skillfully dancing around the Soc problem without slipping about anything that happened in the woods, I knew they wouldn't believe me.

When I went to the communal cell and spotted Pony I winced slightly. He didn't look sad or mad, he looked… dead. He was totally blank. When I got him out, he didn't seem happy or thankful to be out; he just mutely got up and followed me to the truck. The ride was silent too, all I could hear was his heavy, shuddering breaths. I thought he would cry but when I looked at him his eyes were as hard as steel. He looked like a total different person and I knew I had it right. Ponyboy was never going to be the same again.

All I could do was hope Johnny pulled through. Because if Johnny didn't make it, neither would Ponyboy.

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