"NO!" I shrieked, "NOO!"
She couldn't be gone. After everything, I couldn't let her die. I struggled to my feet, but Darry had me in a tight hold and I couldn't pull away. I screamed pointlessly into the starless sky, my anger and sorrow fining voice. She couldn't be gone. She couldn't be gone. She couldn't be gone!
Steve, of course, wasted no time in beating the ever-loving snot out of that Soc. The gun skittered across the roof and landed a few feet away from me. Steve was swearing uncontrollably, creating a tapestry of foul words as the redhead lay beneath his relentless torrent of fists, sobbing. I felt no sympathy for him. He deserved every blow. But Soda and Two-Bit went over and dragged Steve off him before he could kill him.
I wondered if she could've possibly survived the fall. And if she did, whether or not she could find her way out of the maze of flames. The odds looked horrible. I had to get down there. I had to save her.
Darry had loosened his grip ever so slightly, and I took the advantage. I elbowed him hard in the ribs, and for a split second his arms flew out to his sides. I raced away from him, ignoring his and Soda's calls for me to stop, and dove off the roof.
The flames reached up to me with eager fingers, gripping my arms and face, dragging me down into the burning red hell I had already escaped once. I crashed through the ceiling and I managed to turn in the air, landing on my side instead of my head. It hurt, but it was livable.
I staggered to my feet. Orange light flickered everywhere, casting odd shadows in the corners like demons waiting to take me away. And yet, just like in the church, I wasn't scared. I know I should have been, at least for her, but I wasn't. All I felt was a burning determination. I would find her, and I would get us both out alive.
The smoke was thick, and it wasn't long before I was coughing my lungs out. I searched frantically for her, my eyes stinging with the effort. Support beams started to fall, but somehow I dodged the bigger ones.
Soon enough I found her. She had fallen on a tall pile of wooden crates, which, of course, were quickly become an enormous bonfire. I scrambled up to the top, willing myself not to care about the sharp pain that stabbed at my legs and arms, and crawled to her side.
She wasn't moving.
Oh, God, please no. Please, please don't let me be too late.
I checked her pulse. Her heart beat raggedly, but it was beating. She breathed slowly, almost unnoticeably. She was alive, but the fall had knocked her out.
Carefully, I scooped her up into my arms. I groaned as my arm flared, but I ignored the pain as best I could and slid down the flaming mountain of crates. I stumbled, but stayed on my feet. The fire had grown taller, the smoke thicker. I lurched through the building, trying desperately to find a way out. My throat was raw from coughing, and the pain in my arm was so intense I was afraid I'd caught fire.
We passed another stack of crates just as the fire popped. I crouched and bent over Heather as embers flew over us, stinging my face and arms. I winced, managing to get back to my feet. My head was spinning, and the bright patterns of the flames left bright splotches in my vision when I closed my eyes. They burned through the wood on the windows, making a nasty glare on the glass.
I thought I would pass out when suddenly a wall burst open, the flames belching out of the newly-formed hole. A figure stumbled through the flames, running toward me.
It was Steve.
"Come on!" he hollered, but his voice sounded like a whisper through the cackling fire. I staggered after him, holding Heather as close to me as I could so she wouldn't get burned on the way out.
The night air felt frighteningly cold after the heat of the fire, and my teeth immediately started chattering. I fell to my knees, struggling to breathe through my relentless coughing. We'd made it.
"Ponyboy!" Soda was at my side in a second, putting an arm around me. I still held her against me.
"We… we gotta…"
"Two-Bit ran back to get his car. It'll be okay, Pony."
Steve stood in front of us, panting. "Is she…?"
"She's alive," I managed through wheezes, "The fall… she…"
"Shh, Pony." Darry was on my other side.
After that, everything was too jumbled up to make any sense. I could barely hear anything over the fire behind us and my own breathing, but I faintly heard voices, too indistinct to place names to.
"Stupid kid. Could've gotten himself killed."
"If that Soc wasn't there, you would've done the same thing."
"If I ever see that Soc again, he's gonna wish he threw himself down there."
"It doesn't matter now. Worry about him later."
"Glory, look at the burns on him."
"You sure she's okay?"
"She's not okay. Not even close. But she's alive. I just don't know how much longer she'll last."
"Dammit! Where on God's green earth is Two-Bit!"
"D'you think he'll be okay?"
"Dunno. That bullet didn't help matters much."
"Stupid kid."
"That stupid kid just saved you life."
"I know, I know…. I just don't get it."
"Neither do we."
"There's Two-Bit. C'mon, we gotta get them to the hospital."
Through the haze in my mind I felt myself being lifted, then the roaring fire died away, replaced by screeching tires, and then I couldn't hold on to consciousness anymore.
Hope you like it; this was really fun to write. I'll try to post more as soon as I can, but Breaking Dawn just came out, and I'll probably have to finish that before I can come back to this. Sorry!
Thanks to all my faithful reviewers! You make me feel loved. :D