I was barely even to the next block when I heard sirens screeching around the corner and coming to a halt in the front of the fountain, where Johnny and Pony had stood while I called to them. I was on the near side of the street, out of range of the streetlight, and I stopped to turn and watch. Were Pony and Johnny gonna get arrested? Asshole Socs, I thought, they attack my brother and his friend and then call the cops on them? But there was something about the scene that was wrong. The officers approached the fountain hollering, guns at the ready. They came to the other side of the fountain from where I had been standing, reached down and what they pulled up could only have been a Soc. My breath left me, realizing my brother and his best friend had quite possibly just killed somebody.

I had no idea where to go. I wanted to go home and get Darry, yet on the other hand I was so worried about Pony… Darry had hit him, and now here he was, probably needing Darry more than anything but likely too afraid to go home. Normally, when anything bad happened, Darry was the one everyone in the gang – including us - turned to. After all, he was the oldest and smartest and had the best advice - but Pony was estranged from him at the moment, I knew that for sure. I knew he would not head toward home, but he might be heading toward Johnny's house to hide out, so I ignored the pain in my feet and again sprinted with everything I had toward Johnny's. As I headed down the street toward his house, I heard dogs barking to my left and something told me to look in that direction.

I caught a brief glimpse of two shadows turning the corner a block away. I turned toward them and picked up my pace. It seemed like I followed them forever, until finally we came up to a shoddy looking house with beer lights in the windows and loud music and yelling emanating from within. I had no idea where I was, and wondered how in the world Pony or Johnny would have ever known about this place. I hid between parked cars as Pony and Johnny knocked on the door. A stranger's face appeared and they spoke. The man who had answered the door left and suddenly Dally appeared in the doorway.

Of course, I thought. Dallas. Dally would know what to do. He had said he was staying at his friend Buck's. I had been warned by Darry ever since I could remember to never be caught within a mile of his place. If he ever found out I had been here he would ground me from now 'til eternity, I was sure. Somehow I was still convincing myself that everything was going to work out fine, Pony and Johnny would come home, I would sneak back into bed and, now that I knew why Darry was on Pony's case all the time we could work things out. I waited and waited, expecting Dally to come out any minute with the two of them, borrowing someone's car to take them back to home. I would just hop in with them, though Dally would be pretty steamed to find me here, too. But they were gone longer than I expected. I actually started to nod off against a car when finally I heard Pony's voice… "OK, Dall, we will. Thanks."

Pony and Johnny both shot off in the other direction. What the…? I thought. That isn't the way home! But still I followed them, determined to catch up with Pony and bring him home. After all, it was my own fault Darry had hit him. I owed it to him to find him and tell him that. I limped along behind the pair, hiding in the shadows but staying close enough to keep them in sight. To my surprise, they led me to the train yard. Row after row of freight trains lay out before me. I assumed this was where they planned to hide.

My assumption was immediately proved wrong, however, as one by one I saw Johnny and Pony hoist themselves up into a boxcar.

All of a sudden the truth became clear: Pony and Johnny were running away. Darry had hit him, he had no idea why, really, and something terrible had happened at the park (had that Soc really been dead?) and he was running away. I knew that if I let him go my other brothers and I might never know where Pony had gone. He and Johnny might just disappear and never come back. Lord knows, these trains must go all over the country, maybe even to Mexico and Canada. I wouldn't even know where to look for them once this train left. I couldn't stand the thought.

Gathering all my strength, I ran as fast as I could to the car (which wasn't very fast, as you will discover if you ever try to run on train-track rocks with nothing but socks on…) and tried to vault myself up into the open door. I didn't even come close. In fact I could hardly manage any upward motion at all and ended up nearly entirely under the car, hanging by my hands. I gathered myself up and stood at the boxcar opening. It was level with my forehead. I realized there was no way I was going to able to jump in by myself, and wondered how Pony and Johnny had even managed it. They aren't that much taller than I am. I could see the engineers in the distance coming my way, looking for troublemakers such as myself, I imagined.

"PONYBOY!" I yell-whispered into the car. Silence.

"PONY!" This time, an answer.

"Scout? What the hell are you doing here? Jesus Christ, Scout."

"Just pull me in. The train guys are coming."

Pony and Johnny each took a hand and dragged me up into the car. Seeing the engineers themselves, they hustled me to the far end, against the near wall. We dared not even breathe as the engineers passed by and shone the light into the car but didn't expend the effort to crane their necks around the corner of the door to find us. We crouched motionless for what seemed like hours, until suddenly the train lurched forth with a creak and a whistle rang out, low and long. It took us a moment to regain the ability to move, we had been frozen in our position for so long.

Pony started in on me right away.

"Jesus, Scout, it's bad enough I'm here, Goddamn it, Darry is going to skin me alive for getting you involved. He already hates me and thinks I'm nothing but a pain in the ass. Now he's just got another reason to yell at me."

"That's why I came after you Pony. He wasn't really mad at you. He is worried that you are being a bad example for me. He thinks everything you do, I'm gonna do. Like if you break curfew, I'm gonna think it's OK. God knows, Pony, Darry missed curfew enough when Mom and Dad were alive. You know he isn't really mad at you about that. All we have to do is convince him I have a mind of my own. Really, Pony, I know you think he hates you but I heard him and Soda talking about it. They love you. They are just scared for me. They want you home on time because they think if you break curfew, I'll get a bad message. It's not even about you, it's about me!"

It didn't seem like Pony was really listening.

"Scout, I can't go home. You were in the park. Didn't you see what happened?" The train was moving for real now.

"You and Johnny got in a fight. You beat those Socs, totally outnumbered."

"Scout," Pony looked me in the eye, "We killed somebody. We killed a Soc in that fight."

I had no response. I remembered seeing the cops pull that kid up from the other side of the fountain. Even though I knew, deep down I had been hoping maybe he was just knocked out.

"We can't go back. And now you're involved, so you're stuck here with us, too. Jesus. Darry's never gonna forgive this."

I supposed he might be right, not so much about Darry forgiving but me being stuck. The landscape was now flying by the boxcar door. "Where are we going?" I asked.

"Somewhere Dally said we'll be safe. You'll be safe there too."

I realized that I, too, had run away from home, albeit unintentionally. But I also trusted Pony to look out for me. He may have been just a kid himself, and we certainly had our differences, but I knew he would do anything he could to keep me safe.

OK, " I said, and leaned against him. I wished we got along better. The train rumbled along and I just stared at the countryside out the open door.

I was hardly awake when Pony pulled at me, stood me up, and yelled at me to jump. He held my left hand in his, and as he jumped, he dragged me alongside. I didn't completely clear the boxcar door and as I was pulled out I felt one of the door latches dig into my upper right calf. I hit the ground on my feet, but my momentum carried me forward and I rolled several feet, head over heels. I came to rest on my back, feeling the vibration of the ground as the rest of the train rumbled past.

Pony was at my head immediately. "You OK, Scout?"

I was breathless but seemingly unhurt. I reached up for Pony and pulled him toward me. I felt like it had been forever since I had hugged him, and I circled my arms around his neck. I loved him so much but I just didn't know how to tell him. We just didn't connect. He indulged me for a second then stood up, dusting himself off.

"I'm OK," I said. I felt OK, really. Nothing hurt that much, for having just jumped from a speeding train.

Pony looked at Johnny. "You OK, Johnnycake?"

"I'm good."

Pony pulled out a pack of cigarettes and lit one, tossing the pack at Johnny. He took a long drag and looked back at me.

"Jesus Christ, Scout, no shoes?" I remembered how I had left so suddenly the night before.

"I didn't have time." I said, and gave him a look that said: Seriously, we're going to fight about this? Here he just told me that he killed someone and he was gonna give me a hard time about not wearing shoes?

"I was in a hurry," is what I did say, and dared him with my eyes to challenge me on it.

He didn't. He just looked at me like I was a complete nutjob. As it were, I was lucky that I hadn't been stuck wearing pajamas as well. It had been chilly the night before so I had hopped into bed in a t-shirt, sweatpants and a sweatshirt. The sweatshirt was was too big, it was probably Soda's or Darry's… it was never quite clear after our mom died which clothes belonged to which family member. Laundry was a pretty constant challenge for us; everyone's least favorite chore, and while things usually managed to get washed and dried, the process usually broke down far before anything got sorted or put away. We lived out of laundry baskets most of the time. I looked around at us and noticed that none of us were particularly well dressed for heading out into the countryside. I didn't even recognize the shirt Pony was wearing. It was way too big on him, it must have been Darry's.

Pony pulled me to my feet and we started walking. He pointed to a steeple in the distance and told me that was where we were headed. Where Dally said we would be safe. I followed along with them, lost in my own thoughts.

My most troubling thought was about Darry. I knew he must be sick with worry about Pony and me, but on the other hand he had hit Pony, and had crossed a line that I never dreamed he would cross. Our parents had never hit us. I loved Darry with all my heart but now a part of me feared him, too. What if I disappointed him? I probably already had. Would he hit me, too? I missed him to death already, after one night, and I felt bad for leaving, but a part of me was angry with him, as well.

After a while I realized I was falling behind. The ground was pretty tough on stocking feet, and I was starting to feel the achy remains of a night of running on stones and pavement. Pony came back to get me and piggybacked me the rest of the way. He got short of breath and I gave him a hard time about smoking. He told me to shut up, it was just that I was getting so fat. It almost felt like a typical Scout/Ponyboy interaction.

We finally arrived at the church. Pony pulled up short and slid me down to the ground, while we all took stock of what stood before us. For an abandoned old building, it was actually sort of neat, and for some reason the fact that it was a church made me feel kinda safe. My family had never been churchgoers, but I had been to weddings and funerals, and a few times with Ben and his family to their church, and there was something about being in a church that always made me feel a little protected.

"So, home sweet home," Pony said.

I looked around. I guessed I could deal with it. I looked at Johnny and we shrugged simultaneously. Home sweet home.

A/N: OK, I am getting more hits than ever but I am so curious about who is reading this and what you think! If you are sticking with it and not just reading one chapter and hating it, please let me know! Thanks so much for my super-reviewers who give me feedback on each chapter! Maybe I'll post another one tonight!