Another one from firebunnee............

Chapter 5

Darryl jumped out of his truck and exploded breathlessly through the front door of the house.

"We gotta go, now!"

Dallas was on his feet and instantly out the door following Darryl closely. Behind him in another split second were Steve Randall, Two Bit Mathews with Sodapop and Ponyboy Curtis hot on their heals.

"What's going on, Darry." Dallas shouted as he jumped into the passenger seat of the truck.

"Trouble." Darry blurted out as Ponyboy slid into the front from the drivers side to sit between Darryl and Dallas.

Darry took a deep breath and looked in at his younger brother. He was Johnny's best friend. He had begged and pleaded for him to go help find Johnny and now he was about to tell him he wasn't going. Darryl was absolutely terrified as to what they were potentially walking into. He didn't want Pony to see his best friend hurt, or even worse.

"Pony, maybe you should stay here."

Ponyboy's face grew stormy. "No, Darry, NO! Johnny's my friend!" The teen protested loudly.

Darryl wiped his forehead with his right hand. He gritted his teeth as he looked at Ponyboy and then back at Soda sitting in the rear of the truck. Soda would help right now.

"Soda, please…"

Sodapop shook his head, bit his lip and looked down at the ground. He grimaced as he knew what his older brother was asking him to do. Darryl was right; and Ponyboy was right too. Johnny was his best friend. He deserved to be there when they found him. Darryl grabbed Soda by the arm and pulled him to the front of the truck. He glanced slowly into the cab where Pony sat glaring at him.

"Soda, please. I don't want him to see Johnny if…"

"Darry, I can't make him and neither can you." Soda argued.

"Please." Darry's eyes darted from right to left nervously. "If his father has… Soda, if Johnny is lying there with a knife in his chest, in a pool of his own blood… do you really want Pony to see that?"

Soda closed his eyes and sighed. Pony and Soda had been through a lot since they had lost their parents. They had seen too much for their years. It was the thought of Johnny with a blade in his chest disturbed him more than he could even express. Soda gritted his teeth again. He hated it when Darryl was right.

"If he's okay, I'll call and you can bring Pony to the hospital, or wherever we take him." Darryl offered.

Soda nodded his head slowly. He clenched his teeth together as he turned and looked at Ponyboy in the cab of the truck.

As if he was experiencing sudden betrayal, Pony felt as if he would cry. He wasn't about to show them tears, but he wanted to. He had begged Darry to check up on Johnny the day before and he hadn't. It wasn't fair that they were making him stay now.

"Take my keys. Its Bucks car, if we need you we'll call." Dallas handed Soda the keys across the seat as Ponyboy slid out of the cab furiously and stormed back to the house. He irritably kicked a rock out of his path and sat down on the front stoop almost pouting. He pulled his comb out of his back pocket running it across his hair. Steve and Soda both walked back to the house behind Ponyboy as Darryl fired up the truck and tromped the gas peddle.

"This sucks!" Pony watched as his brother pulled away.

"It's for your own good, Pony." Soda sat down next to his little brother as Steve walked by and leaned up against the wall as Soda handed Pony a cigarette.

--

"Sylvia?" Dallas looked over at Darryl as he pulled up to the house.

"She was walking in when I got here earlier." Darryl explained.

"Are you sure she wasn't bringing him something?" Dallas questioned. "I mean…"

"She was bringing him something alright. I just don't think it was what you think it was."

"Bitch…" Dallas muttered pushing the door open.

"Look, don't do anything stupid. We're gonna go in and get Johnny and get the hell out." Darryl laid out the plan as he, Two Bit and Dallas walked towards the house.

"Oh, I'm not gonna do anything stupid, I'm just gonna kill the bastard." Dallas fumed.

"Are you sure the kid's in there?" Two Bit asked.

"I have a suspicion." Darry stated watching the house as the three approached.

--

Johnny struggled against his father. He was sweating bullets and his strength was waning. Inside he was screaming for help, but the gag only muffled the cries. His wrists were tied so tightly he had lost feeling in them long ago. His father had touched him and was starting to try and pull the boy up off of the floor to do the most unmentionable thing to him. Something Johnny didn't think men, let alone a father would do to his son, or another man. He had heard Sylvia with him earlier so he now knew why his father had done what he was doing to him. He knew he was always coming between her and Dallas. Now his father was gonna take what she wouldn't give him enough of earlier from him, his son.

Johnny raised his knee and caught the man in the groin. The hit wasn't hard but it was enough to drop him to the ground for a second. Unfortunately it wasn't nearly enough to keep him down for good. Peter reached out and grabbed a hold of Johnny who was on his stomach trying to snake his way out of the room. Peter then crawled onto his son and delivered five good hits to Johnny's kidneys leaving the boy flat on his stomach, nearly unconscious.

"You're a good little fighter…"

Peter was interrupted by several knocks at the door.

--

Darryl knocked heavily on the door a second time. There was some commotion and then the door swung open.

Peter Cade opened the door and found himself staring into two very tall, intimidating boys and another shorter boy. He wasn't at all happy about being interrupted by the kids. He recognized Darryl right away as being related to Ponyboy Curtis. He figured the kid must have run home crying about how he couldn't play with Johnny.

"Where's Johnny?" Darryl demanded.

"I told that sniveling little brother of yours that he wasn't here and he still aint here." Peter retorted coldly and tried to push the door shut only to have Dallas shove his foot into the jam and stop the door from closing.

"I don't believe you, now where's Johnny?" Darryl asked again more forcefully.

"Get the hell off my property." Peter hissed.

There was a small noise come from behind Peter and without a thought as to how it looked Peter turned his head. Dallas pushed past Darryl and raised his fist running it smack into Peter's face dropping the man to the floor and leaving him out cold.

Darryl and Two Bit then rushed past Dallas who stopped at the door.

"We told you we didn't believe you, asshole!" Dallas spat looking down at the unconscious older man.

"Oh, GOD… Johnny." Darryl whispered in a low voice as he rolled the boy onto his back.

Johnny moaned softly as Darryl lifted him up into his arms. He gently brushed the boy's hair from his forehead. Darryl continued to talk gently to the boy as he looked over his disturbingly battered face. Two Bit quickly pulled his switchblade from his back pocket and used it to easily cut the nylon stockings that were used to bind Johnny's wrists behind him. Darryl gently pulled the gag from between his teeth.

Johnny let out a groan as he grimaced at the gentle but painful movements.

"Darry…" he whispered a tear streaking down his face.

Dallas stood in the doorway looking down overtop of the three. His chest heaved heavily up and down as he watched the kid suffering. He felt himself shaking all over with rage. He was ready to go out and find that stupid bitch that had set Johnny up. He couldn't believe that he had let himself fall into her trap.

"Two Bit, you and Dallas get out there and get the truck started." Darryl ordered.

Dallas continued to stand overtop his eyes ablaze with anger.

"Dallas, go! We need to get him to a hospital, now!" Darryl threw his keys at Dallas who snatched them up in mid air. He looked down at them before he turned and walked to the door.

"Johnny…" Darry murmured.

Johnny's eyes split open.

"Hang onto me, I'm gonna carry you outta here, okay. Tell me if I hurt you, Johnny. Come on, kiddo, I'm gonna get you outta here." Darryl whispered softly.

With his other hand he scooped the boy's legs up and lifted the kid carefully off of the ground. Johnny let out a loud groan as he tried to wrap his arms around Darryl's shoulders and they just fell, dangling at his side as Johnny sank into unconsciousness, once more. Darryl struggled as he could tell the kid was in a lot of pain. At least he would be out for the trip to the hospital.

--

Darryl walked silently by the boy's father. The man had a dark mark starting to form under his eye where Dallas had thrown a powerful punch at him. There was no attention paid to weather or not he was alive or dead. Darryl simply stepped over him and walked on. The eldest Curtis brother walked quickly to the truck and slid into the passenger seat and pulled the door shut.

"Dallas lets go." Darryl pulled Johnny tighter into his arms pushing his hair out of his eyes and looking at the cut in his forehead and face.

Johnny whimpered softly as they were going.

Darryl looked over at Dallas who was accelerating faster than they should have through town. He looked back down at the kid noticing the scarlet spot on his t-shirt. Darryl lifted the boy's shirt and gasped at the deep violet, almost black bruise forming around an obvious break in his ribs.

"Hang on, Johnnycake…" Darry kept reassuring the unconscious boy.

--

Two Bit ran to the payphone in the emergency room. He shoved his change into the phone and quickly dialed the number.

"Hello." Ponyboy's voice was full of anticipation.

"We found him. We're at the hospital. Get a clean shirt for him and get over her now." Two Bit almost shouted into the receiver.

Ponyboy slammed the receiver down onto the cradle…

"They've got Johnny."