Chapter 6: Hard Seats

A/N: Hi! What be up? As usual, probably going to be a short chapter. You know how it is being a writer, lots of books, lots of people waiting, lots of pressure (mostly from myself), lots of ideas. Churning them out quick, short & fast. I hope you like this one!

Darry's POV:

"Mnhmmn," I moan my eyes fluttering open. 'Ponyboy! Where's Pony!'

I glance around trying to remember what had happened and where my kid brother was.

"Ponyboy! Pony!" I scream crawling over to the lake where he'd last been. "Pony!" I find my kid brother lying face down in the lake, not moving.

I stumble as I pull him out of the lake. I roll him onto his back tapping his un-moving face, screaming. I do a mix between CPR and the Heimlich maneuver on my little brother, trying to force the water out of his lungs. A few minutes of this panic motions brings Pony spluttering back into the land of living.

"Oh Pony! Ponyboy, I'm so sorry! I'm so, so, so sorry, kiddo!" I sob cradling him close to me.

The poor kid is soaking wet and shaking like crazy. I mumble things to him as he cries. I glance over him and those Socs' really messed him up. He's cut and stabbed in multiple places, most of them have clotted already, and his face is all scratched and pale. For the next fifteen minutes, I hold him, trying to comfort him as he coughs wildly. He looks sick. His eyes are dull and only half-opened and it feels like he has a temperature. He says he's just hungry and that his head hurts. I know he's in more pain than that. When I stand, I can tell he doesn't trust himself on his feet so I scoop him up again and start for my truck.

"It's okay, Ponyboy. I'm gonna take you home and you're gonna be just fine." I carry him into the clearing, but I don't see the truck. "S***. Why the hell did they steal that old piece of crap?" I mutter angrily. That's the only vehicle my whole family has. Not that other people won't give us rides, but it's nice not having to depend on other people for everything. Maybe Dallas will lend us one of his hot-rods until I can get enough money for a used one.

"Da-Darry? Is somethin' wrong?" he stutters, shaking harder. Man, that kid must be pretty d*** sick.

"No Ponyboy. Everything's fine. It's just gonna take a little longer gettin' home than I thought it would." I lie, partially.

"O-Oh, okay." He replies softly, laying his against my chest.

I sigh, take a quick look behind me and start walking down the road, keeping to the shoulder, not that there's any traffic. It probably close to two hours when we arrive at the fork in the road that only took me twenty minutes to drive down to that house. Yeah, it's goin' to be a long night. It's pitch black dark outside now and I'm exhausted. I stop and collapse into a shallow ditch on the side of the road. Both of us are asleep within minutes, but I cannot fully succumb to sleep however. I must keep watch so no one hurts Ponyboy anymore. He's very sick and I wish I had a telephone to tell Soda, Dallas, Steve and Two-Bit where I am and how Ponyboy is. Yet I don't have a telephone, I don't have anything. No extra clothes, no food, no truck, no nothing. After hours more of watching and waiting, I can't help but slip into sleep.

"Hey, hey! Kid! C'mon, wake up! Hey!" I hear quietly but then it grows louder and someone's shaking my shoulder.

"Mhmmn," I groan as my eyes slowly open.

A man, young, maybe mid-twenties, is standing over us. A large truck is rumbling in park on the road.

"What's goin' on, kid? Why're you layin' in a ditch, boy?" he asks.

"My kid brother was stabbed and kidnapped by a bunch of Soc's. I finally found him a little ways down the road and when I came to, they'd stolen my truck. I'm just tryin' to walk back to a town, maybe catch a ride back home." I explain.

"You in a fight or somethin'?" he asks.

"Just a small one. My brother's hurt bad. I think he's getting sick."

"Yeah I can see." He replies helping me to my feet, as I scoop Ponyboy up.

"C'mon, hop in. I'm headin' for a town a few miles over there." He states pointing to the right, the opposite direction of home. But, hey, I don't have any other way to get home, though I'm not too fond of hitch-hiking.

"Thank you very much, sir." I reply, climbing into the passenger side still holding Ponyboy.

So here I am, riding in someone else's truck down the road at close to three in the morning, holding my kid brother who can barely stay awake. It's five by time we're dropped off in the next town. I find some food for me and Pone at a bar that's about to close and doesn't want to throw last night's food away. I find a pay phone and some change on the ground and call back to our house.

Bring! Bring! Bring!

"Mhm," someone grunts on the other end.

"Dally?" I ask.

"Darry! Why the hell haven't you called? You've been worryin' the s*** out of your kid brother, idiot!" Dallas yells at me, adding a few other adjectives after 'idiot.' I wince until he shuts up.

"I found Ponyboy." I answer quietly.

I can tell he's waiting for me to speak again, but I'm all choked up.

"Why the hell aren't you talking?!" Dally screams. "What the f***'s goin' on! Where are you?"

"Pon-Ponyboy's real bad off. He's bleeding pretty bad and they almost drowned him. We're in a little town pretty far away from you, a good six or seven hours. I'll try to get him home tonight."

"Dal is that Dare? Let me talk to him, please. Please Dally!" I hear Sodapop in the background.

"Hey, cut it out. Bug off." Dally growls shooing him away I assume. "So, you'll be home tonight?"

"Yeah, I'll try, Dally. Hey, make sure Soda gets to work today and Two-Bit gets to school. Don't tell Soda how bad Pone is alright? He doesn't need to worry about it. Okay?"

"You think I'm your babysitter or somthin' don't you? Fine, I won't and I will. Gotta go, wrangle your little babies up and ready for the day then light up, maybe down a few beers."

"Dally! Don't get yourself in trouble alright? I – I need you, Dal." I press.

"Yeah, yeah. I'll be waiting for you tonight."

"Yeah, I'll try." And the conversation ends. Ponyboy lays on a bench looking awful. "C'mon kiddo, let's get you home." I murmur scooping him up again.

He moans in pain and closes his eyes once more. I walk down the backwards holding my thumb out and Ponyboy, hoping for somebody to stop. One man does and takes us to another town in the right direction this time. While we're waiting for someone else to stop, a car on the other side of the road slows to a stop, yelling something at me. It's a nice car, I notice. Real tuff.

"Hey! You need a ride?" the young driver asks.

He can't be more than twenty years old and dumber than a doornail. I'm just holding my thumb out with a fifteen year old boy in my arms waiting for a ride. No doubt a Soc, but at least one with a bit of compassion. Ponyboy's growing heavy in my one arm I'm carrying him in. He's getting to be a little big for me to carry like this. He's fifteen years old and at least one hundred and ten pounds, too big for me to carry but I'd do anything for him. He's my little Ponyboy.

"Where're you headin'?" I ask.

"Back to Tulsa, what 'bout you?"

"Yes, that's where I'm headin'. Can you spare me a ride?" I ask.

"Yeah, sure. Hop in. Kid has to go in the back. I ain't like it too much when there's too many people in the front." He says.

"Oh, okay." I reply, laying Ponyboy down in the back seat. I climb into the front seat and we start off down the road, in the wrong direction might I add. "Hey, you said you were goin' back to Tulsa."

"Ain't mean that's what I meant." He says pulling a heater out from under his seat, pressing it against my head, flicking the safety off.

I try to lunge for Pony to get us out of the car, but the man smacks me in the head with his gun, causing my vision to blur.

"You're not goin' anywhere." He growls.

At that moment, I realize that Ponyboy and me are suddenly hostages held at gunpoint and there is nothing I can do about it.

A/N: Thanks so much for reading this chapter! Really hoped you liked it! I know, lots of drama. Please, please, please review! #PeaceoutGrease