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"You okay Ponyboy? You look like you're going to be sick."

I opened my mouth to reply, but too late – I felt the puke starting to arise.

It came out in a gush – but the best part of all (is it wrong that I'm not being sarcastic?), was that it went all over the hotel manager. (I'm a horrible person)

Soda apologized again and again, but the man finally kicked us out. I would have laughed, but we had really needed some place to stay – and that place had been cheap.

"Sorry Sodapop." I said.

"Don't worry about it. At least we got one night in." Soda gave me a reassuring smile, but his eyes were deadened. As though he had given up hope a long time ago.

Mental Note: Don't throw up on people. They don't like it.

The next day we spent sleeping in the car. There weren't any hotels around and frankly, we were starting to run out of money. There also weren't any gas stations around, and that car eats up gas like nothing I've ever seen before. Later that night our car broke down completely.

"We're gonna have to hitchhike." Soda had said calmly, while I was on the verge of a freak-out.

"Hitchhike? It's the middle of nowhere! Soda there's no one coming!"

"Ponyboy it's going to be okay."

"No it aint Soda! Look around you, there's barely even any trees for company!"

"Ponyboy –"

"No! Soda this is insane! We're gonna die out here and – "

Suddenly Soda roared, "PONYBOY! Shuddup and listen to me! We aint gonna die. I didn't come all the way from 'Nam in one piece just to see us both dead, alright? And there's gonna be someone, okay? Trust me, Ponyboy. You've been pretty okay with all of this, but I can't have you break down now. Alright? We need each other, cause we're all we have. So just shut it and I don't wanna hear any more from you."

That surprised me, so I did as he said and kept my mouth shut. Not that I would have opened it again anyways. Sodapop wasn't one to snap at you, it kind of freaked me out. More than being stuck in the middle of nowhere with a broke-down car.

"Just stay here, alright?" Soda said, his tone still a pitch louder than usual. I gave a tight nod, and stared at the dashboard bitterly.

The car door slammed shut as Sodapop got out. I could see him examining the car, bending down in some places and looking higher at others. He stepped away from the car, his face clouded. He was shaking his head and ran a hand anxiously through his hair. He let it rest on his head for a minute, when he let out a big huff and started to walk back over to the car.

"What's wrong?" I asked, as soon as he got in. Soda didn't answer me, he just stared out the windshield.

"Sodapop what's wrong?" I asked, cursing my voice for sounded scared. "Soda tell me!"

"Just – be quiet for a minute." Soda said hurriedly, then started looking around for something.

"What are you looking for?"

"Sh!"

I frowned and slouched back in my seat, staring resentfully at my hands. I knew he didn't mean it, but it still hurt.

Finally Soda let out a victorious yelp and whipped a map out of the backseat. I couldn't help but to look at it.

"Where'd ya get that?" I asked, ignoring his earlier warning.

"I've had this since that night we ran away. I've been keeping track of where we've been going." He was tracing his fingers across a thick, red line. "So that means only – 12 miles until Pentonville." I kicked out my feet, and let them swing freely. I had no clue what he was talking about. And I thought I was supposed to be the smart one – maybe I had the sense knocked outta me by Darry? Or Toby? Just thinking about Toby made me scared. Suddenly realization hit me.

"We – we aint gonna walk are we?"

Sodapop gave me a side-long glance. "Are we Sodapop!" I asked again, louder and fearful.

"If I can't fix this than we're gonna have to."

I just gaped at him for a minute, then fixed my composure. I nodded my head, hoping with all my might that he could fix this.

Sodapop got back out of the truck and opened the hood of the car. I just sat back and watched him curiously. I couldn't see well from my spot in the car, but his hands were working furiously and I could tell he was trying to fix something that probably needed a wrench to be dealt with.

Soda let out a yell and jumped back, my heart sped up. "You okay?" I called anxiously.

"Yeah – just burned my hand on something." Soda said, but I could barely hear him because he was sucking a red spot on his hand.

"Okay." I barely mumbled, and slouched back in my seat. About an hour later Sodapop came in with a mingled expression on his face.

"Hope this works." He said, turning the key.

The smooth rumble of a car being started filled the air, and he let out a laugh of victory. I had to join in. I knew my brother could fix this. He could fix everything.

"Little brother – we're on our way!" he exclaimed. I have no clue where he was talking about, but I couldn't help but to feel excited.

"Soda, are you sure you're going the right way?"

"Yeah of course."

(pause)

"…are you sure?"

"M-hm."

(pause)

"I think you should stop and ask for directions."

Soda looked over at me, kind of risky since he was driving. Then he looked back at the road, and then at me again.

"Oh, alright. Awesome idea Ponyboy!" he exclaimed, I have to admit I felt kind of proud. But then Soda had to go and dampen my spirits with, "but who am I going to ask?"

"Oh."

Soda chuckled. "You're an okay kid, Ponyboy."

"Yeah you aint too bad yourself."

"Me? Shucks! I'm flippin amazing."

"Sure Sodapop." I laughed.

We sat in a comfortable silence for a minute, when suddenly there was the vrooming of an engine, loud and annoying. Sodapop cringed and looked in the rear- view mirror. "Who's this guy?" he wondered out loud in a low voice.

The vrooming noise came again, and with it came a big jerk of our car. I would have flown out the windshield if Sodapop's arm hadn't slapped in front of me at the last minute.

"Ponyboy, get your seatbelt on!" Soda demanded, and I hurried to do it. I had almost gotten the latch in when the truck behind us hit us again. It wasn't like car-accident hits, but it was almost like they were trying to bump us up. My body went forward and I hit my head on the dashboard. Fuzzy lights blinked in front of me until I finally got my sense back.

"Hey asshole!" Sodapop screamed, looking out the rear-view and then to me while I frantically latched my seatbelt. It pulled painfully tight across my chest.

The vehicle hit us again, and we suddenly swerved as Sodapop turned our car to the other side of the road. The red truck simply hit us again, and I couldn't help but to think that this truck looked really familiar. I was clutching my seatbelt for dear life.

Suddenly our car stopped completely.

"Oh son of a-" Soda never got to finish that thought, because the truck slammed into us head on. I let out a yell as our car skidded on the road, and cringed when I heard the truck rev up once more. My breathing was labored, and when I looked over at Sodapop he was out cold.

"Soda?" I all but crawled towards him. I tried shaking him, but his limp and bloodied head just dolled the other way. His mouth was slightly open, and a thin line of blood could be seen staining his teeth. Oh no, oh no, Soda wake up!

"Sodapop!" I yelled, pushing him back and forth. He still didn't stir. The car revved again and I fumbled with my seatbelt. "Shit, shit, shit, shit, shit." I exclaimed, not even caring that my voice was unnaturally high-pitched.

I gotta get out of here! I tried yanking the seatbelt off me, seeing as the button wasn't working. Then I remembered something.

Sodapop's switchblade!

I once again crawled towards Soda but this time to grab the dagger hidden in his back pocket.

It came out with a steady siilllll noise, kind of like a sword being drawn, and I started sawing on my seatbelt with it. "Come on, come on!" I begged when I heard the truck rev up again. It was almost like it was waiting for something. From the corner of my eye I could see it rushing towards us suddenly, and my seatbelt came off with a snap. I threw myself out of the car door when I heard the crash. It was like a firework had just been lit next to my ear. I looked over my shoulder, our car was flipped upside down with the metal crumpled in several places. The whole back of the car was steaming.

"SODA!" I screamed.

Soda, oh no, not Soda! Not like this.

"SODA!" I yelled again, as loud as I could. Still no answer.

Not like this. Not like mom and dad.

Completely forgetting about the truck that did this, I started to get up to limp towards our car. I didn't see the truck, but I felt and heard the steady smack it gave me.

One minute, I was running on dirt - and the next, I was running on air. Air. I felt unnaturally hollow and dense, like I didn't belong. The world was spinning around me way too fast and out of control, almost like being on an upside-down rollercoaster. My breath caught in my throat as I hit the ground with a big, heavy thump. I could have sworn I heard something crack.

There was this weird sound, kind of like when you listen to music too loud and you can't hear anything afterwards. But it was about ten times worse, and my head hurt something awful. I fluttered open my eyes for a moment, trying to look around, but all I could see were the droplets of glass that were stuck in my eyelashes.

I didn't even have the strength to brush them away, let alone lift up my hand to do it. I hadn't even the strength to groan - I couldn't do anything. I was just limp.

Panic struck me, and I wondered if I was paralyzed. I didn't feel anything. I couldn't DO anything!

Ohgod!OhGodOhGodOhGodOhGod, oh god, oh god, oh, god, oh, god…oh…go—

Then everything went black.

Wow this chapter had a lot of action. Don't blame me, I don't even know what I'm writing half the time ! :D Hope you enjoyed!