A/N- Woah, that 2 months went by quickly! ;) Okay, so, story of this update. I had 6 pages left in my draft book and thought "Why not?" This is a filler chapter and it is very short I promise chapter 10 will be longer. I also posted it as a treat for you guys since I suck at updating!
This is all in Darry and Soda's POV! Enjoy, friends! :)
Disclaimer- I do not own The Outsiders, if I did, I'd probably be on a yacht and hanging out with the Supernatural cast right now drinking expensive wine and eating out dated cheese. Anyway, all rights go to the lovely S.E Hinton.
Chapter nine
Darry's POV
We had cleared out two very small POW camps and had come across a few empty ones. One of the empty ones was where Steve had been locked up in for a few days and he didn't wish to return too.
Soda was starting to worry and in all honesty, so was I. Pony hasn't been found yet.
The next closest camp was a week's walk away and I didn't like the thought of what could happen to Pony in that amount of time.
We had already been searching for over a month and I didn't want to think about the pain he was enduring now and the pain he was going to endure until we found him.
Ralph was getting on my nerves and had made me lose my already short temper more than once.
One of those times I had actually belted him. He'd been talking crap about my brother, telling a few of the guys that he wasn't worth saving and that he was a spoilt smartass kid.
I told him that if he ever spoke ill of my brother again I'd personally be the one to shoot him.
That shut him up good – for a few days.
"Darry, come and sleep." Soda's soft voice pulled me out of my day-dreaming. He stood in front of me, bags under his eyes and his bangs hanging loosely over his forehead.
"You needa haircut." I stated, absentmindedly.
He grinned. "Nah, I feel like myself with my hair like this. You should try it too, Superman." I rolled my eyes at the old nickname. I sure wasn't Superman anymore.
"Gets in the way, little buddy." I replied. I got up and followed him to the tiny tent we had shared over the last month.
Just as I was about to knock off, I felt Soda wiggle a little closer to me, hesitant.
"C'mere." I mumbled sleepily, wrapping my arm around him like he used to with Pony. He sighed, comforted.
"Thanks, Darry." He breathed. He was asleep only a few moments later, snuggled into my chest. Unfortunately sleep wasn't going to come easy anymore for myself.
I hated night time; it gave me time to think bad scenarios in my head of what was happening to Pony, it also gave me time to think about whether he was okay. It sucked.
It also made me think about the possibility that he was already dead. I would never voice it to Soda but I did to Steve about 3 weeks into the trek and received a punch to the face. I guess I deserved it.
After an hour of thinking, exhaustion took over and finally sent me into a fitful sleep.
Xxx xx xx xx
Soda's POV
I woke the next morning still under Darry's muscular arm. I could tell he was still sleeping by his heavy breathing.
I got out from under his arm and nudged him in the ribs with the toe of my boot. "Rise and shine, Darry, it's a beautiful morning."
I heard him sigh and grinned at the reversed roll.
He normally woke me up in the morning.
"Did'ja get any sleep?" I asked, sliding on my military jacket.
"Some. Not much though." He mumbled, sleep evident in is voice.
"D'ya wanna rest some more?" The tone of my voice said that that wasn't an option and that he should get his ass up now and he knew it.
"Nah, we'll head out soon, gotta get to that camp before the end of the week." He sat up for a few seconds to clear his head then heaved himself up, a few of his joints popping. "That wasn't healthy." He muttered.
I crawled out of the tent to give him some space to get ready.
"All ready to go, Sodapop?" Two-bit came loping towards me.
"Not yet, buddy. Gotta pack our stuff." I replied. "How's that arm of yours? Healing up okay?" When we were clearing the south POW camp, Two-bit was shot in the arm. Steve got the bastard that did it, though. Two-bit was in a little pain for a week or two.
"It's good, thank you for caring Sodes." He said, tipping his imaginary hat and smiling like a Cheshire cat. I rolled my eyes at him. "Where's Superman? Still gettin' ready?" I nodded. "Hurry up, Darry!" He hollered.
I shushed him. "Shut up, Two-bit. North America could probably hear ya!" I chuckled.
"Maybe they'll take it as a plea of help and come and take us home." He joked.
"Not without Ponyboy. We ain't goin' nowhere 'til we find him." I replied solemnly.
"We'll get the kid back, Sodapop." He punched my shoulder in a friendly gesture then walked off. Probably to wake Steve.
I was right, Steve came stomping out of the tent looking mighty pissed, a scowl on his face while Two-bit was laughing like a hyena behind him. "Piss off, Keith." Steve growled, sending Two-bit into a wave of hysterics.
"Aw little baby Stweve is angry!" Two-bit howled with laughter. There was nothing he enjoyed more than pissing off Steve.
At least he could act cheerful over here. It made everything feel normal, even if it was just for a second.
Steve stalked off, muttering profanities under his breath.
"Okay, I'm ready." Darry waltzed out of the tent, his hair combed back and our duffel-bag slung over his shoulder. "When are we heading out?" He yawned and looked around at the unorganised camp.
"Once we pack everthin' up." Marcus' voice came from behind me. Darry nodded then started unpegging our tent.
Xxx xx xx xx xx
A week later we had finally reached the POW camp.
We had been lurking in the bushes, invisible to everyone.
We were planning how and when we were gonna clear the camp and Marcus was having second thoughts about going through with it.
This camp was 10 times as big as the other ones was with only 15 of us, Marcus saw it as a wasted effort and waster life.
I didn't care. If my brother was in there and I just packed up and left I would never forgive myself.
I could see that Darry, Two-bit, Steve and Eric shared the same thoughts as me.
"We're going in, Marcus, with or without you help." Darry said. I nodded my head in agreement, as did Two-bit, Steve and Eric.
"It's your funeral." Ralph sneered. I glared at him, he was one douche-bag I wouldn't mind beating the crap out of.
"It'll be you funeral soon, pal." Two-bit barked, fed up.
"Okay, let's do this, but if I die, I'm gonna blame you two." Marcus pointed accusingly at Darry and I.
After a little more planning, Marcus sent us to our bases where we had to wait until nightfall to attack.
"Close now, little buddy." Darry shifted to face me, some of his joints popping. That had been happening a lot recently.
"What if he ain't here?" I asked.
"Then we'll keep looking 'til we find him." Darry smiled softly then looked up at the sky.
He's facial features changed to determination as I realized the sun was setting. A beautiful sunset that I knew Pony would've loved.
"Okay, Soda. Keep your head and don't get shot. Love you, Pepsi." Darry let out a low whistle call to alert the others close by that it was time to attack.
"Love you too, Dar." I got up and sprinted right past one of the guards on duty, who then immediately began to fire at me. Luckily Darry was covering me or I'd of been shot to the ground right now. The guard dropped to the ground like a log and I kept running, never stopping until I found an unlocked door.
This was gonna be a long night.
A/N- I really enjoy writing these A/N things! Does anyone else feel the same way? No? Okay then...
Thank you very much for the reviews to chapter 8, it wasn't the best but I'm trying and they will be better! :) Make sure to give me ideas, I swear if you do I'll love you forever!
Sorry for any spelling/grammar mistakes, I'm too lazy to check-read it (y) Woo.