Dally was driving down the street fast than the speed limit said. Ponyboy and Bexley both felt their stomachs jump whenever he he made a turn.
By the time they made Tenth, the had been pulled over by a cop that happened to be down the street.
"Act sick, you two. I'll saw that I'm takin' you to the hospital," Dally whispered to them, watching as the cop got off of his motorcycle.
That wouldn't be a complete lie since they were heading to the hospital anyway. Not to mention that they both did feel terrible.
They did what Dally told them to do and rested themselves against the seats, quietly groaning.
Bexley put her hand to her side, where her injured ribs were. They did hurt really bad.
The cop walked over to Dally's window, who had rolled down the window.
"You gotta have a good reason for driving so fast. Where's the fire?" the cop asked, leaning in the window so he could look inside.
"The kid and his sister fell over on their motorcycle. I'm taking him to the hospital," Dally said, using his thumb to point at the injured teens next to him.
The cop looked further inside and saw the rough shape both of them were in.
His demeanor instantly changed the second he saw them. "How bad are they?" the cop asked in concern.
"I don't know, man. Do I look like a doctor? Both of them look really bad to me," Dally replied, starting to become impatient.
"Follow me," the cop said, walking back over to his motorcycle. He was gonna give them a police escort.
"Sucker," Dally said with a laugh. The cop drove out in front of them and
they started to follow him.
"I was crazy, you know that? I was crazy about wanting Johnny to stay outta trouble. If he was smart like me, he wouldn't have been in this mess. If he was smart like me and you, Bex, he wouldn't have ran in that church, man. You better wise up, Pony. Be more like your sister. You get tough like me and you don't get hurt! Watch out for yourself and nothing... nothing can touch you, man!" Dally scolded, using a fist to hit the steering wheel.
Dally looked as if he was going to break down into tears, but he held them back.
(The Hospital)
They all make it into the hospital. Dally helped the two inside because they could barely stand without collapsing.
When they make it to Johnny's room, Dally whipped out his blade to get the doctor to let them in.
It had worked and the doctor left them.
When they got inside, they saw that Johnny laid very still on that hospital bed. Bexley and Ponyboy felt their hearts squeeze painfully.
Johnny couldn't be dead. There was no way he could be. Ponyboy and Bexley stood on the other side of the bed.
"Hey... Johnny..." Dally said, standing next to Johnny. Johnny cracked his eyes open when he heard Dally's hoarse voice.
"Johnny... we beat the socs, man. Chased them right out of our neighborhood," Dally said with a grin.
Bexley felt tears rise in her eyes. Johnny looked so much worse than how he did when they saw him.
"It's...useless... Fighting ain't no good..." Johnny weakly said. It was so weak that they could barely hear him.
"They've got written editorials about you in the paper for being a hero. All the greasers are being hailed as heroes. We're all proud of you, buddy. It's gonna be alright," Dally said proudly, putting an arm on Johnny's arm.
Johnny's eyes slowly shut again and he turned his head towards Ponyboy and Bexley.
"Ponyboy... Bexley..." he said quietly. They had to lean closer to him so they could hear him. Bexley took his hand into hers.
"S...Stay gold... you guys... Stay gold..." he weakly said to them.
Then, he sank into the pillow and he went completely stiff. His hand had become limp in Bexley's.
They all felt their stomachs jolt when they realized that Johnny died right in front of them.
Some people would look peaceful when they'd die. But not Johnny... he looked... dead. Like a moth drawn to a flame.
"Johnny, come on. S-So this is what you get, huh? This is what you get for helping people? You punk..." Dally said, shaking his head, and he was starting to cry, "Come on, Johnny, don't die... C'mon, Johnny, don't die on me now... please..."
He walked away and slammed his fist in the wall. "Bastards!" he shouted, tears falling from his eyes.
He then walked out of the room, leaving them behind.
Dally bolted outside in tears.
"Hey, you! You're not allowed here," a paramedic said to the hood.
Dally pulled out his gun and aimed it at the paramedic, looking like he had become completely unhinged.
"I'm allowed anywhere I want..." Dally said, pulling the trigger.
However, there was a click from the gun, indicating that it wasn't loaded.
The paramedic rushed inside while Dally did that two more times.
"You're out of your mind," he said.
"Why do you bother helping people, huh?! Doesn't do any good..." Dally sobbed, dropping his hand with the gun in it.
He then turned around and walked away, tears running down his face.
Bexley couldn't help it... She stumbled out of the room, leaving Ponyboy in there.
This wasn't fair... Johnny couldn't be gone... There was no way that Johnny was dead. They refused to believe that their Johnnycake had died.
Maybe he was in the lot, asleep. Or even back at the burnt out church, sitting on the steps, smoking a cigarette.
Ponyboy had walked out of the hospital shortly after Bexley did, and he headed for home.
Ponyboy felt like he was going to throw up.
(The Curtis House)
Back at the house, everyone was resting from the rumble. Steve laid on the couch, a bandage covering his side and his nose was bloody.
Soda had a few bruises on his face. Two-Bit had a bloody nose and a bruise on his cheeks. Darry's knuckles were bloody.
"Soda... this makes me look... kinda tough, huh?" Steve asked Soda.
"It makes you look different," Soda answered, sitting on the floor in front of Steve. "That guy sure had sharp teeth," Darry said, cleaning his knuckles from blood.
The door opened up and Darry looked up, seeing Ponyboy and Bexley walk inside.
Ponyboy had caught up with Bexley shortly before they got there.
"Hey, where you guys been?" Darry asked, but stopped when he saw that something wasn't right with them.
Bexley walked passed Darry and sat down next to Sodapop, who looked over at her and his younger brother.
"Hey... what's wrong?" Darry asked, toning his voice down.
"Johnny's dead," Ponyboy said strangely. He walked away from Darry. Everybody become dead silent.
Bexley's heart shattered, feeling tears running down her face. "We...We told him about us beating the socs. He just died... Told us to stay gold..." Bexley said, pulling her legs up to her chest.
Her ribs started smarting again, adding to the pain of Johnny dying. The boy who earned her love, was now gone.
Soda made a noise as if he was about to start crying. Two-Bit looked down and clenched his teeth.
They then remembered Dally.
"Dally's gone... Ran out like the devil was after him..." Bexley said, feeling herself shaking.
"He couldn't take it! He's gonna blow!" Bexley added, feeling herself shaking.
Ponyboy felt dizzy and nauseous. Two-Bit tried making him sit down, but he didn't want to.
They didn't know what Dally would do now...
(Dallas)
With Dally, he made his way over to a near by convinence store and walked inside.
He started to mess with the magazines unconsciously.
With the only good thing in his life gone, he couldn't think straight.
"You want to buy one of those, son?" the cashier, who was a soc, broke through the silence.
Dally looked over at him for a second. He then picks up a magazine and tears it in half.
"You know, you tear those up, you're gonna have to pay for them. Don't do that!" the cashier shouted.
Dally slammed the torn magazine back on the rack and walked over to the man, running his fingers on the rest of the magazines.
He approached the man behind the counter. "You know you gotta pay for that magazine," the man said.
Dally couldn't think straight anymore. He knew what he wanted to do.
He raised the gun and pressed it against the cashiers' face, cocking it back.
The man froze. "Oh, God. Don't shoot," he said, shaking a bit.
"Give me the money... GIVE ME THE MONEY!" Dally shouted, pushing the gun further in the cashier's face.
"I'm so sick of you punks. Take it and get out of here," the cashier said, handing out the money to Dally.
Dally snatched the money out of the man's hand and took off running towards the front door, but not without hearing two gunshots and feeling a sharp sting from a bullet.
He knew that the fuzz would be after him for robbing a convinence store. He had to call Darry for help.
He made to the nearest payphone and dialed the number to the Curtis house.
(Curtis House)
Back at the house, Soda had taken Bexley and Ponyboy into the kitchen so he could talk to them.
Steve and Two-Bit looked like they were trying to play poker but looked disinterested. Darry sat in his recliner, head in his hands.
Then came the phone call from Dally.
Darry answered the phone and placed it against his ear. "Hello?" Darry said tiredly.
"Darry, listen, man..." Dally said breathlessly. Darry instantly became attentive.
"Yeah?" he said. "I just knocked off a store, man... The fuzz is comin' after me. Can you meet me at the park?" Dally asked, sounding like he was in pain.
"Sure, Dal. Are you alright?" Darry asked. "Yeah... Johnny's dead..." Dally said.
"We know," Darry replied. "Look... meet me in the park, will you?" Dally sounded more desperate.
Darry agreed instantly before the two hung up. The eldest Curtis got to his feet instantly and turned to face the gang.
"Guys, that was Dally! The cops are after him; we gotta hide him," he tells them.
The entire gang didn't hesitate to bolt out of the house to hopefully help their friend from being arrested.
Ponyboy and Bexley were both scared to death for Dally.
Dally continued to run down the street towards the park, bleeding from a fresh bullet wound in his side.
Around the corner, a cop car appeared and began tailing him.
Then came another cop car.
Dally knew what he wanted to do now.
The rest of the gang make it to the park and they saw Dally at the top of the park hill, pulling out his gun.
"You're never gonna get me alive!" Dally shouted at them, aiming the unloaded gun at the cops. "Drop it!" one cop shouted.
Then, there were gun shots from the all the cops guns.
The shots got louder and louder as the gang was running towards the park.
"HEY!!!" the gang shouted at the cops as they were shooting at Dally.
"It's not loaded!" Ponyboy shouted at the cops.
"NOOOOO!!!!" Steve cried.
"Stop! The gun ain't loaded! Leave him alone!" Bexley cried.
"No! Not Dally too!" Two-Bit shouted.
Dally's body contorted whenever a bullet struck him. It caused him to roll down the hill.
It seemed like a life time ago that Dally had given Ponyboy, Bexley, and Johnny a gun when they left for Windrixville.
They begged for Dally not to die... They just wanted all of this to stop.
"He just a kid!" Darry shouted as Dallas had fallen to the ground, crawling to the road as he bled out.
"No..." Ponyboy gasped as they approached him.
But... by the time they reached him, he had rolled onto his back. He had died right in front of him.
Dallas Winston got what he wanted. He always got what he wanted.
Dallas Winston wanted to be dead...
"You stupid idiots! You stupid freaks!" Darry shouted at the cops in anger.
Everyone was left in shock that they had lost two of their friends all in the same night. But they died for different reasons.
Dallas died out of desperation and died a criminal. Johnny Cade had died a gallant kid, like in Gone with the Wind.
Bexley couldn't hold back anymore, she turned away from Dallas' hole covered body and felt her stomach jolt forward.
What she had for dinner came back up, making her groan from the pain in her broken ribs.
"Not Johnny and Dallas... Not them both..." Ponyboy groaned, feeling clammy and shaky.
He was swaying back and forth on his feet. "Glory! Look at the kid!" somebody shouted.
Ponyboy then collapses from the shock of all of this. He had passed out.
"Pony!" Bexley shouted, kneeling over her little brother with Soda and Darry.
He just couldn't handle all of this. This wasn't happening...