Partners In Crime | Dallas Winston FanFic

Chapter Thirteen: Flames

"Pony, where are you going?!" I screamed as he ran towards the fire.

"Get over here, man!" Dally yelled, his voice annoyed.

Then, Ponyboy paused for a second to listen to two people—  I'm guessing teachers— arguing. I could hear them, too.

"Jerry, some of the children are missing!" A frantic woman with messy, brown hair exclaimed.

"No they're not, Theresa," the man— Jerry— insisted.

"I'm sure of it! They've been gone for half an hour—" then, almost as if on cue, the voices of screaming, crying children echoed from the blazing building.

"Get back here, come on!" Johnny shouted at Pony, who was now approaching the church even quicker.

"Come back! Come back! Don't go in there, you'll get hurt!" I pleaded, urgency in my voice.

"Come here, man! Get over here!" Dally demanded.

But of course, right after Johnny told Ponyboy not to go in the church, he decided to join him. Johnny chased after him, straight towards the fire.

He quickly met Pony just outside the building, where he was struggling to get inside. So Johnny picked up a huge rock and threw it against the wooden boards, creating an entrance. Even more dark, black smoke filled the air as they ran into the church.

But as soon as I lost sight of them, I had a sinking feeling in my stomach. Something bad was going to happen— I had to help them. So against my better judgment, I started running towards the cloud of smoke, too.

"Lex, what are you doing?!" Dally yelled at me, grabbing me by the wrist.

"That's m-my brother in there, Dal! And my b-best friend— I can't just stand around! I g-gotta do something!" I responded with a trembling voice and tears pooling in my eyes.

With that response, he kissed me on the top of my head and let go of my wrist.

"Be careful," he whispered just before I turned around and ran off.

With each pounding step, the air around me got darker— and the feeling of dread got worse. Something bad was going to happen, I could tell.

When I finally reached the church, I squeezed through the opening Johnny had made and soon found myself surrounded by flames. The smell of smoke was so strong— I could hardly breathe.

"Johnny!?" I coughed, "Pony!? Are you okay?!"

"Yeah, we're over here!" Ponyboy yelled back, while a silhouette in the distance waved their arms over their head.

I heaved a sigh of relief, then quickly made my way over to him, while dodging embers and falling boards. Johnny was with him, helping Pony pick up kids and hand them to Dally- who was just outside the window. I started to help them, too, so we could get out of there as fast as possible.

I picked up a little girl- who couldn't have been older than five- and handed her to Johnny, who passed her along to Dally. While we did this, Pony was crouched in the corner reassuring the remaining children. He's always had a way with kids.

"Everything's gonna be alright," he said in a soft voice, "We're gonna get you outta here."

With the four of us, we were able to finish pretty quickly. Before we knew it, the last kid was in Dally's arms— safe. But by now, the church was really crumbling. The ceiling was starting to cave in and even more loose boards were starting to fall.

"Johnny! Lex!" Pony yelled, "Hurry up! You're burning!"

"Come on, Johnny!" I said, turning to face him, "We gotta get out of here! It's gonna collapse any minute!"

I stared into his worried eyes as the ceiling sank even more— both of us coughing and gasping for air. My ears were ringing— I was dizzy and could hardly stand— much less make my way out of the church. I knew Johnny felt the same way. It was hopeless.

"We're gonna die in here," I whispered under my breath, "We're gonna die."

When just then— *crack*

—a huge, flaming beam fell from overhead. I quickly clutched onto Johnny's arm and pulled him out of the way—

then it all went black.

Dally's POV:

Just after I pulled Pony out of the fire, I heard Lex and Johnny scream from behind me. I quickly turned around and I didn't see them anymore. Jesus Christ, man—

"I'm coming Lexie! I'm coming Johnny!" I yelled as I darted into the burning church.

It was going to give way any second, but I had to find Johnny— I had to find Lex. I looked frantically to my left, then to my right— but I didn't see anything. The flames were rising higher by the second and the entire church creaked as more support beams came loose. I didn't have much time— I had to find them.

I almost gave up hope— until a shiny, silver object caught my eye from a large hole in the floorboards. I took a few steps closer, being careful not to fall in, and I saw two limp figures lying there. Lexie— who was wearing my necklace— and Johnny. Man, they were burned. Without hesitation, I jumped into the crater and grabbed Lex by the arms— she was out cold. I cradled her, holding her close to my chest, and got out of that building as fast as possible. When she was safe, I carefully put her down next to Pony— who had also passed out by now. Must've been all that smoke, man.

Then, I quickly ran back for Johnny. The creaking of the church told me I was running out of time— it was going to collapse. I ran back to the hole, then grabbed Johnny and slung him over my shoulder.

Once I had Johnny, I made my way through the debris as quickly as I could. If I'd spent one more second in that church, we'd both be dead. Because as soon as I got out of there—

the whole thing came crashing to the ground.

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Author's Note:

This scene was a lot harder to write than I was anticipating, because it's all so fast paced. I've already revised this chapter countless times trying to get it to *feel right* but I honestly just need to let it be 😅 Next chapter will be another fun one because HOSPITAL. I've always been interested in medical stuff, so I CAN'T WAIT TO WRITE IT 😂

Hope you enjoy and stay gold 🌅