guardian angel || the outsiders fanfic♡

eleven.

***Johnny's POV***

I trudged deeper into the church, searching for anyone else I could get out of there.

I see Ponyboy up ahead, but he's not where that girl said her brother was.

I follow her directions and come to a dead end.

I'm about to give up when I hear a whimper.

"Help!" The voice says.

I walk over and find a small boy hugging his knees to his chest. He looks completely and utterly terrified. I pick him up and throw him over my shoulder as I head for the exit of the church, which just caught on fire.

Scratch that.

I go to the back of the church and kick down some walls in an attempt to get us out. I run through the opening I made just as the church collapses behind me.

I fall to the ground in exhaustion as soon as we're far enough away from the church. My lungs ache from the intake of smoke and I'm covered is ash from head to toe.

I look over and see the kid sitting next to me. He looks scared. I ruffle his hair and he smiles.

We keep walking further and further away from the church and reach a pond about 20 minutes later. The little boy takes more than enough sips of water as I wash both him and myself clean. He shivers and I give him my flannel. I wear my leather jacket.

"What's your name?" I ask him softly.

"Bryce, Bryce Jameson," he says shakily.

"Do you have any siblings?"

"Yea, Lauren is 20 and Victoria is 15," he says happily. "I love my sisters."

Holy shit. This kid is related to Victoria Jameson.

Keep it cool, man.

"What were you doing in there?" I ask, changing the subject.

"We went on a field trip."

"Well, I don't know where we are, so we're going to have to work together, ok bud?"

He nods happily.

"How old are you?" I ask.

"Five, six next week," he says proudly. I laugh and ruffle his hair again. He's going to be a true greaser.

"What's your name?" He asks.

"My name is Johnny Cade, and I'm 16 years old."

"Did you rescue Victoria?" He asks worriedly.

She was the one in the church that Bailey rescued! Thank god I rescued her baby brother, that'll make me look really good.

Johnny. Stop it, dude.

"Yes, my sister got her," I say hopefully. I look up at the sky and notice that it's getting kind of dark. "Bryce, let's get ready for bed, ok?"

He nods and lays under a tree and closes his eyes.

"Night, Bryce."

"Night, Johnny."