The Outsiders: Ponyboy & Carolyn

.7.

Ponyboy's POV:

I ran past the fountain in the park. Johnny ran and fell and Carolyn ran too. Bob and another Soc grabbed me and I screamed for Johnny and Carolyn. Johnny attempted to get up but two Socs pushed him back down with their feet. Carolyn ran to help him up but one Soc grabbed her, as she screamed he covered her mouth. One Soc held my legs as Bob laid me on my back over the edge of the fountain and dunked my face in and held it under the water. Johnny tried to help but the two Socs had him guarded. In the distance when my head came out for air I could see her trying to scream and squirm away from the Soc that held her tight with his hand covering her mouth.

"You son of a bitch!" Bob yelled. He continued trying to drown me, pouring his alcohol on me. I coughed and tried to fight as a gasped for air. I thought I was gonna die. The two Socs left Johnny to come help Bob and the other one drown me. There were now four Socs on me while the one still held Carolyn tight covering her mouth. Next thing I see is redness around me in the water and the painful grip on my arms and legs loosend. Then I blacked out. I woke up with the top half of my body soaking wet. Johnny sat against the fountain shaking with his blade in his hand. Carolyn was in between us.

"Pony! Pony!" She was grabbing my shoulder with and hand with tears streaming down her face. I was than ful that she was okay. I was very disoriented.

"I killed him." Johnny said still shaking. "I killed that boy."

Carolyn was horrified and continued to sob. I noticed the blood on the blade and Bob's dead body a few feet away with a giant puddle of blood around him.

"I think I'm gonna be sick." I said getting up. "Go ahead man... I 'aint gonna look at ya." Johnny said. Carolyn leaned against Johnny with her arm around him crying, while I went to throw up.

"Pony you alright?" Johnny said as they got up when I was done throwing up. There was only the sound of crickets, it was so quiet. I sat down and cried in shock. "You really did kill him, huh Johnny."

"Yeah... I had you... they were drownin' you, they could've killed you. They were gonna beat me up and who knows what they would've done to her." He said burying his bloody blade in the ground. "What happened to the other guys?"

"They all ran away." she said with a cry in her voice. We cried in silence and in shock of what just happened.

We were scared so we went to get help from Dally since we didn't know what to do. We stayed close together but didn't say a word ti'll we got to a party Dally was at. We could hear the music from outside so we knocked on the door as loud as we could. His friend Buck answered and we begged to see Dally. He shut the door in our faces. A minute later it opened and it was Dally.

"What do you guys want? Blondie what are you doing with them at this hour?"

"Johnny killed one of the... Socs." I cried.

"What? Alright good for you lets go." He said escorting us inside. "We're sorry to bother you but we didn't know what to do." Carolyn said. "Nah, It's okay I was just tryin' to get some sleep, I got in a fight with Tim Shepard tonight. Ponyboy are you wet?"

"Yeah, I'm okay."

Dally took us upstairs to a bedroom and closed the door.

"You should put on something dry, you'll freeze." Carolyn said concerned. "She's right." Dally said giving me a towel.

I sat on the bed taking off my wet shirt and put the towel on me. I felt Carolyn's eyes on me as she stood next to Dally. Her eyes widened when she saw him give Johnny a gun. He gave us 50 bucks too. He gave her a zip up sweater that fit her quite well.

"I'm not gonna tell you're brother about this and get my head kicked in." Dally sat down beside me. "Then don't tell him." I said crying a bit still. He handed me a dry flannel that was way big but it would do.

"So what do we do?"Carolyn sniffled rubbing a tear from her eye. "Come here," Dally motioned for her to step closer. Johnny sat anxiously.

He told us to take the 3:15am train to Windrixville on the freight to stay in the abandoned church on Jay mountain. He told us we'd get water from the tank and to get a week supply of food before the story got out.

"I'll be up there as soon as I think everything's cool." He had us calm down. Dally gave me a coat and walked us out. "You guys okay now?" Johnny said. "I think so." Carolyn said. "yeah." I said taking a deep breath as we made our way to the train.

Johnny and I hopped on then we helped Carolyn on. We were almost caught by the conductor but we were quiet enough and slept the whole way there. It was dark and cold. The three of us sat close together to stay warm.

"You should... get in the middle." I wish I could talk to her without stumblin' my words. "Oh, thanks." She said sitting down in between Johnny and I. She shivered and tucked her knees into her chest. She moved a little closer to me because Johnny had fallen right asleep.

"What the hell has happened?" She stared down as the freight shook riding on the tracks. "I don't know."

"You were going to drown. He had to do it."

"I know. We'll be alright." I reassured her. "It's my fault I dragged you into this mess I should've just walked you straight home."

"No, it's not. I don't care. I wouldn't want to be with out you guys." She looked in my eyes. Our faces were fairly close for a moment and then she looked forward."We're in this together now." At that moment I was glad I grabbed her hand when we ran away.