In Vietnam

The Accident

Pony's POV

When I woke up next, the sun was rising. I went to sit on the cave ledge and looked at the sun rising. It was lovely to watch. If I had any colored pencils, I would draw it. It's just gorgeous.

Suddenly, someone touches my shoulder, and I jump. I relax when I realize that it's only Steve. He sits down beside me and asks, "It's beautiful, ain't it?"

"Yeah, it's gorgeous."

"I never noticed all the colors-the gold and silver. It's a shame it can't stay like that all the time."

Suddenly, I remember something.

"Nothing gold can stay."

"What?"

"Nature's first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf's a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf,
So Eden sank to grief.
So dawn goes down today
Nothing gold can stay."

"Where'd you learn that?"

"Robert Frost wrote it. I never understood what it meant until now."

"It sure is pretty."

"Yeah."

When the sunrise is over, Tim comes over to sit by us. "That sure was a pretty sunrise."

"So," Steve begins. "Where do we go from here?"

"Well, I don't know. Before y'all got up, I heard some gooks talking. Don't know what they was saying, but they were really close to this cave. I don't want to risk getting killed just yet. We'll wait 'till nighttime comes around."

"Sounds like a plan."

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Time Skip

Dally's POV

It's nighttime now, and we don't know which way is camp. Roger and Liam are getting restless, and I'm starting to get restless too. I don't know which way we came from, and I don't want to get even more lost. That's the last thing we need. We just need to get back.

As if someone read my mind, a chopper bursts into flames from the right of us and starts coming toward us. All our eyes widen, and we start sprinting in the opposite direction of the chopper. It's coming closer and closer, and I don't know if we can outrun it. Eventually, the goddamn thing finally crashes a few feet behind us, and I start coughing dust. I looked back to make sure the guys were still there, and they were. They were coughing dust as well. We stopped, and that's when we saw base camp. We were only a few hundred feet away.

We ran the rest of the way to the camp and were out of breath by the time we reached it. The camp is as we left it. Except there's craters to the right and to the left of it. Soldiers are milling about, doing their chores and whatever else. Some are chilling and smoking, others are talking in small groups. Chief Chris is pacing around when he spots us. He gives me that look, and I shrug.

"Land mine. Blew up. Private Randy's dead."

"Just as I suspected."

Then, he furrows his eyebrows. "Where are the others?"

"We got separated when the land mines were blowing up. They went left and we went right."

"Well, lets wait until tomorrow, and if they don't show up, we'll go looking for them."

"Okay."

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Pony's POV

While the guys and I were trying to get some shut eye, we heard something crash in the distance.

Immediately, I woke up and stood up. I walked to the edge of the cave. I saw a fire in the distance and noticed that it was a chopper.

Tim and Steve were right behind me, and they noticed the same thing.

"So, should we leave?"

"Well, we should start leaving tonight if we want to make it back by morning."

So, that's what we did. We packed up the stuff we brought with us, and we started walking. It was quiet and peaceful until we heard some Vietnamese men shouting. Not again. We take that as our cue to start running.

As soon as we start running, we hear the gooks shouting after us. We don't stop.

We start sprinting.

The last thing I remember before fading into darkness is a pain shooting through my side and Steve yelling, "Pony!"

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Steve's POV

While we were running, a gook shot Pony in the side. He fell to the ground, and passed out. I shouted, "Pony!"

The gooks were still behind us. So I picked up Ponyboy, and Tim and I started sprinting back to the camp.

When we got there, I took Pony to our tent. He was bleeding badly, and I couldn't see how much blood he lost. I started to do what General Hutch had shown me when Pony got shot the first time. I began using the tweezers to get the bullet out. It was difficult at first, because I had no clue where the bullet was. Then, I found it. I pulled it out and immediately put pressure on it. I cleansed the wound and wrapped gauze around it. When I was done, I made sure everything was okay. I felt his pulse and was shocked when I found that he didn't have one. I panicked. I shook him. "Pony?!" Then, I noticed the blood on the side of his head. He must've hit it on a rock. I say, "Shit." Quickly, I clean the wound with alcohol and wrap his head with gauze. Then it was time for the hard part.

The wait to see if he would wake up.

Until then, I told Dally and Tim what had happened, and I wrote a letter to Darry, Soda, and the rest of the gang. Then, I went to C. Chris and told him. He told me to get Pony to the chopper as quickly as possible. I did as I was told as he spoke on his walky-talky.

Once the chopper got to the landing sight, they rolled out a stretcher, and I laid him on there. They rolled him onto the chopper, and I climbed in after them.

Then, we were off.