East West Sunset - A Darry Curtis Fanfiction

Chapter Twenty-Five

"Hey! Get your hands off of her!"

I sagged with relief as I saw Darry, Soda, Steve, Two-Bit, Bryon, and Pony all standing in the aisle, poised to fight. The entire gang had turned out for my rescue, and I was grateful.

"Who says, grease?" Arnie spat at them.

"I do," Darry growled, his blue eyes flashing. He was standing in the front, and his hands were balled into fists. "Now you let go, or you'll regret it."

Arnie shrunk back a bit as he seemed to take in Darry's age, height, and thickly set muscles, but he noticed that his group outnumbered the greasers by a couple guys and seemed to take courage. "Will I?"

Everyone lept into action all at once. Darry had two of them on him in a heartbeat; fists flying, he threw punches and blocked blows. Arnie didn't try to fight any of them. Instead, he hauled me by the neck through the fray and started to pull me towards the door. I kicked at his legs and tried to yell out for help, but he squeezed hard around my windpipe. All the fight gusted out of me, and I fell limp, choking and struggling to breathe. 

Steve saw my predicament and managed to duck around the Soc he was fighting to land a clean kick in the middle of Arnie's spine. Arnie bellowed like a dying rhinoceros as he stumbled to the ground. Free of his grasp, I sidestepped out of his reach.

"Thanks," I told Steve gratefully, my voice thick.

"Of course," he responded before grabbing a Soc by the shoulders and giving him a deep knee in the groin.

I glanced around, trying to see where I could help. Two burly guys had ganged up on Bryon, thinking that he was a small kid and would be easy, but they seemed to have gotten more than they had bargained for. Bryon was a formidable opponent; battle-hardened, he moved as fast as a panther and seemed barely affected by the crushing blows he was receiving. Pony was managing just fine with the skinny weed of a kid that had tried to pick on him. Within minutes, the Soc ran bawling out of the store, leaving Pony panting by himself. He soon joined Bryon, and the two fought side by side.

Soda and Two-Bit were pinned against the shelf by three other Socs, so I headed in their direction. I gave one of the Socs a heavy punch on the ear. He yelped, and all of his friends spun to face me angrily. While their backs were turned, Soda punched one in the stomach. Two-Bit kicked one hard in the side, and I ducked under their swinging fists to kick the last's legs out from underneath him. 

Arnie was still on the floor, groaning in pain. With the loss of their leader, the other Socs were starting to panic; it looked like we were going to win this fight. Darry pushed the last two Socs off of him. 

"Let's boogie, boys!" Two-Bit called, giving a crow of delight. He and Soda made a break for the door.

I saw the cashier glaring at us and calling somebody on his desk phone, so that wasn't a good sign. Darry gave a few more sharp punches, which knocked one of his opponents to the floor, and dodged the other Socs to follow us, grabbing Pony by the back of his collar as he went. Bryon and Steve were close at his heels. 

Darry stopped when he reached Arnie's pitiful, collapsed form, and pushed Pony after us. "Go on, Pony. I gotta deal with this one," he growled, the loathing clear in his voice.

Soda tried to pull me and Pony out the door, but I stayed to catch a glimpse of Darry. He gave Arnie a crushing kick to the side, and as Arnie rolled over on his side, hissing with pain, he growled something to him threateningly. I couldn't hear the exact words, but Arnie got the picture. His eyes widened and he nodded, blubbering like a baby.

We piled into Darry's old car hurridley, afraid the Socs would follow us, but they stayed inside to nurse their wounds. There wasn't nearly enough room for us all in that car. I ended up squished next to Two-Bit in the passenger seat, with the rest of the gang sitting four across in the backseat. Darry didn't waste any time. He hardly let us sit down before he was squealing out of the parking lot and down the road, flying at an even faster breakneck speed than he normally drove. I glanced at everyone else, my eyes wide in exhilaration. It had been terrifying, but the adrenaline from the fight was still pumping like unfiltered electricity through my veins. The boys were goofing around and reenacting some of the scenes from the fight: Steve mimicked kicking Arnie in the back, Pony pretended to punch someone, and Darry just sat and smiled grimly. I didn't know if he was proud of himself, but he certainly seemed relieved. I was grateful to all of them; I shuddered to imagine what could've happened if they hadn't arrived when they did.