From Weakness to Strength

The Burning Church

"What's goin' on?" Johnny asked. 
"-I wonder how that started." Ponyboy commented.
"Jesus Christ!" Dallas and Darla say in unison. 

Dallas drive closer to the church, Ponyboy and Darla exchange looks and jumped out of the car before Dallas hit the breaks.
"Guys, where ya goin'?" Johny yelled. "Get back here, man." Dallas waved his arm. Pony and Darla ran up to the church. 
"-Jerry! Some of the children are missing!" said a woman. "No, they're not." the man, Jerry said. "No, listen. I'm sure of it. They've been gone for half an hour-"
Screams were clearly heard from inside the church. Ponyboy and Darla run closer to the church. The man, Jerry yelling at them "Don't go in there, you're gonna get hurt!" 
"So, you'd rather have these children burn to death!" Darla yelled as she turned her back. 

Ponyboy tried to get the door open. "How the hell did they get in there?" Darla asked. 
Johnny then came and through a rock at the burning wall, smoke came out and they started pulling the wood apart. "Whoa!" Johnny yelled as. They then crawled in. The smell of smoke reaching Darla's lungs, making it hard to breathe. An owl that was still inside screeched. "What was that?" said Johnny. "Is that guy coming?" Ponyboy asked. "No!" said Johnny. "How come? Too Scared?" Pony teased. "No, too fat, man." Johnny replied. "Guys, stop messing around!" Darla yelled. 

They saw the children, hiding in a corner. "Johnny watch out!" Pony yelled as Johnny approached the children. "We'll get you outta here." Johnny said to the frightened children. Darla approached them also. "We need to make another gap!" she said. 

Right on cue, Dallas pulls apart the wood right in front Johnny, Darla, and the kids. Darla and Johnny started handing kids to Dallas, helping them out of the church.

"-Help me! Over here!" came a little boy's voice. "We're coming!" Darla replied. 
"Move it! Get out!" yelled Dallas as he was dropping kids off. Dallas followed you from outside the church and made another gap where the other kids were hiding in a corner. Darla's eyes landed on a girl with blonde hair and braids. She met eyes with her. "Come on, doll. Grab my hand."
The girl does so and once they reach Dallas, she picks her up and helps her out. She is safe. Darla looks behind her to see Ponyboy get bitten by a little girl. Darla steps between the two and the girl looks less scared then she was of Ponyboy. You take her hand and help her out. "Thanks." Ponyboy said. "Where's Johnny?" you ask. Ponyboy shrugged.

 "Johnny!" Darla called.
"Come on Johnny!" Pony yelled. "Move! Johnny, come on! Are you crazy?!" Dallas yelled.
Dallas pulled on Ponyboy. "You're burning!" Dallas yelled. "Get em!" Ponyboy yelled. Dallas thew pony on the ground, putting out his sleeve that was on fire. 
"Johnny! Come on!" Darla yelled. "Darla, go!" Johnny yelled. "No!" Darla, trying to reach Johnny through the smoke. 
Then, a large chunk of burning wood fell on Johnny, making him collapse. "Ow!" Johnny screamed. "Johnny!" Darla screamed. 
"Ahh! Help!" Johnny screamed at the top of his lungs. "Dallas!" Darla screamed. "I'm Coming, Johnny!" Dallas said as he came in. Darla's lungs inhaled so much smoke, that she couldn't take it much longer. She blacked out as the building collapsed.

***

Everything was black.

When the paramedics came, they removed Johnny, Dallas, and Darla from th building.
Darla wasn't breathing...
The paramedics performed CPR on her.
After ten tries, Darla started to breathe again, but she still wasn't consious. She was put into a separate ambulance then Pony, Johnny, and Dallas. 

***Time Skip***

Ponyboy was  awake and in the waiting room with the man Jerry. Darla was being rolled in one of the beds behind Johnny and Dallas. She had just awoken as soon as she was being rolled out of the ambulance. 
"Johnny!" she rasped as she woke. "He's all right." said a lady paramedic. "Dallas?" Darla coughed. 
"-I'm right here, Honeybear." Dallas replied in front of her as she was being rolled in. "Your arm." Darla said. "I did it to save both of your dumbasses." Dallas replied.
"Where's Pony?"
Just then as she was being rolled into the hospital, she saw Pony in the waiting room. He looked shocked as Johnny rolled by, unconscious and his body full of burns. Darla didn't notice how bad he really was. 

Darla couldn't help but remove her oxygen mask and flee from the bed. "Miss!" one of the paramedics yelled. Darla ignored her even though there was an intense pain in her chest. Pony quickly got up and hugged Darla. "I thought I lost you." Pony seemed to be crying. 
"Miss, get back in your bed, please." The paramedic lady said. "No way." Darla replied. "I wanna go home." 

Just then, the two looked in the other direction to see Sodapop walking towards the two. Ponyboy ran to Soda quickly and hugged him. "Ponyboy." Soda said as they bear-hugged each other. "Look at your tough hair." he said, tugging it. Soda then looked to Darla. "Come here, doll." Soda said. Darla did almost a whimper when she tackled Soda with a hug. "Missed you too, doll." he said, kissing Darla's forehead. 

You look back to see Darry hugging the life out of Ponyboy. He looked up at Darla and reached an arm out for her to join the embrace. Darla gladly did so as her eyes started to water. "I thought I lost you guys like we did mom and dad." Darry sobbed, hugging both of them tight. Soda joined the group hug.

Once they pulled away, Darry said to Pony. "You sure look funny." and chuckled. He looked to Darla and said "You still look like out doll even with the bangs and bleached ends."
"Thanks Darry." 
Darry pulled them back into a group hug. "Let's go home." Soda says. 

But, just as they were about to leave, a nurse stops them. "Wait!" she says. She gives them and oxygen tank. "This is hers. She'll need it to sleep tonight."  she hands it to Darry who takes it. "She's inhaled a lot of smoke and when the paramedics found her, she wasn't breathing. It took at least ten tries to bring her back. You're lucky she's with you right now. She's not supposed to leave until at least tomorrow night."
"Lady, I've been through hell for the last week. I haven't seen my brothers in a long time and I want to go home. I don't want to be away from home more than I already had to." Darla said. She then coughed up a storm. "Okay, well. Just use the tank when you sleep tonight because if you don't, your lungs could shut down and you can die."
"Gee, thanks." Darla says in a somewhat sarcastic tone. The nurse nods then leaves.

Darry checked out of the hospital. Right as they went to his truck, a cop stopped Darry in his tracks. Darry told Soday, Pony, and Darla to go to the car while he talked to the cop. Darla was starting to fall asleep. "Darla! Your tank!" Pony exclaimed. That woke Darla up with a start, which made her cough up another storm. Ponyboy turned the oxygen tank on then put the nuzzle into her nostrils. She then fell asleep as Darry came back in and started to drive.

Once they got home, Ponyboy and Darla were out cold. Darry picked Ponyboy up. "Let's go, little brother." Darry says as he picked Ponyboy up. "Whoa!" Darry exclaimed as Ponyboy dangled in his arms. "He's getting pretty big to be carried." Soda commented as he picked Darla up bridal style and carried her in, the oxygen tank rolling right next to them. 

They went inside, Soda put Darla on the couch. Darla woke up. "I wanna take a shower." she mumbled. She got up, removed the tank from her nose and went to get some clothes from the closet by Ponyboy and Soda's room. She took a nice warm shower. Ash and dirt was falling from her body.
Once she was done, she got out got dressed, brushed her hair and went to bed on the couch.