47.

"Huh?" Pony mumbled, stumbling. Dallas shoved him off the lot, towards the house. He got into Darry's truck, dug around under the seat for the spare keys. Pony curled into himself and didn't say anything, but Dallas's head was buzzing. He felt high- higher than high. He kept spouting off to Ponyboy, shit that he didn't even really understand; about Johnny, about being tough. He hardly registered the flash of blue and red behind him as he sped through Tulsa.

"Act sick." Dallas told Pony. It wasn't hard. The kid looked half dead.

The policeman took his time coming up to the car. Dallas wanted to gut him for pulling them over.

"Alright." The policeman said as he got to the driver's side window. "Where's the fire, kid?"

"The kid fell of his motorcycle." Dallas lied easily, "I gotta get him to the hospital."

The cop turned his flashlight over to the passenger seat and swore under his breath. "Shit. Alright. You need a police escort?"

"Shit, I don't know." Dallas turned the engine back on. "Sure."

He didn't really like having to do anything with the cops, but he couldn't deny it was much quicker to get through the streets when there was a police car blaring in front of you.

When they got to the hospital, Dallas felt so riled him up wanted to puke. He didn't know what was happening to him right then; his heart felt like it was going to pop out of his chest. He was vaguely aware that he'd been rambling away to Pony, but the kid was so unresponsive that Dally couldn't be sure if he'd said anything at all.

People were shouting at them to stop, but Dallas still had his blade, and he flashed it at anyone who would get in his way. He was getting so dizzy he nearly puked on the elevator going up. Ponyboy stared at him. There was something wrong; Dallas could feel it. Something wrong with his head and his body- but if he could just see Johnny... see his chest moving up and down, see him alive, then Dally would be okay too.

Johnny's doctor was standing guard in front of the elevator as they stepped out. He was tense. "Look, I'm sorry boys, but-"

"You better let us see him." Dallas said, and for the first time in that hour his voice was as steady as a board. His hand clenched tight over the switchblade still in his hand. "You're gonna let us see him or I'll send you to your own damn operating table."

The doctor glanced uneasily down at the weapon. "If you would like to calm down, Winston-"

"Don't." Dallas snapped. Down the hall, Ellie stepped out from the waiting room. Her face was puffy with tears.

"Dallas?" She was shaking. Dallas stepped past the doctor, nearly unaware as the knife slipped out of his hand and clanked harmlessly to the floor.

"I'm sorry, I'm sure you would have liked to see him," The doctor called out to him, "But it's too late."

Dallas stopped mid-stride. He'd never been shot before, but right then he might as well had been standing in front of a firing squad. He couldn't breath. He couldn't think.

Johnny was dead.

He heard Ellie scream his name, but he was already so far away.

Somewhere in the back of Ellie's mind, she knew they looked a mess. Two kids, hands clutched in fright, walking alone in the middle of the night. Pony's face was bruised and bleeding, holding his side, letting out a groan with each step. Ellie had tried to get him to put an arm around her shoulder for support, but he'd fought her.

"I just wanna feel it right now." He mumbled, watching the car-lights as they swiped by. Ellie didn't push it; she was lost in her own worries. It felt enough just to have each other right then.

They walked for what seemed like hours, following near empty streets, walking in the middle of the road until a car came by and honked at them. Pony seemed to get worse. The side of his head had been bleeding for a while. Ellie had given him her cardigan to press against the wound, but now it was soaking through.

A car slowed down beside them. Ellie tensed, but Pony didn't have the sense to anymore. He was numb.

"You kids need a ride?" A man asked from the driver's seat, poking his head out of the window.

Ellie scrutinized him for a moment, then nodded. "Okay."

She let Ponyboy into the car first, then slid in beside him.

"Is he alright?" The man asked, looking at them through the rear-view mirror. He wore glasses, and his shirt was something you wore at an office. Harmless enough, but Ellie knew enough now to keep her guard up.

"He's fine." Ellie glanced over at Pony, who squeezed her hand. "He was in a rumble, that's all."

The man glanced at them again, but nodded. "Alright, kids, what's your address? I'm not about to dump you two on the streets in the middle of the night."

Ellie told him. Then she pulled out Johnny's copy of Gone with The Wind from her bag and handed it to Pony.

"I almost forgot." She told him, "Johnny wanted me to give you this. He wrote something in it for you."

Pony blinked at the book in his lap for a moment. Then he put down the cardigan and peeled open the cover with a bloodied hand. Scribbled beside the dedications, in a shaky version of Johnny's best handwriting, it said:

If I don't make it, Ponyboy,

Stay Gold

Pony stared at the page until they got to the house. When he handed it back to her, his hands were shaking.

"Hold on to it for me for a little while, won't you, Els?" He whispered, climbing out of the car.

"Thank you, mister." Ellie told the driver as she crawled out as well.

The man nodded. "You just make sure he's okay, hon."

She smiled at him the best she could, then caught Pony's hand again as they walked up the front steps and into the house. The gang was waiting there- a portion of them. Steve was stretched out on the sofa, his bare stomach covered in bandages. He opened his eyes as the door shut behind them, and he looked just as far away as Pony did. Soda, looking the best out of them, only had a bleeding lip and a bruise on his cheek. Darry had a cut on his forehead and a black eye. Half of Two-Bit's face and his hand were lined with stitches. He'd have a scar, Ellie thought woefully, reminded of the one that ran across Johnny's face.

"Where the hell have you two been?" Darry growled, shooting up from the couch. Then he noted the look on their faces and froze. "What's wrong?"

"Johnny..."

"But we got that money for him." Two-Bit's voice was slurred, like his mouth was half-full of something. "We used the dufflebag money."

"What?" Steve interrupted, "What are you talking about? What's goin' on?"

"Dallas sold the dufflebags to Tim behind my back." Ellie explained, getting Ponyboy to sit down on the coffee table, handing her cardigan back to him. Finally seeing the cut on his brother's head, Soda leaped into action, disappearing into the bathroom and coming back with the first-aid kit.

"And the doctor was saying that Johnny needed surgery if he was going to make it," Ellie continued, "and when Dal finally told me, I started thinking that maybe, even though selling that stuff was wrong, at least we could do something good with the money, you know?"

"So... Johnny?" Darry pressed on.

"He's on his way to Oklahoma City Hospital for surgery."

It was as if a tsunami had crashed over their heads and was just now finally breaking, sliding more gently over the shore, and though they were still broken and mangled and in so much agony, it was finally over, and they could have peace.

"He's gonna make it, then?" Soda asked, a hopeful smile managing to worm itself onto his face even as he pressed a cotton pad his brother's head.

Ellie so desperately wanted to say yes, but... the way he'd looked...

"He might." She said instead, turning away so that she wouldn't have to look at him. Another second and she'd start crying again. She fiddled with her fingers. "I don't know... He was in pretty bad shape when they took him away, but..."

"He's got a better chance now." Ponyboy finished for Ellie, reaching up and giving her hand another squeeze.

"If he's got a chance, then he'll make it." Darry told them with the finality that went so well with his voice. "He's a fighter, that kid."

Ponyboy let out a hiss as his brother pressed the disinfectant into his wound.

"Ah," Ellie recalled suddenly, "Has anyone seen Dally?"

The boys shook their heads.

"Not since the rumble." Two-Bit said.

"He came by the hospital..." Ellie glanced out the window, as if she was expecting him to be coming up the steps that very moment. "He didn't seem too good. I think he may have gotten the wrong impression."

The silence that fell over the room made her gut twist. It was like she was in the middle of a horror movie, just when the music begins to rise and rise and rise and you know something horrible is about to happen.

"I'm sure he's okay." Darry told her after a beat, "He'll turn up in the morning like he always does."

A sharp noise made them jump, but it was only the telephone.

"See? That's probably him right now." Two-Bit told her as the eldest Curtis Brother went to answer it.

"Was it really him?" Ellie asked when he came back.

Darry nodded. "He's gone and robbed a liquor store and now the cops are after him. We've got to hide him. He'll be at the lot in a few minutes."

The boys beat it out of the house in sprints. Steve grabbed Ellie's arm as she tried to follow.

"You better stay." He told her, but Two-Bit grabbed her other hand and wrenched her out of his grip so hard she felt as if her arm might dislocate.

"Run." He told her, winking, and if it were any other time she would have laughed.

The boys slowed down just as Dallas could be seen racing towards them. They didn't see the cop cars at first, but the sirens grew louder and louder until they could be spotted screeching to a halt in a line, men in uniforms coming out with their guns already aimed at Dally's head. Still running to catch up, Ellie was startled to see him stopping under the streetlight. Why wasn't he moving? Why was he giving up? If he'd kept... what was he planning?

"Dallas!" She shouted, pushing past Soda and Pony, dodging them as they tried to catch hold of her. He reached into the back of his jeans, his hand latching onto something... No.

Her legs felt weak, her head spinning, heart pounding, and just as she got to him she fell against his back.

"E-Els?" He asked, and for the first time he wasn't wearing a mask. He was only Dallas Winston, who had thought he had nothing left to loose until he'd thought he'd lost his best friend. A kid was staring, wide-eyed, down at her.

She wrapped her arms around him, squeezing as tight as she could, trapping his hand. She could feel the pressure of the gun against her chest. "Dallas, please don't do this. Don't do this."

"Let go." He told her, looking back at the cops, at their guns. "What the hell are you doing here? Let go! Go home!"

"I can't." She started crying, but this time there wasn't any room for shame. Her voice came out in wails and sobs, begging him because it felt like all she could do. "Please, Dally, Johnny isn't dead, you don't have to do this."

He stared at her- again, that numb bewildered look.

"Hands up!" Someone was shouting in a tinny, loud, megaphone.

"Please," She pleaded as the police crept closer. "Dallas, you can't leave me again- not again. Please."

She felt his hand release the gun. Ellie grabbed it before he could change his mind and shoved it into the waistband of her skirt, pulling her blouse out to hide the top of it.

"Hands up, Winston! If you don't let go of that girl in the next second, we'll be adding abduction to the list of charges."

Ellie took a step back, but Dallas captured her wrist.

"Ellie..." He reached over and wiped away a droplet with his thumb, too strung-out to be gentle. She reached up and kissed him, surprised to find his cheeks damp and smelling of salt.

"I'll see you soon, okay?" She told him as a police officer pulled him off. It wasn't until Dallas was being lead, handcuffed, to a car did she realize Darry was pulling her back down the street. When they were a good distance from the police, he pulled the gun out of her waistband and tucked it away.

She slept at the Curtis' house that night with the rest of the gang. The next morning she woke up to Lord softly licking her fingers. Lady was discovered later on, cuddled up between Soda and Pony in their tiny twin-sized bed.

I kinda felt compelled to kill them off because #goodwriting but honestly I couldn't do it haha! The Outsiders gives me major feels to this DAY. More on that later... maybe.

There will be one last chapter after this. Probably. Less chapter, more... quick epilogue. Where everyone dies! Kidding! Or am I?

But also, look! I updated in a timely manner! Mostly because KOL came out with a new album and tbh that band singlehandedly kept me inspired throughout this whole fanfic.