~Cicada~ Johnny Cade x male reader

Train Hoppers

          With nothing left to say, Dallas ushers us out the door. Immediately, Johnny, Pony, and I make a run for the train tracks nearby. "Over here, in the bushes," Johnny whispers. Hidden by the foliage, we watch as the inspectors for the cars go through each one. When they aren't looking, we jump into one. Pressing myself against the back wall of the car, my heartbeat thunders as I hear footsteps approaching. One of the inspectors does a quick glance of our car, but he doesn't see us. As he moves on, I let out a breath I didn't even know I was holding.

          "So..." I begin, "we just sit here until we get to Windrixville?" Johnny's back hits the wall and he slides down to the floor. "That's the plan." Ponyboy sits to his right and I sit by his left, the former resting his head on Johnny's shoulder and starting to doze. Eventually he's asleep, and I look over at Johnny, who still looks very shaken. "Was this the right decision?" I ask nobody in particular. Fiddling with the gun, the dark haired boy shakes his head. "I sure hope so." I bite at the skin on my lip and look down, my thoughts racing so fast that it was tiring. Before I knew it, I was asleep.

"-ke up..."

"Hey man, wake up!"

          I open my eyes slowly, squinting at the sunlight above me. The floor of the train car has now become soft. That's because it's not the floor of the train car. It's grass. Above me are two silhouettes: that of Johnny and Ponyboy. Realizing we are no longer on the train, I quickly hop up. "When did we get here?" I ask groggily. "We just threw you off the train a few seconds ago," Ponyboy snickered. Johnny shoots him a look and retorts, "Actually, I threw both of you off." Pony rolls his eyes.

         "So...what now?" Ponyboy questions. Johnny's lips press into a thin line. "Over there. Go ask those construction guys how to get to Jay Mountain." The younger starts to panic a bit. "Oh, Johnny, they're gonna know who I am the moment they see me!"

"They ain't gonna know! Just say you're a farm boy taking a walk or something, I don't know, man!"

          Ponyboy sticks a plant in his mouth. "Do I look like a farm boy to you?" I chuckle tiredly. "Pony, hate to break it to ya, but between the flannel shirt yer wearing, your un-greased hair, and the plant hanging outta yer mouth, yeah. You look like a farm boy." He glares at me, then hesitantly walks over to the construction workers. "Hey," He yells, "do you know how to get to Jay Mountain?"

"What!?"

"Jay Mountain! Do you know how to get to Jay Mountain!?"

"A straight walk that way!"

          The old guy points up a road. Ponyboy nods and begins to turn to walk away when the construction worker pipes up, "Taking a walk!?" Ponyboy takes the plant out of his mouth and lies, "We're playing army and, uh, need to report to headquarters!" As Pony left, the worker muttered, "Boys will be boys."

          Following the other two boys, I snicker. "You definitely ain't gonna be an actor when ya grow up, Ponyboy!" He shoots me a glare and says, "Zip it." Johnny frustratedly looks at the both of us. "How 'bout ya both zip it and focus on lookin' out for the church hideout?" It came out more as a demand rather than a question. I nod and think for a moment. He seems really stressed out. That's reasonable, I guess, because it is the morning after he killed somebody.

          For the first time, after thinking that thought, I fully realized the deep shit we were in. Johnny killed someone. Ponyboy, Dallas, and I were helping hide and protect him from the law. Man, we're only kids, we shouldn't have to deal with all of this.

          Finally, we make it to the church, and boy is it in rough shape. Then again, we're in pretty rough shape too, so I can't say much.

          I follow Johnny and Pony inside, and I can't really say much about it. Not out of privacy or some bullshit like that, I mean that there wasn't much in there at all to talk about. A dusty floor, furnace in the middle, and some old church pews that looked like they'd fall apart if all three of us tried to sit on it at once. Remembering what Dallas said, I turn around to suggest that we go down to the grocery store, only to see Ponyboy fast asleep on the nasty floor.

          Johnny looks over at what I'm looking at and chuckles. "So I guess it's only us going out to get the groceries?" I snicker in response. "Guess so." And with that, we make our way down the mountain and towards civilization.