Shattered

Seven

I rolled on impact, landing hard on my shoulder.

"Ohh, motherfu-"

"We're gonna get you, Ghost! You can't stay there forever!" Otto yelled.

I knew there was no way either of them could pull off what I just did.

"You're right! I can't!" I shouted back, then I jumped.

I heard them cuss. I managed to grab onto the bottom rung of the fire escape on this building, and I lowered myself to the ground.

"Suckers," I hissed under my breath, then took off running again.

"There he is!"

"Get 'im!"

Two brutes from the gang- Jake and Jack. They were redheaded twins who didn't care about the law, and didn't care what they had to do to survive. They cheated and lied and killed and stole. I was certain that they were cannibals.

"Oh, for the love of god!" I shouted, then started sprinting. I was pushing myself too far. I knew that if I escaped all of 'em, I was gonna crash, and crash hard. I didn't usually run this much.

Other Jake or Jack grabbed me- I couldn't tell 'em apart- and the other one tried to hit me, but I didn't hesitate to fight tooth and nail.

With these guys, you either fought with all you had or they killed you. There wasn't any in between. Whichever one was holding me dropped me and I took off again.

I don't know how it happened, but I got cornered in an abandoned warehouse. I was surrounded by Jake, Jack, Scotch, and Otto. I didn't know where Candy was. I didn't care.

Scotch and Otto had heaters on 'em. Jake and Jack held me in place, and my heart sunk as I knew what was about to happen.

"Any last words, Ghost?" Otto asked in his nasally voice.

"I hope all of you rot in hell. You hear me? Rot in fucking hell." I sobbed. I had a,ways wanted to die. Why was I so scared now?

Was it because I hadn't said goodbye to my friends? Hadn't told Steve how I felt? Hadn't really been brothers with Dally? Hadn't told Soda he was a great friend, or told Ponyboy that he'd go far in life, or told Johnny that life would get better, or told Two-Bit thank you for bein' a good buddy, or told Darry how much it meant to me that he always let me crash at their place?

Scotch shook his head. "Those are some awful lousy last words, kid."

I didn't say anything, I just stared at them silently with tears streaming down my face.

Otto raised the gun, aimed perfectly at my chest. Scotch aimed his gun at my head.

"Stop!" Candy screeched, and the guns went off. I braced for impact, my ears ringing, but I didn't feel anything. I saw a bullet hole in the floor, and another in the ceiling.

I heard arguing, but I couldn't make out the words. But then they were beating me, and I wished I'd been shot instead. That woulda hurt less then gettin' beat to death.

And so I laid there, staring, my vision hazy, watching the five of them walk away. Candy stopped before she let the door close behind her and turned to look at me.

"I'm sorry." She said, but I barely heard her.

"Fuck you," I whispered, and then I was left in darkness.

.

When I woke up, there were policemen everywhere, and I was being loaded into an ambulance.

I was so tired, I could hardly keep my eyes open.

"Do you know what your name is, son?" A paramedic asked.

"Charles Winston," I mumbled.

"Middle name?"

"James."

"Date of birth?" He asked, hand hovering over a clipboard. I paused, thinking for a moment.

"1949. February 12th, 1949."

"Do you know what day it is?"

What day had it been? I didn't remember. How long had I been out? A few hours? A day? My silence seemed to answer the question for him.

"Where's Dally? My- my brother? Where is he?" I asked, forcing my eyes open to look at the paramedic.

"He's being notified that you've been found at the hospital now." He replied calmly.

"How- how long was I there?" I had to close my eyes again. It hurt too much to keep them open.

"Four days. Do you remember waking up at all?"

As he spoke of it, I realized that I kept waking up and trying to get out, get help, but being in too much pain. "Yeah. Not... not much. Only a few times."

"So you haven't been completely comatose, which is good."

"Only little bitches get comatose." I said, and he started laughing. A small smile tugged at my lips, but then I passed out again.