Chapter Text
Day 1.
The ride on the train they’d broken onto was quiet.
Even if the sound of the train against the tracks wasn’t deafeningly loud, there wasn’t much to talk about. The trek up Jay mountain and to the church wasn’t any louder.
As soon as they made it to the church, Dallas led Johnny over to the water pump. He unwrapped the boy's wound, wincing at the even bloodier sight than before. He slowly guided his hand under the water upon beginning to pump it, wincing at Johnny’s pained sound as the water hit the bite mark.
“Shhh..” He hushed softly, gently using the hem of his shirt to properly clean it. “I know…”
Pony stood to the side, watching. The sun had reached the sky hours ago, sky now a gentle blue. Thankfully. He tore his eyes away from Johnny after a moment, creeping towards the old, broken down church. Dal sure wasn’t lying when he said it was old. The damn thing looked like the roof would collapse if the wind blew on it too hard. Or catch on fire if the sun shone on it too hard.
He sighed. It wouldn’t be comfy, but it would work. As long as Johnny was safe.
He jumped as he heard a floorboard creek behind him, though felt a wave of relief as he looked and saw only Johnny and Dally, the ladder rummaging around the rubble for lord knows what. He didn’t pay much attention to Dallas however, his eyes were locked on Johnny.
“...Hey.” He said awkwardly.
“Hey, Pony.” The other replied, slowly coming to sit down on an unidentifiable plank of wood. “..Sleep well on the train?”
He hadn’t. He couldn’t recall if he’d slept at all.
“Yeah, I slept fine..” He said, coming to sit beside the infected. “Did you sleep?”
“Not really…”
The two two fell silent as they stared at Dallas, watching the man.
“Either of you got anything we can trade on you?” The albino asked, holding some miscellaneous scraps. They’re fairly certain one of which was a bible that had been eaten by rats. Pony checked his pockets. Blade and a pack. He grimaced realizing he’d have to go quite a bit without a cigarette. He shook his head, he didn’t have a lighter on him anyway. He held out the two objects, glancing at Johnny.
The boy was only able to pull out a mini flashlight.
“You really went unarmed..?” Dallas whispered, taking the offered items. Figured they should be enough for something.. “Johnny…”
“I thought we’d be home before dark,” Johnny argued slightly, the older one shaking his head. He dropped it. No reason to berate him anymore.
“I’m gonna go try and get some food or somethin…” He whispered, before turning to Pony. “Don’t go too far. Stay with him.”
And Pony nodded.
Night 1.
As the hours passed Pony found himself increasingly concerned about the whereabouts of Dallas Winston. The sun was gradually getting further, and further down. Without a weapon, the dread of being alone here grew larger and larger.
“He's coming back, right?” Pony suddenly spoke, staring at the doorless entrance. “He didn’t just leave us here to…”
“No.” Johnny said, holding the wrist of his injured hand. “No Dal wouldn’t do that.. That ain’t like him.”
Pony sighed. “I sure hope not.”
Then they went quiet for a while. And Ponyboy recalled his thoughts from back in the theater.
“You and him are close.” Pony pointed out, finally attempting this conversation. With Dallas away, it was significantly safer. He watched as a light pink dusted Johnny’s cheeks, a slight smile cracking his lips.
“Yeah.. You could say that.” Johnny replied, suddenly feeling a bit bashful.
“Can you maybe tell the story about that?”
And Johnny smiled.
“Man…” He whispered, a slight laugh leaving his throat. “Well- when this whole thing started I figured I couldn’t stay home with my parents.” He shuttered at the memory. He hadn’t seen them in months. “So I went straight to Buck and his place when I saw the news. Remember those few weeks you didn’t see us, thought we were dead? Yeah, we were hanging over there.”
Pony frowned, nodding at the memory. Johnny laughed.
“After a while, when things were looking really bad we just kinda accepted this was gonna be the end of the world.. And I guess Two was right when he was makin’ all those jokes. I just..” He paused. “I think we just didn’t wanna do anything because.. I mean, we didn’t know how yall would react.. I don’t even think we knew how we were gonna react. We didn’t wanna deal with those consequences, y’know? But then the outbreak kept getting worse and..”
He swallowed briefly.
“We figured if there wasn’t gonna be a future to deal with, then damn the consequences."
He sighed, shaking his head with a dumb smile. He looked back down at his wrapped hand. “...For a while, we thought maybe we were wrong.”
Ponyboy physically winced, shaking his head. He didn’t wanna think about that. “What about when yall started bein’ all cozy? Is there a story there?”
Johnny sighed, shaking his head. “Ain’t much to it really. Kinda just got close one night and never pulled away..”
Ponyboy nodded slowly, glancing around. He didn’t press, knowing that probably wouldn’t end well. He opened his mouth to speak, only to be pulled to a stop as a shadow was cast harshly against the window.
“...What's that?” He whispered, grabbing the nearest object, a broken piece of wood, knowing damn well he would never have the guts to use it. Johnny shifted forward slightly, arm almost mechanically coming to cover Pony’s chest.
“Johnny what is that?”
“Hush…”
The two stared at the window, hearts hammering faster as they watched the sun almost fasten its descent. Whatever it was never came to stand directly before the window, at least not enough for the two to make out what was lurking just outside.
“Whatcha lookin’ at?”
The scream that left Pony nearly convinced Dallas he had killed the boy on the spot. Which, of course, earned a laugh. Johnny jumped, however didn’t give nearly as much of a reaction.
“What took you so long?” Johnny asked. Neither Pony or Dally missed the way he stumbled as he stood to greet his lover with a tight hug. The blonde could do no more than return the embrace, a weight physically lifting from his shoulders. He buried his face into the shorter’s hair.
“Gave up on trading after a while and had to start stealin’” he explained, earning a displeased huff from Johnny.
“...What did you get?” Pony asked, still shaking from the sudden jumpscare. His voice was quiet, eyes once again finding the window the shadow cast through. Maybe it was nothing. Maybe it was a statue or something that had been there all day and they were only noticing now because they were on edge. Dallas pulled a bag from his shoulders.
“You stole someone's backpack?” Johnny asked, eyes narrowing
“Yeah,”
“...Dal’, that's a children's backpack.”
“Yup,” Dallas unzipped the bag, a smaller than average one with Mickey Mouse on the front.
“Dallas what the hell?”
“What? He had parents.” He began pulling out what he’d managed to grab as he paused. A pack of bologna, bandages, a few cans of soup, playing cards… “Probably.”
“What do you mean probably!?”
Dallas shrugged, deciding to dump the rest of the bags' contents out onto the wooden flooring. Ammo, a book, radio, batteries,
Pack of crayons…
“Not bad.” Pony mumbles, turning his head away from the more childish of the items. He didn’t need to look, didn’t need to think about it. As long as they were okay, nothing else mattered. “Could’ve done better,” Dallas shrugged, “I didn’t want to leave you guys alone for much longer.”
Pony and Johnny shared a look.