Escape to Windrixville

The escape to Windrixville begins in the immediate aftermath of Bob Sheldon's death. Johnny Cade, having stabbed the Soc to stop him from drowning Ponyboy Curtis in the park fountain, knows the police will soon arrive. The two boys, terrified and disoriented, realize they need money, a gun, and a plan. Ponyboy, panicking at the thought of the electric chair, is calmed by Johnny, who insists they must find Dallas Winston. They run to Buck Merril's place, where Dally is recovering from a fight with Tim Shepard. Dally, without hesitation, gives them a loaded gun and fifty dollars, instructs them to hop the three-fifteen freight to Windrixville, and tells them about an abandoned church on top of Jay Mountain where they can hide. He warns them to buy a week's supply of food before the story gets out and to stay inside until he comes for them. Dally also gives Ponyboy a dry shirt and his own worn brown leather jacket with a yellow sheep's-wool lining, knowing the mountain will be cold. As they leave, Dally messes up Johnny's hair and tells him softly to take care.

The Train Ride and Arrival

Crouching in the weeds beside the railroad tracks, Johnny and Ponyboy wait for the freight train. When it slows to a screaming halt, they pull themselves into an open boxcar, pressing against the side as a railroad worker pokes his head inside but fails to see them. Inside the rattling car, Johnny lays the gun down gingerly and admits he couldn't shoot anybody. For the first time, the full weight of what they have done crashes over Ponyboy: Johnny has killed someone, they are running from the police for murder, and a loaded gun lies beside them. Ponyboy curls up, using Johnny's legs for a pillow, and falls asleep in Dally's jacket. He is hardly awake when Johnny tells him to jump off the train into a meadow. Landing in the dew, Ponyboy sees the dawn lightening the sky, pink clouds, and meadow larks singing. He thinks, half asleep, that his dream has come true and he is in the country. Johnny, however, complains that Ponyboy's legs have put his own legs to sleep, and he can barely stand. He had stayed awake on the train to make sure they got off at the right place.

Finding the Church

Johnny, still rubbing his legs, tells Ponyboy to go down the road and ask the first person he sees where Jay Mountain is. He instructs Ponyboy to run a comb through his hair and quit slouching like a thug, because they will be recognized as hoods. Ponyboy combs his hair carefully, and Johnny remarks that he looks an awful lot like Sodapop, except for his green eyes. Ponyboy, reddening, insists his eyes are gray. He climbs over a barbed-wire fence and strolls down the red dirt road, hoping his natural color returns before he meets anyone. He meets a sunburned farmer driving a tractor and politely asks for directions. The farmer points to a big hill and asks if he is taking a walk. Ponyboy lies easily, saying they are playing army and he is supposed to report to headquarters there. The farmer grins and says, "Boys will be boys." Ponyboy walks back to Johnny, and they climb the steep road to the church. It takes about forty-five minutes. They climb in through a back window. The church is small, real old, spooky, and spiderwebby. It gives Ponyboy the creeps. He flops down on the stone floor, immediately regretting it, and falls asleep beside Johnny.

Life in Hiding

Ponyboy wakes up late in the afternoon, stiff and sore from the hard floor, but having slept more soundly than ever. The church is quiet except for the wind rushing through the trees. He finds a note from Johnny in the dust: "Went to get supplies. Be back soon. J.C." Ponyboy gets a drink from the pump, splashes water on his face, and sits on the back steps. The hill drops off suddenly, and he can see for miles and miles. He feels scared sitting by himself, his overactive imagination running wild with thoughts of Johnny being caught and Dally being killed. When he hears someone coming, he ducks inside, then recognizes the gang's whistle. He returns it, and Johnny appears with a big package. Inside, Johnny has bought a week's supply of baloney, two loaves of bread, a box of matches, a paperback copy of Gone with the Wind, peroxide, and a deck of cards. Ponyboy is thrilled about the book, which Johnny remembered he wanted. But the peroxide signals a grim necessity: they must disguise themselves. Johnny explains that their descriptions will be in the paper, so they have to cut their hair and bleach Ponyboy's. Ponyboy protests, calling his hair his pride, but Johnny insists. Johnny flips out the razor-edge of his switchblade and saws off Ponyboy's hair, then bleaches it. After sitting in the sun to dry, Ponyboy looks in a cracked mirror and is miserable: his hair is even lighter than Sodapop's, making him look younger and scared. He feels like a blasted pansy. Johnny then has Ponyboy cut his own hair, and he washes it in the freezing water, shivering afterward. Ponyboy gives him Dally's jacket to wrap up in. Johnny says weakly that he guesses they are disguised. Ponyboy snaps that it is just not them, like being in a Halloween costume they cannot get out of. Johnny tells him they have to get used to it: it is their looks or them.

The Days Pass

The next four or five days are the longest Ponyboy has ever spent. They kill time by reading Gone with the Wind and playing poker. Johnny loves the book, especially the Southern gentlemen, whom he compares to Dally, calling them gallant. Ponyboy is surprised, but Johnny explains that once he saw Dally get picked up by the police for something Two-Bit did, and Dally took the sentence without batting an eye. That, Johnny says, is gallant. Ponyboy realizes the extent of Johnny's hero-worship for Dally. They never go to the front of the church, staying in the back, usually sitting on the steps and looking across the valley. One morning, Ponyboy wakes up early and watches the dawn. The mist is gold and silver, and he recites Robert Frost's poem "Nothing Gold Can Stay." Johnny is amazed and says he never noticed colors and clouds until Ponyboy kept reminding him about them. He says Ponyboy's family is funny: Sodapop looks like their mother but acts like their father, Darry looks like their father but acts like their mother, and Ponyboy does not act like either one. Ponyboy agrees, saying he could not tell Two-Bit or Steve or even Darry about the sunrise and clouds. Only Sodapop and maybe Cherry Valance would understand. By the fifth day, Ponyboy is sick of baloney and dying for a Pepsi. He has smoked two packs of Camels and, as Johnny predicted, gets sick. He curls up in a corner to sleep off the smoke. Then he hears a familiar whistle and wakes to find Dally standing over him, grinning. Dally tells them the police think they have lit out for Texas, and he has Buck Merril's T-bird parked down the road. He also gives Ponyboy a letter from Sodapop. Ponyboy reads it eagerly; Sodapop writes that Darry is awful sorry he hit him and that the police have come by to question them. He says Darry is nearly killed with worry and that Ponyboy is famous, with a paragraph in the newspaper. Dally takes them to a Dairy Queen, where they gorge on barbecue sandwiches and banana splits. Dally tells them that the Socs and greasers are having all-out warfare all over the city, and that Cherry Valance is acting as a spy for the greasers, testifying that the Socs were drunk and looking for a fight. Johnny then announces that they are going back to turn themselves in. Dally is shocked and tries to talk him out of it, but Johnny is determined. He says it is not fair for Ponyboy to have to stay up in the church with Darry and Sodapop worrying about him. As they drive back up Jay Mountain, Dally suddenly slams on the brakes. The church is on fire. They run to see what is happening and learn that some children are trapped inside. Ponyboy and Johnny, feeling responsible because they might have started the fire with a cigarette, climb through a window to rescue the kids. They toss the children out one by one as the roof begins to crumble. Johnny shoves Ponyboy out the window just as a piece of timber falls on him, breaking his back. Dally, who has been watching, goes back in to save Johnny. All three are taken to the hospital. Johnny is in critical condition, with a broken back and severe burns. Dally has a badly burned arm. Ponyboy is treated for smoke inhalation and a few burns. In the hospital, Ponyboy is reunited with Darry and Sodapop. Darry, who has been crying, tells Ponyboy he thought they had lost him like they did their parents. Ponyboy realizes that Darry does care about him, and they reconcile. The escape to Windrixville ends not with a continued flight, but with a heroic act that brings the boys back into the world, facing the consequences of their actions.