He finds himself in a gang safe house with his friend (Johnny) who was the murderer. Johnny deeply affects this scene in the book because he actually murdered the man. Their friend Dally immediately goes to their aid and brings them both to a safe house. The two stay in this safe house for a number of weeks until another member of their gang comes by to inform then the coast is clear. But on their last night in the safe house a fire starts from a kindling cigarette and quickly the whole safe house was ablaze. While trying to get out of the building, Johnny gets crushed by a beam in the fire and is paralyzed. Pony makes it out of the building but faints from fear and shock, he wakes up in his house. So far Pony has made some pretty bad decisions that led up to this point in the story. Pony technically is not involved in the murder even though he witnessed it. At this point of the story Pony could have easily gone to the police and made his life much easier. But he chose not