Chapter 1
"So, um, what exactly does going to the woods have to do with cheerleading?" Ethel Muggs asked.
Ethel was a very tall dark-haired girl, 6'1", but very thin with an under-developed body with no breasts and a flat ass. At the moment Ethel was surrounded by the five members of Riverdale High's cheerleading squad as they made their way into the dense forest that lay just north of town.
"I mean do you even know where you're going?" Ethel asked when she didn't get an answer.
"We know exactly where we're going," Cheryl Blossom replied.
The 5'10" curvaceous red-head was the head cheerleader at Riverdale High and she ruled the squad with an iron fist; and with her drop-dead gorgeous looks and being the head cheerleader, it meant Cheryl was the most popular girl at school.
Ethel in contrast was not popular. Ethel was ostracized at school, partly by her looks but more so for her awkward social skills. So Ethel had found it rather strange when Cheryl had approached her and offered to give Ethel a spot on the cheerleading squad and it got even stranger still when rather than doing a cheer demonstration in the gymnasium after school, Cheryl had asked Ethel to come to the woods at night.
Ethel glanced around at the other cheerleaders, there was Ginger Lopez, Midge Klump, Sheila Wu and Toni Topaz. Ginger was a 5'8" Latina girl with brown-hair with blonde highlights, Midge was a 5'4" girl with short dark hair, Sheila was a 5'7" Asian girl with long hair with pink highlights, and Toni Topaz was a 5'8" African-American girl with hair dyed pink. All four of them were dressed in their blue and gold cheerleading outfits, as was Cheryl; even though it was rather cool out tonight. Ethel was wearing a wind breaker and sweatpants and she was cold but none of the cheerleaders seemed at all bothered by the temperature. On top of that Ethel was the only one carrying a flashlight, none of the cheerleaders had one, although it was fairly bright out with the full moon. Although the moon was currently obscured by the trees and some clouds.
The deeper they got into the forest Ethel began to wonder if she was being set up for a prank or something. There was just something very strange about all of this. Soon however they emerged into a clearing. As Ethel looked around she noticed that the clearing formed an almost perfect circle, to the point of being spooky.
"We're here," Cheryl declared.
The group came to a stop in the middle of the clearing. The cheerleaders lined up on either side of Cheryl facing Ethel.
"So, um, what now?" Ethel asked nervously.
Cheryl flashed a grin at Ethel. It frightened Ethel because there seemed to be some sort of malicious intent behind the grin and also because Cheryl's teeth looked rather sharp. Cheryl then looked up to the sky. Ethel followed her grin and watched as the full moon emerged from behind a few wispy clouds.
Ethel couldn't believe what happened next. Cheryl's face began to change as her mouth and nose seemed to lengthen and merge, her teeth grew longer and sharper and her ears grew pointed. Red hair, or perhaps more accurately fur, began to grow on her arms and legs. Cheryl also began to grow taller as her hands formed into claws and her feet and legs took on a distinct canine look. Cheryl let out a howl at the moon that was identical to that of a wolf and then she looked down at Ethel.
"What… what's going on?" Ethel asked nervously.
Just then the other four cheerleaders began to change as well just as Cheryl had. In a matter of moments all five of them were now seven foot tall half-wolf creatures.
"What's going on is that we came out here to hunt, and you're the prey," Cheryl said her voice now rather rough and gravelly. "Don't worry though we'll give you a little head start."
Ethel quickly turned and began running as fast as she could. Behind her Ethel could hear the literal howls of laughter coming from the monstrous wolf-creature cheerleaders.
"Hope you don't get lost!" she heard Cheryl call out which drew more howls from the other cheerleaders.
Ethel charged through the forest as fast as she could. She had thought this was just going to be some sort of mean prank, but the cheerleaders had actually brought her out here to hunt her and probably eat her! And what the hell were they? Werewolves weren't a real thing, were they?
Ethel tripped over a fallen branch and took a tumble, her flashlight flying from her hand off into the distance. As Ethel picked herself up she noticed that the forest had suddenly gone silent. Ethel found that more frightening then when the forest had been filled with howls moments ago.
Ethel cautiously made her way over to where her flashlight had fallen and bent down to pick it up. As Ethel stood back up she saw Cheryl standing in front of her looking down her fangs bared. Ethel had no idea how Cheryl had gotten there so quickly or quietly.
"I would have thought those long legs of yours would have let you run faster," Cheryl joked sadistically.
Ethel turned to run back the other way but she then heard the sound of snarls and the other four werewolf cheerleaders emerged from the darkness surrounding her, slowly stalking closer.
"No, please, please don't…" Ethel begged as her eyes welled up with tears.
However her pleas were abruptly cut off and Cheryl bit into her should from behind. Ethel let out a loud scream and then the other four cheerleaders all pounced. Ethel's screams were soon silenced as she was torn apart and devoured by the hungry werewolves.
Archie Andrews, Veronica Lodge, Betty Cooper, Reggie Mantle and Jughead Jones were in the cafeteria at their usual table eating lunch. The school was buzzing over the news that Ethel Muggs had gone missing and nobody knew where she was. There were lots of rumours running around as to the cause of her disappearance. Some think she was kidnapped, while others that she ran away; all for various reasons.
Just then Cheryl walked by followed by the rest of the cheerleading squad.
"There goes the wolfpack," Jughead Jones commented under his breath.
"Why do you call them that?" Reggie asked.
"Have you seen the way they sort circle before going in for the proverbial kill?" Jughead responded.
"That's actually pretty accurate," Betty agreed. "It's dangerous to get on their bad side, especially Cheryl."
"I see them more like a bunch of snakes," Veronica said. "A bunch of poisonous snakes."
"Hey um, maybe we stop talking about them so that they don't hear us?" Archie suggested nervously.
"What's with you?" Reggie asked.
"What, nothing it's just… I don't think we should be bad mouthing them," Archie stammered as he answered.
"What are you going on about?" Betty inquired suspiciously.
"Yeah, what she asked," Veronica added as both of them eyed Archie suspiciously.
"Archie here is eying the Homecoming King crown and he knows he won't get it if Cheryl is mad at him," Jughead answered.
"Well that's just stupid," Reggie said. "Nor is it happening, if Cheryl picks somebody at this table you know it would be me."
"Yeah right," Archie argued. "I think…"
"Look at those two idiot over there fighting with each other," Ginger Lopez commented pointing at Archie and Reggie who at this point were standing and shouting at each other as Betty and Veronica tried to keep them separate.
"I dunno, that Reggie is kind of cool," Midge said.
"Oh my god Midge you have a boyfriend," Sheila said.
"Beside Reggie can be jerk," Toni added.
The girls all then looked at Cheryl who was seemingly ignoring their conversation, her attention instead focused on her phone.
"What do you think Cheryl?" Ginger asked.
Cheryl's eyes glanced up from her phone and looked across the cafeteria.
"I think they both look like food," Cheryl replied uninterested.
"What are you doing Cheryl?" Midge asked as she leaned over to look at Cheryl's phone.
"I'm keep track of what's going on into the investigation into Ethel's disappearance," Cheryl replied in a whisper.
"Who cares about that?" Sheila asked. "It's not like they're going to find her."
"Yeah, the only think left of her are a few bones," Toni added. "And we buried those."
"Those can still be found," Cheryl replied with a growl causing all four girls to cringe.
"Well what do you want us to do?" Ginger asked.
"We're going to act like we don't know anything," Cheryl replied. "But in the meantime, I think it might be time to grow the pack."
"Grow the pack?" Midge asked nervously. "Are you sure that's a good idea?"
"You want to challenge my authority?" Cheryl responded, baring her teeth.
"No," Midge replied softly.
"I didn't think so," Cheryl said. "I've got plans, big plans but we're going to need some numbers."
"Like what?" Sheila inquired.
"Don't you worry about that, you just do what I tell you to," Cheryl replied. "And I want you girls to arrange cheerleading tryouts."
The other four girls looked at each other almost dumbfounded.
"Well what are you sitting here for? I know you girls ate last night, now go! Get the word out!" Cheryl snapped.
The four girls scurried off to do as Cheryl had ordered.
Sheriff Steven Keller pulled to a stop on the edge of the forest North of Riverdale. He and a group of officers and volunteers got out of their vehicles. Cell phone tracking had last placed Ethel's phone here and then travelling into the woods.
There was no longer a signal, which could have been from the battery dying or the phone being broken. There wasn't even any proof that Ethel was even in possession of her phone when it ended up here, but it was somewhere to at least start looking.
Keller wondered why Ethel or anyone would have come here. There wasn't anything of interest in the woods and they were inhabited by a vicious pack of wolves. Two hunters in the past year had turned up dead while out trying to hunt them. From what little Keller knew about Ethel she wasn't a hunter or had much interest in the outdoors for that matter.
"Alright everyone we're going to search in a line," Keller explained. "I want you to stay within eyesight of the people to either side of you."
The group formed up and made their way into the woods. There were two tracking dogs with the group and they were in the middle. The group slowly made their way into the forest people calling out for Ethel in case she was alive.
They were rather deep into the forest when something seemed to startle the too dogs causing them to want to run away. Keller wondered if perhaps they were near the wolves' den and his hand reached for his sidearm. However just then he heard a member of the search party shout that they had found something.
Keller ran towards the sound, others had already gathered. Keller soon saw just what had been found, the ground was completely stained with blood, it was all over the place.
"Everyone step back," Keller said as he got closer and knelt down to take a look.
There was no way of telling what kind of blood it was, however given how much blood there was it could very well have been a person, but it also could have been a deer or some other large animal. What was odd though was that there was a great deal of blood but no remains.
Soon a forensics team arrived and they set about scouring the scene for evidence while Keller oversaw.
"Sheriff, found something here," one tech called out.
"What is it?" Keller asked as he walked over.
"Hair," the tech said. "And it looks human."
The tech handed Keller a clear plastic baggy. Inside were a couple of black hairs about ten inches long. Keller sighed and shook his head sadly.
"Get these back to the lab and have them tested quick," Keller said. "This could very well be from the missing girl."
This story was somewhat inspired by the Jughead: The Hunger comic from the Archie Horror line. Check it out. Please review!