Chapter 4

Sheriff Steven Keller had a crisis on his hands. He had six murders on his hands that had happened over night. His staff were completely over extended. He had called on both Vermont State Police and FBI to provide assistance.

Making things more unusual and confusing was the fact that the murders had all taken place in different locations and that the bodies had not been found intact and parts were missing. The head of Dilton Doiley had been found at the intersection of Green Street and Maple Avenue; an unidentified female body had been found next to the gazebo in Pickens Park; the upper torso of Sergio Segarini the owner of Riverdale Pizza was found in the alleyway behind his pizzeria; a pair of arms were found still holding onto the steering wheel of a taxi and the back of the cab was torn up and one of the back doors was torn right off; the headless body of middle-aged townswoman Abbey Finn was found at a small playground near her house along with the disembowelled remains of her miniature schnauzer; and lastly there was Nicholas St. Clair who found on the side of the road just on the edge of town his body in multiple piece next to his car which also had suffered a lot of damage.

These new murders combined with the likely murder of Ethel Muggs suggested that there might be something quite serious going on in Riverdale. Keller's first thoughts were that perhaps Cheryl Blossom was involved in this as well, but they were so spread out and they all happened right around the same time; that couldn't have been possibly been Cheryl, since it suggested multiple killers. Besides with that much brutality it couldn't possibly have been her. However Keller was certain that Cheryl had something to do with Ethel's disappearance and he wasn't about to drop that. Unfortunately a judge had denied his warrant request to seize her phone and even if he did get it, there was the possibility that tech expert wouldn't be able to find anything anyway.

Schools had been cancelled for the day and Keller had decided to enact a curfew. These killings were happening at night, so it only made sense. However other than that Keller wasn't sure what to do next. Perhaps his only option was to push on the one lead he had, Cheryl Blossom.

Betty was sitting on the front steps of her porch. She had to get herself out of the house. Her room still smelled of Dilton's blood even after she'd cleaned up. Even just thinking about it out here made Betty feel hungry, which freaked her out. She had wanted to go to school but apparently it had been cancelled; Betty wondered if this had something to do with her killing Dilton.

As Betty sat there she saw Archie and Jughead come walking up.

"Hey Betty," Archie called out. "Did you hear?"

"Hear what?" Betty asked.

"There were six murders all around Riverdale last night," Jughead replied

Betty's eyes went wide with surprise.

"What? Six!" Betty exclaimed.

"Yeah we haven't heard who the victims all are yet, but Jughead found out that Segarini was killed behind his restaurant," Archie said.

"Yeah Pops told me," Jughead said.

"Segarini, the pizza guy?" Betty asked confused.

"Yeah, apparently they only found the top of his body," Archie said. "No sign of his legs. It was like something ate him."

Betty wondered for a moment if the leg in her room could have been Segarini's, but from what she remembered he was rather tall, slightly overweight, and quite literally always wore the same black and white checkered pants. It couldn't have been his, was it possible that she killed Segarini too last night?

"That's… what…" Betty stammered.

"Geez Betty it's like you've seen a ghost," Jughead commented.

"Sorry, it's just… that sounds terrible," Betty said.

"I wonder if it's the same killer that got Ethel," Archie wondered.

Betty looked up at him.

"That killed Ethel?" Betty asked in shock.

"Yeah they found her blood all over the ground in the forest yesterday," Jughead replied.

"Well, what if it was wolves or something?" Betty asked.

"Wolves would have left bones behind," Archie said.

"Yeah it was obviously a killer," Jughead added.

Betty found herself confused. She knew that she hadn't killed Ethel. She distinctly remembered that night. She had woken up twice, once needing to pee and a second time because her father had been sleepwalking and come into her room, freaking both of them out.

"So I hear you made the cheerleading team," Archie commented deciding to change the subject for Betty's benefit.

"Veronica tell you?" Betty asked.

"More like she vented for three hours," Archie replied.

"Yikes, sorry you had to sit through that," Betty apologized.

"Ah it wasn't so bad, Archie just put her on speaker phone while we played some video games on mute," Jughead stated.

"Really?" Betty asked with a laugh.

"Happens more often then you'd think," Archie answered. "The problem is when she starts vent texting; but then I usually just tell her to call me."

"Oh that's mean," Betty said.

"More like brilliant," Jughead corrected her. "If there was a bitching about other people Olympics, Veronica would be a gold medalist."

"She does like to complain about others," Betty conceded.

"So I hear you got called over to Cheryl's house yesterday, what was that like?" Archie inquired.

"Honestly my memory is kind of hazy," Betty replied. "Cheryl made us get really, really drunk. And let me just say that I am never touching gin, again."

"Lucky for you school got cancelled then," Jughead said.

"Actually I don't feel too bad," Betty said. "Which is surprising because I don't remember how I got home."

"That is surprising," Archie said.

Just then they saw Maria Rodriguez making her way up the driveway.

"Hey Maria!" Jughead called out. "What are you doing here?"

"I uh need to ask Betty something," Maria replied.

"Did you here about Segarini? They found him dead behind his pizzeria," Archie informed her. "Or half of him at least."

Betty noticed Maria seemed to go pale at the news.

"What… no… I don't know anything about that," Maria stammered.

"Huh, Betty had the same reaction," Jughead commented. "You girls really don't like murder news do you?"

"I think Maria wants to talk to me about something… personal," Betty said changing the topic. "So maybe you guys can go play some video games on mute?"

"Okay, good one," Archie said with a laugh. "Come on Jug."

He and Jughead both walked back down the driveway and headed off for Archie's house.

"So, what's up?" Betty asked Maria once they were alone.

"I… I think I killed Segarini on my way home," Maria said. "But I don't really remember. But when I woke up there was a leg bone lying next to me in bed, a human leg bone, with bits of flesh still on it!"

Betty's eyes went wide with shock.

"Let me show you something," Betty said.

Betty opened the garage door and once she and Maria were inside closed it again. Betty then dug through the freezer and pulled out Dilton's leg and unwrapped it from the garbage bag.

"This was in my room this morning," Betty said. "Along with Dilton's glasses."

"Oh my god," Maria gasped.

"I know," Betty said as she wrapped the leg back up and put it back in the freezer.

"Did you… kill him?" Maria asked.

"I think I might have," Betty replied. "But like you my memory is fuzzy."

"Do you think maybe the Cheryl and others slipped something into our drinks yesterday?" Maria wondered. "Like maybe PCP or something?"

"Maybe, but I mean I remember something, like I was growing fur my arms," Betty said.

"Me too," Maria said. "Maybe it was a hallucinogen?"

"But why would we be having the same hallucination?" Betty pondered. "And why would Cheryl have done that in the first place?"

"I don't know, I don't know," Maria replied starting to sob. "Maybe I should go turn myself in to the police."

"No, we can't do that," Betty said. "It might not have been us, we can't remember. No we need to find Cheryl or one of her cronies and find out what they know, because if they did something to us they're just as responsible."

Maria wiped her eyes and nodded.

Cheryl Blossom was sitting in a lounge chair outside in her backyard near the pool sunbathing. She was wearing only a green string bikini and a pair of sunglasses. Ginger, Sheila, Midge and Toni were all sitting in a half circle around her.

"It looks like your plan worked," Ginger reported. "Six dead bodies turned up around town last night."

"Of course it worked," Cheryl said confidently.

"Alright, but what if one of them turns themselves in to the police?" Midge asked.

"I thought that was why we got them all drunk, so that they wouldn't know what happened," Sheila said.

"Sheila gets it," Cheryl said pointing at Sheila from her reclined position.

"So then what are they going to do?" Toni asked.

"They might talk with each other, but eventually they're going to all come to us looking for answers," Cheryl replied.

"That's a genius plan Cheryl," Sheila commented.

"I know," Cheryl said. "Now don't be such a kiss ass Sheila."

"But when they come, what do we do?" Midge asked.

"We tell them what they are now," Cheryl replied. "And then come nightfall we reveal it."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Toni asked.

"I will admit, it's not ideal," Cheryl answered. "But I didn't have time to groom and prepare them like I did with you girls."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Ginger asked.

Cheryl lay there not speaking for a moment. The other cheerleaders weren't sure if she was ignoring them or thinking.

"Let the girls know that I'll meet with them tonight," Cheryl finally said. "I'll meet them at the quarry."

"The quarry?" Sheila asked.

"Yes, because the police are probably keep an eye on the forest still, especially Sheriff Keller," Cheryl replied.

"We could kill his son," Midge suggested. "That would probably get him off your case."

"Tempting, but Kevin is still a useful source of information," Cheryl replied. "For now at least."

"What about the curfew that they're imposing, how are we supposed to meet at the quarry at night?" Toni inquired.

"You girls have years of experience sneaking out," Cheryl answered somewhat annoyed. "And if the new girls want their answers they'll find a way to show up too."

Betty and Maria were heading over towards Cheryl's house when they saw Ginger Lopez's car approaching from that direction. The car came to a stop beside them and Ginger lowered the passenger side window down.

"You heading to Cheryl's?" Ginger asked.

"Yeah, we want to know what happened last night," Betty replied.

"Yeah did you drug us or something?" Maria demanded.

Ginger chuckled slightly at the question.

"If you want answers come to the quarry tonight," Ginger replied.

"The quarry tonight, but there's a curfew," Betty said.

"If you want answers you'll be at the quarry tonight," Ginger repeated before she put the window back up and drove off.

Betty and Maria stood watching her leave feeling a little confused.

"Well, now what?" Maria asked.

"Now we have to figure out a way to get to the quarry tonight," Betty replied.

What will happen at the quarry? Find out by reading on! Please Review!