Author's Note: my favorite trope in FanFiction is saying you don't own the source material. Like, yeah you would hope not on a site called FanFiction which hosts fanfiction.
That being said, I'd like to state that this is completely separate from the actual Afterlife With Archie series and I'm not going by the comics, just the show. There will be references and nods from what I do know of it, but that's it. The only thing I based this story on is the premise of the zombie apocalypse, hence the title of Afterlife.
Sitting in Pop Tate's Chocklit Shoppe was one of my favorite pastimes. Lounging in the red leather seats, shoveling burgers and fries in my mouth like I had never eaten anything as amazing, and moving my hands across my laptop's keyboard, it was the life. I didn't even have money, Pop just took care of me like I was his own son.
That was the thing about Riverdale. Even if you weren't their kid, you were always welcome in somebody's home. There was a small exception with the Blossom's versus the Cooper's, but other than, the unspoken rule applied. Nowhere was it more prevalent than in Fred Andrews.
Fred took me in just like I was just Archie's long lost sibling—not that I would ever consider Archie that even if he did. He let me stay nights when I wasn't sure if I could really go home, or even have a home. During the Jason Blossom investigation, I stayed with him until my father decided to rear his ugly head and take me back. Despite me being offered to be put in a foster family's home, Fred still felt it was his duty to keep me with him. It was a debt I've never been able to return because of his early demise. It kind of made me wish I never ignored his calls for me to come back that fateful morning.
Day three of the Riverdale microcosm apocalypse and tensions were dropped, surprisingly. I was enjoying the fresh fries that Joaquin had brought me(even with the fact that he didn't salt them enough), and Betty was running her mouth about how we'd come back in the future after we left and rebuild Riverdale from the ground up. It was a nice sentiment filled with detailed descriptions of new businesses and families springing up, including our own. Good to know she still adored me. Though she didn't state her kids as having my last name directly, I could put two and two together if she hoped we would be living with each other.
All of her fantasies came crashing down when the door to the shoppe burst open. I soon began to wonder why it wasn't boarded up or at least barricaded.
Betty and I stood with questioning expressions, abruptly being cut off from our imaginations. Veronica and Joaquin came out of the woodworks to lay their eyes on the new visitor.
Reggie Mantle stared me straight in the face, his eyes bloodshot, and his breathing frantic. His skin was veiny and pale, but he just looked like someone who had been doing deals with the South Side, not like one of the zombies on the outside. He had us all fooled.
"Dude, are you okay?" I asked, taking hesitant steps towards him. I kept my wood-cutting knife at bay for now.
No response was given, instead a series of inhuman grunts. Now, my knife was spinning in my hands and ready for use. There was something wrong with him, but he didn't look quite dead, so I that's why I didn't immediately jam the hook end of the tool into the jock's skull. That is, until he stole a look at Betty who was paralyzed with fear. When he pushed me aside to grab her, I tackled him to the ground, knife to his neck.
"What's the matter, man? Why're you acting so crazy?" I shouted to no avail. There was no way this idiot heard me.
The brute circle threw me onto the floor where I slid just under the jukebox, making it fall on top of me. Under the weight of the music machine, my struggles to get up must have pushed one of its buttons because I'm pretty sure I was done hallucinating, and even then, "I Wish" by Stevie Wonder wouldn't be my first choice. Nevertheless, I rolled out from under it, muffling all sound it produced as it smacked down with a bang.
While I was detained, Joaquin hopped over the bar and got onto Reggie's shoulders, driving him into the table. He was thrown off, and was sent flying back over the bar again. Veronica circled around the counter with her baseball bat and swung at Reggie's gut, knocking him onto his back with a thud. You could tell she was itching to get into the fight. Joaquin rose to his feet slowly, massaging his head, and made his way over to Veronica.
Once I was freed from the jukebox's grasp, I hobbled over to Reggie who was being held down by Joaquin and Veronica. Hissing from the pain of moving my back, I knelt down beside him.
"I'm going to pitch a guess and say this man is officially a zombie." I raised a brow towards Joaquin who nodded in agreement.
What none of us expected at that point was for the guy to start speaking.
"You... are... one... of... us..." he said in-between deep gasps. It didn't sound like he was breathless, just that he didn't know how to put words together.
We didn't even know who he was talking about, and we didn't find out because Joaquin buried his shiv in Reggie's brains. He had the nerve to twist it, too, down into his nose, practically splitting the guy's head wide open. His brain looked like it was covered in some kind of dust or fungus, oddly enough. I guessed that was just a side effect of being a zombie. Veronica stood hastily, hand to her mouth. She quickly ran to the bathroom.
I backhanded the Serpent, appalled at the hasty behavior. "What the hell did you do that for?" I shouted at him.
"I was just scared! I don't know!" Joaquin cried out, clutching his hair.
I made my theories immediately, but I couldn't voice them, else I risked Betty and Veronica taking the direct and rash action like they were prone to. So, I kept quiet, biting my lip and biding my time. I couldn't help, though, but give a knowing look to Veronica when she came back.
"He could've been alive." Veronica looked down at the floor uncomfortably, wrapping her arms around herself and keeping away from the body. She muttered the same sentence to herself, over and over.
Betty still sat where she was, but now she brought her knees to her chin, probably traumatized by the whole event.
I massaged my temples, trying to think the whole thing through. I couldn't believe Joaquin just showed no mercy like that. He seemed like the softest of the Serpents, including me. For him to just up and kill somebody who wasn't already dead per se really put our entire group on edge.
"I can't take this, we need to go find Archie," Veronica said. She paced in front of the door.
"They could be anywhere and could have taken any route." I kindly reminded her.
"We could split up." Betty suggested with an innocent shrug.
"That's how people get killed in the movies." I smirked.
"I think we should do it. All in favor?" Veronica raised her hand high above her head. I was the only one besides Reggie not to do the same. It was decided, then
Veronica and Betty didn't even have to speak to be declared a team, so that left me with Joaquin. I had no choice in the matter, neither of the girls were about to travel anywhere with a murderer, it seemed. They claimed each other the minute we went along with the plan.
Due to my house being on the way from Pop's, I knew the west route very well. Sheriff Keller's was somewhere in-between. Betty's parents always shopped at the local pharmacy on the east route, so she and Veronica took that one. It worked very well for us.
Before she departed, Betty kissed me on the cheek and went on her way. I rubbed the warm space and felt nothing but the heat it left. Deep inside, I knew we wouldn't be able to repair our relationship the third time, I just wondered if she knew that. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. You should know not to get fooled the third time.
Joaquin and I were set down on our path. On our way, we spotted a few drifters, but the eerie part wasn't all the dead, it was just how vacant everything was. Buildings just didn't look the same without their usual glow of light. At some point though, I did see a streetlight that hadn't been turned off and some zombies crowded around it like moths. It was an odd sight that made me laugh.
Out of the blue, Joaquin ran at full speed to a trash can. I was quite confused until I saw him basically spitting up his innards.
"Are you okay?" I asked, rushing to his side. "We're almost there."
"I've been sick since yesterday, but I think I'll be alright." he wiped a cold sweat from his forehead. It was then that I noticed how pale he was.
"I really hope Archie gets back with those supplies." I mumbled, putting my arm around Joaquin's shoulders and leading him.
"Do you think Kevin's alright?" Joaquin asked, his voice cracking.
"I'm sure he is." I nodded.
We arrived at our destination without much trouble. It seemed though, that someone had already been there because it looked like everything had been cleaned out except for a laptop which I reminded myself to pick up. There were no weapons or any kind of supplies whatsoever.
"You don't think someone came here before Kevin and Archie, do you? Maybe they're already here." Joaquin tugged at the ends of his hair, searching the office area frantically.
There were only three rooms, a couple of offices and a bathroom. Seeing as we searched them all, I really wanted to know where someone would honestly be hiding. I sent a sneer Joaquin's way which I hope informed him of my opinion.
Still, I couldn't help but get the nagging feeling that someone else did clear it out before Archie and Kevin could get to it. The papers were all in a pile, the bathroom didn't even have toilet paper, and all the windows were boarded up. We were there by sunset, so there was no telling what went on. I bit my lip, losing myself in my thoughts as I stared at the lamp on Sheriff Keller's desk.
The bell at the top of the door rang, making Joaquin jump so high, I was sure he would reach the ceiling at this rate. I whipped around and brought forth my knife from my jacket. Sidling against the wall, I slowly but surely made my way towards the door. My face lit up when I saw Archie's flaming red hair walk through.
"Damn, I thought you'd never get here." I clutched my heart with relief through my shirt which was blood-soaked by now.
"Kevin and I stayed here for a good hour trying to pack everything in the bags we got from the pharmacy. We just now dropped them off at Pop's." Archie pointed behind him. "Kevin's over there with them."
"So where's Betty and Veronica?" I asked.
Archie hesitated before answering. "Veronica's with Kevin." he rubbed the back of his neck.
My heart dropped. I furrowed my brows and chuckled half-heartedly. My mind was quickly connecting the dots no matter how hard I tried not to. "Arch, where's Betty?"
Archie was bitterly silent.
I stepped over and pushed him back, furious. I kept pushing him until he hit the door and I could finally enunciate my pain. "Archie Andrews, where the hell is Betty?" I screamed, my cheeks red from doing so.
Archie pushed his hair back and his smile dropped. He held his breath for a long time. "She's gone, Jug. She's gone." he breathed.
"What happened to her?" I bit down on my lip to stop myself from turning on the waterworks. Blood began trickling down my chin.
"Veronica said she was hit in the head by someone or something, and Betty was carried off. She doesn't know if– if it was a zombie horde or– or some kind of group. She just remembers seeing multiple people." Archie explained, taking a seat at the door. He rubbed his eyes forcefully. "She said she had no idea if she was still alive or not." his voice was cracking and he could speak between harsh sobs.
A little hope rose in my chest at the word "alive". Every piece of me needed Betty to be alive or else I would completely shatter under the pressure of the outstanding guilt I still carried with me for breaking her heart. She was such a happy person, and for the world to take it away so soon was like a stab in the heart.
"She was my girlfriend..." I murmured, looking down at Archie. A calm had rushed over me.
"She was my neighbor..." Archie looked up at me with puppy dog eyes. I couldn't resist, and sat down beside him, leaning on his broad shoulders.
"This is all happening so fast," I said. "But we have to go find her."
"What can we do? We have no leads. Maybe we should try to find some kind of clue as to what to do about these zombies. Find out more about them." Archie shrugged. "She said that the Serpents carried her off—that's what she thought. She saw the jackets, she said, and heard someone other than Betty talking. She's really convinced. I feel the same way, but I think we need to find out more about these zombies before we do anything."
"You know what? For once, I'm on board." I raised a brow, a fury building inside me after the calm. "I want to know what caused all this to tear our lives apart."
And so, along with the laptop and Joaquin, we departed for Pop's once more.
Author's Note: it begins
what begins, you may ask?
to which I answer, the deadening
((Cue the horror movie music))
yeah, so almost every chapter from here on out, someone is dying