Trudging through the woods towards what will most likely be his death, the young gang member kept his steady pace. His mind was racing, hundreds of thoughts flashing in his head, but one goal in mind, this has to be worth it, this has to end the bloodshed. His friend was gone, his dad said so, the Serpents are riled up and ready to jump into a fight they were out number and out powered in. The town itself was on the verge of complete hell with the townspeople rioting. He just wanted the violence to stop, even if it was for one day. The young Jones was to meet up with the Ghoulies, hand himself over like a sacrifice to the violent bunch and it would be over. On his way he decided to take the back way through the woods just make sure he wasn't being followed by anyone, it added a few minutes to walk but at least he had the peace of mind that no else would be involved in what he was about to do. He was already pretty close to where the Ghoulies were currently camping out, but he wasn't close enough to be noticed approaching; at least he didn't believe he was.
The crunch of the undergrowth near him said otherwise. The dark haired teenager stopped in his tracks, if the Ghoulies already found him, he might as well let them lead him back to their camp. Turning his head to the sound of the noise, he looked around, hoping to see a human figure approaching him. However, he suddenly felt frozen with fear, something was wrong, and his whole body was screaming at him to run away and hide but he couldn't move a muscle. Inwardly he tried to reason with himself, he was just scared because he was walking to his probable death, that's all. Yet he could not shake the terrifying feelings that chilled him to the bone. He let his eyes adjust and try to focus on where the noise was coming from, he could hear his heartbeat pounding in his ears. But not a sound could be heard around him, not even the sound of crickets, everything was silent. It was unsettling, like every living creature nearby had fled in fear of some great predator that topped even man in the food chain.
As he stood there, he trembled, his body shook as he finally saw some other form of life in these woods but him and it terrified him. A shadowy figure in the near distance, it was huge, and from where it was crouched down, it already looked larger than a bear. In seconds it rises up, but to the shaken adolescent it seemed to take hours, as if it was slowly sizing him up for a meal. The teenagers eyes locked gazes with the creature, terrified blueish-green eyes met a savage inhuman yellow. Those eyes were a good eight feet off the ground as this beast stood, towering over the boy. Ears on the creature perked up, a low growl was being made, sharp teeth glistened as black lips pulled back to show canine fangs. The teenager's mind raced as he tried to comprehend what was in front of him. It was impossible, these creatures did not exist, it was just a fantasy. A classic horror movie beast and Halloween costume, not reality. He never really thought these creatures were scary anyways, with the fake fur, rubber skin, and make up used to create the beasts on the screen, it did not have a means to strike fear into him; but this is different. This was real and all those costumes and cgi works were nothing compared to what was in front of him. To what was watching his every move, every breath that he struggled to breathe under its terrifying vigle. This can't be real, he thought, trying to reason with himself that he was just imagining things, that there was nothing there. Just his mind playing tricks on him, but nowhere can he place why he would be imagining up a beast such as this, sure he was on his way to his probable demise, but this in no way had any correlation to gang wars or the violent affairs of this backwater town.
His thoughts were cut off, the creature made its move, preparing to lunge forward. Suddenly, his body would listen to him again, and he turned on his heels and ran.
Not that it did him any good, the chase seemed to encourage the beast. He was the rabbit being chased by the big bad wolf. He was no match for this thing. His legs carried him as fast as the adrenaline in his pumping veins would allow for his body to run. But the beast was on his tail, hot in pursuit. Honestly he didn't think he made it that far from where the chase began, he found himself tripping over fallen branches, as he fell, strong human like hands pushed him down harder. Claws wrapping around his ankles, as he shifted his body to meet his demise, those glowing yellow eyes, lying on his back as a blood curdling scream tore past his lips.
Pain was all that was next. Claws and fangs, his clothes were being tore like tin foil. His flesh being ripped into, bitten, chewed, torn apart. He couldn't breathe, he couldn't scream, he couldn't do anything but lie there on the ground as he was mauled by this wild creature, this inhuman beast. Soon enough, there was a blessing. His body became numb, blood loss most likely. His vision blurred as well, the beast he was staring at, the thing that was ripping him to shreds was now a black blur above him, not that it mattered when he finally lost all consciousness only seconds later, glazed eyes looking up towards the sky.
A blonde woman by the name of Penny Peabody liked to consider herself a pretty patient person. However, the son of the man she hated with a passion definitely pushed her to the brink. Every action the boy took got on her nerves and right now he was pushing his luck. He was minutes late already, and the other Ghoulies were starting to get restless. As was she, the Hispanic man come to her demanding to know where the little Serpent brat was, as if she knew. All the Ghoulies were silently watching them, waiting for the fight to happen; be it verbal or physical, however a scream from within the woods broke the silence. The scream sounded male, quickly Penny took the lead. Heading towards where the sound admitted from. It was a small distance from the camp, but still far enough that they wouldn't notice someone coming down that path. Some of the gang members used a flashlight for light, some used their phones, the dramatic ones even used a lit torch. Regardless of the light, the slaughter movie scene they found looked down right gruesome no matter what lighting.
The Ghoulies leaders inspected the scene closer, the other members lighting around them. Penny crouched down by the body's head, despite the blood, she can tell who it is. Not that she can tell if his head was still attached to his body, everything from below his chin was a bloody mess. Even his eyes looked glazed over with pain, staring off into nothing as a small trail of blood leaked from the corners of his mouth. She could hear the Ghoulies around her, some pushing to get a look, others taking pictures on their phones, some gagged at the sight and stumbled away. "What do we do? He's all fucked up." The Hispanic asked her, not wanting to make the call of action himself. "Obviously we do nothing Malachi. We'll leave the body, move camp, and let the Serpents find their precious Serpent brat themselves." She relied, gently she closed the boy's eyes, then while standing, give the boy's arm a look. She can't even tell if the tattoo was there anymore among the shredded skin. "This is an animal attack, we can't be blamed for his death." Inwardly she was bubbling with joy, it would take a miracle to survive this, Jughead Jones was as good as dead if he wasn't already. F.P Jones would be destroyed that his only son was gone and he'll be so torn up with grief, the Southside Serpents would be without strong leadership for some time. Enough time for them to break apart at the seams. It was disappointing they didn't get to beat the shit out of the boy like they planned, either way he was out of the picture; and if by some miracle he did live to see another day, he would be out of commission for a long time. The only concerning thing right now was high tailing it out of there before whatever tore up the boy came back. "Let's go." The woman said before turning heel. The crowd following behind as she made her way through the woods.
Forsythe Pendleton Jones the Second was in a state of panic, cursing his son up and down for doing something so stupid. He would swear to God almighty that boy was the sole cause of his grey hairs, and he would probably have a full head a grey before that boy even hit twenty years of age. If he made it to twenty, if F.P could find him. In front of the other Serpents, he held a somewhat calm demeanor, obviously panicked, but no one could blame him for that. His boy went walking straight to his death at the hands of Penny Peabody and her Ghoulies. His boy's friends were panicked, already stressed out about what happened to their other friend and fellow Serpent Fangs. Now this, Jughead and his selfless self sacrifice.
When he finally made it to where the Ghoulies were supposedly camping out, it was empty. "Jughead!" He called as he began to search around, rushing about looking for any sign of his son.
That's when he finally found him, and suddenly F.P's whole world felt like it shattered. Lying there on grass that was wet with his son's own blood. Still like a corpse, unmoving it felt so unreal. Like that torn up body wasn't real. It was something out of one of those horror movies Jughead demanded be watched during Halloween time when he was younger. The gorey way his boy's body looked like it went through a wood chipper. His clothes, his Serpent jacket, tore up, torn part like his flesh. His shoulders and chest, the worst of the mess, so bloody. F.P could swear he can see his boy's internal organs. His arms a myriad of large claw marks, one slicing through what once was probably Jughead's tattoo. The malice mess stopped around the boy's hips, only some claw marks leading down his legs, it was nothing compared to the upper parts of his body, but his ankles seems riddled with blood too. The man couldn't breathe, his son, his pride and joy, even if he didn't show it all the time, his boy was his world and now he was a bloody mess at his feet.
Gently, he crouched down, gathered his son in his arms, holding him as if he was made of glass, cradling him as if he was just born. He didn't know when the tears started streaming down his face, but that didn't stop him from keeping a steady pace so he didn't make any injuries worse, heading for the clearing where his boy's friends were waiting for them.
The collective gasp from the teenagers was chilling, their stunned silence, shocked faces, their eyes locked on the boy in his arms, blurring with tears. "We have to get to the hospital." The man choked out past his own tears. He didn't have time to waste, his son's life was on the line.
No beta read we die like men, no bughead, i like it but i prefer my aroace Jughead. Will focus on family and friendship mainly, this is an AU so somethings in the show didn't happen in this universe. Let me know what you think so far.