Moose wasn't answering again. This had to be the hundredth time this week that Kevin had called and not gotten an answer. He knew Moose had his own issues about them being together and everything, but it still hurt and Kevin's patience was slowly running out in more ways than one.

Kevin tossed his phone down on his bed, bored, and frustrated. The last few weeks were hard, the town was going downhill and all of his friends had somehow disappeared. He hadn't even heard from Veronica, which was shocking since she never missed Matcha Monday with him. Betty had been MIA for nearly a week now and Kevin thought it was about time he expanded his friend group to include people that actually answer their cell phones.

"Guess I will be having a lot of me time today. I thought mutual strife was supposed to help bring people together but here I am. Alone." Kevin said to himself, rolling his eyes.

He pulled a magazine out of his bag and got comfortable on his bed intending to read it. He was desperate to find out if they really had acquired the inside scoop on Meghan Markle and Prince Harry. He had been all over the internet blogs about them, keeping tabs on their wedding plans, colors, and the conflict with the Queen. It didn't last long, he had only gotten so far as the first article when he knew that reading just wasn't going to cut it. His mind was wandering even as his eyes traipsed over the paparazzi photos of the prince and his soon to be bride. He needed some air.

Putting on his cutest pair of sweatpants and a shirt that he thought complimented his skin tone, Kevin headed downstairs and out of his house. His dad had not been home all day, he didn't say where he had gone but he was nowhere to be seen when Kevin had gotten up that morning. His father had been spending many days like that lately even though he was no longer the sheriff. Kevin knew better than to ask where he was going. His dad would never give him a straight answer about it anyway.

All his father had been saying lately was how Kevin should stay indoors. 'The town isn't safe anymore son' he would say nearly every chance he got. Kevin knew he was taking a risk, but he was careful, and today he was particularly desperate for a taste of more innocent times.

Kevin's feet pounded hard on the pavement as he pumped his arms willing his legs to move faster. He wanted to get a good sheen of sweat over his skin before he got to the woods. There weren't many other gay young men that Kevin knew of in Riverdale and Kevin knew he was among the few that were open about it. He knew that if he ran through the secluded Fox Forest long enough he would run into someone that found his gorgeous glistening skin and toned muscles attractive enough for at least a conversation.

Fox Forest was eerie as usual when Kevin finally got to the edge of the trail he usually ran down. It went in a perfect loop passed the creepy old building that was the Sisters of Quiet Mercy with those zombie patients. Despite the high creep factor of these woods, they also contained all of the best spots to meet other young men. Kevin hoped he would get lucky and meet a cute runaway from the nun's gay re-education program. Those ones were always ready for a minute of companionship after however much time they had spent being tortured within the walls of that hell hole.

Kevin ran for a while, stopping to catch his breath once he got close to the Sister's. He usually stopped somewhere nearby in case there was anyone waiting around in the woods for him to meet. He could hear muffled voices coming from the courtyard of the old building and Kevin turned to look at what was going on at the secretive home for troubled youth today. He took a few steps off the trail he had been running down and came through a cluster of bushes.

Kevin pushed a few branches aside and looked out over the courtyard at the Sisters. He could see a bunch of girls in blue dresses and red cardigans doing work in the sister's gardens. The nuns were standing around them, just watching. It reminded Kevin of prison guards watching prisoners. He half expected one of the patients to make a break for the property line. It sure would have been a treat to watch a bunch of nuns chase down one of their patients. From what Kevin could observe though, it did not seem like any of the patients were in a position to run away. Some were actually smiling and seemed pleased to be there, others appeared so lifeless and Kevin doubted if they even could run away if they wanted to.

"As if it wasn't bad enough they have to be stuck there they also use them for manual labour." Kevin said aloud to himself.

His hatred for the place bubbled up to the surface for a moment as he overlooked the grounds from his vantage point in the trees. The last guy he had met out in these woods, Hector, had escaped out the secret passage in the basement and told Kevin about the abuse that kids suffered inside of that place. It was horrible that it was even still allowed to exist. Not that anyone really knew that it did exist, which made it all the more horrible.

On this day, something was very, very, wrong. Kevin felt like the air had been sucked out of his lungs when he noticed one particular girl sitting in the grass in the courtyard of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. He was nearly in shock because right there in a group of other zombified young women, was one girl who looked terrifyingly familiar. Kevin strained his eyes to see closer, but from his position all he could make out was a head of familiar blond hair.

"There's no way it's her" Kevin said quietly to himself as he tried to find somewhere to go to get a closer look. He had to find out if the girl that nobody had seen, that had supposedly run off to join a cult with her mother, was in fact a prisoner of the nuns of evil. This would totally explain why she hadn't been answering any of his messages.

He walked down a much narrower, somewhat overgrown footpath that led to a corner of the Sister's fence. There were bushes and trees around so if he kept his wits about him, Kevin was sure he could get there unnoticed. This was the trail that kids used to escape since it led to the closest point to the tunnel exit.

Pushing some branches out of his way gently as he creeped forward, Kevin finally reached the fence line. He crouched down, careful not to be seen. This was a much better vantage point. He could clearly make out some of the features of the patient's faces from this close, and it didn't seem like any of the nuns knew that he was there. Looking through the wrought iron fence to locate the reason for his stealthy approach, he nearly threw up.

There she was. Betty Cooper.

He pulled out his phone and quickly got a photo of her to bring back to their friends. 'How could she have possibly ended up here? And why hasn't she escaped yet?' Kevin wondered to himself.

He waited a few minutes more before leaving to share his discovery. He watched as Betty worked diligently in the garden. She looked tired, the dark circles under her eyes were telling, along with the added looseness to her dress and the new hollowness to her cheekbones. Not to mention her face, which displayed no emotion, as her eyes stared straight in front of her cold and seemingly almost unaware of the subject of their gaze.

"This is very, very bad." Kevin whispered to himself, making sure his photo was halfway decent before running back out of the woods to find Veronica.

He pulled out his phone once he got to back out to the road and tried to call her. The phone rang endlessly until Veronica's voicemail message finally played.

"Veronica! This is an emergency I need you to call me back as soon as you get this. Why isn't anyone answering their phones? It's really important, please call me!" Kevin nearly shouted into his phone.

He stuffed the device back in his pocket and took off in a sprint back towards town. He needed to find help.