Chapter Five : Eleven Days

Betty had slipped in and out of consciousness for the next few hours. So far the longest she had been able to stay consciousness was one hour and counting.

Propped against the stone wall, she pushed herself up so she could breathe correctly. Being slouched for over forty-five minutes she was finally able to take deep breaths by sitting up.

When she heard Chic's footsteps she closed her eyes and let herself slip into a slouch. Maybe if he thought she was unconscious he wouldn't hurt her, again.

When Chic's footsteps neared her she kept her breathing light and sluggish. Chic paused in front of her before she could hear him turn around and walk. Once his footsteps faded to upstairs, Betty opened her eyes again.

Looking at herself she flinched as she saw her own wounds. She had black bruises coating her arms, hips, and shoulder. Blood spotted her swollen skin as well. She would've cried but she couldn't bring herself to anymore. When she tried to pull her legs up to her stomach she felt the tug of metal at her feet and remembered her feet were handcuffed and she let her legs go slack.

Then a white cloth on the floor caught her eye, she picked it up. It was damp with warm water. Chic must have left it. Holding it to her bleeding shoulder, Betty took a few deep breaths as she tried to diminish her lightheadedness.

The rag felt amazing against her wounds and she brought it to her forehead, dabbing her skin tenderly. When she looked at the rag, she noticed only then that she had been bleeding from her forehead as well. Trying to remember when she had been hit in the head she blinked slowly. Betty genuinely didn't know.

She just felt numb with a distant aching pain.

Jughead parked his motorcycle in Betty's driveway and took his helmet off. Hanging the helmet on his handlebars, Jughead looked over at the other Serpents. Each Serpent had their own motorcycle, making there five motorcycles parked outside Betty's house. It was almost suspicious, five motorcycles parked outside the 'perfect family's' house.

Opening the door, he entered Betty's house. The lights were off, and when he tried to flick them on, they stayed off. Deeming the lights burned out, Jughead made his way to the counter where he had seen his book chapters in a bag.

He and the other Serpents searched through every single page for two hours and came up with nothing. The pages had been marked with numbers in the right corners labeling the different chapters. That was all Betty had ended up writing on the pages.

"A bust," Toni growled as she tossed the pages she was holding onto the counter.

Jughead set his jaw as he looked down at the papers in his hands. He was shaking now, sucking in a breath the young man stood up, dropping the papers on the counter as well.

"Jughead… we'll find something out…" Fangs murmured and Jughead shook his head.

Jughead sucked in a breath once again and ran his hand through his hair. "No, not us. I will. I want you all to go." His voice was cold and serious.

When Cheryl opened her mouth Jughead shook his head. "No. I want you to go. Thank you for your help, but it didn't help. Now just leave."

The Serpents stood up and walked out without another word. Once they were gone, Jughead fell into the couch, staring at the wall with emptiness to her gaze. A knot of vines seemed to form in his stomach, spreading upwards and gripping his heart tightly. Slowly choking him.

Looking up to the sky, Jughead did the one thing he was sure he would never to in his life.

"Please, I'll do anything if you bring Betty back to me. I'll never again break any laws if you just let her live." he pleaded to whoever was of a higher power above. Jughead didn't even believe in god, but he just wanted Betty to be safe.

"Please let Betty live." Jughead murmured, tears slipping down his cheeks. He hated crying, but losing Betty was the worst possible thing in his life.

Pulling out his phone, he messaged Archie to tell him their search was a bust.

Jughead: We didn't find anything. (Sent at 9:16 AM)

Arch: thats horible im sorry man (Sent at 9:17 AM)

Arch: horrible* (Sent at 9:17 AM)

Jughead: Yeah. (Sent at 9:17 AM)

Arch: This is Veronica, me and Archie and busy ttyl (Sent at 9:18 AM)

Jughead read over the text, narrowing his eyes before he suddenly gasped in surprise. Abbreviations. Talk to you later could be shown as ttyl.

His hand went for his pocket before he realized her letter was at the trailer. "Veronica you are a genius," Jughead mumbled to himself, racing out of the house and to his motorcycle. The first paragraph was a message. "No- Betty you're a genius."

Jughead made it to the trailer in less than thirty minutes, parking in front of the place and leaping off. He took his helmet off quickly and left it on the motorcycle seat before he raced up the stairs and into the trailer.

Hope twirled in Jughead's heart when he saw the letter on the table. Rushing over he grabbed a pen as he passed the small kitchen. Once he had the pen, he kneeled down in front of the table.

He read through the first paragraph, writing down the first letter of each word.

HELPALIVEHURTCHICINWAREHOUSE

Jughead placed a dot after every word he was sure was there, biting his lip in excitement.

. . .

"Oh my god…" the young man whispered, shaking his head when it all added up. He read the words once, jaw twitching in rising anger. Reading them again, he felt his hands clench and he sucked in a sharp breath.

"Chic, you're a dead man." He hissed, dropping the pen and pulling out his computer. He needed to find every warehouse near and in Riverdale.

Within moments he was typing away as he searched for every single warehouse in the vicinity.

He was going to find her.

"Veronica, do you think we'll find her?" Archie asked, putting an arm around the young woman. They were both sitting on Archie's bed, Veronica having stayed over after they had a talk at Pop's the night before.

"Ugh, enough feeling talk Archie," Veronica mumbled, as she blinked her eyes open.

When Archie's phone buzzed, Veronica, let out an exasperated sigh of frustration. Brushing her black hair from her face, she glanced over at Archie's face.

"It's Jughead." he sighed, shaking his head in sadness.

"What happened with him?" The Latina asked, closing her eyes again. She was tired and she just wanted to sleep away her aching grief about having Betty gone. Worst summer ever.

"He thought something would help but it didn't…"

Veronica shook her head and grabbed the phone from Archie's hand after Jughead messaged him again. "This is dumb, don't let this awkward conversation go on."

Jug: Yeah. (Sent at 9:17 AM)

Archie: This is Veronica, me and Archie and busy ttyl (Sent at 9:18 AM)

"There, problem solved." She mumbled, dropping the phone on the floor. "Now let's just sleep…" Veronica whispered, putting her hand on her forehead and laying her head on the pillow.

"Actually, I'm going to the gym…" Archie murmured and Veronica moved her hand to open her eyes and look at him in surprise.

"Archiekins. Please, stop hurting yourself. Betty isn't gone because of you…" She whispered, grabbing his hands and looking at his swollen knuckles.

Archie shook his head, getting off the bed. "No… it is. I'm supposed to protect her! I live next door to her and she was kidnapped while I was one house away. I should've been there for her." he growled, a dark look overtaking him and making Veronica flinch away.

"Stop yelling," Veronica whispered, putting her hand on his.

Pulling his hand away, Archie shook his head. "No. You don't understand. It's my fault!" his voice tone rose by the second until he was practically yelling. "My fault she gone!" Grabbing a jacket, he slung it over his shoulder and stormed over to the door.

Veronica watched with her eyes narrowed in grief. "Please, you have to understand-"

"-Shut up, Veronica." Archie snapped and she clamped her jaw shut, feeling like she had been slapped. Anger coursed through and she got up, slipping her heels on and stalking over to her boyfriend. His jaw was set in anger and she clenched and unclenched her fists.

Slapping him across the face she shook her head. "I know you're hurting Archie. But don't you dare take it out on me. Understand? Now get this through your thick skull, either you stop being Dark Archie or we're done." with that she left the room, leaving him staring after her with a stunned look.

Fighting back tears, Veronica walked down the stairs, ignoring Fred as she slammed the door shut behind her.

She was not going to be pushed aside and yelled at like some dog.

That wasn't her.

When she slapped him, Archie had froze. When she ridiculed him, he arched his eye in confusion. When she left, he closed his eyes tightly.

Archie just wanted everything to be a dream. Why couldn't he just wake up to see Betty leaving her house to go visit Jughead as he kissed Veronica as a good morning? Looking down at his knuckles, Archie took a shaky breath.

Shocked was an understatement when Veronica told him to stop hurting himself, he had snapped. Then she yelled at him and he just went blank. He wasn't totally sure what he had done wrong. Veronica went out to shop and spend thousands of dollars when she was angry, why couldn't he go to the gym?

Shaking his head, Archie blew out a breath and put on his jacket, still numb as he tried to find out what had happened.

All Archie knew was that he needed to get to the gym. He could feel his anger and grief rising inside him again and he needed to get rid of it. All he had to do when he went boxing was the picture he was fighting Betty's kidnapper. Archie felt sadness flash across him at the thought of Betty.

Why did she have to be taken?

Betty was an angel. She only did what was best for everyone. She was perfect. No, perfect was an understatement. She was even better than perfect, why couldn't it be Archie who was taken?

Archie deserved it. He had lied and hurt others. He had ruined relationships and done horrible things in his life. Why couldn't he have been taken?

He just felt so guilty.

Walking outside of his room, he walked downstairs, thoughts about Betty still clogging his mind.

"Hey bud, everything all right with Veronica?" Fred asked as Archie walked downstairs.

"I don't know," was all Archie muttered as he closed the door behind him. Fred threw his hands up in the air in defeat and went back to his call with the Sheriff. "Could be anything," Archie muttered to himself as he walked over to his dad's truck.

As Archie got in his truck, he looked for Jughead's motorcycle but when it wasn't there he just shook his head. He felt bad. Jughead must be hurting almost as much as Archie was.

When Archie turned the truck on, he saw the car that Betty had been fixing along with him and his dad. Their project had been paused when Betty went missing. Sadness pierced Archie again, mixing with the rage he held for everything that was wrong in his life.

He was going to kill whoever hurt Betty.

Betty just felt pain.

Jughead was full of hope.

Veronica was haunted by grief.

And Archie was falling deeper and deeper into a pit of rage.

A/N: How do you feel about Betty's secret message in her note? Do you think she's gonna last much longer?