There was a general sense of anticipation heavy in the air. No one knew what they'd find when they left. Would they find the world in shambles? Or, would they find Riverdale back to normal, and would everyone be laughing at them for assuming the world had actually ended?

Veronica used to hate any and all bad attention her way, but hell, she'd take the latter any day now.

Her father made a curt announcement to anyone besides Archie, because his opinion on the matter was clear as of last night, "If you want to stay with us, you're free to. If not, we'll drop you off and wish you the best."

"We'll be staying with you, thank you kindly," Simone said, fanning her face, about to pass out at the very thought of abandoning the only safety she'd found. Unsurprising.

"I think I'll stick around too," Elio said after a few moments, "It's the same as anywhere else."

"Gosh, the outpouring of love is overwhelming," Veronica teased him gently, coaxing a smile out of his lips. His attitude had been just as gloomy as hers, but then again, he had a valid reason. Still, at the very least, she thought she'd found a grief companion in him. Totally platonic, no matter what her father not-so-secretly hoped.

"We'll see where the winds take me when we get to Riverdale," Malachai said, making a wave motion with his hand, "Whatever it is, it's chill brah."

In all the years her father had been alive, Veronica very much doubted he'd ever been called 'brah'. He made a face, as though the moniker itself was dirty and a pesky bug. It was funny to see Malachai's so-causal attitude irk her father, though he was determined not to say it. He'd have to admit he was wrong, then, and honestly, Hiram Lodge had never been wrong ever, according to him. According to basically everyone else? Well, he was in the wrong all the time, but tough luck getting him to say that. You had a better chance, literally, of finding a unicorn.

"Til the bitter end, sir," Smithers said, though Veronica hadn't thought his presence was a question. That was selfish though. Did he have a family to return to? Children? Grandchildren? She'd never asked, and this was very rude of her.

"I'll see what The Wyrm looks like in Riverdale," Joaquin said after some very long deliberation, "And then go from there. But I have no interest in going this alone."

"I thought wolves hunted alone?" Nick asked with a sneer.

"Wolves live in packs, you dimwit," Josie snapped, rolling her eyes at him, "And besides, he's a Southside Serpent." Never mind the fact that Veronica wasn't sure that serpents - the animal - actually lived together, how far they'd come to have anyone defend a gang-member kid from someone she used to think 'got' her and her 'type'. What she was realizing was she wasn't sure she had a type, and if she did, Nick didn't fit into it. He was more sub-human, frankly.

"We are a gang," Joaquin said, nonplussed, "And there's a reason we stick together. We did some dangerous shit, and it's better with others. The sentiment stands," He motioned around them, "So if it seems I'm alone, then I have no qualms of shedding my skin for this group."

"Real loyal of you," Nick said, always needing to have the last word.

"How can you be loyal to a group that may very well all be dead?" Joaquin asked with a serious, morbid smile.

The last to decide were Josie and Dilton, who seemed to be pairing up. Perhaps there were some crushes there, but Veronica felt it was more the experience that had forged them as two people unable to leave each other.

"We're staying," Josie said right as the final boxes were packed away, "With all of you. It's the smartest bet."

Veronica leaned in and hugged them both, "I'm so glad to have you both," And that was the honest truth.

"Let's get a move on," Hermione said, coming in and clapping her hands like they were tardy school children, "We should hit Riverdale before dark to make our assessment, and then to Chicago."

Veronica pulled a face. Apparently, that hadn't changed. Archie, beside her, gave a frustrated huff.

She still piled in the car, sure that between here and home, she would find a convincing reason that Archie should stay with them and they shouldn't just kick him out at Wrigley Field with a loaded gun.

In the car the St. Clairs had arrived in, all the supplies were packed military style, like a master's game of Tetris. Xander was driving, with Nick with him riding shot-gun. Thank god; Veronica was sure she would have thrown him out of the van if she had to do a long road trip with him.

Smithers was driving the big van, where everyone was sitting in the back, pressed against the walls. Her father was in the second seat, to switch out as the hours grew long.

The first half-an-hour went fine enough. Malachai tried to start a 'fun driving song', which was the insipid '99-Bottles'. Practically everyone shut him up before he finished the verse about the 98th bottle.

Joaquin's suggestion to play mini-Charades wasn't better, but by sheer popularity compared to Malachi, it was a better choice.

Just as Dilton was trying to act out a TV show (One word, seven letters, old, and as far as they'd collectively figured out, something about a doctor and a dog), the car jerked to an abrupt stop.

"Stay in the car," Hiram said, turning around, "It's hardly anything to worry about."

This never calmed anyone ever.

Hermione was shoving the back doors open to see what the fuss was about and everyone came pouring out. In the middle of the road was a fallen tree.

"Humans?" Dilton whispered, "Are we reverting to old wild West rules?" He asked, eyes wide.

"You're right to be wary," Hiram said, taking his gun out and checking the split trunk. He set his gun down on the back of the van, "But no. We had a bad storm a few nights ago, remember? I think it's just unlucky."

"Can we push it aside?" Xander asked, poking his head out the car window.

"Negative. I think we need to just drive around it. You go first." Hiram motioned to a path semi-cleared in the foliage.

"That's going to be loud, sir," Archie said, looking around nervously for Cannibals.

"With any luck, we'll be right on the road soon," Hiram said and waved Xander and Nick ahead. Their car crackled through the brittle leaves and twigs, pushing tiny trees away as they pushed over the forest around them. But, by some miracle, Veronica did not see any Cannibals oozing from the forest shadows to get them.

Xander idled the car back on the road, giving a thumbs up as he waited for everyone else.

"Okay, back in, excitement averted," Hermione said, sighing in relief mostly to herself, motioning for everyone.

Hiram decided to walk in front, guiding the car carefully.

"Let's go, Smithers! Okay, yep, exactly. Keep it steady. Over the curb, right here."

Veronica could hear her father talking to Smithers as the car rolled forward. She felt the front tires bump and jostle them from semi-cracked pavement to uneven forest floor. Then, the second and-

A sound so loud echoed, and for a second, all Veronica could hear was ringing in the back of her ear. Instinctively, from some training from her father years before, she hit the floor and grasped Archie's shirt to pull it him down with her.

Gunshots.

The second thing she heard, as her hearing returned slowly, like someone letting water dribble slowly from a faucet, was screaming.

The car was stopped and the back door was thrown open. As the sunlight streamed in, Veronica saw blood on the car and her stomach lurched.

"Shut up, shut up!" Joaquin was whispering frantically, grasping and reaching for someone, "You fucking idiot!"

Malachai. She saw Malachai fall out of the back of the van, howling, and saw the gun in his hand. And slowly, her brain pieced together an idea of what may have happened.

Malachai grabbed her father's gun. Didn't turn the safety on. When the car went over a bump, as he was generally clumsy, the gun went off. Pointed at foot. Foot now bleeding profusely.

"He's gunna bring every Cannibal within a mile radius right to us!" Josie hissed, face pale.

"Uhm, more like five miles," Dilton said, pushing himself outside, "Woah, guys, we gotta go!"

Hiram ran around the side of the van, his face painted in sheer fury.

"What is the meaning of this!"

"I don't think he planned it, Hiram," Hermione said tightly, trying to coax Malachai back into the van while also trying to shut him up, "You should keep track of your guns!"

Hiram patted, realizing that he'd misplaced it, and for a second, a moment of shame passed over him before he replaced it with coldness.

"Where is it?" He asked, searching the leaves and the ground for where it had dropped, "He has until I find it to stop screaming, or I'll make him stop."

"Daddy!" Veronica said, hopping down to kick the gun covertly under the undercarriage, "You can't be serious!"

"Look around us!" Hiram said, throwing his arms everywhere where, like every terrible horror movie Veronica had ever seen, Cannibals were appearing, having been drawn initially by the gun-shot, but now beckoned by the yelling, and maybe the blood, "It's him or us!" He snarled and she was taken aback by his absolute wickedness, the murder in his eyes that she knew he possessed.

"We need to go. Now," Dilton said firmly, gritting his teeth, "Leave him or don't, but we really need to get driving!"

"Malachai, hey, hey…let's go inside, okay?" Veronica tried to coax him gently, looking back at Archie for support, "We'll bandage that foot. I know it hurts, really but-," In his panicked, delirious pain, Malachai was flailing his arms and slapped Veronica. She stumbled, and Hermione, who had been holding him in place, turned to help her daughter.

"No!" Veronica said, batting her away, but it was too late. Malachai got up and started to move. Where? It's hard to say. She was surprised he hadn't passed out from the pain, but god, he had to still be on something to have the pain affect him so strangely. Or, this is the conclusion she'd convince herself of later. And he stumbled right into the arms of Cannibal. He lost his balance and looked at it, as though expecting to thank it, not realizing how much danger he was in.

Veronica watched in frozen horror as one of them took a bite out of his arm. And then another. And another.

And Malachai's screams were even worse.

"Veronica!" Archie tugged her back into the van, "Let's go. Now."

"While they're…distracted," Hermione agreed, and at least she had the decency to look horrified and sorry about the turn of events. Hiram just looked relieved.

"Yes, move." He said, pushing Veronica back and closing the door.

Veronica caught a final glimpse as he went down. Something human. Something haunting. Something, a moment of clarity between death and drugs, where Malachai met her eyes.

The Ghoulies had always seemed worse than the Serpents. Generally shit people. And Malachi was a little abrasive and rubbed Veronica the wrong way. She hadn't liked him and had always been careful around him at Lodge Lodge.

But in that one single moment, he was just a young adult. A college-aged kid caught up too much.

And god, he looked so afraid.

The realization of what was happening to him would never leave Veronica for the rest of her days; the way his eyes widened and teared up and he looked at Veronica, betrayed, as if to ask 'why didn't you try harder to save me because this is the end.'

Veronica wasn't sure how Ghouldies were supposed to go out, but their leader went out terrified and unable to change anything.

It was a shitty way to go.

The car revved forward and Veronica was thrown around as the car squeaked around the log. She felt the first two wheels go back onto the pavement, but the car stalled and whined as it tried to vault the last two wheels up.

"Why are we stopped?" Hermione pounded on the window between the front and the back, utterly terrified, her palms shaking.

"The car, ma'am! It's not…" Smithers sputtered.

"The bullet did put a nice hole through the floor, shit," Dilton yelled, on his hands and knees to examine the little round hole, "Who knows what mayhem it caused."

Her father exploded in a string of Spanish swear words, invoking Malachai's name in the worst of ways. Then, he smoothed his hair, and he looked in the rearview and nodded to himself.

"They're still preoccupied with their…meal. I'll push the car over the ledge," He was already unbuckling his seatbelt, "And then we'll be gone."

"Hiram-," Hermione whispered, eyebrows knitted.

"We'll be sitting ducks otherwise," Hiram said. He opened the window and pulled Hermione's head through, whispering something in her ear. Then, he kissed her.

"Dad!" Veronica pushed her way to the front.

"I'll be right back, Mija. Two seconds," He said, reaching out and ruffling the crown of her head. He hadn't done that since she was little, "That's all."

"Dad, I-," The words caught in her throat. She couldn't say them.

"I know. I love you too. Right back." He assured and then slithered out of the secondary seat.

At first, there was nothing. Then, there was a little pressure, a bit of jiggling. Josie grasped at the walls, letting out a sharp gasp.

"It's just Hiram." Hermione assured and spoke to Smithers, "Give it a little juice."

Smithers pushed the gas and the car puffed smoke at him,

"It's really stuck. Seems we've dug ourselves into some mud." Smithers said, glancing in the rearview with a worried look.

"The Cannibals?" Veronica asked, almost too scared to want to know the answer.

"Still focused on their meal," Smithers answered quickly, his knuckles gripping the steering wheel hard.

"I'll get out and help," Archie said, moving towards the back.

"No!" Hermione was surprisingly harsh as she grasped his arm and pulled him back, "You will stay in the car, Archie Andrews!"

"Maybe it will go faster?" Veronica gnawed on her lip, "Two seconds, right?"

"He stays." Hermione said stiffly, "Your father will get us situated in just a second."

The car jiggled back and forth like someone was playing tug-o-war with it. The seconds felt like hours. Veronica couldn't hear anything; the blood pounding in the back of her ears so loudly she could have sworn they were next to a waterfall. However, that may also be the tinnitus from hearing a gun going off two feet away from her in an enclosed space.

Finally, the car lurched forward, speeding forward. It made a quick stop, and Veronica went and pressed her nose against the glass, begging for her father to get into the passenger seat any second. Smithers looked in his rearview again and then looked back at Hermione. Veronica had no idea what transpired, but Hermione's face grew stony as she uttered a single word.

"Drive."

"No!" Veronica wailed, "Dad! What about him? How could you, how could you!" Veronica went to shake her mother, but Joaquin was pulling her back. She wrenched from his grip and shoved people aside to unlatch the back door.

"Veronica! Stop!" Her mother said and she felt Archie try to pull her into the safety, but she threw the back doors open. They were speeding away quickly, and it was hard to see past Xander now following their tail, but her father lay on the ground near the road, Cannibals descending on top of him.

Veronica felt her knees collapse out from under her. Someone-she couldn't say who-caught her before she tumbled out of the car altogether.

"For god's sake, someone close that door!" Hermione commanded, now the leader of this group. Elio grasped the handles and shut them. As the light was snuffed out of the carriage, it's like Veronica's will was too.

"You bitch!" She turned toward her mother, spitting and furious and not caring at how people around her gasped at her language, "I know you hated him, but how fucking dare you?"

Her mother's expression was held taut. If Veronica's language pierced that mask, it was impossible to tell.

"Veronica, he was already gone. When he gave the last push, he had already been bitten." Hermione said evenly.

"You sent him to die!" Veronica wanted to be as far away from her mother right now as she could, "You murderer! You killed him!"

"It had to be done," Hermione said in a soft voice, as though now just realizing what had occurred, "And it was his choice. He told me before he got out of the car that if this happened to leave him. He knew the risks."

"The Cannibals…" Veronica said, pushing her voice to reach Smithers, "When I asked…"

"Already to him," Smithers admitted after a long moment, "I am so sorry, Veronica."

Veronica curled up near the back, the anger draining away to a bone-tiredness that seemed so heavy on her.

"It was basically a suicide mission," Dilton whispered, "And he saved us anyway."

"And he made me promise to keep everyone inside the car," Hermione said, "Even Archie."

Veronica made a noise before she dissolved into sobs, something akin to a wail. Perhaps her mother was lying, trying to assure his goodness in his last moments. But something about how she'd kept Archie inside told her it was true. Her father just had to go and wash himself of his sins in his last moments.

"Veronica?" Hermione asked hesitantly. Veronica didn't answer, just stared ahead. Hermione gave a long sigh and turned toward Smithers at the front. Veronica heard her, through garbled speech, tell Smithers to keep driving to Riverdale.

Around Veronica, everyone else whispered above her.

"Talk about trauma to unload," Josie whispered, "I'd never seen anyone die before this. Not even at a funeral. But now? I've seen so many people die." Her hands were shaking uncontrollably.

"I saw a lot of death as Serpent. But this? It doesn't ever really prepare you," He said.

"So how do you work through it?" Josie demanded, "How do you close your eyes and not see…that."

She opened her eyes to see Joaquin lean back, deeply pensive.

"I still haven't figured it out."

The car rolled to a gentle stop sometime later.

"What now?" Josie asked, running her hands down her face, "Mrs. Lodge, I don't know if I can go through any more life-strengthening moments today," She added sarcastically.

"Unfortunately, there may be one more yet," Hermione said with a weak smile, humored by Josie's comment, but letting the gravity of what these teens had seen settle into her, "Grab a weapon, out of the car."

"What-," Joaquin began, his eyes looking specifically at Veronica, as though she couldn't cope. But hell, maybe she couldn't? The idea of having to get out and fight another Cannibal was like asking one too many more things of her.

"No, I want you to see something. And we'll all decide together."

Slowly, the caravan emptied. They were right outside of Riverdale, Veronica recognized it immediately. And they were standing in front of the Riverdale welcome sign. Which was horribly vandalized. Not in the sense of 'oh, bad kids will be bad kids', but as a most haunting warning.

They could all read, sure, but Dilton announced it, his voice rough, pitching into a sense of horror as the words melted into everyone's brains.

"All dead. Population (alive): 0. Enter at your own risk."

"So it's real then, huh?" Joaquin whispered, his fingers gripping his weapon tighter.

"It seems to be." Hermione agreed in a quiet whisper.

"Do we believe this?" Josie motioned.

"Why shouldn't we?" Nick spoke up, "No offense, but it's not like Riverdale was over-flowing with goods and luxuries."

"He has a fair point. If we want to believe humans are good," Dillon started cautiously, "And that tough times really do bring us together, then…I believe it. Someone is warning us. Someone's doing us a favor."

The group was silent for a long time, no one willing to make a choice this way or that. Finally, Hermione gave a grave nod.

"We believe it. And we keep driving."

She waved her hands and everyone squirreled back into the cars, frowning to themselves. She felt Smithers reverse, to take a road past Riverdale going west.

Archie sat cross from Veronica, a deep scowl on his face.

"What?" She finally asked, because his expression was begging for conversation.

"That looked like Jug's handwriting," Archie said. Similarly, Veronica had been struck by that same thought but had pushed it away.

"I think you want it to. Jug's handwriting isn't exactly the most unique," She said, convincing herself more than him.

"But that would mean he's alive," Archie said, shoulders shaking.

"At the time of whoever wrote that, and we have no clue if that was two days after? One? Five?" Josie pointed out, "It could have been Jughead and he could still be dead right now."

"I think it's just in our heads," Veronica whispered because she was beginning to believe that there were no lucky breaks, no hopefulness, nothing good left. There was little chance that Jug, for their sake and sanity, would be alive.

"No, no," Archie was shaking his head, "He gotta…he's gotta be alive," He muttered, his quiet prayer collapsing into silent shivering as the rest of the van settled in for a long ride to nowhere.

Veronica sat in the back, replying everything with Malachai and her father, wondering if there was a different path that could have been taken to save her father, if not Malachai as well.

"Welcome to the Dead Dads club," Elio said, settling in beside Veronica, "Or the 'I Watched My Dad Die In Front Of Me Club'. Not as catchy, though."

He spoke quietly, his words for Veronica only. The rest of the car was dead silent, so they probably heard. Everyone was sobered by Hiram's sacrifice, and probably also angry at the injustice that Malachai had caused them.

"I never got to say I Love You," Veronica whispered brokenly.

"He knows," Elio assured.

"Or goodbye."

Elio sighed, lips pursed, "Yeah. I didn't get to say that either."