Blind Love

Where is She?

"She's probably held by the rope," Fangs whispered in dismay. "Archie and I will go and check it out. You three stay hidden here, but on standby."

Archie ran over to the rope and yanked on it frantically, while Fangs stood next to him, watching for any movements around them.

He pulled and pulled until a heavy human-sized sack emerged at the end of the line. Archie swore his heart stopped at the sight. He immediately ripped open the sack, half hoping Veronica was not inside.

Veronica was not inside.

Confused, he looked up at Fangs, who looked just as bewildered as he was. Soon enough, they got their answer.

"Archie Andrews and Fangs Fogarty! What a surprise."

The two whipped their heads around in search of this unexpected voice. A masked man, armed with a gun, was standing behind them maliciously.

"Where's Veronica?" Archie, blinded with rage, ignored the threat of the gun.

"Where is she?" The man mocked. "Where can she be besides six feet under?"

A furious Archie lunged at the man, who shot at his leg quick as a flash. The redhead collapsed at his feet in pain.

"Archie!" Fangs made a move towards his injured friend, but was stopped at gun point.

"What do you want?" Fangs spat bitterly. He was no longer afraid of death. Afterall, he had had a taste of being shot once. Another would not scare him anymore.

"Archie Andrews, do you want your girlfriend back?"

"Let her go! I'll do anything for her!" he leapt at him successfully despite his injured leg, and the gun fell from his grasp.

Fangs quickly grabbed the gun as the two wrestled on the ground. Archie gained the upper hand as he struck blow after blow, ripping the mask off his face.

"Who are you? Who do you work for?" he demanded, not able to identify his face.

The man spat blood at Archie. "I know where your girlfriend is. If you kill me, you'll never get her back, and trust me, the clock is ticking for her!"

"Where is she?" he bellowed for the thousandth time. "No more games, tell me now!"

"You tell us now or we'll kill you!" Fangs threatened the defeated man with his own gun.

"I don't think you'll get to do that!" With that, a gunshot sounded nearby, and both Fogarty and Andrew ducked for cover.

All hell broke out as a hail of bullets and arrows showered the area. Archie and Fangs fortunately managed to leap into Sweetwater River and swim away from the chaotic battlefield as the man's reinforcements emerged from the trees.

The water was especially rough that day, and Fangs had to drag Archie along with him, as his leg was shot. They left a trail of blood followed them as they swam to Cheryl and the others.

Instead of seeing Toni, Cheryl and Sweet Pea in the Serpents' truck as they had expected, only Cheryl and Sweet Pea were waiting to pull them out of the river. Reggie Mantle had shown up with his truck in place of Toni and their original car.

"Are you guys alright, have you been shot?" Sweet Pea checked the two brave comrades after they had loaded them onto the truck.

"No time for this, just drive straight to Riverdale Hospital, these men may still be chasing us!" Fangs ordered, clenching his left arm. Apparently, his upper arm had been pierced by a bullet.

Reggie started the car with a roar of the engine, flying past the trees once again. Indeed, true to Fang's words, the men were tailing them and shooting at their car.

"Duck!" Cheryl commanded as a shot shattered the back window and the windshield as well.
She lay low as she continued to aim at the enemy driver.

One, two and three arrows whizzed from their car to the enemy car. There was a frantic screeching of brakes as the car spiralled out of control and rammed into the trees.

"Good job, Cheryl!" Fangs congratulated her success.

"Yes! We rock—"

"WATCH OUT!"

Just as Reggie was celebrating the defeat of the car that was tailing them, another car was unexpectedly coming at them from the left at full force.

They all held on for dear life as Reggie cursed and reversed at the last moment before the car crashed into them. That car was going at full speed and could not stop as they were expecting to stop by ramming into their car. Their car started going up in flames once they hit a tree in the distance.

"Holy crap," Archie breathed. "Reggie, that was amazing! I thought we were goners!"

Continuing to drive at high speed to the hospital after taking a deep breath, Reggie smirked in response.

"But what about Veronica?" Archie asked anxiously. "We can't leave without her!"

Cheryl and Sweet Pea exchanged uneasy glances.

"She's with Toni," Cheryl finally said softly.

"You've found her? How is she? Where was she?" Archie's jaw dropped. His expression was a mixture of relief and anxiety.

"She's...," Cheryl started sobbing uncontrollably, lowering her bow. She wiped furiously at her eyes, unable to speak.

"She's what? Cheryl?" Archie lost control as well, gripping the redhead's shoulders. "Tell me! Please tell me she's okay!"

"Archie, calm down, please," Sweet Pea removed Archie's hands from Cheryl's shoulders. "You're not helping."

"How can you tell me to calm down? I need to know! Veronica's my girlfriend!" Archie bellowed at Sweet Pea, giving him a hard shove.

Sweet Pea, as expected, shoved back, which started the wrestling in the backseat of the car.

"Stop! You two are unbelievable! We still don't know whether our friends are dead or alive and you two are fighting like little kids!" Fangs forced the two apart furiously. "What is wrong with you?"

"Shut up everyone, we're here!" the driver, Reggie, announced as the car screeched to a halt outside Riverdale Hospital.