Taken- A Bughead Fanific

Chapter 10: Everybody Needs A Lifeline

Archie struggled to keep his focus on driving. He painfully listened as his best friend trying to coax Betty out of dying.

"Stay awake, Betty. After all this we can go to Pop's. I won't ever let you get hurt again, I promise. You just have to stay awake." Jughead held her head up with his red stained hands. His thumb stroked along her sunken in cheek. She lazily kept her eyes open as she parted her lips.

"Pop's?" She whispered. He couldn't hear her, but he read her lips.

"Yes," he chuckled, grinning at her reply, "yes, Pop's. I'll get you a strawberry milkshake."

She smiled faintly at his words, then closed her eyes.

Archie reached into the back pocket of his bloody jeans for his phone. He dialed Veronica's number with one hand on the steering wheel. She answered on the first ring.

"Archie, holy shit I've been so worried about you!" She sighed in relief.

"Ronnie, meet us at the hospital. Don't worry about me, I'm okay. Okay, I love you," he impatiently told her, then hung up. Archie then shoved the phone in between his legs.

"How is she doing?" Archie asked, trying to see the road. The dim headlights of the old truck made the white line on the side of the road glisten in the darkness. All the sudden, thunder boomed and shortly after rain berated the foggy windshield.

"There is too much blood, Archie. I don't know where it's coming from," Jughead nervously replied.

Archie responded by pressing harder against the pedal. He was now going around eighty miles an hour; forty five miles over the speed limit. Luckily no one else was driving on the slick backroads of Riverdale.

Shortly thereafter, they reached the hospital. Veronica was already there. She screamed when she saw her best friend lying limp in Jughead's arms as he jumped out of the truck. The rain washed away some of the blood in her hair, revealing her blonde curls again.

"Betty, oh my god, oh my god, what happened? Why is there so much blood?" She screamed as she ran over to her. In a hurried manor, jughead quickly blinked at the black strands of Veronica's hair adhere to her dampened face as he tried to focus on her voice. Everything sounded under water. He didn't have time.

Archie answered when he realized Jughead wasn't going to, "It's a long story. I'll tell you after we get help."

Since it was around three in the morning, Veronica was wearing an old shirt and pajama pants. She also had on long, warm, gray socks nestled in soggy slippers. Tears streamed down her naked face as they left the hospital parking lot. Veronica ran into the emergency room lobby and to the front desk. Her wet feet left behind a watery path as her socks made a sloshing sound. The receptionist at the desk gave her a semi-dirty look.

"Please, my friend was in an accident. We don't... I don't know what happened. There is so much blood," she desperately panted as Jughead and Archie followed her in.

A single nurse was all that was needed to lift Betty from Jughead's arms and onto a stretcher. The black haired boy left his friends and followed the doctors through the double doors and a long hallway. He listened to the doctors' voices , keeping his eyes on Betty's damp face.

"Female, minor. Patient is unresponsive. She has severe internal bleeding," Jughead heard the words echo In his ears. That did not sound good. He grabbed the medal bar that stuck out of the bed and reached out to grab her hand when somebody stepped in front of him. He immediately let go of the bed and watched her being rolled into a room filled with surgery paraphernalia.

When the doors closed, and he couldn't see her any longer, he switched his eyes to the nurse as she tenderly explained to him why he couldn't follow her in, "Sir, I'm sorry, but this is a restricted area. Why don't you go back to the lobby and we will get back to you and your friends as soon as possible, Okay?"