VIPER • the serpent princess

44

"Help us! We need a doctor!" Jug shouts, FP carrying Fangs beside me, "Ma'am-"

"Wait your turn, please" she sighs, not even looking up.

"He was shot!"

"I need you to step back-"

"He's dying!" Jug shouts.

"If you don't get a doctor right now I'm going to jump over this desk and rip your head off you stupid, old granny bitch" I hiss.

"Hey, what's going on here?"

A doctor calls, walking into the room. Thank god.

"My friend was shot right in the stomach!" Jug sighs scared.

"Hey, get me a gurney. Here, here, here. Lift up, lift up. Let's go"

"Hang in there, hang in there!" I plead, holding Fangs hand until he is rolled away.

Jughead then starts running past me, FP stopping him.

"Jug, where do you think you're going?" FP growls.

"To find the guy who shot Fangs!"

"You're not going out there. Not with people rioting"

"Yes we are" I glare.

"Look, you're angry, you want justice. So do I-"

"And I'm going to get it FP. I'm leaving, so step aside or I'll make you"

"Casey think about yourself. You can not get yourself in danger-

"Fangs could die! I'm not going to stand around and I can take care of myself!" I shout, pushing FP aside and rushing out.

I call Sweet Pea and meet him at the school. When I meet him, he and the Serpents rush to me for news on Fangs.

"He's in surgery...there was a lot of blood" I state truthfully.

Sweets nods, holding in his emotions and passes me a bat, "Here, we're trashing the place"

"Good, the Northside will pay for what they've done" I declare.

I nod, smiling happily. I take the bat and hit the glass trophy case, watching satisfied as it smashes onto the ground.

"Serpents, stop!"

I turn to the familiars voice behind me and see Archie Andrews, two boys by his side, one of them Keller's son.

"Well, Fellas, looks like we found some bulldogs to put down" Sweets smirks, him and I leading the large group of Serpents over to the three Bulldogs.

"Sweet Pea, I swear, Reggie didn't shoot Fangs. It was Mrs. Klump"

"Bull" I hiss.

"I saw Mantle with the gun!" Sweets argues.

"Then you also saw me tackle him, before he got a shot off! It was Midge's mom! She's down at the station"

"Yeah, and Fangs is still clinging to life" he continues mad.

"And whether it was Reggie or Mrs. Klump who pulled the trigger, a Northsider put him there" I add furious, gripping my bat tightly.

"You took our friend, our land and you'll take everything if we give you the chance. So now you get to watch as we burn your school to the ground" Sweets declares, the Serpents all cheering and howling.

"What the hell do you boys, and girl, think you're doing to my school?" Principal Weatherbee shouts, entering the school.

After the school we tried to get to Ms Klump's house to trash it and destroy it or something. But Jughead stopped us and brought us all back to the Wyrm, were we all now sit.

"I can't just sit here" Sweets hisses frustrated beside me.

"You don't have a choice, Sweet Pea, you're staying put" Jug states.

"You said it yourself, the Ghoulies are back!" he arguesz

"We will deal with them. As soon as my dad gets back-"

"Oh, so you're not our leader all of a sudden? Oh, no, that's right, you're just the guy who got Fangs shot!" Sweets yells standing up.

"Watch it" Jug responds, but I quickly stand up beside Sweets.

"And now, Fangs might die! And the Ghoulies are out for our blood because of a drag race you started!"

"An hour. That's all I'm asking for, Sweet Pea" he pleads.

I grab Sweets' hand and pull him back down onto the chair beside me. I hold his hands with mine, then look up to his eyes.

"Fangs will be okay" I whisper, "He has to be okay"

"He'll be okay. Fogarty is a pussy, but he's strong as hell" he chuckles lightly.

"Yeah" I laugh.

He leans forward and kisses my forehead softly. Then moves his hand to my cheek, stroking it gently.

"I'm not going to let a Ghoulie touch you. I promise"

"I don't want you getting hurt in this war. I can not loose you, neither can our little boy. He needs his daddy and I do to" I plead scared, "I really need you"

"Hey, I'm not going anywhere. Come here baby" he sighs, pulling me into his arms and holding me tightly.

Toni was kidnaped by Penny and held. Luckily, Jughead and Cheryl saved her and the three of them enter back into the Wyrm. I rush to Toni and check she is okay, before stand back with Sweet Pea.

"It's time we end the Ghoulie scourge and that traitor, Penny Peabody permanently" Sweet Pea declares.

"Sweet Pea, two hours ago your fight was with Reggie Mantle. Now you want us to go to war over territory that we don't even control anymore? This is Hiram Lodge's problem, not ours"

"So you're just gonna hand over Sunnyside Trailer Park, our home to Penny and the Ghoulies?" Toni shouts mad.

"Toni, I don't want us to die. A rumble with the Ghoulies right now? It's a suicide-run"

"It's better than a coward's death" I add, stepping forward, "Don't we have to defend ourselves?"

"Calm down!" Jug shouts, Sweet Pea and I stand tall mad.

"That's enough! I just got a call from the Sheriff's office. Fangs, uh He didn't make it. He's gone" FP announces.

I gasp. Standing frozen in shock, looking to Sweet Pea who looks to me. Both of us in pain, but hiding it oh so well.

"Fangs is dead?" Jug gasps.

"And we will mourn him, hell yeah, we will. But first, we will honor him. From what I just heard, it sounds like we need to put it to a vote. All those against going to war with the Ghoulies? And all those for giving them hell on the battlefield tonight?"

We all raise our hands, bending our two fingers into fangs. Jughead stays turned away, then looks to see everyone against him and gives in.