Deadly || Sweet Pea [2]

39

Chapter 39 || Survive the Night

As we walked through the woods I kept my mouth shut, letting Jughead do the talking for the both of us.

"The good news is, if Penelope wanted us dead, we would be." He rationalized. "She wants us alive.

"Yeah, well," Betty started. "At least long enough to complete her bizarre social experiment."

"Yeah, or die trying." Archie added.

"We don't even know where to go." Veronica huffed.

"Actually, Enchantress, we might." Jughead said, pointing his beam of light toward a painted sign nailed to a tree. "Come on. Let's go."

I followed behind the group, keeping my eyes trained on the shadows dancing between the trees. Jughead would get us where we needed to go, so I was more worried about Penelope's minions trailing us. As Jughead led us through dense forest and into a small clearing, he focused his flashlight beam at a tree trunk in front of us.

"It's a Red Paladin card." He stated, grabbing the scroll from the tree trunk and handing it off to Archie. "Archie, this quest is for you."

Archie took the scroll and slowly unrolled it. Jughead and I provided light for him to read what Penelope wrote.

"'The Red Paladin must conquer the grizzled beast. He must battle alone in the Pit to save his home.'" Archie recited.

"What is a grizzled beast?" Veronica asked. Then, from up ahead of us, a familiar roar scared me so bad I dropped my flashlight.

"Oh, crap." Archie breathed, steadying me on my feet. "Not again."

We approached what Penelope called the Pit, and I took immediate notice of the man standing across from us wearing the skin of a bear. He was growling, obviously high out of his mind with that enhanced G, and staring down Archie.

"Archie." Veronica spoke, her voice nervous. "Don't do this. That guy is eight feet tall and jacked."

"It's just a fight." Archie rationalized, shrugging out of his suit jacket. "I've been fighting all year. Don't forget, I survived a real bear attack, remember?"

"How can I forget?" I breathed, taking Archie's suit jacket and vest.

"If I don't make it," Archie started, looking back at us. "Tell my mom and dad I love them. And you guys."

I gripped onto Jughead's arm as Archie charged the larger man. With one swing, Archie had been sent flying into the air and slammed back into the ground. Jughead dropped as Archie did, and I turned to grab Betty instead. We shared a tight grip on each others hands while Archie was losing his battle.

When Archie managed to kick the larger man's legs out from under him and the bear-skin clad man slammed into the wet earth, I let out a breath of slight relief. At the very least, this would give Archie a second to think about his next move.

Archie scrambled backward, reaching for a piece of wood, which he used as a melee weapon against the man who was back on his feet already. However, the weapon was next to useless, and the larger man punched Archie until he was back on the ground again. After Archie was thrown into the wall of the Pit, I turned away from the scene. I didn't want to watch Archie get killed.

After a few seconds of me looking away from the Pit, Betty slapped my shoulder and turned me back toward the Pit.

"He won." Betty breathed, forcing me to look at Archie as he rose to his feet. Below him was the unconscious, and possibly dead, man Archie was forced to fight. I shakily grabbed Jughead's arm and tugged him down into the Pit. He draped Archie's jacket over Archie's shoulders as we approached him, watching the barely breathing man warily.