Broken: the Ultimate Crossover

Chapter 6

Betty's POV

I've never run this fast before. I can feel my heart beating and my head is pounding in rhythm with it. Archie and Peter and in the lead, Peter still hauling the shovel with the mass on it.

I look behind me briefly to make sure that Lara Jean and Jonathan are keeping up, and sigh with relief when they are.

I can't see the monster anymore, but I also haven't been looking very hard because of the speed I'm moving at. Every now and then I can hear a screeching sound, which only motivates me to move faster.

When the neon sign at Pop's comes into view, I sprint harder with the knowledge that we're almost there. Nancy's car is the closest and we've decided while running that her vehicle will be our getaway car.

"Where are your keys?" Archie yells back to Nancy.

"Ignition," she yells back to him, her voice cracking with fright.

I block out the noises and and run into the parking lot, opening the trunk of the minivan so that Peter can put the thing on the shovel back there. Archie gets in the driver's seat and starts the car as the rest of us bail in. Jonathan's in the front seat, Lara Jean, Kavinsky, and Nancy in the middle, Peter and I climb in through the trunk.

"Drive," Jonathan instructs Archie loudly.

Archie throws the car into reverse and flys backward. We slid out of the parking lot at an illegal speed onto the highway.

I look behind us and find nothing. No monster, nobody, just the other three cars and the neon sign fading into the distance.

"Where do you live Nancy?" Archie asks now that we've all calmed down from our run.

"Maple Street," Nancy tells him, leaning against the window. "Holy shit...."

"That was the most terrifying thing that's ever happened to me," Lara Jean says, still out of breath. "I've never ran that fast before."

"I'm just glad we got away," I say, still looking behind the minivan to make sure nothing's following us.

"Do you have the brooch Lara Jean?" Jonathan asks, turning around to face her.

She nods and hands him the tiny spider. He flips down his visor and opens the mirror, the little light lighting up the dark space.

"The fact that that we still there was freaky," Kavinsky mumbles, looking over Jonathan's shoulder.

"Yeah why didn't this go with Cheryl?" Jonathan responds, still examining the evidence.

We all stay silent for the rest of the ride. I feel my hand stinging and look down, finding my nails digging into the skin of my palm once again. I don't even stop this time, it won't help anything.

Once we get onto Maple Street, Nancy explains which house she lives in and tells Archie to pull off into the grass beside the house. He does as he's told and parks the minivan beside the basement door.

We all get out of the vehicle, carefully watching our backs for the monster. Kavinsky opens the trunk and Peter retrieves the death mass (I've decided to call it). Nancy opens the door to the basement and we all follow her inside. Four young boys are sitting at a card table in the middle of the room, a Dungeons and Dragons game set up in the middle of them. I recognize one of them as Jonathan's little brother, Will.

We rush inside and Nancy takes out the contents of another table with one swipe, making a space for the death mass.

"Nancy what the hell is that?" A pale boy with dark hair asks.