Secrets, how they fester

Chapter Two, The silence speaks volumes.

Veronica woke up in a small cell, only slightly aware of the throbbing pain in her head. As her eyes finally adjusted to the dim area, she noticed the faint dripping noise in the background. 

Just before her, Archie was laying on the cell floor, scarlet blood trickling down his head and slightly stopping at his eyebrow. Betty lay equally as (asleep? Unconscious?) next to him, her curled blonde ponytail was undone, her long blonde hair cascading messily down her shoulders, with some strands of hair trickling down to her wrist, where an ugly-looking bruise could be seen. 

 Now gaining some urgency, she  looked over to Jughead and saw that his usual beanie was gone, replaced with a black eye.

Terror and anger ripped through her usual regalness and coldheartedness. What was happening?  What had they done to deserve to be locked in a cell and beaten? Who would do this?  Now, fully awake, Veronica silently sprung into action, shaking Jughead until his eyes fluttered open and the throbbing pain hit him immediately."VV?" Jughead asked quietly, barely seeing her nod her head through the dark. "Where the hell are we?" He began to sit up, nursing his black eye with a hand as he looked around, before looking at the still figures of Betty and Archie, rushing to them. "There still breathing, which is good, look, you can see Archie starting to wake up."  Jughead saw the rise and fall in Archie's chest and relaxed, looking over to Betty to confirm her well-being.  He saw the bruise on Veronica's neck and asked, "What happened? Why the hell do we all look like we just got our asses beat?" Veronica simply shook her head, confirming that she didn't know. 

"Well, we know it isn't your batshit crazy dad. He would hurt us, but not you." At this she rose a brow. "I know just as much as you do, and that is, that whatever this is, isn't good." Jughead looked around and asked, "Are we in prison?"  Veronica looked around and finally said, "This cell is too small, and they don't put four people in one cell" Jughead nodded and patted the pockets of his jeans, now covered in rust from the cell's dirty floor.

"My phone's gone." 

Silence.

"Well there goes our chance of getting help." Veronica commented, starting to tear up. Jughead wrapped his arms around her as she hid her face, wiping away her tears and observing Betty.

"We might as well wake them up." Jughead nodded and shook Archie's shoulders, hoping to get a response. His breathing became less soft and his eyes shot open. "What happened to your eye?" Archie said, immediately focusing on his friends health. "We've been knocked unconscious and trapped here for who knows how long." Jughead said, deducing the situation quickly as Archie took in his surroundings. He saw Betty's limp body and made a surprised noise from the back of his throat, panic seeping into his face as he reached forward for her, shaking her rough. 

Betty stirred.  

"Arch...Why are you bleeding? What's going on?" Betty's voice was pained and tired. Archie held Betty to his chest and looked worrisome at his friends, to which Archie just hugged her to him wordlessly.

Jughead looked over at the two before peering between the rusty cell bars, seeing nothing but dark. 

"What do you want from us!?" He called out, with only silence answering him back. His promise for normalcy to Veronica and his friends flashed through his head, and he banged on the cell bars. Banged until his knuckles were red and the three had to pry him away.

The silence that answered him spoke volumes.