Chapter 7: To The Rescue

"Betty?! Betty?!" Veronica panicked but received no response. She tried calling Betty numerous times, but no one was picking up. That day, while Betty & Jughead went out to stalk Polly, the rest of them met at Pops waiting for updates from the two.

"What happened?" Cheryl asked, sensing there's something wrong. Veronica put downs her phone and told them, "Jughead & Betty followed Polly until she led them to building of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy. It was supposed to be abandoned for my father already bought that property for his prison project. But because it did not materialize and daddy has a lot of things going on, it was left abandoned for some time already. According to Betty, they saw a group of people hanging out there. They seem like a cult. However, Betty suddenly stopped speaking as I heard other voices on the other line. I tried contacting her back, but to no avail."

"They were caught," Mad Dog said, "We need to hurry. Those people there can kill without hesitation."

"Mad Dog's right," Archie agreed, "We need to tell Mr. Jones of what happened and from there we'll plan a strategy to save them."

All of them hurriedly went out of Pops. On the way, Archie called FP regarding the situation and the two agreed to meet at Archie's local shelter, which is halfway through Pops and the Sisters of Quiet Mercy.

…..

Jughead and Betty were led inside the building of the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, all the while the people still surrounded them with knives pointing at them. They took them to a room, sat them on chairs, and bounded both of their wrists together, so the two were facing each other's back. They left them there and locked the door.

"This is bad," Betty told Jughead, "We don't even know if help's coming."

"Stay calm, Betty," he assured her, "We'll find a way out of this."

Moments later, the door opened. Two women came in the room to greet their visitors.

"Evelyn? Polly?" Betty asked.

"Yes, my dear sister," Polly told her, "It's me and Evelyn."

"You got to help us. Get us out of here," Betty demanded her sister.

"Sorry, but I can't, Betty… I knew you guys were going to follow me, so I intentionally brought the two of you here."

"How did you know?" Jughead asked.

"Knowing that my sister doesn't trust me and is suspicious of me, I knew I can't hide that much longer. Also, I know how she loves to play Miss Detective and overheard her talking to the phone of stalking me. So, I made an announcement that I'll be going somewhere today to lure her," Polly said with a smile on her face, proud of her successful plan.

"I don't understand what's happening," Betty told her, "Why are you doing this? Were you the ones behind the murders that started at the Blossom residence?"

"Yes," Evelyn proudly replied, "Did you guessed our clues? We just killed people who hated us or knew of our cult existence."

"That's insane," Betty told her, and turned her head to Polly as she said, "Polly, I know you don't have the heart to do those things. Let's talk about it and I promise you I'll help you with whatever things you're going through."

Polly replied, "Sadly, Betty, I do have the heart to do those things. A sacrifice is needed for our salvation. I'm very glad that Evelyn showed me this path and I felt like a hero leading other people as well."

Frustration and disappointment came over Betty when she heard her sister. She tried to convince her sister, "This is not even a religion, Polly! You're being lied about it. This is an organization that attracts people and promises salvation, when in fact, you're just getting people to give their organs. Then Evelyn will just sell them for money!"

Polly laughed as she said, "That's my Betty! Ever since, you only saw this group as a fraud, and I can't count how many times you tried to destroy us. I feel so sorry for you, Betty. You won't ever be saved after death. I hope you know that we must give a part of ourselves, which is our organs, to be promised salvation. And just so you know, you won't ever convince me to turn away from this group. I will follow Evelyn until death." With that, Polly turned away and walked out of the door.

Betty was speechless from what she heard. Meanwhile, Evelyn followed Polly out of the room, but she turned back to Betty and told her, "By the way, I won't be leading the Farm. After Edgard's death, I decided to step down and choose Polly as the new successor of the Farm."

Once more, the door was closed and locked, leaving the two lovers alone.

….

They disembarked from the car and entered the shelter where they saw FP and Alice nervously waiting for them.

"Good thing you guys came in fast," FP said, "I was supposed to call for police reinforcements, but I realized if they saw the police, they might kill the hostages. Let's do this on our own for a while, and when we handled things that's when we call the police. We need to be careful as much as possible. We sneak in and our priority is to check the safety of Betty and Jughead."

"As for our plan," he continued, "Do you remember the secret passage going there? Half of you will enter, while the other half guard the entrance. We need a sure exit way. In the meantime, grab some stuff that you can use to guard yourselves." He handed them items like pocketknives and pepper spray.

While the youth were busy taking and preparing their stuffs, Alice confided to FP, "Maybe if me and Hal hadn't been strict to Polly, then she wouldn't turn out this way." FP put an arm around Alice to comfort her, and said, "Don't be too harsh on yourself. It's not your fault. You only did what you can for her best. As of now, we'll do the best that we can and hopefully make things right."

Alice slightly nodded her head in agreement and said, "Okay…. Let's do this."

As soon as Alice felt a little better, FP took out his phone and dialed a number. A voice can be heard from the other line, "Hello?" FP smiled, as he was glad to hear that voice once more. He said, "Hey, Sweet Pea! I need some help here. Mind if the Serpents help?"

Toni, upon hearing the name of Sweet Pea, turned around. She was excited to meet the Serpents once again. When FP put down his phone, she said, "Are the Serpents coming? How's Sweet Pea and the others doing?"

"Yes, they're coming, he replied, "They've been doing great for the past years. Since Jughead has been busy with college, Sweet Pea took over. I tell you, he's doing a great job."

"That's nice!" she said as she was glad to hear that the serpents were doing fine.

"Ok, it's time to go," Archie interrupted, "Today is the 6th day. If we don't solve everything today, we don't know what will happen to all of us tomorrow."

Cheryl, determined to end the game, told everyone, "We're going to solve this game. Tomorrow, me and Toni will make our vows and there's no way I will allow someone else to ruin it."

They all headed out, determined to end it once and for all. However, as soon as they got out, trouble was in front of them. They stopped as a group of men stood in front of them.

"Dodger?" Archie asked, surprised at the sudden visit.

"Where you goin' boy?" Dodger asked, "Don't you know it's payback time?"

"Dodger, this isn't the right time. We got something else to do!" Archie demanded.

"That's funny!" Dodger laughed, "Then go ahead and do your thing, while we do our own thing of destroying the shelter."

"Don't ever touch the shelter!" Mad Dog said, furious at what he heard.

Cheryl, frustrated at what's happening, said, "Who are these people? We don't have much time!"

"Kids!" FP shouted to get everyone's attention, "Go ahead and do what you need to do. I'll take care of Dodger and his gang."

Archie was quite worried at the suggestion, "Mr. Jones, are you sure? You might be outnumbered."

"I'll go with him," Mad Dog volunteered, "You guys go ahead and save Jughead and Betty."

They all agreed as everyone went to the Sisters of Quiet Mercy, while FP and Mad Dog were left behind to deal with Dodger and his gang.

…..

"Bear with me, Betty, this is the last one," Jughead said as he tried to cut the ropes that tied up Betty's legs in the chair. Earlier, Jughead was able to hold the swiss knife he was hiding in his jacket's sleeves. He was able to cut the ropes that bind their wrists, then the ropes on his legs. He was now on the final step, which is to cut Betty's ropes.

"There!" he said as he successfully did it.

The two headed out the door, but it was locked. She took her hairpin out and used it as she successfully opened the door. They peeked at the hallway, noticing no one was around. They slowly got out of the room and turned left, based on their memories of how they got there. They were about to turn right to another hallway, when they noticed incoming people. They hid behind a wall, as the group of people passed by them. Once cleared, they got out and headed right.

"There it is, Jug!" Betty said, "That's the door out!" She pointed at the door ahead of them as the two hurriedly walked towards it. However, when they are about to come near the door, a certain man blocked their path and prevented them from going out.

The two stopped and Betty gasped at the man before them. "Charles?!" she asked.

"Hi, Betty!" Charles greeted her calmly, "It's been a while."