AFTERLIFE :: Riverdale

XVIII: Jughead of the Dead

Steadily, I made my way down the hill to Archie, Veronica, and Cheryl at the barn. My getaway was almost perfect. Until I heard his voice, that is.

"Forsythe..."

My legs gave out and I tumbled down the rest of the way. I brought my legs to my chest in the fetal position, clutching my head as an immense pain shot through my brain.

Vividly, I saw through Jason's eyes the burning dining room. I could feel the heat and the pressure of the chandelier collapsed upon him. His arm and hand twitched as they lay barely off the table.

"You could've helped me." Jason croaked. "We could've been a team. We could've ruled the world. Isn't that what everybody wants? Pah," Jason spat, his blood splattering over the table. "You really hate me, don't you? Why don't you put this in another book? Immortalize me. Humor me. It's the least you could do for a dying man. Or am I just a demon to you?

"Whatever. It's nothing doing now. I wish I could tell you the pain I suffered. I wish I could've had you. All these years, I wished I was Archie. He was the lucky ginger in all of this. He had someone he could actually rely on. And what did I get? A lousy twin who pretended not to notice my pain, the one who told me to ignore it. I got a girlfriend who told me to run away from all of it. I had a football team who had no idea about any of it. I wanted someone I could explain everything to; someone who would believe me and would help me confront it. I wanted you.

"So I'm giving you the benefit of the doubt. Let's say you're just protecting your friends; you don't hate me. I'd hate me. I do hate me, in fact. I have a lot of regrets. But, there's nastier people in the world. There's people who have taken advantage of the gift of cordyceps. The virus has awakened a hive mind stronger than mine."

I huffed, barely able to take the ache of the telepathy. It was like a migraine. I let out a guttural scream into the smoking sky. I yelled out, "What do you mean? What hive mind? What does any of this..."

Jason gave a weak smile, one that reminded me of Archie's. "Just be prepared—" he chuckled softly "—Jughead of the Dead."

As his body went up in flames, I could feel every inch of my body burning. I screeched in pain, in horror, and in disgust. I don't remember what happened next, but I remember Archie being by my side.

"So why do you think he was going to kill us?" Archie asked. Saying he was a "little puzzled" by the whole Jason situation would've been an understatement.

"I—I think it was just jealousy." I was barely able to say it. Everything Jason said was extremely hard to stomach.

•••••

After escaping the Blossom Mansion, our group headed back to the Coopers' house to pick up some clothes for Polly and scavenge whatever we could get from there and Archie's as well. Then, we made our way through the car pile up to the bus station. Thankfully, it was still up and running from what we could see. We were approaching the entrance.

The weirdness of the apocalypse was normal to us now. During our overnight stay at the Coopers', I got to know Polly more than I had before all this. She didn't open up to me about the obvious abuse she had suffered under Jason's thumb, but she told me a lot of childhood stories featuring Betty. I told her some tales about my small adventures with Betty. I tried to help her with the loss of her sister, and through that we became good friends.

Veronica and Cheryl were still thorns at my side. I could tell Veronica still wasn't over Betty, and tried to push away from me and Polly because of it. Cheryl just had an icy exterior that was hard to crack. She was often silent, and we were never sure what she was thinking about. Sometimes she smiled or frowned for no reason. We didn't question it. She obviously went through some tough times just like Polly.