Fred Andrews knew of the little horrors of his town for a while. He didn't do much about it, however, what could be done anyway? He just stood by and observed families fighting each other for power. A small position on the scale of the world, but they didn't care. Fred tried to stay away from that life, but having the Coopers on your side was an opportunity one would not want to pass. When his old friend FP was accused of most bad things that happened in town, Fred didn't stand up him. He regretted it ever since then. It was time to do things the right way, a time to pay for his sins and make amends with his mistakes.

"I want to help you. I don't know much, but all I know is that Betty can't be dead," he told Jughead.

Rolling his eyes, Jughead brushed Fred's hand off his shoulder, "I know that already, the coffin is empty."

Fred looked around, "but you don't know where she is, do you? Our family has a vacation hut in the woods, it is small and we usually use it for hunting. I used to take Archie there when he was a kid. If I know my son, I know he has something to do with her sudden disappearance. I want to help you, Jughead."

"And why would you wanna do a thing like that, knowing who I am?" Jughead almost laughed at Fred.

"Because, I wronged your father once and I want to make it right," Fred sighed.

Jughead could see that Fred Andrews was being honest, and his father always went out of his way to help Fred, whether it be by defending him from the rest of the Serpents, or trying to have less association with him as possible, so Fred wouldn't ever be a suspect.

Letting Fred help him, Jughead got into his car and they drove out into the night. Archie was supposed to be home, catching sleep before tomorrow's big game.

Fred drove as fast as he could without breaking any laws, but once they were in the woods he was no longer concerned about the law. He was worried about Betty, what if she froze to death? It has been a day, and the little shack in the woods was supposed to be a place for supplies and living in the hot summer, not the cold autumn.

~~

Staring out the cold foggy window, Betty wondered if her parents knew where she was. They probably did, it was all their doing anyway. The front page of the morning newspaper was right in front of her, Archie brought it in with her dinner 6 hours ago. It was nearing 1 am and she couldn't stop crying. How horrible Jughead must feel reading the headlines. She wished there was a way she could tell him that she was still alive, wished he wouldn't do anything stupid. The broken side of her whispered that he didn't even care in the first place. She was alone in this world, Jughead against her, her parents against her, Archie against her. Even though she was tied to the wooden bar that stood in the middle of the shack, she still tried to break free. Perhaps if she rubbed the rope against the wood it would snap? No, that didn't work. The wood was too smooth and the rope too perfectly tied. She was surrounded mostly by darkness, the moonlight only shone on some places. What she remembered from daylight was that the shack was filled with shelves. On those shelves there were cans of food and fishing supplies, as well as some old hunting rifles.

The sounds of animals scratching at the wooden walls outside didn't frighten her anymore. The insects crawling around the floor didn't bother her. They were all in the same situation as her, trying to find a way out of the shack and into the woods. What surprised her was not the howling sound of a wolf, but the noise of a car engine nearing the shack. She could see its headlights through the dirty window. The car stopped and she heard two people get out, since the car door was slammed twice. Maybe, her parents finally came to their senses and realized the stupidity of this situation.

Betty didn't want to make any sounds, she wasn't sure who it was yet. These two people could be runaways from the law seeking shelter, then she would really be in danger. Two figures appeared through the door. The wooden door had a glass window on it, but it also was dirty. All Betty could tell was that these two figures were men. One of them jiggled the door handle. In a state of panic, Betty pulled her arms away from the wooden panel and tried her hardest to untie her wrists.

The two men circled around the house, and in panic she kept tagging at the rope. Noticing a shard of old glass on the floor, Betty reached for it with her feet. She managed to pull the shard closer to her body, shaming herself for not noticing it before. Picking it up, she cut some of the rope with it, receiving cuts to her flesh in the process, but she didn't care about that anymore. Releasing herself from the rope, she looked around for some sharp object. All she could think of was grabbing one of the old rifles and pretending that they are charged. Betty had no idea how to shoot a gun, better yet a rifle, but it was her only defense against the intruders outside.

One of the men broke the glass that was on the door and opened it from the inside. Betty stood up straight, grabbing the rifle and pointing it to the door. The door opened and they walked in, Betty couldn't tell who they were from the darkness. All she heard was someone yelp in shock, and then his voice, she could never forget that voice.

"Betty," Jughead said calmly, "put the gun down, it's just us." 

Not completely understanding the situation, she still kept the gun up. When the moonlight shone on his features, Betty saw Jughead and dropped everything. With tears in her eyes and fear creeping over her body she ran towards him.

Jughead caught her in his arms and pulled her in. She wept into his Serpents leather jacket. Fred sighed with relief. He couldn't believe that his son would use such a place as this, a place with childhood memories, to unlawfully keep someone captive. Jughead looked at Fred, thanking him with his eyes. Now Fred did the right thing by the Jones family.

"Jughead," Betty cried, "I'm so sorry."

"What are you sorry about?" He smiled, "you have nothing to be sorry about, that monster who kidnapped you will pay for it!" His voice got deeper, and Betty was too tired to argue him now.

The sound of a gun loading interrupted the three of them, Archie Andrews stood next to his fathers car with a real rifle in his hands, "I don't think so."

Jughead covered Betty with his arm, "Archie, you're not thinking straight. I won't let you hurt her."

Archie shook his head, "I don't want to hurt her, I came here to get rid of you!"

"If it's me you want, let's settle this in a real fight!" Jughead said and Betty looked at him in shock.

Fred had enough of this proclaimed war between his family and the Jones family, they were once friends. Putting his hands up in the air he approached his son.

"Archibald, you need to stop, what are they to you? You have a career in High School, you're the star athlete, you don't need this! You never even loved Betty," he reasoned with his son.

Archie looked down, "dad, my entire career will be ruined if I do nothing about him. You're right, I don't love Betty, but her family has us by their claws!"

"Says who? The Coopers never owned us Archie, even though they might act like it. Let them go, and we can go back home," Fred said, reaching for his son's rifle.

Archie was not stupid, he was desperate. He was caught in something he never expected to be caught in. Closing his eyes, he gave the rifle back to his father, "you two need to leave this town, take my dad's truck and go!"

Still displeased with Archie, Jughead kept glaring at him. Betty and Jughead got into the truck and Jughead started the engine. Betty was still lost and very much so confused from the events of that night. All she knew was that the road kept getting bigger as they were leaving town. The car was silent and they left the Andrews behind, Betty didn't even look back.

A big sign in front of them read, you are leaving Riverdale, goodbye. Jughead reached for Betty's hand, and she relaxed a little bit, focusing on the road ahead other than the one she came from. The car came to a stop abruptly in front of the sign, and is if to show the start of something new, Jughead turned around to face her, took her hands in his and kissed them. She was safe and by his side, that was all he cared for.

A/N: I know it's been a while since I updated! But college got in the way. The good news is I am settled in and basically am trying to live a hermit life among these party animals. This book is far from over, there's still a few more chapters to go. I hope you enjoyed this chapter!