Second Chances [Sweet Pea x OC]

Chapter 31

"What the hell are you doing?" I snapped at Betty as she reached for the next quest card from a man–woman?–person with their hood pulled up enough to keep their face hidden.

"I'm okay Abigail, I can keep going," Archie called.

I stared up at him in the ring, blood still spilling down his shoulder. "I didn't ask your opinion, Andrews. Let me at least look at it."

Archie nodded after a moment, moving to leave the ring. "Archie, no, what are you doing?" Jughead protested. "You still have more challengers."

I spun around to face Jughead. "That quest didn't say a damn thing about Archie having to go up against the challengers back to back without a break. There was nothing to say he couldn't stop for water or medical assistance. And if he's gonna make it through the rest of them, he needs to let me at least look at that bite if nothing else. For all we know, that asshole has rabies."

"She's right, Jug," Betty sighed, putting a hand on his arm. "That was only the second person, we need to be sure Archie can make it through to the end."

Jughead gave a small nod, still glaring at me. "What's it going to be, Andrews? Are you coming down here or am I coming up there where everyone can see how bad it is?"

Betty glanced nervously at the waiting challenger, still holding the quest card in their hand. I pulled Archie away from the watching crowd, pushing him into a metal folding chair. "How many of these guys am I fighting?" he asked as I started cleaning the wound.

"Well, Lodge said he only printed twelve of those quest cards," I said. "We started tonight with two in our possession already, those from Warden Norton and Ricky, and you've now defeated two more, so you just have to face another eight in the ring." That was assuming Lodge was telling the truth about only printing out a dozen, and that no one had made copies.

"At least it's not that whole crowd," Archie said, grunting as I poked at his shoulder.

"You're gonna need stitches," I said, stepping back. "But if I do them now, they're likely to get torn out and that will not only be more painful but it'll take longer to heal. I've cleaned it for now and stopped the bleeding, but I'd recommend not letting anyone else take a bite out of you. Maybe we need Jughead to let everyone know that vending machine in the back is still stocked."

Archie grinned, standing up. "I'll be careful up there."

I took my place next to Betty once more as the hooded stranger climbed into the ring. One after another, quest cards were handed over to Betty and Archie came out the victor every time.

The gym was emptying out, just a few spectators still loitering in the bleachers by the time no one else stepped forward. As I took the opportunity to inspect Archie's various cuts and bruises, Betty counted and recounted the cards.

"Okay, uh, there's only eleven cards here," she announced.

"What, that's all?" Archie asked, shooting up out of his chair to climb back in the ring. "Who else wants to try?"

No one made a move to join him. "Did you recognize any of those people?" I asked, thinking. "Anyone from juvie, someone that Norton would have given his third quest card to?"

Archie shook his head.

"So, what do we do now?" Betty asked. "Is it over?"

I shook my head. "It won't be over until all twelve cards are in our possession."

Betty began counting the cards again as if hoping the missing one had magically appeared. For the second time today, the doors slammed open, this time admitting a single man dressed in a grey sweatsuit.