Flash of Red

Chapter 1

With a defeated sigh, she locked the doors and laid back in her seat, letting her eyes drift closed.

~

Jughead whistled to the three dogs, all of them running into the house at his feet. He held onto the wall for support before following them in, putting food in all of their bowls. "Have any of you seen the cat? I even checked the damn horse stalls and she's not there. I've seen every other cat, ones that aren't even mine, but I haven't seen Ginger." He huffed, putting the dog food back.

He opened the fridge, taking out the lunch meat before walking across the kitchen to get bread. "She's dead, isn't she? She died and you guys didn't-" He cut himself off when he heard a meow at his foot before he felt the brush of fur along his ankle. "What the... where the hell have you been?" He scratched her head, getting her small purr.

He fed her quickly before making a sandwich himself, walking into the living room and switching on the TV. He cringed at the radar the news flashed, letting out a disgruntled huff. "I can't even sit for five minutes. Come on, guys. We gotta go back out."

The dogs came running as soon as the door opened, Jughead holding his sandwich in his mouth as he held the cat back with his foot. "We're lucky if we don't get a tornado. Stay the fuck inside." He could almost feel the judgment radiate off of her as she strutted away, her tail straight up and making him laugh. "Very convincing... and I'm talking to a cat. You are at the bottom of the food chain, Jughead."

~

Betty woke up suddenly, springing forward. "No, no, no." She inspected her body for sunburn and was moderately surprised when she couldn't find a splotch of angry red skin anywhere. She grabbed her phone and looked at the time, scoffing. "I slept for six hours?!"

Her brain spun and she was aggravated to the bone. There had to at least be one car that had passed by here in that time. Yeah, it was very rural, but it was still partially trafficked. If you were going to the city from anywhere upstate, this was the quickest route.

She started the car with a grunt and groan, whining when all the engine did was smoke. She grabbed her purse and got out of the car, opening the back passenger side door and taking out her suitcase. She dropped it at her side and grabbed her sun hat as well, placing that on before fishing around in her purse for her sunscreen.

She sat there slathering it on for some time, not wanting to get sun cancer from her walk to find some sort of civilization. When she decided she was fairly covered and her dermatologist would applaud her, she put it away and fished out her sunglasses. She also made a mental note to clean out her purse when she got home or at least organize it better. For a person who had a neat life, she couldn't pack worth shit, she couldn't keep a clutch or a purse organized to save her life either.

"You got me far," She said in mock sadness as she closed both open doors and locked up the car. "But you are a piece of unreliable shit right now and I hate you! Like, it's so bad, I loathe you!" She huffed as she dropped her keys into the abyss of her purse, draping the straps over the handle on her suitcase, putting on her sunglasses. "I'm better than this, I deserve better."

She stomped away sassily, her head high and her nose stuck up in the air as if she was one of her coworkers she had become close with leaving a man she had used for sex and sex only.

~

"Shit, has it gotten hotter to you?" Jughead pulled off his gloves and pocketed them, rubbing the horse's head. "Now I talk to horses. I'm going a little insane out here." He checked the stalls one last time to make sure they were all locked and secure before he walked out of the barn. He locked those doors as well, placing sandbags at the bottom of the door to hopefully help against flooding if it came down to that.