Chapter 10
A beautiful red haired young woman dressed in purple, and a blond haired strapping young man walked through a dark, damp and creepy looking tunnel, hoping for someway out, or some semblance of light. Anything that would give them a chance to escape the mysterious secret passage which they had found behind a bookcase in a library, and so far led them through a long, seemingly endless corridor filled with dust, cobwebs, a few bats flying around their heads, and other assorted surprises.
The red head was Daphne Blake, heiress to the Blake family fortune and member of Mystery Inc., a detective agency that specialized in solving supernatural and paranormal mysteries. Of course that was in her spare time, as the young woman had a paying job, in this case it was a freelance writer for a few magazines, but mostly the young woman wrote articles for a teen magazine, and a fashion magazine.
In addition to the previously mentioned publications, Daphne wrote mysteries, some of which were based on her and the rest of Mystery Inc.'s past adventures, slightly changed of course. The young man she was with in the secret passageway, whose name was Fred Jones, also shared her interests, mainly writing, specifically Fred wrote articles on a freelance basis for sports magazines and a few mysteries among other things.
Although Fred had more experience in writing mysteries then Daphne did, both of them enjoyed their writing careers, and both of them had a whale of a time coming up with new mysteries, new villains and new books that his loyal fans bought like hot cakes, ditto with Daphne of course.
Right now though, the blond young man and his red haired companion's thoughts were far away from creating fictional mysteries, partly because the two of them were in the midst of trying to solve a real life mystery. One that featured among other things, a haunted mansion, possibly real and evil ghosts, and the disappearance of April Larson, the wife of a millionaire who made his fortune in the communications industry named Franklin Larson, and the father of a young woman named Kelly Larson, whom Fred had already been acquainted with earlier in the evening.
While Fred, Shaggy and Scooby had already been already acquainted with the young heiress, Daphne and Velma were somewhat out of the loop as it were when it came to Kelly Larson. But because of Kelly's rather friendly personality, and what she did when she met Fred, Shaggy and Scooby previously, the blond haired young man preferred to keep his encounter with his fellow blonde under wraps as it were.
"Boy, this secret passage seems to go on forever" Daphne said, huffing and puffing like the big bad wolf, staying close behind Fred all the while.
"Oh come on Daph, it doesn't seem like that; does it?" Fred answered with a question.
"Of course it does, we might be stuck exploring this secret passageway for the rest of our lives" Daphne replied, deciding to rest her head for a few minutes on Fred's shoulder no less.
"Daphne, you and I both know that secret passageways don't go on forever, they have to end somewhere" Fred responded.
"Well, yes I know that, and you know that, but does the person who built this passageway know that?" Daphne asked.
"Somehow I don't think anyone knew that this secret passageway was here; almost as if it was built into the house when it was built" Fred replied.
"Hmm... I think I understand what you're saying Freddie; I mean we did find a lot of information about the house when we were in the library, but I couldn't really say if this passageway was built into the house or not" Daphne answered.
"Very true Daphne; although from what we've seen in this house and of this house so far, I wouldn't be surprised if it was" Fred replied, albeit with a somewhat tentative look on his face.
Daphne didn't see the young adult's facial expression at first, but when Fred Jones' pace down the hallway became quicker; the red head couldn't help but quicken her pace and catch up with her boyfriend and companion, which took her mere moments. Once she caught up with Fred, she placed her hand on the young man's right shoulder and hoped to elicit a response from him as she stood patiently and smiled.
"Freddie, why did you speed up? It seems like you're in a hurry to get out of here" Daphne said with a brief chuckle.
Fred didn't answer Daphne right away, as it seemed that he had other things on his mind besides what his companion had to say, which was perplexing to her. Daphne Blake knew that Fred liked her, loved her for that matter and whenever he wouldn't speak to her; it was almost as if he was ignoring her, something that Daphne hated, no matter how long she lived. So, with no other real alternative, the red head decided to try and get through to her boyfriend yet again, hoping for better results this time.
"Freddie, Freddie please talk to me, say something" Daphne said, urging the young man to speak to her, which would thereby break his silence.
"Shh! Quiet!" Fred said turning around and holding his left index finger to his lips, signifying Daphne to not say anything, at least, not yet.
A few painful minutes passed between the pair of sleuths, which to Daphne seemed like decades However, the red head couldn't stand the suspense, and couldn't handle the silence between the two of them, so she decided to ask her companion why he wanted her not to talk, at least temporarily.
"Fred, what's going on? Why did you stop talking?" Daphne inquired.
"Shh, listen" Fred responded, motioning towards the area of the passageway behind them.
Daphne took her friend's advice and listened intently to where her companion was motioning towards, but didn't hear anything for a few minutes. Unfortunately, that wouldn't last for long, as soon she heard what sounded like a fluttering noise in the very same corridor as the two of them were currently in, not to mention it sounded as if the noise was getting closer and closer to the pair of detectives.
Soon, the noise increased in volume, which left Fred and Daphne holding each other in comfort, and perhaps, perhaps both of them were holding each other because one of them was just as scared of the noise as the other. Finally, the source of the noise entered the line of sight of the blond and the redhead, but when it did, it caused the two of them a slight bit of discomfort as the pair could see winged creatures flying right above their very heads.
"Jeepers, bats!" Daphne shrieked, waving her arms above her head while trying to shoo away the winged intruders.
"Man, first a secret passageway, and now bats. I wonder what's coming next?" Fred asked, to no one in particular as he also tried to shoo the winged creatures away from he and his companion.
"Well whatever it is, I just hope its not as bad as bats" Daphne replied.
"I agree Daph, I agree" Fred responded.
After managing to get the bats off the pair's trail, the red head and the blond returned to trying to figure a way out of the passageway, and possibly finding daylight as well. But before they could find a way out of the corridor, the pair were going to have another unwelcome visitor, only this time their visitor was going to be a lot larger then a mere group of bats.
As the two of them walked along, Fred and Daphne began feeling as if they were being watched by some unknown force, or some mysterious presence. They both knew that it wasn't bats, as they had been inundated with those creatures minutes before, and it was a safe bet that those beings were going to leave the two sleuths alone for now.
But still, Fred and to a lesser extent Daphne, couldn't help but shake the feeling that someone, or something was keeping track of them, and was getting ready to make its presence known to the pair. The red head's mind at the moment only on one track, and that was to make sure she and Fred made it out of the passageway alive, but something told her that she and her boyfriend might need to make a hasty exit.
Naturally this fact was something that Daphne wanted to inform Fred Jones about, so she softly tapped on his shoulder to try and get his attention. Of course Fred's mind was also on escaping the passageway, but once he felt Daphne's tapping, he turned around and faced her, hoping she didn't have anything to tell him that was upsetting, considering what had happened so far.
"What's up Daph? You look... nervous, maybe scared" Fred explained, holding her shoulders as he spoke.
"I'm not sure Freddie, but I really think someone's in the corridor with us. I know it sounds really silly and ridiculous, but I really believe we're not alone in this passageway." Daphne replied.
"But Daphne, how could someone be here with us? Well, besides those bats of course" Fred responded.
"I'm serious, something, or some one wants or means to harm us. Why would I make this up if it wasn't true?" Daphne asked, looking deep into her companion's eyes as she spoke.
It was something in the red head's eyes that told the whole story to Fred Jones. Something deep within those blue piercing pools of water told him that she was telling the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth, to borrow a legal cliché; so, having all the faith in the world in the beautiful red head, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. decided to respond to Daphne's comments.
"Daphne, I've known you for a long time, since we were little kids as a matter of fact, and during all the mysteries that we've been through with the rest of the gang, I've never known you to be wrong; at least not very many times" Fred remarked.
"Fred" Daphne replied, with an impatient tone in her voice.
"OK, OK, so you're not wrong at all. But in any case, I believe you now, I definitely think there's something in this hallway, or some one" Fred responded.
"Are you just saying that to make me feel better, or do you really mean that?" Daphne inquired.
"I'm saying that because I really mean it Daphne. Why would I say it if it wasn't true?" Fred replied, which left Daphne with a bit of a smile on her face.
"You just said the same thing that I did a few minutes ago" Daphne answered, relaxing a bit as she allowed her boyfriend to put his arms around her.
"I know I did; I guess all that time I've spent with you is paying off" Fred replied, smiling as well, while Daphne came closer into his arms.
"I guess it is" Daphne responded, somewhat simply though as not many words needed to be said in this situation.
"So, I guess that's means we're really becoming a lot alike huh?" Fred asked.
"Yeah, I do believe that's what it means" Daphne replied.
"Daphne" Fred stated.
"Yes Freddie?" Daphne asked, still smiling as her companion held her in his strong muscular arms.
"I love you" Fred replied.
"I know, and you know why?" Daphne inquired.
"I think I know the answer to this but why don't you remind me just to make sure I know" Fred replied.
"Well, I love you because you're so polite, so friendly, so handsome and so strong" Daphne answered.
"I figured that. And you know why I love you?" Fred responded.
"No, but I have a feeling you're going to tell me" Daphne replied.
"I know, and I will. I love you because you're so beautiful, so smart, and most of all the best girlfriend in the world, how does that sound?" Fred responded, with a question of his own.
"Sounds perfectly fine to me Freddie, it sounds perfectly fine to me" Daphne replied, as she and Fred Jones snuggled close into one another's arms.
Of course snuggling soon led to hugging, and hugging inevitably led to the red head and the blond's faces moving closer to one another, and before long Fred and Daphne's faces were only a few feet apart. And not too long after that, Fred Jones and Daphne Blake took the next step after hugging and snuggling, which of course was kissing; needless to say Fred and Daphne's kiss was one of love and devotion, plus a little bit of passion mixed in as well.
The two of them had been engaged in their kiss for a few minutes before they decided to break apart. Not because they didn't like kissing, or not because they weren't in love, it was because Freddie and Daphne had to resume their search for an exit from the secret passageway behind the bookcase in Larson Mansion's library, and judging by what had happened to the two of them so far, they needed to find an exit soon.
So with newfound devotion and love in each other's eyes and hearts, the two of them resumed walking down the corridor. However, just as Daphne had felt earlier, and that Fred had confirmed a few minutes ago, the two of them soon began to sense a strange presence with them in the corridor; this presence seemed to unnerve Daphne. But because Fred was, or seemed to much braver, he wasn't too unnerved by it, at first that is.
But because the two of them had a great sense of when danger was about to strike, and when a villain was going to attempt something to try and stop the duo's to leave a scary or spooky place, they both found themselves watching every step they made. Not only did they watch themselves with every step they made, but they also watched their surroundings as well, watching out for anything out of the ordinary, or anything that might be considering to be a threat to them.
Needless to say, if they found anything in either category, they would run like the wind and would probably not look back to see if anything or anyone was following them. Unfortunately for them, this would be a decision that they would soon live to regret, if they managed to get out of the secret passageway at all; just as before, in fact almost as if it was a carbon copy of what had happened earlier, Fred and Daphne began hearing unusual noises somewhere in the corridor.
But this time, the noises weren't the flittering or fluttering sounds the pair of adolescent sleuths had heard already; this time the sounds and noises seemed almost a thousand times louder then any noise or sound that a bat would make. For this time around, Fred and Daphne began hearing a noise that was close in proximity to the sound of some one walking of all things, but it wasn't a normal walk, or at least not any walk that the red head and the blond had ever heard or seen before.
Normally when someone walked down a street, a road, or in this case a secret passageway, they made normal footsteps; which meant that the footsteps were the shoes hitting the dirt, pavement or whatever surface the person was walking on. But in this case, the footsteps certainly weren't like that at all; these footsteps were louder, seemingly making a deeper impact on the ground, almost pounding the surface as the person walked, which made Daphne and Fred very nervous, despite trying to stay calm in very trying circumstances.
The sound of pounding footsteps grew louder and louder as they slowly approached Fred and Daphne, even though the two of them couldn't see who was making them. The two sleuths/lovebirds then held each other close, realizing that this might just be the end and that whoever or whatever was making the mysterious pounding footsteps could very well be a danger to both of them, and quite possibly could do them great harm.
Thump, Thump, Thump; that was the sound Daphne and Fred continued to hear as the two of them were besieged by the unearthly footsteps that were inching closer and closer to the two of them. The wealthy redhead's teeth then began to chatter as she, along with her boyfriend waited for whatever the source was of the strange footsteps to come to them; naturally Daphne's mind and heart were racing, she really wanted nothing more then for the source of the footsteps to accomplish whatever it had set out to do.
The very darkness itself seemed to cover and hide every inch of the corridor, in addition to hiding the cobwebs, dust and whatever other surprises the passageway held, which Fred and Daphne hoped were very little. The red head and the blond held their breaths, as every passing second seemed to be more like an hour, more like an eternity in terms of waiting, watching for something, anything, to make a move; it was almost as if the force that was in the hallway was toying with Fred and Daphne, taking its time in approaching the two sleuths.
"Freddie?" Daphne asked, holding her blond companion's shoulders and shaking like a leaf as she stood in the corridor.
"Yes Daphne?" Fred answered, turning slightly to face the beautiful redhead.
"If something happens and we don't make it out of this corridor, promise me something" Daphne stated.
"Yes? What is it?" Fred answered, now gently holding the red head's hands as she spoke.
"Promise me that whatever you do, you'll always think of me" Daphne replied.
"I promise Daphne, I promise" Fred responded with a smile on his face.
"Thank you Freddie, that means a lot to me" Daphne replied.
The longer she spent with Fred, the more she realized that he would never do anything to harm her, and that he truly was prefect for her. He was truly her Prince Charming and would do anything to protect her and keep her from falling into dangerous situations during mysteries, or during life; but as the two stood in the corridor, surrounded by dirt, spider webs and assorted bugs, the pair's thoughts weren't on whether the two of them would protect one another.
Instead, Fred and Daphne's thoughts were on whether or not the source of the footsteps was going to find them, and if it did, how long would it take. For as every second that the two of them waited passed, the red head and the blond were privy to every waking moment being full of terror, which seemed to rattle the pair's nerves. Naturally an event or occurrence such as the two of them were experiencing now would rattle someone's nerves; but it was even more nerve rattling because Fred and Daphne were detectives, and should have been used to this sort of thing by now.
The footsteps became louder and louder, increasing in sound as they came closer and closer to the two young adults. However, something seemed to be different about the footsteps; now the footsteps seemed to echo throughout the corridor, which made Fred and Daphne even more afraid, as they had no idea what kind of ghost or monsters possessed, at least not yet.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, Fred and Daphne continued to hold each other close as the source of the deep, resonating footsteps was about to make its appearance. As the red head and the blond stood in fear of what was coming, they saw what looked to be a large shadow on the walls of the corridor; naturally they didn't know what was coming, and as they waited for the shadow to come closer, the two of them secretly wished whatever was coming would hurry up, because the two of them couldn't stand the agony and pain of waiting for some creature to come to scare them, possibly even half to death as well.
The strange shadow slowly crept along the walls of the passageway, lurching and what looked to be dragging itself towards Fred and Daphne, as the pair's nerves were now officially frayed more then an old yellowed document from a hundred years ago. Shaking and shivering at the sight of the shadow, the unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and his girlfriend were now more terrified then at any moment in their detective careers. Even more so then when they visited Moonscar Island and had to deal with real life Cat Creatures and Zombies, as this time the threat was unknown, but very real and very scary.
After a few minutes passed, which to the two sleuths seemed like hours, months or possibly even decades, the mysterious shadow that had been plaguing the pair for several minutes since they spotted it was now only one hundred feet away from them. It was then that finally Fred and Daphne got an up close look for the first time at what had been making the increasingly creepy shadow that was displayed in the corridor; but what they saw was something that was more terrifying then any sight the two of them had ever seen before in their lives.
"Jeepers! Wh-wh-what is that?" Daphne said with a bit of a stammer in her voice, while trying somehow to keep herself calm, even though her eyes had set upon something more gruesome and more horrifying then anything normal or paranormal could ever be.
"Creepers! I-it's like nothing I've ever seen before" Fred added, not quite knowing what else to say in a situation like this.
The creeping shadow was now only seventy five feet away from the sleuthing duo, but once the two of them looked upon its horrible face, they could that they were clearly in trouble. Specifically speaking, the creature looked like something out of a late night horror movie, or a nightmare for that matter.
The creature's appearance also seemed to indicate that it could have possibly come out of a coffin or crypt somewhere, which meant that at sometime in the past(either recent or further back) that it was definitely a human being. Which of course meant that it quite possibly would or might have had a good life, when he or she was still alive of course; but now, the creature was dead and trying to scare Fred and Daphne out of their wits.
Besides the obvious, mainly that the creature was undead and had risen from the very Earth it was buried in, the strange being looked to have lost most of its hair. In addition, the hideous creature's skin looked also to have fallen off as well, or at least most of it had; to top off the horrible creature's appearance, its skin (or lack thereof) was currently a disgustingly grotesque shade of grey.
Normally this wouldn't be such a big deal to Fred and Daphne, but as they watched the creature advance on them, they could tell that it once had the skin of most likely someone who lived very well. Or at least someone who could afford to keep their skin in good condition, mainly keeping it the color white, or black, or any other shade of the aforementioned colors for that matter.
While most of the creature's skin had possibly fallen off its body, the red head and the blond could also tell that part of it (or however much of it that was left) was still hanging on, albeit by a very, very thin thread (metaphorically speaking of course).
As if the aforementioned maladies weren't bad enough, as the creature continued to approach the pair of sleuths, Fred and Daphne could see that he, it, or whatever the creature was happened to have its very bones sticking out from what appeared to be its stomach and lower abdomen. Or at least that's what the red haired writer and her companion thought as they stared, almost mesmerized into the face of what for all intensive purposes was the very representation of the living dead.
The strange creature slowly, almost patiently dragged its horrible looking body towards Fred and Daphne. The two of them could only watch in disgust as this living, breathing repulsive representation of the undead, or rather the living dead, or whatever it was advanced step by step, pounding its feet against the dirt of the passageway.
The hideous being's footsteps were now creating an echo that seemed to result in the very ground of the corridor shaking, similar to how buildings would react during an earthquake. But this certainly not an earthquake, it was man made, and very terrifying to Fred and Daphne; having seen this sort of creature before during the group's mysteries, the pair of journalists/detectives were able to instantly identify it, although as soon as they did so, they wished they hadn't, as it was now only ten feet away from them.
"Jeepers, th-that creature is a zombie!" Daphne shrieked, almost blowing out Fred's eardrums as she tried to hide her surprise and shock at seeing a real life, or undead as it were, creature like the very one that was now within shouting distance of the pair.
"Daphne, I don't know how to say this, but I think you're right. That, that thing is indeed a zombie! But what is it doing here?" Fred responded, with a question of his own.
"I-I don't know" Daphne replied nervously.
The gruesome looking zombie, which Fred and Daphne only found out a few moments ago was a zombie as a matter of fact, was slowly approaching the red head and the blond. As the two adolescent sleuths/writers tried backing up to escape from the gruesome looking zombie, the two of them cringed as the creature raised its arms in front of it and opened its mouth, almost as if to say something to the two of them.
But instead of saying something to Fred Jones and Daphne Blake, the zombie opened its mouth and began roaring and breathing on the pair, making them cringe a bit at the monster's breath. After he opened his mouth, the two adolescents began to get the full force and breadth of his breath as it were; as a matter of fact, the monster's breath seemed to be a combination of several of the most unpleasant odors known to man, or woman for that matter.
In this case, the zombie's breath felt like a mixture of rotten eggs, moldy bananas, car exhaust and who knows what other horrid materials were blended into the creature's breath. Although Daphne felt her hair beginning to wilt as the creature continued to breathe its horrible odors onto her, the red head knew deep within her brain that she needed to get herself and her companion out of the corridor immediately.
"Freddie" Daphne remarked, continuing to back away from the zombie with her hands held in front of her in somewhat self defense as she spoke.
"Yes Daphne?" Fred answered.
"I think we better get out of here before that zombie decides he wants a girlfriend, or decides he wants a late snack" Daphne replied.
"I think you're right Daphne, come on, let's get out of here!" Fred added, taking the attractive red head's hand as he spoke.
The unofficial leader of Mystery Inc. and his red haired companion then took off like a pair of 4th of July rockets, trying to escape the hideous zombie as quick as humanly possible, which they both hoped wouldn't take very long. Running at top speed, the two adolescents almost gave the zombie whiplash, considering the pace at which they took off; the zombie though was about as fast and managed to follow closely behind them, which Fred and Daphne noticed, as they just couldn't shake the zombie no matter how hard they tried.
"Faster Daphne, faster! He's going to catch us if we don't speed up!" Fred declared, hoping his red haired girlfriend could keep pace with him as he ran.
"I'm trying Freddie, I'm trying; but it's not easy in these shoes" Daphne answered.
"If we don't escape that creep, you won't have to worry about shoes or any clothing for that matter, because we both might be dead" Fred replied, with a great amount of urgency in his voice.
"Good point Freddie, just call me an Olympic sprinter, because I'm gone!" Daphne quipped, as she and the blond haired young man continued running down the corridor just as fast as they both could go.
Within the next couple of minutes, Fred and Daphne managed to escape the hideous zombie as they ended up running all the way through the corridor and were now in front of what looked to be a large metal door, or more specifically what appeared to be a large brass door. Naturally the two of them were very curious about this and decided to investigate what the door was and what might be behind it, even if it was another monster or something that would scare the two of them greatly.
While the red head and the blond were trying to open the large brass door in order to see what was behind it, the mysterious and frightening zombie had fallen behind the pair of sleuths and was oddly enough not following them. But what was odd about this, was what the zombie said(albeit out of earshot of Fred and Daphne of course); because he had been growling and acting like a zombie before, he didn't sound much like a human when he was chasing the two sleuths.
But at the moment, he did sound very human, perhaps somewhat familiar, which was too bad in Fred and Daphne's case. Because if they did hear what the zombie was saying, the two of them might have gotten a good clue to the mysterious happenings in Larson Mansion and possibly could have gotten to the bottom of Mrs. Larson's disappearance. But alas, they had decided to run, and could not hear what the creature was saying, which could have been very important.
"Man, those two took off like bullets; serves them right, they should know better then to stick their noses into other people's business" a mysterious male voice said, albeit coming from the mouth of the zombie.
If Fred Jones and Daphne Blake had only stuck around for a few more minutes, they might have heard the zombie speak, and could have received a valuable clue to the gang's current mystery. But they did not and as a result, a solution to the mystery behind Larson Mansion would take a long way to come, rather then be resolved easily and quickly; back at the other end of the corridor, the red head and the blond were still trying to figure out how they could open the brass door. But in order to do so, one of them needed to come up with a fairly ingenious idea, and soon.
"This door is either stuck, welded shut or just won't open. But whatever reason why it won't budge, it's really annoying" Fred remarked, pulling on the handle of the large door without much success.
"Hmm... This seems to be a theme of our investigation of the mansion; this is the second locked door we've found" Daphne replied.
"Second?" Fred inquired.
"Sure, we tried to get out of the library earlier but we couldn't open the door, unfortunately" Daphne responded.
"True, very true; so, any ideas on how to open that humongous brass door?" Fred replied.
"I think I do, but I might have to think for a second" Daphne answered, placing a finger to her lip and with a look of deep concentration on her face. After a few moments, something inside the red head's brain clicked and she came up with an idea that she figured would be perfect for this particular situation.
"Fred, I think we're going to get to see what's behind that door very soon" the red head commented.
"We are? How Daphne?" Fred replied with a question.
"Simple Freddie" Daphne answered, before reaching up into her hair and taking out a small hairpin.
"Um Daphne, how is a hairpin going to help us?" Fred asked, looking with curiosity on his face at the small metal object the red head was carrying.
"Easy Freddie; even though I left my purse in the bedroom, I can still be pretty ingenious with just a small hairpin" Daphne replied.
"That was pretty simple Daphne, good luck" Fred remarked.
Daphne then reached over towards the door and inserted her hairpin into the lock; the red head then jiggled said lock with the hairpin for a few moments before managing to get it unlocked a few seconds later. With a sense of accomplishment in her heart and a smile on her face, Daphne Blake opened the large brass door and prepared to see just what was behind it and just what she and her boyfriend were about to get themselves into.
Author's Notes: Sorry for the incredibly long time it took to write this chapter; I had some computer problems for a while, so I didn't get a chance to write much for a period of about two weeks. Also, this story might or might not be extended a couple of chapters, depending on whether or not I have more ideas and other factors; in addition, I know this might seem like a weird way to end a chapter, but I figured it would work out pretty well.