10
Barbara sat in the back of the Mystery Machine, "It's getting colder." She said. "Yeah, it's a good thing we found that store with all of these winter clothes before it started snowing." Dick said. "It was more like a happy accident." Barbara replied. "Hey like, I'm sorry I didn't mean t'crash into the store." Shaggy said.
"Well, if you hadn't we probably would be freezing now." Dick said.
"It's just there!" Velma exclaimed, pointing to a white building surrounded by a barbed wire fence. "Wow." Harley said.
"Who's coming with me?" Velma asked. "Like, I'll go with you." Shaggy said. "Ok, let's go, the rest of you stay here, this hopefully won't take too long." Velma said, Shaggy grabbed a gun and followed Velma into the building.
"I'm gonna make a snowman!" Harley exclaimed as she jumped out of the van. "I think we should stretch our legs." Bruce said. "Sitting down all that time isn't good."
Ivy and Daisy watched as Harley created her snowman, Daisy kept looking to the hill where Scooby sat with Cliffy.
"I still don't understand why Daphne killed Carrie, she was my friend." Cliffy said. "Rotect you." Scooby said. "I know she was, but Carrie didn't hurt me." Cliffy said. Scooby rested his head on Cliffy's leg.
"Shaggy clearly went with Velma to impress Daisy." Fred said, "Don't you think so Daph?"
"Uh-hu." She said, inattentively. "Are you listening to me?" He asked. "No." She said.
"What are you doing?" Fred asked as Daphne sat cross-legged in the back of the van with the laptop. "I want to find out what day it is." Daphne said. "Daph, we're in the middle of an apocalypse, I'm sure the day of the week is the least of our worries." Fred said.
"You wanna know something funny?" Daphne asked. "Sure." Fred said. "It's your Birthday." Daphne said. "What? My Birthday?" Fred asked. "Yep." Daphne replied. "Happy Birthday." She said.
"Thanks, I guess." He replied.
"Ow dude! That hurt!" Jason exclaimed. Fred looked out the window and saw Jason and Damian throwing snowballs at each other.
Shaggy climbed into the Mystery Machine. "What are you doing back?" Fred asked. "Let me guess, you got scared?" Daphne asked. "It's so dark in there!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Where's Velma?" Fred asked. "I told her t'wait by the doors until I came back with Daph." Shaggy said. "Alright." Daphne said as she grabbed her gun. "Let me come with you." Fred said. "No, we'll be fine. Stay here." Daphne said.
"But my leg is healed!" Fred exclaimed. "You'll be safe here." Daphne said. She and Shaggy walked into the building.
"Isn't he beautiful!" Harley exclaimed as she stared at the snowman. "What is that?" Cliffy asked as he and Scooby walked down from the hill. "His name is Eugene." Harley said. "Eugene?" Daisy asked. "Yes, Eugene." Harley said.
Ivy rolled her eyes. "Eugene the snowman?" Cliffy asked. "He's perfect isn't he!" Harley exclaimed.
"Bruce, can you imagine, if you had not become Batman?" Dick said. "You would not have created the Batcave and we would be dead now."
"That sent chills down my spine, Dick. I hadn't thought of it like that." Bruce said.
"Where's Velma? I thought you said she was waiting by the door." Daphne said. "She was when I left." Shaggy said. "She must have gone down to find the computer lab." Shaggy said.
Daphne groaned, "I'm gonna kill her" She exclaimed as they stepped into down into the building.
"Y'might not have to." Shaggy said as they walked into the lobby. Blood covered the floor and three dead monsters were lying on the ground, torn apart.
"Y'hear that noise?" Shaggy asked. As they walked around the corner, they heard a tapping noise. Daphne looked in the room where the sound was coming from. She suddenly looked angry, "What is it?" Shaggy whispered. Daphne stormed into the room and hit Velma across the back of her head. "Ow!" Velma exclaimed.
"You scared me!" She said. "I scared you?" Daphne exclaimed. "Shaggy told you to wait by the door until he got back, and you wondered into the abandoned building by yourself. You could have been killed!" Daphne exclaimed.
"I'm sorry." Velma said. "Don't do that." Daphne said, stubbornly. "What?" Velma asked. "Apologise, I'm not in the mood to forgive you yet." Daphne said. Shaggy rolled his eyes.
"Did y'see those beasties in the lobby?" Shaggy asked. "Yes, I did, I think the bigger one was the alpha and it killed one of the small ones first before it got into a fight to the death with the other." Velma said.
"Right, ok." Shaggy replied. "The blood hasn't dried yet, they haven't been dead long." Velma said.
"Have you found anything yet?" Daphne asked. "No, it would be so much easier if you both stopped talking and let me concentrate." Velma said. "Go and sit in the hall, I won't be long."
Daphne growled, Shaggy grabbed her arm, "Come on." He said pulling her into the hall, she sighed.
"Eugene looks lovely, don'tcha think." Harley said. "Fabulous." Ivy said. Barbara sat in the back of the Mystery Machine with the laptop. "What are you looking for Babs?" Bruce asked. "I just want to read through the Project Elysium files again in case Velma and I missed something." She said.
Everyone heard a growling, they looked at Scooby, but he was just as confused as the rest of them. It came from the trees. A branch snapped, figures walked through the trees behind them. A large group of monsters approached them.
"Get in the van!" Dick exclaimed. Jason jumped into the van and grabbed his gun. "Cliffy, get inside!" Daisy exclaimed. Fred jumped out of the van with a gun. "Damian, get in!" Bruce exclaimed.
Fred and Jason began shooting at the monsters, Harley pulled her gun out and fired at them too, one of them knocked down the snowman. "Eugene!" Harley screamed. "Alrigh' you bastards, now it's personal!" She grabbed another gun and opened fire on the monsters that surrounded them.
A tree suddenly came to life and started attacking some of the monsters, but they began fighting against the tree, one of them tore the branch off, the tree screamed, Ivy screamed as it threw the branch at her.
"What if Cliffy was right?" Shaggy asked sitting on the floor in the hallway, next to Daphne. "About what?" She asked. "What if that monster was friendly?" Shaggy asked. "A friendly monster?" She said sarcastically. "We have been fighting these things for months, when have any of the monsters every shown any kind of friendliness to us?"
"I guess you're right." Shaggy said. "There is somethin' else though." He said. "What?" Daphne asked. "Y'gotta stop babyin' Fred." Shaggy said. "What? I don't baby him." Daphne said.
"Yeah y'do." Shaggy said. "Back at the van, you told him t'stay so he'd be safe, in Washington you told him to stay with the van and when-"
"Alright, alright I get what you're saying!" She exclaimed. "But I don't baby him, I take care of him."
"And he takes care of you." Shaggy said. "Hey, since we met, we've all been takin' care of each other, funny how things happen, huh."
"You are hopefully optimistic, Shaggy." Daphne smiled. "And I love you for that."
"Gee, thanks Daph." He smiled. "Speaking of love, what about you and Daisy?" She asked. "What? What about me and Daisy?" He asked. "It's pretty obvious Shaggy. You're smitten." She said.
He sighed, "Alright ok, maybe I'm smitten a bit too much!" He exclaimed. "I think I'm going to propose!"
"Her husband died just a few weeks ago." Daphne said. "It's not like she liked him anyway." Shaggy said. "You know, you're right. Maybe you should wait a couple of days." Daphne said sarcastically. "What like Fred? He's been in love with you since you and him met, proposing to you for years and waitin' for you to come around." Shaggy said.
"Leave Fred out of this." Daphne said. "Let's go." Velma said, as she stepped out of the room. "Did you figure it out?" Daphne asked. "I'll tell you back at the van." Velma said. Daphne and Shaggy exchanged concerned looks.
As they stepped towards the van, they saw the bodies of the monsters lying on the ground, Fred, Daisy, Cliffy and Scooby stood outside the Mystery Machine.
"Zoinks!" Shaggy exclaimed. "What happened?" Daphne asked. "A group of monsters attacked us." Daisy said.
"What?" Velma asked. "Ivy's dead." Daisy said. "Ivy did that thing with the plants and a tree attacked the monsters, but then they attacked her." Cliffy said.
Shaggy sighed, "Are the rest of you alright?" He asked. "Yes, we are." Daisy said. "Did you find anything in the base?" Fred asked.
Daphne and Shaggy looked at Velma. "There is no cure for the plague." Velma said. "I'm sorry everyone, there's nothing that can be done." Velma said.
"Wait what?" Fred asked. "I searched the computer and when I finally found what I was looking for, the results were unfortunate." Velma began. "There is no cure, or anything to reverse the nanites. All we can do, is try to survive."
"By running for the rest of our lives?" Cliffy asked. "I don't think so." Daphne said.
"Don't worry guys we'll come up with something." Fred said.
Barbara stepped out of the Mystery Machine, "Harley, wants to bury her." She said. "We have nothing to dig holes with." Shaggy said.
"Trees." Scooby said. "We could bury her in the leaves?" Cliffy suggested. "That's actually a good idea." Daisy said.
"I'll tell the others." Barbara said as she stepped back into the Mystery Machine.
"So, what do we do now?" Daphne asked. "After we bury Ivy, we should probably go and look for some supplies." Velma said. "Then we'll figure out what's best to do."
After they buried Ivy, they went to gather supplies from the town nearby.
The town they drove into had a strip of stores, the two that stuck out to the gang were the convenience store and the gun and weapon store.
Jason stood outside the Mystery Machine smoking, Harley sat in the back of the Mystery Machine and everyone else was in the convenience store.
Jason heard sobs from inside the Mystery Machine, he stomped on his cigarette and climbed into the van. "Hey, you ok?" He asked. Harley wiped her eyes, "Yeah, I suppose." She said.
"I'm sorry about Ivy." Jason said. "The love of my life died in the plague too."
"Who was she?" Harley asked. "His name was Roy." Jason said, Harley looked at him. "I had been in love with him for months, I couldn't believe it when I found out he loved me too."
"You kinda keep yer feelin's t'yerself." Harley said, Jason nodded. "Ivy said she loved me 'cause I was open with my feelin's. She loved me." Harley said.
"We'll find a cure for the plague, Harley." Jason said. "But Velma said there was no cure fer the plague." Harley said. "I know she did, but I'm sure we will find a way." He said. Harley rested her head on his shoulder.
Dick stared at a packet of gummy bears he held in his hand, Timmy loved gummy bears, he thought to himself, everyone else was gathering food and water and loading it into the van.
Daphne and Fred went into the gun and weapon store a few stores down. "I remember the last time we were in a gun store." Fred said. "When was that?" Daphne asked. "When we were investigating that creepy guy." He said. "Oh yeah, I remember. We arrested him for illegally hunting protected birds." Daphne said.
"I don't remember a time when we weren't investigating something weird or creepy." Fred said. "I did love our job though." Daphne said. "So, did I." Fred said, "Especially when it took us to different states, and when we moved to Washington." He said.
"I loved the pasta your mom made when we finished work, I really missed it when we moved." Daphne said. "Me too, but we were lucky enough to rent an apartment right next to the pizza joint." Fred said.
Harley and Jason enter the gun store and they help Fred and Daphne load the guns and ammunition into the Mystery Machine. As Jason goes back into the store, a bow and arrow displayed on the wall catches his eye and he thinks of the first time he and Roy teamed up.
"Jason?" Fred asked. "You ok, you kinda zoned out."
"Yeah, I'm fine." Jason said. "Let's get this stuff into the van."
"Velma, where do you think your other two brothers are?" Daisy asked. "Hugo, as you know, is dead, but I don't know where Quenton and Cheeves could be. But if you're thinking that if we find them, they can give us information on a cure for the plague, you're wrong." She said.
"Did you not think of creating any form of reversal for the nanites?" Bruce asked, stubbornly. "No, because I designed the nanites to with the intention to better the world, my brothers tampered with the nanites causing this chaos." Velma said.
"How do we know that for sure?" Bruce asked. "Bruce, the project Elysium file shows the design her brothers created." Barbara said. "But those are just words on a computer screen." Bruce said, "You're saying that you had not intended for things to end up the way they have, but how do we know you're telling the truth?" He asked.
"We are going to find a cure for the plague, no matter how long it takes." Bruce said. "I'm sure we can try to work on a cure." Velma said. "My friends and family were mutated by the plague, and I can't go on thinking that one of them might have murdered Tim or Ivy, unless we try to find a cure." Bruce said.
"We will find a cure, but we must not argue with each other, or we'll get now where." Daisy said, stepping in. "I agree, we gotta have hope." Shaggy said.
Daphne, Fred, Harley and Jason walked into the store. "I think we have everything we need." Dick said. "Like, let's get this stuff into the van!" Shaggy exclaimed, holding a box of Twinkies.
Everyone climbed into the Mystery Machine, "I'll drive." Shaggy said, as he climbed into the front seat and turned the engine on, Harley climbed into the front passenger seat next to him and Scooby sat in between the two. Everyone else sat in the back, Cliffy sat next to Daisy, resting his head on her arm.
"So, were do we go next?" Jason asked. "We're gonna get outta this town, an' then we'll find somewhere t'go." Shaggy said.
"I think we should look for anything related to the Complex, then we can find out where the remaining of Velma's brothers are and find a cure for the plague." Bruce said. "Even if we did find them, Quenton and Cheeves are highly unlikely to give up any information." Velma said.
"Bruce is very good at persuading people to give up valuable information." Dick said. "It's worth a try, plus there are twelve of them and only two of them." Bruce said.
"Two of those twelve are children." Daphne pointed out. "I was a trained assassin by the age of seven." Damian said. "Well that's great but I don't think Cliffy has had experience murdering people." Daphne said, Damian rolled his eyes.
"We know that there might have been more survivors, so what happens if we find where her brothers are and when we turn up there's a bunch of people pointing guns at us?" Daphne asked.
"There's twelve of us now, but how long will it be before someone else is killed, and none of us are left?" Jason asked, everyone stared at him grimly.
Velma begins to rummage through a box, she pulled out a map and lays it out in front of everyone and then she grabbed a marker, Harley watched from the front seat.
"These are some of the possible locations where Quenton and Cheeves could be." Velma said. "Florida, California, Arizona and even back in Nevada." She dotted with the marker pen. "And then these are the locations owned by the Complex." She said as she dotted several dots across the map.
"Wow." Barbara said. "We should consider visiting some of these locations. Maybe we can find your brothers." Bruce said.
"We can't travel across the entire country looking for two people who may or may not be alive." Daphne said. "We will if we want to restore humanity." Bruce said.
"It's a more logical idea to go looking for the two people who were responsible for creating the plague than driving around with no idea where to go or what to do."
"Bruce, I agree with you, it makes sense to go looking for them, but we don't know where they are or if they're even alive. We'd be putting ourselves in more risk." Barbara said.
"I agree with them, Bruce. I'm sorry, but it's took risky." Dick said.
"D'you like gummy bears?" Harley asked. "Like sure." Shaggy said. "I used to live in Coney Island, and they had the best hot dogs in the world!" Harley exclaimed. "Like, I always wanted t'go t'Coney Island!" Shaggy exclaimed. "Like I used t'work in Burger Bar before I started at the Complex three years ago."
"Burger Bar was my favourite!" Harley exclaimed. "Until I moved t'Brooklyn, then I fell in love with the hot dogs at Coney Island!" She squealed. "And the pizzeria across the street was the best!"
"Wow, all this talkin' about food is makin' me hungry." She said, she climbed into the back, "Rummy bears." Scooby said, as he followed Harley into the back.
Harley sat next to Cliffy and shared a bag of gummy bears with him and Scooby. Daisy climbed into the front with Shaggy. "How are you doing, Shaggy?" She asked. "I'm like, ok." He said. "What about you? How are you holdin' up?"
"I'm ok, they're all arguing back there." Daisy said. "Like how's Cliffy?" Shaggy asked. "He's doing ok, he's with Harley." Daisy said.
"We'll be ok Daze." Shaggy said. "I know we will, but I'm not even sure we'll find a cure for this plague, but they all have hope." Daisy said.
"So, you gotta have hope too." Shaggy said.
"Ugh, I feel sick now." Harley said. "Ree roo." Scooby said.
Shaggy stopped the van, Harley jumped out of the van and threw up outside, Barbara climbed out and held her hair back. "Too many gummy bears, huh?" She asked. "Yeah." Harley said, before throwing up again.
"Look, there's a chemist over there." Velma said. "It would be wise to stock up on medical supplies."
"Good idea, all this arguing is giving me a headache." Dick said.
Everyone went into the chemist, Harley was still throwing up outside. "Let me guess, you ate a couple of bars of chocolate back in the convenience store when nobody was looking." Barbara said. "Gee, you are smart." Harley said.
"Here." Barbara said, handing Harley as tissue. "Thanks." Harley said, as she wiped her mouth. "Hehe, ya know what's funny? I used t'kick yer Batgirl ass, an' now yer holding my hair back whilst I puke." Harley giggles. "Yes, it's hilarious." Barbara said.
"Ivy used t'hold my hair when I threw up." Harley said. "You kinda remind me of her a bit."
"How?" Barbara asked. "The red hair an' the attitude." Harley said. "I don't have an attitude." Barbara said stubbornly, Harley rolled her eyes. "Come on, let's go help the others." Barbara said.
As they walked into the chemist, Harley's eyes widened when she saw a large jar of lollypops. "I call dibs!" She exclaimed as she took the jar off the counter.
Daphne and Velma took several first aid kits off the shelves and Daisy and Cliffy loaded them into the van whilst the others looked through the shelves filled with medicine behind the counter.
"I'm taking this rubbing alcohol." Jason said, putting a bottle in his pocket.
"Like, I gotta go t'the bathroom." Shaggy said. "I suppose there's one around the back somewhere." Damian said.
"I think it would be a good idea if we all went." Daisy said. Velma decided to unpack the first aid kits into the floor compartment of the Mystery Machine, so they wouldn't take up so much space, Jason and Harley stood outside the van smoking, whilst everyone else went to the bathroom.
Bruce came back to the Mystery Machine, he stares at Jason, smoking the cigarette. "What?" Jason asked. "YOLO." Harley said. "Considering the circumstances, I think that's a fair statement." Jason said, handing Bruce a cigarette, he takes it.
Barbara returns from the bathroom, "You guys better go to the bathroom, we don't know when we'll next find one." She said. Harley took a final smoke on the cigarette before handing it to Barbara. "And what am I supposed to do with this?" She asked. "You put it in yer mouth an' then ya smoke on it." Harley said.
"You can't be goody-two-shoes all your life, Babs, considering you might not have long left." Jason said. "Jason." Bruce said, sternly. "Oh alright." Barbara said, she took the cigarette from Harley, who skipped off to the bathroom. Barbara took a smoke of the cigarette, coughed and then stomped on it. "That is disgusting, and I am never doing that again!" She exclaimed, Jason laughed before taking a final smoke and stomping on his cigarette, then he walked off to the bathroom.
"How are you holding up, Barbara?" Bruce asked. "Good, well considering everything. What about you, how are you Bruce?" She asked. "I'll be fine once we find a cure for this plague." Bruce said. "We will." Barbara said, "I promise."
"Like, I'll drive." Shaggy said as he came back to the Mystery Machine and climbed into the front seat.
The others returned to the van, Dick and Damian were the last to come back, but they were arguing. "It's not my fault they smelt!" Dick exclaimed. "I wasn't saying it was, Grayson. I was saying that the bathrooms smelt!" Damian snapped. "And what do you want me to do about it? Hire a mutated cleaner?" Dick said. "Shut up or I'll drag you back into the bathroom and stick your head in the toilet!" Damian exclaimed.
When everyone came back from the bathroom, Bruce stomped on his cigarette and closed the door.